Is this really a Game?!

They had five minutes, only five minutes to wound the Warden or face certain death. That sent a wave of urgency through the group, but then they quickly relaxed. Five minutes might seem like a lot, but for them, who would move at a speed above the speed of sound when going all out, it was actually not a short period of time.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

In fact, they couldn't last that long when using their marks at all, and since this was not a battle of attrition, they went all out from the start, not holding anything back.

There was no need to think about the five minutes, in fact, that timer was useless to them. Their marks would dissipate long before the five minutes were down, and if they were unable to harm the Warden in that state, then they would never be able to wound him.

"Don't use your transformation, we need it after we wound him." Jin suddenly told Reign who nodded his head.

"A single minute to survive after wounding the Warden, the only chance we have to survive that time is your Nephilim form, in fact, shouldn't a minute be about the longest you can stay transformed while not holding anything back?" Shadow asked as Reign sighed.

"If I transform and hold nothing back, then slightly below a minute is the max, if I do hold back a bit, attacking and then doing nothing, I can last longer, just like in the previous trial."

"Don't worry, we'll wound him, after all, it is 10 against 1, I don't believe the Warden will be able to go against us all without being wounded," Jin said as he stared at the Warden, who was still not doing a thing.

The Warden stood motionless in the center of the arena, its ominous, red-glowing eyes scanning each member of the group. Despite the overwhelming display of power from the team upon using their marks, the Warden's presence remained unchanged—stoic, impenetrable, and indifferent.

They had five minutes.

"Spread out!" Reign ordered, his voice cutting through the tension. "We'll hit it from all sides. Target the joints, the neck, and any gaps in the armor. No wasted attacks!"

The group scattered, moving into position around the Warden, each preparing to launch their strongest offensive. Reign was the first to strike. His swords hummed with vibrating energy, both light and dark converging as he slashed down at the Warden's neck, aiming for the gap between the helmet and chest plate.

Clang!

The sound of metal meeting metal echoed through the arena. Reign's strike, which had cleaved through powerful enemies in the past, barely left a scratch on the Warden's armor. The creature didn't flinch, didn't move. It simply stood there, as if mocking their efforts.

Wolf roared, unleashing a massive wave of purple flames directly at the Warden's legs, hoping to melt the armor or destabilize the creature's footing. The flames wrapped around the Warden's body, burning with such intensity that the ground beneath the creature sizzled and cracked. But when the fire cleared, the Warden stood unscathed, the armor absorbing the flames as if they were nothing.

"Impossible…" Wolf muttered under his breath, his fists clenching in frustration.

Mia wasn't far behind. She summoned an enormous ice spear, sharper and denser than anything she had created before. The freezing air around her condensed as she hurled the spear toward the Warden's exposed knee, hoping to exploit a weak point. The spear struck true, but like Reign's attack, it shattered on impact, the shards of ice scattering across the battlefield.

The group continued their assault, each member pushing themselves to the limit. Aelrinder's wind-infused spear thrusts struck the Warden's side repeatedly, each attack accompanied by powerful gusts of wind that would have ripped through lesser foes. Beast fired arrow after arrow, each imbued with an explosive force that detonated on contact, but still, no real damage was done.

Even Tank and Greenie, with their overwhelming strength, couldn't breach the Warden's defenses. Tank swung his massive axe with all his might, targeting the Warden's elbow, hoping to break through the armor with sheer force. The impact sent shockwaves through the ground, but the Warden remained standing as if the attack hadn't even registered.

"How do we wound this thing?!" Shadow growled, his voice filled with frustration as his dagger strikes, even those aimed at the vulnerable gaps in the armor, did nothing. His darkness seeped into the Warden's armor, but it was as if the creature's very presence rejected the magic, neutralizing his abilities.

No attack was able to do a thing to the monster, and even though only a couple of seconds had passed, they were all panting, not from overextending themselves and spending too much energy, but because the pressure that was placed on them by the Warden was simply overwhelming.

He had not moved an inch ever since they started attacking him, not a single inch. Even when being attacked by everything they had, without a single thing held back, the Warden didn't move at all.

They were unable to force him to even defend against attacks, that was just how powerful he was, and how far above them he stood.

"What the hell is this thing, if it really is this powerful, doesn't that mean that if we truly manage to wound it, it'll slaughter us all in a second?" Shadow asked, cold sweat dripping down his back as he stared into the eyes of the Warden who was doing nothing but tanking all their attacks, making it seem that all their efforts were useless.

"No, it just seems like it's not doing a thing, but in reality, we are pushing it, that much is certain." Reign suddenly said as he stared at the Warden with a slight smile on his face.

"I can sense it, each time an attack is about to land, it uses mana to reinforce that part of his body, not to mention that it is using much more than mana, without realizing it, we have already been attacked, weakened, our attacks as well."

"What?" Everybody glanced at Reign, confused by his words.

"Soul Power, he can use it, and he is already using it to create the aura that we can sense, which is actually weakening us, as well as our attacks."

Reign's revelation hit the group like a cold splash of water. The oppressive aura they had felt since the Warden appeared wasn't just an intimidating presence—it was actively working against them. The Warden wasn't merely standing there; it was using Soul Power to suppress their strength, draining their attacks of effectiveness without them even realizing it.

"So, it's not just its physical strength we're fighting against. It's sapping our energy," Wolf muttered, clenching his fists tighter as purple flames flickered faintly around him.

"It's not just sapping our energy," Reign continued, his voice low but steady. "It's dulling our senses and reflexes too. Every second we spend in this aura, we get weaker. We can't keep this up for five minutes."

"But how do we wound something that's draining us just by standing there?" Mia asked, her frost pulsing faintly around her, struggling to maintain its strength against the Warden's overwhelming presence.

Reign's mind raced as he observed the Warden. The creature's armor was impenetrable by normal means, and its Soul Power was nullifying their strongest attacks. But if they couldn't rely on brute force alone, they'd need to be smarter.

"We need to disrupt its Soul Power," Reign said, the gears in his mind turning rapidly.

"It's not like anything I've seen before, which is why it took me this long to actually realize it is soul power, I'm not 100% certain I can disrupt it by myself, as I never had to do something like this, nor have I ever seen soul power being used in such a fashion, but I'm the only one that can do so."

"If Aelrinder could talk to us, he would probably tell us that we are idiots who can't realize a thing, especially me." Reign stated with a chuckle before his eyes turned bright purple, and he used his soul aura.

Hundreds of souls came out of his consciousness, and he sent them all toward the Warden. He had no idea how to disrupt the aura, so he was going to try and brute force his way through it, to disrupt it with the help of the souls he had devoured in the past.

"Not a bad try," Aethion said inside his consciousness, staring at the battle.

"Can it help?" Jared asked from the side as Aethion nodded.

"It can, but there are better ways to do it, unfortunately, he is right, he never had to deal with something like this, so I never taught him that."

"But at least he was able to recognize what it is doing to them, and formed a way to get through it."

"Let us see just how effective it will be."

"I hope it works," Jared said as he stared at the Warden, who was placing some pressure on him as well.