Alex’s gaze remained still as he silently stepped onto the middle path of the three that branched out from the central platform.
And in the center of that, a small, unassuming circle of light waited for the next trial to begin.
Alex halted briefly as he reached the platform.
He didn’t step into the circle just yet, instead, he tilted his head downward, eyes narrowing slightly as he stared at the symbol carved beneath his feet.
During the first trial, he hadn’t paid much attention to it.
The symbol had been odd, [♑︎🏱︎].
A strange combination, one part resembling a glyph, the other a simple flag.
At first glance, meaningless.
But now, after thinking it over, it made more sense.
The flag wasn’t random. It had matched the theme of that trial.
Which meant the symbols were clues.
Still, did knowing the symbol really help? Would it ever make a difference?
He wasn’t sure, but playing cautious had kept him alive this long.
[˗ˏˋ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ˗]
“Huh…” This one was harder to understand.
The symbol on this second platform didn’t resemble anything familiar.
It looked like a twisted glyph fractured in on itself, patterns folding in odd ways.
Completely incomprehensible at first glance.
There was no flag, no clear theme, no immediate clue.
Maybe that was the point.
Still, with nothing else to be gained here, Alex turned toward the center of the platform and stepped into the circle of light.
[Do you want to participate in the second trial?]
“Yes.”
Ding!
[Very well.]
In an instant, light surged beneath him, and the world vanished.
Ding!
[Trial #2: Trial of the Blooming Mirror]
“…”
Alex landed lightly on his feet, the teleportation fading as he looked around, then blinked, slightly surprised.
“Huh…”
All around him, stretching endlessly in every direction, were mirrors.
Walls of glass surrounded him, forming narrow hallways and intersections.
It wasn’t just a maze.
It was a reflection trap, with every surface gleaming, bending light, and scattering his reflection in all directions.
[Rules: You have been placed inside the “Mirror Maze.” There is no time limit. Your sole objective is to escape while avoiding the terrifying monsters that roam within.]
[Any form of flight has been deactivated. Breaking the mirrors is nearly impossible.]
[Beware of the Juggernaut!]
The messages ended abruptly.
Alex stood in the middle of a square chamber, several mirrored hallways extending outward like spokes.
A classic maze setup, but with this size, it could easily take hours to get through, longer even, if monsters constantly appeared to block his way.
He furrowed his brow slightly.
That word stood out.
Juggernaut. Was it a title? A boss monster?
Something that hunted you if you took too long? Probably.
Still, none of that really mattered if he could just force his way through.
Alex stepped forward and walked to one of the mirror walls.
Without any hesitation, he pulled his arm back and slammed his fist full-force into the glass.
BAM!
The sound echoed loudly, but the mirror didn’t even crack.
Not a scratch.
“Huh…”
[The Crown of Calamity informs you that these mirrors are enhanced by magic and cannot be broken by the challenger, regardless of power.]
Alex clicked his tongue, annoyed.
“So brute force is out of the question, huh…”
Still, he wasn’t one to give up after one punch.
He summoned the crimson energy of his [Bleeding Dragon Claws], letting the blood-forged blades extend from his fingers.
With sharp precision, he slashed across the mirror again and again, slashes that could tear through enchanted armor, divine barriers, and even draconic scales.
But this time, nothing.
Not even a flicker of damage.
“Tch… so I do have to walk the maze.”
But just as he turned to choose a direction,
[The Crown of Calamity can do it.]
A message appeared, followed by a shifting movement above him.
Tendrils of deep violet-black emerged from the Crown floating above his head, quickly weaving together like threads in a loom.
In seconds, the tendrils formed into a massive, brutish warhammer.
[This is the “Hammer of Calamity!”]
Alex raised an eyebrow, then gave a slight grin.
“You can make anything, can’t you?”
[Yes.]
And as if playing along with its own joke, the crown conjured up another bundle of tendrils, this time forming them into a comically oversized nail.
Alex immediately understood the plan.
“Go for it.”
The nail was positioned horizontally against the mirror wall.
Then the hammer came crashing down.
BAM! CRACK—CRACK!
In a single blow, the mirror wall shattered like ice.
Shards exploded outward and fell in glittering pieces across the ground.
[Let us go, Host.]
Alex laughed, shaking his head.
“Yeah… let’s.”
It was a bit ridiculous how effective the crown was.
But then again, it was the [Crown of Calamity].
Nothing about it had ever been normal.
And now that one wall was down, the rest no longer mattered.
CRACK—CRACK—CRACK!
Wall after wall fell, as the hammer and nail combo kept blasting through every mirrored obstacle.
The maze became meaningless.
Alex was simply forging a straight path through it.
Of course, monsters started appearing.
Strange, glimmering creatures made of fractured glass and light, snakes that slithered between reflections, wolves that howled soundlessly through the mirrored corridors.
But none of them survived long.
[You have slain a Level 1,800 Glass Snake and gained 2.3 billion experience points.]
[You have slain a Level 1,875 Shattered Wolf and gained 2.5 billion experience points.]
The EXP wasn’t bad, but nothing special either.
Still, after a few more minutes of walking and smashing, Alex paused.
A thought occurred to him.
“Wait.”
He raised a hand, stopping the crown’s hammer just before it could crush another glass creature.
“I should summon my undead.”
He was getting close to evolving his [Undead Lord] talent.
Only around 7,000 more kills left.
And right now, he was surrounded by monsters spawning non-stop.
Perfect timing.
“MASS RESURRECTION!”
Dark energy burst from his fingertips, spreading like tendrils across the glass floor and walls.
In response, skeletal hands clawed their way up through shimmering cracks.
A hundred skeletons rose, basic in form, but enhanced massively by Alex’s stats.
Each one held over 1.3 million points in every attribute, far beyond the average monster they’d face here.
“Kill everything,” Alex ordered, “No exceptions.”
They moved immediately, fanning out across the maze, hunting down anything they could detect.
The crown, in the meantime, returned to its methodical wall-breaking.
And not long after,
[Your undead have slain a “Mirror Fairy” and gained 2.7 billion experience points.]
[Your undead have slain a “Glass Mage” and gained 2.3 billion experience points.]
Alex leveled up three times within minutes, reaching Level 1457.
Then,
Ding!
[Your undead have slain the “Mirror Maze Bull” (Juggernaut) and gained 15.7 billion experience points.]
So that was the Juggernaut.
Apparently it hadn’t been enough.
Five skeletons were lost in the fight, but Alex had more than enough replacements.
Time passed.
The numbers kept going up.
Eventually…
“It’s here.”
Another wall shattered.
Beyond it was a familiar-looking room, square in shape, clean and silent.
In its center stood a single glowing glass door, radiant with soft blue light.
He waited a few moments, glancing at the notifications.
No more monsters were dying.
His undead had cleaned up everything.
Alex called them back.
[Undead Lord (B-Rank)]
[A-Level Advancement Task: Defeat 50,000 monsters with your undead.] (43,248 / 50,000)
He was getting there.
And if not, he could always grind later in a high-density spawn zone.
With no reason to delay, he stepped up to the glowing door.
[Shatter the glass to leave this trial.]
He looked up instinctively, waiting for the crown to act.
[This glass isn’t enhanced. You can do it.]
Alex nodded, stepped back, and slammed his fist forward.
SMASH!
The door exploded into fragments, revealing a swirling portal behind it.
He walked through without hesitation.
[Okay… you cheated, but I guess I never said that’s not allowed… so you pass.]
The voice of the Tower of Wrath echoed faintly, this time with a clear note of confusion.
Once again, Alex hadn’t truly participated in the trial.
He’d bypassed it, demolished it, and walked right through it like a storm.
Back in the hub, the familiar crimson liquid began to flow under the glass floor, symbolizing the second trial’s completion.
Ding!
[Two out of three trials cleared.]
“Only one more, then,” Alex murmured, turning his gaze toward the third and final path.
The end was drawing near.
And he wasn’t slowing down.