1176 One after the other

Liam wiped the blood off the sheath of his sword, almost feeling disgusted that the blood of these vermin had touched his black dragon sword. 

Clearly, they were not normal living beings resurrected in some way because their souls were missing. In fact, Liam was still the owner of many of their souls.

Then how were they alive? There was no beast nearby capable of doing something like this so the forest conjured them?

Liam couldn't tell. He also did not know why these people were brought in front of him. Painful memories? Enemies that he despised? It did not make sense. 

However, he did not have time to think about these things. The path in front of him cleared up as he once again started walking.

Each step took him deeper into the forest, and every rustle of leaves or snap of a twig kept him on high alert.

Liam soon came upon another clearing. The scene that greeted him made his skin crawl—a circle of grotesque totems stood in the center, each one a nightmarish fusion of animal and humanoid forms, arranged in a way that suggested some kind of dark ritual.

As he walked closer, a chill ran down his spine. He felt eyes on him, unseen but palpable.

Suddenly, the ground beneath the totems began to quiver, and with a guttural growl, a figure emerged. 

This time it was not another one of those soulless beings. This one was different, larger, more menacing, and radiating an aura of malevolence that made the earlier ones seem almost benign.

Liam tightened his grip on his black dragon sword and prepared for combat. This creature, whatever it was, stood between him and the path forward.

He narrowed his eyes and observed as the dust and the rubble cleared up, finally revealing the creature's full form. It was a centipede of gigantic proportions, except unlike a normal beast this one was made of… heads!

Numerous heads and faces of human beings, beasts, demons, elves… it was an amalgamation of many beings. 

More importantly, each and every single one of the heads turned to look at Liam, the eyes on their faces turned towards him and their eyeballs locking on him, rage and resentment clearly overflowing from them.

Ahhhhh! Wail! Roaaaarrrrr!

The creature's amalgam of heads emitted a cacophony of shrieks, wails, and growls that reverberated through the clearing. Each face was a mask of agony or rage, and the sheer number of them made it all the more horrifying.

The centipede-like monster lunged at Liam, its many heads snapping and snarling as if each had a mind of its own. He dodged just in time, flinching as the sight of the grotesque thing hit him squarely in the face.

Its strength, agility, and other attributes did not seem to be exceptional, but the creature had a sort of demonic power, one that made Liam feel extreme pressure and weight. Moving around, and carrying this burden was becoming very strenuous.

However, it was difficult and not impossible.

Liam persisted and eventually slammed down a few sword slashes at the beast, taking it down personally. This time he did not use his dao, conserving his energy. 

Coincidentally when he struck down the beast he noticed several familiar faces. One that was strikingly standing out was Kouske's face.

Liam then realized. These were all the faces of the people whom he had killed. His eyes widened in shock for a moment before he shook it off and ended the grotesque creature.

The centipede became dark mist and the path in front of him cleared up further.

Liam immediately dashed ahead, only to come to a halting stop in front of what looked like a towering shrub. When he tried to go around it, he noticed something was off. He continued circling it.

Surprisingly, the towering shrub seemed to extend like a compound wall for quite some distance. Liam took a step back and curiosity flickered in his eyes. Perhaps he was standing in front of some sort of a giant maze at the moment?

If this was some sort of series of tests, then this one should be the easiest.

Liam immediately tried to fly up in the air to take a look at the whole maze from a bird's eye point of view. However, the next second it became clear that this wouldn't be possible.

The gravity of the area was so inexplicably high that even Liam's speed was reduced.

Hmmm? Liam narrowed his eyes in contemplation. The maze was a challenge he was yet to overcome but now things were a bit more clear to him in general. 

It looked like the guardian on this territory or rather the world tree of this world was personally making him jump through a few hoops.

No matter how Liam thought about it, this seemed to be the most plausible explanation.

"Interesting." He walked into the maze, a cold smile playing on his lips. If the world tree was personally testing him, then didn't his chances of getting that blessing dramatically improve?

Liam looked around, observing everything carefully. He wanted to see just where these tests were going to take him. As for this hedge maze, he didn't care too much about it.

After looking around for a moment he unleashed his soul minions. The army scattered in different directions finding a possible exit out of the maze.

It took him a while, especially because there were a few surprises waiting at some turns for him but ultimately he was able to rule out many dead-end paths and find the exit of the maze in a couple of hours.

He had to face a couple of beasts while inside but he was able to cut them down using his soul blood beasts.

The soul blood beasts also handled some dangers on their own without even needing Liam's intervention. He smoothly crossed the maze and exited out the other end.

Liam was half-expecting some kind of a reward but it didn't look like he was going to get any. He let out a sigh as the fog in front of him once again partially cleared, leading him further on.