(46) First trial, second door [2]

While all the cultivators faced off against the soul dissonance butterflies, Mangrel stood in a safe location, watching the spectacle before him. 

"Ahhh!" A young cultivator held his head in madness, as he felt something eating his mind away from the inside. 

"Ahh! Save, save me!! Kuk!" Similar scenes played around the cave room. 

The image of the frontline contained nothing but corpses, the situation had long turned for the worst. It was hard to break out of their stupor once affected by the soul aura. It was different compared to before, where remnants of the soul aura affected them from a distance.

Now, without any physical contact, it was impossible to wake them up. 

"Retreat up to 10 meters. They move slowly, so you can use this to your advantage." Occasionally, Mangrel gave out orders like this, whenever he saw the situation turning hopeless. 

The reason Mangrel didn't move into the frontline was simple — he couldn't use any spell. This was the cold-hearted truth. 

Unlike the other cultivators here, who trained for a while in their spirits, Mangrel didn't train for even a week properly. 

Everyone had their individual strength, Mangrel had his 700 years of experience to back him up, while this cultivator had a stronger foundation due to early cultivation. 

'I have to build my foundation stronger too. I don't have a high aptitude for cultivation, so this is the only way to cultivate without facing a permanent bottleneck.' 

Foundation was different from potential which tells us our future accomplishments. 

Foundation depended upon the kind of cultivation a person performed, in other words, their roots.

'Sigh...All of them have been nurtured properly, though their potential might be bad, their foundation has been perfectly maintained. These kids are different from me, their parents seem to be aware that they will be sent here priorly.' Mangrel was insightful in seeing others' foundations. 

Many kinds of spells were hurled toward the soul dissonance butterflies. But they moved as if there was no end to their numbers. Around twenty-five percent of them were killed in the end.

On the other hand, the casualty sustained by the cultivator's side was heavier. A little more than half of them were dead. There were many reasons for this result.

There were not many spells available for these young cultivators, some had to get nearer to the soul resonance butterfly to use their spells. 

And there was another major reason for cultivator casualties. With low integrity, not many were willing to help someone who was affected by soul aura, in fear that they might be affected. 

Fereim, who had killed the highest number of soul dissonance butterflies, huffed and puffed with a pale face. Dissatisfaction and indignation were written all over his face looking at Mangrel.

Everyone had seen Mangrel use a strong spell while he fought against the providence plant wolves. 

They waited thinking Mangrel was preparing a strong spell, but they were proven wrong in no time. Mangrel just gave them orders, and though it saved many, it still disappointed them. 

'I guess it's about time. If I don't do anything soon, they will not heed my orders anymore.' Mangrel could read their minds with closed eyes. 

Humans are self-centered people, to begin with. In this deadly situation, this aspect of them would just get enhanced. There was no way they would care about Mangrel's situation when their life was on the line. 

It couldn't be said that Mangrel made a mistake of using spells before. No one can predict something they don't know, the appearance of the soul dissonance butterfly was a kind of unfortunate event for him. 

"You there, come here," Mangrel called out to Fereim. 

All the cultivators had almost reached the dead end, so they were all attacking even more ferociously. 

Being called out like this, Fereim felt as if he had done something wrong. It didn't take him long to realize that such thoughts were wrong, he retreated towards Mangrel. 

"What?" Herein inquired impassively, though he felt admiration towards Mangrel before, now it was overshadowed with spite. 

"Sit here and recover your spiritual energy as much as you can," Mangrel said without taking a glance at Fereim. 

"....Are you kidding me? Sit down and recover? Those butterflies have almost got us cornered...!" Suddenly Fereim's eyes met with Mangrel's apathetic gaze. 

"So? From your current pace of work, killing them all would be impossible. Just follow my instructions, I have a method to save everyone here." Mangrel stared indifferently at Fereim's face, twitching here and there. 

Not wanting to be talked off, Fereim still resisted: "If you fought with us, we could have defeated...." 

Mangrel knew that showing was better than talking with Fereim. He revealed the current level of the spiritual mind. 

Sensing this, Fereim's face froze.

"How can this be...you didn't even complete the first step..." 

"Now if you understand, quickly recover your spiritual energy. We don't have a lot of time." Mangrel could see that Fereim seems to be developing a superior mindset, but the thoughts of others didn't bother him. 

Mangrel locked eyes with Jagrel, seeing that he too was looking at him. 

'Hmph! Smart people are truly more soothing for the eyes. He noticed that I have a plan, hence didn't make any huge moves either and waited. These kinds of people are the easiest to work along with and guard against.' A bright light flashed by Mangrel's eyes. 

Mangrel was aiming for all the injured, witless, and useless cultivators to die while fighting against the soul dissonance butterfly. And the result was not that bad. 

Enhancing his voice using origin essence, Mangrel began giving out orders: "Hold on for another minute, then you can all rest. Don't retreat to a large distance anymore for now." 

"And collect some pieces of stones fallen on the ground, and use them to hit anyone affected by the soul aura." Mangrel knew the supreme method of controlling people. Just hard work with no benefits attached was the taboo of this path.

Silence rained down for a few seconds, the cultivators were stupefied by learning such an easy solution for the trouble that made them despair. 

Jagrel's jaw opened wide too, it was so easy, yet no one thought of it. 

A sense of realization hit Jagrel, 'Right, everyone is just thinking about how to survive for themselves. No one seriously thought about how to save the others...'

Sometimes, people are blinded and don't find the things around them. This too was a normal mistake that many made, knowledge doesn't always lead to solutions. 

The cultivators did what Mangrel told them to do, this allowed a lot of people to be saved. 

The fight gained some stability at last. 

Mangrel who looked from the distance didn't feel any kind of anxiety looking at the beautiful butterflies fluttering nearer to his location. Instead, a thin smile formed on his face as his eyes glazed with cold confidence. 

"Everyone make some distance from the butterflies now! Use whatever martial arts or spell you can conjure to attack the wall above yourself. Don't care about the wall caving in on us, try to attack at the same location you first destroyed!" Mangrel's voice contained a kind of heavy pressure in it, making any who heard feel like their mind was dominated by it. 

Fereim, who sat with crossed legs behind Mangrel frowned: 'Enchantment spell? I was only able to resist as I have recovered my spiritual energy.' 

All the cultivators had exhausted their spiritual energy; they couldn't resist Mangrel's shameful use of enchantment spells that he prepared in the past two minutes.

They began attacking the wall while retreating with no care. Debris fell continuously, forming a wall between the cultivators and the soul dissonance butterflies. 

Jagrel was surprised when he saw that a wall formed into a barricade so perfectly. 

Mangrel had deliberately created such a formation for this, in other words, he was planning to do this from the beginning. 

By the time the enchantment spell wore out, Many realized this point. But they didn't bother pointing it out, they were able to survive in the end. They had no intention to fight with Mangrel for the sake of the dead. 

Some who were not sharp enough just thought that Mangrel thought of the plan in the middle of the fight. 

'Not even twenty-five cultivators survived.' Mangrel counted before turning to Fereim, "Do I need to explain to you about what you have to do?" 

"Hmph, no need!" Fereim showed more and more of his past arrogance seeing the situation stabilizing. 

There were a few gaps in the wall created by debris, Fereim fixed them by manipulating the ground around the place. 

Silence took over the place again, 'The soul dissonance butterflies have a material body, but no special physical strength. I was surprised by them initially, but realizing this point made it almost guaranteed to succeed. This is a survival trial after all.' 

Using the soul dissonance butterflies, Mangrel was easily able to take care of the useless cultivators in the group too. He had to do this, as after creating a barricade, the oxygen would be sparse, allowing only a few minutes of breathing time.