-Car #2, Castle of Nightmares-

Challenge: Score 400 points or higher per instance,

Warning: Until the completion of the challenge, this car is instanced.

Warning #2: The day ends 6 hours earlier here.

Notice: This level is ranked; top rankers will be displayed on a leaderboard.

Time limit: 2 days

A ranked vampire hunt? Interesting; such a setting fit the trial perfectly.

We had two days to bring havoc to this place and whoever would kill the most, would be then announced as the ‘strongest’ adventurers.

Jinhyung would certainly be a candidate, but would it be wise to show our power? We already had a group; we had no point in proving ourselves.

Exiting this place and going straight to the third car after fulfilling the minimal requirement would be smarter. This way, we could get our coins, progress faster, and become stronger than the known 'strongest' adventurers.

"Jinhyung, we should leave this level as soon as we complete the minimum requirement. We have no reason to attract attention, and no rewards for high rankers were promised anyway."

"I thought of the same thing, the 'strongest' would always be a high-priority target; keeping a low profile would be great. But do not forget; anyone could fake their ranking."

After all, this ranking was useless; nobody would want to be known as the 'strongest'.

Except if someone wanted to follow the path of kings, someone so powerful that no one else could lay a hand on them.

I doubted someone could become this strong just yet; even Jinhyung could be defeated by a group of adventurers.

The castle wasn't very far away—two kilometers at most. But it took a long time to get there; the rain was unending and the mud was deep and viscous, impairing our movements.

I decided not to waste any magic to protect myself from the rain since it would take almost all my reserves, and we had no idea how strong the monsters of the castle were.

Even through my thick cloak, I got completely drenched. Sometimes, an opaque fog swallowed our path for several minutes.

Luckily, we already aimed our compasses toward the castle so we could continue our advance even with null visuals.

The ever-cold pendant started to feel a bit warmer; was it done filling itself?

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After almost an hour, we finally arrived at the main gates of the castle. A chill ran through my spine; it was already terrifying from afar, but from up close, it was hope-crushing.

The palisade stood dozens of meters above us; its mere size was breathtaking. The doors were cast from black iron; in low relief, a giant eye was sculpted into them. No matter from what angle I looked at it, it seemed to gaze back at me.

"How do we even get in?" I said as I found no handles.

"Look, there is a rope; it seems to be connected to something."

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He was right. At first glance, I didn't even notice it, but a dark rope hung beside the doors.

I gasped when Jinhyung rushed and pulled at it. Not like there was anything else to try, the rope gave in, and after about half a meter, a loud bell sound flew through the whole place.

After it rang, the usual dead silence was broken, and a strong wave of ‘awakening’ scattered through the castle. My blood froze as I felt movement inside, everywhere beyond the gate.

"Well, can't you tell me such a thing beforehand?"

I wasn't really mad; I simply wanted to pierce the uneasiness of the moment.

"There was nothing else to do, anyway."

We stepped a few steps back as the doors started moving, oddly without any sound, as if they were oiled just before.

A warm mass of air flew outside, as if the castle was an old beast breathing by itself. The same, strong stench of blood came from within. No immediate danger seemed to be inside; we both walked inside.

The moment both of us entered, the doors quickly closed. Kind of excepted of such a place, nonetheless creepy.

Jinhyung took something from his pocket and placed it on his head. It was a simple brass diadem with a blue encrusted stone.

He rubbed the gem, and a bluish light filled the room. The light was rather dim, but against such thick darkness, it made a life-and-death difference.

We could now distinguish things about half a hundred meters around us. He looked a bit like a miner from a children's book.

The ceiling was high; decorated with luxurious unlit crystal lamps and various paintings. The walls arched themselves toward the center. The gap between them widened each time, creating the sensation of walking inside the throat of a slumbering monster.

A sudden flow of air came toward us; something was getting closer. Even though we couldn't see it yet. My muscles tensed, and Jinhyung drew his sword. In preparation, I increased my magic intake.

"Get ready."

"Already did."

The wait was no longer than half a minute, but it felt like an eternity. The tension rose, and I even forgot to breathe at times. I closed my eyes; perhaps I could distinguish the magic perturbation of whatever was coming.

About a hundred meters forward, were at least twenty distinct spirits.

They differed from humans, their magic didn't possess a bidirectional flow. It flowed only from their core to their limbs; they didn't absorb any of the ambient energy.

They weren't natural creatures, as they would perish once their magic cores were depleted. Someone made them.

The aggressors quickly closed the distance, I opened my eyes and almost puked from their sight. Deformed, rotten human flesh, torn and twisted in unnatural ways, animated solely by blood lust.

"Ghouls, stay behind Fred. I will be quick."

Jinhyung moved as wind, fast and precise. He struck each of them no more than once.

Every one of his slashes connected with the next one faultlessly. He didn't seem to fight, but performing a dance.

A sad dance without a partner. As those mindless creatures could answer nothing but being torn apart in a single blow.

Infernal screeches of dying ghouls filled the hall. I trembled a bit, for the first time I gazed into death’s eyes.

Weirdly, my life being at stake didn’t scare me a bit. On the opposite even, I felt as our story began for real this time.

I was almost caught by surprise by a lone ghoul as it leaped quickly and silently from the darkness.

In extremis, I dodged its putrid claws and kicked it with my foot in the stomach. It didn't stagger. I could enhance my movements with magic, it allowed me to dodge and move quicker than any human, however, I lacked a damaging spell.

Immediately, it counterattacked, I dodged again. I had to think fast. I could destroy its core with a magic overload, but I couldn't afford to go all out on such a weak enemy.

After dodging another strike, I gathered magic around my fists, creating a shell of compressed magic around my fist.

Right before contact, I quickly uncompressed it. Like opening a bottle of champagne, the rapid decompression created a powerful kinetic blast.

I aimed at its core, causing a chain reaction; the rotten body of the ghoul exploded, staining my cloak with dark blood.

The biggest drawback of such an attack was the strain the shock wave caused on myself. In regards to such a possibility, I covered my fist with another layer of magic, offsetting a bit the damage… But my hand still ached a lot and was covered in burns.

"Good job!"

I was so immersed, I didn't even realize that my companion had already finished his fight. I felt a little bit embarrassed; I wasn't very proud of such a crude technique.

Compared to Jinhyung, I was laughably weak. Usually, an insurmountable rage would fill me, as I hated being inferior to anyone. This time around, I rather felt proud of his feats.

"You did really great too; I am amazed by your swordsmanship."

"Oh, it was nothing."

He acted humble, but in reality, I saw his smile. He liked to be praised, by me at least.