Lord of Annihilation

Blatantly ignoring Olivia's question, Lucius walked forward the joined the crowd of participants. Olivia, still in the unknown about what was happening, quickly followed behind him.

Looking around there seemed to be fifty participants waiting to start the trails. 

Around thirty of them were Giants of varying size while the remaining twenty were a motley crowd comprising of Beast-Humans, Grayis, a Grade 4 humanoid race possessing gray-colored skin and featureless faces, and finally a duo of Bertarians.

The moment Lucius and Olivia joined the crowd, the thirty-or-so Giants looked at the duo with friendly and competitive gazes, while the remaining looked at them with hostility.

Lucius, as usual, did not pay the slightest attention to their gazes and waited for the Labors to start. Olivia, on the other hand, looked around and tried to gather as much information as she could.

'Giants, Leg'lors, Oncanians…even those haughty Bertarians are here. But why?! What are we going to do?' Olivia cried internally, shooting a helpless gaze towards Lucius.

The result…she was ignored.

"Hahaha! Now that everyone is here, I suppose it is time to start the trails!" The Giant who had previously addressed Lucius, jovially laughed.

Olivia focused the complete attention of her eyes and ears on this Giant. She noticed that this particular giant was the largest one present in the surroundings, towering at a massive 150m in height. 

Recalling her classes on Anatomy, Olivia quickly made some observations.

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'150m is reaching the peak of what's possible in terms of size for the Giants. He is surely an adult, and seeing the faint wrinkles on his face, an older one at that.' She then scanned the other Giants with her gaze and noticed another peculiarity.

'The dozen Giants around him are standing in positions similar to a battle formation. Hmmm, their armors and aura, look and feels similar to a senior soldier or professional guards. They seem to be protecting him?'

'Another thing, that tall Giant is also wearing a weird, antler-like headgear. Is that a symbol of his authority? Could he be something like a king? That makes sense,' Olivia drew her own conclusions from the information around her.

Olivia's knowledge about various species came from her lessons with Lucius. While Lucius did introduce and explain a multitude of races within the Universe, he did so with their unique traits, abilities, strengths, weaknesses, basically, everything pertaining to combat.

As for information such as their history or culture, nothing was taught or explained.

Olivia found herself in a situation where she was able to draw a perfect anatomical picture of a Giant complete with fatal points and labeled parts. However, if she were to be asked what a Giant did in their free time, she would have no idea.

Meanwhile, the Giant King with the unique headgear looked at the participants with a proud and excited gaze and started to speak.

"I'm sure that all of you know why you've come here!"

'I don't!' replied Olivia, mentally.

"And I'm even more sure that all of you are aware of the risks you will bear while undertaking the trials!"

'What risks?!' cried Olivia, internally.

The Giant King gazed at the participants, whose eyes shined with competitiveness and bodies shuddered with hot-bloodedness, and smiled. The Giant participants were, in particular, unable to hide their zeal and excitement.

"Well, then! We have waited enough! I, Klytius, the current King of the Giants, declare the trial of the 'Twelve Labors' open!"

"Go forth, young heroes! Face the trails that the First Giant Ancestor, Heracles faced and overcome its insurmountable odds to break free from your current chains!"

"Go forth and return stronger than ever!"

His declaration boomed across the entire field and filled each participant with glorious purpose and limitless passion. Even Olivia herself, felt her blood boiling with excitement.

The space before the crowd of participants suddenly cracked open and boundless golden light leaked out from the crack, blinding everyone. The golden light flashed across the entire field once before disappearing as quickly as it appeared.

The crack in space also fixed itself and disappeared and silence returned to the field. One obvious change, however, was that every single of the fifty participants had vanished.

The Twelve Labors of the First Giant Ancestor, Heracles, had begun!

----------

Olivia found herself surrounded by infinite brightness when a sudden bout of dizziness hit her. At this change, she instinctually reacted by closing her eyes, circulating her soul power, and expanding her Field.

Waiting for the feeling of dizziness to disappear, she then made sense of the situation through her soul senses.

'I'm in a different location?' 

Opening her eyes, Olivia found herself at the edge of a mountain rock, overlooking a valley. The depth of the valley seemed to extend for at least a few kilometers, as she found its bottom covered in darkness.

'Seems like I was teleported into the trial location.'

She then immediately looked around her, trying to find Lucius. Unfortunately, he was nowhere to be found.

'We got separated?' Olivia frowned. 

In fact, she found no one else other than herself within the visible vicinity. 

'Does the trial separate the participants?' she thought to herself.

This was obviously not a good outcome since Olivia had no idea where she was or what she was doing. She neither had any idea about what the trails were.

'I'm so screwed, aren't I?' she bitterly laughed to herself.

Just then…

Cough! Cough! Cough!

Olivia heard a series of coughs. Instantly, fixing her sense in the direction of that sound, Olivia started to head towards it. With a cold expression on her face and Thorn within her hands, she was ready for battle.

----------

"Cough, cough! Dammit! Could it really not transport me to a better place?" Lu'uf, a middle-aged man and one of the only two Bertarians to participate in this trial, coughed out in disgust.

Black slurry-like substance was constantly spat out of his mouth as he continued to cough out and curse at his terrible luck. He forced himself from vomiting, as he smelled the disgusting substance that was spat out.

"Argh, I'm never going to forget this disgusting taste. Why, oh why, is my luck so terrible that I was teleported into his disgusting sludge pit?!"

Similar to Olivia and the rest of the participants, Lu'uf was teleported into the trial grounds. However, he seemed to have drawn the short straw when it came to location.

Unluckily for him, Lu'uf was teleported into a cesspit of sorts, filled with smelly and dusting slurry. As he was caught off guard, he had accidently swallowed large amounts of it.

Cough! Cough!

As he coughed out the last bits of the disgusting substance, Lu'uf immediately reached for the pouch by his waist as he wanted to remove his water flask and wash out the revolting taste. 

Just as his hands had recovered the water flask from his storage flask, Lu'uf's hands suddenly froze as he felt the cold edge of a blade upon his neck.

"Who's there?!" He yelled in anger and looked out from the corner of his eyes.

Holding the sword against his neck was an absolute beauty with a cold face, a ravishing figure, and mesmerizing violet eyes. Lu'uf immediately recognized this woman to be one of the last participants to join the group. 

However, his mind was soon overtaken by anger as he read the Peak-Level Stage 2 aura released by her body. For a Low-Level Stage 3 being like him, it was insulting to be held at sword-point by a weaker junior.

"A Stage 2 brat dare…" Lu'uf was in the process of drawing his soul power when he felt the sword's edge slightly sink into his vulnerable throat.

"Keep speaking nonsense and I will kill you." Olivia coldly spat. The overflowing murderous intent within her eyes showed that she was being serious.

Immediately realizing the precariousness of his situation, Lu'uf immediately felt his anger disappear and his mind cool down. He was a smart man who could read his surroundings and hence, acutely reacted.

"Okay, okay, calm down!" Lu'uf immediately replied in the calmest voice he could muster. Wearing a haughty expression, he continued, "What do you want?"

"What is this place?" questioned Olivia.

"No, I will NOT hand over my…wait, what?" Lu'uf reply, which started out as a standard reply to a bandit situation, quickly morphed into a question.

He then looked towards Olivia with an expression of pure confusion, and asked, "Did you just ask me what this place is?" His tone was strange.

Squashing the emotions of shame and embarrassment within her heart, Olivia quickly nodded.

Lu'uf looked at Olivia using the same gaze that one would look at an idiot with. Even the haughty expression on his face had collapsed, as he looked at her with complete incomprehension.

"Why are you asking me such an obvious question? You are here for the trial, right?"

"Yes…"Olivia gave out a drawn-out reply. "But can you tell me what 'you' are going here?" she asked, emphasizing the 'you'.

"Of course, I'm also here to complete the First Labor. Again, why are you asking me such obvious questions?"

"The First Labor? What is that?" Olivia asked while blinking her eyes.

Lu'uf also blinked his eyes before asking in a strange voice, "Are you an idiot?"

"No."

"Do you have dementia or any other memory disorder?"

"No…"

"Are you messing with me?" 

"Not at all,"

"Then why are you asking me such obvious questions?! You, do you even know that you're challenging the 'Twelve Labors' trial?!!" Lu'uf exploded.

Truth be told, Lu'uf was a soft-hearted, middle-aged Bertarian who was nothing like his normal peers. While he often sported a cold exterior and haughty demeanor, he possessed a very kind heart on the inside. 

He was the kind of guy who, when given an advertisement pamphlet on the streets, wouldn't immediately throw it but would rather take it home and then dispose of it in secret.

Even now, when Olivia had put her sword against his throat, he did not take too much offense from her actions and had planned to let her go after giving her a light punishment. 

Since she seemed to be a junior, an arm or a leg would suffice as a warning. As for taking her life, he deemed it too cruel and wasteful.

Pushing away the sword on his throat, Lu'uf jumped to his feet and started to berate Olivia, "Do you think this is a joke?! Do you find it funny to mock you're elder?! Young lady, you should feel very disappointed in yourself for lying…" 

Caught off-guard by this sudden lecture and sensing no hostile intent coming from his body, Olivia was honestly at a loss. She then waited for the overly zealous, middle-aged man before her to calm down a bit before interrupting.

"Wait, wait, wait! I'm not lying or mocking you. I honestly do not know where I am or what trail I'm facing."

She then proceeded to give him a brief explanation, while altering and hiding the majority of the truth.

Lu'uf listened to her explanation in length and gazed at Olivia with an incredulous expression. He then let out a sigh and said, "For such a reckless brat to enter the trail with no knowledge about the labors. You should thank your lucky stars that you managed to come across such a magnanimous elder like me."

Olivia sheepishly smiled but did not reply. 

Coughing twice, Lu'uf then started to explain, "We are currently inside the Training Land called the 'Twelve Labors'. It is one of the most popular training lands for people below the Stage 4 realm and is also widely known as the most difficult."

"Every two months or so, the Giants open this training land and allow the people who gained their recognition to undertake this trial. It is a widely sought and incredibly fortuitous opportunity."

Taking a breath, Lu'uf continued.

"Now for the trail, as the name suggests, the full trial consists of Twelve Labors that are inspired from the story of Heracles, the First Giant. I'll not be explaining the story as it can be read almost anywhere."

"Currently, we are inside the area of the First Labor which is to 'Slay the Nemean Lion'. Completing each labor will teleport you to the subsequent ones until all Twelve Labors are deemed complete. Giving up is also possible if you find yourself in danger."

Lu'uf took the time to patiently explain and Olivia listened with part attention. Soon, she understood the task and the subsequent test provided by Lucius.

'He wants me to use this opportunity to break into the next stage!' 

Olivia's gaze shined as she understood his intent.

----------

Meanwhile, in a different area within the First Labor. 

Lucius sat atop the beheaded corpse of a hill-sized lion with spotless, golden fur. His scythe rested on his shoulders with its edge dripping with thick, viscous blood.

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Lucius looked at the result of his attack underneath him and shook his head.

'Too easy,' he thought to himself.

The First Labor; Slay the Nemean Lion. A mountain-sized Wild Beast with Low-Level Stage 3 strength, known for its ferocious strength and impenetrable hide, was slain with a single attack from Lucius.

Time passed since the start of the trail…seven minutes. Most of which was spent finding the beast.

Lucius then shook his head once more and allowed the power descending upon him to envelop him. Soon, Lucius' figure vanished as he was teleported to the site of the next labor.