Before Kael's eyes, twelve shimmering portals to the Realm of Trials appeared one after another.
The sole Advancement Trial remained dimmed and locked, inaccessible. The other ten were all Tier 0 Standard Trials.
He examined them carefully, then made his choice—
[You have selected: Blood Battle of Calvin Castle]
[Trial Requirement: Five Participants]
[Proceed with matchmaking?]
Tier 0 trials were all fixed at five-man teams, either self-assembled or matched at random.
"Match."
The cold system prompt echoed in his mind.
[Searching for teammates…]
[Match successful. Entering Trial in: 10… 9…]
It took less than a minute to fill the team—proof of just how many newly awakened across the continent were flooding into the Trials.
The countdown hit zero.
A pillar of light descended from above, enveloping Kael. His vision flared to pure white—
—and when it cleared, he was no longer in the capital.
[Realm of Trials: Blood Battle of Calvin Castle]
[Rank: Tier 0]
[Difficulty: Normal]
[Objective: Survive Until Dawn]
[Background: On the northern frontier stands Calvin Castle, once a proud bastion against the Abyssal Tide. Its lord, Roland, was a man of unyielding justice, and the number of darkspawn slain by his sword was beyond counting. But now, as the Tide rises once more, a foe long thought vanquished returns—Seth the Skull-Splitter, a darkborne lord defeated by Roland twenty years ago, has risen from death. He swears to slaughter all within the castle walls, staining the snow with blood to fulfill his oath of vengeance.]
A surge of information poured into Kael's mind, instantly filling him in on the trial's lore.
He and four companions materialized inside a crumbling audience chamber, its walls draped in the weight of time. Heavy light-curtains sealed the area, and beyond the windows, the outside world lay frozen like a painted backdrop.
On the shimmering barrier, a countdown ticked down from 59…
Kael's gaze swept the room.
The audience chamber was in shambles—splintered furniture lay scattered across the floor, blood spattered the walls in dark, dried patches. Barely five paces away, the corpse of a castle guard lay sprawled on his back, chest torn open by a gaping wound. Blood had trickled into the grooves of the stone floor, winding away like a crimson snake.
The stench of danger instantly tightened every nerve in Kael's body.
Given the trial's background, he could almost be certain—Seth the Skull-Splitter was already loose within the castle, cutting his way through its defenders.
And their task… was simply to survive until dawn.
Outside, the night was black as ink. Dawn was still a long way off.
"Whoa… this is way too real! Are we actually in here with our real bodies?"
The voice, light and almost flippant, shattered the tension.
"No kidding," another snorted. "You think this is some illusion game? Of course it's our real bodies."
Kael turned, studying his four companions—three men and one woman, all young, with the naive air of first-timers venturing into a dungeon. They carried themselves like rural youths who had never truly tasted danger, let alone understood it.
He could understand why.
This was the first day the Trial System had appeared. Most people had rushed in out of curiosity, eager to explore. And since dying in a trial didn't kill you outright—merely ejecting you from the instance—they felt no real threat to their lives.
Of course, there was still a price. Each person had only ten Trial Lives. Run out, and you were dead for good. But right now, no one seemed to care.
"Alright, enough wandering around."
A young man in neatly fitted leather armor spoke up. His metal-rimmed glasses caught the light, his voice calm and measured.
"We have no guides, no maps. If we split up blindly, we're dead. My guess? The goal is to survive until dawn—meaning the enemy is far too strong for us to take head-on. Most people will choose to hide, but if he finds you, you'll just get hunted down one by one."
He adjusted his glasses and went on.
"From the look of this hall, the Skull-Splitter's already carved his way through most of the place. Even if he's strong, there's no way he hasn't burned through stamina and mana by now. This could be his weakest moment. If we miss it… we have no chance at all."
"Yeah, makes sense!"
A pair who looked like an academy couple immediately chimed in, the boy's eyes lighting up. "Then we're with you!"
The young man in glasses turned to Kael and the other remaining teammate—a blond-haired youth whose roots were clearly dyed.
Kael gave a slight nod. The plan wasn't flawless, but it was better than running around aimlessly.
The blond just gave a derisive snort and stayed where he was.
"Good." The leader nodded. "Then let's stick together and go straight for the Skull-Splitter. If we can find surviving guards along the way, our chances improve. Even if we can't kill him, we need to wound him badly enough to make it through till dawn."
He tapped his chestplate. "I've got a B-rank talent—Body of the Bulwark. I can take a hit. If anyone else here is defense-oriented, it'd be best to hold the front with me."
Four heads shook. Kael stayed silent—his Sacred Seal could make him unkillable, but that didn't mean he was a defensive type.
The countdown hit zero. The light curtain dissolved.
At once, a freezing night wind swept in, carrying the thick stench of blood. In the distance, flames flickered in the dark, and the air was choked with smoke and screams, pressing down on their lungs like a physical weight.
"Move," the leader ordered in a low voice.
The group immediately showed their true colors as a ragtag band. The leader strode at the front, Kael following close behind. The blond sauntered lazily in the middle, while the couple at the rear clung to each other, stumbling in disarray. In just a few steps, they had managed to spread themselves into three separate clusters.
"Well, well… more survivors?"
The voice was deep, dripping with mockery.
All heads snapped toward the source.
A massive man stepped into view, his entire body drenched in blood. A vicious scar split his face almost in two, and beneath his bare, corded muscles, sickly black veins pulsed. In his right hand, he dragged a greatsword crusted with shattered bone and brain matter—blood still dripping from its edge.
The blond-haired youth, utterly oblivious to the danger, scoffed, "Hey, old man—where the hell did you crawl out from?"
Kael and the bespectacled leader both felt their stomachs drop.
Those beast-like crimson eyes… that suffocating pressure…
There was no doubt—this was the trial's ultimate predator.
Seth the Skull-Splitter.
"Now! Everyone, with me!" the leader roared through gritted teeth.
"Old man?" Seth's scarred mouth split into a cruel grin. "I don't understand your words… but it hardly matters—dead men don't need to speak."
He moved.
The air detonated around him. A blur of blood and shadow shot forward like a thunderclap.
Before Kael could even react, the leader—defensive talent and all—was cleaved clean through by a sweeping arc of the greatsword. His head spun away into the darkness, spraying hot blood across Kael's face.
An instant later, Kael felt cold steel punch through his chest. The agony was sharper, deeper than any wound he'd ever known.
[You have died.]
[Eternal Sacred Seal activated. Choose: Respawn in Place / Sanctuary Respawn (Safe Zone) — 10… 9…]
Through his still-fading vision, he saw the rest of the team fall in rapid succession—the couple skewered together in a single thrust, the blond screaming as his limbs were hacked off before his body exploded into a cloud of blood.
From the moment they'd stepped beyond the light curtain to the complete annihilation of the party…
It had taken less than ten seconds.
A true, lightning-fast team wipe.