Beyond the gate, there was a large stone corridor. It was lit up by the bright lamps Red had gotten used to seeing in the trial, and it seemed to lead deep into the mountain. He found no decorations along its walls other than the simple markings of the stone bricks.

The boy tried to see what awaited him at the end of this corridor, but the passage stretched beyond what his vision could see.

Red frowned.

‘This again?’

His curiosity over these endless corridors had long since faded away. Now he began to wonder why the creator of this place needed to make everything so long. There was no point in complaining, though.

Red took a deep breath and walked down the corridor.

The boy focused on his surroundings, expecting the next trial to have begun without his knowledge. Nothing of the sort happened, and to his surprise, the long corridor did eventually have an end.

Red arrived in a large circular room. There was nothing of note in the place, other than a large spiral stone staircase carved along the walls of the room. The steps looked quite crude, and there were no railings along its length. He had a hard time coming to terms with the fact a cultivator had built this. Still, that was the only type of person who could carve out a mountain, though.

The boy looked up, hoping to spot where the stairs led, but all he saw above him was an endless spiral of steps that extended as far as he could see. Whatever the next trial entailed, it seemed as if it would lead him straight to the apex of the mountain. Before climbing the stairs, though, Red looked around, hoping to spot any tracks or signs that someone else came through this place.

There was nothing, though. He sighed and started running up the stairs.

…

Even with his improved speed, it didn’t feel like he was making any progress.

After ten minutes passed with Red running without pause, the ground below had become nothing more than a tiny speck in his eyes. Yet, when he looked above, the boy could still see no end to the stairs.

Red was forced to slow down as he sensed the extra energy in his body run thin. Eventually, though, he spotted some kind of ceiling above him, as well as an opening that the stairs led to.

The boy pushed himself over this last leg of his journey, afraid that he was too far behind. As he got close to the end, though, Red started to hear something.

‘Someone’s fighting.’

Who was it? Rickard? The imperials? Reinhart?

The boy couldn’t tell, but he slowed down as he got closer to the end of the stairs.

‘What do I do?’

Only now did Red realize how ill-equipped he was for a figh. He had lost his cleaver and his bow, had used up all his talismans, and had no weapons left other than a knife, the purple arrow-head, and a few empowerment pills. Granted, even with all those items, the boy would still be hard pressed to win against any of those people in a fight. Without them, though, he simply had no hope.

‘I need to wait for my chance.’

The boy continued to ascend as the noises of battle got closer. It sounded like metal clashing against metal, which made the boy question whether they were fighting amidst themselves.

Once he got higher up the stairs, though, his crimson sense detected a handful of fast moving fluctuations. There were three of them - one of which seemed to be in the Lesser Ring Realm - and all of which belonged to humans.

A couple of names flashed across Red’s mind.

Rickard and the imperials.

Other than those fluctuations, though, the boy felt nothing more. This left him confused.

‘Are they fighting with each other?’

Red didn’t know for sure, so he continued to approach. Finally, he reached the last section of stairs leading up to an opening in the ceiling. The boy could see the dark abyssal sky overhead that laid atop of the mountain, which told him that this opening led to the outside world.

Red carefully approached the opening before trying to see what was going on outside.

These stairs seemed to lead up to an open-air platform, surrounded by tall and sharp stone walls on all sides. The boy couldn’t see much around him, though, as a lot of large rocks spread around the platform were blocking his vision.

‘No, that’s not right.’

Red examined said ‘rocks’ closer. He noticed they resembled broken statues of monsters, similar to the lion he had seen at the foot of the mountain. These statues were shattered in countless parts, though, with marks of charring and weapons, and there were more of them than he could count.

The boy quickly connected the pieces as to what had been happening above his head.

Red walked even further out of the opening, hiding behind one of these large rocks as he examined his surroundings. On the other side of this platform, he saw the three individuals whose fluctuations he had detected.

Two of them were sporting armor similar to the imperials he saw earlier, as they wielded a longsword each, which were glowing with a golden light. It was a man and a woman, both of whom had blonde hair and were far taller than the local folk of Bestrem. They each carried themselves like soldiers, and their general build left no doubt as to their identity.

In fact, Red could even recognize one of them. It was the man he and Allen had stalked and stolen from in town.

The remaining one, whom the boy assumed was Rickard, was wearing simpler leather armor, and was wielding a spear. He also wore a dark hood and mask around his head, which didn’t allow Red to discern much of his appearance. Yet, from what the boy could see, he looked much younger than what he had been expecting.

Their opponent was a large creature made of stone. It stood on two legs, looking quite humanoid in appearance. However, that was as far as similarities went. It had a large and distorted body, with a large belly and muscular arms and legs, that ended in large claws. It also had a monstrous head and horns, looking similar to the crimson demon Red had fought earlier.

Yet, despite its movements and expression, it was not a living creature, but rather a construct, as Red learned. It was why he couldn’t detect its fluctuation as he approached.

The demon construct also seemed on the verge of collapsing.

Rickard circled around the creature, moving faster than any cultivator Red had seen before. The construct tried to strike at him, but the man had no issues dodging its attacks. He dove back as the stone beast tried to claw him down, and in the same movement, stabbed forward with his spear.

A pale green energy gathered at the tip of his spear as he attacked. Then, once the weapon clashed against the construct’s side, an explosion of wind blades happened. Countless shards of stone shattered off the being’s body as a huge chunk of its frame disappeared.

‘Spiritual Arts.’

This was the first time Red had ever seen one in person, and he couldn’t help but stare at it in awe. The creature didn’t seem to feel pain, though, as it continued to attack Rickard. The bandit leader, however, had already retreated with surprising swiftness before the construct could even spot him.

“Do it now!” Rickard shouted in an authoritative and hoarse voice.

The surrounding imperials moved.

The female imperial took out a talisman before shouting a few words out, before her companion dashed forward with his glowing sword. The man’s weapon struck against the construct’s leg as another explosion of golden light and stone flew off.

At the same time, the woman waved her talisman in the monster’s direction. A wind blade formed in front of her before shooting towards the construct.

It clashed directly against its chest, as an even bigger explosion of detritus occurred. A cloud of dust formed around the battlefield, and a few seconds later, a thud echoed through the platform.

When the dust cleared, Red saw it. The last construct had collapsed, unmoving, with the upper half of its body completely missing.

The boy didn’t even have time to consider interfering in the fight before it was over.

The imperials gave out a sigh of relief while Rickard examined his surroundings.

“Is that all?” the bandit leader asked.

“It should be.” the male imperial nodded. “From here on out, you shouldn’t find any more resistance until the end of the trial.”

“Good.” Rickard said, stowing away his spear on his back. “Then you should wait here while I finish this.”

The female imperial frowned. “Wait here? This wasn’t the deal you made with our captain.”

“Your captain isn’t here.” Rickard glared at them with emotionless eyes. “Besides, there are still some insects you need to take care of.”

As the man said that, he looked over at the exact spot Red was hiding at.

The boy felt a shiver run down his spine. He tried to hide behind the rocks, but he knew it was too late.

“What do you mean by that?” the boy heard the female imperial ask.

“You heard what I said.” Rickard said in a derisive tone. “I thought no one else would be able to make it this far.”

"There’s no way anyone else could have survive-”

“Enough.” Rickard cut the woman off. “Just come out, I’ve already seen you.”

Red knew the man was talking to him, but he didn’t move out of his hiding spot.

“Would you prefer I drag you out myself?” the bandit leader said, this time with a more impatient tone.

The boy sighed. He knew he had no choice.

He stood up and walked out from behind his cover.

The imperials’ expressions twisted in shock as they saw Red.

“This… This isn’t possible.” the female imperial was staring at the boy as if she had seen a ghost.

“I know you.” Rickard said as he gazed at Red. “You’re part of that Water Dragon sect in town, aren’t you? You and your friends have been killing quite a few of my men over the last few months.”

“How did you spot me?” the boy asked.

The bandit pointed at his eyes. “I have a special technique I learned in my army days. It was taught to Lesser Ring Realm cultivators exactly so we could spot hiding cockroaches like you.” he lowered his hand. “What about the rest of my men? Have any of them lived?”

Red shook his head. “Maybe a few are hiding around the trial, but most of them died.”

“That’s unfortunate.”

Although Rickard said that, his tone of voice didn’t show any kind of sadness or turmoil at learning this piece of news.

The bandit leader looked over at the imperials. “So? Didn’t you say no one else was ever going to be able to pass those trials?”

The male imperial frowned. “No one should have. Without proper preparation, it should have been nearly impossible to make it to the mountain.”

“And yet, here he is.” Rickard looked over at Red. “A kid, no less. What do you suppose happened?”

The imperial’s expression became even uglier. “… I don’t know.”

“Well, make sure you find out.” Rickard patted the man’s shoulder. “In the meantime, I’ll be finishing up this trial.”

He turned around and walked away without sparing another glance at the imperials or Red. The boy couldn’t see much from his position, but behind all the detritus of the constructs, he saw another set of spiral stairs that seemed to lead up towards the very peak of the mountain.

Before long, Rickard had disappeared from view as he ascended the staircase.

Red was now left alone, facing two imperials who were staring at him with murderous eyes.