As the fog began to dissipate, Faust found himself standing on a circular brick platform. The place was dark, shrouded in shadows. Below the platform, even deeper darkness loomed. There was no smell, no sound—utter emptiness—except for two things.
In front of him stood a chair. It appeared to be crafted from dark wood, adorned with noble details. Just before the chair lay a pit, seemingly bottomless, stretching infinitely into the void.
There was no voice this time. Unlike every other trial he had faced, no sound guided him. He walked around the circular platform, but there was nothing else to interact with.
"Is this not a trial?" he mumbled, his face clearly displaying confusion.
He spent some time considering his options, though he knew they were limited.
The chair it is, then…
Faust decided to sit in the chair.
When he sat down, nothing happened.
"Weird," he tried to say, but no voice came from his mouth.
"What?" He tried again, but still no sound.
"AAAAAAAAA," he screamed in silence, testing again, but to no avail.
When he attempted to stand, his body wouldn't move. A wave of drowsiness overtook him. His eyelids grew heavier.
He tried to resist—I can't… sleep…—but it was no use.
His eyes closed, and his consciousness faded.
He was in a room mostly made of wood—it resembled an inn. It was dimly illuminated by a candle placed on a table right in front of him. Strangely, he was sitting on a bed. In front of him stood someone, their back turned.
The figure was bald and naked. Their skin was dark gray. They didn't look at Faust, but remained silent. A strange, irrational fear gripped him—an unnatural terror without cause.
The figure spoke in a toneless voice, echoing from every direction as well as from the person's own body:
"So, you succeeded in the end… In the next trial—the fifth—you will have to complete a hunt. In the sixth, another hunt, but of a different kind."
Before Faust could reply, the figure continued, "Your heart must not waver moving forward, you will understand soon. You are not far now. I will grant you the reward."
The figure turned around—but before Faust could see its face, his eyes snapped open.
He couldn't see its face, yet he was still afraid. He immediately stood up and tested his voice.
Back to normal.
"What just happened?" he muttered, eyes filled with confusion.
Looking toward the pit, he noticed something fluttering above it.
Is that the reward?
He grabbed it—a set of black armor.
The chest piece covered his torso and arms, made from thick black material with dark plates that looked like the shells of the creatures he had encountered here. The pants and boots matched, forming a full set that was surprisingly flexible despite appearing highly durable.
Faust wasted no time putting it on. Though still shackled, he managed to wear the armor. He had never worn armor before, but it felt lighter than the wolf-lined robe he had been using. To test its resilience, he struck it with his sword at varying levels of force—it was far more durable than his previous gear, although he could still feel the impact.
He decided to put the black robe over the armor, though the wolf leather had to be left behind. His dark-red eyes gazed into the void as fog once again surrounded him.
In the blink of an eye, he was somewhere else.
******
A dense forest was all around him. It was nighttime, and a vivid red moon lit the sky. No stars were visible—the crimson light was too strong. It bathed the trees and the grass in its glow. The trees towered over ten meters tall, with dark trunks and their scarlet leaves forming a near-continuous ceiling.
As Faust looked around, a voice echoed in his head.
"Slay a strong creature."
His thoughts became even more tangled.
"So the thing in the dream… or trial, was right… well, technically. It is a type of hunt. But how did it know? What even was that thing? So many questions... Damn it," he muttered, taking a few cautious steps through the dense forest.
He was now certain—he had advanced to the fifth trial. What he had just experienced was the fourth. But it still didn't make sense. He received a reward he hadn't even suspected, and worse yet, he accepted it without question.
Now that he thought about it, why had he accepted it so easily?
It felt almost as if he had been influenced; like when Red made him run away. Regardless, he couldn't remove the armor now, he had left the only thing that offered him some protection behind, the wolf leather.
He pushed the thoughts aside to focus on the fifth trial. What exactly did "strong foe" mean? Was it stronger than him or just strong? The commands were getting more vague.
Faust wandered deeper into the forest, letting his curiosity guide him. He wanted to know:
What was that thing in the dream?
Why was the fourth trial so easy?
Why did he receive armor?
Why did he put it on without hesitation?
And most importantly—what was a "strong" foe?
Too many questions. Too few answers.
He also wondered how many had reached the fifth stage. He doubted anyone else's fourth 'trial' was as smooth as his.
Hours later, as he explored the forest, he saw something—a 'Slasher.' Its mantis-like body stood over two meters tall, its black carapace glinting red under the moonlight, while thick, dark-red liquid dripped from its sickles.
He quickly hid behind a tree and watched the beast devour the body of a pig that had been slashed in half—obviously by the monster itself. Its head was grotesque, with several pincers and large, dark eyes. Blood dripped from its mouth as thousands of blade-like teeth effortlessly tore through flesh and bone.
Is that considered a strong foe?..
The voice had been too generic in its command. How could he know what qualified as a great foe? All he knew was that he wouldn't be able to kill that thing without preparation He hadn't fought one before, but from its appearance alone, he could tell it would be too resistant for him to cut through, so he needed runes.
He decided to observe and follow the creature from a distance. His experience surviving in forests helped him move silently and stealthily. The creature finished eating as Faust followed it until it arrived at a cave and entered.
Why always caves… always… caves… he sighed.
He decided to wait outside to learn the creature's behavior. While waiting, he noticed a few wolves approaching his position, so he climbed halfway up a tree and sat on a branch.
He waited. Hours later, the Slasher left its cave and began wandering through the forest again.
Faust followed, keeping low. Whenever another beast approached, he would promptly hide.
The Slasher hunted multiple times a day and always ate its prey on the spot. Since the second trial, Faust didn't feel hunger or thirst, so he could follow it continuously.
After the creature finished its hunt, it would return to the cave and remain there for hours before leaving again, repeating the same cycle each day.
During all this time, Faust encountered no other trial-takers—only beasts and animals. The unsettling crimson moon loomed constantly, as if observing the land.
Alright, time to prepare it.
After confirming the creature's habits, he planned to lure it into a prepared camp and hunt it there. After observing it for so long, he had confirmed its speed—equal to his own, maybe a little above. Its strength, however, was far greater, it could almost split trees with it's blade-like arms. But its resistance wasn't as high as he had expected; the monster had been visibly scratched by ordinary wolves, so runes could damage it, and high chances even his blade could.