There was no time to rest. On all sides, the group suffered heavy damage in a poor attempt to hold down their fort. Clearly, Satoshi underestimated the strength of the second-day entities. They were exponentially more powerful than the first-day ones, not to mention that they were talented in both physical and magical control aspects.
Four hours into the endless onslaught, the entire group still managed to defend but with great difficulty. Most of the Disciples were running low on fuel, and they were also beaten up. The only ones who barely held on were Bruce and Lucy who still didn't use their full power.
As for Himuro, Mitsuka, and Nanako, they slowly scooted closer to Satoshi since they couldn't defend themselves without his help. Granted that they were more talented than the other Disciples in the group, they still stuck to Satoshi in hopes that they could save up energy for the third day.
Even then, they continued draining their energy as if someone poked a hole in their plastic bottle of energy reserve. At this rate, they won't even survive a couple of hours.
24 Disciples left!
"Satoshi! We're here to help!" Hansel and Gretel just lost their third team member who defended them. Since they were both support units, they buffed Gran Expatrio (their third party member) to no end. It was thanks to that that they could survive up until now.
"Thanks! But I don't need the support. The others need it more than I do." Satoshi pointed out.
Nodding their heads, Hansel and Gretel continuously tapped into their energy reserves just to refill the others' energy levels as much as they could. They were way beyond their limits but they pressed on, fully knowing that they'd also get eliminated the moment one of them falls down.
Everything went by in a blur as Satoshi continued to hack and slash at the entities that came at him. All he saw was pure chaos and the liquid that came out of the entities whenever he slashed them. It was black, so Satoshi wondered whether they were blood or not.
"I'm sorry, Smol, but I have to call you again." Satoshi couldn't hold it any longer. Even if it would drain a little bit of his energy, he had to summon Smol once again so he could deal with the other entities.
Smol was a third-day entity, so he should be able to deal with the second-day ones, right?
A roar was heard as Smol came out of Orb Oboros's dimension. Apparently, he was itching to go out into battle after seeing how much fun the others were having. Well, the others wouldn't even consider it fun since they were backed into a corner but to Smol, it was something that he looked forward to.
The moment Smol came out, he grabbed one of the entities and ripped it to shreds. It then ate the entity and gulped it down as if it were eating an expensive steak.
With the additional carnage of Smol, the second-day entities became somewhat manageable.
...
...
Halfway through the second day, Satoshi had no choice but to summon his star familiars, Ghast and Sera so they'd help them out. Their presence alleviated the problems that Hansel and Gretel were having— their consistent drainage of energy.
With Sera's help in buffing and revitalizing everyone, the subjugation had become easier... but it didn't take long before they experienced hardships once again.
Some of the Disciples just couldn't keep up. And now there were only 15 of them left!
With the deduction of the other Disciples, everyone needed more ground to cover and it exhausted them faster than expected. Their numbers continued to go down one by one...
And then there were 10 of them left!
Satoshi's original team, along with Mitsuka's team counted six. Then there was Hansel and Gretel, and another support unit who was still alive to this day.
To be fair, Satoshi had no idea what her name was but she was pretty strong considering that she could keep up with Hansel and Gretel who were expert support units.
On the far end of the group was a lone man who defended on his own. He was the same man who finished first back when they had that final test yesterday. He was the one who ate a sizeable portion of available food the moment he finished first.
Satoshi and the others knew that he was probably one if not the strongest Disciple there was. However, witnessing it firsthand was another thing.
He weaved through the air and slashed at the entities with his dagger. He couldn't kill them in one hit but his continuous slashes were enough to keep them at bay. Compared to the other Disciples, he was having an easier time defending than the rest of them.
Unbeknownst to Satoshi, the person who was wielding two daggers was actually observing him as well. After all, Satoshi was singlehandedly defeating the entities with his powerful summons as well as keeping everyone defended at all costs.
If it weren't for him, the others would've lost to the entities a couple of hours ago. They were supporting him, but the person could've sworn that Satoshi could defend himself even better without their assistance.
That's why he was bewildered as to why Satoshi was keeping the group together no matter what. There were no merits for him if he were to abandon the group. In fact, the person could picture him soloing the entire test due to how strong he was.
And yet, he still chose to defend everyone, keeping the group together while working with them to the best of their abilities. It was unnecessary as it was a roundabout way of defending.
"Interesting. Is he really a Disciple? Why would he go that far just to keep the group together? It's much better if he just abandons them altogether." The person said to himself after bringing down five entities in one go.
...
A couple of hours later,
Evening came, and with it came the looming dangers of the third day. As the sun dipped down the horizon, marking the end of daylight, it was time for everyone to prepare for the worst.
There were still 10 Disciples left, and together they found a streamlined way of defending themselves with the help of each other. The peerless Disciple also had no choice but to work with everyone else since his energy reserves were becoming depleted.
With a tightened defense of fighters in the outer circle surrounding the support units, the group tirelessly survived through the night. Satoshi's summon, Sera, hung her shoulders down low since she was running low on energy as well.
As for Ghast, he continuously teleported the entities which were getting a little too close to the support units. He manifested multiple dimensional portals each second and it tired him out after an hour.
Then the clock ticked, one hour before midnight. Another screen appeared in the sky, followed by a notification that a strong wave of entities will spawn at this point. It was a warning that they didn't expect at all.
[WARNING! Final Wave!]
[Number of entities will double from now on!]
This was actually Magnus's inner workings. He wanted to gatekeep everyone from getting through the second day because a majority of his Disciples didn't even survive the second day of this survival test. If these ten people survive, then that would just put a majority of his Disciples at a lower level.
Clearly, it was a dirty trick that Magnus was trying to pull.
Gritting his teeth, Satoshi summoned his other familiars. Alpha Red Salamander, Lighter, Windfan, and his other Representative Stat (Statue of Captivity).
"You know what, if they're going to attack us with all they've got in the next hour, then I'm pulling out all stops as well." Satoshi stole a glance towards his four familiars. "I don't care about this forest anymore, burn it to the ground!" Satoshi screamed.
A blast of fire and hot air filled the entire place as the second-day entities were mowed to the ground. Due to Lighter's passive of unquenchable flames as well as the Alpha Red Salamander's heat body, the intense heat that encircled the area was enough to melt the entities rushing at them. Windfan helped with the flames' range, blowing it through so it would reach farther than normal.
But it wasn't enough. Stat activated his gravity pressure as well as debuffs onto the entities. The entities could hardly move an inch before they melt into the ground.
The last hour of the second day was more chaotic, and the number of entities that rushed at them quadrupled!
Initially, Magnus only wanted to double the number but they couldn't even break through Satoshi's immaculate defense.
That's why he had to triple it, then quadruple it. When he was about to quintuple the number, the Managers complained that Magnus was taking it too far. This wasn't how the survival test was supposed to go.
If they were to compare it to the survival test that Magnus's Disciples had to go through, then Satoshi and the others had far surpassed them long ago.
With this, the group cruised through the second day, and now the third day had descended upon them.
At this point, Smol wasn't the strongest entity anymore. He was on par with the hundreds upon hundreds of entities that spawned on the third day.
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