End of the trial

"Master! Why did you let him go? He harmed Angela!" exclaimed Alice while stomping the ground.

Ariel was also frowning. She was currently kneeling next to Angela, grabbing her small hand and examining where her sister was hurt.

"If we fight him to death, then one of you might really die! Can you say for sure you will be able to defeat him without dying?" asked Five. He himself was frustrated but he knew the decision he took was the correct one.

Although he made a lot of losses as most of his monsters were dead, none of the main ones died! The losses would become really disastrous if he was to lose any of the monsters still alive!

The harpies were still normal monsters and could not be revived. They were not as important as Dreidus or Lyra, but Five felt a sense of attachment towards the harpies. They were the first race he encountered after joining the game and also spent most of his time with them.

Thankfully, he purchased some miscellaneous items in the past in case of emergency. The [Aura of Light: Sacred Ground] completely emptied his mana pool but fortunately, he had Mana Potions in his inventory or else, he would not have been able to cast [Heal Bell]

As she heard the question, Alice could only silently grumble; she did not have any answer to that.

"Dreidus! Lyra! Are both of you fine?" asked Five.

"Yes, master! It was too close for comfort, but I think that we did well…" answered Dreidus after confirming the situation with Lyra telepathically.

"That's good! But be careful! As long as I don't get the notification, the trial is not considered to be over," said Five. He then turned his attention towards the silver-haired harpy who after being comforted by her sisters, finally calmed down. Her eyes were still closed but at least, she stopped crying.

Five felt in pain as he saw Angela's expression. He realized that monsters were really not just brainless beings to use to kill. They had their own personalities and could feel both pain and happiness. Although it was abnormal to see one of his monsters act like that just after receiving just a single attack, Five did not feel disappointed. Each monster had their own feelings, Angela already made a huge sacrifice by pushing him to safety, he could not ask for too much!

"Ariel, Alice, can you bring her to her room? It will be more comfortable for her... And also, please cover her body properly..." said Five as he faced the other way.

As Angela's side was viciously clawed, her plain white dress was naturally shredded to pieces and momentarily exposed her chest.

While it was very tempting to stare, now was also not the right time. The trial was still ongoing, and he could not be distracted; something unexpected might happen!

Ariel and Alice heard him, they quickly brought their sister away. Strangely, Alice did not make any comment about the last part but that was probably because she was not in a mood to joke.

With the harpies gone, Dreidus turned to Five, "Is the trial over yet?"

"Not yet, it is probably because the Forest Tiger King is still in the dungeon. Let's wait and see."

He opened the interface and projected a screen on which the Forest Tiger King could be seen running at full speed through the graveyard.

Dreidus and Lyra silently watched as the Forest Tiger King ran all the way to the exit of the dungeon. They had to admit that the beast king was really fast and as soon as the Forest Tiger King disappeared, they both turned towards Five.

"Nothing yet, I did not receive any notification..." said Five.

The monsters became worried, could there be another monster hiding somewhere under their nose? They waited another 5 minutes but still, nothing happened!

...

The Forest Tiger King swiftly left the dungeon without looking back. He jumped from the cliff and landed in the lower forest before disappearing between the trees.

He heaved a sigh of relief! He was safe! The dungeon master really allowed him to go back! But now, as he was safe, he started having second thoughts, "F*ck that puny human, he dares to be so condescending in front of me! If only the Cobra King and the Wild Boar King were there, his dungeon would have already been erased from the surface of the planet!"

"Speaking about them, where are the two other kings? Don't tell me it was a trap to lure me and the Ape King inside the dungeon? No... They would not have sent so many minions in that case..."

The Forest Tiger King needed to vent his anger and who else could make a better target than the two other kings? Didn't the operation fail because they were distracted by someone else?

He quickly made his mind to find the two kings and ran through the forest, following the path they took to go to the dungeon. The Forest Tiger King was fast. In less than 5 minutes, he arrived at the spot where they separated. He then swiftly followed the traces left by the two beast kings.

It was really easy to do; the Wild Boar King left massive footprints wherever it would go. In 15 minutes, he finally arrived at a clearing but as he stepped out of the thick bushes, the Forest Tiger King displayed an expression of horror.

"What is that... Why... Who could have done such a thing!!!" exclaimed the Forest Tiger King. He stared at the bloody scene in front of him.

The clearing was littered with bodies of beasts; Apes, Wild Boars, Forest Tigers and cobras. Everywhere he looked, the Forest Tiger King only saw the beasts lifelessly scattered all over the place; the expression of the beasts was still showing how much pain they felt at the moment of their death.

Next to him, even the Wild Boar King was already lying dead on the ground, his body was covered with blood and wounds. The usually jovial and naive king had turned into a dead corpse.

"A massacre..."

In the center of the clearing, two figures were staring at each other. The Forest Tiger King easily recognized one of them as the Cobra King. His body was covered with wounds and even his hood had been chopped off. It was the first time he saw the Cobra King in this state. He was the strongest individual in the forest. No one dared to attack him due to his deadly venom and yet, the Cobra King now was only a shadow of his former mighty self.

Suddenly, the other figure seemed to have sensed the Forest Tiger's presence and turned his way. That person was the mysterious cloaked figure who appeared out of nowhere while they were leading the pack of beasts. As a result, the Cobra King, the Wild Boar King and a few other beasts separated from the group to chase after that person.

"Look who we have here... Isn't that the mighty Forest Tiger King?" mockingly exclaimed the cloaked figure.

The Forest Tiger King immediately sensed danger. His instincts were warning him not to mess up with that person. He started to tremble as he lowered his head to show some respect, but he did not even get to speak as a wild wind started blowing over the clearing.

The Forest Tiger King fearfully raised his head only to see a sphere of wind gathering in the cloaked figure's hand. He whimpered. His eyes trembled as he recognized the skill; it was the exact same one that brought the Ape King to his doom, except that this one looked far deadlier.

"So... Not only did you attack this dungeon... You also dared to harm that girl! I know everything that happened there, the wind carried all the sounds from the dungeon all the way to my ears! Now... It's time to pay the price! With your life!" shouted the cloaked figure and without waiting, the sphere of wind shot towards the Forest Tiger King.

[Aeroblast]

The Forest Tiger King was horrified, the sphere was at least 5 times faster and 3 times larger than when the three harpies used it together! Even if he wanted to dodge, he would fail!

In a matter of seconds, the entire body of the mighty Forest Tiger King was torn to pieces.

The cloaked figure only let out a "hmmp" before turning back to the Cobra King. However, the Cobra King was nowhere to be seen. Instead, only a hole was left at the position he was standing at. From the hole, a faint hissing sound echoed.

"I will be back! I will inform the mother queen about the events that happened here! Live in fear, woman and wait for the judgment of the mother queen!"

Seeing that the Cobra King took advantage of the distraction that the Forest Tiger King provided to escape, the cloaked figure started to float in the dark sky.

"What a pity... All this loot will be lost... Well... I'll see what I can do."

...

At the dungeon, 20 minutes after the Forest Tiger King left the dungeon, Five finally received the system prompt he was waiting for.

[System prompt: Congratulations Player Five, you have successfully passed the first trial! You are awarded One Monster Lottery Ticket as a reward! Another announcement will be made at the end of the week when all the dungeon masters would have passed their respective trials!]

"Finally! It's over! Dreidus, Lyra! I received the notification. You can relax now," excitedly said Five. He had passed the first trial! It was hard and he almost lost one of the harpies but in the end, he succeeded.

"Congratulations master!" said Lyra with a relieved expression.

"Congratulation master! I think, you should quickly go and tell the harpies about it..." said Dreidus.

"Sure sure! They also need to know!" answered Five as he quickly made his way to the living quarters.