Chapter 115: The Second Trial
Right after that, the ancient Conch monster suddenly rushed through the portal, staring at Lilith with a wary face and warning, "Outsider, the island where the lighthouse stands strictly forbids any infiltration by Eldritch forces. Please take this Succubus and leave immediately."
Kevin waved his hand with a smile. "Sorry, I just need to say a few words to her."
The ancient Conch monster hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "Don’t let it happen again."
It slowly turned around and slipped back through the portal.
Lilith watched the ancient Conch monster leave, finally letting out a sigh of relief. "Are you trying to get me killed?"
Kevin looked at her expression and chuckled. "Even you get scared?"
Lilith shot Kevin a glare. "Don’t underestimate that thing. I can’t beat it. The fact that you’re still here means you must have passed his trial, right?"
Kevin nodded.
Lilith suddenly got an excited look on her face. "You really passed it? Then did you get his treasure? Sell it to me. I’ll pay top dollar."
Kevin shook his head. "I can sell it to you, but not right now."
He held up the other two treasure maps in his hand.
Seeing that, Lilith got even more excited. "You’ve got two more?"
Kevin put the maps away and smiled. "Do me a favor. Next time I find treasure, I’ll trade with you."
With that, Kevin leaned in close to Lilith’s ear and whispered his plan.
The more Lilith heard, the wider her eyes got. When Kevin stepped back, she stared at him and said, word by word, "You’re way too evil."
Lilith raised her hand and summoned patches of plants.
The empty ground where the statue had stood was soon covered with brand new fruit.
Next, Kevin quickly scanned the outline of the statue.
Using the stone blocks stored in his Mechanical Kingdom, he carved a brand new statue that looked exactly the same, one to one.
When Lilith saw Kevin put the fake statue back in its place, she casually pulled out a magic crystal and set it into the statue’s chest.
Soon, the magic crystal gave off a silvery-white moonlight.
The moonlight fell on the fruits Lilith had planted, and they quickly gave off a tempting smell.
Kevin sniffed the air and said approvingly, "Not bad. Even I feel like taking a bite. When they get here, they’ll definitely fight over them."
Lilith rolled her eyes at his words. "Eating those fruits will give you diarrhea for three days and three nights. You’re seriously too evil."
Kevin spread his hands. "If I didn’t have a revenge to take care of, they wouldn’t be eating fruits that just give them diarrhea."
"Revenge?" Lilith’s ears perked up at those words. "Tell me what grudge you have. Maybe I can help you deal with it."
Kevin shot her a look. "Mind your own business."
"Such a stingy man." Lilith clicked her tongue and reminded him, "I’m not doing this favor for free. Next time you find a treasure, you have to summon me right away."
Lilith turned and stepped into the portal.
Kevin tidied up the footprints on the grassland, making it look like no one had ever been there.
Then he summoned three Serpent Form Mist Phantoms and had them hide around the grass.
Only then did he feel satisfied and leave the treasure site.
Not long after Kevin left, two groups arrived at the lake in the middle of the dense forest at the same time.
Franky and Nami watched the Black Knight Aaron warily.
Justin glared at Joseph and Bella, still not planning to stand with his own companions.
The Black Knight Aaron stepped forward first and said loudly, "Did any of you see other people just now?"
"Other people?" Franky and Nami exchanged a look and quickly realized that the Black Knight Aaron was probably talking about Kevin and his group.
Nami asked with confusion, "You didn’t run into them either? They should have arrived a few hours before us."
Hearing that, Keston frowned slightly and turned to Bella. "Check Stephanie’s location."
Bella took out her coin and sensed it.
Soon, her expression changed. She said softly, "I can feel that Stephanie is right beneath us."
"How is that possible?" Joseph looked around, his face full of disbelief.
The Black Knight Aaron rubbed his chin and slowly turned his gaze to the lake.
He looked at his own reflection on the water, and a thought suddenly struck him. "What if they’re under this lake?"
The Black Knight Aaron picked up a rock and threw it hard into the lake.
With a splash, he frowned deeply. "This lake is very deep. Maybe there really is something down there."
As soon as he finished speaking, bubbles began to rise from the surface of the lake.
Then, the ancient Conch monster poked its head out again.
It blew out countless bubbles, which bent the light around them, and pulled all the Survivors by the lake into an illusion space.
When everyone came to their senses, they suddenly felt something crunching beneath their feet.
Franky looked down and saw that the ground was made of bones, covered in large stains of blood.
That sight scared Franky out of his wits.
Some of the weaker Survivors started screaming loudly. Bella hugged Keston so tightly she didn’t dare look down.
[Sanity -5]
[Sanity -5]
[Sanity -5]
Just from the visual shock alone, some of the weaker-willed Survivors had already begun to go mad.
They flailed their arms and ran around in panic.
Soon, the ground beneath them started to squirm.
Just like what Kevin and his group had experienced, the bone-covered ground began to rise and fall, and quickly formed a giant human face.
The huge face twisted into an Eldritch smile, then opened its massive mouth wide, ready to devour the Survivors.
"Mommy, help! What kind of monster is this?"
"This is terrifying! It’s scarier than any horror movie I’ve ever seen."
"Why did I even come to this island? I must be crazy."
"Someone save me! Please, anyone, help me!"
The Survivors wailed, but no one came to their aid.
Among the crowd, Keston summoned tentacles and tied Bella to his back.
Then he wove the tentacles into a pair of wings, and the two of them flew up into the sky.
The brothers Joseph and Justin both activated their [Resonance Amplification] Talent.
They kept moving their feet, and whenever they had a chance, they attacked the Eldritch face.
Because they were strong, the Eldritch face let out pained screams from time to time.
As for the Black Knight Aaron, he had already spread his bat wings again.
Hovering in midair, he frowned at the giant face below and shouted, "Everyone calm down! This is the guardian’s trial."
The Black Knight Aaron let out a roar. "Spear, come to me!"
The moment he said that, a medieval knight’s lance appeared in his hand.
The whole lance was eight meters long.
The Black Knight Aaron pointed the spearhead down, dropped from the sky, and stabbed straight into the Eldritch face’s right eye.
With a sharp clang, the spear tip sank into the Eldritch face, and terrifying blood sprayed out.
At the same time, the giant Eldritch face suddenly burst into wild laughter.
Then, the Black Knight Aaron felt the ground loosen beneath his feet. The huge face began to break apart into thousands of different small faces.
These small faces opened their bloody mouths wide, baring their fangs, and swarmed toward the Black Knight Aaron, ready to tear him apart.
"Get away from me!" The Black Knight Aaron swung his lance, blocking the attacks of the Eldritch faces one after another.
Not far from him, the two brothers Joseph and Justin moved closer together.
They knew they couldn’t hold off so many small Eldritch faces on their own. They had no choice but to trust each other and put their backs to their comrades.
Just then, Franky and Nami rushed over too.
Franky was now wearing a suit of armor, and he kept slashing at the flying Eldritch faces with an energy blade in his hand.
Nami held a long staff, summoning lightning over and over again to drive back the Eldritch faces that charged at her.
For a moment, Franky and Nami, Justin and Joseph, and the Black Knight Aaron formed a triangular battle formation, keeping the fight balanced.
The surviving Survivors all crawled into the center of the triangle.
Their abilities were limited, but they still did their best to attack the Eldritch faces.
Then the Black Knight Aaron noticed Keston in midair.
He saw Keston carrying Bella on his back while she looked completely relaxed, and he got furious. "Joseph! Are you really okay with your woman being carried around by another man?"
The Black Knight Aaron spat and shouted, "Get both of them down here to fight! If we drag this out any longer, we’ll fail the trial and have to go back home empty-handed."
Hearing that, Joseph’s face turned cold.
He glared at Keston in the air and gritted his teeth. "Damn it! Are you two going to keep hugging forever?"
Bella heard the anger in Joseph’s voice and shrank back in fear.
Keston awkwardly let her go, slowly descended, and placed Bella in the center of the formation.
Even then, Keston still spoke up for Bella. "Joseph, I’m warning you. If you dare yell at Bella, I won’t let it slide."
When Joseph heard that, he was so angry he almost twisted his nose off.
But he still needed Keston’s strength, so he took a couple of deep breaths and said through gritted teeth, "Just fight!"
With Keston joining the battle, the balance quickly tipped in their favor.
The swarm of small faces could no longer break through their defense line. They could only keep laughing in a creepy way, using their Whispering Curse to lower everyone’s Sanity.
Those who could still fight were the Survivors with stronger minds.
They endured the drop in Sanity while continuing to fight, and soon got used to the cursed environment.
As for those who couldn’t handle it, their companions knocked them out one by one.
This was a lesson the Survivors had learned after days of Eldritch Entity attacks. The best way to stop someone from going mad from an Eldritch curse was to knock them out and tie them up.
The battle lasted a full thirty minutes.
Finally, the swarm of small Eldritch faces was driven back by the Black Knight Aaron and the others.