[ Girzo lu Elrw (SSS) ]

The path of duality for the overseer who seeks thou's blessing—Shall be given a test of [ Worthiness ]. Pave through the path and obtain the eligibility for (Truth).

Quest Objective(s): Clear Trial 4, Girzo lu Elrw without fail.

Quest Reward(s): ???

Failure: You will become ineligible for Truth.

[ Do you accept this quest? ]

"...an SSS-ranked quest?" Reading over the quest details that he had received, Shinto was slightly taken aback by the mention of (SSS) that was beside the quest name. It was the highest possible difficulty in the game. "It's been a while since I last got one like this..."

As one of the highest-ranked quests in the game, the mere sight of (SSS) was rare. Thus only a handful of players had seen or received it. The rewards offered by such difficult ventures were extremely enriching, however, it meant that many risks were at play to obtain such benefits.

"Girzo lu Ehlar..." Shinto muttered to himself. "If I remember correctly, that's related to dark?" In thought, the young man's gaze turned to the rewards. "...so, if I fail this quest, I'm basically locked out from pursuing this dungeon further?"

Being locked out of the dungeon, or perhaps Altric, in general, meant many quests would become unavailable for Shinto. As such, the possibility of the rewards being extremely good was high.

"Hmm... I wonder what the rewards are?" His eyes shone a glint of interest as he soon accepted the quest. "...well, I can only find out by completing it."

With a nod of his head, his attention now faced the monolith in front of him. The crystal gave off an ambience of darkness around it, however, not only that, a small aura of light seemed to be mixed together with the shadows.

"There are no strange writings on this one, huh?" he tilted his head as he turned to the gate that was behind the crystal.

With a glance, he noted that the gate had a mural of two sides: one is a forest, enshrouded in the void—whilst the other was the dawn shining over the land. When looking at it in the bigger picture, it seemed that the two sides were one and the same, yet differing from one another.

"...one that is light and the other dark. Could this be related to that priest from the obelisk earlier?" pondering on the matter, Shinto took a deep breath as he prepared to enter the room. "...right. I mustn't be careless since this is the last trial."

Even as the top-ranked player in the unified rankings, Shinto still needed to be careful as he knew not of what was behind closed doors. With the fight from Refrinz to now, although it could be done alone, it wasn't easy at all to pass.

"...looks like my skills are all off cooldown. So I'm ready," holding onto his sword tightly, Shinto's hand gently touched the crystal, as the gate soon opened in the next instance.

Creek...

Entering the room, he saw that the entire area was voided by light. Only the few thunder strikes from behind flashed from time to time, allowing for a small amount of vision in the vicinity.

"...dark and quiet. Did I enter into some demon lord's room?" he raised his brow as he took a step forward. At that moment, the gates from behind him closed abruptly. "...!"

Following up with that, the hallways were soon lit up by the pillars on the side of the wall with a pale black flame. Thus, allowing for Shinto to note a sizable throne at the front of the chamber. And, sitting on it, was a statue—staring at Shinto in a lifeless manner.

"...a statue?" he mumbled to himself as a voice soon resounded through the area.

[ You who enter this chamber... Dares not pay respects to the king? ]

Alongside the mysterious grunted voice, an aura of darkness soon enshrouded the statue by the end of the hallway. Slowly, the stone crumbled, revealing that of a man whose eyes were like that of the abyss—one that was filled with wrath and vengeance.

"...!"

[ Vadius, Emperor of Shaodon has awakened from his slumber! ]

[ All who are in his presence will lose a sense of security. Defence and Speed will be greatly lowered by 50% for all players in the chamber! ]

[ Bow before your king! ]

[ -Trial 4: (Girzo lu Elrw) begins! ]

With the alert of the notifications before him, multiple pitch-black blades instantaneously shot forward towards Shinto.

"...?!" Quickly taking notice of the attack, Shinto hurriedly rolled over to the side to evade. However, as soon he moved, a sudden pull of gravity forced him down to the ground—compelling him into a kneeling position.

"The peasant before me dares not pay his respects?" The king sitting on the throne spoke in a scornful voice. Then, his arms slightly lifted up into the air as a purple blade appeared behind the back of Shinto. "Bow!"

"A-Argh...!" he gritted his teeth whilst attempting to fight back against the pulsating waves of gravity continually pushing him down to the ground. "Just what is this force?"

"Struggling?" the man frowned as the arm that he lifted slowly lowered. With that, the purple ghost-like blade slowly descended down to Shinto. "It seems you do not know your place."

Amidst Shinto's struggles, the young man placed all his strength into raising himself up from the ground. "U-Ugh...!" Successfully escaping from the pull of gravity, Shinto barely rolled over to the side, narrowly dodging the blade.

"You..." the king—Vadius, clicked his tongue as he retracted back the blade that had landed onto the ground into his hand. "...you dare defy me? Those who dare to do so shall receive punishment!"

[ The Emperor of Shaodon has issued an order: (Kill [Adventurer - Shinto]) ]

[ The kill order has been initiated. Upon death, a hefty penalty shall be given! ]

[ Defeat King Vadius to rid of the stigma! ]

"Tch...!" Shinto frantically glanced around the room upon Vadius's order. At that moment, he saw dark shadows similar to that of knights rising from the ground. "Ugh... Minions? So I have to be wary of that too..."

"Kill the one before you! He has defied the absolute!" Vadius roared through the room, commanding the dark knights that were beginning to surround Shinto.

"This is bad..." Shinto frowned as the shadows began swinging their blades to Shinto. In a manner to avoid the countless attacks, he attempted to sway to the side. However, with his speed halved from the debuff—he couldn't dream to avoid them all.

[ You have received 2,672 damage! ]

[ You have received 2,187 damage! ]

"Ack...!" Blades slashed at the young man who was helpless at the situation. In an effort to fight back, his grip on Kurogane that was still holding strong forcefully spun a full circle around the knights. "Now...!" Subsequently, he leapt forward, breaking away from the encirclement of the knights.

"Hoh? You can handle that?" Vadius remarked with a smirk. "Hah... But, you're still a peasant," raising the sword in his hands in a dull manner—he soon stabbed the ground in the next moment, quickly causing the ground to crack. "Try this!"

With the grounds cracking, a dark pillar rose up from the fracture and made its way over to the young man who leapt towards the king.

"...!" Shocked by the sudden attack, his movements abruptly stopped, just barely avoiding the darkness that would consume him otherwise.

"Hmph. Dodging my attacks? What a weakling," Vadius rolled his eyes as he prepared another attack.

"Weakling?" Shinto glared at the king angrily. "Why don't I show you what a weakling really is then!" With his sword in hand, Shinto hurriedly activated the skill [ Moonlit Wave ] as he sent flashes of green over to Vadius. In the next moment, he connected it with the attack [ Light Ascension ]—quickly sending out a pillar of bright light that enveloped the man within it.

Feeling that his attacks landed on Vadius, Shinto continued his combo with another skill whilst closing in on the distance between himself and the king. "Next... Now for—?!" As his body manoeuvred through the hallway, a sudden black steel sword, seemingly engulfed in the aura of darkness protruded out from the pillar of light, soon making its way to Shinto in a frenzy.

With little to no time to react to the attack sent by Vadius, the sword helplessly pierced through Shinto's abdomen area. "A-Ack...!" Pushing him back, he was sent flying over towards the wall with the sword acting as a pin to it.

[ You have received 4,576 damage! ]

"Hahaha..." Vadius laughed sinisterly as Shinto was forced onto the wall. "Did you really think such weak attacks would work?"

Feeling an intense sharp pain burning from his abdomen area, his teeth clenched to resist the sensation. Soon after, Shinto's gaze averted over to the system logs. At the instance that he had made contact with it, his eyes turned dreaded in despair.

[ You have dealt 56 damage to King Vadius! ]

[ You have dealt 56 damage to King Vadius! ]

[ You have dealt 56... ]

[ You have dealt 98 damage to King Vadius! ]

"W-Why is the damage so low...?!"