Aimless Ascension

There were three difficulties in the dungeon, depending on the time limit on them. A month, twelve days and four days. Gale grunted, reading that.

"Do I have to wait that long for them to come out?" he muttered. Not to mention, he wasn\'t certain which difficulty they had joined the trial as. Or will they come in this way at all, or will they be deported to the next trial after they pass this one?

He wasn\'t certain, so he decided to converse with an old lady who had over ten thousand years of experience in this business.

[Who are you calling an old lady?] Saarya snorted into his mind.

\'Technically, I didn\'t call,\' Gale pointed, "just thought. There is a clear difference between that.\'

[Not when your thoughts are clear to me,] Saarya told him.

\'But that didn\'t change the fact that you\'re old, though,\' Gale pointed, grinning. "You\'re still older than civilization, or was it more?"

Saarya only grumbled and didn\'t say anything anymore.

Gale sighed. \'So, what do you think about this dungeon?\'

[Don\'t know anything for certain,] Saarya snorted. [This dungeon could be older than I.]

Gale opened his mouth to say something, but no words came out of his mouth for a time. \'How long was it?\'

Saarya didn\'t answer that question. [From what I can see, whatever that took over the land is changing the topography, for better or worse. You read the prompt, what do you think of this?]

\'The reward made me feel this was a scam,\' Gale said straight. "You know how much shit I have to go through.

While in this, I merely have to go through a survival trial."

[The trial can kill you,] Saarya added. [Still, this is better than any other inheritance ground you came across.]

\'So, are you telling me this isn\'t a scam?\'

[As I said, this mechanism is here before even my birth, when gods used to roam the world, it would be a cruel joke if that turns out to be a scam. Besides, fate locks and other inheritance were more available at that time, so I\'m not that surprised to find unique prizes in the hard difficulty.]

"Tsk," Gale clicked his tongue. "When was this when I was in need of unique grade fate locks."

Gale found Vale eying him suspiciously. Gale couldn\'t help but crouch down and caress the hound.

\'Do you have any idea if they would be sent to the next trial after succeeding in the first?\' Gale asked, which was his most concern at this moment.

[I\'m as lost until you enter the trial,] Saarya said, [which you have to do if you want to get out of this sealed realm, I fear.]

Gale grunted.

[Don\'t look down on it, because ancient people leave this inheritance for a purpose.]

Gale was about to ask what that purpose might be, when Vale urged him, woofing loudly.

"What is it, boy?"

Vale pulled his pants and then started rushing southwards as if wanting Gale to follow.

[He probably noticed something significant, you should follow him.]

Gale didn\'t need her reminder. The semi-corporeal wings spread behind him as he flew in the darkness, following Vale.

***

A couple of splinter of thick ironwood were sent flying as a huge head of a violent murder monkey loomed in the hole it created. It screeched, finding the people inside, proceeding to break through the wall of ironwood.

"Goddamn it," Fen cursed, "It\'s a gold rank spirit beast."

Wang Li\'s mind chilled as she heard her. She was about to yell about running away into the house, but Fen already shot for the berserk monkey, a long spear in her arms.

Fen was ready to deal critical damage to the beast as it was busy in breaking through. However, her spear felt a tremendous obstruction when she plunged it through the hole the beast created. Her attack barely dealt any damage to the beasts. And before she could understand what she was facing, the wall of ironwood was no more.

The beast plunged through its horrifying body. It was already three metres tall, with long muscular limbs with dagger-like claws.

"Wang Li, move into the house," Fen called after her, as she withdrew too. The beast wasn\'t letting her go though, it came at her, growling with all its fury.

Fen didn\'t engage directly with such a beast, but tried to direct it away from the mansion.

"Sister Fen, you can\'t," Wang Li yelled after her, standing on the stairs of the house. "Come to the house, it can shelter us."

Wang Li wasn\'t that sure about that, but since Gale put enough defence that it could stop a Gold rank beast from coming into the farm, the mansion\'s defence mechanism should be even better. Well, she hoped.

"You go inside," A voice said to her. Wang Li turned to find Ai looming over her with a short stick life staff in her hand. she hadn\'t noticed when the blind girl came and stood behind her. "Don\'t argue, be quick."

Wang Li listened as she was the weakest of the trio. The blind oracle apprentice moved a few more steps to yell at the older woman.

"Sister Fen, don\'t worry about the beast. Run into the mansion, we\'ll be safe."

"How sure are you about that?" Fen asked, groaning as the beast sent her sprawling on the ground. She already lost her spear.

"Very," Ai answered.

Fen rolled on the lush grass and stood up again. She didn\'t give the beast one last look, but put her beast effort into running towards the house. Only a hundred metres away.

Hopefully, she could outrun the beast.

However, that was not to be. The murder monkey was already on her trail, and it didn\'t take a couple of seconds for its horrifying presence to loom over her.

Fen already cursing her luck, pushing herself harder, enforcing all her Qi. Oddly enough, the horrifying ape tripped the instance it was supposed to catch her.

Fen rushed with new vigour, and found the blind girl with glowing silver eyes, her stick glowing faintly in the same colour as well.

Fortune was weird. But Fen would take it as long as it saved her life. By the time the beast stood back up and chased, she was already close to the staircase.

She didn\'t wait for whatever the blind girl was trying to occur, but pulled her into her embrace and carried her into the house.

Wang Li used her token to close the entrance after they entered as the huge beast crashed into the building the next moment.

Fen had her heart in her throat, and she wasn\'t the only one, but they sighed in relief when they found what happened to the beast in the next moment.

A shimmer of golden light blazed on the entrance where the beast crashed in, and then an impactful force pushed out of the formation, which sent the huge beast flying a dozen metres.

All three of them let out an exasperated sigh of relief.

"This house is awesome," Fen said through her pants.

"It isn\'t done yet," Wang Li said, finding the beast coming for them yet again.

The beast was sent flying yet again when it crashed into the entrance. A similar scene played out again and again.

"How long do you think this can hold on?" Wang Li asked. She could see the distance the beast was sent flying was decreasing with each time.

Nobody had an answer for that.

"What if more beasts came in through the hole now?" A dark premonition came to her as she felt the chill.

"We\'ll be alright," Ai said after a while, leaning completely on Fen. "The owner of the house is already on the way."

As Ai finished, they didn\'t have to wait for much longer as they found a ray of golden light shot through the sky to enter through the eastern hole. It came flying straight to the beasts and landed between the house and the beasts.

"You aren\'t welcome here," announced the owner of the Stormhold.

A huge furry hound came running into the farmland next and blocked the path of the huge monkey.

"Woof!" Vale growled furiously, ready to curve his claws into the beast.

"Relax, boy, let me deal with this," Gale said, as he swirled his radiant power.

The murder monkey growled at Gale, rushing at him in four limbs. Gale spread his wings wide, forcing out radiant Qi as a blinding golden light flashed out of him to the beast.

"Not intense enough," Gale muttered as the Radiance was merely able to blind the beast for an instant without dealing any damage. It still crashed into him, blindingly.

Gale danced in the air, his wings spinning along to cut through the tough skin of the beast.

The monkey screeched as it lurched its claw at him. Gale flew up and dodged easily, his speed instantaneous with his Intent. He was liking his very much.

He buckled his knees, flying behind the beast. Without considering, he crashed his foot into a horrifying drop-kick onto the beast\'s head, flinging it away as blood smeared on the air.

It sprawled on the ground, unmoving.

"Did I overdid it?" Gale titled his head. The beast wasn\'t moving, although wasn\'t dead, it will be soon.

Gale turned his head and found three ladies, eyeing him as relief washed over them. He certainly hadn\'t hoped to find any one of them here, much less the innkeeper.