Nameless King

When Wain activated the amulet, the space near the cloud began to distort. Wain moved the amulet to the Ring of Damned and prepared for battle.

After a few seconds, a stone cube appeared in the air. Wain was surprised. He didn't understand what was going on. Moreover, this cube was hidden behind space. Wain had never seen anything like it before.

"What am I supposed to do now?" Wain muttered as he looked at the cube. However, after a few seconds, space began to distort in many places around the cloud.

This continued until the number of cubes reached thirty.

Crackling.

Each of the cubes turned toward Wain the next moment, and a certain symbol lit up on their front. Wain thought it was an enemy attack, but then the symbols changed. A few seconds later, the process repeated itself.

"In the last area of Purgatory, I went through several trials first. It seems to be the same this time. However, I don't understand what needs to be done. The symbols on the cubes are some kind of code or riddle, but I don't know how it works." Said Wain warily, looking at the cubes.

Whoooosh.

Then the number 10 appeared on the cubes, then 9, and the number gradually got smaller. It was a countdown, and Wain had time to solve this riddle before zero appeared on the cubes.

'It was some kind of sequence, but it looks like I need to destroy one cube to break the chain. It's the only logical option. But, I have no idea which cube out of all of them was extra.' Wain thought, and the number 3 appeared on the cubes.

There wasn't much time left, so Wain put his hand out in front, and his gauntlet glowed. Then a white beam of energy flew out of it and struck one of the cubes. However, this attack didn't even leave a scratch on the cube.

"Shit!" Wain exclaimed as the number 0 appeared on the cubes.

The next moment yellow rays flew out of them, instantly reaching Wain. He managed to jump up at the last moment and dodge each of the beams. Then the symbols reappeared on the cubes.

Wain could not allow the cubes to attack again, as half of the cloud was destroyed. Next time, Wain would have nothing to stand on and fall into the abyss.

Wain waved his hand, and a dark sword appeared beside him. The weapon flew like black lightning toward the cubes, but the sword could not cut through the mechanisms. Wain hoped that one of the cubes would be correct, so he kept trying but only managed to check half of the cubes.

Then dozens of beams flew toward Wain again. He could no longer afford to dodge or risk falling into the void.

Wain snapped his finger, and a dark sword appeared in his hand. He concentrated and masterfully blocked and repelled most of the rays. However, two of the rays managed to wound him, inflicting shallow wounds on his shoulder and leg.

However, Wain didn't just block the rays. He also reflected them. One of the rays accidentally flew into the cube, and the mechanism was destroyed. One tenth of its former size was left of the cloud Wain was standing on, but he wasn't worried. He understood what had to be done.

'Not even a dark sword can cut through these cubes, yet their beams are powerful enough to do so. Instead of looking for one vulnerable cube out of thirty, I can use their power against themselves.' Wain thought, and a sign of lightning appeared on his chest.

The next moment he jumped high and fell on one of the cubes. Over the last two attacks, Wain managed to figure out that the cubes would not attack him until the countdown had passed. They were programmed to act this way.

Wain stood on the cube and waited for the counting end. When it did, each cube looked at Wain, and beams flew out of them. He smirked and jumped on the next cube and then another. That was Wain's plan.

As he ran, the cubes destroyed each other, and in the end, there were only two cubes left that destroyed themselves. Wain could not solve the cipher and the sequence, but he was always looking out other ways.

If he couldn't handle the cubes by the rules of this challenge, he decided to make up his own rules.

Whooosh.

Before the last cube was eliminated, Wain jumped aside and landed on the rest of the cloud.

Suddenly the Ring of Damned glowed brightly, but Wain did not use the ring. It was because of the amulet inside, which had come out of space on its own and appeared in Wain's hands.

The amulet glowed brightly and exploded in an instant. Wain received no wounds, but a large amount of energy erupted from the amulet, which gradually transformed into a glass bridge.

It was unexpected, but Wain knew that he was going in the right direction. The bridge wasn't just allowing him to move to the next cloud. It was pointing upward and guiding Wain to the second floor. He would not have been able to jump in on his own.

'If I could fly, I wouldn't have had to expend so much strength and energy. Moreover, this was only the first cloud. I have many more challenges ahead of me.' Thought Wain and stepped onto the bridge.

'Hmm, interesting. Is there a watcher in this zone? This place looks something like the previous one, but it's actually different here. Perhaps there is here. At least I don't see one.' Thought Wain looking around.

Then his view was obstructed by fog, and he had to go through three trials to find his way to Agnes. This time, however, the situation was not so straightforward.

Wain glanced at the layer of clouds and muttered, "Perhaps the observer is up there? But, is there a man here comparable in strength to Forgotten? If I don't get a good fight, I'll be disappointed."

...

The next cloud was much larger than the last. It was perfectly round like a disk. There were no bookcases on the cloud but plenty of books scattered on the floor.

Wain frowned. He didn't want to read every book again to find his way to the next cloud.

"I guess there's no other option," Wain said with a frown and bent down to pick up the book.

However, when he touched the book, it suddenly glowed brightly and came into motion. Then the same thing happened to the others. They swirled around like a whirlwind and gradually turned into something.

"Great, looks like I won't get bored this time." Proclaimed Wain was looking at the huge creature in front of him.

It was a massive golem whose body consisted entirely of books. Given the circumstances, such an opponent was not unusual.

Wain decided to use one of his most powerful skills at once. He put his hand forward, and a few seconds later, there was a white, round bullet in his palm. Then Wain threw the bullet as hard as he could at the golem.

He knew that the recoil would be severe, but he made the throw with his right hand, protected by the Zombie Glove. The glove and minor scratches would recover pretty quickly, so Wain could afford to make several throws if necessary.

The bullet instantly reached the book golem, and the monster's head was destroyed. However, the books next to the golem flew into the air and just restored its wound.

'Damn, a major enemy with good regeneration is always quite problematic.' Thought Wain and rushed towards the golem.

His sword had a corrosive and freezing effect. He would destroy parts of the golem and thus gradually defeat his opponent. There were hundreds of books lying around the golem, and Wain was not sure he could destroy them all. The golem would not let him do that.

Bam.

The golem brought his massive fist down on Wain, destroying a part of the cloud. However, Wain managed to dodge at the last moment and turned around and cut the golem's arm in two. The books were immediately frozen and began to melt as if under the influence of acid.

However, the golem was not such an easy opponent that Wain could trounce it. The multitude of books on the monster's body glowed brightly, and a second later, dozens of rays flew out of it in all directions.

Wain could not dodge because there were no safe zones. So he had to block the rays. He had no problem with this task, but the rays did not stop flying out of the books. Moreover, the golem stepped forward and kicked Wain.

Wain's eyes sparkled, and he jumped sharply aside, but he didn't have time to calculate the trajectory, and one of the beams grazed his leg. Wain frowned and moved away from the golem.

Only after a minute did the light beams stop shooting out of the golem's body. In that time, Wain had repelled more than a hundred attacks, and he was a little tired. Wain realized that it could be a critical wound if the beam hit him in the chest.

Whooosh.

The lightning sign on Wain's chest shone brightly, and he turned into a blue flash. Wain began furiously inflicting many deep cuts on the golem, gradually bringing the monster closer to death.

The golem tried to recover, but it could not keep up with Wain's speed. He acted quickly, confidently, and deadly. Wain could not detect weaknesses in his enemy, so he decided to attack at dozens of points at once.

After a while, the golem realized that it could no longer try to defend itself against Wain's attacks, so the monster decided to use its trump card.

Whooosh.

Suddenly all the books next to the golem went up and opened. Wain reacted instantly and bounced aside. He thought it was another energy ray attack. But, suddenly, the books swirled around the golem, like a vortex.