Otherworld Adventure 186 Markings

Up at the northern lane, the Little Kings had all straightforwardly rushed head on to meet with the five monsters.

Lucia was at the forefront and just before they made contact, Lucia flashed forwards and launched a large Ascending Blade at the monsters.

With that skill as the opening attack, the rest of Little Kings rushed forwards to attack their a.s.signed monsters. Each of them confronted one Dark Wood Elf while Fina was at the back giving support to every one of them.

Magic spells and combat skills flew at the monsters and they retaliated with their corrosive vines and dark elemental spells.

"Hurry! We have to kill them quickly!" Fina yelled.

With her incentive, Lucia and the other 5 increased the intensity of their a.s.saults. Fina and her familiars sent spells to support the 5 while she herself rushed over to Yuna's aid since the dragon girl wasn't a melee fighter.

Lucia was able to slice off the monster's head, but it still didn't die. She then began cutting apart the monsters entire body, but she still couldn't kill it. It only regenerated its injured parts and continued attacking her.

Just as she was about to yell something, Yuna quipped up before her.

"Guys, I think there's a core that powers these monsters! Activate Mana Sight and find it!"

Lucia had her Mana Sight already activated and the rest of Little Kings followed suit. Just like Yuna said, they were able to find a part of the monster's body that was constantly moving around that emitted a higher density of mana than the rest of the monsters' body.

"Found it!" Lucia flashed close to the Dark Wood Elf's body and stabbed her sword into it.

"KIISSSSHAAAAA!!!"

The monster began to shriek in pain and it soon began to rot away. Eli saw this and she quickly jumped back.

She released her Intent and lowered her body. "CRIMSON SKIES!"

Eli disappeared and reappeared right in front of her monster's body. She stabbed forwards and the lower body of the dark wood elf she was facing disintegrated into nothing with a flash of red.

Her rapier had stabbed into its core that was covered in a protective membrane. Her monster shrieked and also began to rot away.

The other members of Little Kings began to activate their strongest skills and destroyed the dark wood elves' core that they were facing. Ainz destroyed the entirety of the monster he was facing using his Elemental Blaze.

Fina and Yuna coordinated with each other. Yuna opened up a Misty Gate just behind her dark wood elf and Fina jumped through it and pierced her mana armament into the monster's core.

Velicia was more straightforward. She pulled up one of the trees in the surroundings and began pounding her monster into the ground. Eventually she was able to crush the core and kill the monster as well.

"Guys! Grab the cores! I think there's some kind of reward inside!" Lucia exclaimed when she took another look at the cores with her Mana Sight.

"Keep them in your spatial rings! We have to hurry and support the other lanes! Since we know how to kill them now; Lucia, Eli you take the eastern lane, Ainz and Velicia take the western lane while Yuna and I will go support the southern lane!" Fina yelled. She had Yuna open a Misty Gate to the southern lane and the two stepped in and teleported away.

Lucia opened up a Misty Gate into the center of the plaza and brought the rest over. When they reached the plaza, the 4 split into 2 groups as per Fina's arrangement and went to support the lanes a.s.signed to them.

******

Back up on the tree tops, inside of the 3rd extra trial's tree dome. Cecil had finally regained consciousness.

"Urgghh...what happened?"

He was slumped on the pedestal so when he woke up he stumbled down and fell on his back.

"Ow!"

Cecil shook his head, but the piercing headache wouldn't go away. He took a look at the wooden sword still in his hand and shook his head.

"Man, the s.h.i.+t I go through just to get this one sword...sheesh," Cecil groaned and complained.

After the headache went away, he stood up and dusted himself off. Cecil wasn't sure how long he was out, but that didn't matter.

Cecil stored the Perseverance into his white spatial ring and looked around the dome, but didn't see any sort of exit. He returned to the pedestal and tried to see if he could find something.

He began touching the pedestal all over. Then he tried pus.h.i.+ng it and to his surprise it actually gave way.

He continued pus.h.i.+ng until finally it fell off from the small wooden platform it was on. With the pedestal gone, Cecil finally found some sort of array on the small platform that was blocked by the pedestal.

He activated his Mana Eyes and saw that it was another teleportation formation.

"Just what's up with the World Tree and teleportation?"

Cecil shook his head and injected his mana into the formation. The formation began to glow and the teleportation soon activated.

Cecil's body lit up and he was teleported away.

In the empty tree dome, vines began to grow around the small platform and they coiled around the fallen pedestal and carried it back on top of the platform. Then the vines receded back down into the tree dome's floor and silence returned to the dome.

*****

Cecil was teleported back to the clearing where he first entered the trial. He stretched his body and yawned.

Once again the forest parted way and formed a new path forwards. Cecil walked onto the path and followed it towards the next trial.

He took out the map and noticed that this was the final extra trial.

"Let's get this over with..."

He arrived at the final extra trial's location, but...there was nothing there.

Cecil decided to wait until something showed up or when the administrator notified him of something.

He grew a bit bored while waiting. He decided to take out his two rewards, the World Tree's First and Third Thorns, Corruption and Perseverance.

"They really are identical," Cecil said as he observed the two swords.

The shape of each sword was the same. A plain wooden sword with a 5-inch wide blade that was roughly over a meter and a half or so in length, the two edges and tip looked a bit dull, but they were sharp enough to cleanly cut through a thick tree branch.

The golden runes were also the same and only the strange grooves on the swords were different. The color was also another difference. One was black while the other was a maroon red.

Cecil had both swords in each hand. They felt...oddly comfortable to wield. It was like they should naturally be in his hands and not anywhere else.

It was a peculiar feeling. Cecil began to move around the clearing in a sword dance. He was waving and slas.h.i.+ng with the two swords in hand using his family's sword arts.

"Man...These swords feel good..." Cecil grinned happily.

After he finished a round of his sword dance he stopped and kept the swords into his white ring. He then sat down cross legged and activated his Mana Sense.

"It's about time I see what happened to my body," Cecil said as he turned his sense into his body. Earlier, he felt like his mana was circulating according to his family's mana cultivation technique while he brandished the swords.

The circulation was involuntary. It was like the swords invoked the circulation when he began wielding them. To his surprise, Cecil actually felt that his mana's circulation was more robust and the speed of the circulation was much fast than before.

When he finally observed the condition of his body, he was surprised to find that all his mana pathways had evolved into Mana Circuits. He now had a complete set of Mana Circuits.

"Woah!"
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The pathways had all changed and the Mana Circuits were the reason why his mana circulation was much more efficient and robust. He also couldn't help but notice that his circuits had a slight tinge of black and red in them.

"...could this be the mana that flowed into my body through the swords?"

Cecil deduced that a similar thing must have happened when he first got a hold of the Corruption. He just didn't experience the pain that accompanied the process of obtaining the sword.

He didn't know why, but it might have something to do with his manexhausted state. It didn't matter since it only brought benefits to him. His long awaited Mana Circuits were here!

He wasn't even at the Mana Core stage, let alone the Perfected Stage, but he already had Mana Circuits! This was a blessing no matter how he saw it. Enduring that pain and completing the trials was all worth it now.

This was the first time Cecil experienced such a huge windfall that directly increased his strength.

"Is this the rumored 'opportunity' that I've read from those novels? Hehehe~ it feels good to actually experience it myself!"

While he was rejoicing, Cecil finally noticed a peculiarity on his body.

"Wh-what are these?!"

Cecil finally noticed the weird markings on his body. They were faint at first, but after he circulated his mana, the markings became much more prominent with every circulation. After he had finished a full cycle, the golden marks on his body had solidified.

Cecil quickly took off his top and observed the markings in horror.

"T-tattoos?! Mom's gonna kill me if she sees this!" Cecil exclaimed.

The golden markings on his body were reminiscent of tribal tattoos. They had a weird design that was somewhat familiar. Cecil widened his eyes and quickly pulled out the two World Tree's Thorns.

"They're the same!"

The golden runes on the two wooden swords were identical to the markings on his body, except his body's markings were like an enlarged version of the golden runes on the swords.

"..."

With both swords in hand, Cecil was observing his body in horror.

"CEL?!"

Cecil immediately heard a familiar voice sound out from behind him. He turned around and saw the familiar foxkin girl staring straight at him.

"Oh? Lulu? Sup!"

Cecil raised a hand and grinned at her. Lucia quickly flashed over and pulled him into a tight embrace.

"You're safe!"

"Hehe~ Of course! Who do you think I am?!"