Chapter 718 - The Second Trial
With Leon's divine sense, it did not take long to reach the pile of demon corpses. To be exact, there were 32 corpses.
Even though the Hellbiters' venom continued to contaminate the demon blood within the demon corpses, Leon only needed a few drops of uncorrupted blood from each of their bodies.
As such, he cannot help but feel excited the moment he laid his eyes on the pile of corpses despite being aware of the number.
'With this many demon corpses, even if they were all Lesser Demons, I'll be guaranteed to advance the Everlasting Blood Mantra to the next level!' Leon thought.
However, a split second later, he realized there was something wrong with his judgment.
'No! There's no guarantee that all their Origin Blood will be unique from one another!' Leon frowned in thought.
There was a chance that demons belonging to the same clan and sub-race possessed the same set of Origin Blood in their bodies.
'Better not get my hopes up. I can only find out once I begin refinement. For now, I shouldn't delay our main objective.'
Shortly after, Leon waved his hand and pocketed all 32 demon corpses into an interspatial storage ring rather than his Worldspace.
The Worldspace was an actual world, unlike interspatial storage artifacts. Although its size was great, it could not preserve the state of the demon corpses from the venom's corruption.
"Let us head to the next trial ground right away. Considering this group of demons were wiped out, it is safe to assume that it is dangerous to linger around here," Leon stated.
He had long killed the lights, plunging the surrounding into their original darkness and forcing everyone to rely on other senses besides their sense of sight.
Everyone understood that any spark of illumination in the darkness was a beacon of attraction, something they solemnly did not want in a den of Hellbiters.
"Stick close and follow Young Master Leonhardt's lead. I doubt any of you want to be left behind in this maze," Chief Baskara directed his tribesmen.
"Yes, Chief!"
"Quiet!" the One-Eyed Venerable Shaman immediately barked at the Crimsonfog Tribesmen before questioning them in a low tone, "Do you want to wake up the Mother Hellbiter or something?"
"Err… Your voice was even louder than ours, Venerable Shaman…"
"What did you say?"
The One-Eyed Venerable Shaman narrowed his eyes before the Battle Masters were intimidated into keeping their silence on the matter.
"N-Nothing…"
"Hmph, I thought as much."
As Leon led the way, Chief Baskara caught up to him before he asked in a low volume, "Do you have a use for all those Demon Cores, Young Master Leonhardt?"
"There are some uses, but my primary objective was their demon blood. The Demon Cores are of lesser importance to me," Leon glanced at Chief Baskara and asked, "Why? Do you want them?"
Despite what Leon said, the Demon Cores were the most valuable part of a demon. As such, Chief Baskara found it difficult to ask for them.
"Ahem," Chief Baskara cleared his throat and requested politely, "If it's not too much to ask, I hope Young Master Leonhardt can gift the Demon Cores to us."
"No need to be so reserved, Chief Baskara. Seeing as we are a group, it is only fair to share the spoils. Besides, I truly only seek the demon blood and nothing else. Chief Baskara can have the entire demon corpses after I am done with them if you want," Leon casually stated.
Chief Baskara and the other Battle Masters were quickly surprised by his words. Nevertheless, Chief Baskara quickly recovered before cupping his hands to Leon.
"Young Master Leonhardt is truly generous. Since Young Master Leonhardt has said so, this Chief will graciously accept them after Young Master Leonhardt is done with them. These Demon Cores have far too many uses to our tribes," Chief Baskara stated.
Leon smiled lightly without a comment.
Not long after, they arrived in front of the stone gate that leads to the tomb's second trial ground before Leon halted his steps.
The group subsequently stopped after him.
"The first trial ground went rather smooth, but this could have been part of the Demon King's design to get us to drop our guards on the subsequent trials," Chief Baskara mentioned before warning the group, "So stay cautious, everyone."
"Exactly," the One-Eyed Venerable Shaman nodded and said, "Even if we have a group of demons trailblazing the trials ahead for us, it won't make the trials any less dangerous."
Considering that the first trial has an Arch Demon-level guardian, the chances of the second trial having an Arch Demon-level guardian or higher was quite high.
"Well, we're already here. I don't think anyone among us intends to leave before snatching the Demon King's inheritance from the demons. As such, the only choice is forward."
With that said, Leon pushed open the large stone gate with brute strength before taking a peek inside with Divine Sense and Spirit Eyes.
"A word of warning would have been nice before you open the stone gate and surprise us like that, Young Master Leonhardt."
Chief Baskara smiled wryly.
No one was prepared to face the second trial immediately. As such, the group was startled by Leon's proactiveness.
"I thought people like surprises?" Leon replied with a smile while observing the environment of the second trial ground beyond the stone gates.
"Depends on the subject of the surprise, Young Master Leonhardt." Chief Baskara smiled wryly and said, "There's a difference between pleasant surprises and terrible surprises."
"Well, never mind." Leon shrugged before saying, "Everyone should be prepared for quite a workout in the second trial."
"What do you mean by those words, Young Master Leonhardt…?"
"The literal meaning, of course." Leon continued to observe the second trial ground ahead as he said, "We won't be able to avoid combat like the first trial, and the leading demon group didn't make it easier for us either. Or rather, they cannot."
"From what I am seeing, the second trial appears to be a test of endurance—or so it seems," Leon added.
Beyond the stone gates, he could see the demons scattered while fighting hordes of strange plant-type creatures in a large open space
After clearing a wave, a new wave of these strange plant-type creatures would spawn with twice the previous number.
There did not seem to be an end to the waves of plants attacking the demons.
'A test of endurance, huh? Probably not that simple…'