Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

Chapter 730- Snowsquall Drakewings

[You have arrived at the Open Space: Snowlands. You will be affected by the special restrictions of this place and slowly lose your level. Defeat Abomination before it wakes up. Time remaining- 3 days 23hrs]

[Warning- As it is an open space, there are other challengers. You can work with them or kill the Abomination alone. Rewards will be calculated based on individual actions. Total number of challengers at present- 44]

As soon as Simon arrived onto the sixth trial, a notification appeared in front of him. After reading the notification, he understood where he was and why there was only snow all around him. However even then…

"Why is it that even after I cleared the fifth trial, I'm faced with another situation where my level is suppressed again"

Simon was annoyed. Be it the fifth trial, or the sixth trail, they both supressed his levels making him a little irritated. He though that he would be able to fight to his heart's content after arriving at the sixth trail and break through the wall restricting his growth in one go.

However, who would have expected that his level to be supressed in the sixth trial too. Simon could tell that the sixth trial was a little similar to the first trial at a glance in that it was the snow brushing past his body that was chipping away his strength.

Nevertheless, it was different. The sixth trail was called the snow lands and it had different rules and objectives. In this trial, he had to kill the Abomination to clear it. However, how could it be so easy to clear the sixth trial?

The trail from this point on would only get more dangerous where it would not be unusual to lose his life. He cannot make a single mistake. If it was him from a few years ago, he had no doubt that he would directly rush towards the enemy without considering anything else.

However, time and experience had changed him. He was much more level headed now. The first thing he did was not the search for the enemy but to search for a base. Any challenger who had passed the first trial would know that the special restriction that the trail warned about was the snow.

The more one is exposed to the falling snow, the faster your level goes down. A simple solution to this was to avoid the snow. That said, it was not possible to avoid it even if one uses magic. Be it if its fire magic, earth or any other magic. The special snow can bypass all magic.

The challengers can only rely on the natural terrain to hide from the snow. Simon had to find a shelter before anything else.

Fortunately, it wasn't too hard to find a shelter. He quickly spotted an empty cave and used it as a shelter to hide from the snow. After a while, his level returned back to normal. Simon aligned his back onto the cave walls and stared at the notification.

Although the sixth trial looked like all the other trials he had faced up until now in essence, there were certain things that made him frown. Firstly the time limit, it was four days. It was unknown how big the snowland was and where the enemy he needed to defeat was located.

As such, it was hard to say if the time limit was short or long. It might be his personal feeling or just some intuition, but Simon felt like the time limit was supposed to be more tha four days but for some reason, it was only four now.

Secondly, the name of the enemy he needed to defeat sounded very familiar to him.

"Is this Abomination the same one" Simon muttered. The Abomination he had in mind was the terrifying experimental subject he had encountered in the third trial. He had seen the creature in the Historia and knew that it was very strong. So strong that the past him wouldn't even dare to challenge it.

There was a huge difference in levels between them at that time. And since the Historia wasn't complete, Simon did not know what happened of the powerful experimental subject and the children that were in that facility.

If this Abomination was the same Abomination he had witnessed in that facility, the battle would be quite tough. Other than that fact, there was also the thing about the Sixth trial being an open space and there being other challengers.

"44 huh... if it also includes me, that means there are 43 other challengers in the sixth trial. Does the Open Space mean that we will come into contact with each other if we want to defeat the enemy?"

 It never occurred to Simon that there might be more challengers tackling the forbidden grounds than him. It was mainly because finding this place was very difficult, one needed the Coordinator to enter this space.

 Aside from that fact, one also needed to be chosen by the Master of this place to enter the trails. He knew the last fact because Lucine had told him. she also told him that it was very difficult for a person to get the recognition of the master of the Forbidden Grounds.

The reason why Simon got it was because there were many unique things about him but he mainly believed it was due to the Fragments of Pride. If he was chosen because he possessed the Fragments of Pride, didn't it mean that the other party also had something unique within them.

Perhaps the holder of other fragments.

 Simon did not believe that all the other 43 challengers were all chosen by the master of the space. After all, one can also bring their companion and subordinates with them inside the trial. It was something that he realised long ago.

As long as one had the transit crystal they can come inside the space of the forbidden grounds and enter the trial along with the challenger. Even Simon could bring his comrades with him.

If there were other challengers, naturally they could too. As for how to get the transit rocks, a bountiful of it is rewarded after every successful trial clearance.

The presence of the other challengers made the Sixth trial even more complex, with new variables. Other than that there was also the Finger of Ozymandias.

"Why now of all times? Could it be that there is something in this trial that is resonating with the Finger of Ozymandias?"

Ever since he appeared in the snow lands, he could feel like the curse energy inside the finger was going out of control. He could see the traces of curse energy coming out of his space ring. This was even after he subdued the finger using the [Dominator Control] technique that Irene had taught him.

What was going on? Why were there so many unknown variables in the sixth trial?

Simon observed the Finger of Ozymandias for a long time and saw that there was no other reaction. Since that was the case, he could only put the thought in the back of his head and focus on how to deal with the current situation.

The Open Space made him uneasy, the other challengers had already arrived here before him. What if they defeat the abomination before him? Would it still count as him passing the trial?

Although the notification did say that the reward would be counted from individual actions, Simon had no intention of giving the other challengers a chance to defeat the Abomination.

Of course, if the challengers were more powerful than him or if the abomination was the abomination he had in mind, then it would be whole other thing. Or else, Simon wasn't going to back down easily. At the very least he had to be the one to deal the enemy the last hit.

Making his resolve, Simon dived out of the cave. Unfurling his large pair of demonic wings, he tore through the sky at a high speed and observed his surroundings.

Just as he had expected the place was extremely vast, and the entire land was covered in snow. White snow greeted his eyes everywhere he looked. It was very hard to make any sense of direction of where one was going in a place like this.

 Even the [Mental Map] skill that Simon relied on for navigation was no use here. He wasn't surprised after all, it was the same case on the other trials too.

Then the visibility of the place was very low too. The snowlands was devastated by a huge snow storm all year round, even for Simon who was a Demon Earl, it was hard to see more than a couple dozen meters around him. So one could imagine would happen of other people.

"How early the other challengers came before me? Could it be that they already located the target?"

Anxious, Simon continued to fly at a high speed while maintaining a low altitude. His body was battered by the snow and his level dropped visibly. However, he continued his pace and surveyed his surroundings.

He was not worried about losing his way because he had placed an item back inside his cave. The item was called Harmony Stones and was another joke item that he had drawn from the [Ga??????]. This item had no other use than being used for navigation.

The only unique aspect of the Harmony stone is that one can break the pieces of the stone and the pieces will always locate the other pieces no matter the distance.