The path downwards was miles away.
Neo recalled something.
The hill was small.
He should’ve reached the top within a few minutes.
However, he completed only three-fourth of the way after twelve hours of walking.
It was impossible unless….
“This is the second trial.”
An opponent worse than hundreds of Gremlins combined.
An enemy he couldn’t defeat with physical strength.
The flag post was at the top.
Neo decided to climb upwards.
Minutes turned into hours, and hours into days.
After the second day, he did not feel like he was making any progress.
No matter how much he walked, the distance to the top wouldn’t reduce.
“It’s a good thing I can create water, or I might’ve died already,” Neo said on the fourth day.
Surprisingly, Water element was the only element he could use.
He could only generate water and do nothing else with the element.
It was as if his ability was being restricted by a higher power.
A week went by.
Neo was starting to feel hungry.
As a Grade 4 Awakened demigod, he could live without water and food longer than humans.
There was, however, a limit.
“Fuck, should I just climb down?”
On the ninth day, Neo realized he might’ve walked over hundred miles.
The distance between him and the base of the hill continued to increase.
Besides, there was no guarantee he could climb downhill.
“There should be limit to how much this mountain can stretch. If I keep climbing, I’m bound to reach the top.”
Twenty days passed.
Neo’s stomach hurt.
He felt weak and fatigued.
He continued to climb.
After fifty days, the pain intensified to the point he couldn’t stand straight.
He felt frail, his body shivered uncontrollably, and it was cold.
Neo started to lose his focus by the sixty-eighth day.
He would frequently go into daze and sleep walk.
He hit his limit on the eighty-fifth day.
Taking a breath sent throes of agony across his body, let alone walking.
By the ninetieth-day, the pain disappeared.
He felt emptiness gnawing inside him, eating at his emotions, leaving him numb.
‘I have to reach the top.’
Neo repeated the same words to himself for the past three months.
He diverted all of his attention and energy to climb even a step higher.
Apex.
Zenith.
The Top.
He would reach it.
At the hundredth day, Neo stopped breathing.
He didn’t even realize he died.
…!
Neo’s eyes snapped open.
He fell to his knees, gasping for breath, drenched in sweat, and shivering uncontrollably.
[Time until you are forcefully revived: 5 hours and 26 minutes]
Neo was back.
To the base of the hill.
“H-how?”
He couldn’t believe the screen floating before his eyes.
Three months ago, he started climbing when 5 hours and 29 minutes were left until his revival.
So…
Why?
Why did only three minutes passed when, in truth, he experienced three months?
Neo stared at the mountain.
He expanded his senses and…
…!
“The hill is shrouded in Darkness.”
He bit his lips.
All of it had been hallucination created by the Darkness.
The months of pain, agony, and despair had been nothing but a lie.
Neo just stood with his head down.
He didn’t move for a few minutes.
“That damned Barbatos. He gave me a hellish trial.”
Neo woke up from the hallucinations through pure luck.
If he tried to climb the mountain again, there was no guarantee he would wake up again.
The second trial was far worse than the first trial.
Unless he found a way to resist the Darkness…
“…?”
“No way…”
“Resist the Darkness?”
Neo stopped speaking.
He suddenly understood the method to clear the second trial.
It gave him shivers.
‘Fucking hell. How is this training? He is trying to kill me.’
The only way to resist the Darkness was to increase his mastery over it.
The hill was coated in thick miasma of Darkness. It was unsuitable for training.
“The Gremlins… I need to devour all of them.
“If I don’t go insane, my mastery over Darkness would gain a huge boost.”
Barbatos did not leave him a choice.
The trial was made in a way where it forced Neo to devour every Gremlin to increase his mastery of Darkness element.
Neo returned to camp of Gremlins.
He saw three quadrapedal monsters, with pinkish skin, blazing red eyes, and sharp teeth, feeding on the corpses.
The monsters pounced on Neo when they noticed him.
Neo let them bite his Ocean’s Embrace and finished them with Necrotic Touch.
He gazed at the hundreds of corpses.
There was no way he could remain sane after devouring them.
But.
It was the only path ahead.
Before devouring the corpses, Neo repaired the camp’s boundary using the wood from the trees.
There was a high chance monsters would come after smelling the blood.
Not only Neo had to fight the insanity of Darkness, he had to protect the corpses from being stolen by the monsters.
“This much should be enough.”
He stared at the crude walls.
They could barely provide any defense.
Their only job was to warn Neo if someone broke through them to enter the camp.
“I should start.”
Neo formed the Enma Ten-In hand sign.
“Darkness, come.”
The shadows bloomed.
They spread out in a controlled manner and covered a small area around Neo.
He absorbed the six corpses he placed inside his domain.
The whispers returned.
They spoke to Neo.
Suddenly, Neo felt his emotions slipping out of his control.
Anger, fear, jealousy.
Emotions that weren’t his own invaded his mind.
He found himself unable to control his urges.
He wanted to wreak havoc.
Impulses of destruction and rage fueled his heart.
The corpses, completely devoured, disappeared and they took the voices along with them.
After the foreign emotions vanished, Neo snapped out of the rage.
He realized his mind had been influenced by the Darkness.
His body shivered.
He felt cold.
So very cold.
[Digestion +1]
[Hearing +2]
Six corpses devoured.
Over 300 corpses remained.