Lord of Annihilation

"Hieeeee!!"

Letting out a sharp yelp of surprise Olivia's body stiffened from the sudden jump scare causing her to mess up her running pace. This slight delay in pace caused her to miss her next step resulting in a major stumble.

Just as her body leaned over and was about to hit the ground with tremendous speed and force, Olivia felt a warm arm tighten its hold around her waist and catch her.

Feeling her momentum come to a stop, Olivia blinked a few times before turning her head to look at her savior.

A pale, handsome, almost-feminine looking face sporting a bored look came into view.

"H-Hey Lucius. What brings you here?" she awkwardly greeted. 

Almost immediately, a look of puzzlement appeared on her face as she continued, "Wait, how are you even here? Isn't this supposed to be an individual trial?" 

Lucius did not reply but rather helped her regain her balance and footing. After letting go of his hold over her waist, he backed off and unenthusiastically stared at Olivia.

After a few seconds of silence, he asked once again.

"Are you an idiot?"

Tilting her head quizzically, Olivia asked, "What do you mean?"

In response, Lucius simply pointed towards a certain direction with his finger. Looking over towards the direction of his pointing, Olivia's eyes suddenly widened with surprise.

In the direction at which Lucius was pointing towards was a small-bodied, brown-colored, pig-like creature quietly grazing the grass. 

The Fleet-Footed Hind that strung on Olivia in a high-speed chase for the last thirty minutes was calmly and elegantly strutting around without any inclination of running away or escaping.

"This little basta--!!" Olivia suddenly shut her mouth.

A bolt of realization flashed across her eyes as she intently observed the distance between herself and the hind. 

It was exactly fifty meters.

"Do you get it now?" Lucius' calm voice broke the silence.

"Uh-uhn!" Olivia nodded her head and tutted. Pointing towards the calmly strutting Fleet-Footed Hind, she answered, "That bundle of evil over there must have some sort of unique ability or skill that allows it to maintain a constant distance from me. When I increase my speed, it is also able to increase its speed. When I slow down, it also similarly slows down."

Hearing her answer, Lucius nodded his head and explained.

"The Fleet-Footed Hind is a being that is mainly composed of the Lesser Rule of Space and Dimensions. It represents the concept of 'Impassability' and cannot be directly caught by existences below Stage 5."

"Huh? Isn't this trial just impossible then?" Olivia had barely made out a reply when she felt a familiar pain on her forehead. "Ouch!"

Keeping his fingers in the 'flicking' stance, Lucius spoke with narrowed eyes, "Has two weeks in the acidic swamp rotted your brain? Think carefully!"

"How do you catch something that cannot be directly caught?" Lucius repeated.

"You can't!" Olivia defiantly replied while rubbing her forehead. She was feeling a little angry after listening to Lucius' harsh remarks.

Just as she was about to follow up on her retort, her face suddenly froze and her body stopped. A sudden stroke of inspiration flashed across her mind as her mouth repeatedly uttered.

"youcan'tyoucan'tyoucan'tyoucan't…"

Thirty seconds later, an 'aha' expression appeared on Olivia's face. She then immediately muttered some instructions to her sword and then began to move.

Ten minutes later, the Fleet-Footed Hind was made to successfully fall into a large pit of Olivia's creation within which it was skewered by Thorn. 

Olivia stood outside the pit wearing a victorious expression on her face while wiping the sweat off of her face. She stood holding onto her knees as her chest constantly heaved from breathlessness.

"Told you I would skewer you, little piggy bastard." 

She then collapsed onto the ground and lied on the flat grasslands with her limbs outstretched. Though she had successfully caught the hind, the effort it took to achieve this result was significant.

Turning her face to face the figure of Lucius, who was calmly standing at her side with his eyes closed, she asked, "You still haven't answered my question. How are you inside my trial?"

Turning his palm, Lucius showed a beautifully shaped transparent crystal quietly floating over it. The crystal possessed twelve edges of which three had turned white. 

"I asked the Giant King to give me an 'Admin Token'. I'm here to oversee and assist you when required to ensure your quick completion of the 'Twelve Labors'."

"Why? Didn't you say 'no assistance will be given?'" Olivia asked while mimicking Lucius' tone during the second sentence.

"The trail will close in 23 hours and 36 minutes. I need you to get as close as possible to the end before that happens."

"Huh." Olivia casually nodded her head. She then suddenly paused and hurriedly sat up, "Wait! There's a time limit to this thing?!"

"Yes. Did you not know?" 

"You never told me anything!! You forced me into this without explaining anything! Did you know how scared I wa—"

Olivia's complaints were abruptly cut short as Lucius grabbed her by the nape. Lifting her up like how one would lift up their cat, Lucius coldly declared.

"Looks like you've regained sufficient energy. Let's continue with the trials then."

Infusing soul power into the transparent crystal in his palm, Lucius used the crystal's power and teleported both of them into the next Labor.

"Hey! Don't grab me like that! At least grab me from the front so that I can--!"

Olivia's complaints(?) were drowned out by the curtain of white light covering them.

---------

With Lucius' by her side constantly giving her small hints and tips, Olivia's efficiency in breaking through the trials increased exponentially. As this was supposed to be a training experience for Olivia, Lucius never stepped in directly to help or gave her the correct answer from the start.

He only threw out random one-liners from time to time which allowed Olivia to gain the inspiration to complete the trial.

The Fourth Labor, which was to capture the large-bodied Erymanthian Boar 'alive', was of little challenge to Olivia. It only took her a grand total of ninety minutes to complete the trial.

After the battle with the Nine-Headed Hydra, her soul abilities seemed to have undergone a major breakthrough.

Taking control of the dull-minded boar was of little challenge and controlling it to reach the required destination was even lower.

However, the trial was definitely not a waste of time as manually controlling the Peak-Level Stage 3 beast allowed Olivia to get used to her new prowess and greatly refine her control. 

The two tips given by Lucius during this time also served to hasten her growth.

The Fifth Labor, which was to clean King Augeas' Stables, was directly skipped over. 

Since it was time-consuming and was only meant to help the participants temper their minds and build their characters, it was deemed unnecessary for Olivia by Lucius.

Olivia was also not of any particular mind to clean a stable filled to the brim with filth and even inwardly rejoiced at Lucius' decision.

The Sixth Labor, which was to battle and kill a swarm of Metal Vultures, was the toughest battle that Olivia had fought in her life, even surpassing that life-threatening encounter from the Stage 3 Sword-Winged Angel.

Like the name suggested, Olivia had to face a swarm of bloodthirsty vultures whose entire bodies were composed completely of metal. 

Each feather was as long and sharp as a dagger while their beaks and talons were sharp and strong enough to easily pierce and crush the strongest alloys known to man.

Their bodies were also a lot tougher than usual but were quite weak when compared to the hide of the Nemean Lion or the scales of the Nine-Headed Hydra. Nonetheless, with Thorn in her hands, Olivia did not find it very difficult to cut them apart.

However, the real challenge was not their avian prowess or their sharp beaks, but their numbers!

The entire swarm consisted of three hundred Low-Level Stage 3 beasts. The Metal vultures possessed incredible cooperation with other members of their kin which in turn greatly increased their overall prowess and danger.

Nevertheless, with a dozen near-death encounters, a staggering amount of blood loss, and three hours of high-intensity battle, the trial came to an end with Olivia on top.

She did lose one of her hands, a part of her right leg, and a good chunk of her abdomen. However, the final result was in her victory.

It was also during this battle that Lucius came to acknowledge Olivia's ability and prowess, and felt some genuine respect for her. Her status within his mind had also increased from being 'that useful tool' to a 'worthy ally'.

While this change might not seem significant, one had to know that only a small handful of people had managed to attain this honor in the entirety of Lucius' past life. Their numbers were so small that one would be able to count them with only their fingers.

And now, Olivia had managed to attain this honor and recognition.