"He said: to the left, there's the nest of a terrifying scorpion." Awel's voice came soft. "And right up ahead, it's the domain of the land vipers. Anyone who touches the ground will be sensed. We've gotta wait until some prey wanders into their territory, then use the distraction…"
The rabbit kept talking nonstop while Awel translated. It clearly knew where the biggest dangers of this place were. It also explained the terrain in detail. In the end, they basically got a full map of the area.
Darian was thrilled with that. With that "map," he discovered there were tons of treasures waiting to be found. But first, he had to get the rabbit home.
With its guidance, avoiding the stronger beasts and their traps was easy.
Still, even though the rabbit knew the entire path, it couldn't go back by itself — near the passage was the territory of terrifying creatures way beyond its power. It simply didn't have the strength to cross without being noticed.
After a full day of travel, the three Heavenly Elemental Spirit youths were trembling, sticking close to Darian.
That was because all the nearby beasts were insanely powerful. Some flew across the skies at speeds way faster than Awel could ever reach. If they got detected, there'd be no chance of escape.
As they drew closer to the vortex, the energy of the place grew heavier and more oppressive. They didn't even need Tir's or the rabbit's warning to sense the powerful beasts spread throughout the vast area.
Once inside that region, the rabbit shrank down, only whispering that the exit was right up ahead. Tir became useless too — the beasts were way too easy to sense here. Meaning, they could only rely on one person's skills.
Darian let out a faint sigh. No doubt about it — the creatures here had long surpassed the level of anyone still in the first stage of the Trial.
This place had been designed to be utterly lethal, impossible to survive in a fight. It was a region built to test challengers' courage and extreme survival skills.
Darian even started to regret it a little. He was basically playing with his own life. Sure, he'd done reckless things before, but always with a clear goal, knowing where he was going and what he stood to gain.
But now… why the hell had he agreed to this?
On all sides, dangerously close, he could sense colossal, powerful beasts. Luckily, they were all asleep. At least this challenge gave them that tiny chance — otherwise, it really would've been impossible.
Finally, on the fourth day inside this place, Darian spotted a spatial portal ahead. A strong golden energy was pouring out of it. But then…
Right in front of it, they all saw a beast that looked like a western dragon straight out of Earth's tales. Golden, massive, and asleep right there, letting the golden energy wrap around it, like it was absorbing it into its body.
The rabbit muttered in deep despair.
"Not good… He says that beast recently claimed this place and has a unique power," Awel said grimly. "It's not really sleeping. It's half-alert, since other beasts want to take this territory from it. That's why it's radiating a powerful aura around itself, to detect anything nearby. Just that alone would crush us completely… with it guarding the exit, passing through is impossible."
Darian looked at the rabbit. As expected, he saw an expression of disappointment. The little guy was on his shoulder, paws covering its eyes like it was crying. Just when it finally believed it could go home… it fell into despair. That feeling was unbearable.
"Don't cry. There are always more solutions than problems. I'll think of a way to help you," Darian said calmly.
The rabbit shook its head, mumbling in pain. Awel translated: "He says there's no solution. If we try to force our way through, we'll all die. He doesn't want to drag us into it, so he's begging us to give up."
Hearing those sobs, Darian didn't know what to feel either. He just kept staring at the distant dragon.
It was a two-winged dragon, incredibly sturdy. It was asleep, and that alone was already a huge opportunity… But since it wasn't a real living being, Darian couldn't unleash his best powers against it.
It was planted right in front of the gate. To pass, they'd have to walk straight over its body…
Darian thought for a long time, but couldn't find a safe solution. Still, since it was a challenge, there had to be some kind of chance hidden there.
Giving up simply wasn't his style… and suddenly, in his mind, the image of that beautiful Dragoness came back.
He could perfectly imagine what she'd say in that situation: If you can't think of anything, then stop thinking and just go for it!
Darian let out a breath through his nose. Niara was… the complete opposite of how he usually thought and acted. But maybe that was exactly why they got along so well. Since they could perfectly feel each other's emotions, there were no lies, no pointless misunderstandings between them. That's why they never clashed, and trusted each other so quickly. They were opposites that just fit, working together seamlessly.
All of a sudden, Darian snapped out of his daze. His mind had drifted off completely thinking about her. But, thinking like her, he reached a decision.
He turned to the others: "Let's give it a try…"
"The rabbit says it's way too dangerous," Awel spoke quickly.
Darian looked at the rabbit, who stared back at him in despair, not wanting to let him die.
He just smiled and patted the little animal's head, comforting it. No matter what happened, he had to try.
He crept closer to the dragon. The three youngsters followed right behind him, pale-faced but without hesitation.
As they got really close, Darian's hair stood on end. That power was truly terrifying. It felt like a volcano about to erupt; if it burst out, they'd be torn to pieces.
Luckily, he was relying on his detection aura and focusing on the golden energy he was absorbing. If the Dragon wasn't disturbed before they reached the entrance, they could just jump in all at once.
Just a few meters before touching its detection aura, Darian stopped, focused. He activated the ring on his wrist and carefully felt out the dragon's energies.
He was relieved, but took a deep breath, cold sweat dripping down… this was insanely risky…
With a smooth motion, he tried to pull a tiny fragment of that detection aura under his control. Luckily, Darian and the others were like ants compared to the dragon.
What Darian was trying to do was like a mosquito sneaking a little sip of blood from a person. He only needed a trace of that power — since it was just life energy, something he could handle.
The key was doing it gently enough; one wrong move and it would all be over.
Minutes later, he almost let out a sigh, but managed to hold it in, feeling relieved.
He had control of a sphere of energy now, and turned to the three… all of them stared at him with eyes shining with admiration.
Darian ignored them and spread the energy, wrapping them all in that aura. This way, they wouldn't be noticed so easily.
With a nod, they moved on unnoticed.
Darian led them to the dragon's tail, and they climbed onto it. It was unbelievably long, almost half the length of its entire body. If not for that massive tail, this Dragon would look more like a bat… or not, since at the very tip was a gigantic bone stinger, like a spear, glowing with a cold light.
They walked like ants climbing a giant, extremely cautious.
But as soon as they reached its back, Darian felt the danger only grow stronger… that aura kept getting more intense the further they went, strong enough to kill them even if they weren't detected.
They had reached a point where moving forward would shred their bodies to pieces. The three youngsters trembled, clutching Darian's clothes tightly. Meanwhile, the rabbit was curled up into a ball inside the hood of his robe.
But the gate was already in sight… only a few dozen meters ahead.
That's when the dragon's eyes snapped open.