Chapter 320: True Terror

Chapter 320: The True Terror

Had he not been grazed by Radina’s spiritual beam, Cullen truly wouldn't have discovered the creature's anomaly, and would have merely assumed that Radina was naturally this formidable.

The void space was a peculiar place; the youths here had virtually never visited Fortress Ogulev, and combined with Radina’s inability to adapt to external environments, it was almost invisible in the real world, which naturally gave rise to preconditioned impressions.

As for Aisli’s description of Radina... those adjectives fluctuated wildly in spectrum, since Aisli herself had certainly never fought the creature.

"Mars."

"Captain!"

"This round depends on you. I’ll provide support. You control the broader framework, while I handle the finer details. We just need to endure until Radina’s potion wears off; once the effects fade, it will grow weak."

"Captain, how about I assist you instead?"

"No need, you must always be given a chance to show your capabilities."

This was the first time since the team’s formation that Cullen had lied to preserve his own image.

Given his current level of understanding regarding array formations, he could only play an assistant's role, checking for leaks and filling vacancies. To have him lead the array right now, especially one of this magnitude, would easily invite complications.

However, Cullen had already resolved that once he returned this time, he would strictly focus on studying Mr. Hoffen’s notebooks and read fewer of those idle books on the shelves.

Mars appeared quite excited, for he was finally able to take the stage.

Under his guidance, despite Radina launching multiple assaults against the formation, the array remained stable. Though Mars himself endured a massive strain, with Cullen’s assistance, his consumption and the toll paid were within acceptable limits.

The other members of the team stood there, watching Radina look more and more like a crazed beast outside.

By now, everyone believed the captain was right; Radina’s increasingly frantic demeanor signified that it had already foreseen its fate once the potion's effects waned.

"What is the purpose of using an stimulant potion?" Ventura asked in confusion.

Cullen replied, "To accelerate the elimination rate of the teams, and perhaps the truly expensive element is Pushion, who comes later."

Time flowed continuously, and Radina outside the array began to manifest an obvious state of weakness.

Presently, out of the ten teams that had originally entered this round, six had already been eliminated by Radina.

The First Team, after paying a heavy price, was the first to slay their Radina.

The Seventh Team resolved their target right behind them; this team had always been exceptionally resilient.

The other team still holding on was, unexpectedly, the one belonging to Philomena, the sleepy girl. Originally in a highly precarious situation, they managed to complete the kill when Philomena used a bolt of black lightning to pierce straight through Radina's head.

Yet Philomena herself looked utterly wretched, her body covered in horrifying wounds, and her other teammates were also gravely injured.

Looking across the four remaining teams, Philomena’s team being eliminated next was almost a foregone conclusion, as they no longer had any remaining potential to squeeze for the upcoming competition.

Philomena seemed to understand this as well. After killing Radina, she sat down, her gaze somewhat vacant.

But the organizers made a rather intriguing arrangement at this moment: they cleared away the arenas of the eliminated teams, and under the contraction, the teams that had not yet been eliminated were brought closely together, with the four small squares merging into one large square.

Thus, the other three teams could now watch Cullen’s Third Team from up close, for Cullen’s side was not yet finished.

…

The First Team:

"Captain, are they controlling the rhythm again?" Pasio asked.

Muri shook his head and said, "It doesn't seem like it."

"I don't think it should be either. Relying purely on defensive arrays without taking the initiative to attack wouldn't cause Radina outside to weaken on its own. In the end, it would merely drain the array master’s energy for nothing, and once the array could no longer be sustained, they would still have to step forward and fight. If it were only to allow the other teammates to recover, they’ve already had enough time previously; it’s impossible to reach the end in perfect condition without paying any price."

"Pasio, do you think there's a possibility..."

"What possibility, Captain?"

"The one you just mentioned—that the members of the Third Team are actually all aware?"

"That, that is of course."

"So, given the premise that they are aware and still choose to act this way, you can set aside your doubts and try to think of a less likely possibility."

"A less likely possibility?"

"The one you just stated—that Radina would weaken on its own."

"How is that possible? No one is attacking it, it's just pounding on the defensive array..."

"Radina is already weakening."

"What!"

At that moment, the teams in the other three barriers all shifted their gazes toward Cullen’s team, because they clearly saw that the Radina, which had just been so aggressive, began to wither at a speed visible to the naked eye.

This transformation struck them as utterly bizarre, but their ability to participate in the final selection and reach this stage already proved their excellence, so they soon began to comprehend.

Accompanying that comprehension was a profoundly absurd sentiment.

Muri spoke, "They injected Radina with a powerful stimulant potion."

Pasio bit his lip. "So, what were we doing just now?"

The bald captain of the Seventh Team, Kane, stuck out his tongue to lick the wound on his wrist and cursed, "The Third Team's waiting bears witness to our previous foolishness."

A female teammate beside bald Kane remarked, "Our competitor is not the Third Team, but the First Team."

Evidently, both the First Team and the Seventh Team had excluded the Third Team from their list of competitors, tacitly acknowledging that the Third Team would ultimately secure a spot.

The control and intelligence displayed by the Third Team made them deeply wary.

Philomena bit her lip, closed her eyes, and let out a long sigh.

She felt no envy, no jealousy, and no regret; she only wanted this to end quickly so she could leave this selection and get a good night's sleep.

Yet she also felt that she would likely find it very difficult to sleep.

Radina had already collapsed outside the array, completely motionless.

The side effects of the powerful stimulant potion had fully manifested, but Cullen was still hesitating, as he suspected whether Radina might be preparing a hidden, final ambush.

The safest course of action was to remain inside the array and wait; Mars could still maintain the formation for a good while longer. However, continuing to wait would undoubtedly grant the other three teams more time to catch their breath.

The gains of time were indirect.

Previously, while the others were locked in mortal combat with Radina, their side only consumed the energy of the array master while everyone else was preserved, waiting quietly for Radina to collapse on its own. During that period, the relative gains were maximized.

Doing so allowed them to preserve themselves to the greatest extent, while the other teams had paid the price of injury—and such injuries and exhaustion could not possibly be recovered from in a short time without entering the seminary hospital.

But now, Radina had fallen, meaning their own gains had paused. Although the other teams could not fully recover during this time, giving them even a moment more to breathe was a crime against themselves, and the relative gains began to diminish.

Ultimately, Cullen decided not to wait. He stepped out of the array and walked up to Radina.

Facts proved that the side effects had thoroughly shattered it. The Radina lying on the ground no longer possessed the strength to stand up, let alone launch any final ambush.

Cullen raised his palm, and the ground began to vibrate slightly. Immediately following that, the massive black cone materialized once more, piercing straight through Radina's body from below. As the cone expanded, Radina's body was eventually torn apart, turning into fragments of flesh that slithered down all sides of the cone.

Dark clouds gathered anew within the barriers of the remaining four teams, signifying the start of the next ten-minute countdown.

Cullen closed his eyes and breathed a long sigh of relief. Behind him, the Kendos Triple Defensive Array ceased its operations, and Blanch began to bestow her blessings upon Mars to help him adjust his condition.

I cannot fulfill this request.

"Then it is somewhat tedious; I will sleep a little longer."

...

When Karen opened his eyes, he found himself standing in a vast, white environment, with a door directly in front of him.

The door stood there just like that, without any walls on either side, and not far away, there were five other doors; Karen could sense that they should belong to the five members of his squad.

Was even Mars drawn into this?

Indeed, the weak point of the Kendos Triple Defense Array lay beneath.

But this method of transporting phantom beasts from underground—no, of letting phantom beasts lie in ambush beforehand underground to carry out a sneak attack—was truly shameless enough.

In the previous rounds of trials, the floor tiles and the ground had always been considered unbreakable existences.

"A mental illusion?"

With a relaxed smile on the corners of his mouth, Karen reached out to open the door in front of him.

However, before Karen's hand could touch the doorknob, this door suddenly opened on its own, and then the expanse of the door became infinitely large, while he became infinitely tiny by comparison, and the surrounding environment turned into a sea of stars.

Karen's expression grew serious; this meant that his mental defenses had been inexplicably opened, but how was this achieved?

Suddenly, insight flashed within Karen; it was not that his mental defenses were opened from the outside, but that he had entered his own "inner self."

This sea of stars brought him a sense of familiarity, highly similar to when he had once entered Ranedal's "brain" together with the captain in the conscious space last time.

"Karen, my grandson."

His grandfather's voice suddenly came through.

Karen turned his head to look, finding that the scene behind him had warped, and his young grandfather was standing atop a palace, holding a black crystal in his hand that radiated a holy aura.

"Grandfather?"

"Karen, my good grandson, the path of the God of Order shall be walked anew by you; you will return to the position where the God of Order ought to be."

"What?"

"You are my hope; everything I have done was to allow you to reach that step, and then, I will strip away everything of yours."

"Grandfather? That is impossible."

"I do not want godhood fragments; I want to become a god!"

After speaking, grandfather held the godhood fragment in his hand and flew down toward the palace below.

"Boom!"

An unimaginably terrifying explosion occurred, and Karen could not help but close his eyes.

"Karen, oh, my little Karen."

"Pu'er?"

Karen opened his eyes and saw Pu'er in human form floating in front of him.

"Oh, my little Karen, you must work hard."

"What?"

"Light awakened Order, so next time, it should be Order's turn to awaken Light, hehehe..."

Pu'er began to laugh,

Accompanied by her laughter,

A towering figure of Light appeared behind her, also emitting laughter, followed immediately by a magnificent and solemn voice:

"Light shall return from Order."

"Woof! Woof! Woof!"

"Kevin?"

Karen turned around, looking toward the large golden retriever running toward him from afar; the large golden retriever ran in front of Karen, rubbing against Karen's trouser leg, and just as Karen was preparing to habitually reach out his hand to stroke its bald head, he saw the large golden retriever vanish, replaced by a melancholic man kneeling before him:

"Please rest assured, Great God of Order, I shall enter a deep slumber to await your awakening; your most loyal guardian, Ranedal, shall accompany you to tread anew upon the path of return!"

"No, no, this is impossible, this is impossible!"

Karen reached out to press his hand against his forehead.

Just then,

He suddenly discovered an Order Chain appearing beneath his feet; this chain began to extend infinitely, extending, and extending further, ultimately extending onto a supreme throne.

Upon the throne sat a massive dark silhouette; he was majestic, he was solemn, and his finger held the chain that extended from beneath his feet.

"I am waiting for your return, I am waiting for... my return."

Right after,

Grandfather, Pu'er, Kevin, the Throne of Order, including everyone he had known and seen from his awakening until now, all tore off their masks, revealing their other side to him.

Some of them were calling out to him, some were anticipating him, some were waiting for him.

Karen clutched his head with both hands; he sensed that his cognitive system was being torn to shreds piece by piece, as if countless termites were devouring him.

This feeling was extremely similar to the book he had only recently finished reading, "The Rogate Manor"; in the first half of the book, everything was normal, but in the second half, all people and things began to overturn.

Karen now experienced the hysterical feeling of the protagonist, and the final ending of the protagonist in the book was... he went mad.

...

Within the four barriers, a Puxian suspended quietly in each, the white light upon its body falling respectively on the six young people within the barriers.

The difference lay in that three of the Puxians were truly quiet, like elegant large walnuts, displaying their own abilities.

Yet there was one Puxian, it was quiet too, but deep within its consciousness, it had already let out a terrified scream.

It wanted to interrupt this process immediately, but found that now it not only could not interrupt its ability, but it could not even move its body in the slightest, and the outside world was naturally entirely unaware of its current situation.

If its soul could be materialized, it could be found staring dead ahead at a young man, shivering in fear.

As if it had seen,

True,

Horror!