Trial Complete

The mesmerising flames started spreading like wildfire on the white snake's body.

Instantly, the dusty and spacious chappel was lit up by the flames, the dull walls reflecting the light everywhere.

The snake screeched in pain, letting go of Kai instantly as he had been the one gripped with the very end of the beasts body.

Grinning madly, Kai ignored the pain running through in body in favour of hopping backwards a few steps, putting a little distance between him and the oversized snake.

At same time, the snake was flailing around madly, the amount of flames on its body quickly growing by the second.

The flames were one of the most beautiful things he had ever seen, even when they were engulfing the body of such a harrowing beast like the snake, it looked like a painting straight out of a renaissance era artist, the sight was just too breathtaking.

However, it was only then that Kai realised the fault in his plan.

The snake had let go of him because it had been holding him with the end of its tail, the very end of its body.

Petunia and Cecilia, however, were being gripped much further up the snake's body.

And the devastatingly beautiful flames that were currently encasing the snake were currently rushing towards them.

Cursing, Kai dashed towards where the two of them were being held. He tried to stay as far away from the flames as possible in case they accidently spread to him.

At the same time, a large wolf emerged from his shadow and a Ruby blade launched itself like a missile it the snake's body.

Esurient pierced the flesh of the snake, but barely. The scales covering its body were much stronger than it had anticipated, so it only ended up digging its tip into its flesh.

Still, the beast's grip on Petunia and Cecilia weakened.

Then, Umbra jumped up and sank her fangs into the beast's tough body.

Even though the wolf hadn't gained a single level since leaving the Dome, she could still deal some real damage if she needed to.

One, she got ten percent of all Kai's stats, meaning her Strength had a solid boost, and two, Bite of Umbra dealt triple damage when she was near Kai and surrounded by shadows.

And even though the snake's entire body was being lit up by the flames slowly eating away at it, there was plenty of shadows to go around.

Her fangs sank into the flesh of the snake, but it still did not deal any meaningful damage to the beast, it was just too tough.

Realising that biting it wouldn't work, Umbra used Concise Claws and began slowly chipping away at the beast. Kai still had no idea how the skill actually worked, but luckily his furry familiar did.

Throughout all this, Petunia and Cecilia were squirming, trying to weaken the grip the snake had on it a little bit.

And their attempts could be considered successful considering that the snake's grip on them was slowly loosening.

Finally, Kai activated Mana Surge. Instantly, he felt his arms swell with newfound power. His muscles throbbed, aching for some sort of release.

And they were luckily just about to get some.

Kai jumped up into the air and began rapidly punching the body of the snake.

Each hit against the armoured scales made his knuckles ache, but luckily the light gauntlets of his armour offered him some form of protection, lessening the pain ever so slightly.

Still, Kai kept punching, his muscles aching with every blow inflicted on the burning snake.

Hit after hit, punch after punch, Kai could only watch as the flames got closer to engulfing Petunia and Cecilia.

Until finally, just as the first bit of flame was about to touch Cecilia, the snake's body gave in, the two girls slipping free from its clutches and beginning to fall.

Kai managed to catch Cecilia before she hit the ground while Petunia landed on Umbra's back.

Sighing in relief, Kai deactivated Mana Surge. Luckily, he didn't have it active for long, but his arms were still aching softly.

Setting Cecilia down and standing up straight, Kai turned around and stared at the burning beast.

The snake was ramming itself into the wall of the cathedral in an effort to disrupt the flames and stop itself from burning, but all it was managing to do was make parts of the roof chip off and fall down, along with a rain of dust.

Its red eyes burned furiously, the flames mixing with its red pupils.

Enraged, it turned to look at Kai and spat:

"You! I will make sssure that you sssufer!"

Without warning, the snake lunged towards Kai, opening its mouth wide enough to swallow him whole.

But by then, it was already too late.

The flames had reached its brain.

Just before it reached Kai, its eyes dulled as it fell onto the ground, its open mouth stopping just before the petrified group.

Then, Kai opened his eyes in shock as he had actually received some notifications.

You have slain Evolved Winter Serpent.

No XP gained.

You have received an item.

Kai blinked.

No... XP gained?

How the hell did that make any sense?!

That damn snake was surely a high level, meaning he would've gotten a crap ton of XP for killing it.

So why the hell didn't he?!

Kai sighed and gripped at his hair.

At least it wasn't all bad, he had received an item for killing the beast, which was still something.

But yet, Kai couldn't feel as if it was all going to get worse from here.

In the last week and a bit, he had received five items. Even though three of them had come from those Glacial Goblins, he still felt that his luck was suddenly take a turn for the worst in the not so distant future.

But that was something for future Kai to worry about.

Turning around to look at Petunia and Cecilia, Kai flashed them a small smile and asked:

"All good?"

Cecilia trembled slightly before answering.

"...Yeah."

Kai sighed and shook his head, turning back to the body of the charred snake.

By now, the flames were starting to die out, which was a little surprising considering that they were so potent just a few moments ago.

Now all that remained were a few embers that had fallen to the ground that were still persistently refusing to die out.

It was then that another notification rang out in Kai's head.

Trial 1 has been completed.

Generating trial reward.

Kai grinned once more. Who needed XP when he could just loot a bunch of rewards? Everyone knew that items were way better then stats.

Well, maybe they were, maybe they weren't, Kai still wasn't sure about which would be more beneficial to him.

However, that joy he felt turned out to be short lived.

Trial reward generated.

You may loot the Shattered Chappel of the Phoenix

Kai groaned.

His reward was that he could loot this dusty old place?

There was nothing here!

Actually, maybe it could be kind of useful.

Glancing around, Kai saw that all of the podiums that had once had potent and bright flames in them had died out, following behind the main flame that had devoured the snake.

Turning around to Cecilia, Kai said:

"Store a few of them, at least we won't have to worry about running out of heavy items to drop on monsters."

Nodding, Cecilia took Petunia with her and began storing some of the altars in her spatial storage ring.

Sighing again, Kai went over the other notification he had received.

Shattered Chappel of the Phoenix...

Had it been a phoenix that had killed the dragon who's bones now clung to the Royal Peak? Was it possible for a Phoenix to kill a dragon?

Kai shook his head softly. He had no way of knowing after all.

Taking a step forward, he decided to have a look around the chappel to see was there anything useful lying about.

Approaching the body of the snake, Kai hesitantly reached out and placed a hand on the charred remains of it. Maybe he could take some of the scales and get someone to forge something in the future, the scales were incredibly durable after all.

However, as soon as his hand made contact with the corpse of the beast, Kai's eyes widened in surprise.

Use Soul Memorial?

Yes/No

Kai had forgotten he even had this skill, even though he only received it recently.

Glancing backwards, Kai saw that Cecilia and Petunia were both occupied with taking the heavy stone cradles. Umbra, Remy and Esurient had joined them, meaning they probably wouldn't notice if he became absent minded for a few moments.

So, after taking a deep breath, Kai activated the skill.

Instantly, his mind was flooded with a variety of images.

Kai saw a small white snake emerge from an egg. Then, he saw a much larger snake fighting against some unknown monster that was attacking it from the shadows.

He then watched as the mother of the snake valiantly sacrificed itself to protect its young.

However, it left the young snake all alone in the process.

Kai watched the snake grow, scrounging to survive. It took scraps of beasts that had been killed by much stronger beings, and hid when those much stronger beings eventually returned to hunt for more food.

Slowly, the snake began to get stronger, becoming one of those much stronger beings itself.

Sadly, the memories did not show what had caused the snake to evolve, the last memory Kai saw was the snake finding the mesmerising flame in this chappel beneath the snow and deciding to live here.

Kai sighed as the memory ended.

Opening his eyes, he-

Gasped and panicked a little.

He was no longer in the chappel. Now, he was surrounded by a vast expanse of nothingness.

It was pitch black, like he had been completetly surrounded by shadows.

Only it felt like something was out there...

Watching him...

It was only after Kai turned around did he realise what had been watching him.

The body of the snake remained completetly still behind him, its red eyes staring at him menacingly.

Instead of the pure white body it once possessed, its body was now pure black, like it itself had become a shadow. Its scales looked like they had been dipped in pure nightmares, and it's dark red eyes looked more intimidating than ever.

Then, one final notification went off in Kai's head.

Fight the Evolved Winter Serpent.

Rewards of Soul Memorial will be based on how well you perform.