Chapter 31-Preparations

After confirming everyone's decision, Ernst finalized his Saint representatives James, Sarah, Douglas, Roger, and Nadia.

Ernst activated his Godrealm to avoid being spied by other Deities. "Now, listen, all of you. Even if you do not enter the Necropolis of the Gods, having extra knowledge will be beneficial to you. There are three Necropolis of the Gods located in the Forest of Darkness, North Sea, and South Sea. The one you will be entering right now is located at the South Sea, which is known as the most dangerous among the three. The Necropolis of the Gods have eighteen floors. The first floor is the easiest. As you go higher, the dangers increase dramatically. Every five floors is a layer, so the fifth floor and tenth floor is a safe zone after you clear the minor danger there. Once you enter the Necropolis of the Gods, you will stay there for a full ten years."

"When you enter the Necropolis of the Gods, I suggest not to hurriedly move to higher floors. I want you to train in each floor. Fight Saint-level experts until you defeat all of them, then you ascend to higher floors. Many Saints enter the past thousand years will also enter again this time with you. For a thousand of years, these Saints failed to pass the sixth floor. Mostly, they will stay in the fifth floor until the ten years deadline arrives. Don't be like them, they are fools who likes to waste a good opportunity to undergo a life and death battle. When you enters the fifth floor, you will see these guys meditating and will wait for eight years before they enter the sixth floor. They might invite you to join them and waste time. Just ignore those fools.

"The first floor is a desert world with countless mirage. In there, you will face Saint-level Undead who sneak attacks from below the sands. The second floor is a plant world. When you enter the second floor, be careful of everything there. Be it grass, vines, trees, flowers, and even leaves. They are very dangerous. The plant life forms on the second floor are Saint-level experts good at concealing, control attacks...... As for the tenth floor and eleventh floor, it is for you guys to find out."

Everyone listening to Ernst were scared. They know now the dangers inside the Necropolis of the Gods. But James, Sarah, Douglas, Roger, and Nadia, though they are a little scared. They are more excited.

Ernst observes how excited his parents, uncles, and Nadia were. "To prepare for the Necropolis of the Gods, starting tomorrow, I will train all of you. I will not show any mercy. So prepare yourselves."

At Mt. Blackraven, its been two weeks after Ernst started training the twelve Saints of Blackshadow Castle. Ernst used elemental constructs to sneak attack, group attack, harass and control the twelve Saints. Even the strongest among them such as Nadia, James, and Sarah are all heavily injured. The twelve saints are now lying on the ground, injured and breathing heavily.

"Pant...pant...pant...pant...pant..."

"Damn, I've been sneak attack again. If this happens in the Necropolis of the Gods, I will be dead already." Roger had a lingering towards the sneak attackers.

"You are still lucky, you only encountered sneak attacks. But I was surrounded by ten opponents. With my current strength, at most, I can deal with three opponents at the same time." Douglas said.

"You two recover quickly, be thankful that this is just a training. If not, we are all dead now. Be serious, this is not a duel like we did in the past when we roamed the continent. James berated Douglas and Roger.

"Just think this training as strengthening our overall abilities. Think about it? Aside from physical attacks and material attacks, we also suffered soul attacks. All attacks are present in this training. Do you not feel it? We are getting stronger again. One week ago, we can't even last for five minutes, but now we can last for more than ten minutes." Sarah said.

Everyone were silent. That's right, they are getting stronger again. Even the weakest Zassler benefited a lot.

"Hahahahaha, I've never fought so hard in my eight hundred life, now, I enjoy fighting." His strength increase in just two weeks and understanding of the Laws he is training got deeper.

"Now, we should also improve our teamwork to deal with unexpected stituation during this training." Anna added.

"Everybody, take a good rest and recover your spiritual energy. We don't know when Master will attack again." Nadia warns everyone.

Everybody was recovering their lost spiritual energy, Ernst observes them from the sky. Seeing they relax their guard down, he begins his next round of attack.

"Rumble…rumble…rumble…"

The ground shakes, cracks appears, boulders rolling on the ground. A massive one hundred meters tall Flaming Rock Giant construct suddenly emerges from the ground.

"Roaaaaar!"

It roars loudly as it looks angrily at the twelve Saints.

"Be careful everyone. This one looks tough." Sarah shouted as she started chanting her magic spell.

Everybody separated from each other. They ready their weapons. Zassler already summons five undead Saints. The magical beast Saints are also preparing their most powerful attacks.

The Flaming Rock Giant did not waste time as he swing his enormous fist towards Roger and Douglas.

"Roaaaaar!"

It roars loudly as he punches.

"Boom!"

"Rumble...rumble…rumble…"

The ground explodes, rocks shattered, the trees were uprooted and dust flies everywhere. After the punch, a large crater was created. The twelve Saints were stunned by the power of the punch. They look at the fifty-meter wide and ten meters deep crater. Douglas and Roger's back were full of sweat as they barely dodge the giant's punch. Everyone gulps, if they were hit by the giant punch, they will surely die.

"Be careful everyone. The Flaming Rock Giant might be huge, but it moves very fast. Looking at its huge body, its defense must be very tough." James shouted.

The Flaming Rock Giant charges towards them with his big fist.

"Boom!"

Everybody already prepared, so they manage to evade the punch. Sarah finally finished chanting her spell.

'Earth-style Forbidden Magic Spell-World Protector'

The twelve Saints were cover with crystalline armor made of diamonds.

'Wind-style magic spell-Windshadow'

Anna provides support by increasing the speed of her companions.

James vanishes from his place and appears behind the head of the Flaming Rock Giant. He slashes his sword at the neck of the giant.

"Clang!"

His sword only scratches the surface skin of the giant.

"Clang!" "Clang!"

Douglas and Roger also attack the giant's feet with their swords, but it has no effect either.

"Twang!" "Twang!" "Twang!"

On the distance, Zassler's three undead Saint Archers also fires their arrows to support their main attackers and distract the giant.

After the human Saints finishes their attack, the magical beast Saints finally make their moves as they unleash their most powerful attack on the Flaming Rock Giant.

"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!"

Nadia also follows with her most powerful tail attack towards the head of the giant.

"Boom!"

After Nadia's attack, they regroup and observes the Flaming Rock Giant. The attack of the twelve Saints happens very fast, it happens less than one second.

After the smoke was cleared, they saw the Flaming Rock Giant were still intact and no damage from their combine attacks.

"How can this be? Is this giant unbeatable?" Anna worriedly said.

"Roaaaar!" "Roaaaaar!" "Roaaaaar!…"

The Flaming Rock Giant slams the ground many times.

"Boom...boom...boom…"

Then it suddenly vanishes from his location. His speed has increase by two times. He appears beside the twelve Saints with his fist already close to them. The twelve Saint eyes turn wide as they were hit before they could react.

"Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!"

The twelve Saints were thrown far away. Thanks to the forbidden spell 'World Protector', they are not injured.

"Everybody, attack together again. With our armor, we don't have to be afraid of injuries. The giant only uses physical attacks." James shouted.

After an hour of battle, Mt. Blackraven were almost ravaged, boulders big and small littered everywhere. The trees with a radius of five thousand meters turns to dust. The water of the beautiful former lake near the Mt. Blackraven already evaporated. On the ground, twelve Saints were growling in pain. Their bodies were riddled with injuries. Some magical beast Saints are close to dying. Suddenly, a white light envelops them healing their injuries quickly.

"Rumble…rumble...rumble…"

The ground shakes again as Ernst fixed the Mt. Blackraven to its original appearance except the trees.

During their battle, his original body was watching the battle. His fire divine clone controls the Flaming Rock Giant. His other divine clones were controlling the damage around five thousand meters in radius so the battle will not affect other places. When he saw that the twelve Saints cannot continue their battle, he disperses the giant construct.

Ernst approaches them and activated his Godrealm. "How is it? The Flaming Rock Giant were strong, right? What if I tell you, the Flaming Giant on the sixth floor of the Necropolis of the Gods was much stronger that the giant construct you face before. Besides, the Flaming Giant of the Necropolis of the Gods posses a divine artifact and thousands of minions. What? Did you give up already? When we go to the Infernal Realm in the future, we will face countless dangers worse than this. If we want to have a foothold in the Infernal Realm, we must be powerful. I alone was not enough. I need you guys to help me."

Hearing Ernst words, their already dwindling fighting spirit reignited again. They would like to become powerful and roam the Infernal Realm. They wishes to see the place where powerhouse gathers.

"Master, please bring that Flaming Rock Giant back, I will destroy it with my claws." Nadia said.

"Brother, come on. Don't hide the giant construct. Where is it? I will hack it with my sword." Anna brandish her sword.

"Hahahahahaha." Everyone laughs at Anna and Nadia's antics.

"Later. Rest for a while. Digest your insights you gain during the battle. Next time, when you face such opponents, use tactics to defeat it. Don't charge at once." Ernst said to them.

The twelve Saints relaxes and started to meditate.

Eight months passed by quickly after their first battle with Flaming Rock Giant. The twelve Saints gains good harvest.

The magical beast Saint's strength has increase by another level and their understanding of the Laws gets deeper.

James, Sarah, Douglas, Roger arrives at the last step in the Laws they were training. They are now comparable to the Prime Saints.

Zassler has gained a more in-depth understanding about the 'Edict of Death'. His strength also increases as he smiles from time to time. He can now summon more undead Saints than before.

Anna had improved quickly from early stage Saint to peak stage Saint after the training. Thanks to his brother's guidance, her understanding of the Laws also went deeper.

Nadia got the most benefit after the training. Not only her strength has increased, she gained insight in other Profound Mysteries of the Laws of Fire 'Heat'. She already fused her insights on 'Essence of Fire' and 'Flamebody'.