Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

The ninth horde arrived and just like usual he used every bit of his focus and attention on culling these zombies down. The clearing time of the ninth horde was two hours and thirty minutes. The timing may be the same as the eighth horde, but one must know that the numbers and levels of the zombies were higher than in the eighth horde.

There was a time during the ninth horde were the fireplace almost died out because of the time limit. Fortunately, he was able to find the zombie that had the crimson bead just in time to toss it into the fireplace.

As he laid down near the fireplace waiting for the tenth and the final horde to arrive, Simon was checking his status and grinning. He was currently level 377, not far away from reaching the level 400 barrier.

In the span of a few hours, thanks to the trail he was able to jump tens of levels. This level of growth once again solidified his impression of the forbidden trial and how it can affect one's advancement. If one wanted to become strong, there was no better place than the forbidden trail.

Simon was not wrong, however, that was only if one can survive the trail. Not everybody is like him who can do well under extreme situations or has a cheat like fragment which increases the experience he earns manifold.

It was because it was him that he was able to endure this long. But all his struggles and growth will be for nothing if he can't clear the last horde which would be the hardest of all the hordes.

Simon took a deep breath and composed his mind and body for what is to come. Even after pacing himself accordingly, he was still left with less than 30 percent of his mana, his stamina was also the same.

If he can't clear the tenth horde even after this… No, he must clear it, he has to clear it no matter what. There were many people waiting for him back at the dungeon, many reliant on him. There was also many unsettled responsibilities and grudges to be settled.

There was no way he can drop dead here, he will not allow himself to. The countdown ticked down to zero and the tenth horde finally arrived.

The ground trembled intensely making the dust fall down from the ceiling and an invisible pressure surrounded the hall. This was the first time after facing so many hordes, that Simon was feeling like that.

The heavy aura that was shrouding the place, clearly told Simon that the tenth horde was different from the previous hordes he had faced up until now. The shaking of the ground intensified making it clear that whatever it was it was near.

Just when the sound seemed that it was coming closer and closer, it abruptly stopped. Simon narrowed his eyes and immediately prepared himself.

That was when the walls on his left, right and front was suddenly broken down and something appeared from it. He did not know what the entity was but he could tell that it was huge just from its sheer size.

At a glance, it looked bipedal and had a humanoid shape. However, it was so hulkingly huge and buffed that it seemed more like some beast than a zombie. It was covered in rugged skin and released a brutish and berserk aura that can make a weak levelled person faint on the spot.

"One, two… three" Simon counted their numbers.

There were three of these hulkish huge entities in front of him. There seemed to be no other zombies spawning, it was only the three of them for the tenth horde.

Feeling their powerful energy, he immediately used [Analysis] on them.

Race- Zombie Attacker (Unique),

Level- 450,

Skills- [Brutal Charge], [Ultra enhanced Strength], [Ultra enhanced endurance], [Super Enhacned Defence], [Super Agility], [Berserk], [Super Throw], [heavy Punch], [Fire resistance], [Cut resistance], [Blunt resistance], [Brawling], [Stomp], [Predator Aura], [Brute Force], [Attacker's Roar], [Drum Beat].

The moment he read the information given to him by his [Analysis] Simon's expression became grim. No to mention the numerous skills it has that was purely based for attack, its level that was the highest amongst all the zombies he has faced up until now, made it a huge problem.

Add that to the fact that there were three of them, the situation cannot be any more worse. If Simon was in his peak condition and was not so exhausted he might have been able to do something about them.

But right now, the situation only looked grave for him. Perhaps he could take one or two of them if he went all out and burned every last of his power. But if he had to fight three of them and all together while at the same time keep an eye on the fireplace, it made the situation much more complex.

<strong>UWROOOAAHH…</strong> the moment the huge attacker zombies laid eyes on Simon and the fireplace behind him, they roared in a deep guttural voice. They then started charging towards him creating a storm of wind around them.

"Shit' Simon cursed, even a Demon viscount like him felt threatened by that charge of theirs. He wanted to move away from their path but since the fireplace was behind him, he couldn't move away from his spot.

Conjuring dozens of flame spears, he sent them flying towards them hoping to stop their charge. The flame spears as intended, directly hit their targets but because of their skill [Ultra enhanced endurance], [Super Defence] and Fier resistance, the attacker zombies did not suffer much damage.

Nonetheless, the flame spears were still able to somewhat halt the momentum of their charge.

<strong>UWROOOAAHH…</strong>

As if annoyed by the last attack, the attacker zombies roared and their auras locked towards Simon. Judging by how easily they were taunted by that last attack of his, Simon inferred that the attacker zombies even though they have heavy attack power, their intelligence was very low.

Having their aggro locked onto him, Simon started dodging and kiting them around. He would attack with his wind and lightning magic at every opportunity he got to find out their weakness.

However, he cannot stall for them for too long since he also has to find which of the attacker zombies had the crimson bead before the flames in the fireplace goes out.

<strong>BOOM…</strong> one of the zombies who was near the wall, threw a punch at it resulting in the entire wall collapsing. The zombie then grabbed some big pieces of stones and hurled them towards Simon.

Simon used his sword and his fastly growing sword mastery to deflect any and all attacks. But each of their attacks packed so much power that his hand became numb every time he cut a piece of rock.

[Ultra enhanced Strength], it was the higher tier of the skill [Super enhanced Strength] and provided a marginal buff to one's strength stat. These hulking attacker zombies already had a huge amount of strength but if you add the [Ultra Enhanced Strength] on top of it, they really became monsters to reckon with.

While one of the zombies was hurling rocks at him, the other attacker zombies continued to charge at him.

<strong>BAM…</strong> Simon hurriedly dodged to the side, avoiding being body-slammed to the wall. Using this opportunity when one of the zombies was stuck to the wall, he performed a horizontal slash. However, because of its rugged skin and high defence, the sword did not manage to dig deep into its body.

"Tch" Simon clicked his tongue, before he could continue with his assault, the other zombies caught up to him forcing him to retreat.

The zombie that was just cut, roared in agony and in the blink of an eye, its skin started turning red. 'Berserk' Simon identified the skill the attacker zombie had used. Now due to the effects of the skill, the power of the attacker zombie was bolstered even further.

But that was good enough, if he stalls the zombie long enough, there would come a time when the duration of the skills runs out and an opportunity to attack would present itself.

The berserk attacker zombie jumped into the air and using that momentum brought its humongous fists down and slammed it into the ground, creating a shockwave attack that was directed towards Simon.

Simon hurriedly unfurled his wings and flew up dodging the shockwave. However, now that he was up, he was open to the attacks of the zombie that was hurling rocks at him. A big pillar came flying at him blocking his sight and forcing him to have no choice but to cut it down.

The moment he cut down the pillar, his instincts screamed alerting him of danger but it was already too late. Because the pillar had covered his sight for a second or two, he failed to realise that the berserk zombie was right behind it and now its huge fists was only a few inches away from him.

<strong>BOOOM… CRACK…</strong> it was as if a cannon was fired, the sound of the attacker zombie punching Simon was that loud. Like a bolt, his body crashed onto the ground destroying and raising a dust of cloud around him.

Simon tasted blood in his mouth, the punch was just like a ten-ton sledgehammer powerful enough to break multiple of his bones. Spitting out a mouthful of blood, he hurriedly flapped his wings and got out of the pit.

The moment he did so, the other attacker zombies came slamming down on that place. Not only were they powerful and their punch packed quite some damage, but even their jumping ability was also absurd.

Using that explosive power of theirs, the attacker zombies could fly as high as ten meters and easily reach the ceiling in a second.