A cacophony of clanging noises echoed from the darkness inside the doors. They were footsteps and more, but not of the kind Liam had ever heard, being metal and heavy.

Also, the Qi-related side of Liam’s perception highlighted a greater issue. Each door leaked five presences that resembled rooting experts but not quite, putting their total number to twenty-five, as if mimicking a cultivation’s progression.

Liam wasn’t the only one in that perception. His teammates might lack his senses’ superhuman aspects, but they all felt the danger and acted accordingly.

Isabel was already at Lancelot’s side, having jumped down to abide by her duty as caretaker.

"Curses!" Robert cried between his teeth before also dropping into the hall. Fighting was his role in the team, so he had to join what clearly was an imminent battle.

As for Liam and Julian, they remained on the elevated area, soon witnessing the kind of enemies Archbishop Ignatius had prepared for the trial.

The doors’ darkness was unnatural. It was a barrier that hid its contents until they crossed its boundaries.

It all started with five white armored feet crossing the openings in unison, stepping on the pale-grey floor to leave the unnatural darkness and reveal more of their appearance.

Legs, arms, torsos, and helmets followed, all white, all armored. The armor actually was all there was, protecting nothing but empty insides.

Those soldiers weren’t cultivators. They were three-meter-tall peak rank 2 items, wielding large shields and spears made of the same white metal. Actually, the weapons seemed to be one with the living full plates.

"They are automatons!" Julian promptly shouted. "Inscribed puppets! Don’t treat them as living beings!"

The warning was meant to render the offense more effective. The automatons had no heads to sever or hearts to pierce. As such, they had to be destroyed, not killed.

Nevertheless, the team leader never needed such warnings in the first place.

"Higher, higher," Lancelot said, his voice defying time as a red light shone from his parted lips. "I breathe fire."

Redness overwhelmed the mostly monochrome environment. A torrent of fire blew out of Lancelot’s mouth as he tilted his head, spreading it over the five living armors that had stepped out.

Lancelot closed his mouth, blowing smoke from his nostrils, while the fire he had released dispersed soon after, only to reveal raised, incandescent shields.

The white metal had darkened, even melting in some spots, but the shields had remained intact otherwise, protecting the five automatons behind their heavy cover.

Yet, as the living armors lowered their fuming shields, five thick metal arrows shot from the darkness behind them, reaching the trio in no time.

As fast as the white arrows were, Lancelot, Isabel, and Robert were faster and easily side-stepped the attack. Their sharp tips bounced against the floor, unable to pierce it, but Robert failed to see anything reassuring in that.

"Weren’t righteous inheritances supposed to be safe?!" Robert cried.

Liam shared that doubt. He had connected the previous talk about corpses to fights among different teams, but those arrows could kill, and the doors’ darkness still hid far more.

"They probably won’t attack up here!" Julian declared. "But the inheritance might see it as a failure if you retreat!"

’I see,’ Liam realized. ’Retreating is indeed easy.’

The hall was just a few meters below the elevated area. Liam could have jumped that distance when he was a foundation expert, let alone now.

The danger wasn’t the point. The trial had an easy way out, but challengers had to win the fight if they wanted rewards and advance through the inheritance.

Retreat probably meant being teleported outside.

Naturally, Lancelot never once considered that option.

The five automatons used the opening created by the arrows to advance further, creating enough room for five additional armored puppets to leave the darkness. The newcomers wielded heavy crossbows instead, bolts already nocked.

However, the red light returned by then, this time in the shape of a large fiery sphere hovering in Lancelot’s raised hand, which he didn’t hesitate to hurl forward.

The crossbows fired while shields rose. Isabel and Robert dodged again, but Lancelot remained in his spot, his spell melting anything targeting him.

The fireball crashed at the center of one shield, releasing a deafening boom and an expanding rain of fiery tongues. By the time the redness and following smoke subsided, the targeted automaton revealed itself, what was left of its protection nothing more than molten, dripping metal.

The automaton’s shield arm had also become bright red, molten drops falling from it, but it only straightened its spear, wielding it with both hands to switch its battle stance.

Nevertheless, something matched the completion of the different battle stance. Heavy objects slammed on the automaton’s helmet, chest, and joints, carving fist-sized holes in its metal fabric.

The living armor tried to move despite the damage, only to flop to the floor, splitting apart, water leaking from its new cavities. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

"Nice one, Sister!" Lancelot laughed while the now-nine living armors advanced again, the ones in the backline nocking arrows their very arms had released.

Isabel didn’t care for the praise, instead focusing on the calculations in her mind while lowering her stretched arm.

Fully powered rank 2 spells were effective against the automatons. They required some strategy, but the living armors were far from unbeatable.

The problem was in the numbers. There were still twenty-four peak rank 2 items to dispose of, and most had yet-to-be-seen weapons. Also, chances were their battle strategy would change once they were fully deployed.

Two spells could suffice for each living armor, but that was an optimistic estimate. The automatons probably were of one mind, while only Lancelot and Isabel could show proper teamwork. The rest of their companions were outsiders who couldn’t possibly coordinate as well.

The hall was also vast, but not vast enough to dismiss the numerical disadvantage.

Even if Qi reserves didn’t become an issue, Isabel couldn’t see her team wiping out automatons faster than their advance. There would come a point when she and her companions would be at risk of being overwhelmed, and that led to mistakes.

With Lancelot, Isabel didn’t doubt her team’s victory. The cumulative exhaustion and injuries were the problem. They had decent preparations, but that was just the second trial, and the inheritance had an unknown number of them.

Probably, even the Church of the Man didn’t know how extensive that challenge was. After all, no one had overcome it yet.

But the trial didn’t care for Isabel’s math since the nine automatons’ advance made room for five more to step into the hall, the latter wielding broadswords with both hands, raised vertically in front of their helmets.