Chapter 25: Intellect Over Endurance

Inside a shaggy tent in the middle of a forest, a bandaged Rohan was starting to regain consciousness.

"Argh, w-where am I?"

He sits up and holds his head, wincing in pain as he recalls the incident that transpired which led to his current condition.

Rohan clenched his trembling fists, releasing his aura of rage.

He planned on having his brother return to Retina with him so he could face his crimes.

"That mad man is loose out there and it's all my fault."

Rohan managed to eventually calm down a bit as his aura disappeared.

"Caww!!"

He hears the cawing of a bird from outside the tent and decides to check it out.

As he steps outside the tent he sees a rainbow-colored bird flying towards him and spots an old man trailing not too far behind.

"Huhuhu. It seems the youngin has finally awakened, Sheba."

"Woah!"

Ace and co. have completed their first trial in the Aquarius crypt and await the final test.

They were currently walking in a vast hall that depicts numerous hieroglyphics.

"I've never seen anything like this!"

Maggie's eyes shone brightly as she admires and caresses the pictures on the walls.

Any historian would pay a fortune just to witness the sight in front of Maggie.

"This is paradise!" She exclaims as she continues to caress the wall.

"If you are finished geeking out, we have a crypt to clear."

Maggie ignored Rex's comment and began to sketch the hieroglyphics on her journal as they continued walking through the long corridor.

"Huff. huff. This damn place goes on forever!"

The crew has been walking through the corridor for several hours now and there has been no sign of any end.

"Food, so hungry. " Conroy cried out from the back of Pale.

"Hey! how come you get a piggyback ride from the big guy?"

"Water, so thirsty." Conroy didn't pay heed to the thief as he cries out on the back of the bulky man.

Rex scoffs at his teammate as he wipes off the sweat from his face.

"Stay strong my peers, we shall emerge victorious over this trial of endurance."

Everyone except for Max and Pale was barely able to catch their breath. How long have they been treading through the long corridor, and how much longer do they have to walk was all they could think about.

"Here you go."

Maggie gave Conroy the water bottle she brought with her before entering the crypt as he chugs it down feeling a bit refreshed in the process.

"Thank you, Lady Maggie, you're a lifesaver."

She blushes a bit as she offers to share the remaining water with the others.

"Nah, I'm good Mags, thanks."

"Same here, this is nothing haha!"

Max and Pale seemed to show no sign of fatigue due to their intensive training.

'We have been walking none stop for over four hours and these two look like they could do this all day without breaking so much as a sweat.'

"Now you see why I call them monsters?"

Maggie chuckles over Rex's comment as he hands her the empty water bottle.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome." She replied with a smile on her face as she puts the bottle away in her backpack.

She brought out her journal and pen once again and began sketching the pictures and symbols on the walls.

"Do you plan on keeping that up till you collapse?"

She didn't pay heed to his remark and simply continued to copy the pictures.

This went on for a while until...

"Ahaa!!!"

"What is it Mags?"

"Come check this out." They all gathered around her as she places her journal on the floor and takes a picture of a page.

"This was the first picture I sketched when we got here."

She then goes on to flip a couple of pages and finally stops to proceed with her explanation.

"This one was copied after our third hour here. notice anything."

Their eyes widened upon examining the two pictures.

"They are the same."

"We have been walking in circles."

"To be precise, this is our second time passing through here. This place is just an endless corridor that goes in a circle and it takes four hours to completely go round it."

"So we have gone around here once. It still doesn't change the fact that we have no way to go."

"Y-you m-m-mean we are stuck here!?" Conroy began to tremble and starts to chew on his fingernails.

"No, it only means that the second trial was not a test of endurance," Pale assured Conroy.

"We've just gotta figure out a way out of here." Max says with a smirk as he pats the trembling archer's shoulder.

"And if there's no door here, we just have to make our own."

He channels his aura and strikes the wall with Killswitch.

"No damage."

"Ack, what is this wall made of?"

"No way." Rex widens his eyes as he touches the wall.

"It's Fellium, all of it."

"A fellium that thick will be impossible to break! we're stuck forever!"

"Can it Mc Shaky pants!" Rex scolds the archer as he turned his attention towards Max.

"Can your Seismic sense search for weak points?"

Max nods his head and places his hand on the wall. Taking a deep breath, he activates his seismic sense.

"Mags, do you have a marker?"

She pulled out a marker and hands it to Max.

He walks over to a section of the wall and draws an X on it.

"There, that's where its weakest"

"Now what Sir Max?"

"Now, we strike it with a coordinated attack, let's give it everything we've got."

"Roger!" They all said in unison.

Maggie, who had experienced firsthand how destructive her clanmates could get, took a few steps back to avoid getting caught up in the attack.

Pale and Conroy summoned their relics whilst Rex unsheaths his sword.

"Ready!" They all took their positions

"We're all going to use range attacks and remember, we have to time it right."

Even though they were going to strike the weak part of the wall, it doesn't change the fact that Fellium is the hardest substance in the world and as such, they would need to time their attacks and strike the spot at the very same time if they plan on breaking through.

"Attack!"

"Blue Boomerang!"

Pale spins his hammer at an incredible pace while charging its electricity and then flings the hammer.

"Sun purge!"

Conroy fires his signature move.

"Shooter's Fencing First Form: Pierce

Rex compressed his aura and released a powerful stream.

"Here goes everything!" Max summoned his shadow daggers and held them in an "X" position.

"Shadow arts: X black!."

The four attacks each struck the x spot of the wall almost at the same time resulting in a loud explosion.

"Did we do it?"

The debris began to clear as a man-sized hole could be seen on the spot that the "X" was drawn.

"Alright!"

The team cut their celebration short as they recall that their test is not over.

They nodded at one another and squeezed their way through the hole.

Pale had a hard time going through and had to be pushed by Rex and Conroy from behind while Ace tries to pull him in from the other side.

"Seriously big guy, you have got to dial it down on the horses."

Rex mocks him as he makes his way through the hole right after Conroy.

They found themselves in a dark room as the entrance they created to get here disappears.

"T-the hole! I-its gone!" Conroy cried as he tugs Max's sleeves and holds onto them tightly. "What do we do now?"

"Easy, we do what we've been doing ever since we got here. We push forward and take out anything that gets in our way."

Max reassured the frightened Archer.

Soon after, a beam of light struck the floor and Paris appeared.

"Greetings once again adventurers. You have made it to the final part of your test."

He spreads his arms apart and the torches that were placed around the darkroom lit up in flames illuminating the darkness in the process.

Much to their amazement, the room was revealed to be a throne room with thousands of treasures, jewelry, golden objects, and coins splattered around the floor.

Rex's eyes shone brightly as his jaw dropped and he began to drool.

"Rex my boy, you've hit a jackpot."

Paris made his way to the throne and sits on it as a young boy appears holding a large golden jug filled with wine.

"The second test of the crypt's test of mind was split into two, a test of intellect and a test of observations. You have passed the test of intellect by finding your way here."

"Alright, now that just leaves the last part!"

Max exclaims feeling more excited by the second as they are a few steps close to successfully raiding their first zodiac crypt.

"Precisely young adventurer, the last test is but a simple question."

"Phew." Conroy and Rex sighed in relief while Max pouted.

"Grr, don't tell me you were expecting more action after all that we've been through?"

Maggie asks the ex-assassin as he turned his face away from her.

"Are you not tired from fighting all those relic beasts and then having to walk for over four hours with no rest? I for one am exhausted and hungry!"

He sits down on the floor and folds his arms signaling that he won't say a thing.

"What's the question, keeper paris?" Conroy asks, his eyes beaming with life and energy.

"In due time adventurers. For now, help yourselves with some wine." He gestures upon the boy to serve them as he graciously fills each of them a cup and hands it to them.

Meanwhile...

"Being saved by one of the seven saints was crazy enough, but what's even crazier was that you're familiar with Max and the rest of his Clan."

Rohan and Dexter were sitting by a campfire and helping themselves to a boar that Sheba killed.

"Huhuhu, we live in a small world, that we do."

Dexter replies as he pets Sheba who was sitting on his lap.

"But what's someone like you doing in Retina?"

"Let's just say, I've come for a meeting."

The two sat down all night and traded stories, mostly of the little time they spent with Max. Unbeknownst to either of them, their encounter would bring about a major change in the world.