Chapter 42: The Situation on All Sides

Just like that, Lin Qi and the others walked for nearly an hour, and the sounds of fighting behind them had already died down.

Lin Qi looked around and listened carefully for a while. Then, he stopped and finally relaxed. “Let’s rest here tonight!”

The other three sat down in exhaustion. Then, they asked, “Is it safe here?”

Lin Qi nodded. “We should be at the top now. If we go any higher, I’m afraid it will be extremely cold.

“The temperature here is reasonable. There shouldn’t be any demonic beasts around. It’s best for us to rest and replenish our strength. Tomorrow morning, we’ll trek a little down the mountain to look for the ore giant!”

They set up a bonfire and surrounded it to keep warm. Lin Qi took out all kinds of delicious food to replenish their energy.

“I wonder how the other teams are doing?” Lewis asked curiously.

Yu Meng narrowed her eyes and gently rubbed her arms. “From what we saw today, the participants from Seven Day City had encountered a fledgling dragon. Although it’s quite difficult to deal with, based on their team’s strength, I don’t think they will be in too much trouble.

“Storm City already showed us that they have already obtained their magic essence. But now that they are in danger, even if they managed to escape, they will probably be injured.

“As for Exquisite City, if they didn’t encounter any accidents, they should have gotten their magic essence by now.”

Jin Lingling said with disappointment, “Then… In other words, we are the only ones who haven’t gotten our magic essence?”

At that point, the expressions on the three of them slightly darkened. Lin Qi, on the other hand, calmly ate his sweet potato and said, “Calm down. Getting our magic essence is only the first step. Whether or not we can successfully leave this mountain range is the most important thing!

“I have already said it. The deeper we go down the Terrifying Mountains, the greater the danger. The reason why we can go up the mountain so easily is that the other teams helped attract the demonic beasts toward them instead with their firepower. That is why we were able to successfully reach here. However, now that we have to go down the mountain, I’m afraid the other teams are already aware of this tactic!”

Yu Meng suddenly understood and said, “In other words, they are all watching and waiting!”

“That’s right!”

Lin Qi smiled and said, “Although they have their magic essence now, their members should be injured to different degrees, so their combat power will be greatly reduced. It will also be quite dangerous for them once they head down the mountain.”

Yu Meng seemed to understand. “No wonder the city lord gave us seven days. We only needed three days to complete the challenge but it turns out that the city lord even took this into account as well!”

“Getting that magic essence is only the first step. The real test is who can withstand what happens next!”

“Indeed, whoever goes down the mountain first will become the focus of the demonic beasts. Then, the other three teams will take the opportunity to go down the mountain while the demonic beasts are occupied!”

The trial was not only about strength, but also the ability to analyze and adapt.

Although Lin Qi’s strength was indeed not as good as many of the other participants, his analysis was very meticulous. Therefore, he had become the core of the entire team.

“It’s only the second day. The other teams are all injured to varying degrees. We need to recuperate on the third and fourth days. The real test is on the fifth and sixth days!”

Lin Qi was not afraid because he had a lot of stored food in his system, so he did not need to worry about that. As long as he could get the magic essence in the next few days, the other teams would not be able to wait any longer and will head down the mountain, that was the best time to descend.

“Tomorrow morning, we will go down the mountain to look for the ore giant. After we defeat it, we will get our magic essence. Then, our goal will be achieved!”

With Lin Qi’s words, Yu Meng and Lewis gradually became more confident.

The team from Storm City had just experienced a huge blow to their team. Even Chen Lin was injured, and his teammates were also wounded.

As for the Exquisite City team, although they had successfully obtained the magic essence, they were attacked by the nocturnal demonic beasts.

Luther’s injuries were the most serious, and their overall situation was the same as the Storm City team.

As for Seven Day City, that was a team that even the city lord acknowledged. After defeating the fledgling dragon with great difficulty, they encountered the nocturnal demonic beasts, and their lives were hanging by a thread.

Right now, they were recuperating in a cave. The one with the heaviest injuries was Ming Long. His entire body was covered in scars, and he seemed to show signs of being poisoned. If they did not go back for treatment immediately, they might not make it!

It was not hard to see now that even though those three teams had obtained their magic essence, they were all seriously injured. On the contrary, Lin Qi and the others have yet to get their magic essence but the three of them were in excellent condition.

The night passed quietly. As the dawn gradually arrived, the nocturnal demonic beasts slowly returned to the darkness they came from.

Lin Qi got up and prepared breakfast for everyone. He wanted to use the system’s cooking function to try and make some dishes that he invented himself.

However, although it tasted good, it did not have any special effect. It was only used to fill their stomachs. It seemed that only food cooked according to the system’s recipe would have special buffs.

After breakfast, Lin Qi and the others prepared to look for the ore giant. They took advantage of the time when fledgling dragons have not woken up yet to get their magic essence.

On the way, they found another path down the mountain. That path was full of trees and was not a rocky area, so the possibility of encountering the ore giant was very slim. However, after passing through the forest, there was rocky terrain. There would definitely be ore giants there.

Lewis was the vanguard, Yu Meng was responsible for the rear, while Jin Lingling and Lin Qi were responsible for the supplies.

They began to charge through the forest. After walking for about 15 minutes, they had not seen even a single low-star demonic beast, and they even discovered quite a number of relics!

In an area in the middle of the forest, they stumbled upon a large amount of broken armor and broken longswords. It was obvious that a great battle had occurred there.

As they continued walking, they discovered that there were many strange seals engraved on the rocks and trees.

“These should be the seals left behind by the Varin tribe!”

Yu Meng suddenly said, “I once heard from my father that the Terrifying Mountains was once the Varin tribe’s territory. Those people were bloodthirsty folk. At that time, because the nocturnal demonic beasts had yet to appear, they had already occupied the entire mountain range. Any trial participants who came here would be captured by them and killed in an extremely cruel manner.

“The Varins are a combination of humans and demonic beasts. They are extremely terrifying and extremely powerful. At that time, the king sent three groups of Holy Knights to conquer this mountain range.

“However, almost all three groups of Holy Knights were wiped out. And the Varin tribe suffered countless casualties. Later on, the king sent a final group of Holy Knights to wipe out the Varins. Up until now, the Terrifying Mountains have become a part of our country’s territories. It’s also specially provided for us trial participants to use!”

Everyone was left stunned.