"Lo, the damned seek not only vengeance but solace for wounds long forgotten."
— A Mourning Executioner.
The monsters came almost immediately after the announcement.
They emerged from the blood river in twitching masses of flesh and bone, stitched together from mismatched body parts like failed attempts at recreating life.
Human torsos fused with animal limbs.
Skulls split open and filled with teeth.
Bodies held together entirely by coagulated blood.
Some crawled.
Some dragged themselves forward with broken fingers.
Others sprinted unnaturally fast despite lacking legs entirely.
The moment they reached the cliff paths, they charged toward us.
The barriers shook violently upon impact.
Miranda immediately took the front line.
Every punch she threw sounded less like flesh striking flesh and more like stone pillars collapsing. Monstrous bodies exploded apart beneath her fists, scattering blood and organs across the cliffside.
Belinda unleashed spell after spell from behind her, torrents of flame illuminating the darkness while Bo carved through the creatures with savage brutality.
As for me, I focused entirely on maintaining the barriers while firing into the advancing hordes.
The dungeon had only instructed us to survive.
Which meant this was not a battle.
It was endurance.
I glanced toward the blood lake once more.
The Widow still stood within it.
Motionless.
Watching.
The stitched corners of her mouth curved upward impossibly far as though she were smiling despite the black thread sealing her lips shut.
Every monster we killed collapsed into liquid blood that flowed back down the cliff and rejoined the river below.
And from that same river—
More emerged.
The lake was recycling its dead.
The realisation sent unease crawling beneath my skin.
The number of monsters gradually increased until even Miranda began struggling to keep the front line stable.
Thankfully, Bel reacted quickly.
She slammed both palms together and cast a wall of fire across the narrow pathways leading upward.
The flames roared violently.
Any creature that passed through them ignited instantly.
Burning corpses stumbled forward before collapsing into molten heaps of flesh.
And despite everything happening around us, one truth became painfully obvious.
Miranda was carrying this trial.
Her defence was absurd.
Her endurance is even worse.
Every time the line threatened to collapse, she forced it back through sheer violence alone.
Even so, I still reinforced her body with buffs and healing spells whenever possible, though she clearly disliked being assisted.
At the ten-minute mark, the monsters changed.
The newer creatures were larger.
Heavier.
More stable.
Some possessed full skeletal structures now.
Others had additional limbs stitched onto them like malformed blessings.
And among them—
The orphans returned.
I saw raincoat-covered figures crawling through piles of flesh, laughing softly while dragging sharpened bones behind them.
Miranda began taking visible damage.
Her breathing grew harsher.
Blood dripped steadily from her knuckles.
So I shifted my focus almost entirely toward supporting her.
Healing.
Reinforcement.
Acceleration.
Pain suppression.
I gritted my teeth in frustration.
Had I been assigned the DPS role, I could have reduced this entire horde to ash.
The moment we escaped this dungeon, I swore to myself that I would begin studying proper support arcana.
Belinda's spell-casting eventually began slowing as well.
I could feel her residual reserves nearing exhaustion.
So I cast a transfer spell.
A stream of residue flowed from me into her.
Bel yelped loudly before realising what had happened.
"Thank you!" she shouted before immediately resuming her barrage of spells, though noticeably smaller now.
Then the final five minutes began.
And everything worsened.
The lake erupted.
Monsters began pouring from it in impossible numbers.
Not climbing.
Flooding.
The cliffside paths disappeared beneath masses of flesh.
The barriers trembled constantly now as wave after wave smashed against them.
We were slowly being pushed backwards.
Several creatures simply waited near the cliff edge below us, their twisted heads tilted upward expectantly as though eager to watch us fall into the blood river.
At that point, attacking became nearly impossible.
All of our efforts shifted entirely toward survival.
I continuously repaired the barriers as quickly as they shattered.
My residue drained so rapidly that dizziness began creeping into my skull.
Still—
Miranda held.
Barely.
MISSION COMPLETE
SURVIVE: 20/20 MINUTES
The announcement echoed through my head.
And instantly—
Every monster collapsed.
Bodies burst apart into blood and rotting flesh before flowing back down into the river below.
Silence returned.
Everyone released exhausted sighs of relief.
But something felt wrong.
I turned toward the lake.
The Widow still stood there.
She had not disappeared.
She was staring directly at me.
Not at Miranda.
Not at Bel or Bo.
Me.
And somehow, despite the sewn mouth, I knew she was smiling.
Then suddenly—
My residue surged.
The exhaustion clouding my mind vanished completely.
The headache from overcasting disappeared as though it had never existed.
EFFECT: BLESSINGS OF THE LAKE OF LIFE
GREATLY INCREASE ALL RECOVERY FOR 10 SECONDS
PASSIVELY ACTIVATES EVERY 20 SECONDS
A blood-red aura wrapped around my body.
The same effect appeared around the others as well.
Belinda immediately looked uncomfortable.
Bo visibly recoiled.
Miranda narrowed her eyes toward the lake with open distrust.
As for me…
I felt calm.
Comfortably calm.
Warmth spread through my chest while faint whispers drifted at the edge of my hearing.
Songs.
Soft songs.
I ignored them.
No blessing was given without purpose.
Which meant another trial was coming.
We waited cautiously.
Nothing happened at first.
Bo's grip tightened so hard around his weapons that blood dripped from his palms.
Bel looked mentally exhausted.
Miranda stood completely still, covered head to toe in blood and gore.
Then the lake began trembling.
At first the vibrations were minor.
Then the entire blood river started boiling violently.
Three enormous stone pillars rose slowly from beneath the surface around the Widow.
Chunks of stone crumbled away piece by piece.
Revealing what rested inside.
Statues.
No—
People.
Men fused into stone pillars.
They had no hands.
Their lower halves were replaced with mismatched animal limbs crudely stitched into their flesh.
Their bodies had been severed in half vertically, yet remained connected closely enough that their organs spilt visibly through the gaps.
Though their bodies resembled stone, blood still flowed from every wound.
Then their eyes opened.
Not two.
Four.
Four eyes arranged vertically along each face.
The blood lake immediately began bubbling harder.
The statues opened their mouths.
Pitch-black blood poured from within them and flowed endlessly into the lake below.
THIRD TRIAL ENEMY DETECTED: THE STATUES OF SACRIFICE
MISSION:
SLAY — 0/12
EFFECT:
EVERY 4 MINUTES, THE STATUES OF SACRIFICE REMAIN ACTIVE ALL SPAWNED MONSTERS WILL GROW STRONGER.
EACH EYE OF THE STATUES OF SACRIFICE REPRESENTS A LIFE.
PREVIOUS EFFECT:
BLESSINGS OF THE LAKE OF LIFE WILL REMAIN ACTIVE THROUGHOUT THE TRIAL.
WARNING:
ALL RESPAWN ITEMS WILL BE DESTROYED.
The Widow suddenly screeched.
The sound resembled the cry that summoned the orphans before, except infinitely worse.
It sounded like thousands of dying throats screaming together beneath water.
Then I heard something crack.
I looked toward my wrist.
The crystal was gone.
Shattered completely.
A quiet voice whispered nearby.
"No… please… no…"
I was not sure whether it was Bel or Bo.
But strangely enough—
I did not feel fear.
I should have.
Any normal person would.
Yet instead, I felt… peaceful.
Almost relieved.
I looked towards the Widow again.
Chains extended from each statue, binding her in place within the lake.
And still—
She watched me.
Patiently.
Warmly.
The feeling was so deeply wrong that it should have terrified me.
Instead, I almost felt grateful.
Then the lake rippled once more.
New monsters emerged from the blood.
This time, streaks of black blood pulsed visibly beneath their flesh.
The creatures stared upward toward us.
Then collectively roared.
The sound shook the cliffside.
I tightened my grip on my rifle and prepared my spells.
Before turning toward the incoming horde, I spared the Widow one final glance.
She was still watching me.