Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

CHIII.. the Carnivorous desertivine desperately tried throwing needles and everything at the crimson dragon only to have all of its attacks burned into nothingness. The dragon made from the amalgamation magic of Flame-Electro, opened its mouth and passed through the desretivine, destroying and devouring it into tiny cinders.

In front of the might of the new electro flame magic, the [root] skill wasn't able to achieve many effects. Though that wasn't all, after devouring one of the desertivines, only 20% of the power of the crimson lightning dragon had dissipated as it flew towards the other carnivorous desertivines nearby.

Just like the first one, all the other cactuses were immediately devoured by the magic unable to even muster up a resistance. It was only after decimating five level 407+ Carnnivoures desertivines that the magic completely dissipated.

The magic not only displayed how effective it was against the plant type monsters, but it also showed how much improvement Simon had made after that day.

Haa… Haa...  Simon took hurried breath of air, with his vision that was quickly becoming blurry, he saw his attack taking out five of those cactuses before dissipating. Relieved, his exhaustion and pain caught up to him making him unable to support his body any longer.

THUD… he fell on the ground. His sight was getting dark and his regeneration was starting to slow down all of which hinted that he was poisoned. If he didn't take care of the poison soon, he might even die.

Thus, Simon hurriedly bought an elixir that healed all kinds of poison from the shop and gulped it down.

"That was too close, my HP almost ticked down to red" sprawled on the ground, he muttered. If Irene was here she would have sighed in exasperation and berated him for being too reckless.

Simon knew that he was being impulsive and rash; however, he who was made aware of how important having strength was in this world, knew that he won't be able to become strong without putting his life on the line.

Simon did not want to be trampled or be called weak therefore he had no other choice but to continue on this path of his.

It wasn't like he was being thoughtless; he had a form of plan in mind and knew that he was very close to acquiring the [Concurrent Chant] skill. He neither had talent nor was he a genius, if there was any defining characteristic about him, that would be his persistence.

After taking a rest to heal his wounds and restore his mana, Simon started walking towards the Carnivorous Desertvines once again. Why was he doing that? that was because he had no other choice. He had walked this wilderness for hours and this place was the only area that was full of monsters.

Given the peculiarity, Simon believed that a path that would lead him towards the fourth trial was present somewhere here. In any case, if he wanted to move forward he had no other choice but to defeat these plants.

Seconds became minutes and minutes turned into hours. Just like that, a day passed by. During this time, Simon hunted down the Desertivines, took rests in between and proceeded forward. Much like what he was used to doing back in the Ghastly Winding Forest, his time here was mostly spent grinding.

Since the enemies are all above level 400, they gave him a delicious chuck of experience allowing him to reach level 362. That was not all, his understanding of the lightning attribute was also deepening further and further from his battle with the carnivorous Desertivines and he would every so often try to amalgamate the two intermediate tier elements.

Though it failed still now, he knew that he was making progress. Additionally, he felt like he had a clear image of the [Concurrent Chant] now and it would manifest as one of his skills in his status any moment now.

Simon wasn't wrong, after only two hours he was able to acquire the skill much to his delight. The [Concurrent Chant] just like his [Mana Lines] skill was a Lost Superior tier and had the potential to reach the legendary tier.

There was no way he wouldn't be delighted after getting the two skills Irene had tasked him to acquire before reaching the rank of a Demon Earl. However, his delight didn't last long when even after a day and a half, he wasn't able to find any inkling of what the fourth trial was all about.

"It can't be that the trail wants me to eradicate all of these cactuses right? Does it think I'm its gardener or something?".

Simon made a pun, he was starting to get annoyed after making no progress with the trail. By now, he had delved quite deeper inside the territory of the Carnivorous Desertivines and yet there was no clue as to what he should do in this vast wilderness.

Even the levels of these cactuses were starting to appear was getting higher and higher at around 450- 500. Although he was yet to meet any evolved form of these Desertivines, it did not make them any less difficult to deal with.

After preserving on for a few more hours, he finally saw some changes in his scenery. In front of him was a peculiar stone structure that looked like a memorial at a glance, stationed in the middle of the wilderness.

All around him, other than the recurring Desertivines, this was the only unusual thing he found. Thinking that the stone structure would hold some clue towards the fourth trail, Simon approached closer.

From what he could tell, the stone structure was very old with cracks and decay everywhere. As Simon was inspecting the structure, he involuntarily touched it and at that moment, a window prompt appeared in front of him.

[Fourth Trial- Find the Glistering Jewel from all of the three Tomb of the Starved. Warning, Ozymandias' powerful curse lingers around to this day and will try to harm any and all who are seeking to piece the crystals together. Once entered, you cannot leave the temple until it is cleared or you become one of the starved]

[Do you want to start the trial? <strong>YES/NO</strong>].

GULP… Simon gulped, after spending a day and a half wandering this endless wilderness, the fourth trial was finally near his sight.  But rather than looking happy, his face was more dire than before.

There was no other reason for that other than the text that was written in front of him. This was the first time, the trail was warning him of something, his instincts were telling him that it would be anything but easier.

Unlike the last time when he had Lucine and Denzel backing him up, this time he was all alone where even a single mistake might cost him his life.

Simon deliberated for a while before pressing the <strong>YES</strong> button. In any case, if he wanted to leave this trail, he had to get the return transit rock and to get them he has to proceed with the trial.

The instant he pressed YES, the land around him started trembling, and the sands around him shifted to reveal a small part of the tomb. From this, one could tell that the temple was buried underneath and from its design, it seemed prehistoric.

The part that surfaced, was the very corner of the temple and it only had one door and a passage that led deeper inside. Simon took a deep breath of air, draped over a serious face and unhesitantly jumped in.

The moment he jumped in, the land started shifting again and the temple disappeared underneath the vast wilderness once again.

The passageway was dark and arid; however, it was no problem for Simon since he could use the Flame magic. He ignited a small fireball in his hand and used it as a torch to navigate his way forward.

After what seemed like a minute or two of walking, the passageway suddenly opened to reveal a huge altar made of bizarre stone. There were some ancient writing and runes on the altar which might have meant something but since Lucine wasn't there to translate it for him, neither was the tier of his [Language Comprehension] skill high enough for him to understand what it meant.

Beside it, were two huge doors that led towards the other areas of the tomb. Simon looked around him and only sighed in relief when he saw that there was no such thing as a torchlight that can be used as a countdown.

He stood in front of the altar and inspected it, trying to see if he could decipher anything. However, he soon gave up seeing that it was all just a wasted effort.

The absence of Lucine and his inability to read these letters, made him realise how important raising the tier of his [Language Comprehension] was. Though he knew it, he had no idea of where and how to even begin trying to evolve it.

Should he just learn some ancient texts or would it evolve automatically once he comes in contact with more of these texts? Anyways, now was not the time to think about all that.

There were two doors in front of him, the logic dictates that he opens one of them. But then again, he had no idea which door leads to where and if he was making the right choice or not. If the doors were like the second trial, then choosing the wrong option might spell doom for him.

Simon sighed, leaving everything to fate, he placed his hands on the door on the right. Immediately, the numerous runes on the stone door lit up and with a light tremor spread open. The dusty and arid air inside, indicated that the temple hadn't been in use for a very very long time.

When Simon entered inside, he was greeted by a huge hall the size of a stadium. Like a catacomb, there were human-sized rectangular holes all around the hall and on the other side of the place, was a big fireplace on top of a small elevation.

The moment Simon stepped inside, a window promptly appeared in front of him.

******

Name:- Simon

Race:- Demon Viscount

Titles:- Demon of Pride [Incomplete Fragment 1/5]

Stats:-

Level:- 362

HP:- 47,477

MP:- 67,037

Strength:- 2986

Defence:- 3186

Agility:-  3710

Magic:- 4110

Endurance:- 3348

Luck:- 2224

Skills:- Language Comprehension, Analysis, Mental Map, Flame Magic Mastery, Gale Magic Mastery, Lightning Magic Mastery, High-Speed Thought Processing, High-Speed Regeneration, High-Speed Flight, Super Enhanced Strength, Body Enhancement, Fire Resistance, Wind Resistance, Electro resistance Pain Resistance, Blunt Damage Resistance,  Sense Presence, Hide Presence, Demonic Eyes, Super Enhanced Agility, Super Enhanced Endurance, Super Enhanced Magic, Super Enhanced Defence, Minimal Mana Consumption, Sharpened Senses, Mana Lines, Concurrent Chant,

Amalgamation Skills:- [Flame-Gale Mastery], [Electro-Flame Mastery]

Inherent Skills:- Dungeon Creation, Main Menu, Ancestral Symbol Ignition