Is this really a Game?!

Chapter 129 The Second Trial Begins ( Part 2 )

Beast was standing in front of a huge forest while the chatter of people around him echo in his ears. He was in a sort of contest right now and there were hundreds of people in the area he was in.

"I have heard a lot about you." A blonde man comes up to Beast as he speaks. The man's golden locks fell over his blue eyes as an arrogant expression could be found on his face.

"Everyone speaks that you are the best archer the kingdom has ever seen, but know this outsider, I will be the winner of today's contest." The blonde man exclaims as the surrounding people clap in support of him. Girls cheered as they looked at the handsome man with infatuation.

"Whatever you say Goldilocks." Beast looks to the man and answers with a plain voice. If it was a couple of months ago he would probably be stuttering while speaking in such a crowd. But he had gone through a lot, more than most would go through an entire lifetime. An arrogant guy such as this one was nothing more than an eyesore to him.

"What?!" Goldilocks exclaims while his face turns red. The overbearing laughter around him angers him as nobody had ever humiliated him like this before. He was a prince after all and everyone would bow down to him as it was expected of them. But this man, not only did he not display any basic decency and respect, he even dared to utter such humiliating words to him.

"I would be very careful in the forest if I was you," Goldilocks tells Beast with a dark voice as he turns around to leave.

"Same for you Goldilocks, be careful, monsters can be quite scary, don't embarrass yourself in front of all these people." Beast answers with a calm voice. His teammates were all incredible people with incredible power. An arrogant brat such as this one just made Beast angry as he knew people like him. People that used their identity and position to gain an advantage over others while simultaneously having no talent for it. He had already decided to completely crush this person in the upcoming competition.

[ Win the archery contest. ]

That was his second trial. A contest would take place soon and would last until sundown. Beast's task was to win, he already knew that it was definitely not going to be easy and he had noticed a couple of people in the crowd that could pose a threat to him in the trial. The way those people talked, the way they stood and walked, and the way they held their bows was enough to see they were highly skilled.

Beast was however looking forward to the contest. Compared to the previous trial where he was immediately put into a dangerous position, he quite liked this. A contest of skill where all the participants had to give it their all to hunt more prey and win. That was how it was on the surface of course as Beast knew from books and tv that such contests were usually filled with cheaters. He was expecting some of the participants to even try and kill him in the contest, some would probably even try to steal his prey, simply to leave him with fewer points.

He was certain that Goldilocks would be one of them. Looking at his mannerism he was sure that the guy was a man of high status and he would probably use it to get some participants to his side.

"Well it's no matter, if they attack me, they die," Beast utters the last part of the sentence with coldness as he goes to sit down and wait for the start of the contest.

Wolf was holding his greatsword as he looked around himself. He was in the middle of a battlefield, well of an area that used to be a battlefield. Corpses could be seen everywhere as blood was flowing through the small cracks of the soil. Thousands upon thousands of corpses were surrounding Wolf who was looking around and inspecting the battlefield.

[ The enemy army has won slightly against the kingdom. Follow the enemy and provide support for the kingdom by destroying their outposts and killing their officers. ]

Wolf had to follow a whole army, he didn't know how big their numbers were or how strong their individual soldiers and officers were, but judging by the trial they shouldn't be too strong, otherwise, this trial would simply be too unfair. For now, however, he needed to find tracks of the enemy army and start following them. He had no idea even which army he was supposed to be helping and which one he was supposed to be killing.

He put that thought in the back of his head as he slowly made his way through the battlefield, looking for survivors that could point him in the right direction. He knew the trial would give him some way of finding out where to go so he simply walked. A couple of minutes passed and he still had no luck as all the people around him were truly dead. He even stabbed some slightly, just to check if they were pretending to be dead or not, but there was no reaction.

"God damn it, how am I supposed to know where to go when everyone is dead?" Wolf scratches his head in frustration as he continues walking around aimlessly. He was starting to get pissed off and was even considering whether or not he should start using his flames to destroy the corpses and create a ruckus in hopes of someone noticing him.

Before he could act upon his thoughts however he saw movement up ahead. With his eyes lighting up with hope he dashes towards the direction of the movement. What he found there were 5 soldiers who were going around and stabbing the corpses of the opposing army. They were dressed in green armor and had spears and swords in their hands. They stabbed the corpses of the orange armored soldiers with boredom while talking amongst each other.

Suddenly they noticed Wolf who was coming at them with great speed. They all got in a formation as they looked at the approaching man, not sure whether he was an enemy or an ally.

"Stop and state your allegiance!" One soldier shouts with authority as the others warily look at Wolf who was now standing some 3 meters away from them.

"Hey there, mind if I ask you a couple of questions?" Wolf smiles at the soldiers while checking them out.

[ Lvl 16 Khirget Soldier ]

[ Lvl 18 Khirget Soldier ]

[ Lvl 17 Khirget Soldier ]

[ Lvl 16 Khirget Soldier ]

[ Lvl 17 Khirget Soldier ]

The soldiers were of a lower level compared to what Wolf expected. They however were still pointing their weapons at him with no notions of lowering their guard.

"I said state your allegiance!" The highest leveled soldier shouts again while preparing to fight against Wolf. He was situated at the back of the four soldiers who were slowly approaching Wolf.

"I honestly got no idea man, I just need you to point me towards the right direction and that's it." Wolf calmly states while walking towards the soldiers with his sword on his shoulder. The four soldiers suddenly charge at him with vigor.

"Idiots," Wolf utters as flames cover his sword. With one mighty swing, the four soldiers were all thrown back with a deep cut on their stomachs. Flames were slowly engulfing their armor as they all screamed in pain.

"Now, let's start over, do you mind if I ask you some questions?" Wolf smiles at the now trembling soldier who had already dropped his weapon on the ground. The soldier was nodding his head aggressively as he was thinking of ways to survive.

"Good." Wolf comes up to the soldiers and pats him on the shoulder before he starts asking his questions.

Laura was sitting on a big rock as numerous animals surrounded her. The animals were peacefully standing in front of her while a giant tiger was lying down next to her while she was scratching his head. The giant cat purred as Laura looked around her.

[ As the newly appointed sage of the forest your task is to help the inhabitants to survive for as long as possible with your skills. A nearby kingdom has found out that the depth of the forest had a strange crystal with miraculous powers and will soon be attacking your location. ]

Laura was thinking of what to do for this trial. Simply sitting here and healing the animals would not be enough but there was a problem, she could not communicate with them, so how was she supposed to fight together with them?

Tactics were almost impossible to be done as she couldn't communicate. Going together with the animals to attack their enemies was not a bad choice, but it was one that would definitely not give the best rating. Looking around the beautiful forest she could see a myriad of different beasts. Most of them were level 20 and they were probably stronger than a normal human at the same level. Tigers, deer, birds, there were a huge variety of animals that were all looking at her.

"Why did I have to get such a bothersome trial?" Laura sighs in defeat as she looks at the huge tiger next to her. He was undoubtedly the strongest amongst all the animals in the forest. Looking at his size and power, he was probably either an Elite or a mini-boss.

With such a helper Laura was certain she could somehow pull off something here and not fail the trial. Perhaps even getting a good rating was possible.

"Well big guy, what should we do, huh?" Laura jokingly asks the tiger while she continues scratching his head.

"I will follow your orders sage." A deep voice was suddenly heard in Laura's head as she stopped her hand in shock.

"You can talk?"

"Of course, as the guardian of the forest, I was given the ability to talk with the sage." The tiger speaks again while looking confusedly towards Laura as if he was saying something she should have already known.

Looking down at the tiger Laura was beaming with a wide smile. She now knew how to do the trial efficiently.