"Huh? So that was you at the back?" Eldrin stirred awake next. Or maybe he was pretending to be recuperating. Only the elf knew what he was up to. "You damaged us quite a bit you know?"
Hearing the elf's accusation, Rey immediately became flustered and tried to explain. "No. No. No. It was not like that. I didn't mean to hide it or anything. I only did it to help you guys. Do you know what was happening in that damned battleground?"
"Bloodsuckers!" Rey shook his head. "I don't think it was possible for you to have seen, bro. There was some kind of barrier that blocked them. I was on the other side and hence I was able to see."
"Half that battlefield was filled with bloodsuckers. They all had the trademark red eyes and pale skin."
"Impossible." Eldrin rolled his eyes. "You must have been under some sort of illusion."
"Nope. I am very confident. I saw it only for an instant but I was fully surrounded by several pairs of red eyes. If I had been even a second late in using my movement skill I would have already been killed."
"Look here, chap. Everyone climbing the Spire gets randomly pitted against when it comes to slaughter trials such as this. It should be impossible for so many members of the same race to gather together in a single trial." "Otherwise, the Spire wouldn't be so challenging. It wouldn't be so famous in the myriad realms. Everyone from all corners of the myriad realms enter this place. Do you even understand how vast and endless the myriad realms are?"
Rey suddenly felt unsure. He knew what he saw but at the same time, now that the elf laid it all out, it also sounded extremely ridiculous. "What if a whole lot of them entered the Spire at the same time? Isn't it possible for many to be in a single trial at the same time?" He hesitantly tried to explain.
"Hmph! Do you even know how many of them would have to enter the Spire at the same time for something like that to happen?" Eldrin scoffed. "And the Spire is not some random marketplace. Elites, chap. Only the true Elites would even get a token to this place and each Elite can only bring a fixed number of beings inside."
"For that many vampires, especially young elites from the main families to enter the Spire at the same time, it would have to be a sector wide war preparation! Don't be ridiculous!"
"Alright, that's enough." Liam stopped the two from going further down this road. "We have all survived the trial and that's all that matters. Let's put this discussion aside. It doesn't matter whether that many vampires entered the Spire or not. It does not concern us."
"Uh? What about Dante?" Rey looked around, making sure that the guy was not in some shrub nearby, lying unconscious.
Liam shrugged. What happened to that guy wasn't probably a big mystery. He should have most likely been kicked out in the very beginning considering his weak soul. That was good because he would have never survived the last slaughter floor.
The group waited around for some time and the others recovered within a few minutes. After all, it was just aura and killing intent they were exposed to. There wasn't any lasting damage or loss of limb that needed to be fixed.
Meanwhile, Liam also explored the surrounding areas with his soul minions. There didn't seem to be anything worthwhile in the area and the arid basin itself extended for a good amount of distance.
From another point of view, it could be considered as a giant crater.
"Maybe something is there at the center of the crater?" Eldrin suggested.
It took a few more minutes and one of the soul minions arrived at what could be considered as the center of the crater. Immediately, Liam's eyes widened. As he sensed the place through the eyes of his soul minions, the elf's guess was spot on.
There was indeed something at the center of the crater!
Unfortunately, the soul minion who found the spot was not an indispensable one, so Liam did not intend to instantly teleport to the place by switching over. He also did not plan on decimating his soul army left and right without any reservations when there was no danger around. Especially because he was temporarily unable to broaden his army inside the Spire. The Spire did not allow him to harvest any souls.
Instead, the usual flying couch Luna helped everyone by teleporting them a bunch of times until they arrived at the center of the crater. Even during this trip, it was weird to see that there weren't any other living beings in the area besides them.
Liam's soul minions were still continuing to wander around to see if they would eventually run into some sort of village or town settlement but so far there was simply nothing and no one.
Even past the barren crater, there simply seemed to be nothing at all.
"What sort of trial is this?" Liam jumped down from the fox, sending a wave of his mana into the ground to sense the surroundings. The mana spread out like ripples on water, probing the earth to see if there were any beasts under the ground like on the other trial floors they had seen so far. Yet, it returned without bringing any hint of life or magic that could indicate the presence of other beings or a hidden mechanism that would trigger the next phase of the trial.
"This place..." Eldrin mused aloud, "it feels abandoned, but deliberately so. As if everything has been cleared out to leave this crater as the sole point of interest."
"Could this be one of the fabled non-combat trial grounds?"
"Huh? What the hell is that?" Rey frowned. They had already experienced one bad trial and now they had one more lined up the very next turn?
However, the elf unexpectedly flashed a sly grin. "No. This should be a good one."