Astral Online: Cursed by the Demon Lord to Become the Strongest Beautiful Girl, I Rapidly Grow and Dominate with Cheat Skills Despite Being the Weakest Profession - Chapter 188
Chapter 188: Trial of Strength
After smoothly clearing the first area where slimes spawned, we pressed on through the damp, dimly lit caves. It seemed that the ?Trial of Strength? was divided into three stages.
Fortunately, it wasn’t designed to spawn endless enemies, as is often the case in games where you’re forced to rush. I felt grateful to whoever created this cave for sparing us that stress.
As we entered the second area, the monsters that appeared were half-fish, half-human creatures, ?Merfolk?, wielding tridents. They had human bodies with fish heads, fins on their hands and feet, and blue, scaly skin. From their waists grew fish tails.
My insight skill revealed their level: 70. Their weapon skills matched their tridents, categorizing them as spear-users. These merfolk were guardians created by the defense system of the Undersea Temple, eternally roaming the cave to fend off intruders.
After quickly relaying this info to my four companions, I stepped forward, brandishing my gleaming silver magic sword.
“Hah!”
Following my lead, Arisa and Kuro also stepped forward. Our weapons shone with skill effects, casting beautiful beams of three colors throughout the cave.
I closed the distance to the enemy with my ?Sonic Sword? rush skill, then used my favored ?Dual Nail? technique, delivering two horizontal strikes in quick succession, taking down each ?Merfolk? in two hits.
One of the fishmen attempted to skewer me from both sides, but Kuro, who was slightly behind me, crushed them with a combo of ?Sonic Sword? and ?Dragon Kick?.
“Just watching is getting boring, so I’ll join the fight in Laura’s place!” Arisa, who had been waiting at the back in the first area, stepped forward, brimming with fighting spirit.
With a single, lightning-fast thrust of her spear, she pierced the chest of the remaining enemies, reducing them to particles of light.
“No way! Arisa, you’re taking these guys down in a single blow—how much have you boosted your skill level?”
Dodging an incoming trident thrust and countering with ?Dual Nail?, I couldn’t help but voice my amazement.
Arisa continued, surrounding herself with particles of light as she repeatedly used ?Charge Lance? without even letting the enemies get into an attack stance.
“Hmm, let’s see… My rush skill ?Sonic Lance? and my power skill ?Charge Lance? are both maxed out at level 10. Also, ?Gáe Bulg? automatically lands critical hits on vital points.”
“C-constant critical hits…?”
“Mom’s even more incredible than Sora…!”
Seeing her take down monster after monster with single hits felt like watching a one-person action game. Inspired by her performance, Kuro, standing beside me, brightened with determination.
“All right, I’m going to do my best too! Sora, give me some buffs!”
“Got it, but don’t push yourself too hard.”
“Roger that!”
With newfound resolve, Kuro activated her martial artist skill’s ?Battle Spirit Boost?, temporarily boosting her stats. I added ?Attack Power Boost Enchantment V? and ?Jump Power Boost Enchantment V?, along with ?Lighting Attribute Enchantment V?, exploiting the enemies’ weakness.
She then leaped high and landed in the middle of a cluster of enemies, slamming ?Dragon Tremor? into the ground without a moment’s delay.
The martial artist’s unique skill, ?Dragon Tremor?, generates shockwaves that temporarily stun all enemies within its range.
Thanks to the skill activated at a calculated distance that kept us safe, the majority of the enemies found their movements forcibly halted.
With all enemies frozen, Kuro, the only one able to move, united her flying slash skill ?Angriff Fliegen? with her four-hit combo skill ?Quad Slash?.
“—Hah, yah!”
Kuro’s ?Sword of Dawn? glowed with a golden light due to the skill effects. The rapid four-hit combo unleashed a wave of lightning-enveloped flying slashes that sliced through the gathered ?Merfolk?, numbering over eight.
With each strike, the enemies’ HP halved, reaching zero with the second hit. By the time the four attacks concluded, all the enemies surrounding Kuro had been transformed into particles of light.
The petite girl knelt on one knee, subjected to the recoil time from her powerful skill.
“I’m sorry. It seems I’ll be immobile for 30 seconds…”
The enemies, still spawning, targeted Kuro, who was now in the most precarious position.
Realizing the danger, I hurried to help her, but Laura, who had been waiting behind, shouted, “Not on my watch!” and threw something.
It was her partner, Sue-chan, the slime.
“Suur!”
The slime shot streams of dissolving liquid like lasers, halting the monsters advancing toward Kuro.
From the rear, Inori accurately sniped the immobilized enemies, blasting away their HP one after another.
As I prepared to assist with my own flying slash, I noticed something alarming happening next to me.
“?Gáe Bulg? Annihilation Mode!”
Around Arisa, who was preparing to throw her spear, identical spears to the one in her hand appeared.
There were about thirty of them. To my disbelief, my insight skill revealed that these duplicates possessed power equal to the original spear.
Sora, paralyzed with fear, watched as Arisa completed her preparation and mercilessly threw ?Gáe Bulg? to save her daughter from danger.
“Whaaat?!”
Even witnessing it firsthand, the sheer scale of the skill effect was unbelievable. It didn’t seem like a single person was executing it.
The terrifying sight of countless meteors descending sent Kuro, still immobilized, into a panic-filled scream echoing through the cave.
?Gáe Bulg?, known for its guaranteed strikes to vital points, bypassed the defenses of the ?Merfolk?, creating gaping holes in their bodies.
What unfolded was a one-sided massacre, not even a proper battle. I hoped that the desperate cries of “Help me!” from the fishmen were just a figment of my imagination.
By the time the screams from the front died down, all the hostile monsters had been reduced to particles of light.
The cave was filled with countless faint lights, reminiscent of images of real-life firefly swarms—beautiful and yet haunting.
But considering that these lights represented the scattered lives of the monsters that had once been plentiful, even I felt a twinge of fear at the sheer volume.
(Did we really take down all the enemies with that one attack?)
Moreover, the fact that it only resulted in a mere 10 seconds of immobility seemed far too absurd for a legendary weapon like ?Gáe Bulg?.
Having been in this world for quite some time, it was evident that the strength of a beta player in terms of gear and skills was on a completely different level from ours.
Sora, who had learned this lesson the hard way on this journey, chuckled wryly while trembling with gratitude at the strength of Arisa standing beside her.
“Even knowing they wouldn’t hit me, the sight of so many lights flying at me was terrifying!?”
Once Kuro’s skill cooldown ended, she clung to my arm with teary eyes, for some reason preferring me over her mother.
If I had to give my opinion on that, I would admit that I found it pretty scary too, so it was understandable that Kuro was tearing up.
Even if they were absolutely guaranteed to miss, it’s beyond normal nerves to remain calm when standing right in the center of the blast zone.
Arisa softly apologized with a single phrase, “I’m sorry, Kuro-chan,” as she stroked her daughter’s head.
An awkward silence settled in when Inori, who had been on guard with her bow, remarked with a strained expression, “It seems that most of the ?Merfolk? have been wiped out…”
Indeed, there were only about ten remaining. Considering that, I couldn’t help but wonder just how many enemies Arisa’s strike had taken down.
As I recalled the moment, shivering slightly, Laura urged us, “L-Let’s move on!”
Having wreaked havoc, Arisa wore a somewhat relieved expression and settled down in the back afterward.
While Kuro and I drank Inori’s new fatigue recovery potions, the remaining enemies were safely dealt with one by one by the monsters Laura had summoned, working in conjunction with Inori’s bow.
Once the battle ended, Laura expressed her gratitude, handing out snacks to the wolf-type and eagle-type summoned beasts before they were automatically returned.
Suddenly, I remembered that the summoned beast “Forest Wolf” I had rented from Yoru disappeared after its mission on the battlefield was complete.
(Thinking about it, summoned beasts called by a summoner are randomly summoned after specifying a category of monster. Once their designated task is finished, they return, meaning they can’t stay by the master’s side indefinitely.)
When I considered this calmly, it occurred to me that Sue-chan, the slime that has always been by my side, was a special case.
Without hesitation, I decided to activate the insight skill I hadn’t used on Sue-chan until now.
(Huh…!?)
Upon discovering Sue-chan’s true identity, I almost lost my balance and stumbled in the cave.
Seeing Kuro and the others with shocked expressions, I hastily insisted that everything was fine and tried to maintain my composure.
Yet inside, my thoughts were tumultuous like a stormy sea.
(Hey, hey, hey, you weren’t just a simple slime!?)
What my eyes revealed about Sue-chan’s shocking true identity was something that—
“Sora-kun, it would be best to raise the alert level to maximum from here on out.”
“Arisa-san?”
Sora, interrupted in her thoughts, was jolted back to reality by Arisa’s serious tone.
Wondering what was happening, it seemed she had stopped in front of the final area.
But what did she mean by raising the alert level to maximum?
As I turned my gaze toward the last area, I quickly noticed something unusual.
“This is…”
With a serious expression, I grabbed Laura by the shoulder, tilting her head to pull her back.
Even Arisa, who had been casually strolling, narrowed her eyes and displayed an unprecedented sharpness in her gaze.
I spoke to the other three, who looked puzzled by the tension surrounding her, to clarify the situation.
“There’s something there. It’s probably not a normal enemy.”
In the pitch-black third area, as Arisa and I stepped inside, the surroundings lit up, revealing a massive underwater tunnel.
Moreover, the tunnel resembled an aquarium, allowing us to look up and see a variety of creatures swimming, from small fish to large monsters.
Under normal circumstances, I would have been entranced by the beautiful yet terrifying scenery, but right now, I didn’t have the luxury to take in my surroundings.
This was because, just after entering, the clear condition for the third stage appeared before us, indicating that the trial of strength was over.
However, we weren’t the ones who cleared it. There were others who had come here first and exterminated all the monsters that had spawned.
And without a doubt, those who had done this were the two knights standing ahead, clad in armor from head to toe.
I recognized the black armor from a previous encounter. The knights drew their sword and battle axes from their backs as they confirmed our presence.
“You’ve finally come, silver-haired enchanter.”
“We are the knights of the underworld, here to retrieve the ring.”
Detecting the sharp malice emanating from the enemies, I felt beads of sweat pooling on my forehead.
The reason was clear: both knights were level 150.