Bang! Bang! Bang!
Ceaseless explosions shook the ground every few seconds. Corpses exploded, leaving behind a skeleton soldier to fight in their stead. No matter how much Ashton tried, the number of undead kept increasing.
"Where is that damn tree!?" Ashton gritted his teeth before shooting another fireball behind him, "If only I had my [Perception], I would have already completed this trial."
[It wouldn't be much of a trial in that case now, would it?]
"You're right. Thinking about what-ifs isn't going to help me out."
Rather than dealing with the undead who kept regenerating, Ashton decided to concentrate on finding the apple tree. As long as he destroyed the tree, he would complete the trial and be done with the undeads chasing after him.
But the land was vast. Finding a tree wasn't going to be easy, especially with all these creatures running behind him like he stole their wives from them. Ashton did have a way to keep them engaged while he worked on finding the tree.
He could summon the wraith wolves and since they were indestructible, they would be the perfect bait to keep the undead busy. After all, since both the undead and the wolves would be impossible to kill, they would be perfect to occupy each other.
But Astaroth suggested Ashton shelf that plan of his. The trial was about him and his strength alone. Having summons and other creatures involved in it would only make him more dependent on them than anything.
As much as Ashton wanted to disregard Astaroth's suggestion, he didn't. Because he knew what Astaroth said was correct. On top of that, Ashton wasn't sure if he could even summon the wolves to some other planet or not. It should have been okay, but Ashton didn't want any of the wolves to die due to his negligence.
"Wait a minute, only the corpses explode, right?"
[From my observation, yes.]
"Good, then I can probably do this."
Instead of running away from the horde, Ashton began running around them. Astaroth had no idea what was he even thinking. But it wasn't like he could do anything either. Soon, all of the undead had been grouped up.
Once the first phase of his plan was over, Ashton jumped in the air using the winds to form a makeshift platform for him. At the same time, he created a prison of air, similar to the one Celeste made before he converted her into a summon.
After knowing he was at a safe distance from the horde, Ashton unleashed a barrage of flames at them. The explosion that followed was massive. The darkness evaporated for a moment, washing everything in its light.
One after another explosions kept repeating. It almost felt like Ashton had managed to replicate the explosions occurring on a star.
Once all of the corpses had been taken care of, Ashton carefully landed back on the ground. Watching the skeletons get shattered apart from the explosions.
"This should keep them busy for a while." Ashton breathed a sigh of relief, "Now where do I find that darn tree?"
"Help... me..."
Out of nowhere, a feminine voice rang through the still winds. It was frail and weak, similar to how Ashton's voice had been after fighting Beelzebub. Ashton's ears immediately perked up. Could it be possible that someone survived the hell and now Ashton had taken care of the undead, they decided to make their presence known?
"Where did that voice come from?"
[What voice?]
"It ain't the time to be shitting around, Astaroth. Didn't you hear the cry for help?" Ashton retorted looking around himself.
The voice called out again and this time Astaroth heard it too. This time, Ashton picked up the direction the voice was coming from. But the urge to help the owner of the voice was long gone. Something was off about it.
If the voice was as weak as it seemed, how the fuck was he hearing it when there was no one in sight? Ashton was positive it had something to do with the trial. The fact that the voice only appeared after the undead were rendered useless was also interesting.
"It's almost as if something-"
[Wants to lure you into a trap.]
Ashton nodded, "Regardless, this is the only clue we have."
He had no other choice. Searching the entire area to look for a tree was inhumanely time-consuming and difficult. So much so that, Ashton was willing to gamble on escaping a trap and forcing the owner of the voice to reveal the location of the tree.
Was it a dangerous plan? Certainly. But if taking that risk could give him the opportunity to clear the trial, then he would take it.
After following the voice for about an hour, Ashton came across a pond of some sort. The lake was in complete contrast with its surroundings. While everything was shrouded in darkness, the lake was illuminating everything around itself as if it had the stars residing in itself.
"It looks so beautiful..." Ashton was struck by the beauty of the lake.
The plan was for him to hide and check the surrounding before making any moves. But for some reason, Ashton disregarded all the plans and headed straight towards the pond. All of sudden, the weak voice appeared once again.
Though it wasn't weak anymore. It was clear and soothing at the same time. There were no cries of help any more, just a beautiful song.
[Oi brat, something is off. Get back now.]
Astaroth warned Ashton, but it didn't seem like the latter heard him and kept walking until he was on the edge of the lake. Then... something weird happened. A naked woman appeared in the middle of the lake. She saw Ashton and smiled, but continued washing her hair in the water while singing a song Ashton couldn't understand.
Ashton was in some sort of trance. His gaze was fixated on the woman, waiting for her to do something. The raven-haired maiden pointed her finger at him, calling him. He blindly followed her command and stepped inside the lake.
The lake was so deep it could even drown the hydra itself and Ashton walked into it. He didn't swim, he walked. After a dozen minutes or so, the pleasant voice was replaced by a shrieking cry of victory as the woman revealed her true form.
It was no lady, but a monster. A Siren to be exact. Astaroth had figured it out and was yelling at Ashton to get his shit together. But his efforts were in vain. Ashton could not hear a word he was saying.
"Another prey... after so long!" The siren licked her lips in excitement before diving deeper into the water herself.
This was the way Sirens hunted their prey. They would lure the prey using their charm and drown them before either killing them or having intimacy with them and then killing them. It depended on their mood to be exact. That's why she waited for almost twelve minutes to make sure her prey had drowned before revealing herself.
Since this particular siren had been feeding on the rotten corpse of the undead, her appetite to eat something fresh took precedence over her itch to mate with someone. She looked for her prey and found him easily.
The innocent expression on the boy's face swayed her heart. He was too pretty to be eaten instantly. But there was nothing she could do now, it had already been so long. The boy must have drowned already. Even so, she swam towards him, caressing Ashton's cold hard skin with her fingers.
"I'm sorry I couldn't make the last moments of your life bliss." She hissed in his ears, "After all, not everyone gets the opportunity to have intimacy with a siren. But I will make sure you enjoy the feeling of being devoured in the afterlife."
She prepared to tear through Ashton's muscles using her razor-sharp teeth. But before she could, something grabbed her neck and pushed her backwards. The siren was confused, but her confusion soon turned to horror when she realised her prey was very much alive.
"How can this be possible!?" She shrieked trying her best to get away from Ashton's vice grip.
Ashton kept smiling while watching her struggle to free herself. There was a saying that a being is the most powerful in their domain. Water was the siren's domain, and still, he was dominating her like she was nothing more than a fish in an ocean of sharks.
Ashton had some questions he needed answers to, but he couldn't get them underwater. After turning off the werewolf genes, Ashton did not need to breathe anymore. That's how he managed to survive underwater and baited the siren into following him. As it was the only way for him to get her within his range of attack.
Once she was trapped, he swam all the way back to the land, all the while dragging the siren behind.
[You son of a bitc-]
"Careful with what you say next." Ashton said with a cocky smile, before turning to face the siren, "Now, if you tell me where is that damned apple tree, I'll let you off or else, I'll off you instead. What's it going to be?"
The siren did not answer. She was clearly in shock that someone, a man of all things, could escape her charm. It did not make any sense!
Ashton seemed to have figured out what she was thinking and was more than happy to answer her unasked question.
"Your powers of seduction are frightening, there's no doubt about it. However, it's nothing in comparison to the level of seduction I had to tolerate for months." He smiled as he was reminded of Anna.
He continued, "If I can control myself around a succubus in heat, then what would a mere fish be able to do against me? Now, tell me where that tree is, Ursa."
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