Lathel really wasn’t afraid, because he was prepared. Even if that beam of light hit his head, he would not be injured.
Besides… Lathel felt that the ray of light was a bit similar to Lafien’s magic.
‘Could it be that all members of the church can use light magic? As far as I remember, light magic is very rare, and the number of people who possess that type of magic is very small.’
Lathel shook his head, not wanting to think about it anymore.
“Holy Son, you must not kill people indiscriminately…” Arine stood in front of Lathel while pouting and said: “He is my friend; I will not allow you to hurt him.”
“Besides… the church says… we must give love, not fear and suffering.”
“Holy Son, you are the Holy Son, so you must understand this very clearly.”
“Holy Maiden, of course I understand that very well. However, you should know that…” Ikarys frowned as he glanced at Arine coldly: “Trash should be swept away; otherwise… if trash continues to exist, it will ruin the world.”
“You…” Arine put her hands on her hips and was about to say something when Lathel’s voice rang out.
“Alright!” Lathel spoke up, interrupting Arine’s words: “I just need to participate in the challenge inside the stone pillar, right?”
“Huh! It seems… You are truly trash; you are both cowardly and deceitful. When you see death, you are afraid… Trash is not enough to describe your character.” Ikarys said contemptuously.
Lathel didn’t want to say much; he was about to protest, but he suddenly remembered that Ikarys was a male lead.
Besides, he also did not have any information about Ikarys. The list that Akna prepared for him contained almost all the geniuses participating in this contest; however, in that list, there was no information about Ikarys, Arine, Doran, or Dorothy.
That’s why Lathel didn’t want to risk his life. After all, Ikarys is a male protagonist, and he doesn’t want to cause trouble or fight meaninglessly.
Lathel did not answer Ikarys. He went to a random pillar and placed his hand on it. The magical energy inside his body entered the pillar, causing the magic symbol above it to shine.
“Brother…” Suddenly, Dorothy screamed.
“Hm?! What’s the matter, Dorothy?” Lathel asked confusedly.
“Be careful. I will wait for you, brother, hehehehe…”
Looking at Dorothy smiling innocently, Lathel nodded and gave her a thumbs up, indicating that he would be alright.
Soon after, Lathel disappeared. Arine looked towards the pillar, where an image that appeared to be carved appeared.
That is the image of Lathel standing on a mountaintop, with many people below looking at him. The image is a bit abstract, so Arine could not tell what challenge Lathel was facing.
‘Lathel… I believe you can do it.’ Arine thought in her heart.
“Huh!” Ikarys snorted in contempt. He looked at everyone and said: “Continue to overcome the challenges until the next round is opened. We don’t have much time left. Everyone should know that… we are shouldering a huge responsibility on our backs, right?”
Everyone was silent. Dorothy pouted and sat on the ground: “I don’t want to!” You spoke ill of my brother; I won’t listen to you.”
Ikarys sighed, and he walked closer to Dorothy, sitting in front of her. At this moment, he showed an extremely gentle expression.
“Little girl, you should know that I just protected you and kept you from losing something precious.” Ikarys said softly: “You should…”
“Fuck off!” Dorothy suddenly glanced at Ikarys; her eyes were filled with murderous intent, so terrifying that it startled him.
She only glanced at him for a second, then turned her head in the other direction, not looking at him anymore. However, in just that one second, Ikarys felt that he had just faced death.
His body felt like it was turned to stone, sweat poured out of him like a shower, and his spine was cold.
He couldn’t believe that a little girl could have such terrible murderous intent. However, he quickly regained consciousness, stood up, smiled, and said: “Little girl, you are very special. But don’t worry; with me here, no one can trick you or hurt you.”
Ikarys knew well… It seemed that Dorothy was much stronger than him. But he is inherently a Holy Son, and he needs to have the qualities that a Holy Son should have.
In his heart, he began to feel more interested in Dorothy. He looked towards Dorothy with greed, but he hid it well, so one discovered his gaze.
‘Girl… you excite me. It seems… you are very special.’
‘That’s right; after all, a little girl like this wouldn’t be able to enter the Genius Congress, much less pass the challenge inside that stone pillar easily.’
‘Maybe I should pay a little attention to that girl. Later… she will probably become an effective tool for me.’
As Ikarys thought so, he immediately walked up to Arine; however, she did not give him a chance to talk.
She quickly walked to another stone pillar and started the next challenge.
Ikarys frowned: ‘Woman, do you still not accept me now? It seems… you’re too arrogant.’
‘It’s fine… The more arrogant you are, the more it stimulates my predatory instincts. No matter what… you can’t escape my hands.’
Ikarys glanced at Doran, frowned, and said: “Haven’t you started yet?”
Doran shrugged his shoulders; he was not afraid of Ikarys at all, but he pointed into the distance and said: “I was wondering… when did that hole appear?”
Ikarys looked in the direction Doran pointed and immediately saw a large hole. The crater was more than 10 metres wide and more than 1 metre deep, and it had countless spider-like cracks around it.
When he saw that hole, he frowned because, when he first came here, he didn’t see any such hole.
‘Strange. Did something happen when I entered the trial inside the stone pillar?’ Ikarys thought to himself.
However, he immediately rejected that thought because, when everyone entered the trial, Lathel was still outside.
There was no way something important could happen, and Lathel would still be safe. This was because it could be seen that this hole was created by an extremely terrible fight.
Ikarys could estimate that… the person who created this hole had power completely superior to his. That’s why he didn’t believe that Lathel could safely live through such a terrible fight.
“Don’t think too much; maybe that hole was created by the heroes who imprisoned the Demon Lord.”
Hearing that, Doran shrugged his shoulders and refused to comment. He also didn’t want to talk much to Ikarys. To him, no matter how high a position Ikarys had, it could not be compared to Lathel.
This was because he only valued people who could be close to Dorothy. Doran’s thoughts were as simple as that.
Seeing Doran leave, Ikarys frowned, feeling extremely uncomfortable. It seemed that when he arrived at the Genius Congress, everything was not as he thought.
Under normal circumstances, he could easily flex or face-slap others. Since coming here, everything has gone beyond his control.
No one believed his words, his handsome appearance did not work, and people did not pay attention to his status as the Holy Son.
‘Damn it! If this continues, I won’t be able to complete the system’s mission.’
‘But okay. Wait until I find the Demon Lord’s seal; I will… hahahahaha…’
…
Lathel slowly opened his eyes, and he saw himself standing on a large stone pedestal. Below, many people were kneeling and worshipping him.
Lathel: “…”
‘What the hell is this challenge?’
“My God!” Suddenly, someone below screamed. Lathel saw that it was an old man that was about 80 years old; his hair was white, his body was thin, and he was holding a stick in his hand, but thanks to it, he could stand.
Even though he was very old, at this moment, he cried like a child: “My god! Help us, banish the evil, avenge the dead.”
Hearing that, Lathel frowned. He was about to say something, but he was startled when he saw many bodies piled upon each other like a small mountain.
“That is…”
“It seems to be the result of a fight.” At this time, Cauldron spoke: “Looking at their bodies, it seems that this place is an ancient battlefield.”
“Why do you think so?” Lathel asked confusedly.
“Look at the corpses of those who died over there; the fatal wounds don’t seem to have been caused by weapons but by fangs and claws.”
Lathel frowned, looking into the distance. Indeed, on the bodies of those people, there were tooth marks so deep that the bones could be seen. Also, most of the cuts were caused by claws, not swords.
Cauldron continued: “Besides, the way these people dress is not similar to the current era, but it is similar to the era when we were still worshipped.”
“They are like one of those tribes that live in remote areas around ancient battlefields.”
“Their lives are very miserable as they are always attacked by other races and demons, and many people die.”
“Can’t they escape from this place and go live somewhere else?” Lathel asked.
“No! Because… this land has been imprisoned by magic…”