The light faded around the group, and they each took in their surroundings. It was a stark contrast from the previous trial. They now looked to be inside a room the size of a gymnasium. They stood on a concrete floor, and all the surrounding walls looked to be made of concrete as well. On each of the four walls were double-sided doors made of stone. The doors were imposing as they came up halfway up the walls. They gave off the appearance of large sealed gates.

  Austin looked around and noticed that there was nothing else in the room besides the group. It was completely empty. “I guess we just wait for the trial to start?”

  “Probably,” Sean nodded. “The trial seemed straightforward. So, I guess the area reflects that.”

  “I guess we just wait then,” Josh shrugged. “I’m sure it’ll be any minute.”

  “Seems strange to go to something so simple after our first trial,” Maya commented. “Maybe there is a twist to it.”

  “That’s a good point,” Austin nodded. “Keep your guard up for anything weird.”

  Almost as if in response to Austin, the doors started to slowly open. They made a scraping sound as they brushed against the concrete floor. The group started to hear chittering clicks from behind the doors. Once the doors fully opened, creatures started to flood into the room.

  The creatures that entered the room looked like a combination of a human and a lizard. They stood on two legs like humans but were covered in green scales and had the faces of lizards. The creatures stood around half the height of humans, and they wielded makeshift weapons carved out of bone.

  It did not take long for the room to be filled with the lizardmen. As the last of the creatures entered the room, the doors slammed shut with an echoing boom. The group was now surrounded by lizardmen. There were more than Austin could even count.

  “Now we know why it was so straightforward!” Austin yelled to the group. His voice was barely able to carry over the overlapping clicking sounds of the lizards.

  “Luckily, they barely seem to be Lead. I already checked. So, I don’t think we should have too much trouble,” Sean said to the group as he formed his sword in his hand.

  “Let’s get started then,” Maya smirked as she readied her axe. “This could be fun.”

  The group split off from each other and moved to attack the lizardmen. As Austin charged forward, silver light surrounded his arms and legs. He shot his fist forward towards one of the lizardmen, and the silver light broke apart like a shell. In the light’s place was armor covering his lower legs and arms. Austin’s punch threw the lizardmen back into a group of the creatures, and they all toppled to the ground.

  Maya let out a roar as she charged the lizardmen. This time, she did not activate a specific technique. Instead, she just allowed Essence to flow through her and enhance her physical abilities to a lesser degree. She had figured that she should conserve her strength against such weak opponents. With a mighty swing, she split several of the lizardmen in two.

  Unlike Maya and Austin, Sean did not charge. Instead, he calmly walked towards a group of lizardmen and prepared his sword. He moved his sword in a twirling motion, and it extended like a whip. The blade danced through lizardmen and cut them to pieces.

  Josh dashed into a group of lizardmen and moved from one to another. As he moved through them, he slashed with his sword. He did not do anything magnificent, like cut the lizardmen in two or into pieces. Instead, his slashes were precise and used just the right amount of strength to kill each of the lizardmen that he hit.

  The group continued to easily overwhelm the lizardmen. While the lizardmen definitely had numbers, they were just that much weaker than the group. Despite the fact that the group kept defeating lizardmen, the group did not seem to stop attacking.

  “Is it just me, or have their numbers stayed the same?” Sean asked as he cut through a lizardman

  “I’m not too sure, I wasn’t paying much attention,” Maya admitted as she backed away from a lizardman to talk.

  “Now that you say something, that does make a lot of sense,” Austin said as he kicked forward at a lizardman and sent it tumbling backward.

  “Could we be missing something?” Josh asked as he jumped away from a lizardman that he cut down.

  “I think we are,” Sean nodded. “Could you guys move to defend me while I try to use my Essence to investigate?”

  The group nodded and moved to surround Sean. They formed a triangle formation with Sean at the center point. Sean closed his eyes and began to focus on the surrounding Essence. While he already identified that the lizardmen were on the low end of Lead, he felt like there was something else going on. He was sure that each lizardman defeated was replaced by another lizardman.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  The group tried to conserve their energy as they defended Sean. If he was right, then this trial could exhaust them if they were not careful. They had no idea what the challenges ahead would be, but they could not go into them exhausted. The group knew that would just spell failure.

  So, to conserve energy, each member of the group stopped fighting recklessly. Instead of attacking the lizardmen, they waited for the lizardmen to approach them. Once they did, they tried to use precise movements to take the lizardman down. This was an easy task for Austin and Josh, but Maya struggled to hold herself back. She threw herself into her fights with her whole heart and strength. Fighting with precision was far from her specialty.

  The lizardmen soon realized that the group was trying to conserve energy. In response, they charged the group. If the group was going to try to conserve energy, then the lizardmen would force them to use more. Each member of the group was now overwhelmed by the number of enemies.

  As more creatures charged towards Austin, he sent waves of Essence into his arm and leg armor. Austin’s armor radiated power as Essence filled it up. Then, with a combination of punches and kicks, Austin let the Essence release from his armor. The release of Essence caused bright lights to erupt in quick succession. The explosions of light sent the lizardman flying straight into the concrete walls of the room.

  Now that the lizardmen came in droves, Maya felt a blend of anticipation and relief. She did not have to hold back with so many lizardmen. The lizardmen pounced towards her, but she brought her axe up quicker than they could land. Her axe easily sliced through the lizardmen and stopped them in midair.

  Once Josh realized that the lizardmen were coming with more force, he decided to stop them before they could even arrive. He shot his hand to the side, and a large blade of wind flew forward towards the charging lizardmen. The blade cut through the lizardmen and continued to travel further. Before the blade vanished into the air, it slashed through a whole line of lizardmen.

  The group looked towards the fallen lizardmen in satisfaction. Then they realized what was actually happening. The fallen lizardmen seemed to turn into Aether, but as the Aether lifted into the air, it started to form back together. The floating dust gathered together and took the shape of more lizardmen. Once it took the shape of the creatures, it started to fill with details until new lizardmen were in its place.

  “Got it,” Sean announced as water droplets formed over his head. The water droplets condensed together and formed the shape of three birds.

  Sean opened his eyes and lifted his hand upward. The birds brought their wings in and rocketed further upward. As they reached their peak, the birds spread out their wings and hovered for a moment. As they hovered, the birds moved their heads as if they were looking for a target. Once their sight landed on a target, their heads snapped to a stop like they locked on. Then they took flight in a straight line towards their targets. Within the mob of lizardmen were three specific lizardmen that the birds had targeted. The lizardmen were focused on the battle ahead and caught off guard as the birds slammed into them. With an explosion of water, they flew over the mob of lizardmen.

  As the targeted lizardmen flew through the air, the mob started to fade. Every lizardman except the three targets started to slowly turn transparent. Then they faded into nothing. The room had been completely cleared out except for Austin’s group and the three remaining lizardmen. As the lizardmen fell to the ground, Sean called the birds back to him. The scattered water formed into the shapes of birds and flew over to perch on Sean.

  “It was actually a pretty neat technique,” Sean explained to the group. “It is a Tamer technique that copies the user. Each copy is weaker than the original. So, the more copies you make, the weaker they are. The thing that really makes it interesting is that the user’s Essence weakens until the technique ends. So, they can easily blend in with their mob.”

  Austin closed his eyes for a moment and noticed the change in Essence. The remaining lizardmen were easily on the upper-end of Copper. “You’re right. Good job catching that.”

  “It was kind of difficult,” Sean shrugged. “But it gave me some ideas for the future. Now we should probably stop talking and finish this.”

  “Already on it,” Josh replied as he channeled Essence into his sword.

  The group felt intense pressure as Josh channeled. The air itself became difficult to move in as the sword started to glow bright white. Then Josh cut forward with his sword. The air distorted as several large blades scattered in all directions. The group was forced to duck and dodge out of the way of the blades. The danger was worth it, though. The blades sliced into the lizardmen and cut them each to pieces.

  “Didn’t I just tell you to be careful?!” Maya yelled angrily.

  “Sorry, sorry. I got carried away,” Josh chuckled nervously. “I wanted to get the big win before they got up.”

  “It’s fine,” Maya sighed. “I just might have to be more careful around you than an enemy.”

  “Maybe I secretly am the enemy!” Josh teased with a smirk.

  “Shut up,” Sean said as he shot his elbow into Josh’s side. “You know that’s not even remotely funny.”

  “Ugh, no one has a sense of humor,” Josh sighed.

  “It’s a lot less funny when we are worried about traitors,” Sean said.

  “You’re right, Sean, but I know I can trust you guys,” Austin said with a smile.

  “Moving on, I wonder when we are going to get our message from the guy in charge,” Maya said.

  Almost as if the door responded to Maya, a set of the large doors slowly opened. Then an echoing voice came from behind the door. “Another trial finished. I hoped to watch you fight some more, but I am impressed nonetheless. To continue your trial, step through the doors. Once you enter, come and find me.”

  Austin looked towards the group. “Well, I guess we got our answer. You guys ready?”

  The group nodded in unison with enthusiasm. Austin shared in their enthusiasm. He had started to find the trials fun and looked forward to the next. With the group behind him, they walked through the doors. They were all ready to face whatever else lay ahead.