God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.-Chapter 747: Upon the Mountain.

Despite having shrunk down to human size, the Wind Drake was still rather huge.

It’s mere presence commanded a sense of authority that was difficult to resist.

Regardless, Evangeline merely turned to glance at him,

"We defeated the Horned Brutes, and so deserve a spot here. You all are wounded and exhausted from this bloodshed. I believe it would be in our best interests to get along."

A smirk tugged at the corners of her lips.

Cain couldn’t help but be impressed. Despite facing off such terrifying entities, she didn’t lose her composure one bit. In fact, she was negotiating on the higher ground!

The Wind Drake hummed, his eyes narrowed dangerously,

"And what if I simply refused? What if I decided to attack you right here, and right now, tearing you limb from limb?"

Evangeline shrugged, "You could try. But I assure you we won’t go down without a fight. How much you are willing to risk though, is entirely up to you. So what would it be..."

There was silence...

Every party seemed to be weighing their options.

The lone Dark Elf Hybrid swordsman suddenly chuckled,

"Interesting. I’ve always heard that humans are known to be crafty, but this is something else."

The Cynogryph sighed then turned to the Wind Drake,

"Asteron, I believe there has been enough slaughter for one day already."

The Wind Drake nodded,

"I believe so as well."

His eyes narrowed, "And it is true that they had proven themselves to be rather powerful."

The Giantess spat out,

"What a waste of time. Do whatever you want..."

Then she turned around and plopped down to the ground after walking away.

Cain watched the Dark Elf Hybrid and the Ifrit approach them.

The elven swordsman grinned,

"The name’s Grimm." His eyes were glued to Evangeline.

Cain raised a brow but didn’t say anything.

Evangeline coldly glanced at him,

"Evangeline."

Grimm cackled, "My... I have never met a human before. I wasn’t told they possessed angelic beauty."

The Ifrit snorted in disgust, "Keep it in the pants, you pervert bastard."

Grimm chuckled, "Cello, your jealousy is showing."

The crimson-skinned woman scrunched up her face in disgust,

"Tch! Whatever..."

Then she turned to Evangeline,

"We come from the same world, but entered the trial with different teams. The rest of our teams are dead, so we have decided to team up temporarily."

Evangeline nodded, "We came in together. This is our leader, Cain." She said, pointing at Cain.

Cello gave him a curt nod then turned back to Evangeline,

Then she snapped her fingers and the flaming beast beneath her turned into a conflagration before disappearing.

With her standing on her feet, Cain was surprised to see that she stood even taller than the Dark Elf.

"Those guys are also from the Godly Realm. They are lesser descendants of true Celestial Beasts. However, with the way things have been in the Celestial Realm for some time..."

Cello sighed, "Anyway, all I’m saying is be careful. They consider every other person here an enemy. Not until you are dead, or they had completed the trial. They care nothing or the lives of little creatures like us."

Evangeline narrowed her eyes. Then she turned to Cain.

He smiled, "While I do believe you are right, I think there are more pressing issues to address."

Cello frowned, then raised a brow,

"Like what?"

Cain grinned, "How many of these souls do we get?"

Grimm stared at Cain with wide eyes. Then he burst out laughing.

Cello’s frown deepened and her face darkened,

"That isn’t up to just us to decide."

Cain turned his head a bit and yelled out,

"Hey, how do we go about splitting all of this?"

The Wind Drake glanced at him then frowned,

"Those who participated in the battle with collect as much as they desire first. You humans can have what is left."

Cain nodded,

"Seems fair to me."

Then he turned to Cello,

"All those things can be considered at a later date. I can tell you have good intentions, so I thank you for that." Then he turned around and walked away.

The rest followed behind him, walking away from the Ifrit and Dark Elf.

Grimm turned to Cello a wide grin on his face,

"She’s hot."

Cello turned away from him and walked forward,

"Let’s collect the souls we can."

***

After the Wind Drake, Cynogryph and Giant had collected the souls they needed, the Dark Elf and Ifrit also filled their {Soul Retaining Orbs}.

Cain walked through the Sea of dead bodies, his face blank, his head filled with thoughts.

There were a few {Soul Retaining Orbs} that laid beside a few falling corpses which he collected as well after wiping them clean of blood.

After some time, he finally managed to amass nine {Soul Retaining Orbs}.

Together with the one he had received from the battle with the {Stone Bloodknight, Collosus}, he now had ten {Soul Retaining Orbs}, which would be able to retain at most, a thousand souls.

He bent down before the first corpse he could find that remained relatively whole and placed the {Soul Retaining Orb} above its head.

Very quickly, he saw the dazzling ball of light rise up above the creature’s head, gravitating towards the {Soul Retaining Orb} under his influence.

’That’s one...’

The others were also busy collecting the souls.

The number of dead were quite a lot, so there was plenty to go around.

He had also noticed that not every soul retrieval process was successful. Some failed in the process of absorbing the soul into the orb, allowing it to dissipate into the air.

It was dirty, gruesome work, sifting through mutilated bodies and blood. However, it was very necessary.

It took several hours, but eventually, they were done.

With a sigh, Cain wiped the blood off his arms and face.

’Three orbs are full, while the last one is nearly halfway there.’

It was a rather bountiful haul.

The beasts used that time to recover from the damage they had suffered during the battle.

Cain wiped the sweat off his brows,

’Looks like they plan on waiting for us before climbing further.’

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He smiled.

Evangeline walked up to him,

"The Wind Drake wants to head on up. He’s asking us to join them."

Cain nodded, "We have better odds going along with them."

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Jenny appeared beside Evangeline and sighed,

"What if their intentions for us aren’t very good?"

Cain shrugged, "If they wanted us dead, they wouldn’t go through all that."

Then he smiled, "I believe we have more to gain than to lose. I believe we will make more progress if we go along."

Jenny pursed her lips,

A few minutes later, they gathered and walked up to the three beasts. They had yet to resume their beastly forms, opting to remain in their humanoid forms for the moment.

The Wind Drake addressed Cain,

"This is just one path up the mountain. There are several others. Meaning the further we go up, the more opponents we encounter."

Cain nodded, "Then, I’d like to ask you a few this."

The Drake’s eyes narrowed, but he nodded,

"Ask away."

Cain grinned, "Then... What is the purpose of climbing this mountain? According to what the Arbitrator said, we have three goals to achieve; surviving for thirty days, collecting a thousand souls, and killing a star."

The Drake hummed, then answered,

"According to what I know, what we seek, the key to achieving the final goal of the trial, lays upon this mountain."

He narrowed his eyes,

"But I am not sure how much truth these words contain."

Cain frowned then nodded,

"We came to the mountain because it is the only landmark that can be seen from miles on end. It was only natural we headed here. But I’d like to ask. Where did you get this information?"

Could it have been the system?

He shook his head internally. No, that was not viable. If it was public information, he would have known that already.

The Wind Drake went silent for a moment,

"I believe it should be the same individuals that made use of the illusions to instigate all this madness." He said, looking around at the devastation. Some corpses had already begun to decompose, filling the air with the terrible scent of rot.

Cain raised a brow,

"Who were they?"

The Drake’s eyes narrowed and his tone dropped, becoming more menacing,

"A group of High Elves."

Cain’s eyes widened. He exchanged glances with Evangeline, who seemed to be just as surprised as he was.

The Wind Drake raised a brow,

"Looks like you know them."

Cain chuckled wryly, "A bit. We encountered them just before the start of the Trial, on the island."

The Wind Drake nodded, "I see..."

"Elves are insidious creatures, just as bad as Devils in terms of their ability to deceive and sow discord." The Cynogryph said, glancing at the Dark Elf who stood a few meters away.

The Dark Elf grinned,

"Come on now, we aren’t all that bad."

Then he turned to Cain with a grin,

"I don’t have to rely on deceit to kill my enemies. They need only see my blade once."

The Wind Drake sighed,

"In any case, we must head up as soon as possible. Time is not on our side..."

Cain smiled lightly,

"Then, lead the way..."