Chaper Ten
Chapter Ten
EVERLASTING TRIALS
HAH
HAH
Dionysus awoke with a start and found himself within quite the predicament.
He found himself hanging upside down from the ceiling of the room that he had emerged from earlier. He was confused as to why he was back here, but being in the position that he was, he couldn't quite do anything to quench his thirst for knowledge.
'Wait a second, I remember. Those asswipes put me down!'
Dionysus began to wriggle around while being hung upside down. He was being held to the ceiling via chains, but there wasn't nearly enough negativity surrounding him to even dent them, much less get himself out of them.
"Let me explain to you why you're in your current predicament."
Behind him, the voice of the person he was talking to before he got knocked out resounded. Dionysus began to bite at the chains, but no results came of it.
"What a load of shit, what are these chains made from?!"
Dionysus continued to flail around in the air, which brought out a little bit of a chuckle from the person behind him. Since that happened, Dionysus could quite literally see the negativity dissipate.
'That cockroach is taking joy from my failing!'
Dionysus bit the bottom of his lip and stopped wriggling around. He accepted the fact that he wasn't going to get down unless he got some assistance.
"Ah, it seems that you're finally ready to listen."
The person who was behind him now stood in front of him. He walked to the position at a brisk pace which pissed Dionysus off, so nothing quite new happened. He proceeded to pull a chair out from underneath a table within the room and sat on it.
"So, how much of your current predicament do you understand?"
He said this while sipping coffee and reading a newspaper.
"Enough to know you're not out to kill me."
Although Dionysus had gotten knocked out last time he said something similar, it was the truth. They really could have just killed him if they wanted to.
"So nothing. Alright, I suppose I'll explain."
The man took one last sip before putting the coffee down and sighing. Afterwards, he looked up at Dionysus with eyes full of intent.
"The Chained King has demanded that we force you to take a trial, and that's what will happen. It will test everything you have. This isn't going to be a simple punchout to the death, but a series of three challenges in which you could very well die if you don't have it in you to survive."
Although the coffee was put down, the newspaper was still in his hand and was being used as a fan of sorts.
"I don't know about any king of yours, but I'm not interested in a trial. I've got my own stuff to do. Actually, I fought a demon to the death not even that long ago, what happened back there?"
Dionysus actively attempted to evade the situation by bringing up another topic. Unfortunately, the man wasn't a big enough fool to just drop everything and start discussing life with Dionysus.
"It seems you still don't understand your position. There is a chance that you will die while taking this trial, but if you don't take it . . ."
He stopped using the newspaper as a fan.
". . . there is no chance of you living."
An extreme silence set in after he declared those words. The two stared at one another for a bit, with no actions being made on either side.
"Hmm . . ."
Dionysus was currently stuck deep within his thoughts. As of right now, he was trying to sort out all the events that had happened up until now.
Finally, after some time passed, Dionysus decided to respond to the words of the man before him.
"The fact that you're a cockroach changes nothing, I suppose."
"If my only chance at survival is through this little trial, I suppose I'm forced to take it."
Dionysus had arrived at the conclusion that he had no choice but to take it.
"Hmm, the king will be most pleased that we didn't force you to do it, but that you chose of yo-"
"Fuck off, go tell this king of yours to get the trial prepared already."
Dionysus quickly attempted to shut the man up. Although it was a bit shocking, the response was nothing outside of the man's expectations.
"I suppose I should tell you my name."
He took his glasses off and put them on the table before proceeding to stand up and walk right in front of Dionysus. He then held the palm of his hands out in front of Dionysus.
CHING
The chains unwrapped themselves from around Dionysus, which led to him . . .
THUD
. . . hitting the ground.
"Wasn't there any easi-!"
Dionysus was quickly cut off by the hand in front of his face. It was a clear gesture of a handshake, and it was one that Dionysus promptly took.
"My name's Asclepius, young Dionysus."
"Guess there's no point in telling you my name, huh?"
--- SEQUENCE 2 ---
Asclepius had given Dionysus a tour of where they were. There wasn't a town or city of any sorts, it was just a lot of little shacks and tents. Apparently, buildings like the one he was in were actually very rare to come across within these lands.
Along with that, many species resided here. Whether it was succubi, minotaurs, or giants, all of them could be found within these lands.
'It's much more diverse than the empire or Gratnian kingdom, to say the least.'
Dionysus didn't even know that some of the species that resided here existed. For example, a succubus was something that Dionysus thought of as fiction, and nothing more.
'I'd like to fight one someday . . .'
Dionysus smacked his lips and continued to follow Asclepius. However, it seemed there was no point, as Asclepius had stopped moving before a large wooden entrance surrounded by humongous stone walls.
"What's this?"
HEH
"Why, this is the beginning of your trials. This is a dungeon that has three different trials, each one challenging a segment of your being."
Dionysus nodded along as he spoke.
"However, there is something about these trials. Every time someone enters the dungeon, the entrance is closed behind them, meaning no exit is allowed until they beat the trials. Along with that, each and every person that enters it will have the dungeon test their limits fully. Meaning, it'll adapt to you and your abilities and give a test fitting of you."
SHOVE
"Have a great time, Dionysus."
". . . huh?"
SLAM
--- SEQUENCE 3 ---
COUGH COUGH
Dionysus coughed out all the dust that had entered his lungs. After he had been shoved into the dungeon, the doors really did immediately close.
'Damn it, why'd he shove me? I probably wasn't going to run away.'
Dionysus stood upright and scanned his surroundings. He was in a large room in the shape of an oval. At the center of the room, there seemed to be four towers of flames and a stage of sorts. As for the rest of the room, although it had nice patterns and pillars, there was nothing else to see.
"Tsk"
Dionysus walked up onto the stage and waited for something to happen. At first, everything seemed to be the exact same. Time passed, however, and a large wheel dropped down in front of Dionysus. On it was an arrow and many choices.
You have been determined to be . . .
WHIING
The wheel spun at a pace so fast that Dionysus' eyes couldn't even make out the options anymore. After around thirty seconds, it stopped spinning, and the option it landed on was . . .
ARROGANT
"Arrogant? That's just a natural part of all humans, it's just that some people suppress it really well."
That was Dionysus' overview of the overwhelming majority of emotions that humanity showed. He understood there was a reason that they were right in-between heaven and hell, and that was because humans can be either good or evil.
'We can be worse than demons, yet nicer than even angels.'
He understood just how diverse the race was.
CRASH
All the way at the opposite end of the room from where he entered, a capsule like thing dropped in from seemingly nowhere.
FSHH
It opened up, and from within it emerged a gargantuan armored knight. The humongous axes that it wielded in both hands also happened to be larger than him, which spoke volumes of how large the actual knight was.
'The room's quite big to fit a guy that big, huh . . .'
At first, it was looking down. However, its eyes hiding behind a helmet became as blue as the sky and it began to move. It lifted its body up, and moved right towards Dionysus.
"Huh? A little bitch is approaching me?"
Dionysus walked right towards it. Although the average human would find it menacing, Dionysus was experienced enough to understand that the armor it wore had many openings.
'In particular, the joints of the armor usually have openings.'
The only issue is that there wasn't that much negativity floating around. The only bit of negativity was being released from the giant before him, and it seemed to be the intent to kill him.
RAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
With a shout as mighty as the earth itself, it lifted both its axes up and began to slam them down right onto Dionysus.
"Huh? Why's your attack pattern so simple?"
Dionysus moved out of what he concluded to be the radius of the beast. The axes were, indeed, large, but only a normal human would struggle against them. Anyone that was experienced enough in the art of combat would easily be able to avoid them with so much time to get out of the way.
'What a load of shit, this dungeon isn't worth anything.'
Dionysus naturally believed he would get out of the dungeon alive, but he had still accepted the fact that it would most likely be somewhat of a struggle. Yet, even after everything that had happened, it was still swinging down.
Finally . . .
BAM
"W-Wha-!"
However, something that Dionysus didn't think of when evading the blow was the aftereffects. He thought the floor was extremely hard, and would only slightly crack after the blow. Yet, the whole room that he was in . . .
RIFF
. . . Was beginning to completely shatter.
'I've heard of speed over strength and vice-versa, but to have it to this extent . . .'
The ground below Dionysus easily collapsed, but Dionysus had already jumped onto a wall and took a firm grasp. He didn't have the ability to just stick to a wall, but the cracks in it were more than enough grip space for Dionysus to take a hold of.
'This is going to be an issue . . .'
FWISH
Dionysus shot himself right at the knight.
'Because if my conclusion is correct . . .'
DINK
He simply bounced off the armor. It was as if he was a fly that had run into a much larger being.
'Yeah, looks like this will be somewhat of an issue.'
Dionysus fell right below the knight, who began to lift its left foot to stomp on him.
'Evading it isn't an issue.'
Dionysus easily got away by simply standing up and jumping away. However, he knew that getting away from the actual attack itself wouldn't be the issue, but that the aftereffect would be what he had to worry about.
BAM
As expected, the whole room shook as if an extremely violent earthquake was kicking in.
"I can't hurt him with what I have going, and if I don't finish this fast enough, the roof will collapse, resulting in me being buried alive."
At first, it seemed like a desperate situation. No matter how anyone looked at it, the scenario required either a really hard hitter, or someone who could survive even the roof collapsing. Dionysus was neither of those. Yet . . .
HEH
'It's been a while since I've actually had a challenge, but then the demon popped up and roughed me up. Now, there's a big tower of a giant standing in front of me. Lately, it's been as if . . .'
A wide grin that he was well known for at this point emerged on his face.
'. . . the world's been getting way more fun.'
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Glypsumduke
Glypsumduke Slept for a whole twelve hours yesterday, guess I was tired or something. Gotta say though, the dreams were real nice. My foot, however, wasn't.
Also, I legit just saw all the views that this novel has. Thank you all so much for raising this thing to 3,000 views in such a short amount of time. I appreciate all of you that consider my works worth reading, it means a lot to me.
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