The light fades and my feet land on a solid ground.
When I look around after opening my eyes, I realize I'm in a small room.
Similarly, to the first part of this trial, the floor is filled with some garbage.
Unlike previously though, it's not coins and chests, but little keys instead.
And looking across the room, there is a door with eight keyholes in a circle.
That sight makes me instantly realize what I'm supposed to do.
Again with this trial and error...?
Didn't I already do that in the library?
Annoying...
With a sigh, I grab a random key and walk over to the door.
After inserting it into each of the keyholes, I find out it doesn't fit into any of them.
To make sure I don't pick it up again later I crush the key in my hand and let the dust fall off before grabbing another key.
This key doesn't fit into any of the keyholes either, so I destroy it just like the first one.
I keep going like this, but a little while later, I have a thought.
This door doesn't really seem too sturdy and there is no barrier around it either.
So why don't I try destroying it?
I am obviously supposed to keep trying keys until I find the right ones.
But what if I try defying that?
With those thoughts, I take a step back and start collecting the dark mana exiting my fur.
After a few seconds, I swing my tail to unleash the spell toward the door.
The attack hits and blasts open the door.
However, when the dust settles, I notice what the door was actually hiding.
A transparent mass of pale flesh with tentacles and mouths all over its body was behind the door..
And right as I spotted the monster, it lashed out at me with its tentacles.
Since the room was so tiny I tried deflecting the attack with my tail instead of dodging.
But unexpectedly, the transparent tentacle phased right through my tail and hit my torso, which flung me right into a wall.
Luckily, I suffered practically no injuries and regained my footing right away.
The monster then resumed its assault and I focused on dodging for the time being.
But in the middle of all of that, I tried to look at its status.
Type: Spirit
Rank: 9
Location: Sloth trial
Attribute: Sloth
My eyes widen as another transparent tentacle is swung right above my head.
A spirit?
Sloth...?
This isn't what I expected.
It doesn't tell me its health and mana.
Can I even defeat something without health?
I jump away as the ground below me gets smashed, which propels some of those keys into the air.
After that, I started focusing on gathering some mana in my tail in order to start a counter attack.
But soon enough, I found that I couldn't gather any mana in my tail.
What?
What's going on?
Status screen: open.
Name: Reiza
Gender: Female
Race: Cataclysmic wolfman (prodigy)
Status: Confused
Level: 5000
Health: 134753/138099
Mana: 1129751/1137604
Vitality: 912
Strength: 1142
Intelligence: 11042
Stamina: 1277
Speed: 1802
Nothing.
No curse or anything.
What is this then?
Confused, I kept on dodging and tried to use mana from my arms instead of my tail.
Luckily, this method still worked.
And following the next dodge, I was finally ready to retaliate.
With a simple hand motion, bullets of darkness were shot at my foe.
However...they didn't connect.
They phased through, just like my tail earlier.
It's almost as if there was nothing there to hit.
That made me even more shocked, but I still kept dodging its attacks even in this cramped space.
However, that wouldn't last too long, because that thing now started slowly pushing the rest of its body into this tiny room.
Shit!
What should I do?
I can't hit it!
I quickly gathered some more mana in my hand for another spell.
Instead of launching it against my enemy though, I shot the wall with it in hopes of making a tunnel or just more space.
But the walls took no damage.
Not even a scratch.
Dammit...
Out of desperation, I pulled out my sword to try if it would do anything.
So when another tentacle flew at me I tried to cut it with my blade.
But it phased through just like my tail.
As I dodged out of the way of the tentacle, I noticed I was out of time.
That monster was already taking up a quarter of this room and all these mouths started breathing out some transparent white gas at me.
[Air blast]
Naturally, I tried to blow it away with wind.
But it had no effect at all, the fumes kept advancing toward me.
Cornered and without any way to dodge, I tried gathering mana in my sword, but it was all rejected.
So instead, I quickly gathered mana in my fist and punched the air as a last ditch effort.
[Phantom annihilation]
Contrary to what I expected, it actually had an effect.
But not one I would expect.
The gas was blown away...
But not all of it.
It was as if my attack had holes in it.
Some parts of it phased through the gas but others blew it away.
And it even did some damage to the monster itself.
This is it!
Finally something works!
Even if only partially...
Unfortunately that action only made the monster more angry.
It grew additional tentacles out of its body and completely surrounded me with it.
[Phantom annihilation]
This time, I used a swing of my palm instead of a punch to cover more area.
But that reduced the power output too much and barely pushed the monster back.
After that, I didn't have enough time to attack again as it only took a few seconds for the monster to overwhelm me and...
...
...
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...
I open my eyes.
I see the 'sinlessness' door behind the chalice and the other two crumbled doors on its sides.
Damn...
That was a really strange monster...
Only phantom spells worked...
And not even fully.
What do I even do against it...?
As I was formulating my plan, I entered the sinlessness door.
With the chinking sounds under my feet, I went on through the maze filled with coins and other garbage.
Just like before, I always went left and eventually arrived at the door.
...
Taking my time and trying all the keys wouldn't work either, right?
Even if I open that door normally, that monster will be there anyway.
...
I'm released at the place with an intense sweet smell again.
[Air blast]
Since I know where the door is, I just dash forward past everything.
I don't want to get charmed again after all.
In just a minute or two I arrive at the door to the next area.
...
Maybe there is something else other than keys in that tiny room?
I didn't really check it at all.
I just grabbed a key and went straight to the door.
...
I find myself inside the building full of tables, angels and meals.
After inspecting the floor below a few of the tables I find the secret entrance and punch through it.
Following that, I jump down and enter the door in front of me.
...
There were a lot of keys in that room...
Maybe there is a hidden pathway buried under all of them?
Or maybe the walls are hiding something?
...
The hallway with these plates is next.
Even now, I occassionally stop and watch this Kinua as she is having fun.
It's kind of feels nice...
Finally, I arrive at the door leading to the key room and enter it.
Once I'm transported, I take a brief glance at the door with keyholes.
...
I can't sense it at all...
...and I couldn't really sense it before either, now that I think about it.
Not even when I fought it.
It's like it had no mana...
Is it because that thing is a spirit?
...
Using my hands and tail, I start digging through the piles of keys.
Eventually, I reach the bottom and start looking for any sort of door or entrance.
But even after a long time of searching I couldn't find anything.
I decided to take a quick break and eat something.
While I did that, I scanned the wall of this room to look for anything of worth.
And it was then, when I noticed a peculiar spot on the wall.
After quickly finishing my meal, I went there to look at it from up close.
And it was a tiny hole in the wall.
Or more specifically...it looked like a keyhole.
It blends in so well with the rest of the wall, that I failed to notice it last time...
So is this wall the thing I need to find a key for?
I bet that's it...
I reached for the first key by my feet to try it.
And...it fit.
That really surprised me.
I thought I was going to spend hours trying to find the right key...
But I won't complain.
The key turned in the lock and something inside clicked.
What followed was the wall opening forward like a gate and revealing the familiar door.
I stepped forward and touched the door before getting showered in light again.
After landing and opening my eyes, I find myself at another strange room.
It's circular and at least four times the size of the previous place with keys.
On the other side from me is a worktable with a person seated there.
He is looking right at me with a grin on his face.
Type: Humanoid
Name: -
Gender: -
Race: -
Status: -
Level: 3000
Health: 150000/150000
Mana: 200000/200000
...
Barely any information...
Not even race...
Well, it's better than the spirit.
At least this one has health.
"The key is right here."
The man lifts up his arm and shows me a key.
"I will destroy it if you attack me."
...the key?
Do I need it for something?
"And no, you can't pass here without this key."
With that, he grasps the key and puts it away somewhere in his clothes before leaning forward and widening his grin even more.
So it's not a fight now?
What will I need to do...?
"Well?
What are you willing to do for that key?"
...He gives me pretty bad vibes.
But still, what kind of question is that...?
"What...do I need to do?"
His grin starts showing his teeth.
He then reaches into a drawer and pulls out something before throwing it in front of me.
It's...a collar.
"Put that on your neck.
Then stand on all fours and bark like a dog."
...
This thing...
Why...
I felt as if I recalled something unpleasant.
Something I forgot a long time ago.
This exact scene.
It's like it already happened in the past.
What did I do back then?
And what was the result?
...
Even though it was irritating, I couldn't help but keep trying to remember.
And then, as I got closer to the answer, something inside me snapped.
My head moved upward and my gaze landed on the man.
Everything else in the world around me disappeared.
The only thing left in my mind was that man.
The only thought remaining was...
WHY SHOULD I LISTEN TO THAT SHIT?
----------------------------------------
Bonus:
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Thank you everyone for reading!
And also thanks for leaving comments and reviews!
Even if I don't respond very often, I always read all of them!
I would be very happy if you all kept at it, because sometimes, even some random short comment can inspire me.
"Thanks for the chapter!
How was that?
Did I inspire you?"
Err...well, no...
These kinds of comments are also nice, but they can't really inspire me in any way...
"Whaaa?
How stupid..."
Anyway...
Thanks for reading again!