8. Formation of the Heavenly Peak Phalanx
"Berry! Again, how did they even eliminate 20 summoners at once?" Aria exclaimed.
'It was probably an ambush. They probably overstayed in a neutral zone and were forcibly kicked out. As expected, their domain cores will be with them, since they won't take the chance of leaving them in their domains. Berry probably waited patiently for this to happen and brutally utilized the opportunity.'
"Ambushers, the most disgusting type of scum!" Duran exclaimed violently.
"I totally agree. What a distasteful bastard!" Aria said angrily.
'There's no reason to be unnecessarily worked up.'
He took a deep breath.
'It's a war, and as far as I am concerned, I may be next.'
He exhaled.
'So we need to bolster our forces.'
Their expressions lightened.
"It's time to dominate some nightmare difficulties!" Duran exclaimed excitedly.
"I will make sure to show you guys how amazing I am," she smirked. "Though I'm sure you are already aware." She flicked her hair and laughed mischievously.
'It's time—'
He took a step forward.
'For brutal grinding.'
After checking the map, he found out Neutral Zone: 9S was not too far from there.
"Don't tell me you guys want to walk when you have me," Aria exclaimed.
"You can teleport? I never knew you could be this useful," he said sarcastically.
'Before we go anywhere, you have to hide that tail and horns and put on a less attention-seeking outfit.'
She groaned.
"Fine." She snapped her fingers. "How's this? Don't complain about my hair colour, 'cause I ain't changing it."
She changed into a casual outfit with a fake mask and glasses. Revet and Duran changed out of their hot spring robes into casual outfits.
'Okay, okay, let's get going.'
She grabbed both of them by the shoulders.
"Such a macho man," Duran scoffed.
"Hold tight!" Her spirit energy surged. "1st trigram, scribble 8: Transitional Waltz."
Whoosh—
They appeared in front of a massive building painted white with a brown wooden ceiling.
"It looks like a museum," Duran stated softly.
"A museum? Boring," Aria exclaimed with a lack of interest.
'Shall we.'
He pushed the medium-sized wooden door open.
Creak...
There were only a small number of summoners there. Given the recent events, most of them were probably scared of leaving their domains. Pathetic. If you did not go to the fight, it would eventually come to you.
[Tavern of Woe]
[Rewards: catalyst]
'Let's try this one out.'
"Woe! It has a nice ring to it," Aria scoffed.
"I second that," Duran said calmly.
[Please select a difficulty]
'Nightmare'
[Are you sure you would like to challenge the nightmare difficulty?]
[Time allowed : 30 minutes]
'Yes'
Whoosh—
Another forgotten world. But this one looked like a burial ground.
"Creepy," Aria screeched.
"Pull yourself together," Duran said, shaking her shoulder.
Creak!!!!
A stone coffin opened.
[Defeat the Burial Guide and its spawns]
[Challenge has began]
It wielded a huge scythe contrary to its small physique.
"Disgusting." Aria stepped forward. "Don't worry, I got—"
The Burial Guide lunged its scythe at her.
"As I said, I got this." An energy barrier blocked the attack. The shockwave sent the Burial Guide flying backwards.
Undead knights and mages began to emerge from the ground beneath.
'We will take care of the little ones. You take care of the big guy.'
"Don't get me wrong, Revet-san." Her spirit energy surged. "I'll take care of all these bastards myself!"
She split herself multiple times, creating over a hundred clones at once.
"4th trigram, scribble 2: Damaton Division."
She and her clones spread out.
"Takeoun technique, blitz 30: Dance of the Dragon Maiden."
Bursts of spirit energy shaped like dragons attacked the skeleton knights and mages, destroying them faster than they could react. The impact spiderwebbed the ground.
Schkkkkkk!
Eerie dark spirit energy began to surge from the Burial Guide's body.
'It must be getting desperate.'
"Hehehe. What a pathetic bastard. It's high time I finish you off."
She flew into the sky.
"8th trigram, scribble 1—"
A bright white light emerged, illuminating the pitch-dark sky. The skeleton knights and mages began to disintegrate. Her light pink eyes glowed brighter. A talisman formed in her hand as she held it upward.
She took a deep breath.
"Romoni no Amatori: Divine Purification."
The white light began to converge around the Burial Guide.
Schhhckkk!
It tried to use its dark spirit energy to break out.
"A feeble attempt."
She flicked the talisman.
The white light consumed it whole.
"That was so underwhelming."
She descended to the ground softly, her white silky hair fluttering in the wind.
"Show off," Duran scoffed.
"Hehehe. Just admit it, I blew your mind sky high! Isn't that right, Revet-san?"
She turned toward him, her eyes sparkling.
'You did an amazing job, Aria.'
'Revet-san!'
She hugged him.
[Your bond level with Aria has increased by 5!]
' that's alot 'Revet mumbled to himself
'Aria? Do you plan on squeezing me to death?'
"Sorry."
She stepped back quickly.
"The Burial Guide dropped this."
She handed him the scythe.
[S grade artifact: The Ripper. Effect :One instant kill every three days. Drop rate : ×19]
[Clear time: 1 minute:50 seconds]
[Nightmare difficulty has been cleared. All rewards will now be received]
[Congratulations! You are the first summoner to clear the Tavern of Woe on nightmare difficulty. Your rewards will be doubled!]
[20 S rank catalysts plus an extra 20]
[You will now be teleported back to the neutral zone]
Whoosh—
['We are going to speed run it this time. No unnecessary displays.']
"Humph!" Aria groaned.
"Leave it to me guys!" Duran exclaimed with a smirk.
'I'm serious, Duran!'
"Okay! Okay!" he replied.
[Please select a difficulty]
'Nightmare'
[Are you sure you would like to challenge the nightmare difficulty?]
[Time allowed : 30 minutes]
'Yes'
They speed ran the Tavern of Woe twenty times. After that they cleared the Tavern of Wealth ten times and the Tavern of Greatness thirty times for artifacts.
[You have received 15 S rank artifacts plus an extra 15]
[You will now be teleported back to the neutral zone]
Whoosh—
"Please no more. I need to take a dip in the hot spring," Aria exclaimed tiredly.
Duran gloated.
"I could still go for 100 extra, you know."
Aria gave him a deadly stare.
"Then you can carry on. I'm getting the hell outta here."
"If you go now, how the hell do you expect us to get back?" he exclaimed.
"You can use a call back home!" she replied abruptly.
"That's enough!" He took a deep breath. "We are already done."
[ You are still No.2 on the leaderboard!]
"Yay! Can we get going now?" she exclaimed uninterestedly.
"Congrats, bro!" Duran shook him by the shoulder.
"Let's go!" she smacked his shoulder.
'A call back home.'
Whoosh—
They arrived at the Dominion of the Heavenly Peak.
"Bye!"
Aria disappeared.
After a few hours of rest, they gathered at the central hall.
'Aria, can I mass summon?'
"I am no longer connected to the archives of the Summoners' War." She took a deep breath. "But! I copied all the information before I was disconnected," she exclaimed. "I'm just super amazing, aren't I?"
"I'm quite surprised you could use your brain like that, hehe," Duran laughed mischievously.
"The foul-mouthed fox aside, a mass summoning ritual is possible, but it drains a lot of spirit energy," she answered.
He submitted all the leveling-up materials in his possession.
[Your Domain has ranked up to diamond rank!]
[Your domain has leveled up to tier 200!]
Now he had ten million spirit energy. Just enough to conduct the mass summoning ritual
"Hahaha. You might actually be a suitable sparring partner for me now," Duran exclaimed intensely.
"Such dense spirit energy. You are now in a league of your own," Aria added.
['It's time to begin the mass summoning ritual.']
"I'm going to have juniors." A smile played across her face.
"And I hope they are less stressful than you," Duran said sarcastically.
They stepped back.
'Mass summoning ritual.'
[Are you sure you would like to carry out a mass summoning ritual?]
'Absolutely'
[Ladder to Heaven has been activated!]
Multiple magic circles began to emerge, filling the entire central hall. Bursts of light of different colours appeared simultaneously. Multiple outlines formed in the center.
Slam!
An attack came from behind.
He did not see it coming. Luckily one of Aria's abilities provided a default shield.
Why was this happening when he had exhausted almost all of his spirit energy?
[Mass summoning ritual has been successfully conducted.]
"So you are the human who dares to summon me—"
A voice echoed from the far end of the hall.
"Entria!"