Zoldith looked into Kang's defeated eyes, sneering his own, for a few seconds--walking away right afterward back to where Hashus was.
Kang witnessed Zoldith going away and then stared at the bright ceiling of the cave for a few seconds, a dull expression on his face, before standing up and spitting some blood out of his mouth.
Walking back over near the crowd, most were silent. They were shocked beyond belief at what they had just seen. Alten was now laughing at the scene, and so was Leon. These two had already seen something like this before in the preliminaries.
A peasant dethroning the king.
No one wanted to talk for fear of getting in trouble, sensing that emotions might be high right now and Kang might act rambunctiously after losing. Lyrian had already made his way back near the crowd, and Kang arrived as well after some waiting.
He stood in front of Lyrian, who was in front of the crowd of examinees, "Okay. So, what do you want." Kang spoke nonchalantly, his expression was bleak and his tone was simply monotone.
"Oh yea... a punishment right? Consequences of being weaker, as you put it yourself." Lyrian loudly spoke, not shying away. He paused, glancing at the eyes of the crowd before continuing, them now shying their gazes from his stare, "Instead of a person weaker than you, a peasant, I am now stronger. I am greater than you, Kang. I am a noble, and you are a plebian. Bow down to me ten times, or get eliminated. The choice is your's." He confidently said, staring directly into Kang's eyes with a slight grin on his face.
Kang was clearly taken aback when he heard this. His eyes widened slightly, he hadn't expected this. His mouth also gaped slightly, as a few shocked noises and gasps reverberated from the crowd.
He tried to stand a little bit of his ground, "Wha- You! You can't make me do that! I am a nob--" He was abruptly cut off.
"A noble? Someone stronger? How can that be true when you just lost to me." Lyrian didn't waste any time in replying.
Kang did not back down either in his rebuttal. Even the thought of bowing down in front of these people was enough to send shivers down his back, "I was born a noble! I was born from my noble parents!" He tried to refute, still claiming his nobility as his friends watched from the sidelines.
"Your parents?" Lyrian spoke mockingly, "Your parents, grandparents, your great-grandparents, you can continue this as long as you want. But, what makes that person greater than normal? What makes that person a noble?"
Kang remained silent, not knowing how to respond in this situation.
"It's power, is it not? Strength? The ability to conjure mana? I am greater than you in all of these things." On saying this, Kang was even more awe-struck, completely speechless.
He looked back at Zolidth and Hashus, who simply looked away, 'An arrogant bufoon. He not only tried to honor a duel with a lowly peasant but even managed to lose. He can get any punishment for now for all I care, but that bastard isn't going to walk consequence-free in the future either.' Zoldith thought to himself, staring directly at Lyrian, 'Disrespecting that fool, and disrespecting all of the nobility have different merits.'
As Kang continued to delay, he looked at Lyrian's hand that was on the hilt of his blade. He could feel the dangerous aura just exuding from him. 'He's actually going to eliminate me any second... fuck this! I'm not bowing down to some peasant! I'd rather... id rather be eliminated than this!' He said, moving his fingers just an inch to grab his rod, as he was instantly stopped by Zolidth who called out to him.
"Kang!" He shouted in a serious voice, prompting Kang to look back over his shoulder quickly to see Zoldith's furious eyes. On seeing this, he immediately moved his hand back to his side.
Lyrian also let go of the squeeze while he was gripping the blade, 'What an idiot. He almost got eliminated right there if that idiot over there hadn't saved him.' He thought to himself.
Kang looked at the ground in defeat, 'Bowing might be worse than elimination, but I'm not going to anger Zoldith.' He thought to himself, slowly getting down onto his knees.
More gasps came from the crowd. Everyone had shocked expressions. Seeing this wasn't normal by any means of the imagination, it almost felt like a crime just watching it.
After getting on his knees, he put his palms on the ground, and slowly lowered his head until it touched the floor in front of Lyrian. He was clenching his teeth as he did this, a horrible feeling within him.
ραndαsnοvεl.cοm However, after a split second of his forehead touching the ground, Lyrian suddenly kicked his shoulder, sending him tumbling backward right to where Zoldith and Hashus were.
"Pathetic." Lyrian said as he went into the crowd, back to where Leon and Alten were, "Green-eyes! Continue your speech." He said as he walked.
'To be arrogant and to lose is one thing, but to admit your defeat too pathetically. What a failure.' Lyrian thought as he stood next to the shrine again in his old position.
Kang stood up, his face utterly defeated and blank, as he went and sat down and one of the roots of the tree that protruded out. After a short moment of silence, Kang began to speak. Although he was annoyed with Lyrian, that punishment would have to wait.
"Im going to be your leader. Any other objec--" As he said this, Cedric suddenly interrupted.
"Yea! I'm still not agreeing you fuck!" He said, Han's hand suddenly touched his shoulder, prompting him to look back.
As he turned, Han got out of the way and revealed Lyrian at the back, "I'll give you a free spar later if you agree."
Cedric didn't pause even a second before replying, "You're dead." He said in all seriousness as Silas and Han chuckled.
"What the hell are you losers laughing at!?"
...
"This final quest is a team quest!" Zoldith said, immediately catching the attention of everyone, "It's simple, we will all form smaller teams and fight the final creature right here!" He yelled as many gasps of amazement resounded in the crowd, them looking around the cavern once again.
"What about the shrine?" Lyrian proposed a question.
Seeing this, Zoldith paused, noticing it was Lyrian, "I don't know. I don't know what will be inside the altar and what role it will play. But, I do know that it is how we start this challenge. Also," He returned his attention to the entire crowd, "This creature... since it's the final, boss creature, at least according to my sources, it will be the golden-tiered one! I won't say any more than that!"
As he finished, many rejoiced upon hearing this. Their wishes were finally confirmed in the real world.
"Yes! It's finally time!" One exclaimed in joy.
"I will get that damned core no matter what it takes!"
"Hahaha! Let's go!"
After this, everyone was instructed by Zoldith to form groups and gather around the altar. Since everyone had come there already grouped up, it wasn't hard for everyone to quickly surround the shrine.
Finally, Zoldith ordered one representative of each group to put their hands on the shrine, and for the rest of the group to touch that person and that person only.
As the final hand rested on the silver altar, it suddenly began to glow white. It got increasingly brighter, before finally opening up through the slit in the middle.
It was unlatched like a machine contraption, as smoke came from the inside of it. As the smoke cleared, it revealed eight gemstones of various colors within.
There was a blue gem, purple gem, red gem, green gem, pink gem, yellow gem, and orange gem. All of them were brilliant in their glow, far more deep and rich in color in contrast to the stones around the cavern.
"There are eight groups and eight gems, so Im guessing everyone has to choose one," Zoldith announced for those who didn't understand.
Those who did, however, already picked up the gem of their choice. Lyrian picked up the gem closest to him, not knowing the difference between them as of yet: The purple gem.
As the last person picked up their yellow gem, the gems became even more luminescent, before suddenly bursting into a thousand pieces as their colorful aura spread across the group that chose them.
Lyrian's team was surrounded by a thin purple aura, as an odd feeling of drowsiness suddenly assaulted them. It wasn't a lot, but they felt slower in their movements out of nowhere.
Other teams who felt this exclaimed in their dismay, "What the heck!?"
"Were we poisoned by the gems!?" Looking around, it seemed everyone got the effect.
[Warning]
[You have been hit with a debuff]
[Agility affected:↓10]
[Resistance to fire: ↓10]
[Resistance to water: ↓10]
[Resistance to earth: ↓10]
[Resistance to wind: ↓10]
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