Chapter 28 - Solomon
The first trial for the holy ground was never easy. However, these young men and women decided to strive for their fate. Many have fallen already, but many more kept battling for glory and riches.
In the south of the trial grounds was the group of Erin Voldor, a mighty army of awakeners that worked together to pass this trial. Their families were allies for many years; that's why this team shared a good bond between them. Individual selfishness was unquestionably common, but they worked in a competitive environment under Erin's leadership.
A duo that headed toward the east looking for a specific person also had rumors flying around them. They were named the fairy and the cripple. From what the tales have gathered, they were looking for someone who would gain the rare Saint insignia. Although no one was able to yet, they were talking to the candidates for some reason.
The northern area was mainly a forbidden one due to the people residing in it. Everyone feared that area because inhabitants of that area tamed a powerful monsters' army.
They were advancing toward the central tower, preparing for a major scheme of taming the high-tier monsters the trial summoned at the end of each round.
The west was the most bizarre as a part of the land was dyed black. The high-tier monster that had appeared at the beginning of the first round has been slain. What was more bizarre is that this black land would kill or harm whoever stepped on it.
Those who've seen the battle were shivering at the sight of a single man taking down a three-headed lion by himself. The destruction of this land has witnessed looked like it would last forever.
This space was not the only one to exist as other grounds for the first trial took place elsewhere. However, the result of this trial ground was the most anticipated because of the characters participating. Major powers clashed in a mini-war in this trial as each tried to strive for supremacy over the others.
In the midst of all of this chaos and ambitions, hidden deep underground in a room with no exits, a wounded, unrelated person opened his eyes.
***
His wounded body felt better, but the wound would still hurt if he moved. Arthur was reminded again of his failure and – almost – death. His legacy had fed him so much confidence that he started to rely on it entirely, thinking of himself as the chosen one who wouldn't perish.
This failure has reminded him of the following simple fact. Legacies could be lost, and they would bind to other Legacy users.
As he tried to sit up, the old man that had saved him turned his head in Arthur's direction. The wound hurt like hell, but he needed to drink water. Arthur opened the container at his waist and gulped two times before closing it; water was essential right now.
He couldn't drink to his heart content. He then looked at the person who saved him, and despite not knowing his motives, he opened his mouth to thank him.
"Thank you for saving me." Arthur's voice was still hoarse due to his thirst, and it hurt his throat to speak. The old man looked at him and nodded before opening his mouth as well.
"My name is Solomon."
"Mine is Arthur."
"Arthur… If you're grateful, then help me."
'I knew there was something. No free lunch in this world, and that's how I like it. No debts and no guilts.' Arthur thought to himself and nodded.
"What do you want? For me to get you out of that wall? I'm not the best for the job, you see." Arthur felt his throat drying, and he had problems speaking, so he took another mouthful of water.
"No… the rest of my body has long since died. I'm beyond saving. The reason I'm still half-alive is that I'm absorbing the mana in the soil."
"…How long have you been here?" Arthur asked, intrigued. Solomon looked at him in silence like he was making a rough estimate.
"Probably… A hundred years or so." The answer shocked Arthur to his core. A hundred years living here? He didn't know if he can remain sane, staying alone in the same place while being tied to a wall. Arthur didn't know how to ask him or what to ask him exactly. All he wanted to know was how did he last this long. As if reading his mind, Solomon answered.
"I'm still here because there's someone I need to save. Or… something I need to kill." As Arthur looked at Solomon, he realized why his eyes seemed so lifeless. This man was dead. He had no sense of self anymore, merely a single desire that had kept him hanging to life. As long as he fulfilled it, he would be gone.
"What is it that you need me to do?"
"… Thank you. All this time, I guided the goblin ants to dig these tunnels to alter the teleportation circle that exists underground."
"You guided the ants?"
"Yes… not directly, of course. I influenced their queen's mind to give commands."
"Okay. I won't ask how, but what do you mean by a teleportation circle?"
"… It's a mana path created using these tunnels and their mana-rich soil. This circle's job is to guide the teleportation happening in this trial. It would bring you here as well as summoning the queen to the trial grounds above, after the end of the sixth round.
It would be the final peak-high-tier monster on these grounds, called the Dark Queen." Solomon seems to have used too much of his strength to say this as he started panting. However, he continued nonetheless, and Arthur kept listening.
"The monster is cursed, making it go berserk if it ever faces the sun. When it does, there's little hope of stopping it. After each trial, it starts gathering its lifeforce again, in order not to die after it is summoned in the next trial.
That's why… If you attack the monster before it's summoned, there's a much higher chance of killing it. It won't have the time to recover its wounds, and it won't be berserk underground." He was coughing now, dark liquid coming out. It seems his time was slowly approaching.
"Please… kill the monster, rescue it from the endless cycle of suffering, use its mana core to activate the teleportation circle to escape this trial grounds. I made it so that the circle would activate one last time before breaking down.
Everyone would be teleported back to their starting place and this world would disappear forever. No one can stop the monster after it's summoned…"
"You want me to throw my life away?! There's no way I can kill a peak-high-tier monster!" Arthur shouted in a reflex, and he felt like his wounds were reopening. Solomon was coughing, but that didn't mean Arthur would feel sympathetic enough to help him do such a risky business.
"Please, I'll help you. We have been imprisoned in this place for far too long. I tried to defy the world and create a forbidden artifact, but I have failed. Now, all of us suffer here.
Every thirty years, monsters are summoned from the outside world. They are then trapped here until they kill or get killed, what fate is this? Please, I beg you, don't let the person I love suffer any longer. Kill the queen…"
Solomon started puking uncontrollably for a while. Arthur looked with a struggling expression toward a man breathing his last. After a long while, Arthur sighed.
'A debt must be paid.'
"I'll only kill it if I feel like I can. If I see myself getting killed, then I would leave this place." Arthur said after a long while. That was the best he could promise. Solomon stopped vomiting as he breathed roughly and nodded.
"That's more than enough. I know you can do it. This weapon can help you do it." Solomon's mana seeped into the walls, and they started to glow. Arthur saw a single weapon appear under Solomon's head by a meter. It was a single golden dagger radiating holy light. Arthur's gaze went from the blade to Solomon's face.
"Why me? Why do you trust me?"
"Because…" Solomon's voice trailed as it got weaker. With paused in between, he said his last words. "Because… you… look… like… him…" He stopped talking after saying the final word. Arthur's chest tightened for some reason.
He realized it was the first time he saw someone die up close, listening to their last words. He couldn't understand who he meant, but Arthur picked up the dagger and fastened it to his leather belt.
As he looked around, he saw a door had appeared leading upward. Arthur could see the light coming from the end, and he realized it took him to the outside world.