The attacks all hit the blood cocoon and an explosion took place. Compared to the one that Reign had previously created, this one was much more powerful. The explosion destroyed everything in a 600-meter radius, almost engulfing Reign and the others in it.
They were able to evade the explosion, but the shockwave from it blasted them away and dealt some damage to them as they slid on the ground for tens of meters after landing.
It wasn't just the sheer size of the explosion that was above Reign's, but the power as well. When Reign's lightning spear exploded, the area some 30 meters around it was destroyed, but the remaining 470 meters was simply filled with lightning arcs that dealt some minimal damage to the ground.
A person would have been fried inside that space, but for those that had reached Tier I, it would just damage their skin and that would be it. This explosion, however, would destroy most Tier I monsters as well.
The sheer destruction that had occurred after the skills all hit the blood cocoon had completely destroyed the ground, the blood lake was gone and the cocoon had disappeared. But with the cocoon disappeared the knight as well.
There was nobody on the ground, no pieces of the armor he wore, nothing, it was as if he simply vanished in thin air.
Reign and the others walked toward the point of impact. Their bodies were weak as they had used up almost all of their mana in the final attack. They slowly got closer and closer to where the blood cocoon used to be but were unable to find anything there.
The ground had ruptured from the explosion and the white floor was gone. There were broken pieces of the thick white tiles that were once laid down on the floor, the rocks and soil beneath them had shown themselves after the explosion destroyed the tiles.
Reign and the others looked around, trying to find the knight, but it was futile. Whoever the enemy was, he was gone.
Suddenly a rumbling sound echoed inside the floor as the huge golden gate started opening. Reign and the others glanced at one another, aware that they had passed the final test and had finally cleared the hidden task, and with that, the challenge.
The team grouped up with Liona and the others before slowly moving toward the gate. The shockwave from the explosion and the huge mana expenditure had taken a great toll on their bodies and they had to walk to the gate slowly.
After they reached the now open gate, they walked inside, almost blinded by a bright light that was shining from whatever they would find there. The gate suddenly closed as they walked in, not slowly as it did before, but in a swift and powerful move that blew a powerful wind behind them.
As the gate opened, a black dot appeared inside the floor before enlarging and turning into the knight from before. The knight stared at where he and the blood cocoon previously stood, before grabbing his helmet and taking it off.
If Reign and the others were here, they would immediately be able to recognize the man. His long blonde hair fell down to the ground as his blue eyes stared at the destruction in front of him.
"I wanted to give them some more trouble with my blood lake, who would have thought that it would actually make the fight a lot easier for them, hell, it went a bit too easy." The man said as he clicked his tongue in slight frustration.
"But still, to think they would be able to explode with powers that were equal to Tier II, what a troublesome bunch," Eigol said as he stared at the gate.
"The new generation is truly terrifying, not to mention that kid." Eigol suddenly thought back on when Reign summoned the giant spear.
"To do something that new Transcendents even had trouble doing, I can see why Drayce is interested in him, the others aren't half-bad either," Eigol said as he suddenly smiled. He took a step forward before blood-red flames engulfed him and he disappeared.
"I wonder if my lord was as powerful as they were at the same Tier." The words reverberated through the floor as Eigol took his leave.
As for Reign and the others, they were currently inside a giant golden hall. Drayce sat at the very end of the hall on a golden throne as golden pillars rose high up around the entire place.
The hall was over a hundred meters wide and over 300 meters long. The floor was also made of gold, as was everything they could see.
"Hello kids, great job defeating that guy, I gotta say, I was impressed," Drayce said as he got up from his throne.
"Hey, guys!" Suddenly shouts were heard inside the giant hall as the angels that had been disqualified on the third floor appeared and ran to Mia and the others.
It turned out that they were never teleported back to the safe zone, but inside this hall as Drayce had confidence that Reign and the others would win. They were able to see everything that had happened on the final floor and held their breaths a couple of times during dangerous moments.
After seeing Mia, Reign, and the others overcoming all obstacles and finishing the hidden task, they were overjoyed and couldn't wait to talk with them.
"So, shall we start with our sparring session, time here runs faster than outside, so you can rest assured that you won't spend too much time here," Drayce said as he started stretching.
"Ummm, Drayce, what about the challenge?"
"The challenge, oh, you won it, the last team that was surviving in the desert was annihilated just a bit before you guys fought against the two teams on the final floor, so you guys are the only ones left, plus, you cleared the hidden task which makes you the winners no matter how long other teams manage to survive for."
"I see, so, what do we get for winning?"
"Not now, you will get your reward for taking the first place and finishing the hidden task after our spar, I do want you to have something nice to look forward to while we spar," Drayce said as he smiled dangerously at Reign and the others who all gulped.
Mia and the others didn't exactly know why they had such reactions, but they also remembered that they never asked them about the sparring that they had with Drayce after the first challenge. From what they knew, they were able to improve after the sparring session, which should make them look forward to it, and yet, they looked a bit scared.
It would be later when Mia and the angels finally understood why Reign and the others didn't like the sparring sessions, nor Drayce.
The sparring session was beneficial, that much was certain. But Drayce pulled no punches, he would beat up any opponent and he would even break their bones before healing them with his powers. It was a situation where one was getting so many injuries and had to endure so much pain that fighting was almost impossible.
Yet, Drayce wouldn't stop. He would fight them, and fight them, and fight them until he was satisfied with what he was seeing. He would always give a goal, it would either be to improve blocking, dodging, movement, attacks…
Until the person improved, the sparring session would not end. The hall they were in was incredibly sturdy and no matter what Reign and the others did, they were unable to leave a single scratch on its surface.
Hours passed, then a day, 2 days, and so on. The team had been sparring with Drayce for a total of 4 days now, but from what Drayce had told them, only about half an hour had passed outside. Everyone had gone through at least one sparring session with Drayce, while some went through 2.
Mia and the angels started looking at Drayce with the same hateful expression that Reign and the others had. They had improved, but did Drayce really need to take it so far during a sparring session?
It didn't matter what they did, what skills or abilities they used, Drayce was able to block everything, hell, he didn't even need to block, a simple wave of his hand was enough to destroy any power they had.
And it wasn't the hand that would destroy it, but the wind that would be created by the force of his hand. Drayce even blocked Reign's [ Lightning Roar ] by simply blowing out air from his mouth.
The difference in power made them realize just how powerful a Transcendent is, and how weak they were.
In front of someone such as Drayce, they were simply ants.
Finally, 6 days had passed and everybody went through 2 sparring sessions and 1 group sparring session. Drayce finally nodded at them in acknowledgment as the sparring session was finally concluded.
"Alright, receive the rewards, and off you go," Drayce said before sitting down on the throne.
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