Chương 205

[You have cleared the Second Trial.] [You navigated the explosive reef without triggering a single detonation.] [As a reward for exceeding the trial's limits, All Stats +10!] [Reward: Recipe: [Shapeshifting Jerky]] [The Champion's Rite] [Progress: 2 / 15 Temples Cleared] Rudra smiled. The extra stats were always a great reward for doing things the hard way. He walked over to the pedestal and picked up the recipe scroll resting on top. He opened the parchment and read the description.

[Shapeshifting Jerky] [Rating: Unique] [Whoever consumes this jerky will have their physical body and mana signature flawlessly transformed into the exact person they are visualizing while chewing. - The disguise is absolute and lasts for 24 hours.] Rudra laughed out loud. The sound echoed in the quiet, sandy room.

"Oh, this is going to be so much fun. I can finally cause some chaos across the empire with this." He tossed the recipe into his inventory. He was already planning out exactly whose face he was going to steal first. Before leaving the room, he pulled up the blueprint he had grabbed from scanning the walls earlier. [Blueprint: Volatile Coral Veins] [Rating: Epic] [A schematic for cultivating and installing highly explosive, living coral traps. The coral reacts violently to physical force and magic, causing a massive chain-reaction explosion. - Can be installed in aquatic environments or damp stone walls. - Requires basic alchemy to maintain the gas pressure. - A perfect defensive measure for underwater or coastal territories.]"Stormbreak's moat just got a lot more dangerous," Rudra chuckled. He made a mental note to hand the blueprint over to Silas as soon as he got back.

The young administrator would probably have a heart attack trying to budget for explosive coral, but it would make the city practically impenetrable from the sea. He turned around and walked back out of the maze. He took the exact same safe path he used to get in, easily avoiding the red hitboxes. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. When he reached the beach, Thalassa was staring at him. The Chief's single eye was wide with disbelief.

"You didn't trigger a single blast," the Chief muttered, looking at the completely intact coral reef.

"Not one. You moved through the volatile maze like a ghost."

"I have good footwork," Rudra said casually, resting Extortion on his shoulder.

"Let's keep going. I want to knock out at least two more today." The third temple was completely different from the first two. They left the colorful coral reefs behind and traveled by a small wooden boat to a nearby rocky island. The water around this specific island was dead quiet. There were no fish darting through the shallows. The island itself was just a massive, hollowed-out cliff face sticking out of the ocean. The wind whipped through the holes in the rock, creating a low, eerie whistling sound.

"This place is depressing," Kratos grumbled from the front of the boat. The giant lion kept his ears pinned flat against his head. Chief Thalassa rowed the boat onto the rocky shore. He pulled the oars in and looked at Rudra.

"The Echoing Banshee waits inside," Thalassa said, pointing his spear at the dark cave entrance.

"She was a Siren who cursed the Ocean God before she died. Now she is bound to this rock. Her voice does not shatter armor, mainlander. It shatters the mind and ruptures the organs. Do not let her song bounce off the walls, or the echoes will multiply until your brain turns to mush."

"Don't let her echo. Got it," Rudra said. He stepped off the boat and walked up the rocky slope and he crossed the threshold of the dark cave. [You have entered the Third Trial of the Orca Archipelago!] Rudra stepped into a wide, circular stone arena. The walls were tall and covered in deep, jagged scratch marks. There was no water here. Just dry, dusty rock and the smell of rot. Floating in the dead center of the room was a woman. She was an Undead Siren.

Her blue scales were rotting and flaking off her body, floating upward into the dark ceiling. Her eyes were empty, glowing white sockets. [Echoing Banshee Lv. 420]"She looks lovely," Kratos said, sitting safely by the heavy stone doors. The lion scratched at his neck with a massive hind leg.

"Can we hurry this up? I want to go back to the beach." The Banshee didn't speak. She just unhinged her rotting jaw. A high-pitched, piercing shriek filled the room. Rudra's passive stat immediately flared. It didn't just give him a vague feeling of danger. It threw a system prompt right into his peripheral vision. [Super Sensitivity detects a wide-angle soundwave approaching your chest!] [Evasion recommended: Duck and roll left.] Rudra didn't even have to think. His reflexes took over instantly.

He dropped to his right knee. A massive, invisible soundwave sliced through the empty space right above his head. He rolled hard to the left, his black coat sweeping through the dust. A second wave crashed into the stone wall right behind where he had just been standing. The solid rock completely shattered, raining fine dust down on his shoulders. Even though he dodged the direct hit, the ambient noise was absolutely deafening. A thin line of warm blood trickled from Rudra's nose. His teeth rattled in his skull.

"Sonic damage," Rudra grunted, wiping the blood from his upper lip with the back of his hand.

"It bypasses physical defense completely." By the doors, Kratos let out a loud, painful whine. The giant lion pressed both paws tightly over his ears, squeezing his eyes shut.

"Make it stop! It feels like bees are inside my head! It hurts!" Rudra frowned. The lion's health bar actually ticked down a fraction. If he dragged this fight out, the constant area-of-effect noise would liquefy his internal organs and might kill Kratos. He couldn't play around with his usual momentum-building combos here. He couldn't wait for his [Saint's Momentum] to stack up as there wasn't enough time. He needed to end this right now, in a single, guaranteed hit.

But he also didn't want to waste a learning opportunity.

"[Legendary Sage's Eyes]," Rudra muttered.