The Spider Queen

[Please Note: Your Choice Will Affect How The Rest Of The Trial Progresses]

Sophie carefully read all the lines on the floating wall of green text, but it was the last line in particular that caught her attention.

This was the first time in the trial that she had been presented with a choice at the end of a stage.

Divine powers…

It certainly sounded tempting.

Sophie could still vividly recall the powerful scarlet energy that immediately disintegrated anything it came in contact with.

Even if the divine powers turned out to be the gross yellowish-white mucus that boosted regeneration…

That wouldn't be a bad option either.

But if there was one lesson Sophie had learnt from interacting with the Hunter Goddess was that power always came with a price.

If her strength increased drastically then it was only logical to assume that the difficulty of the trial would also rise as well.

The decision to make was if this gift was truly worth the risk.

Sophie sat down on the soft grass and looked up at the clear blue sky. Fluffy clouds floated merrily along the breeze while the warm rays of the golden sun shone down on her face.

It was a rare moment of peace and tranquility.

Sophie closed her eyes and silently contemplated as the minutes passed by.

There was no time limit urging her to select an option, so she took this opportunity to rest and relax.

She had just spent over two hours battling a twenty-foot-tall god, so it was important to use this time to calm down and think.

There was no way of knowing how exactly the trial would change depending on her choice or perhaps that was the entire point.

Was this a test to separate the brave from the cowardly?

Or was it to separate the calm from the impulsive?

"I… I just want to go home," Sophie sighed heavily as she opened her eyes and glanced at the floating wall of green text.

She got up from the ground and yawned sleepily before walking over to the two options.

[Yes] [No]

Sophie pressed the floating '[Yes]' expressionlessly but her clenched fist that trembled slightly betrayed her inner nervousness.

The wall of green text trembled for a moment and then vanished. There was a brief moment of silence as Sophie remained standing motionlessly.

Bleep! Bleep!

Two loud ringing noises echoed through the quiet forest before new words appeared in front of Sophie.

[Stage 3- Trial Completed]

[Choice Selected…. Divine Godhood]

Boom!

The clear skies instantly darkened to night as an enormous swirling vortex of scarlet energy formed in the center of the small world.

This whirlpool of pure destructive KI disintegrated the nearby trees and rocks until the land was barren and empty.

Sophie's danger sense went haywire as the immense force being emitted from the whirlpool almost brought the hybrid girl to her knees.

A thin translucent beam of white light shot out from the center of the whirlpool and hit Sophie in the middle of her chest.

This mysterious light covered Sophie in a soft but warm embrace.

Divinity and holiness surrounded Sophie's body that would cause any observers to bow down in worship.

This energy was different from the powers granted by the Hunter Goddess.

Channeling the goddess' abilities felt like a powerful surge of adrenaline surging through her body.

It was passionate, deadly, and addicting.

This divine power by contrast felt more like a comfortable blanket gently warming up her insides.

Sophie could sense that the white translucent beam of light was about to completely fuse with her core.

She closed her eyes and prepared for the baptism into godhood.

One minute passed….

Then two minutes….

Then five minutes…

Sophie tentatively opened one eye only to see the translucent beam of light desperately trying to crash into her chest.

There was now an invisible barrier surrounding Sophie's body that prevented the divine light from invading.

All of the energy that had entered Sophie must have been expelled as she could no longer sense the warm comfortable feeling.

Err… was this also part of the trial?

Did she need to break the barrier or something?

Sophie cautiously pushed her hand outwards but did not touch the mysterious barrier as she expected.

This aura shield was akin to a second skin that hovered two inches off her body. No matter how hard Sophie tried, she could no longer bathe in the divine light.

New words formed on the wall of floating green text.

[Error! Error! Error!]

[Attempting Godhood Fusion….]

A much stronger beam of translucent light shot out from the whirlpool. While the previous ray of energy was just a thin strand, this was more like a waterfall of divine power.

Sophie's entire vision filled with white as a powerful tidal wave of divinity crashed into her body.

She closed her eyes once more and waited….

Nothing happened.

[Error! Error! Error!]

[Attempting Godhood Fusion….]

This time the size of the beam tripled in size so that Sophie was nothing more than a mere ant compared to its vast enormity.

Sophie was forced to close her eyes this time as the brilliant white flash was so bright that it would probably make her go blind.

The minutes passed by…

Still nothing.

Five minutes passed before the immense beam gave up for a third time.

Sophie slowly opened her eyes and muttered, "Yeah, I think it's probably safe to assume this isn't working."

[Error! Error! Error!]

[Attempting Godhood Fusion….]

"Wait!" Sophie shouted up at the sky.

The scarlet whirlpool paused as if frozen in time. Even the random tiny sparks of scarlet energy randomly shooting out of the whirlpool hung in mid-air.

Huh… she didn't expect that to work.

Sophie remembered the strange aliens from the room with the stone pods that changed the language settings so she could understand the trial instructions.

Clearly, they had some degree of control over the trial or at the very least could watch her movements.

It was a shot in the dark to try and communicate with them but maybe the error messages had already attracted their attention.

"Why don't I just change my choice to 'No'," Sophie yelled loudly to the creatures monitoring the trial.

[Choice Selected…. Mortal]

There was a crackling noise as a mysterious force sucked the scarlet whirlpool out of the small world.

Sophie almost fell as the ground began to tremble violently and the green text changed for the last time.

[Beginning Teleportation To The Final Stage…]

It was the last thing she saw before the world shattered into pieces.