Standing in front of William was a statue that was dyed a deep and pure red. The creature contained within was humanoid in nature, with curved black horns and a ferocious look that reminded William of the Guardian Statues outside the Array Hall in Blue Moon City.
The only difference between the Guardian Statues and the red statue before him was the color and Cultivation. The humanoid red statue in front of William emitted a much fiercer aura than the others, meaning it was probably of higher Cultivation.
That doesn't make sense though. If I remember correctly, Array Master Fowley said the Guardian Statues were all quite powerful. From what I know, the Guardian Statues probably had combat power at the Golden Core or even the Nascent Soul Realm...
William thought of something. What if the statue before him was above the Nascent Soul Realm? Was it possibly...at the Soul Formation Realm?
There's no way the trial expects me to beat something at that level! System, what is that thing?
-Request requires 2 Potential Points. Yes/No?
-The stone statue is suppressing a Lesser Demon at the Golden Core Realm. Demons are known to have incredible regenerative abilities, very high attack power, and immunity to many Elements. They usually fight at close-range and have slightly above average defense for creatures in the same realm.
Some variations are weak to the Light, Chaos, Blood, or Life Elements, while this specific statue appears to have a weakness to the Light Element.
A Lesser Demon? William was reassured by the fact that the enemy was in the Golden Core Realm, but he knew the 150th floor couldn't be that easy. He evaluated all the information the System provided, organizing it in a way that he could better understand while asking a few clarifying questions.
So, the Lesser Demon has regeneration comparable to mine, attack at the peak of the Nascent Soul Realm, and is completely immune to almost every Element I regularly use. The only thing I can take advantage of is its defense, which is only at the Peak of the Golden Core Realm...
A battle of attrition wouldn't do him any good, since the Demon was immune to the Poison Element, and even the poison-tipped arrows probably wouldn't have an effect. It would also recover quickly from every bit of physical damage taken by the Attack Reflection Talent.
Fighting the Demon in close-range was also a terrible idea, unless William could avoid every attack. His Forcefield couldn't withstand a Peak Nascent Soul attack, and his Protective Amulet wouldn't be recharged before the fight started. He would be forced to endure with his Hard Skin, while risking his lifespan to regenerate any damage he took.
For now, I will make do with some Arrays.
The biggest advantage William had right now was the 6-hour preparation time. With immense knowledge of Arrays, William had a plan to dispose of the Lesser Demon, but it was a bit risky.
William backed against the edge of the trial floor, then took a few steps forward. He then spent the first hour erecting over a hundred improved Perfect Barrier Arrays around himself, ninety of the Barrier Arrays facing the Lesser Demon while around a dozen guarded his back.
The easy part was done. William temporarily disabled the Arrays so he could move around the rest of the floor unimpeded, then began creating a series of Runes and placed them on the floor. While William couldn't create an Array Formation as powerful and complicated as the final stage of the Array Trial, William could do the next best thing.
He walked in a circle around the Lesser Demon, placing Perfect Confinement Arrays in the floor at a distance of approximately two meters away. These should hold the Lesser Demon in place long enough for William to evaluate its abilities. He specifically chose not to use improved Perfect Runes for this.
While this was a trial, it also served as a training ground. How could he not take advantage of the opportunity to fight with a Lesser Demon? If he didn't learn from this fight, he wouldn't know where to cry if he fought an even stronger Demon in the future.
This was his knowledge of Cultivation worlds talking, of course. William suspected that Demons were a major force in this world, a hidden group just waiting to tear humanity apart.
The System found William's words hilarious, but it didn't comment to support or refute his claim.
William finished adding the Confinement Arrays and moved on to the next step. He moved an additional two meters away from the Lesser Demon and this time used improved Perfect Confinement Arrays. This would serve as a fallback in case the Lesser Demon broke out of the first set and wouldn't activate until the initial group of Arrays were destroyed.
This process left William with two and a half hours until the Lesser Demon was unsealed. He stepped another two meters away and began inscribing an incredibly complex Array of the Fire Element into the ground.
He moved a few steps in a circle, stopping at a certain distance to form another Array, this time of the Earth Element. An Array of the Wind Element was created the same distance away, followed by Arrays of the Light and Darkness Elements. ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ NoveI★Fire.net
He was a bit hesitant to reveal his Light and Darkness Elements, but after spending 7 Potential Points to ask the System, he found that it wouldn't be an incredible risk compared to revealing his Life Domain.
A few finishing touches and an hour later, William had finished and was inspecting his work. Only the System, who had accompanied William this entire time, recognized this Array, albeit quite a bit stronger than before.
The functions were exactly the same as the Five Elements Explosion Array, which was a Forbidden Array that would place William in a great deal of trouble if used in the outside world. William had improved the Array further, however, and turned it into an Array Formation while using improved Perfect Runes.
He didn't know how strong the explosion would be, but considering the old version using only a single Array would destroy a thirty-kilometer radius, William wasn't willing to find out firsthand.
This was why he had created so many Barrier Arrays, since he didn't want to kill himself with his own attack. The main reason he chose this was because of the introduction of the Light Element, which means the Lesser Demon shouldn't be immune to the entire explosion.
William spent another hour creating a duplicate of the same Array, then stored it in his Array Wheel for future use, replacing it with the old version that he had created before when filling the Wheel with Arrays. If all else failed and the Lesser Demon survived the first attack, he would blast it with another!
There was less than half an hour remaining before the Lesser Demon was unsealed, so William drank the last of his Mana Regeneration potions to fully recover. He issued orders to Atticus, asking it to hide in another dimension with the Illusion Element should anything go wrong.
He fully recovered and hid behind his now active Barrier Arrays just in time for cracks to appear on the Lesser Demon's statue.