Free Web NovelMatt opened his eyes and the first thing he felt was heat.
It was a dry, heavy heat, as if the entire air had been left inside an oven for a very long time.
Matt coughed once and brought a hand to his throat.
"Great…" he muttered.
Matt looked up and went still.
He was in an enormous hall.
The walls were white marble, polished and gleaming, crossed by black veins that climbed like frozen roots.
The floor was marble too, but it had red lines carved into it that glowed softly beneath his feet.
Matt looked upward.
He couldn't see the ceiling.
Only darkness.
An absurd height.
Too high for an enclosed room.
Matt swallowed.
'No going back now… I just have to hold out until I reach a rest room…'
Matt looked back down and then saw something on the other side of the hall.
A pile of weapons with no order to them.
Just thrown there.
Swords, spears, axes, coiled whips, daggers, shields, and bows.
Matt walked toward them carefully, each step echoing through the empty hall.
When he reached the pile, he crouched down and picked up a sword.
The blade was chipped.
The grip felt uncomfortable.
The balance was awful.
Matt looked at it for a few seconds.
Then tossed it back.
Clank!
At first glance, they all looked like junk.
And they were.
That was the point.
The Forge Cave didn't hand out a perfect weapon at the start. It forced the challenger to take a terrible tool and carry it through to the end while it improved along the way.
A vampire could strengthen the weapon with their blood, use the cave's concentrated mana to increase its efficiency, and depending on the weapon chosen, that would be the foundation of the ego weapon that would awaken at the end.
If they survived.
That detail was important.
Matt looked at another sword.
Part of him wanted to take it.
It was the most familiar thing.
The most similar to Eleonora.
His hand hovered over the grip for a few seconds.
Then he pulled it away.
"No."
He was tired and hungry and his body wasn't in the best shape.
Fighting up close right now was just stupidity.
Matt looked elsewhere.
His eyes landed on a slightly golden bow. Simple and unadorned. The wood was a little cracked and the string looked old, but it was still intact.
Matt frowned.
A bow.
Selene's weapon of choice.
Just thinking that made him want to leave it there.
Selene would probably smile if she saw him with it.
She'd say something irritating like "good choice."
Or worse.
She'd give him pointers.
Matt felt a shudder.
Even so, he reached out and took the bow.
It was light.
Too light.
Matt lifted it and tested it carefully.
The string held.
It didn't snap.
That was already more than he expected.
Matt raised the bow, drew the string, and concentrated mana.
The air around him responded immediately.
The mana gathered between his fingers.
First as a faint line.
Then as a translucent arrow, dark in color.
Matt held it for a few seconds.
The tip vibrated — unstable, but functional.
"Good."
Matt released the string.
Fwip!
The arrow shot out and struck a distant wall.
Crack!
A small mark appeared in the marble.
Matt lowered the bow.
Not bad.
But the mental effort was heavier than expected.
Creating mana arrows was useful.
Very useful.
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He didn't need to carry ammunition.
He could adjust the power.
He could shoot fast.
But each arrow demanded focus.
And in a long trial, that was a problem.
He could also use blood.
His own blood.
Turn it into a projectile, mix it with mana, and fire something far more destructive.
But that was a last resort.
Attacking that way from the start was basically asking to be flat on the floor after five minutes.
Matt looked at the bow in silence and drew the string again.
A mana arrow appeared.
Then another.
He tried forming two at the same time and the lines trembled.
One dissolved.
Matt clicked his tongue.
Again.
Mana.
String.
Form.
Breathe.
Release.
Fwip!
Fwip!
The arrows flew toward the wall.
One hit where he wanted.
The other veered off.
Matt frowned.
'Fine. I'm not Selene.'
That was a moral advantage.
He practiced for several minutes.
Draw.
Form.
Aim.
Release.
Sometimes one arrow.
Sometimes two.
He tried three and nearly had the bow come apart in his hand from channeling the flow wrong.
Matt lowered the weapon and breathed slowly.
His mind began to drift.
Archery ranges.
The outside world.
One odd afternoon when, for some reason, he had decided to go practice archery after leaving the castle.
Not to look impressive.
No.
That would have been embarrassing.
He just liked it.
The feeling of aiming.
The silence before releasing.
That small moment where everything came down to distance, breathing, and line of sight.
He liked shooting a bow.
That bothered him too, because it meant Selene had good taste in something.
Unforgivable.
Matt turned toward the door at the far end of the hall.
It was tall and black, with red runes glowing along its edges.
The path into the trial.
Matt breathed once.
Then again.
His stomach growled.
Grrrrr!
Matt looked down.
"Not now."
His stomach, predictably, did not respond.
Matt raised the bow and walked toward the door.
As he approached, the runes glowed.
Hmmm!
The door opened slowly.
No message.
No warning.
Just darkness on the other side.
Matt sighed and stepped through.
The door closed behind him.
Grrk!
Matt found himself in a new hall, smaller than the last, but still enormous.
The floor was grey stone and the walls were covered in black markings. The air smelled of hot metal.
Then he heard a flapping sound.
Then another.
Matt looked up.
Flying demons. Small, the size of a child, with dark skin, membranous wings, yellow eyes, and mouths full of crooked teeth.
One.
Three.
Seven.
Eleven.
Matt gripped the bow's string.
"What a welcome."
The demons shrieked.
Kiiiii!
Their mouths began to fill with dark energy.
Matt didn't wait. He drew the string.
A mana arrow appeared.
Then another.
Then another.
Three.
His head ached slightly, but he held the form.
He released.
Fwip! Fwip! Fwip!
Two demons were pierced through the chest.
Pshk!
Their bodies dissolved into black smoke before hitting the ground.
The third arrow missed by a hair.
"Annoying."
The surviving demon fired an energy ball.
Whoosh!
Matt moved to one side.
The ball passed by his shoulder and exploded against the wall.
Boom!
Small stones scattered across the floor.
The rest of the demons attacked at the same time.
Dark balls rained down toward him from multiple angles.
Matt ran.
Bam!
An explosion hit the ground where he'd been a split second before.
Another passed over his head.
Another burst to his left.
Matt spun, raised the bow, and fired.
Fwip!
A demon fell.
He ran again.
Drew the string. freēwēbηovel.c૦m
Two arrows.
Released.
Fwip! Fwip!
One struck a demon in the neck.
The other tore through a wing.
The monster tumbled spinning through the air.
Thud!
Matt didn't stop. He leaped back, dodging another energy ball, and fired upward.
Fwip!
Another demon burst into smoke.
His body was responding well.
Not perfectly.
But well.
The bow was uncomfortable.
The mana arrows demanded concentration.
Still, compared to fighting hand-to-hand while something tried to rip his head off, this was almost comfortable.
Almost.
A demon dove straight at him.
Matt waited.
One second.
Half.
Released.
Fwip!
The arrow entered through the demon's mouth and came out the back of its skull.
Pshk!
The body dissolved in black smoke right in front of him.
Matt grimaced.
"That was disgusting."
Three demons left. They tried to surround him.
Matt backed toward a broken column in the center of the hall.
One fired.
Matt took cover behind the column.
Boom!
The stone cracked.
Matt came around the other side, two arrows already formed.
Fwip! Fwip!
Two down.
The last demon tried to climb higher.
Matt tracked it with his eyes.
He drew the string and breathed out as he released.
Fwip!
The arrow punched through the center of the monster's chest.
The demon let out one final shriek before dissolving into smoke.
The hall fell silent.
Matt lowered the bow. His breathing was a little faster, but he wasn't hurt.
Not a scratch.
Matt looked around.
Eleven demons.
All dead.
Then two doors opened at the far end.
Grrk!
One on the left.
One on the right.
Both identical, the same size.
Matt looked at them.
Then clicked his tongue, walked to the left one, and went through.
The door closed behind him.
Grrk!
The new hall was wider.
Lower.
With thick pillars on the sides and a floor covered in cracks.
Matt heard the flapping before he saw them.
More flying demons.
But then he felt something else.
A vibration.
Thud!
Matt turned his head.
A stone golem stepped out of the shadows.
Then another.
And another.
They were enormous, made of dark rock, with thick arms, heavy torsos, and a red light glowing in the center of each chest.
Matt felt his expression go blank.
One of the golems took another step.
Thud!
The floor trembled.
Matt gripped the bow.
The golems were slow.
Very slow.
But resilient.
Brutally resilient.
And in an enclosed hall, with flying demons firing from above, that combination was a serious problem.
The demons shrieked.
Kiiiii!
Energy began building in their mouths.
Matt moved first.
He ran to one side while forming two mana arrows.
Fwip! Fwip!
One demon fell.
The other dodged.
Matt leaped back as a dark ball exploded in front of him.
Boom!
A golem raised its arm and slammed the floor.
BAM!
The shockwave shook the hall.
Matt lost his footing for a moment but managed to stay upright.
"Tch."
Demons first.
Always take out the fast enemies first.
Matt ran between the pillars.
Fired.
Dodged.
Fired again.
Fwip!
One demon down.
Fwip! Fwip!
Two more.
An energy ball grazed his face.
Matt felt the heat on his cheek.
"Don't touch me."
He fired almost on reflex.
Pshk!
The demon that had attacked dropped, shot through.
The golems kept advancing slowly.
One swung a massive fist at him.
Matt slid to one side.
BAM!
The blow cracked the floor open and stone fragments flew in every direction.
Matt used the momentum to spin, aim upward, and fire three arrows in quick succession.
Fwip! Fwip! Fwip!
All three connected this time.
The last demons dissolved into smoke.
A heavy silence settled over the hall.
Only the golems remained.
Matt breathed slowly.
"Alright."
One of the golems turned toward him.
Another raised both arms.
The third advanced from the side.
Matt drew the string and fired a mana arrow at the first one's chest.
Fwip!
The arrow hit right on the red light.
Clank!
It shattered.
Matt stared.
The damage was minimal.
Very minimal.
The golem didn't even flinch.
Matt formed another arrow, this time concentrating more mana.
The air around the string vibrated.
The arrow grew denser, brighter, heavier. freēwēbηovel.c૦m
Matt felt a stab of pain in his temple.
He released.
FWOOSH!
The arrow struck the golem's chest with far greater force.
CRACK!
The rock fractured.
A little.
It didn't go through.
Matt looked at the crack.
Then at the golem.
Then at the crack again.
"You've got to be kidding me."
If he needed this many charged shots to kill just one, he'd be completely drained before the third room.
Matt breathed slowly.
"I didn't want to do this so soon…"
Matt raised a hand to his own mouth and bit the tip of his finger.
Pshk!
Blood welled up.
Matt let it float over the string as he formed another mana arrow.
The drop stretched and merged with it. The translucent arrow began to turn red.
Matt felt something in his chest respond.
The royal blood.
The damned royal blood.
Matt drew the string and aimed at the golem's chest.
Released.
FWOOSH!
The red arrow shot out with a completely different force, cutting through the air like a line of blood.
FWOOSH!!
It hit the golem and tore a large hole through its chest.
The red light at the center flickered.
The golem took one step back.
Thud!
But it didn't fall.
Matt's eyes went wide.
"Seriously?"
The golem kept moving.
Slower.
Damaged.
But alive.
Matt gritted his teeth.
He hadn't expected to kill it with one arrow.
Well.
He had.
A little.
That made him more annoyed.
"I need to use more blood…"
The idea was awful.
Very awful.
Not because he couldn't regenerate it.
He could.
But using blood in that cave, at that difficulty level, without having eaten and with his body in that condition, was like paying with a credit card that was already maxed out.
A vibration came from his left.
Matt turned his head.
One of the other golems was closer than he'd thought.
Much closer.
The enormous arm came swinging down toward him.
"Tch!"
Matt leaped back.
BAM!
The fist hit the ground centimeters from his feet.
The shockwave shoved him backward and nearly knocked him over.
Matt rolled, caught himself with one hand, and got back up immediately.
His breathing quickened.
The damaged golem was closing in from the front.
The other two were closing off the sides.
Matt raised the bow again.
Another drop of blood came from his finger.
Then another.
The arrow began to form.
Matt smiled without any humor.
"This is going to take a while."
