As Lucifer reached the end of the stairs, he found himself standing in what seemed like a tunnel that was ten feet wide only.
Without thinking twice, he started running straight ahead. He had only run for two minutes when he found his first enemies.
Tens of giant bees were occupying the tunnel. As for their size, they seemed to be half the size of Lucifer.
"These are the enemies? Dungeon Beasts? Did these people catch them and entrap them here?" Lucifer muttered, confused how these bees got here.
"Oh, that's right! The Portal of the Dean. He must have brought them here. And now I need to kill them to pass."
Cracking his knuckles, Lucifer started running towards the bees.
....
In a different tunnel, Cassius was walking calmly. His heavy sword was still in his hand.
Tens of dead bees were lying behind him, cut in half. It seemed like he had already finished the first enemy when Lucifer was just beginning.
....
Dash had also faced the bees with his wind blades without having to get close to them, and now he was flying ahead. In fact, at the moment, he was ahead of the others as he wasn't running but flying.
Soon, he reached the next obstruction.
There seemed to be a long pond before him. He didn't know how deep it was, but he did know that he could fly from over it.
"Is it for the Swimming Test?" Dash muttered as he laughed. "I don't even have to attend it."
He started flying above the pond instead of swimming but just when he reached the middle; he saw tens of arrows coming out of the wall. All these arrows were carrying a net with them.
As the arrows penetrated the wall around Dash, he found himself trapped in the net.
"These cunning bastards! They knew I'd fly and set this trap. God, it'll waste so much of my time!" Dash let out furiously as he started struggling to free himself.
In the meanwhile, Ren had also walked past the bees, and he was getting near the pond.
...
Lucifer was still fighting the bees as he could only kill one at a time with his attacks, but he also succeeded in dodging all the attacks. Not a single scratch was on his body.
Despite him fighting in such close proximity, he wasn't letting himself get hit. He had learned from Morbius the art of defending himself. He knew that a Variant could easily die, so protection was important.
He was completely unlike his old self in this department. He focused on defense as much as he did on the attack.
Lucifer soon finished all the bees, crushing most of them with his supreme strength.
He again started running to get to the next obstruction.
....
Cassius was standing in front of the pond, wondering what he could do.
He could easily carry the heavy sword when walking, but he couldn't swim with it on his back.
He couldn't even leave his sword behind.
The pond was also very long, so he didn't think he could throw his sword to the other end and then swim.
"Fine. If I'm slow, then so be it," he muttered as he clenched his fist before he jumped into the water with his sword.
....
Lucifer also finally reached the pond. He jumped into the pond without worrying about his clothes getting wet as he started advancing as fast as he could.
Throughout this one year, he had learned to swim really well. His speed remained fast as he swam. In fact, his strength helped him too as he soon reached the other end.
As Lucifer stepped out of the pond, he wondered how far others would be in their tunnels.
He didn't know that he was one of the two people in the lead. In fact, he was second at the moment in terms of tasks passed.
Ren was first at the moment. Lucifer was second. Dash was fourth as he was still struggling to free himself. As for Cassius, he was third as he was swimming with his sword, which was slowing him down.
As for the other two, they had also reached the pond. They were fifth and sixth.
Lucifer crossed the pond and kept running until he soon reached his third obstruction.
He found what seemed like a chessboard placed before him.
The pieces on the chess were already arranged in such a way that it seemed like his side was going to be defeated in just one move. As for behind that board, there was a giant metallic door that was closed.
"Do I need to play the game to pass through?" He muttered as he frowned. He stepped forward as he observed all the pieces.
Throughout this one year, the students were also taught chess to sharpen their heads. It seemed like it was a test for them.
"Alright," Lucifer muttered as he moved the king to the left.
As soon as he moved his king, the queen of the enemy advanced on its own, closing on Lucifer's king, checking him again.
...
Ren was also playing chess. Even though he was blind, he was able to use something like a sonar to see his surroundings to some extent. With that, he was able to know the pieces and their shape.
Moreover, there was an audio system placed there to give him a bit more help. Whenever the enemy piece moved, the audio system described the move. It did similarly when Ren moved.
Ren was the first one to win the chess battle. As soon as he won, the metallic doors in front of him opened, giving him a path to leave.
...
"Checkmate!" Lucifer also let out excitedly as he won the hard battle.
He seemed to only be a few seconds behind Ren. The metallic doors opened as he also passed through.
...
Lucifer and Ren had passed through when Cassius reached that place.
"Not this now," he said in frustration as he saw the chessboard.
He started playing as well.
In the meanwhile, Dash was finally free of the net, but he was in the last position now. Even Rune and Dray were ahead of him now.
As he freed himself from the net, he didn't dare fly above the pond again. Instead, he properly swam this time.
Leaving the pond, he again started flying and soon reached the chessboard.
"Gosh, this too? They know I'm bad at chess, and they still put it," he said in frustration as he stomped the ground.
As he had no other choice, he started playing.