The spear whizzed past Vlad’s head, nearly cutting his face and ear before he narrowly avoided the attack. With his spear, he aggressively swung it down on the weapon and pinned it to the ground. His shoulder painfully ached, causing his hand to lose its grip slightly. However, to prevent himself from dropping his weapon again, Vlad forced his hand to seize the handle properly, causing his shoulder to throb in pain even more.

Gritting through the pain, Vlad closed in on the spear maiden while keeping its weapon pinned. The maiden freed one of its hands and threw a punch at him. Vlad made a similar move and took one hand off his spear so he could block the punch. Instead of stopping there, he managed to grab its wrist and pulled it closer to him. And without hesitation, his head collided with the maiden’s, smashing against one another like two wrecking balls.

Both Vlad and the maiden recoiled their heads back in pain, but Vlad recovered faster and prepared himself to deliver a punch as well. Before he could, he felt something coil around his leg. He quickly looked down and glanced at the whip currently wrapped around his limb. Then, with a single tug, his leg was pulled from its spot, causing Vlad to fall on his back with a loud thud.

After crashing on the muddy ground, the dagger maiden quickly took action and charged at Vlad while he was down. With both daggers, it swung them down, aiming for his skull. With the help of his spear, Vlad blocked them, the blades were mere inches from his face. He could see the tip of the daggers as they slowly closed in on him. Light reflected off the blade from the moon, making it glimmer more than usual.

As the dagger maiden continued to press its weapons against Vlad, the only thing keeping them from piercing through his head and brain was his spear. Though, he could only defend against the maiden like this for so long. As he kept the daggers at a not-so-safe distance, he then raised his leg and kicked the maiden’s stomach, pushing it back to where it fell backward on its back.

Vlad attempted to get back on his feet, but a surge of pain in his ankle made him pause. He groaned but did his best to ignore the pain and pull himself up with his spear. Things only got worse when the whip maiden got its turn and wrapped its weapon around Vlad’s neck. He hastily gasped for breath while grabbing onto the whip to try and loosen it a bit. When the maiden tugged on its weapon, his windpipe got forcibly closed, giving him little to no air to breathe.

While choking from the whip, Vlad frantically looked around to see what he could use to free himself before he died from suffocation. His eyes then trained on the white ethereal dagger from the dagger maiden. He knew he could use them with no issue, so that blade was his only chance at getting out of this situation. He reached for the dagger, pulling against the whip to closer while also simultaneously making the cord tighter and reducing his oxygen even more.

Things got even worse when the Maiden quickly noticed what he was doing and tugged even harder on the whip.

“A-ack…!” Vlad croaked, finding it harder to breathe than before. His vision started to blur, feeling lightheaded from the lack of oxygen.

He was slowly losing consciousness. If he didn’t act quickly, he would die from asphyxiation. Vlad’s eyes trailed back to the ethereal blade before mentally preparing himself. He then grasped at the whip and pulled it to release some tension. The moment he had leeway to move, he hastily reached down in the ground and snatched the blade in a heartbeat.

With the dagger in hand, Vlad brought the blade to the cord before grinding against it. The whip started to lose its tensile strength before it finally snapped from the tension. Vlad’s head whipped forward from the sudden release, giving him a small case of whiplash. But, he managed to quickly recover as he shot up from the ground in a hurry.

Turning around, he watched the three remaining maidens get up from the ground, all of them shifting their attention to Vlad. And for a brief moment, Vlad could’ve sworn that they looked absolutely pissed, emanating some kind of menacing aura. However, he didn’t stay long to ask as he turned his back to the maidens before bolting in the other direction.

He was fighting them in a very open space in the forest. If he wanted a chance at winning, he needed to use the environment to gain an advantage. Vlad sprinted through the thick collection of trees, jumping over roots and rocks that were in his way. Taking a glance behind him, he saw the three maidens giving chase. Though, not in the way that Vlad thought. Instead of pursuing him on foot, they were traversing through the trees. He could tell when he looked up and witnessed them jumping from tree branch to tree branch.

The steps were quiet and so was their landing. Vlad could barely hear them land on a branch before they leaped toward another one. They did this so elegantly that he couldn’t help but admire their skill and capabilities. However, he only did this briefly before turning back and continuing to run away from them. The only problem was that the maidens were gaining on him quickly, so he was running out of time.

After traversing a little further into the forest, Vlad immediately stopped. Around him, thick trees were bunched together a lot more tightly than in his previous spot. In fact, his current location wasn’t even an open area, but just a part of the tree formation. With this, he felt confident about his plan. It didn’t take long for the maidens to show up either as they descended from the trees one by one, all of them landed in front of Vlad, prepared for a fight as well.

He quickly readied his spear and waited for the maidens to make the first move. The dagger maiden acted first, bolting straight at Vlad while launching daggers his way. Even when he deflected the first two, two more materialized in its hands, arranged to be thrown again. Once the maiden was close enough, it resorted to close-quarters fighting, slashing its daggers at Vlad. He blocked the blades as best he could, using the handle of his spear to fend them off.

While he was busy with the dagger hunter, Vlad quickly noticed that the other two were circling them. They were likely planning to attack him from all directions, leaving him little to no room to dodge their hits. Thankfully, he had a plan to deal with this. And that involved their current location.

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Just as the maiden with the spear pulled its weapon back to attack him, it quickly dug into the side of a tree. The blade edge ground against the bark as the maiden attempted to pull it out. Vlad then turned to his right and watched as the whip maiden attempted to restrain him like before. However, much like the spear maiden, when it pulled its weapon back, the cord soon got wrapped around a branch, momentarily stopping the maiden.

Looked like his plan actually worked. When fighting in closed spaces, using long-range weapons like spears or whips was very risky, due to them usually getting caught in stuff like the walls and such. There isn’t enough room for them to freely utilize their weapons. And that was what Vlad was counting on.

The moment he knew the two maidens were unable to join the fight for the moment, Vlad used this opportunity to take care of the dagger-wielding one. When the ethereal hunter thrust its blade at Vlad, he shifted to the right and closed the distance between them before grabbing its arm and tossing it over his shoulder. The maiden was slammed against the ground and was momentarily stunned by the impact. With his spear in hand, Vlad drove it down and easily pierced its chest.

The hunter flinched in pain before it fully relaxed on the ground lifelessly. Then, just like the other two, it turned into particles of light scattering into the air.

[Hunting Maiden has been defeated! Error! Due to Player being in a Trial/Simulation, no EXP can be obtained!]

[Maidens Defeated: 3/5]

Three down. Two more to go.

Vlad then turned to the two remaining maidens. They just got their weapons freed and briefly witnessed another one of their hunters getting killed. Suddenly, Vlad felt his skin crawl, as he sensed a powerful aura of bloodlust. And it was coming from them.

They were obviously pissed at what just happened, much like before, but this manner of anger and murderous intent felt more dangerous. This likely meant that Vlad reached the point of no return. These maidens…weren’t planning to go easy on him anymore.

Before Vlad could try anything, the two hunters suddenly vanished. They just disappeared out of nowhere. He frantically looked around, trying to find them, but he couldn’t get a trace.

“Ngh!?” Vlad grunted while feeling a sharp pain in his arm. It was quick and sharp as if the wind itself manifested as a blade and struck him. Before he could react, more cuts and lashes spread across his body, all of them from some invisible force.

Vlad spun around, attempting to find the culprit, but only heard the whistling wind as more and more cuts kept stacking on him. His legs, arms, stomach, and even neck. He did everything he could to locate the hidden maidens, but they were nowhere to be seen. Either they were actually invisible while attacking him, or they were moving really, really fast to where they were practically a blur. Either way, Vlad had to act quickly before they fatally wounded him.

“A-agh!” Out of nowhere, Vlad’s leg got pierced by something, causing him to fall to his knees in pain. While kneeling, he looked down and soon saw the spear maiden’s weapon lodged into his thigh.

That was when he raised his head and witnessed the spear maiden in front of him, keeping the spear in his leg while looking down on him like a bug. Just when Vlad attempted to grab the spear and pull it out, the whip maiden showed up and instantly restrained his hands together before pulling on them to keep him from moving.

Between the spear in his leg and his arms getting restrained, Vlad was near his limit at this point. His other wounds were starting to act up as well, a massive wave of pain continued to engulf him with no end in sight.

“U-urgh…” He groaned, unable to think of a way out of this due to the immense pain coursing through his body. But with that pain also came anger.

Despite almost defeating all the maidens, they chose now to go all out. Did they activate their second phase or something? It was absolutely ridiculous.

There was no way that he could lose so early on. Not when he still needed to get to his friends and family. And he refused to lose until he knew they were safe!

“Fuck…you!” Using all his strength, Vlad managed to break out of the whip maiden’s restraint, snapping the cord instantly.

Both maidens were surprised by this, but the spear hunter attempted to pull out the weapon to use it against Vlad. However, he quickly grabbed the handle of the blade and snapped it, breaking the spearhead off the handle. Fueled by adrenaline and bloodlust, Vlad yanked the spearhead out of his leg and roared while lunging at the maiden and jamming it directly in its neck.

He and the maiden stared at one another. Once again, he could clearly see the expression on their face, even if it was very slightly. And what he saw…was a peaceful look on its face. As if it accepted death with honor. While in his arms, the spear maiden joined its members and turned into particles of light.

[Hunting Maiden has been defeated! Error! Due to Player being in a Trial/Simulation, no EXP can be obtained!]

[Maidens Defeated: 4/5]

One more left.

Looking away from the light particles as they disappeared, Vlad shifted his attention to the last maiden. The one that wielded the whip. The hunter in question simply stood there, as if frozen in place while gawking at him. It didn’t even try to use its whip on him.

Meanwhile, Vlad strained his body to move forward, slowly approaching his target. He had to limp his way there, and with each step he took, his legs throbbed violently from the grievous wounds he sustained. But even when his body was at its limit, he refused to back down until all of the Maidens were taken down and finished. Since there was still one left, Vlad’s mission wasn’t done yet.

Before continuing his approach, he shakily reached down and picked up his spear. Since the ethereal weapons the maidens use disappeared when they did, he had to rely on his weapon to finish the job. Gripping the weapon tightly, Vlad glared at the whip maiden, practically daring it to try and attack him. Thanks to the adrenaline, most of the pain terrorizing every part of his body was slightly numbed allowing him to move if only a little.

As for the whip maiden, it continued to remain still, unable to do anything as it fearfully watched Vlad approach it. That soon changed when as Vlad got closer to the hunter, it quickly took action, pulling out its whip and slinging it at him. But, with a single motion, he managed to use his spear to caught by the whip.

Vlad could tell that the maiden was planning on disarming him, but he didn’t let his weapon his snagged just to have it leave his grasp. Holding onto his weapon with both hands, Vlad pulled the ethereal being toward him. As the hunter stumbled forward from the sudden wrench, he brought up his spear and propelled it forward, piercing the maiden through the chest.

The hunting maiden remained still for a moment before lowering its head to witness the spear pierce through its sternum. No blood or anything spurted out. Only a puff of white particles as the maiden slowly dissolved and floated away. Vlad looked down and made sure to watch as the particles disappeared permanently.

Then he heard a familiar chime…

[Hunting Maiden has been defeated! Error! Due to Player being in a Trial/Simulation, no EXP can be obtained!]

[Maidens Defeated: 5/5]

[The First Trial: Prove Your Faith To the Hunt! Has been completed!]

“Damn straight…” Vlad roughly laughed before collapsing to the ground. The moment he knew he won the trial, his legs finally gave way, practically turning into jelly as he fell.

And just like that, the first trial of this hellish simulation was over.