Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

He was having these thoughts as he held down the zombies from proceeding towards the fireplace when suddenly he saw one of the special zombies jump from amidst the crowd and dive towards the fireplace.

The power from its jump and its sentient mind that took advantage of when Simon was inattentive, indicated that it was totally different from the common and uncommon zombies he had fought until now.

"Making me spend unnecessary energy are you?" Simon said conjuring a flame spear towards the special zombie.

He thought that might do the trick; however, the next second he was amazed when he saw how the special zombie dodged the flame spear mid-air.

"What?!".

Simon couldn't help but utter out loud. The special zombie's back was clearly turned against him and he shouldn't be in any position to see his attack than… how? As if to answer his question, the back of the special zombie's head grew an eye that was extremely hideous to look at.

After an unsuccessful attempt to dive towards the fireplace, the special zombie redirected its attention towards Simon and bared its fangs trying to bite and claw at him.

Simon did not have to worry much if the zombie was just targeting him, but the problem was that there was not only one special zombie. Mixed into the crowd, there were quite a few special zombies who were jumping here and there trying to dive towards the fireplace.

"This is getting annoying" Simon commented and used his crimson bale skilfully to puncture a hole in the head of one of the special zombies. At that moment when the body fell to the ground, he noticed a peculiar glint from inside its body.

Since he did not have time to investigate the thing carefully, he made a mental note of it. The zombies came at him in droves and in frenzy, their intention was no doubt to tear him apart and snuff the fire in the fireplace out.

Special zombies tried jumping here and there trying to use any and all opportunity to dive into the fireplace or to kill him while the uncommon and common zombies just bombarded him with their numbers.

Nonetheless, Simon refused to move out of their way and stood tall, he kept every wasteful movement to a minimum and only used enough mana and strength necessary to slay his enemies.

The experience he was collecting from this trail, was crazy whether it be combat experience or his level, both were showing a sharp incline in growth. The numbers in which the zombies appeared on the third horde, was absurd and it took more time and effort to kill them.

After an hour or so, the piles of bodies on the hall, made a small mountain. Seated on the platform where the fireplace was, Simon was looking at a crimson bead radiating a strong fiery light. The crimson bead on his hand, was something that he had scavenged from one of the bodies of the special zombies.

He extended his hand and from the inventory and took out another similar crimson bead.

"So the bead that I had found after the second wave, must have been dropped by a zombie. Since I was too busy slaying them, I might have not paid enough attention" Simon surmised.

He had checked all the other bodies, and couldn't find any other beads on them which meant that these two beads were the only ones that had spawned during the wave.

Now that he knew where they spawned from, the question of what their purpose was, still remained. Simon pondered, but before he could think any further, his eyes suddenly went towards the flickering flames of the fireplace.

The light coming out of the fireplace was very dim and it looked like it could go out any second. Even though he did not allow a single zombie to drop down on it and disperse the flame after the first round, the light coming out from the fireplace was still dying out.

Recalling the last few instructions before the trial started, Simon frowned. He cannot allow the fire to die out or else some kind of curse will trigger that will strengthen his enemies. He tried using his own flames to elicit some reaction; however, it was all for nothing.

While he was pacing back and forth pondering intensely, he suddenly noticed that the shine of the crimson beads got brighter the more closer he got to the fireplace. At that instant, an idea popped in his head and he tossed one of the beads inside the fireplace.

[Trial Item] this was the description he got when he used the analysis on the crimson bead. He did not what would happen if he did something like that but it was worth the try now that the fireplace was about to go out.

In any case, the crimson bead was a trial item and where would he use it if not in the trial.

The moment, the crimson bead came in contact with the flames inside the fireplace, it erupted into brilliant light and became the fuel that kept the flames burning. The fireplace that was about to die out, started shining brighter after the crimson bead was tossed into it.

"So that's what its purpose was" Simon muttered. Thankfully, his idea had worked out and the crimson bead did exactly what he thought it would. Now that the fireplace was stable, he sighed a breath of relief and played with the other remaining crimson bead.

Now that he knew what the purpose of this bead was and how to get it, new questions popped inside his head. 'Did the bead spawned with zombies every round?' 'how long can these beads last' and so and forth.

He had many questions whose answers he knew, he would get with time. After a minute or two, the fourth horde arrived.

The fourth horde numbered more than eight hundred with many uncommon and special zombies in the mix. Their levels were around 280 and little by little they were starting to become a problem.

Although Simon tried his best, it still took him an hour and a half to completely dispose of all the zombies of the fourth horde. If he didn't have to worry about saving his strength for the upcoming hordes that would be more powerful than the previous, he would have used powerful intermediate tier AOE magic that uses an enormous amount of mana to defeat them.

However, since he was thinking ahead and pacing himself, he couldn't just go all out. Anyways, the fourth horde showed him the answers to some of his questions.

First, every horde only spawns one crimson bead which is mainly with the special or uncommon zombies. There is no other way to find them other than defeating them individually.

Secondly, the crimson bead after you toss it inside the fireplace only lasts around two hours or so before it starts dimming down again.

The flame in the fireplace was still there, but Simon could see it dimming down little by little. This was a problem, with every horde the time it took for him to clear it only kept on increasing. His level and strength was no doubt increasing at a fast rate but so was the level of these zombies.

If it kept on going like that, it would take more than three hours by the time the eighth or ninth horde arrives.

"It cannot go on like this… I must find a better way to defeat them" Simon clenched his hands and resolved himself.

The fifth horde arrived and then the sixth. Simon was lying on the floor beside the fireplace, huffing and puffing for air. The light of the fireplace drew a crimson hue on his face showing how exhausted he was.

By now, the best clearing time he could achieve was around two hours, far from what he considered an ideal timing.

The sixth horde was unlike the previous hordes where the wave mostly consisted of common zombies with some uncommon and special zombies in the mix. That was not the case any longer, the hordes now consisted of thousands of uncommon zombies, with special zombies and even unique zombies showing up.

Yes, there were new types of zombies that was identified as unique zombies by the [Analysis]. They not only had different appearances, but even had some annoying skills such as [Acid Spray], [Wind Blade], [Cut resistance], [fire resistance], [Charge] and so on...

Though these Normal skills might not be a problem for Simon, their levels were definitely starting to be. The sixth horde consisted of uncommon zombies with an average level of around 330.

Up until now, he was able to defeat the common zombies with a single slash of his Crimson Blade however; the uncommon zombies took a little more effort not to mention the special and unique zombies who were able to tank quite a few hits.

To be honest, the unique zombies were a pain in the ass with how sentient they were. They not only leveraged the annoying skills they have, they even knew when to attack and retreat, unlike the uncommon and special ones.

Simon did not know how many times in the course of the sixth horde, he was forced to use his magic on the unique zombies. Even if he was a demon viscount with far more stats than an average human, he also had a limit which he knew he would hit soon if he continued to expend his mana and strength like that.

This conundrum and the window of time till the next horde arrived compelled Simon to think and find an efficient way of defeating these zombies so that he lasts till the tenth wave.

Various events and memories floated up to his mind and just when the seventh horde was about to arrive, an answer finally dawned onto him.