Monster Integration

“A few minutes more,” I said as I cast a glance at the map while flying toward my destination; now and then, my eyes would turn blurry, but they turn normal in seconds to minutes.

I also continued harvesting the resources of this place; I had increased the pace in the last two hours when the level of resources increased. Nearly all of these resources are rare and couldn’t be found outside; I am risking quite a lot harvesting them when I should be completely focusing on reaching my destination.

Especially now when I had reached so close.

The risk is worth it because these resources are really useful; most of them are Grand Lord grade, and they are very useful in healing soul damage and mental problems.

They are going to be very useful in the coming days and after the war is over.

Hun!

Once again, the beguilement stuck with me, sending me to the dream for two minutes and thirty-seven seconds before I broke out of it, and even during that, I kept moving. I temporarily handed the primary energy control to my clone, which kept me moving, even when I was stuck in the dream.

It is the reason why I was able to cross such a huge distance in such a short time.

Eight minutes later, after killing another Grimm and being stuck by the beguilement three more times, I saw the final leg. It was in front of me, and I wanted to appear on it, but I did not hurry and continued moving toward it without changing my speed.

I have been cautious all this time; I do not want to throw it all away when I finally reach my destination.

Hun!

I was right to be cautious because, just after steps, I had been hit by the strongest attack from the forest. I was out for eleven minutes before I was able to break out of it with the help of my clones.

Thud!

Finally, I had landed on the beautifully bricked road and immediately felt all the power leaving my body; one moment, I was God, at another, a mortal with no magical power.

I had expected that the moment one’s feet touched the road, their power would disappear. The sudden disappearance shook me, and I even panicked for a moment before I was able to calm my mind.

“The road of will.” I read the board; there is no other information about it, nor do I need it. I already know everything about this challenge; it is a simple test of will.

There had been many tests of will; nearly a quarter of the challenges here had been about the will, but this one was the strongest and most dangerous. It had even killed people, but those are minorities, the people who have survived till here, nearly half completed the challenge; the only difference is some took hours while the others took days.

“Let’s get started with it,” I said, and a minute later and began to walk at a brisk pace.

For a few steps, I did not feel anything before I began to feel the pressure; this pressure was not physical or soul level, but something different.

It seemed to target something deeper; if I were the say words of those who finished the challenge, they would say this pressure directly affects the will.

I maintained the pace, and with each step, the pressure grew higher and higher; my will seemed to be strong enough to bear it, and in a little more than fifteen minutes, I had finished crossing the 10% distance.

Hun!

The pressure began to be a little uncomfortable, but not something that could stop me; I continued, and soon I came across the first Grimm. It comes from a different road, there are many roads, but all take to the same destination.

It saw me before I did due to its huge size, and I could see its deep anger as it looked at me. I did not even know the bastard, and it was looking at me like I had killed its father.

Well, I might have, considering the number of Golden Fire Werewolves I have killed so far.

I waved, but that only made it glare at me further; “Just being polite,” I muttered, but loud enough for it to hear me, and still, it did not say anything.

Soon, we stepped into the same road and the Grimm, who was slightly behind me, moved ahead with its huge step. I did not; competing against it would not give me anything, especially this early. I want to see whether it would be able to maintain the same pace as it covers more distance.

I did not have to wait for long; half an hour later, it began to reduce its face till it became slow enough to move at the same pace as me, despite having more than four times larger size.

A few minutes later, three more people joined two human Grandmasters and one Bronze Scale Crockman, which was sweating a lot.

I stayed away from it, as closer to it felt like rain seeing the way it was sweating.

The two humans, on the other hand, were quite interesting; they were not the ones I had seen before but here, but I knew them, and from the memories of seed, I knew they were High-Grandmasters. The thing is, they were just Masters when they entered this place.

It is nothing surprising those who have survived till this stage have reached the High-Grandmaster class; the experiences and opportunities here are enough to turn any healthy Master into the High-Grandmaster.

They nodded at me as they saw me and continued walking at a measured pace, which was neither slow nor fast.

An hour passed, and the people increased further; I had crossed half a distance with many people around me, both humans and Grimms, some I am quite familiar with, including Lady Veronica.

The pressure on will have really become something; now there is not a single being, be it human or Grimm, who wasn’t sweating. People have even started walking with the hunch-back despite the pressure of not being physical; it is worse than the physical or soul pressed.

It went deeper, right to the fiber that made the person who they are.

On the journey here, we have been trapped in the illusion and dreams, but here, there is only simple pressure, and the only thing we have to do is bear it as we walk, but to some people who are falling behind, it is the most difficult thing.

The worst thing is no external things could help you, even if you could harness your power. I have a faint connection with a clone, and through them, I could activate formation with force, but it will not help me at all; those formations help me with the soul and body, but this thing affects the will.

Many people are falling behind, but many are still maintaining the pace; those who are maintaining the pace in the highest number seem to be the old guys.

This is also not surprising; while younger people have the highest potential, the older ones have the strongest will with all the experiences in their lives.