Beatitudes

Episode 86.

Very quickly, already becoming like a repeat of the past, they appeared at the entrance to the fourth floor.

There was nothing particularly different about this floor save for the increased number of beasts but compared to the previous levels, it was still just a miniscule rise in numbers.

The orange color of the Direflame wolves was stained with some stripes of red, which made them seem like blood stained bundles of flames, the blood never being wiped off.

The beasts immediately sensed the trio’s presence once they took their first step into the fourth floor, and then another round of hectic fighting broke out. The odd thing about the battle was the fact that it was actually the Direflame wolves who had it hectic, despite numbering well over six times the number of the fighters challenging the mountain. It was a surprising sight that was a little hard to believe even though in the end, this was a low level battlefield, one where both sides had limited abilities.

The battle was one with no suspense as the trio human ‘Geniuses’ made quick work of the beasts surrounding them on all sides. The last kill was won by Hiya as she slashed the head with a level of strength that seemed hard for a stunning beauty like her to unleash on her enemies.

The familiar blood red screen then made its appearance once again with the familiar words written on it with a little twitch here and there

// Trial objectives:

1st Objective- Eliminate all tainted beasts (85/110)

2nd Objective- Clear all floors (4/5)

You have cleared the first four floors of the Tainted mountain (Tier one) and completed an additional two subtasks of the trial.

You may choose to step into the safe zone to recuperate and get prepared, or you may directly head on to the next floor of the tainted mountain to continue the trial of challenging the mountain. Only one floor is left to complete the trial, be careful //

Isaac looked at the screen and when he saw the number of beasts that they had killed, he couldn’t help but feel surprised. They had eliminated eighty-three beasts out of the one hundred and ten that the mountain held, he was bound to be surprised although it was by very much. At first, when he saw the screen for the first time on the first floor, when he saw the number of beasts that roamed within the mountains, he couldn’t help but feel slightly unnerved since they hadn’t faced such a number before throughout their time before getting to the mountain. But now, here they were having already killed a significant number of the beasts, leaving none alive. Although some might say since they handled the beasts in separate groups, it was bound to be much easier, one should keep in mind the fact that they had taken no breaks at any point at all, even their way through the passageway which was somewhat of a safe zone had been passed quickly. It wasn’t much easier compared to fighting them all at the same time.

In the end, all Isaac did was glance at the number of beasts killed to keep watch on the number since they didn’t bother to count at any time before they started fighting, so once he saw the number and felt slightly surprised, he only glanced at the second objective report reminding him that had taken care of four floors out of the five that the mountain held before taking his eyes off it and waving his hand in front of him to disperse the screen as he had realized he could earlier.

In the end, all Isaac did was glance at the number of beasts killed to keep watch on the number since they didn’t bother to count at any time before they started fighting, so once he saw the number and felt slightly surprised, he only glanced at the second objective report reminding him that had taken care of four floors out of the five that the mountain held before taking his eyes off it and waving his hand in front of him to disperse the screen as he had realized he could earlier.

Hiya and Harry similarly also stared at the screen as they took in the new statistics. Harry only glanced at the number of beasts they killed before looking way and similarly waving his hand in front of him. Hiya on the other hand took her leisurely time in the middle of a mountain trial as she read through every word on the screen like she had just been able to look through it, her beautiful amethyst eyes that resembled jewels took in everything as it scrolled downwards. Very quickly, she read it to the end and then paused her gaze as her brows furrowed just the slightest bit. She was the only one out of the three who noticed the new sentence added to the words since that had been her thoughts for reading all the way through the screen, to confirm for any words.

And though she had expected it, she still felt a little apprehensive at the ending of the new words added; be careful. This were words from whatever part hidden within the mountain, which was probably someone or something that had control over the whole mountain and a conclusive understanding of the mountain. It could even be the mountain itself talking to them or something, but that wasn’t what to be contemplated at the moment, what was to be contemplated was the fact that it had added a warning to the statistics right at the moment when they were about to enter the last floor, though it could just be a reminder not to be careless it was definitely not a coincidence.

‘Is there something that’s different about the fifth floor…’, this was her current thought. She looked away from the screen as she swiped it away from her front, there was no use thinking about it since they would only know when they got to the fifth floor.

She said nothing about the new words to the other two beside her as they stepped into the passageway that connected the fourth floor to the fifth floor. A short time passed and they were finally at the fifth and last floor of this tainted mountain, the last floor that was imperative it was cleared to finish the mission.

Looking around, Isaac finally decided to do a head count of the beasts and counted twenty-five of them. They all seemed to be no different from the ones in the other floor, save for their bigger sizes that wasn’t by much. But nothing out of the ordinary stood out to the eyes of the three as they assessed not one of the beasts present here as different.

This was something that made them slightly confused as they recalled certain things,

“I don’t think there’s a mountain king among these beasts. Isn’t the mountain king supposed to be a cut above the rest of these beasts.” Isaac stated with slight confusion.

Harry also stared around for a while before shrugging, while Hiya stared around without saying anything. In the end, the three of them took their first step forward and thus alerted every beast of their arrival.

No further was spent watching each other as both sides immediately initiated their charge at the other side.

The beasts of the fifth floor proved to be no harder than their kin on other floor who had now passed onto the other side, it was now the turn of these group of beasts.

Swords, one white while the other silver, slashed all around the battlefield as they either reaped lives or caused heavy wounds to appear on the beasts, while one hammer was swung about smashing around as it similarly reaped lives, smashing into the sides or heads of the beasts as none was able to survive without suffering significant damage.

After a bout of fighting and roaring for a while, both bestial and human roars being heard alike, Isaac held a white shield that he condensed as he stood his ground against a Direflame wolf’s charge. A successful block was executed and a chance appeared, Isaac quick to the opening slashed twice as a huge bloody cross mark wound appeared on the wolf in front of him. The beast roared in pain but wasn’t given any more time as a sword was thrusted towards it as a stab, a second later and the roar that echoed throughout the fifth floor was cut short as the last beast of the fifth floor dropped to the ground, a sword passed through its eyes as copious amount of blood spilled and dripped down its face past it snout and the wolf itself losing all signs of life. The last beast of the fifth floor had fallen to Isaac.

A successful block was executed and a chance appeared, Isaac quick to the opening slashed twice as a huge bloody cross mark wound appeared on the wolf in front of him. The beast roared in pain but wasn’t given any more time as a sword was thrusted towards it as a stab, a second later and the roar that echoed throughout the fifth floor was cut short as the last beast of the fifth floor dropped to the ground, a sword passed through its eyes as copious amount of blood spilled and dripped down its face past it snout and the wolf itself losing all signs of life. The last beast of the fifth floor had fallen to Isaac

 A thought then flitted into Isaac’s mind as he pursed his lips and shook his head slightly with a smile, if there was someone paying attention to their battle all from when they stepped into the first floor till their current point where they had just cleared the final floor of the mountain, that person would have by now noticed a pattern and then stare strangely at the trio still standing. Isaac had just happened to realize it now and even he couldn’t help himself from thinking about it.

On the first floor, the last beast standing had its life taken by Hiya with a s***h of her sword. On the second floor, Isaac had gotten tangled with two beasts that had put in a slightly pressured situation, but in the end, he had been able to slice off their head right at the end of the battle which had marked the last kill of the second floor as his. The third floor had been one without any surprises and Harry had smashed the last beast to death with a swing of his hammer, which ruptured every single organ that the wolf had, effectively draining its life force. The fourth floor was then conquered with Hiya snatching the last kill from the other two, and now here they were in the fifth floor, presumably the last of the floors in the mountain as the last of the beasts lay on the ground, dead to Isaac’s sword.

It was like some kind of odd pattern had played out throughout the trial, a pretty coincidental one at that. It was a little too bad that they were no more floors to confirm this pattern of the one who killed the last.

“Hey guys, why were all the beasts that easy to deal with, didn’t Isaac say the mountain king was a cut above the rest…”

Harry was the one to speak up first as they all remembered the fact that they were supposed to battle a mountain king of the mountain. But before any one of them could say anything to answer the question, a blood red screen popped up in front of the trio.

// Trial objectives cleared:

1st Objective- Eliminate all tainted beasts (110/110)

2nd Objective- Clear all floors (5/5)

Trial objectives left uncleared:

3rd Objective- Eliminate the mountain king(Imperative)

4th Objective- Destroy the mountain(Optional)

You have cleared the five floors of the Tainted mountain (Tier one) and completed an additional two subtasks of the trial.

You may choose to step into the safe zone to recuperate and recover all energy and get prepared, or you may directly head on to complete the third objective and challenge the mountain king, the leader of all the beasts of the mountain, be careful //

 This time around, due to the additional objectives being stated, even Isaac and Harry read all the way down to the end as they took in the new words. When the saw the screen stated that they could challenge the mountain king, that was when they realized that the mountain king wasn’t one of those they had just taken down.