Nightmare Trial

The loud-mouthed dwarven class trainers were all talking at once, and their racket nearly brought the place down.

After enduring the noise for over half an hour, despite his aching ears, Sun Busong finally got the full story of what had happened while he was unconscious.

"Have the casters who are out of mana take Busong and withdraw from the mine. Everyone else, fight like hell and carve me a path through! The people behind us, pile all the explosives and explosive powder on top of the portal!"

When Officer Drey learned that Sun Busong had collapsed from exhaustion while rushing to make explosives, he did something unprecedented and ordered him to be escorted out early. Before that, there had never been a case of a dwarf fleeing in the face of battle.

Once all the explosives had been piled on top of the portal, Officer Drey began directing the remaining troops to retreat slowly. The cavern at the end was enormous, but the passage they had dug was not very wide—only about five meters across.

"Hunters, lay traps to slow them down! Everyone else, hold this position. You two paladins, come over here. The rest of the casters, fall back into the passage and use up all your mana. Wipe out every demon imp in this area." The imps were growing more numerous by the minute. Seeing the situation, Officer Drey knew there were things he had to do.

At their officer's command, the warriors all gathered at the front and assumed Defensive Stance.

Once the two paladins reached Officer Drey, he looked at them with a complicated expression. "You can see it for yourselves. We can't hold them off much longer. There are at least fifteen hundred imps here, and we have fewer than seventy people left. If this continues, unless every one of us dies taking them with us, the land beneath our feet will be corrupted by the demonic realm."

"Now there's a chance for most of us to survive, and we can destroy the portal, too. But the two of you will have to wager your lives."

"This is my order, and your duty!"

By then, Officer Drey's tone had shifted from an explanation to a command.

"Officer! Give the order. We'll obey without hesitation and never retreat!"

The two paladins snapped to attention, saluted Officer Drey, and shouted in unison.

"Good! You're fine soldiers!"

Then Officer Drey began arranging the remaining details.

The plan was simple. First, ten soldiers would lure all the imps to the portal. Then, when the imps had gathered, the paladins would ignite the explosives and destroy the portal and all the imps there in one fell swoop.

But the plan was cruel. The ten soldiers tasked with drawing the imps away had no chance of surviving. After lighting the explosives, the two paladins could activate Divine Shield at the moment of the blast. It lasted twelve seconds. If they were lucky and the force of the explosion had weakened after those twelve seconds, they might make it out of the mine alive.

All ten soldiers had volunteered to stay behind. Officer Drey recorded each of their names and promised to have them carved on the Heroes' Monument in the Military Hall.

That was the plan, and they set it in motion at once. The hunters laid traps, slowing the imps' Movement Speed by sixty percent. The priests used the last of their mana to cast Dispel Magic, purifying all the imps near the entrance to the passage.

Then the ten soldiers charged into the imp horde and lured them toward the portal. The two paladins joined them, their defensive auras active.

Their task was not only to destroy the portal. They also had to buy time for Drey and the others to reach the nearest safe area, where the explosion couldn't hurt them.

The ten warriors were quickly swallowed by the overwhelming mass of imps. They didn't even get a chance to kill one before they died. Every warrior had entered Defensive Stance. With their backs to each other, they formed a circle around the two paladins, raised their shields, and fought desperately to hold the line.

They lasted only forty seconds. Then the imps trampled over the warriors' bodies and charged the two paladins. Though the pair also wore Plate Armor, they were healing-focused paladins and didn't have many defensive skills. They had hoped to hold out for a few more seconds, giving the main force more time to escape.

But the imps shattered even that small hope. The two of them lasted less than five seconds before activating Divine Shield. They didn't dare take any chances.

Officer Drey had ordered them to ignite the explosives before activating Divine Shield. That way, they would still have a chance to survive. He had sent them in case anything went wrong, as a precaution.

But now they had activated Divine Shield early. During its twelve-second duration, their attack power was reduced to fifty percent, but even so, each of them managed to kill an imp.

With two seconds left on Divine Shield, they lit the explosives piled around the portal. Then they exchanged smiles and shouted, "For the Alliance! For glory!"

More than two hundred Dense Explosives, along with at least three hundred pounds of explosive powder, detonated. The blast nearly caused the nearby dam to burst.

The main force had retreated as quickly as possible. Officer Drey had already sent away those who moved slowly, along with the less capable classes. Most of those who remained were Elite Level warriors and hunters.

Even so, several of them were caught in the blast. Their injuries weren't life-threatening, but the skin on their backs had been completely torn away.

Once everyone had crawled out of the dirt, they stared at the center of the explosion in silence for a long time.

"Hats off! Salute!"

After everyone had left, Sun Busong lay alone in his hospital bed.

The dwarves had lost a total of 471 people in this battle!

They weren't monsters who could be reset. Their deaths meant they had left this world forever.

Sun Busong lay in bed and thought for a long time. He had plenty of trump cards. Now that he had come to this world, as long as he could protect himself, he should take on as much responsibility as he could and save as many people as possible. Otherwise, what was the point of coming here? To play through the game all over again?

The moment the portal appeared, he understood. He was now in the period before the invasion of Outland, before the Dark Portal quest began.

In a while, Old Mack would lead people to open the Dark Portal. Yet he still wasn't a classed adventurer!

That left him speechless. The game hadn't worked like that. You became a classed adventurer as soon as you created your character.

But Sun Busong had also discovered something else: he knew every race's language! Yes, every race—not just Orcish.

Looks like there are still plenty of perks I haven't discovered. Forget that for now. I'm already Level 21, so I should advance to a classed adventurer first. I don't even have a single class skill. This is such a pain in the ass!

By afternoon, Sun Busong had been discharged. Led by Officer Drey and Captain Sultan, he went to the Military Hall, where he met Festard Wildhammer, the Wildhammer Chieftain.

"I've been hearing your name for quite some time. I came here to meet you and witness your advancement to a classed adventurer. I won't waste your time with a long speech. I'll be staying here for a few days, and once you advance, I'll treat you to the finest liquor the Wildhammer clan has to offer."

The Wildhammer Chieftain was very courteous, which left Sun Busong a little overwhelmed. But he had at least come from another world; this sort of thing could surprise him, but he would still get on with what he needed to do. He wasn't called Busong for nothing!

Soon, he met Commander Lei Mao, who had issued the advancement quest.

"Hello, dwarf soldier. I've heard all the talk about you in Ironforge lately. I'm glad to see a soldier make such an incredible contribution. But you still have to take the advancement trial. Of course, this sort of trial should be a piece of cake for you, so I've decided to raise the difficulty of your trial to the highest level."

"Huh?!"

Sun Busong had thought that after making such a huge contribution, he might be excused from the trial. Instead, they'd raised its difficulty by a level—or rather, two.

There were three levels of advancement trials for becoming a classed adventurer. The first was Normal Level. After passing, you could learn one Talent Skill from a warrior trainer in Ironforge.

The second was Hard Level. After passing, you could apprentice yourself to any two warrior instructors in the Weapon Hall and learn all the skills from their two talent trees.

The final level was Nightmare Level. If you could pass this advancement trial, every class trainer in Ironforge would teach you their Talent Skills unconditionally. You wouldn't need an apprenticeship, and you wouldn't have to spend any Gold Coins to learn them.

After learning all this, Sun Busong's first thought was to ask what the advancement Trial Mission actually involved.

Soon, they took him to Gnomeregan, the Gnome race's stronghold, a one-day flight from Ironforge.

When the guards at the entrance saw a new dwarf soldier arrive, they warmly came over to greet him. The Gnome race's kingdom had been destroyed, and they were slowly rebuilding their strength as they waited to reclaim it. That was why they were so friendly toward the other races of the Alliance.

"Hey, you're really tall!"

"Are all dwarves this tall?"

"You're the tallest dwarf I've ever seen!"

Sun Busong could only shake his head helplessly. You can be blind if you want, but don't say it out loud.

After chatting with the guard captain, he finally learned just how difficult this Nightmare Level trial was.

"This is the Gnomeregan Instance. First, I can guarantee that the trial-taker won't be in any danger of dying here. The magic was set up by our great mage, Milhouse. No matter how badly you're hurt—even if your head, arms, or legs are cut off—it won't matter. There are only two possible outcomes here: success or failure. Death isn't one of them. Once your trial ends, you'll reappear here completely intact."

Sun Busong always liked people who greeted him with a smile. He took some of the delicious food he'd recently cooked out of his bag, sat down, and invited them to try it with him.

At first, the gnomes were rather polite, saying things like, "It's our duty," and "We can't accept bribes." But before Sun Busong had even offered for the third time, they had started helping themselves to the food.

"Three's a crowd, right? How could we let you invite us a third time? That would insult you and the food! We gnomes would never do anything so inhumane!"

Sun Busong laughed and sat on the ground with the adorable gnomes, eating and chatting. He also brought out some beer he had brewed. But because of the limitations of his ingredients, its quality only reached Level 23.

"Normal trials are easy. There's an instance like this for every race. Just pass it and you become a classed adventurer."

"See those over there? Yeah, those shorties who are taller than us. They're here to advance, too. Look at their group: four men and one woman. Heh, groups like that are usually trying to get laid."

The guard had already had a bit to drink. Sun Busong found that amusing, so he asked, "How do you know that group is trying to get laid?"

"Isn't it obvious? See that burly soldier over there? The fat, dark one. Take a look at his level!"

Sun Busong looked closely. Level 27.

That didn't make sense. Soldiers could advance to classed adventurers once they reached Level 20. If a Level 27 soldier still hadn't advanced, there were only two possible explanations.

First, he was so bad that no one would team up with him to complete the trial. His only purpose was to drag the others down.

The second possibility was a little unusual. Some people made a business out of helping others pass trials, charging a fee for every one they completed. But there was a limit to this line of work. If your level reached 30, you would permanently lose the chance to advance to a classed adventurer. You could still complete the trial before reaching Level 29, but after advancing, it would be difficult to find teammates who could fight alongside you, since you'd already lost the chance to team up with people for the trial.

"Oh, I see. No wonder a Level 27 is leading two Level 22s and a Level 20 dwarf couple." Sun Busong had figured out what was going on.

"Then tell me what you think is happening!" The guard seemed to be testing him.

"It's simple. The Level 20 soldier is the one trying to get laid. Those two Level 22s are either his friends or just teammates for the trial. And that Level 27 soldier's role is obvious, right?"

"Heh, you're pretty sharp."

If I couldn't figure out something this obvious, I'd be hopeless.

Soon, they got down to business.

"For a Normal Level trial, a party of five has to kill at least a hundred Elite Monsters and three bosses."

"For a Hard Level trial, a party of five has to kill every monster and boss in the instance."

Sun Busong found that a little strange. If the Hard Level trial required killing every monster in the instance, did Nightmare Level mean clearing it twice?

"For the Nightmare Level trial, one person has to kill every monster and boss in the instance!"

"How is that even possible?!"

Sun Busong blurted it out. He didn't think he could solo the entire instance, especially if he had to kill every monster in it.

"Why not? Plenty of people have tried the trial alone over the years. Seven people have succeeded just this year."

"Seriously? Were they really that incredible? How did they do it?"

The guard had drunk a little too much. He stood up, put an arm around Sun Busong's shoulder, and swayed as he spoke. "Just a few days ago, a Hunter passed the Nightmare Level trial. He did it with his Rare Pet. Its defense was almost as good as the bosses inside."

"What? A Hunter?" Sun Busong was confused.

"Isn't a Hunter already a classed adventurer? Why would he still need to take the trial?"

The guard shook his head, trying to clear it. "Not a Hunter classed adventurer. He was a soldier with a pet. He'd loved hunting even when he was a civilian. One time, he rescued an Alligator Turtle lying on its back, and ever since then, it's followed him around."

"Oh, I see. So passing the trial is all about using whatever you've got?"

"Exactly. As long as you're capable of passing the trial alone, you can do it any way you like!"

"Got it! Well, brothers, we've eaten and drunk our fill. I'm going to take the Nightmare Level trial now. Once I pass, we'll have another round!"

With that, he set down his cup and headed for the entrance to the Gnomeregan Trial Instance.