"Ladies and gentleman!"

Gutcha, wearing the shabby host outfit, bowed toward the cheering crowd as he displayed his uniquely hideous smile.

​​

"Excuse us for the untimely delay. The competition will finally resume and the Fifth Trial will begin shortly! Participants! On the stage, please!"

Gutcha gestured for the young participants to appear, and appear they did, all twenty-eight of them. They were given more than enough time to prepare themselves, mentally and physically. They recovered their exhausted Nether Energy, healed from whatever injuries they sustained when they had battled their demons, and were now back to their perfect and healthy state.

Except Arthur, the one who created the trials, Lucy and Gutcha, no one really knew how many Trials there were exactly, though it wasn't hard to tell that they were nearing the end. After all, the number of participants had decreased by a substantial amount and ere long, there will only be a few remaining.

"The ranking of the teams sorted by points!" Loudly declared Gutcha, pointing at the humongous screen hanging in the sky.

1 The Imoogi Clan: 280 points (5)

2 The Ancient Federation : 265 Points (1)

3 The PoMo Forest Team: 255 Points (6)

4 The Demon Team : 240 Points (2)

5 The MoonStar team : 225 Points (4)

6 The Mermaid Team : 210 Points (8)

7 The Holy Church Team : 200 Points (2)

8 The Dark Blaze Team : 154 Points (1)

The Imoogi Clan Team was in the lead, but John, the only member of the Ancient Federation Team was able to steal the second place by performing flawlessly in the Fourth Trial.

Unfortunately, Arthur's team was pushed back to 5th place after losing yet another member. Nonetheless, the points are not the only deciding factor as they can be used to gain advantages in certain Trials, or exchanged for a bunch of strong artifacts he looted from people he killed in the past.

Before long, the ugly host teleported the participants to the next stage; a fairly large room, dimly lit and filled with thick black boxes randomly scattered all around.

Gutcha clapped his hands to get their attention then proceeded to explain, as usual.

"The Fifth Trial is as simple as it can get." He raised his hand and pointed to a large pumpkin, which was half the size of a normal human. It had a distinctly creepy face and a wide grin as it soundlessly laid either on the black boxes or the ground.

"Those are Trippy Pumpkins and the goal is to catch them. As I said, simple and to the point. There are no traps or tricks, be assured and trust me."

The Pigolo paused, grinning at the confused and frowning participants. Even the breath-taking mermaids and beautiful elves, all of whom are females, looked uncomfortable, clearly disliking the feel of this strange room.

"There are a total of six Trippy Pumpkins. When all of them are caught, the Trial will end and the two empty-handed teams will be disqualified. That's about it."

Gutcha excitedly clapped his hands again and vanished into thin air. With his departure, however, the dimly lit room was illuminated by flying torches, which were actually miniature flaming Trippy Pumpkins, cackling unpleasantly.

The first to make a move were the Mermaids and the Imoogi, each of them shooting toward a Trippy Pumpkin.

The fastest of the Imoogis, a youngster with raven-black named Eirz, reached the target in just three seconds, however, just as he was about touch it, the Trippy Pumpkin's empty eyes glowed with a blinding orange light then it shot at Eirz, hitting his chin and blowing him to the back. His teammates, startled, retreated from the pumpkin's way and closely followed it.

The Mermaid had it worse as the Trippy Pumpkin they were after managed to hit two mermaids, both in the head, unfortunately. They were immediately knocked unconscious and before they even fell to the ground, Gutcha appeared and took them out of the stage.

One more team was just as unfortunate as the Imoogi and the Mermaids. The girl and boy from the Holy Church Team targeted a Trippy Pumpkin sitting on one of the large black boxes but were hit with an equally strong hit as the previous ones.

The boy, who had long golden hair, was hit in the shoulder and flew to the side like a cannonball, his body crashing into the stone wall. On the other hand, the girl barely managed to avoid the madly flying pumpkin, she twisted her body mid-air and unleashed a burst of blinding white light.

The Holy Magic was able to accurately hit the Trippy Pumpkin but it wasn't enough to slow it down, much less stop it. In fact, it only made it faster and more furious as it circled around and shot at the girl, who shrieked and urgently backed away.

The remaining five teams stood in place, witnessing this unexpected spectacle. Seeing the Trippy Pumpkins act like that, they thought twice and thrice before making a move. Plus, Gutcha never said anything about attacking each other or stealing the pumpkins from other teams, which can only mean that a fierce battle will inevitably happen inside this small room.

"Do we wait or?"

Bora looked at his teammates, grabbed an arrow and prepared himself in case there was an attack from both sides. The other teams were just as nervous as the MoonStar team, with the exception of one person.

John wasn't looking at the pumpkin but at Ho Qing, his eyes fixedly staring at the red-haired competitor. He still has not given up on recruiting Ho Qing but didn't try to do it openly after getting rebuked by Gutcha.

He talked to his guardian about this and the two shared the same opinion. Unfortunately, they can't take him by force, especially since none other than Arthur was his master.

John's guardian was a strong cultivator, someone at the middle-stages of the Exalted God Realm, but even he was fearful of the parasite and his wife. He repeatedly warned John not to act rashly or provoke anyone, just stick to his role as a participant and try to win.

****

The temperature inside the room was warm, there were candles illuminating the medium-sized room, making it feel cozier.

A naked Lucy was laying on Arthur's chest, both of them sweating a bit, most definitely due to the sexual activities- which will be omitted- they were performing for a decent amount of time.

There was a bedspread covering half of their bodies as they snuggled close to each other and talked. She laid her head on his chest while he caressed her long silver hair.

Recently, the two were busy with the competition and training Shu Ru and the rest so there haven't been many chances to spend time with each other. It wasn't just about making love, there are many things they do together. Sometimes they can talk all day without getting bored.

Fortunately, today, they were able to be together. Excluding the time they spend making love, all the rest was dedicated to talking to each other, without moving.

Lucy enjoyed this position, hugging her arms around his chest and listening to him talk about Shen Shen and Saly, who are a bit similar.

"She's as stubborn as you, you know." He said, chuckling as he remembered the small blue-haired girl, who would act all haughty and proud, curious about every little thing she set her bright eyes upon.

"I can't wait to meet her."

Lucy smiled and raised her body, leaning her face closer to his.

"You never told me how many children you want."

"Err… I don't know. As many as we could have?"

"Oh?"

She pursued her lips and touched his cheek.

"You should go easy on your wife."

Arthur gave a wry smile, jerking his head upwards.

"I should be the one saying that."

"Are you accusing me of being nymphomaniac? Hmpf!"