Aren stood there, huffing for air. Blood dripped from dozens of slashed marks all over his body.
After a moment to collect himself, he turned back. His eyes widened as the others were still a few meters behind.
He rubbed his forehead as the constant mumbling had almost reached an unbearable level. He did not have much time.
With one look at the wall of monsters, he turned back and walked deeper into the hall.
Inside, Ray sighed at this moment. It's good that Aren hasn't lost all his sanity.
Unbothered by the others, Aren limped forward. As he reached the first hallway, he noticed the corridor actually bent ninety degrees to the left, and that this hall door was only the first one.
Not rushing into it, he walked deeper. There were five doors on the left side, including the first, and four doors on the right side, each connected to massive halls.
Finally, at the end of the corridor, there was the tenth door, the biggest of them all.
What surprised him was that only half of these halls had statues in their center, while the other half contained different kinds of cursed weapons and objects.
Aren walked back and forth a couple of times to check if there was any other hidden area, but he found nothing.
He mumbled to himself, "Only five could survive."
From inside, Ray shouted. [Dude, not again. Just rush to one of the statue halls.]
Aren stared at one of the deeper halls with a massive black-scaled creature statue in the center, but involuntarily, he turned toward the tenth corridor.
He could feel that there was something special about this hall, but unfortunately, it had a massive stone hand as its statue.
It could have been mistaken for a normal statue if not for the massive, human-sized black metal card held in the giant stone hand.
This metal-cursed object was so dark that a layer of darkness surrounded it, absorbing the surrounding light.
Mysteriously, at the same time, the surface of the card had a silver sheen, as if it were producing its own light.
Aren mumbled unconsciously, "If I can use that card as a medium for my hex core."
The moment Aren heard his own voice, he froze. 'Wait, what's going on here?'
Even Ray shouted in the void. [Shit, control yourself, dude.]
Aren's hand started to shake. He grabbed his head and coughed hard. "No, I don't have enough soul essence. It's suicidal. I will die."
Ray nodded vigorously inside. [Yes. Don't think about it. Pull yourself out, damn it.]
Aren took a deep breath to calm himself and grabbed his chest in pain. He shouted at himself, "No, there is no time."
Thousands of loud human footsteps echoed in his head. They are coming.
Aren straightened and turned toward a hall with a fish statue in it.
Ray cheered from inside. [Yes, go in.]
But then a wide smile spread across Aren's face. "Even if I can't use it as a hex core medium, what stops me from taking it?"
[No, you idiot, that's a trap.]
Aren slapped himself. "Yes. With such a cursed object, nobody would dare ignore me."
Ray was on edge. [Oh, come on.]
But it was no use as Aren started laughing. "Haha. I won't be the same anymore. I will make them pay. I will rule. I—"
Aren kept shouting whatever came to his mind while walking toward the door.
"Stop!"
"Stop!"
Multiple loud shouts came from behind, snapping him out of his madness, but it was already too late.
Before he could turn, the massive door slammed shut behind him, trapping him inside the hall.
The temperature within the hall dropped. From the ceiling, a tar-like black substance started dripping onto the ground.
Only then did a bit of rationality return to him. Not wasting any moment, he ran toward the center.
But just then, the droplets of black liquid transformed into massive, human-sized monsters with scythe-like nails.
Aren slashed at the nearest monster, only for it to slash back at him.
The power behind the strike was so strong that the sword slipped from his hand and was flung against the wall.
Tears formed in Aren's eyes. He knew he had messed up, but he still ran. Maybe, just maybe, getting that card would solve—
Before he could complete the thought, another monster slashed at his face.
With nothing to block it, he raised his left hand.
Crunch!
The sharp nail slashed through his muscle, striking hard against the bone.
"Ahhhhhh!"
Jolts of pain shot through him. He looked down to see his arm hanging limp as a stream of blood gushed out.
The pain was so overwhelming that his brain shut down the sensation across his body.
Too many slashes came for his head.
Aren clenched his teeth and rolled forward. He was finally inches away from the card when a chilling realization dawned on him.
"Wait, there is no statue here for me to form contact!"
Drained, Ray sighed. [Too late.]
The very next moment, two monster claws stabbed through his back.
The force pushed him forward as Aren finally touched the card.
At that instant, a black, hazy screen appeared before him, with bright purple letters on it.
[The presence of pure Nythra was detected. You have gained permission from the owner of Nythra, 'Holder of Sky.' Do you want to start the formation of a hex core?]
Aren almost cheered in excitement, while Ray stared wide-eyed and shouted again. Not through the card. Touch the stone hand—
But Aren had already shouted, "Yes."
The next moment, the world around him changed as Aren found himself floating before a thick wall of black fog.
He was standing on a barren plain, facing the dark fog wall.
This black fog reminded him of the black air present in the temple.
He could sense a tremendous pressure coming from the other side of the fog.
Something bizarre and massive was lurking within it, looking down at him.
Aren started shaking, but he still reached toward the fog when, somehow, a black card appeared inside his hand.