William moved quickly. He created an improved Perfect Array of Speed in less than a minute to boost his movement to the maximum, then amplified it further with the Wind and Lightning Elements, rushing towards the entrance of the trial tower at a speed that was much too fast for any of the Cultivators outside to react.
While running, William dodged left and right, seemingly for no reason, but he was using both his Navigation Talent and what he knew from the Tower Token to avoid every trap inside the first floor.
The Cultivators outside noticed this and became nervous, "How does he know where all of our traps are?"
"There must be a traitor among us!" someone shouted.
The bald-headed man with a battleaxe spoke up, "It's no matter whether there is or not. Just beat him until he can no longer move!"
The man raised his axe, which another Cultivator had amplified with a few dozen Intermediate Arrays over the last few days, then made a swiping motion, releasing a dozen Wind Blades that would even cause heavy damage to a Golden Core Beast.
A hundred other Cultivators formed a line with the bald-headed man and launched as many powerful Magic Spells as they could to back him up, knowing that the Wind Blades wouldn't be enough to stop William, who hadn't even brought out his Array Puppets for some reason.
Hundreds of Spells were unleashed, but none of the attacks were simple. Ice spread across the ground to hinder William's movement, while tiny fireballs less than an inch in size shot like a wave of bullets towards William at high speed, their piercing power threatening to tear his Forcefield apart if too many of them hit.
William did a somersault, dodging all of the tiny fireballs, not willing to damage his Forcefield so early on in the fight. He ran at full speed the moment the fireballs passed over his head, using a flamethrower spell to melt the ice in front of him at the same speed he ran.
The Cultivators weren't done yet. They had practiced dealing with William for many days now, and many of those who weren't present when William beat up the bald-headed man with his Array Puppets thought that it was complete overkill.
They couldn't see William clearly because of the flamethrower spell, but it was enough to tell the general direction. A dozen Cultivators with the Earth Element raised two thick walls of earth directly in front of William, hoping for him to crash while his vision was obscured.
On the two sides of the Earth Wall, pits that had been dug out in advance were opened, revealing thousands of punji sticks in a hundred-meter-deep hole. ᴛhis chapter is ᴜpdated by Nov3lFɪre.ɴet
Unfortunately for the Cultivators, William saw all of this on his Navigation Radar. He didn't cancel the flamethrower spell, but made a sharp turn to the left, followed by one to the right and a powerful leap that sent him over the pit and within ten meters of the Cultivators.
They watched with horror as William narrowly avoided every follow-up trap that was set, including the vats of corrosive liquid that flowed down from the ceiling. When William saw the corrosive liquid, all it took was a long spray of water that redirected the corrosive liquid into the faces of a few unlucky Cultivators.
They screamed as the corrosive liquid burned their skin, melting through the flesh and bones like it was nothing. William couldn't afford to keep all of the enemies alive for his Mana Gathering Staff, so he preferred to thin the numbers and take the Mana of the ones that survived.
William was now positioned just outside the trial tower, so it was time for him to go all out. The entryway of the trial tower was forcing the enemy Cultivators to only send a group of one hundred to block him off, but that was no longer an issue for them.
His figure flashed back and forth among the crowd, bashing Cultivators' skulls with the Mana Gathering Staff to knock them out while releasing every stored Array but one from his Mythical Array Wheel.
Multiple incredible Arrays were erected around William, consisting of his two most powerful Absorbtion Arrays and two attacking Arrays with the Lightning and Water Elements to complement it.
The Water Array was specifically designed to release high pressure water that would pierce through any Cultivator that came within ten meters of William, which would also make the floor wet for the Lightning attacks to spread once William spread salt in the water.
Thousands of Cultivators surrounded William from three sides. Behind him was the trial tower and the flowing corrosive fluid, which had now covered the entire entrance. William released ten of his Array Puppets at this moment but left nine of them empty handed while only giving the Starmetal Bow to the tenth.
There was no need for his Array Puppets to wield weapons in this situation, given that his opponents were Cultivators at the Core Formation Realm with no incredible defense or regenerative abilities. The Array Puppets were more than strong enough to tear apart the Cultivator's arms and legs with their bare hands, and William didn't want to risk losing his best weapons like he did the Epic Glaive.
William stored the Array Wheel, replacing it with the Sword of Shifting Sands to further improve his handling of the Earth Element. He raised dozens of Earth Walls while his Arrays defended from thousands of fire spells, their defense weakening quickly despite the fact that most of the Spells only held weak Golden Core power.
William was reminded that these individuals in the Gravitas Ruins were meant to be the best of the best in their Sects, having earned a precious ticket to the Ruins while their leaders had confidence that they would acquire some treasures. Even though they were in the Core Formation Realm, they were much too strong to be considered as such.
His Earth Walls were torn down almost as quickly as they were created, so William controlled the Starmetal Bow Puppet to target the most dangerous Cultivators of the batch. Its high-speed arrows were enough to force many of the stronger Cultivators to stop attacking and defend themselves, slightly easing the pressure on William's Arrays.
The Arrays became stronger over time, given their absorption effect that used the Mana of the Spells to improve its strength. An issue that William had just noticed, however, was that the Absorption Arrays could only absorb so much Mana at once, while the rest would actually damage the barrier.
William did his best to keep the Arrays up, as that was his strongest defense against these Cultivators. He tried to keep the Mana consumption to a minimum, only using small and precise attacks to disable one Cultivator at a time.
He didn't have any Mana Regeneration potions left, so William ate a Mana Dragon's Blood Essence to restore a sizable chunk of his Mana Reserves and increase his Mana Regeneration by another 75. His Mana Reserves also reached two thousand Mana.
There was one Blood Essence remaining in his Space Rings, meaning he hadn't received any from the golden box that he had opened earlier.
William wasn't worried about it not being enough. He just needed to reduce the number of Cultivators to a manageable level before his Arrays were exhausted.
Hundreds of Cultivators died over the next few minutes, his Lightning and Water Arrays being the source of most of their deaths. The other Cultivators realized this as well, but the range of the Arrays were longer than the range of their attacks, so moving further away wouldn't help at all.
They focused on their defense, blocking the attacks of the Lightning and Water Arrays, as well as the Bow Puppet's arrows. It was a funny sight, seeing thousands of Cultivators on the defensive against a single opponent, but William didn't blame them.
The trial tower had proven that his strength matched the Nascent Soul Realm, and even exceeded it in some aspects. If they wanted any chance at receiving the treasures from William's body, they needed to treat William like a boss monster!
William consumed the last Blood Essence at the three-hour mark, when the number of enemy Cultivators had been reduced to half. His Mana Regeneration had increased by only 50 this time, and the maximum storage of his Mana Reserve improved by a hundred.
While William was sad about the diminishing effects, it was understandable. How can a natural treasure have the same increase every time? Wouldn't that make it a godly item if it did?
He spent a large amount of his replenished Mana on a massive Ice and Wind Fusion Spell that sent a blizzard rolling through the enemy Cultivators, freezing every enemy it touched.
William used the Bow Puppet to target the legs of the frozen Cultivators, shattering their lower bodies while the upper body remained untouched, their faces frozen in fear at the sudden development.