Based on how dry the blood was, it had only been a day at most. This point solidified the theory that in order to accomplish this Trial, Arin needed to change the past for it to be more favorable for him in his situation. Then again, this was only one path, there were other methods he could utilize but this was the most straightforward path he could undertake.
“If the goal was to escape then this would’ve been easy but…” Arin was in deep thought. “The Trial wants me to take the treasure. Looking at everything down here, there’s nothing that can be considered a treasure. This meant that the angel’s scroll would be the one thing I should be gunning for.”
He was stuck. There was no point in pushing through this pointless path. He had decided to go back and reattempt to change the past.
Returning back to his cell, his restraints once again reacted to the dungeon as it forced him back into the same predicament as earlier.
“Alert everyone! A prisoner has escaped!” The same guard that saw him earlier once again shouted out. This was essentially scripted to begin in the same way each time.
The condition for returning to the past was for him to bring out the iron restraints he had outside the cell. This would warp him into a segment of time just before the angel attacked. There wasn’t any way around this for the time being.
At this point, there were a lot of things Arin could do. He could get more information from the people around here or he could just wait and see what would happen. The first option was what any normal Solver would choose, getting information on something unknown is one of the basics.
The second option was more of a desperate move. It was essentially letting fate decide one’s fate. There were three types of people that would choose this, the lunatics who had blind faith in their own strength to handle anything that may come their way, those confident in their analysis of what they needed to do, and the fools who didn’t think it through.
Between these two options, Arin had to choose the one.
As the guard cautiously approached him, Arin casually walked towards him. The iron restraints on him were now left on the ground, creating a clanking sound as the iron restraints met the cold dungeon floor.
This eerie sound caused the guard to carefully take a step back. Despite having a weapon on hand, he was afraid of what this prisoner would do.
“What’s happening here?” Arin had chosen to gather information. Make no mistake, he was crazy enough to play with his life but this wasn’t a situation where he needed to do so.
A madman but a sensible madman.
“Prisoner 444, go back to your cell! Just because you have His Majesty’s favor doesn’t mean you can be free of sin! Quietly take your punishment in silence!” The guard yelled out. His hands were steady as his eyes looked at Arin’s movements, showing just how skilled he was.
Hearing this, Arin immediately deduced that he was playing a character. With this, he was slowly getting the information he needed to proceed with this Trial.
“What’s my name?” Arin didn’t bother being subtle at all. If this version of the guard didn’t talk then he could always try again. He would eventually get the answer he wanted.
“Prisoner 444, last warning! Refusing to listen to the warnings will force my hand!” The guard gripped his pike harder, waiting for the opportune time to strike.
Seeing that this guard refused to cooperate, Arin disposed of him as easily as he did last time. Without even letting the guard notice, his head was once again detached from his head. His death was just as unjust as the last cycle.
Rather than trying to talk to someone who wouldn’t cooperate, he would rather find someone else.
Arin made his way back to the warden’s office. Just like last time, there wasn’t anyone else here letting him take the key without any issues at all. Now that he had secured his condition to get back, he decided to explore this area in more detail.
He was interested to see what was above him. The last time he was there, the angel was overseeing everything, preventing him from peeking to his sides. “Let’s see what it used to look like.”
Making his way forward, like clockwork, the other guards showed up. Arin mentally calculated their pace with the distance they needed to travel to get to his cell. As it turned out, it was timed perfectly.
“It’s consistent at least.” Confirming that the people talking to him were nothing more than simulated dolls being manipulated to control the flow of the Trial, Arin now had to face them alone.
There were five soldiers stopping Arin from moving any further. As soon as they all saw his face, they all immediately recognized who Arin’s character was. A nasty expression came up on their faces as they gnashed their teeth.
“Luther. You traitorous scum.” One of the guards on the side insulted Arin. The anger boiling up within his heart couldn’t be held in anymore. Seeing such a person single-handedly weakening the kingdom with such an evil move, he wanted nothing more than to execute him on the spot.
Luther… Traitor… That reminds me of a person back then.
The Greedy Emperor, Kald’ish desired to gather the world’s greatest for him to own. No gold was too shiny, no man was no smart, and no beast was too strong for him to obtain. Everything under the great sun, he wanted to own.
He was on the cusp of breaking the standstill that his kingdom had against the other Emperors. Unfortunately for him, a foolish person named Luther had struck a deal with an outside force, selling his entire kingdom out for nothing more than essentially pennies.
Such a decision warranted his five generations to be wiped out. Despite Kald’ish’s greedy nature, he still felt compassion as he prevented Luther from receiving an execution. As the story goes, he stole another even more important relic, the list of Kald’ish’s important records.
No one knew if Kald’ish had managed to apprehend him or not. Later on, he decided to create a pen that would forever mark down his holy words for all men to see. He named it the Emperor’s Note, the very same one that Arin had been rewarded when he completed the Sephirah Trial.
After learning about Greedy Emperor Kald’ish, Arin had decidedly learned more about ancient history in his free time. Although it didn’t fully contain all the important bits of information, he knew the general flow of the story.
Although it was a degraded version, it still had the legacy of Greedy Emperor Kald’ish, the sheer value of such a Fragment could not be understated. Unfortunately for Arin, a few circumstances occurred preventing him from even being able to utilize its true function.
There was no point in holding onto something that he couldn’t even use. Holding out hope that he might soon be able to use it was a waste of his time.
After Arin had managed to acquire such a Fragment, he went and questioned his father more about Greedy Emperor Kald’ish. Countless tales were passed down to him, letting him understand more about such a prominent figure.
The segment of history named, the Lost History, which occurred more than 5000 years ago was a turning point in humanity’s fate. This was also called the Era of the Three Emperors, where Greedy Emperor Kald’ish and two other similarly terrifying figures competed against one another to see whose ideals won out in the end.
Unfortunately, far too many bits of information had been lost to time, hence the name Lost History. Other than tablets marked using Greedy Emperor Kald’ish’s Emperor’s Note, most of the other pieces of writing didn’t survive the wear and tear of time.
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Even tales that had been passed down through generations gradually disappeared into obscurity. If not for Trials bringing back the mistakes and glory of the past, people would’ve forgotten.
Now that Arin had a relatively close understanding as to why he was here. As it turns out, the scroll that he had in mind was the very same scroll that Greedy Emperor Kald’ish once had. Arin felt that despite being a Maze-level Trial, the complexity was higher than usual.
These five soldiers took their stances, gradually surrounding Arin so that he would be pincer attacked from all sides. If the person that these five people were trying to apprehend truly was Luther, then their tactic would undoubtedly let them easily detain him.
As their luck turned out, the person they were trying to apprehend showed off physical capability that he shouldn’t have been able to do before. The previously lethargic scholar has now turned to be quite the fighter.
They didn’t use their weapons since they didn’t think that they would need to. Luther might have done something extremely infuriating to the masses but that didn’t mean that he himself was a threat. Two guards reached out their hands, expecting to drag Arin down to the ground.
As soon as their hands grabbed ahold of Arin’s shoulders, they pushed down as hard as they could. These two guards felt something odd as they felt as if the person they were trying to put down was an unmovable mountain.
The leader of this group narrowed his eyes, “What are you doing? Put him down!”
The two guards looked at each other only to see the same confused expression on their faces. No matter how much force they used, they couldn’t see any effect on Arin.
Arin reached out his hands and grabbed ahold of their heads. He gripped their iron helmets and slammed them against one another. Their heads popped as they both clashed with an immense amount of force. Their bodies rag-dolled on the ground, causing the cold dungeon floor to be tainted with warm red blood.
“Kill Luther”! The leader roared out. He took out his own longsword from his waist. It was made out of common metal at the time, but in the context of the current world, this was quite a laughably weak metal.
The other two guards gasped out in shock as they didn’t expect their comrades to be killed so easily. Hearing their leader’s orders, they subconsciously listened to him, bringing out their own spears.
Being trained well, they reached out their spears, ensuring distance between them and the culprit. Their expression quickly turned serious as they wanted to avenge their friends.
Arin didn’t even bother getting a sword, compared to the people in the current era, the standards before were just far too weak.
Back when he faced those traitors in the Sephirah Trial, each and every single person was quite a dangerous person. They were all talented in the art of killing, no matter how childish they acted, their skills were no joke. Even the leader of that traitorous unit was just as strong as he was, unfortunately for him he had a weakness and that weakness was his teammates.
Exploiting a gap and digging a dagger straight through it. Wring everything out of it until you achieve victory. Using your strength to face their weakness. An efficient method of combat that Arin personally embodies.
If any one of those Solvers came here, with their physical attributes alone, they would’ve been able to slaughter everyone here. No matter how disciplined a soldier in the old era was, they just couldn’t bridge the gap between their strength.
“What’s my name?” Arin asked one more time. Although he knew a person named Luther and his background, he didn’t know his full name. There were a few reasons why he wanted to know such as curiosity but the main one was to fill in the gaps of history.
If he had a complete name then he would be able to trace back the fragmented history into an understandable timeline. With this, he would be able to learn more about the past.
Why would Arin do this? It was simply because of the trend these two Trials were showing. The first Trial he went through showed a Sage Oak Tree going through its lifetime. Whether it was real or not, it was quite odd that he learned more about the history of the world through it.
The second Trial gave him a name and a story that aligned far too well. With this kind of trend, information from ages past would definitely help him out in getting a Perfect Clear. Using everything to his advantage, this was his way of life.
“Kill him!” The leader ignored Arin’s words. He was focused on taking him down. The sin of killing a person might not be even noticeable in this era but the sin of going against authority will not be tolerated.
The two guards holding their spears out thrust with all their force, trying to pierce Arin’s chest.
With a lethal attack going straight for him, Arin had to dodge it. He might have unbelievable strength but it didn’t mean that his skin was impervious to sharp objects. Instead of jumping back to dodge, Arin jumped to the side, stepping on the wall to bounce himself behind them.
With their weapons reached out, these two weren’t a threat at all. His actions were so surprising that they didn’t even realize what happened.
“Wait-” A voice was immediately cut off as his neck was crushed.
Arin was now holding two bodies in his hands. He simply let go, letting them fall to the ground with their shocked expressions.
“I’m asking one last time. What’s my name?”
The leader held his longsword in his hands and took his stance. With his right foot in front while his left foot was linearly aligned with his body. His sword was overhanging above him, ready to counterattack.
He felt as if nothing made sense. Luther had just killed four men by himself without any weapon at all. This was completely nonsensical. If everyone had known just how capable he was then they wouldn’t even dare speak out against him even though he betrayed the kingdom.
“Luther… why are you asking me for your name?” The leader nervously asked. He didn’t understand why the person before him was asking these things.
“Tell me or die. Choose.” Arin didn’t care about explaining himself, he had no reason to do so. All he needed to do was let his strength do the talking.
“I don’t know! No one knows except for His Majesty.” The leader gritted his teeth as he tried to take a step back. He had hoped to run back up to search for more reinforcements to deal with this monster.
“Of course, it’s not as easy as that.” Arin sighed. He started walking forward, not fearing the bladed weapon in his prey’s arms at all. Firm in his steps, he didn’t even place the person in front of him as a possible threat.
The remaining soldier saw that Arin was coming up to him. He felt his body turn cold, unexpectedly sensing something wrong below him. He looked down only to see a hand piercing out his chest.
Within that hand was a beating heart, slowly losing blood as it poured out from within it. He didn’t even see what happened before he died. He lost all feeling in his arms as he dropped his weapon. Such a tragic fate.
“Maze-level Trials should be this easy. Now to see what’s waiting for me upstairs.” Arin didn’t even bother searching their bodies at all since he knew that there was no value in doing so. He didn’t need the weapons or armor to proceed forward.
The same circular stairway going to the surface appeared before him. As he traveled upstairs, he started to hear something odd. It was the unnerving kind of sound that didn’t feel right. Climbing the stairs, Arin was finally faced with the outside.
Opening the door, he was greeted with an unnerving sound he didn’t like. Silence.
There wasn’t another person here despite having such a grand room. Statues of certain prominent figures were erected everywhere. There were pillars that towered up to the very skies, such a lavish room wasn’t something any normal person could afford.
Looking to the side there was a giant golden throne. The intricate design shows just how skilled the artisan was. It even had a distinguishable mark that showed that it was his signature work.
This was an elegant room with only one problem, there were no people. This fact further solidified Arin’s unease. The only people he had seen were those five guards and nothing more. No other corpses appeared other than them. As for the other captives, he had no intentions of using them for now, he would rather find out more about this place before doing anything else.
Exploring the throne room, Arin recalled the placement of the angel back when he met it for the first time. Retracing his steps, he managed to pinpoint the place where the angel had landed. He started looking all around the room only to see nothing of value.
Feeling like there had to be something important hidden here, he looked below him. Below his feet lay a velvet carpet with golden sewn straight in. It glittered as light reflected off it.
Arin ripped the carpet apart and saw a small trapdoor below it. He reached out and opened it, showing a small chest of unknown contents. Tried opening it softly at first to ensure that the contents wouldn’t get broken only to find out that it was sturdier than it looked.
Pushing it further, Arin grabbed ahold of it and tried ripping it open with all his strength. To his dismay, it didn’t even budge the chest at all. Examining the chest even further, he saw that it had a small keyhole that he could use.
Bringing out the key he had from the warden’s office, he tried inserting it only for it to not fit at all.
“As expected, I need to find another key then. The question is where do I find it?” Arin looked all around the room only to see that there was no door leading to the rest of the building. It was a completely questionable layout but considering that it was only a Maze Trial, it must’ve closed up the area.
Minutes had passed searching every nook and cranny of this room. He searched the throne, even breaking it apart to see if it was hidden inside. The decorative paintings were slashed open, trying to figure out if it was hidden there. Even the walls weren’t safe as Arin meticulously knocked on each one, trying to see if there was something hidden there.
Attempt after attempt, Arin started to lose hope in this method. While he was planning out what he needed to do next, an immediately complex feeling arose within him. Without any hesitation, Arin ran back to the dungeon.
Never before had his instincts shouted this hard before. He just barely made it in time reaching the circular staircase when a force behind him tore down the room behind him. The sound of everything breaking apart let Arin know that a gigantic force appeared.
A monumental figure broke through the ceiling, rendering everything else below it into rubble. Such a powerful foe wasn’t something a mere person could handle. Such formidable strength could essentially wipe anyone without Malum.
“What else could it be than the angel? I need to run! Those guards and inmates died down there which means it’ll go down. I need to head back as soon as possible!” Arin clenched the small chest in his arms as he ran out.