Chapter 421: Consequence Of Breach

Meanwhile, while fate was aligning in the outside world, Seth faced yet another hurdle on his journey to claiming the Greed mantle...

The strain hit hard, ramming into his body and mind like a bullet train, his muscles going slack, and his mind going foggy.

His memory grew distant, and his thought process became excruciatingly slow...

Seth’s consciousness shook, as his vision went unstable, blurring into white for a second, his breathing ragged and short.

The pressure folded on his lungs, a surge of weakness stemming from his own marrow surged through his being, causing his knees to buckle and his gait to falter.

The 73rd step really was no joke...

Seth had barely stabilized his footing on this step, when all of a sudden the surface of his skin tingled from danger, his hair standing on end and goosebumps rising like a wave.

"Dan... ger," he registered, alas his cognitive process being impeded also reflected on his reaction speed.

He stood there helpless and defenseless, unable to do anything, his fingers twitching, yet the signal of response traveling from his brain to his body became an agonizingly slow process.

"Fuck!"

The candidate from the werewolf race pounced, claws fully unsheathed, maws parted wide, mid-transformation into its Lycan form.

Just when Seth concluded that all hope was lost and he was going to get knocked out, his vision flashed white.

A cold monotonous voice boomed in his skull.

[Warning! Hostile attempt detected!]

[A breach in rules has been detected!]

[Consequence is impending!]

A series of red text unraveled before him, as he realized he was still standing.

"Huh?" his vision finally registered his attacker, frozen mid-pounce, maws still scarily close to piercing through his skin.

And claws inches away from digging into his flesh...

Seth blinked, his breath catching at the sight. "..."

He wasn’t the only one left dumbfounded; the commotion had caught the attention of other candidates.

Prompting them to pay focus to what would be the fate of those who broke the rules.

The bloodborn member Jarque, who had initiated the conflict with his will-based hypnosis ability, just scoffed at the scene playing out.

He had wished to take out two birds with one stone.

Getting rid of the human, as well as the bastard mutt from their nemesis race, the werewolves.

Alas it seemed he was only able to get rid of one...

The fully transformed werewolf growled and trembled, locked in space by a terrifying force that it couldn’t resist even if it tried.

[Warning you are in violation of the rules!]

The warning flashed red before the terrified and clueless werewolf.

It didn’t even understand what was happening, at one moment it was struggling against the pressure of the steps, then its blackout was overcome by a sudden surge of bloodlust and now it was here.

The poor beast couldn’t protest its fate as the system delivered instant judgment.

[The consequences of breach are as follows...]

[Pressure will be temporarily multiplied by 30X... endure for 30s]

The strings of text were barely completed, when the pressure around the werewolf spiked.

The beast’s limbs trembled; it let out a pained whine, a sickening crunch ringing out as its bones slowly lost all integrity.

The beast’s eyes went red and bulging, its frame deformed and compressed, time barely crossing the ten-second marker.

When its entire frame erupted into bloody splatter, its eyes popping straight out of its sockets, brain matter splattering out of the ears, clumps and pieces of its remains scattered all over.

Blood splattering all over, like a paint grenade had just gone off, coating Seth in the pungent mix of blood, meat and bone.

Breath went still at the sight...

Everyone watched as the evolver remained helpless, unable to even resist its fate.

With an example made, the others swallowed hard.

Those who had attacked their mind suddenly found the option not so pleasing anymore.

The only allure in this option was to instigate a mutually assured failure.

After all, even if they couldn’t climb further, they could also still drag others down with them.

But now it was clear that even this option was a no go.

On the hundredth step observing those below, the three geniuses glanced at one another wearing an unsightly scowl.

It seemed they wouldn’t be able to play dirty this time.

The reaction came mostly from the bloodborn, who hissed, though he was pleased at the sight of a mutt erupting into a bloody splatter.

In the end its main target was left unharmed...

Their focus shifted, their sluggish minds revving into action, they prepared for the next step instantly.

Since there was no easy way out of this, they might as well put in their all into winning this thing.

After all they all had their prides as prodigies of their own distinct races.

They didn’t believe that they’d be so easily outdone by a human...

And like that everyone focused back on their own individual progress, cause that was the only way.

Meanwhile back on Seth’s end, he stood frozen, coated with gore and blood.

Staring down at the splattered remains of the werewolf.

A bead of sweat streamed down his temples, "Shit, that was close!" he exclaimed.

He cared less about the fact that his body had been sullied by the gory remains of his attacker.

And more about the fact that he was still in the trial.

And with this he could be even more assured that he would be fine, all he had to do was focus on his own path.

As long as he could win this or at least find something in the shop that could help him regain access to his will attribute, he would be fine!

Settling down, he summoned the inventory gate once more, and partook of the molten goodness that flowed out of it.

Over time, Seth’s appetite grew, consuming more of the elixir after each session.

At least a liter more each time, fortunately the potency of the elixir didn’t drop.

And the quantity was more than enough to see him through this trial.

If one could take a peek at what lay in his inventory space, along with myriad treasures and mountains of essence crystals, one would find a vast floating blob of molten liquid.

Enough to form a great lake...

Seth devoured as much as his stomach could allow, a surge of revitalizing warmth bursting from his abdomen.

He closed his eyes, as his body trembled with renewed vigor.

He didn’t have the liberty to care for the filth coating his skin, all he could focus on now was treading the next step.

Meanwhile on a cellular level, a spark simmered within the depths of Seth’s being...

A silver gene had been reignited out of dormancy.