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You have entered the scenario for your first trial.

[Scenario Name] : The Hall of Pain.

[Task] : Slay the Orc chieftain within the time limit.

[Time limit] : 10:00 minutes

[Rewards] : Strength +20, Unlocks 2 random spells for you to use.

[Failure] : Intelligence -30, HP -1000.

[These rewards gained are effective only during this trial and the bonus effects will disappear once the trial is over.]

[The penalties would have a permanent effect.]

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Multiple messages were flashing before Arnold's eyes but he didn't paid any attention to them as he was busy looking at the Orc who was occupying the throne. Even the C ranked Orc chieftain was much stronger than him right now. This guy was nothing but trouble, and Arnold remembered him very well.

The Orc chieftain was one of the first dungeon bosses that Arnold had killed after coming to Brazil. The chieftain wasn't strong himself but the skills and the club he wielded made him somewhat special. He still remembered the effect of the Orc's [Cry of Madness] ability which was so frightening that even his undead summons couldn't get anywhere near him.

[Cry of Madness] was an AOE skill that summoned a miniature thunder storm around the orc. Anyone who got within the range of the storm was shot down by lightning strike. No matter how many people or summons tried to attack the orc, his defense was absolute.

Even though Arnold knew how to handle the Orc, the solution was a very painful one and didn't want to go down that road.

"I know how to defeat this bastard, but would I be able to survive it?" Arnold questioned himself, all of his skills and attributes were sealed thus he wasn't sure whether he should try moving ahead with the reckless idea he had or not.

Although Arnold was pretty sure what [The Guide between the Worlds] wanted him to do. Since the scenario was named as [Hall of pain], so the obvious conclusion was 'the guide' wanted Arnold to feel the pain.

What was the painful way of subduing the Orc? It was pretty simple actually, all one had to do was to let the lightning strike him or her for three times in a row and then the person would gain temporarily gain a buff which would make him/her immune from the lightning strikes for 5 seconds. All the person had to do was to end the battle in those five seconds.

But without his abilities, weapons and defense equipment Arnold wasn't sure that he'll be able to last for three lightning strikes and even if he could, he didn't have any weapons to kill the Orc with.

"RAAAWWWRRR!" The Orc bellowed and started smashing the support pillars of the hall. The banners that hung on the pillar got burnt away as they caught fire from the torches that had been dropped on the ground.

Arnold was hiding behind one of these pillars and was planning how to move forward with the scenario, but it looked like he was out of luck... he had to do something now! He looked around the room hoping to find something that would be useful to defeat the Orc.

'Damn it! If only I had chosen my strength instead!' Arnold knew he made the best possible decision by choosing intelligence over strength but in that moment, he couldn't help but doubt his judgement.

'Calm down... let's see what I can remember about Orcs.. they are easily agitated, they are clumsy AF, even though they are idiots they don't have a thick skull, and are weak to stealth attacks.' Arnold calmed himself and opened his eyes, he saw a broken torch laying near his feet. Something was shining on its handle, Arnold carefully picked up the broken torch as he didn't wanted to make any noise.

'Metal clasps! I can work with these!' Arnold smiled internally as he pulled off the metal clasp from the wooden torch.

He finally had a shot at defeating the Orc without endangering himself, but only one clasp wasn't enough for him to execute his plan, he would need at least a few more, thankfully there was an abundance of torches in the throne room. At this moment another notification appeared on his interface.

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Time left for the scenario to end : 5:00 minutes.

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He dashed towards the other pillars. The Orc saw this and charged towards him, knocking every pillar in his way. Even after sensing the danger that was chasing after him, Arnold couldn't help but smile.

'Yup, chase me like the idiot you are!' He thought.

After the Orc knocked down the tenth pillar with its club, Arnold took a u-turn and rolled between the Orc's feet to dodge the Orc's club, changed his direction and began sprinting again. The Orc however, wasn't lucky enough to turn around in time due to his momentum and got slammed against the wall that was in front of him.

Arnold took this opportunity and picked up as many broken torches as he could while the Orc was down and hid behind a pillar once again. He needed to buy some time to extract the metal clasps from the torches.

"Come on... just a few more seconds." Arnold mumbled when he saw that the Orc was slowly getting up.

"Done!" Arnold exclaimed when he pulled out the last metal clasp from the torch and ran towards the Orc, who hadn't gotten up yet.

Arnold quickly jumped on to the back of the Orc and grabbed his neck, he then took out the of clasps from his pockets and stabbed them into the Orc's head, it was an easy task because if the pointed ends of the clasp. The Orc winced in pain and pushed off Arnold from his back and turned towards him.

To say that the Orc was angry would've been an understatement. The Orc was seething with pure, unadulterated rage. He let go of his club and a message appeared on Arnold's interface.

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WARNING ⚠ :

THE ENEMY IS ABOUT TO CAST A LETHAL SPELL!

BACK AWAY AS FAR AS POSSIBLE.

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'This is it.' Arnold smiled as black clouds appeared all around the Orc, some faint crackling sounds could be heard coming from the clouds. Without wasting a moment, Arnold ran back to his hiding place behind a pillar.

The Orc roared loudly as a clouds got darker and a wave of thunder ran through the clouds. It was aimed towards Arnold, but even before it could penetrate through the clouds, the lightning wave turned it's direction towards the Orc and struck him instead!

The lightning might not have targeted the Orc, but in presence of so many metal conductors nearby, the wave had to change its direction and target the metal claps instead.

'That's science b*tch!'

The throne room was filled with ear piercing noise of lightning strikes that continued for a few minutes. Even though one could gain an immunity from the thunder strikes for five seconds, it wasn't much effective when they were subjected to continuous lightning strikes.

Soon the clouds dissipated and Arnold came out of hiding only to see a roasted body of the Orc, laying in the middle of the room. The Orc's burnt face was filled with agony and disbelief. But before Arnold could celebrate his victory over the fallen Orc, the door behind the throne opened up and a notification appeared on his interface.

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[The Guide between the Worlds] was satisfied by your performance.

You have managed to clear the scenario within the time limit.

Please claim your rewards before the second scenario starts.

[Rewards] : Strength +20, Unlocks 2 random spells for you to use.

[Claim]

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Arnold let out a sigh of relief and claimed his rewards before heading into the next room to face another trial.