Chapter 19: Trial of Strength

Atlas landed on the soft sand, raising his fists and glancing around. Nothing had changed, except for now everything was closer. He took everything in carefully, making sure that nothing would get the jump on him.

He felt vulnerable without his skills, as though he wasn’t wearing armor when it mattered most. After a few tense moments, he glanced upwards, and found the 6 dark figures staring down at him. From this angle, he felt like he could almost see under their hoods.

Trial of Strength starts in 10… 9… 8…

Atlas’s eyes snapped forward, staring at the message. It was time.

7…

Atlas took a deep breath and closed his eyes, trying to steady his shaking hands. It had been a while since he had been this scared.

6…

Was it because of the crowd? This would be the first time he would be fighting with people watching him, other than the system and the ‘gods’ that had been intent on watching his tutorial.

5…

Atlas opened his eyes, shaking his head. Best not to think about that. He felt scared, and that was all. He would rise past this fear and beat his opponent anyway. You couldn’t have courage without fear after all.

4…

Atlas raised his fists, glancing up at the glass dome overhead one final time.

3…

Another deep breath, another tense moment of waiting.

2…

Atlas took a step forward, legs spaced out evenly to give himself a steady base.

1…

The last second felt like an eternity. Nervous sweat rolled down his temples, and he tried, and failed, to relax his fists.

The Trial Begins!

Atlas watched as the gate across the pit started to rise, cranking and grinding sounds echoing throughout the arena.

He didn’t wait for something to emerge, sprinting towards the gate. He was almost positive that something was going to come out of that gate, and soon. It was a trial of strength, which made Atlas assume that this was fist fight.

The gate clanged open, and a roar sounded from within the black space.

That definitely isn’t a human… Atlas thought nervously.

He quickly backtracked, fists still raised protectively. As he watched the inky blackness in front of him, he saw a dark form emerge. He clenched his teeth and planted his feet as the form came into view.

It was roughly in the shape of man, but that was where the similarities ended.

Two large horns jutted out from its head, and it stood a fearsome 8 feet tall. Its face was long, like a cows, and it had a golden ring in its nose. It was absolutely jacked, with easily discernible abs. There was hair all along its back and instead of feet, it had hooves.

Atlas gaped. This was what he was going against? A friggin Minotaur? Atlas grit his teeth even harder, and he rushed forward, trying to get an edge on the creature.

The minotaur glanced around, seeing him and lowering its head. Letting out a bellow, it charged him. Atlas had finally shaken the fog that had been stuck in his head, reacting quickly and darting out of the way. The humanoid bull ground to a halt, but it had some difficulty turning to face him, and Atlas took note of that.

A plan was starting to form, but he needed more information on the beast.

The minotaur charged again, and Atlas chose not to jump to the side, but up instead. He shot upwards, going so high that he could have brushed the side of the dome if he tried. He fell back down, and he angled himself to land on the minotaur, his experience with Float helping him control his descent.

He didn’t have his skills, but that didn’t mean he was the same person he had been before getting his skills, he had the knowledge that they had provided, just not their effects.

When he was only feet away from the bull-like creature, it glanced up, only for his feet to slam into its face. It moaned in pain, but Atlas didn’t let up there, grabbing its horns and swinging onto its back.

The minotaur started to buck and jerk, trying to send him flying off of its back. Atlas gripped on harder, but the minotaur reached behind itself, attempting to grab him.

Atlas heaved himself out of reach, and the hands missed him by a long shot, it didn’t seem very flexible. Atlas suddenly let go, and the minotaur whirled, glaring down at him and snorting as it reached for his skull.

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

Atlas, part wanting to show off to his crowd, and also trying to evade the grasping hands, did a backflip high into the air, landing dozens of feet away. He definitely couldn’t be compared to a normal human anymore, he felt like a cat as he whirled through the air.

The minotaur didn’t hesitate, lowering its head again and launching at him before he could think through his next course of action.

Too bad he already knew what he was going to do.

When the minotaur was only a half dozen feet away, Atlas dove to the side, watching as his opponent slammed into the wall. There was a snap that Atlas felt deep into his bones as one of the creature's horns weren't soaring through the arena, coming to a rest near the center of the sandy battlefield.

Atlas and the minotaur stared at each other for a long second, both waiting to see what the other would do. For a brief moment everything was calm.

Then both ran straight at each other, shattering the peace.

They collided, the minotaurs' forehead clashing with Atlas’s fist.

The minotaur won.

Atlas felt the bones in his hand shatter, sending pain lashing up his arm. Atlas grit his teeth, snapping his leg up and kicking the minotaur in the chest, sending it stumbling back.

Atlas whirled, sprinting away and sliding into the middle of the battleground, grabbing the broken horn and lifting it, facing off against the minotaur again.

Only to find it charging straight at him.

Atlas yelped, leaping to the side yet again, watching as the minotaur brushed past him. Watching the rippling muscle under the thin layer of fur, Atlas narrowed his eyes, lancing forward, horn held out in front of him.

The minotaur was too slow, and it was speared through the side. It screamed in pain, and Atlas yanked the horn out, stabbing it again and again, until it collapsed to the ground, dead.

You have completed the challenge!

1/2 challenges completed.

Next challenge begins… now.

Atlas stared at the screen. There’s more? Of course there is. He grumbled mentally to himself.

There was another grumbling sound, and another dark form emerged from the area beyond the gate. It was definitely larger than the minotaur, that's for sure.

As Atlas watched, a dragon strode into the arena, head held high.

Atlas reached down, planting his foot on the corpse of the minotaur nearby, snapping off its other horn with a grunt and a tug. He turned, facing off against the dragon.

He felt far less scared than he had been waiting to face off against the minotaur, maybe it was the adrenaline from his earlier fight. He held both the horns in each hand, holding the one in his right hand gingerly, not wanting to injure himself. They were slightly curved, which made holding onto them easier.

The dragon glanced around, then locked its eyes onto him. A shiver of fear crawled up Atlas’s spine, but he brushed it off, staring defiantly at the overgrown lizard. The dragon snorted at him, smoke curling out of its nostrils.

Atlas was worried. This dragon definitely was smart, or at least far smarter than the minotaur. Which, now that he thought about it, wasn’t a very good comparison. The minotaur had been like a rabid animal, whereas the dragon’s intellect seemed more like that of a human.

They faced off, and Atlas instinctively knew that this was going to be a quick fight, but he didn’t know who’s favor it would be in.

For a couple few terrifying moments, the only thing anyone could hear was Atlas’s quick breath. Then they both exploded in motion.

The dragon leaped upwards, wings wide open and legs tucked in close to its body, hurtling through the arena ‘sky’. Atlas sent sand spraying behind him, legs pumping as he hurtled towards the giant creature.

As the dragon flew towards him, Atlas’s mind spun with ideas on how to take down his second dragon. Even that thought made him want to laugh maniacally. Who would have thought he would be fighting not one, but two dragons?

The dragon swooped down, talons open wide and aiming for the human's face. Atlas, to his credit, reacted fast, diving to the side and dodging the sharp, dagger-like claws and getting back up to his feet quickly.

They faced off again, and Atlas’s mind was a whirl of motion as he tried to come up with some sort of plan to best this large creature. As they stared each other down, Atlas scanned the dragon, looking for potential weaknesses.

The dragon was covered in red scales, with huge wings and a large snout. It had long legs with six razor sharp claws on each talon. There were two curved horns rising from the back of its skull, with spines jutting up from its back.

The only potential weakness Atlas could find was the dragon's wings, the skin was pulled tight and should be easy to punch through with the help of the minotaurs horns. Atlas glared at the dragon, before taking initiative and darting forwards, running a couple of steps before crouching low and launching upwards.

The dragon swooped down low, trying to go underneath him. Atlas was prepared however, and tucked his limbs towards his body, hurtling towards the dragon. Before the dragon could react, he landed on its back, thrusting both of the horns into the dragon's large wings.

The horns were just barely long enough to hit both wings, and Atlas stood up quickly, ripping two long gashes in the wings. The dragon roared in rage and pain, spiraling out of control before crashing into the ground.

Atlas was flung off of the dragons back, soaring through the air before landing on his arm. The arm that was attached to his broken hand. Atlas screamed in pain, releasing the horn and hearing a snap. He glanced down to see his mangled right arm and hand, as well as the horn’s tip having snapped off, leaving a jagged edge at the end of the horn.

As Atlas lay in pain on the sandy floor, the dragon, sensing weakness, rushed towards him, maw open wide to take a large bite out of him.

Atlas saw movement from the corner of his eye, and acted without thinking. He grabbed the broken horn, whirling and stabbing it upwards with a scream of pain and frustration.

Straight into the dragon's throat.

For a brief second, Atlas stared into the endless depths of the dragons throat. His mind blanked. He had almost been eaten by a dragon for the second time in his life.

The dragon let out a groan, before slumping onto the horn. Atlas let go, watching the dragon collapse to the ground. He kicked it, but there was no reaction. It’s dead all right. He thought wryly to himself. Looks like the fight was in my favor.

You have completed the challenge!

2/2 challenges completed.

Trial of Strength has been completed.

You may advance to the next challenge.

Your wounds have been healed.

Atlas sighed as a rush of green light washed over his body, healing his body and leaving his hand and arm tender, but not a wrangled mess of flesh and bone.

He glanced up, staring at the six cloaked forms high above him. He watched as they all stood up, walking out of the room.

Atlas grit his teeth. This is stupid, I need to complete these challenges and get out of this place. I hate not being in control of my fate. He angrily thought. He took a calming breath. No, that's not true, I still have some control over my situation. I just have to beat all of these trials, no biggy.

He watched as a section of the arena opened up, and he glared at it, before rolling his eyes and walking through.