Chapter 1069: Astonishment
Leon Merlin, that guy... His explosive power is terrifying, but that kind of burst comes at a huge cost to his mana. Every time he makes a move, the fight is always brief, and the window when he can unleash his full strength is even shorter.
When he was dealing with that Golden Orc, he used Eighth-Rank spells. Those Orc Heroic Spirits are pretty strong, but they shouldn’t be a match for Leon Merlin.
But to fight eighteen battles in a row? That guy’s advantage will vanish completely. The further he goes, the less edge he’ll have. If he manages to walk out in the last two and a half hours, that’d already be impressive.
He might not even make it out alive. Heh, best if he dies in there—that way I can take over the Four Seasons Plain. Damn bastard, such a good place, and it’s actually been taken by that guy.
And those stupid Gray Orcs, actually submitting to a human—unbelievable...
While everyone in the temple kept guessing how long Leon would take to get through the Path of the Heroic Spirits, Leon stepped through the gate of light.
Beyond the gate was a staircase leading upward. From outside, it looked endless, but once inside, it turned out there were only eighteen steps.
Climbing the stairs led to a small platform, where the soul of an extremely ancient orc floated nearby. The old orc’s upper body was so solid it looked real, face covered in wrinkles, bearing the marks of countless years. His lower half, though, was like mist.
This was a pure soul form, and an incredibly powerful one at that. In life, he must have been the Grand Seer of a super-tribe—only someone like that could have such a strong soul.
"Brave warrior, are you ready to challenge the Path of the Heroic Spirits? Your rank is Eighth-Rank Title Archmage. There will be eighteen Orc Heroic Spirits of Eighth-Rank Title Archmage waiting for you. Defeat them, and you will pass the Path of the Heroic Spirits and claim your glory!"
The old orc chanted in a rhythmic, ancient tongue—one Leon didn’t recognize, yet somehow understood. It was as if the language spoke directly to his soul.
Leon nodded.
"Let it begin!"
The old orc waved his hand toward the void ahead, and a spinning gate of light appeared.
Without a hint of hesitation, Leon strode through the gate. The next moment, he found himself on a vast, endless plaza, surrounded by nothing but void. Looking ahead, he saw, spaced at intervals, an Orc Heroic Spirit waiting at each spot.
The first he encountered was a towering orc, three meters tall, gripping a sword over three meters long and half a meter thick. The blade was covered in dense runes. Besides his natural magic tattoos, the orc bore additional foreign markings. Standing there, he was like a mountain, radiating enormous pressure.
He radiated the aura of an Eighth-Rank Orc Sword Saint, but the pressure he exerted far surpassed that rank.
Leon knew that the Path of the Heroic Spirits wouldn’t match opponents strictly by rank. His own power as an Eighth-Rank Title Archmage was at least ten or twenty times greater than normal. This Orc Heroic Spirit was the same—ranked as Eighth-Rank Sword Saint, but far stronger than most.
Ranked as Eighth-Rank Sword Saint, but his aura was even stronger—probably equal to an average Ninth-Rank Sword Saint.
But even a Ninth-Rank Sword Saint is nothing to worry about...
Leon spat out a rune, instantly forming a five-meter-wide Four-Element Bomb in front of him.
With a muffled boom, the Four-Element Bomb vanished from its spot, faster than the speed of sound, and struck the Orc Heroic Spirit in the blink of an eye.
The Four-Element Bomb collided with his giant sword, unleashing a violent explosion of destructive force that instantly engulfed the Orc Sword Saint. A figure was blown away from the center of the blast, and midair, the Orc Heroic Spirit's body dissolved into countless points of light.
Instant kill...
Leon kept moving forward. A thousand meters ahead stood the second Orc Heroic Spirit—an orc warlock, also at Eighth-Rank Title Archmage level, but clearly stronger than the average.
In just over ten seconds, the orc warlock was engulfed by a barrage of Detonation spells and blown to pieces.
Three minutes later, Leon had already defeated nine Orc Heroic Spirits. The tenth was a wolf rider, accompanied by a massive Level-38 wolf mount.
Three consecutive Four-Element Bombs sent the wolf rider flying with sheer force. The giant wolf was obliterated, but the orc's body flew over a thousand meters, landing right beside a slumbering Orc Heroic Spirit a kilometer away.
Awakened by the commotion, the Orc Shaman roared, instantly summoning two lightning shields and gripping his lightning staff as he joined the battle.
Unfortunately, that orc wolf rider was already on the verge of death. Leon finished him off with a few Detonation spells, and the Orc Shaman was dealt with in less than twenty seconds as well.
But the moment the Orc Shaman dissipated, a voice rang in Leon's ears.
Double kill!
Hearing this, Leon was momentarily stunned.
Double kill?
He hadn’t heard this after defeating the previous nine Orc Heroic Spirits—why the sudden notification now?
Oh, right—the Orc Shaman joined the battle before the wolf rider died, so Leon was fighting two at once.
Glancing at the still-slumbering Orc Heroic Spirit in the distance, Leon pondered, then turned and walked back.
The gate of light was still there, just as he’d entered. Leon stepped through, returning to the small platform where the old orc waited.
“May I try again?”
The old orc gazed at Leon, a glimmer of light passing through his ancient eyes. He nodded, then continued in his rhythmic, solemn tone.
"Brave warrior, when faced with challenges, you must always press forward, never retreat."
With that, the old orc waved his hand once more.
Leon entered the gate of light again. Sure enough, the Orc Heroic Spirits he had defeated reappeared, all standing motionless, eyes closed in slumber.
Leon tossed a Fireball at the first Orc Sword Saint, startling him awake. Then, casting Flight Spell and Acceleration, he rushed ahead, throwing another Fireball to awaken the second Orc Heroic Spirit.
It wasn't until he'd awakened four Orc Heroic Spirits in a row that Leon began fighting them together.
Three minutes later, all four spirits had vanished. As expected, another voice sounded in his ears.
Quad kill.
Leon nodded thoughtfully.
From what the old orc said, it seemed the Path of the Heroic Spirits was itself a test.
Before, it seemed you could fight opponents of the same rank one by one, with no time limit, no restrictions on methods—nothing at all.
Even an ordinary mage would have a high chance of clearing the Path of the Heroic Spirits. Everyone who enters is an elite among elites, so passing through is easy—the only difference is how long it takes.
But now, it looks like the real test is how many Orc Heroic Spirits you can defeat at once. The highest difficulty must be facing all eighteen at the same time—and beating them!
After overcoming the assault of four Orc Heroic Spirits, Leon pressed onward, but this time he ignored the ones he encountered.
Sure enough, as long as he didn’t attack, those sleeping Orc Heroic Spirits remained completely unresponsive, not waking up as he walked past.
Leon walked all the way to the end of the road, where the last Orc Heroic Spirit awaited—a seer.
A seer whose combat power was relatively weak—his strongest attack was summoning a Level-38 ghost wolf.
Then came a barrage of war songs, all cast on the ghost wolf.
Leon didn’t rush to kill the orc seer. He let him cast war songs until he’d used all his tricks, then finished him off with an instant kill.
At the end of the road, a massive stone gate stood before him, beyond which lay endless void. But now, the gate was silent, with eighteen sigils on its surface—five of them glowing.
In other words, no matter how you fight, only by defeating all eighteen Orc Heroic Spirits can you open the stone gate.
There are no restrictions on how you fight—the process is entirely up to you.
Leon started from the last orc seer and fought his way back, battling each Orc Heroic Spirit one by one. For each, he spent at least ten minutes, letting them fully unleash all their abilities before finally finishing them off.
He fought his way back, defeating fourteen Orc Heroic Spirits in total. Sure enough, at the end of the road, the stone gate began to glow. All Leon had to do was push it open to leave.
Leon didn’t leave. Instead, he returned once more to the small platform where the old orc waited.
"I want to challenge again!"
Leon entered the challenge again, carefully fighting the first four orcs one by one. After mastering all their abilities, he returned to the old orc.
"I want to challenge again!"
The old orc always wore a smile, never showing a hint of impatience. Every time, his words were exactly the same.
As Leon prepared to enter the Path of the Heroic Spirits once again, he realized four hours had already passed...
Back in the temple, everyone’s expressions had grown a bit strange.
Back in that shattered little world, Leon’s explosive power was truly formidable. He hadn’t fought Didara directly, but he wasn’t far off—he could unleash Sky Rank strength just the same.
But now, four hours had passed and he still hadn’t cleared the Path of the Heroic Spirits...
Four hours is already the slowest record. Even the weakest mages from Cloudspire Tower and Black Tower, led by Joey and Heron, only needed three hours and fifty minutes to clear the Path.
Dilasi raised his head, flashing a brilliant smile as he walked up to Heron, exclaiming loudly.
"Ah, four hours! Matthew Merlin really is our top-ranked powerhouse here—he’s going to scare me to death. Four hours and he’s still not out.
I remember someone just said Matthew Merlin would be the fastest to finish, right? Or am I misremembering?
Didn’t someone have a lot of faith in Matthew Merlin? So how come it’s been four hours and he still hasn’t made it out?