Dimensional Descent

Leonel laughed to himself from within the pagoda, a bright smile on his face. He wasn't too worried about Aina, since Ness was his aunt, the likelihood that she would truly do something to her was very low, not to mention the binding rules of the Void Palace even if she wasn't. As for his reputation, he simply couldn't be bothered to care. Since he was a rich silkpants, he would be a rich silkpants. 

There would eventually come a day where no one could be bothered to care about what happened here because his achievements would be far beyond their imagination. 

After he finished chuckling, Leonel looked around with a curious eye. 

This time, he had entered the pagoda alone, skipping over a few people who had been about to enter. Though he felt a bit bad about that, it couldn't be helped. If he didn't rush in, then he would be caught. Plus, if the Bow Pagoda was anything to go by, they could enter along with him even if he went in first. 

The surroundings, however, were different from the Bow Pagoda. Rather than standing on a platform in the depths of space, Leonel stood on a large plain that looked like an endless dirt path. The land was dry and smooth, filled with a greyish brown color. 

What was interesting, though, was that up above, there was once again an endless depth of space. It made it feel like the expanse of existence was peering down upon him, waiting to watch his performance. 

Leonel blinked, looking around for a moment until he suddenly felt the ground began to rumble.

With a thought, Leonel's Chain Spear appeared in his hand. However, rather than rattling like it usually did, it was surprisingly calm, eerily so, in fact. But even so, the rumbling of the ground only increased as he gripped his spear. 

Leonel looked down at his spear, finding it to be decidedly lifeless. It was completely unlike what he had experienced from its presence before. Even back when he had yet to learn about the Life Grade, he still felt more personality from his spear than he did now. 

'Is this on purpose? It sucked all the spirituality out of my spear.'

Ignoring the rumbling ground for a moment, Leonel flipped his palm and went through a series of spears, only to find that the feeling was exactly the same. 

Soon, he realized that the problem extended further than just his spears as well, even his Spear Force seemed more tame and languid as though it was struggling against falling into a deep sleep. This astonished Leonel all the more. 

Leonel's eyes suddenly sharpened. He had wanted to experiment more, but at that moment, over the dusty horizon, the source of the rumbling ground was quickly coming into view. 

Horse hooves slammed against the ground, chariots rocked and swayed, their wheels spinning so fast that it seemed as though they might fall off at any time, and a valiant general stood atop a moving tower in the center of it all at the very peak. 

Despite a distance of easily three kilometers separating them even now, Leonel felt as though the general was looking right into his soul. Let alone three kilometers, it felt more like they were standing nose to nose, their eyes mere inches apart. 

A dust cloud rose into the air, a stifling, blood thirsty aura blanketing the skies to the point the depths of space and stars above almost turned a crimson red. 

Leonel stood in silence, his narrowed eyes relaxing and his expression becoming a dull cold. He could feel that everything was sealed away. The only strength remaining in his body was his Spear Force, but even that seemed to be quite weak. And now, he was facing an army made up entirely of Tier 1 existences. 

Was this really just the first floor trial? Or was it that things worked differently here? How was he supposed to defeat ten thousand experts without his full range of abilities? Especially since they were a well trained army?

Leonel's heart thumped in his chest, pushing against his ribcage and sending surges of blood through his limbs. Even before the army entered a kilometer range of him, his skin was flushed with a warm color, his gaze flickering with a deep battle intent. 

Whatever this trial was, it was designed to bring out the full potential of his Spear Domain Lineage Factor. In that case, he might as well go all out and see what he could learn relying solely on it. As for whether this was just the first floor or not, it seemed that only time would tell him that. 

With a step Leonel began to walk forward slowly, his hair fluttering in the wind and his posture straight and unbothered. It didn't seem as though he sensed the danger coming toward him at all as he kept his head high. 

A light smile spread across his lips as the ground continued to rumble. 

500 meters… 400 meters… 300 meters… 200 meters… 100 meters… 50 meters… 

Leonel took a breath, the scent of blood and carnage filling the air. For a moment, he had a fleeting thought… could he die in these trials? This felt like his real body, after all. 

However, thinking to this point, he just grinned. For him to die, wouldn't they have to take him down first? 

His blood rushed straight to his head and a crimson glow lit his eyes. Seemingly taken by the bloodthirstiness of the battlefield, his heart threatened to beat right out of his chest. 

And then, he took a strong step forward. 

BANG!

A cyclone of Spear Force erupted around Leonel, crashing into the first line of the vanguard and shredding them into pieces. 

His palm opened and he reclaimed his chain spear, thrusting it forward with an undeniable momentum and skewering the chest of a stampeding horse before pulling upward and splitting its neck and head in two. 

He closed his eyes, basking in the slaughter. 

'Show me what you can do…'