Kingdom Building: Civilization Starts with Divinity-Chapter 87: Trial of Finesse

|<You have gained a sudden mission!>|

|<Name: Trial of Finesse!>|

|<Goal: Clear the Trial of Finesse>|

|<Failure Condition: Death>|

|<Rewards: 1 Random Skill Shard, *Fully replenished HP & SP>|

"I seem to have made a severe and continuous lapse in my judgment."

At the side of her vision, a new mission appeared alongside a timer of one hour. At the same time, the numerous Dire Tooths began to swarm her.

Taking the hint, Alchemy ran at her top speed, tossing her torch to see how they reacted to the fire.

The burning stick hit one of the Dire Horns head-on, making it vanish. Unfortunately, she saw another appear from behind the back counter from the corner of her vision.

"They respawn endlessly, and they don’t give EXP. Oh dear. Status."

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|<Traits Tab 2/4>|

|<Name: Alchemy Ennis>|

|<Faction: Seraphim Verminae>|

|<Title: Monarch of the Myriad>|

|<Level: 27/50>|

|<Progress to Next Level: 66%>|

|<Idol: Clausura Aeternum>|

|<HP: 3846/4358>|

|<SP: 2320/2320>|

|<STR 163(+4):>| 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

|<INT: 180(+4)>|

|<CON: 240(+4)>|

|<FAI: 78(+8)>|

|<Skills: [Miracle Generation LV 2] | [Supplication LV 1] | [Nature Manipulation LV 2] | [Ruinous Bloom LV 2] | [Advanced Alchemical Theory LV 1] | [Skill Synthesis LV 1] | [Strong Body LV 2] | [Robust Mind LV 1] | [Powerful Strikes LV 1] | [Razor Surge LV 1]>|

=

’No... This is fine. This is so fine!’

While running, she examined her surroundings.

Much like the hallway prior to this massive room, it was lit by Light element Mana Shards. The roof was far higher up than it had any reason being, and over a dozen pillars held the entire thing up.

Aside from all that, there were countless tables with food on them and a back counter. There was more room behind it, but Alchemy was far too busy not dying to know for sure. All she got was a furry fellow who stood upright on two legs...

Who threw a knife straight at her like it was a bullet.

She paused her movement for a moment so as not to get skewered, glancing at the knife only to realize that it was a butter knife. She then promptly began running again.

’We’re in a school cafeteria, it seems, so I reckon that Chef Rat is the mini-boss, huh?’

While she was thinking, a brave few rats tried to jump at her, which she kicked away, making them vanish.

She was faster than her foe for once, but that didn’t help much when she was being swarmed from a full 360 degrees.

’Uh... Uh... That!’ She thought, a lightbulb appearing above her head.

|<Idol: Clausura Aeternum has been activated!>|

Rapidly, her chains shot out of the ground, eliminating numerous Dire Tooths that they passed through to get to their location. That location is high up on one of the supporting pillars.

"Cheers~!"

Grabbing onto the chain, Alchemy used her free hand to tauntingly salute the monsters before the chain began pulling her up toward the pillar.

As she looked down, she was delighted to see that all the rats stopped and looked around, seemingly confused at how Alchemy just did that.

’Ooh-kay. What do I do now?’ She nervously chuckled.

Her chains wouldn’t last the whole hour. While her SP has increased by leaps and bounds, even since the encounter with the Mint Lions, 100 SP every 3 seconds was still a bit too much for her to use for extended periods.

Even if she did have the SP regeneration to do that, she had seen the Dire Tooth’s ability to dig firsthand. The pillar she found herself on would not be well for this world soon enough.

’The Trial of Finesse, huh? No idea how finesse relates to surviving a horror movie, but I need to defeat the miniboss ASAP. The question is... How?’

Since this was a trial, Alchemy guessed there was some sort of mechanism or hint to help her out. If she were lucky, it’d stop the Dire Tooths from spawning altogether, but she couldn’t see any such devices.

Unless it was a puzzle with the Mana Shards, but she doubted that. There was no pattern to them or anything; they were just placed optimally to minimize the darkness in the room.

If she had the mental capacity to spare, Alchemy would be amazed by the attention to detail whatever satanic being that built this torment nexus had.

Then it hit her. Nearly, at least.

The Miniboss threw another knife at her, lodging deeply into the pillar. If that hit her, she was dying for sure.

"Screw the meaning of the trial. I’m just gonna go one shot, the boss."

Looking down once again, her horned friends finally figured out what to do about Alchemy’s superior altitude, begging to spin their drill-like horns.

Before the pillar could even shake, however, Alchemy recalled her chains and launched herself toward the back counter.

While in air, she activated Ruinous Bloom and Supplication, bracing for impact all the while.

Her landing, while not creating a crater, made all of the Dire Tooths near her vanish instantly.

|<Your stats have increased by 66% for 5 minutes!>|

"Not as high as I was hoping. My CON seems to not be my only high defensive stat."

While Hidden stats weren’t visible, they did still increase like any other.

Regardless, Alchemy dashed toward the back counter. As she got closer, the Miniboss continued to throw things at her.

It didn’t stop with knives. Forks, spoons, and even a plate were thrown at her like a shuriken. Of course, she dodged the projectiles with nearly no difficulty.

Even Gravana had some trouble landing a hit on her point-blank. Some random Miniboss that was around her level had absolutely no chance.

|<Idol: Clausura Aeternum has been activated!>|

When she got into range, she jumped toward the weird human-rabbit hybrid creature, vaulting the counter entirely, aiming to pierce the thing through its eye like so many others who had fallen to her.

It narrowly avoided her, but with the reactivation of her chains flying behind her, he was captured quite handily.

"Since I missed the first attack, it still counts as a one-shot, right?" Alchemy questioned while giving the creature an eerie grin.