A TRUE

Leonel appeared in the outside world, yet another great pressure falling on his shoulders as he took deep breaths. Blood dripped down his body, but he continued to step forward calmly.

He began another slow walk forward, his spear held lightly in his hands. He was already focused on the next battle, his Spear Force swirling around him in an odd Domain that seemed to both be one with the world and want to shred it apart at the same time.

Suddenly, he came to a stop.

He looked up to find that his path ahead was blocked.

Indeed, much like in the Valiant Heart Zone, there was nothing stopping those taking part in this trial from attacking one another directly. After all, it was free reign and true chaos here.

It was just that everyone here was focused on trying to get to the end.

Who didn't know that they would likely be stuck here for years? Without at least that much effort, how could they hope to make it to the end of this nigh-endless corridor?

Rather than a rule, it was more like a self-enforced restriction. Who would want to waste energy on internal conflict now?

Plus, this was the best training arena that they could ever ask for. It would be a shame if you lost your life before you had to.

However, Leonel barely had time to register the fact that the opponent before him was actually a Cloud Race existence before he realized something else.

'Huh? There's an odd fluctuation here. Don't tell me...'

The Cloud Race spearman shot forward, his Cloud Figure waving behind him in a clouded mist. His spear flickered and seemed to vanish.

Leonel had already been through dozens of statues by now. He had created several Ability Index abilities to read through spear techniques, and he understood this man's in an instant.

He was using a change of speed. He started his attack with one gear before he accelerated, hitting another in an instant.

That sudden acceleration would catch most opponents off guard, and the result would be almost as good as an attack from the blind side.

But...

PUCHI!

The light sound of Leonel's footsteps echoed as he walked by the man. It wasn't until he had already disappeared into the next statue that the Cloud Race man collapsed to the ground.

Leonel stepped out of the statue, his breathing a bit uneven.

Many hours later, he found yet another person blocking his path. This time, he was able to truly confirm what was happening.

The Idol Battlefield was actually exchanging a chance to skip ahead of statues for his head. It would have been amusing if it wasn't so completely ridiculous and irritating.

The reason Leonel could tell this was because there was an odd energy around the people that came to block him, something that looked like a partial teleportation.

These people were actually behind him, by far, but they had been suddenly placed ahead of him and then forced to fight him.

It was foolish.

Leonel believed that the Idol Battlefield was actually quite cruel. The people coming from behind him had no chance against him.

Even the people ahead were mostly only ahead because he had taken his sweet time analyzing the forest they had originally been transported to. In addition, now, he was also taking his time to analyze every spearman he came across and incorporating their techniques into his own while bettering them. This made him much slower than others who simply relied on their own techniques as well.

This was to say that if you were ahead of him, you likely didn't have much of a chance anyway. But if you were behind him even with such a handicap, you stood no chance at all.

Now, he was being blocked by a Nomad.

Honestly, he was surprised by this as well, because he didn't think that there would be Mortal Races here either.

What Leonel didn't know was that the Idol Battlefield had given a great deal of Spear and Bow experts a chance to come, accelerating their progress, all because of him.

The irony was that these people only had this chance because of him, but now they were also throwing their lives away because of him.

A head was lopped into the air, clattering to the ground in a splatter as Leonel made his way past. The fatigue was beginning to accumulate on Leonel's body, but his steps remained just as determined. He wouldn't allow a single thing to slow his footsteps. Not one.

Slowly and steadily, he made his way forward.

Every time he defeated another great of the past, the color in his eyes seemed to grow deeper. The violet hues around him grew darker, not in a sinister way, but in a fuller, rounder sense.

The pressure he faced every time also increased, not just in the skill of the spearman, but also the aftereffects.All text © NôvelD(r)a'ma.Org.

Without fail, every time he defeated one of them, a pressure would descend from the statues as though they wanted to force him to his knees.

The further he got from the statues, the weaker the pressure became, but as he came across stronger and stronger statues, the distance from which they could pressure him likewise increased. Because of that, it became harder and harder to keep a steady rhythm to his movement, and his body seemed to want to collapse at any moment.

Yet, as the blood continued to accumulate along his body, he didn't even frown in the slightest. His expression didn't change as he faced off against one expert after another.

Cool and in control, his Spear Force flourished.

His hair began to flutter in the air even without the slightest hint of wind, releasing plumes of gorgeous violet light.

Every time his heart beat, an echo of Spear Force would rotate in the air.

The surging might around him continued to grow until he found yet another existence blocking his

path.

But this time...

It was a Beastman. A True God Race.

The growling head of a Bear Beastman stared Leonel down.