The number of ghost soldiers had increased significantly. So much so that they looked more like an undead horde heading straight towards Adrian.
The only difference was that, unlike usual undead, they weren’t slow or weak to be dealt with in one attack. Moreover, they were immune to pain and showed no signs of slowing down despite being mowed down by Adrian and Fenris.
However, Adrian still dove head-first into the ever-spawning horde. Thankfully, he had an ace up his sleeve.
Instead of defending, Adrian solely focused on fighting the enemies, not paying attention to his injuries. After all, as long as he had the troll’s blood, nothing these pipsqueaks did would cause him mortal harm.
On the other hand, Alia, A’Mila, Sophia, Seraphina, and Vesper rushed to Adrian’s aid, their weapons drawn for battle. But as they launched their attacks against the ghost soldiers, they were t with a stern warning by the system.
[Do not interfere with the punishnt assigned to a User.]
[Further attempts to interfere with the trial will be dealt with harshly.]
Despite the warning, the girls were ready to fight. However, before they could approach Adrian, an invisible barrier surrounded Adrian and the Ghost soldiers, stopping the rest from interfering any further. Even Fenris was thrown out of the barrier.
They didn’t stop and tried to break through the barrier but soon realised it was impossible. No matter how hard they tried, their blows simply bounced off, powerless against the magic that held them back.
"The barrier won’t budge," Seraphina comnted.
"But we have to help him-" Sophia urged but was cut off by Alia.
"There’s no point in arguing," she said. "If it’s been decided by the entities, then there’s nothing we can do about it."
The girls knew it was true even though they didn’t want to admit it. The best thing they could do now is trust Adrian. That’s when Vesper noticed sothing.
"Why is that brat smiling?" she mumbled, pointing at Adrian. "...he’s got sothing on his mind, doesn’t he?"
"We were worried about nothing," A’Mila rolled her eyes, sitting beside the barrier. "Might as well just sit back and enjoy the show."
"He’s about to use that move of his," Alia sighed in relief, looking at Sophia. "You know, the one he used in the dungeon to kill the smaller chimaeras."
Like Alia expected, the barrier was ant to keep others out, but had inadvertently beco a tool for Adrian to use to his advantage. The next mont, he sliced open his forearms, letting his blood seep through the wounds and into the air.
As the crimson mist filled the barrier, Adrian unleashed his ability, [Blood Mist]. It didn’t take long for the fog to spread within the barrier. Within monts, the ghost soldiers began to falter.
They might be called ghost soldiers, but even though they couldn’t feel any pain, they were alive in a twisted way. Adrian still noticed that it took longer for the poison to work on them, probably because the ghost soldiers were sothing in between the dead and the living.
However, things got weirder the following mont. The soldiers, who couldn’t feel any pain even when they were torn in half, suddenly began yelling at the top of their lungs and scratching themselves.
It almost felt like Adrian’s blood was like acid to them, and they kept screaming and scratching their body.
"That’s... weird."
Adrian noticed the exchange, but he couldn’t analyse it in ti, and the next mont, the soldiers were dead. The second wave was cleared.
The round had been cleared, but the barrier remained. However, no new challengers approached. Adrian was a bit weirded out by it as he had also hoped to use the fog for the upcoming rounds.
Unfortunately, his plans went nowhere as a notification appeared before him.
[Due to the User’s unexpected strength, the next round will take place after 23:49:21 hours.]
[Please be prepared for the next two rounds.]
[The final round will take place in 17:49:16 hours.]
Adrian was still reading the notifications when the barrier began dissipating out of nowhere. He had to hastily cancel his skill to avoid harming the others.
"...this weird piece of shit system," Adrian cursed under his breath before turning to face the girls, who had just as many questions as he did.
***
A few minutes later...
"Makes sense why it was called your punishnt," Seraphina sighed after Adrian explained what little he knew about the curse.
"So... what happened today will happen again?" Alia asked. "Also, why did they attack if they were after you in the beginning?"
Adrian shrugged, "That’s what I’m wondering. They were supposed to be only after , as you all noticed. It wouldn’t make sense for them to attack you first."
"Whatever it is, we need to be careful," A’Mila chid in. "There’s no saying how else this... system, as you call it, would co and ss with us again."
Adrian knew A’Mila was correct. He wasn’t given any warning about the attack, and if it had not been for Fenris, he’d have probably slept through the attack.
Moreover, Adrian felt it was more than just the system’s doing. After all, he was sure actual monsters were supposed to attack him, at least according to the wording of the curse, and not so possessed beings that looked more human than anything else.
However, he didn’t want to trouble the girls with his theories until he had actual proof of his claims.
Also, it was unlike the system to stop and change the quest like it did before. Adrian was confident that he was supposed to fight through five waves at once rather than over the span of days, as ntioned in the quest.
’Sothing is off... why do I feel like it has sothing to do with so entity? Could it be Hera?’
Now that Adrian considered it, soone like her had the motive and position of the higher entity to make it happen.
’She’s known for being petty, but why would she resort to sneaky tactics when she already has all the power to make my life miserable?’
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