Nightmare Trial

A bunch of loud-mouthed Dwarf professionals nearly tore the place apart with their clamoring voices.

Enduring the ear pain for over half an hour, Sun Busong finally pieced together what happened after he passed out.

"Have the casters who are out of mana take Busong and pull out of the mine. The rest of you, kill with everything you've got and carve a path from me. Those in the back, pile all the explosives and powder onto the Portal!"

Learning that Sun Busong had collapsed from exhaustion while rushing to make explosives, Officer Drey broke precedent and ordered him evacuated early—before this, there was no record of a Dwarf retreating in battle.

Once all the explosives were stacked on the Portal, Officer Drey began directing the remaining troops to fall back slowly. Though the final cavern was spacious, the excavated tunnel was narrow, only about five meters wide.

"Hunters, set traps to slow their Movement Speed. Everyone else, hold this line. Two Paladins, come here. The rest of the Caster Classes, retreat into the tunnel and dump all your mana to wipe out these Demon Imps in this area." The number of imps kept growing, and Officer Drey, seeing the situation, knew some things had to be done.

The Warriors, hearing the commander's order, all moved to the front and assumed Defensive Stance.

When the two Paladins reached Officer Drey, his expression turned grim as he said to them, "You've seen it too—we can't drag this out much longer. There are at least 1,500 imps here now, and we're down to fewer than 70 people. At this rate, unless we all die with them, the land beneath our feet will be corrupted by the demonic domain."

"Now there's a chance for most of us to survive, and we can destroy the Portal too, but it will cost you two your lives as the price."

"This is my order, and your mission."

By the time he finished, Officer Drey's tone had shifted from explanation to command.

"Sir! Just 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 both fine soldiers!"

Then Officer Drey began arranging the remaining details.

The plan was simple: first, ten soldiers would lure all the imps close to the Portal. Then, at the moment the imps gathered, the Paladins would ignite the explosives, blowing up the Portal and the imps in one go.

But the plan was brutal. The ten soldiers tasked with luring the imps had no chance of survival. As for the two Paladins, after lighting the explosives, they could activate Divine Shield at the instant of detonation. Divine Shield lasted 12 seconds. If luck was on their side and the blast's force diminished after 12 seconds, they might walk out of the mine alive.

The ten soldiers volunteered to stay. Officer Drey recorded each of their names, promising to have them engraved on the Heroes' Monument in the Military Hall.

The plan was set and quickly executed. Hunters laid traps, slowing the imps' Movement Speed by 60%. Priests used their last mana to cast Dispel Magic, purifying the imps near the tunnel entrance.

Then the ten soldiers charged into the imp horde, drawing them toward the Portal. The two Paladins joined in, their defensive auras active.

Their mission wasn't just to destroy the Portal—they also had to buy time for Drey and the others to reach the nearest safe point, where the explosion's damage wouldn't reach them.

The ten Warriors were quickly overwhelmed by the sea of imps. They didn't even get a chance to kill a single imp before dying. Each Warrior had activated Defensive Stance, but the imps were too numerous. Back-to-back, they formed a circle, shielding the two Paladins in the center, raising their shields in desperate defense.

They held out for just 40 seconds. After that, the imps trampled over the Warriors' bodies and charged the Paladins. Though both wore plate armor, they were healing-focused Paladins with few defensive skills. They'd hoped to last a few more seconds to give the main force more escape time.

But the imps shattered even that small wish. They couldn't hold out for five seconds and, not daring to gamble, activated Divine Shield.

Officer Drey's order was to ignite the explosives first, then activate Divine Shield, giving them a chance to live. They'd been sent as a contingency in case things went wrong.

But they activated Divine Shield early. During those 12 seconds, their attack power dropped to 50% of normal, but even so, each managed to kill one imp.

When the Divine Shield countdown hit 2 seconds, they lit the explosives piled on the Portal. Then they exchanged a smile and shouted, "For the Alliance! For glory!"

With over 200 Dense Explosives and a pile of powder weighing at least 300 jin, the blast was so powerful it nearly burst the nearby dam.

The main force had retreated as fast as possible. Those who moved slowly or were Casters had been sent ahead by Officer Drey. Most of those left were Elite Level Warriors and Hunters.

Even so, several were caught in the blast. Though their injuries weren't life-threatening, the skin on their backs was completely shredded.

After everyone crawled out of the dirt, they stared at the explosion's epicenter, silent for a long time.

"Hats off! Salute!"

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

In this battle, the Dwarf race had lost 471 people.

These weren't monsters that could respawn. Their deaths meant they were gone from this world forever.

Sun Busong lay in bed thinking for a long time. He had plenty of cards up his sleeve. Since he'd come to this world, as long as he protected himself, he should take on more responsibility and save more people. Otherwise, what was the point of being here? Just to replay a game?

When the Portal appeared, he understood. The era he was in now was right before the Dark Portal opened and the quest to enter Outland began.

Soon, old Mc would lead people to open the Dark Portal. But he wasn't even a professional yet!

That left him speechless. It wasn't like this in the game—you became a professional right after creating your character.

But then Sun Busong noticed something else: he could speak every race's language! Yes, every race, not just Orcish.

"Looks like there are more perks I haven't discovered. Whatever, I'll stop thinking about it. I'm already level 21. First, I need to advance to a professional. Not having a single class skill is damn annoying!"

By afternoon, Sun Busong was discharged. Under the guidance of Officer Drey and Captain Sultan, he arrived at the Military Hall, where he met Festard Wildhammer, the Wildhammer Chieftain.

"I've heard your name for a long time. I came here to meet you and witness your advancement to a professional. I won't waste words. I'll stay a few days. After you advance, I'll treat you to the best ale the Wildhammer clan has to offer."

The Wildhammer Chieftain spoke very politely, which flattered Sun Busong a bit. But as a transmigrator, he just found it mildly surprising. He still did what he needed to do—he wasn't one to back down!

Soon, he met Commander Lei Mao, who had issued the Advancement Quest.

"Hello, Dwarf soldier. I've heard many rumors about you in Ironforge lately. As a soldier, you've played an incredibly vital role, and I'm pleased. But you still need to undergo the advancement trial. Of course, for someone like you, it's a piece of cake. So I've decided to raise your trial difficulty to the highest level."

"Huh?!"

Sun Busong had thought that with all his contributions, he might skip the trial. But instead, the guy had bumped it up a level—no, two levels.

The advancement trial to become a professional had three tiers. First was Normal: upon passing, you could learn one Talent Skill from the Warrior trainer in Ironforge.

Second was Hard: upon passing, you could apprentice under any two Warrior mentors in the Weapon Hall and learn all skills from both talent trees.

The last type, Nightmare difficulty—if you can pass a class advancement trial at this level, then all the class trainers in Ironforge will teach you their Talent Skills unconditionally, no apprenticeship required, no Gold Coins needed to learn.

Once Sun Busong understood all this, what he wanted most now was to know exactly what the advancement trial quest was.

Soon, he was taken to the Gnome race's stronghold, Gnomeregan, a day's flight from Ironforge.

The guards at the entrance saw a new Chariot Soldier arriving and warmly came over to greet him. This Gnome kingdom had already been destroyed, and they were slowly recovering their strength, waiting to reclaim their nation, so they were very friendly to the other races of the Alliance.

"Hey, you're really tall!"

"Are all you Dwarf race this tall?"

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

Sun Busong was helpless. You can be blind if you want, but don't say it out loud.

After chatting with the guard captain for a bit, he finally learned just how hard this Nightmare-level trial really was.

"This is the Gnomeregan Instance. First, I can guarantee that no trial-taker will be in any danger of dying here, because our great mage Milhouse has set up magic here. No matter how severe the injury you take, even if your head gets chopped off, or an arm or leg, it doesn't matter here. There are only two outcomes: trial success or failure. Death doesn't exist. After your trial ends, you'll reappear here intact."

Sun Busong always had a good impression of people who smiled like that. He took out some delicious food he'd recently cooked from his backpack, sat down on the spot, and invited them to share.

At first, these Gnomes were still polite, saying things like duty calls and they couldn't accept bribes, but before Sun Busong could invite them a third time, they started helping themselves to the food.

"Three strikes and you're out! How could we let you invite us a third time? That would be an insult to you, an insult to the food! We Gnomes would never do something so inhumane!"

Sun Busong laughed heartily, sat on the ground, and ate and chatted with these adorable Gnomes. During the meal, he also brought out some malt liquor he'd brewed himself, but due to ingredient limitations, the highest level alcohol he could make was only Level 23.

"The normal trial is simple. Every race has an instance like this one. Pass it, and you become a class-holder."

"See over there? Yeah! Those shorties who are taller than us—they're here to advance too. Look at their lineup: four men and one woman. Heh heh! A group like that is usually for picking up girls."

This guard was already a bit tipsy. Sun Busong found it interesting and asked, "How do you know that kind of group is for picking up girls?"

"Isn't it obvious? See that bulky soldier over there? The dark, fat one. Look at what level he is!"

Sun Busong took a closer look. Level 27.

That was a bit off. A soldier could advance to a class-holder at Level 20. For a Level 27 soldier not to have advanced yet, there were only two possibilities.

First, he was so bad that no one would team up with him to do the trial. His only purpose was to hold others back.

The second was a bit special. There was a type of person who specialized in helping others pass trials. Every time they helped someone through, they'd collect a fee. But this business of helping others pass trials had a limit: if your level reached 30, you'd never have another chance to advance to a class-holder. However, you could still complete the trial quest before Level 29. But after advancing, it would be hard for such a person to find teammates willing to fight alongside them, because they'd lost that qualification.

"Oh, I see. No wonder a Level 27 is leading two Level 22s and a pair of Level 20 dwarf soldiers, one male and one female." Sun Busong had figured out the gist.

"So, tell me what's going on!" The guard seemed to be testing Sun Busong.

"Simple. The one picking up girls is the Level 20 soldier. The two Level 22s are either his friends or teammates for the trial. And the Level 27 soldier—need I say more?"

"Hehehe, you're pretty sharp."

Sun Busong thought to himself, If I couldn't even figure that out, what the hell am I even doing?

Soon, they got down to business.

"For the normal difficulty trial, a five-person team kills no fewer than 100 Elite Monsters and three bosses inside. That counts as passing."

"For the hard difficulty trial, it's also a five-person team, but you have to kill every single monster and boss inside."

Sun Busong found that strange. Hard difficulty required clearing the entire trial instance of all monsters. Did Nightmare difficulty mean clearing it twice?

"For the Nightmare difficulty trial, one person kills every monster and boss in the instance!"

"How is that even possible?"

Sun Busong blurted out. He didn't think he could solo an entire instance, let alone kill every single monster.

"How is it not possible? Over the years, plenty of people have soloed the trial. Just this year alone, seven people have successfully advanced."

"Really? Are those people that amazing? How did they do it?"

The guard was a bit drunk. He stood up, steadied himself on Sun Busong's shoulder, and swayed as he said, "A few days ago, a Hunter passed the Nightmare difficulty trial. He relied on his Rare Pet to get through. That pet's defense was almost on par with the bosses inside."

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

"Isn't a Hunter already a class-holder? Why would a class-holder need to do a trial?"

The guard shook his head, trying to sober up. "Not a Hunter class-holder. It was a soldier with a pet. When he was still a civilian, he liked to hunt. One time, he rescued an Alligator Turtle that was lying on its back. After that, that Alligator Turtle just kept following him."

"Oh! I see. So passing the trial depends on everyone using their own skills and showing their own talents?"

"That's right. As long as you have the ability to pass the trial solo, any method works!"

"Got it! Well, brothers, we've eaten and drunk our fill. Now, I'm going to take the Nightmare trial. When I succeed, we'll drink again!"

With that, he put down his cup and walked toward the entrance of the Gnomeregan trial instance.

Begging for everything—begging for collections, begging for clicks, begging for recommendation tickets, begging for criticism and corrections, begging for a contract!