I stand in front of a big door.

Above that door is written 'Endurance'.

It doesn't matter which one I do first since I have to do both of them anyway.

So let's start with this one.

After briefly looking back at the ex-skeleton angel, I walk forward and extend my palm toward the door.

As soon as my palm touches it, the door is flung open and a bright light envelops me.

I get the familiar feeling of falling as I cover my eyes to block the light.

After a few moments, the light fades and the falling feeling subsides.

As I open my eyes, I spot...

Angels.

Everywhere.

It's hordes of angels in all directions encircling me while holding drawn bows.

In an instant, I realize my situation and pull out my sword.

As if their minds were connected, everyone launched their arrows all at once.

I spun around and tried to deflect the arrows.

But as expected, a lot of arrows got through and hit me.

With my body pierced from all sides, another round of arrows came and...

...

...

...

I open my eyes.

I see the chalice in the middle of the room and three oversized doors behind it.

The ex-skeleton angel is nowhere to be found.

...

That was...

Is that really something you would call endurance?

...how do I do this...

I stare at the door as I think of a way to deal with it.

I guess...I could try to send in an armageddon suicide clone...?

But there were so many of them and they are too spaced out.

Some of them might survive.

I won't be able to fight those when I'm drained of mana.

Hmm...

|= A few minutes of thinking later =|

The door is flung open and light envelops me again.

I close my eyes shut as I hold my sword.

As soon as I feel the light fading, I open my eyes and focus them in front of me.

[Hell serenade]

With a swing of my sword, a quarter of the angel army is covered in dark flames.

I then dash in the direction of where my attack went while facing the opposite direction.

The remaining angels, just like last time, simultaneously shot arrows at me.

[Phantom force]

While dodging some of the arrows, I try to deflect the others.

Unfortunately, a few of them still hit my leg and shoulder.

I endure it and prepare for another round of arrows.

[Phantom force]

This time, one of them manages to graze my neck and more of them hit my arms.

And then, all of a sudden, I get hit from behind, where the angels were supposed to be defeated.

Following that, the other angels fire more arrows and...

...

...

...

I open my eyes.

I see the chalice in the middle of the room and three oversized doors behind it.

The ex-skeleton angel is nowhere to be found.

...this won't work.

I thought that I might be able to handle it if I prevented one side from attacking me.

But there are just too many of them.

Long ranged battle doesn't seem to be the way to go.

I should try to close the distance.

Hmm...

After a little while of thinking, I once again walk in front of the door.

With a touch of my hand, the door once again opens and showers me with light.

I squat down and start preparing.

As soon as the light starts fading, I act.

[Air blast]

While lowering my weight, I launch myself forward.

As I open my eyes, I spot the hordes of angels as I rapidly approach them.

Before they have a chance to shoot, I attack them.

[Abyssal whip]

The whip slashes horizontally and hits the masses of angels.

Although I was planning on following that up by slashing with my sword, the whip seemed to kill all those it touched.

When it touched them, the darkness instantly corrupted their bodies and they soon turned into black dust.

...so, darkness is their weakness?

As I land and turn around, I start gathering dark mana.

Then, the remaining angels shoot their arrows at me.

I lower my weight and jump backward again to avoid them.

With that, I landed behind the angels who turned into dust.

Now, that I'm not encircled anymore, I can see all of my foes in front of me.

And I notice something peculiar.

Some of the dust is turning back into these angels.

It seems that the remaining ones are using some sort of magic to revive the ones I defeated.

...but I won't just let them do that.

This time, I don't mix in pure mana and instead I control the dark mana by itself.

Like rapidly growing trees, the darkness spreads from my hands and heads for the crowds of angels.

Some of them try to dodge while others still draw their bows to attack me.

But since the distance is larger now, it's much easier to dodge the arrows.

The darkness touches the angels one by one and they all eventually turn into dust.

With that, I'm left standing here without anyone else.

All of my enemies have been defeated.

...that was surprisingly simple.

So, what now?

As I finally get some time, I scan my surroundings.

I seem to be in some kind of big arena.

The ground is perfectly flat and the walls run in a circle around me.

When I look straight up, I see...the moon.

I'm outside...?

And when did it get so late?

Suddenly, the entire arena's ground briefly shines and changes.

As I'm about to investigate what exactly changed, a stronger light starts shining in the middle of the arena.

I cover my eyes and jump away from it in anticipation.

When the light stops shining, I spot something there.

A big monster.

It's some kind of four-legged monster fully clad in golden armor.

Even its face has some kind of golden mask on it.

What is that...?

Type: Monster

Name: -

Gender: Male

Race: Bulla Dile

Status: Enraged

Level: 1500

Health: 75000/75000

Mana: 37500/37500

Bulla Dile...?

As soon as it spots me, it starts charging at me.

Once again, I try to use dark magic to attack it.

However, this time, my spell failed to do anything as his armor easily deflected it.

With the monster charging straight at me, I try to dodge.

[Air blast]

After lowering my weight, I jump over the beast to dodge its assault.

But as I'm flying over it, the top part of the armor shines and a beam of light shoots out at me.

This, unlike all the light before, scorches me.

I land on the ground with my entire body having severe burns.

[Heal]

I try to recover, but the beast doesn't give me a chance and charges again.

In order to not get burned again, I jump to the side this time.

But despite its big size, it easily changed course and headed straight for me again.

Without any other option, I quickly gathered some mana and slashed its way.

[Phantom cleave]

A dent appeared in its mask as he jerked his head to the side.

After momentarily slowing down, it kept charging me.

[Phantom cut]

With that, its mask fell apart and revealed a wrinkle ridden face with frowning yellow eyes.

It raised a scream but instead of slowing down, it sped up while opening its mouth.

Since it was way too close to try and dodge, I just hurriedly coated my sword with dark mana and slashed in its direction.

The result...

I was launched far away and crashed into the arena's wall.

The feeling in my left arm was lost and right leg probably got a fracture.

When I lifted myself up with my other arm, I saw the beast.

Even though I got launched, my attack connected as well.

The monster's head was vertically split in two and it ceased to move.

...I barely defeated it.

The head seemed to be its weak spot.

Why would it charge head first though...?

[Heal]

I slowly try to get up as I heal myself.

Looking around the arena from the side, I can finally see the markings on the floor.

Although it's meant to be read from a different angle, I can make out what it says.

'Wave'

'2/15'

Wave...?

What does that-

Suddenly, the ground shines again.

With that, the corpse of that monster disappears and the writing changes.

'Wave'

'3/15'

...so that's how it is...

Endurance, huh?

Just like before, the middle of the arena shines and new foes emerge.

This time it's a flock of some white birds.

Type: Monster

Name: -

Gender: Female

Race: Alburo crow

Status: Enraged

Level: 500

Health: 10000/10000

Mana: 17500/17500

Although I'm not yet fully healed, I'm forced to fight again.

I get why it's called 'trial of endurance' now...

The birds fly high up above me and spread out on all sides to surround me again.

Then they start shooting some bright white projectiles at me.

For now, I focus on dodging while still trying to heal a bit.

However, after a while, some of the birds fly down and try to crash into me.

They are even faster than the projectiles, so I give up on dodging and instead try to confront them directly.

Still dodging the projectiles, I slash at the birds flying right at me.

With a perfect timing, my slashes split the assailants in two and their remains fly by me.

This goes on for a little while.

I just keep dodging and slashing.

Occasionally one of the projectiles grazes by me or the blast from the projectile hitting the ground throws me off balance.

But none of the suicidal ones manage to hit me.

However, as time goes, their projectiles keep grazing me more and more.

As if they were learning my movements.

I realize my predicament and start thinking how to get out of it.

If I try to shoot down the ones up above, that will divert my attention away from the ones trying to tackle me.

But if I just keep going like this, they will eventually get me.

Ugh...what do I-

With my mind having one too many things to worry about, I mistime my slash at one of the tacklers.

I slash too soon and he ends up colliding with me head on.

...

...

...

I open my eyes.

I see the chalice and-

Wait...that killed me?

Just how fast was that bird going?

...or maybe it just knocked me out and then they finished me off.

Anyway...

It said 'wave 3/15'.

So there will be fifteen 'waves' of enemies?

That's...a lot.

If they are as difficult as those three, I won't be able to make that.

I need to conserve my mana and stamina as much as I can during the early rounds.

Just like in the dungeon...I need a strategy for every one of my obstacles.

|= A little bit later =|

As the light fades, I dash forward while readying dark mana.

With a wave of my hand, the masses of angels in front of me turn to dust.

I turn around and see a barrage of arrows approaching me.

[Air blast]

I jump to the side while spreading more darkness toward the other angels.

It doesn't take long until all the angels are dust.

Status screen: open.

Name: Reiza

Gender: Female

Race: Shadow wolfman

Status: Pumped up

Level: 4625

Health: 41711/41711

Mana: 96123/99734

Vitality: 300 (max)

Strength: 350 (max)

Intelligence: 900 (max)

Stamina: 300 (max)

Speed: 500 (max)

Alright, that will do.

Cleared this wave and didn't use too much mana.

Soon, the light starts shining and the big beast appears again.

I lose no time and attack it right away.

[Phantom cleave]

[Phantom cut]

Before my enemy even starts its assault, its mask cracks and breaks.

This enrages the beast and it starts its charge.

But I'm already ready for it.

[Blazing dart]

My spell pierces its head and the monster just falls forward and slides a short distance continuing its momentum.

As soon as I confirm its death, I start my further preparations.

Using my sword, I cut my finger and draw a line of blood on my weapon while gathering mana.

The arena's ground shines again and changes to '3/15'.

And the moment I see the bright light in the middle of the arena, I react.

[Hell serenade]

Before the birds have time to spread out, my attack hits all of them.

I jump back and prepare for any possible survivors.

But as the flames clear up, there is nothing left but charred remains.

It seems that did it.

A few seconds later, the arena's ground shines and changes to '4/15'.

I take a deep breath and prepare my sword.

Once again, the middle of the arena starts shining to reveal my new foes.

This time...

It's three angels.

One of them is fully clad in shining silvery armor and is carrying a sword and a shield.

The second one wears some lighter armor and holds a golden ornamented bow in his hand.

And the last one has white robes and is equipped with a staff.

Type: Humanoid

Name: TANK

Gender: Male

Race: Archangel

Status: -

Level: 750

Health: 30000/30000

Mana: 45000/45000

Type: Humanoid

Name: DPS

Gender: Female

Race: Archangel

Status: -

Level: 750

Health: 30000/30000

Mana: 45000/45000

Type: Humanoid

Name: SUPPORT

Gender: Female

Race: Archangel

Status: -

Level: 750

Health: 30000/30000

Mana: 45000/45000

...their names...seem strange.

And they are all level 750.

But the dragons were even higher level.

So this shouldn't be a problem.

I tightly grip my sword as I start gathering mana.

Bonus:

Let's talk about the limit beast.

So, what is it exactly?

"It's just a simple countermeasure to prevent people from trying to go to space."

How many of them are there?

How do they know someone reached the border?

"Currently?"

"Zero."

...what do you mean?

"Well, even though they are marked as monsters, they are a little different."

"A limit beast doesn't exist all the time."

"Only when someone reaches the border, one spawns."

Then why would you even give it level, hp and mana?

"Err..."

"Well, I created it in the early days..."

"And back then, I made everything with stats."

"Today, I would have probably made it into a spirit or something."

Why don't you just remake it then?

"Too much work!"

"And hey, people usually die when they see it, so it's fine."

What do you mean 'usually'?

Is there someone who survived an encounter with it?

"Well..."

"One..."

"...I mean, no!"

"That thing DOESN'T COUNT!"

...you are being unfair here.

What thing?

"My biggest..."

"Erm, my ONLY mistake!"

What?

"I don't want to talk about it!"