In the next instant, his feet touched upon a tiled black floor. The darkness stretched from side to side – there seemed to be a pervasive black fog that restricted one's view to only 300 or so metres.

Van turned his head and saw that the members of his battalion were all present and accounted for. The other four battalions from the Cedar Sect also appeared. Van wasn't familiar with any of the captains, but as the highest levelled captain, Van was the default leader.

At that moment, a disembodied voice spoke in their heads: "The gates of the Mausoleum of Monsters have opened, and the trial has begun. The Monstrous Token you are about to be presented will be used to record your score. It also serves another function – it will block one life-threatening blow and teleport you out of the Mausoleum. Once you are teleported out, you cease acc.u.mulating points."

In the gloomy darkness, a circle of light appeared in front of each disciple before merging into their chests.

"The longer one stays; the more time bonuses are rewarded. The number of monster waves pa.s.sed as well as individual monsters killed will also affect your final score. The Last Standing Medallion will be granted to the last partic.i.p.ant remaining in the battlefield, granting their sect or group a 20x point multiplier."

 "The first wave will commence in 10 minutes and last 10 hours. Find your standing ground," the ghostly voice continued, before going silent.

Van looked around saw the other battalions talking amongst themselves. Many of them looked a bit lost.

Van's mind worked quickly.

['Find your standing ground,' this must be a clue!]

Van turned and addressed the disciples from the Cedar Sect for the first time, "We have ten minutes to find a suitable place to defend. It can't be too eye-catching; we don't want to catch the attention of the other sects too early in the game. The location should also be a little further from other groups, so we are not competing for the same monsters. We were told to use our surroundings to our advantage – we should see if the area we are currently in has any secrets that can help us."

After Van said this, he wracked his brain. It was impossible to see beyond 200 metres, and yet they needed to scan the entire battlefield in just 10 minutes to find a good position!

[Simplify. Simplify the problem, Van!]

"People. We need to base our location based on where other people are within this battlefield right now," Van said, "The problem is the black mist!"

An honest-looking lad in his battalion raised his hand, "Um. My cultivation skill is based around sound, so I can pick up very quiet noises. There are people in that direction."

The lad pointed his finger to the one o'clock direction.

Van nodded, "Good. Your name?"

"Johnathon, Captain."

"Your abilities will be very useful in the Mausoleum, Johnathon. We will be counting on you!"

The Cedar Sect battalions sped off in the direction that Johnathon had pointed. As they drew closer, Van noticed their surroundings begin to subtly change. Objects began to appear in the gloom with increasing frequency. He saw what seemed like a giant coffin with its lid partially open, as if the corpse within it had escaped. The thought was unsettling. Other things that appeared were giant stone statues of snarling beasts.

At that moment, Johnathon stopped.

"We are about 300m away from the closest battalion right now. How should we proceed?"

"We will draw closer slowly. There must be a reason why there is a high concentration of people here," Van said.

As they proceeded forward, they reached an area almost 1000 metres wide which was cleared of mist. The cause was a slowly spinning crystal the size of a person high up in the air. As it spun, the light emitting from it dispersed the mist. The clearing was mostly filled with people from the Zephyr Sect and the Star-Cutting Sword Sect. From this distance, Van couldn't make out their ident.i.ties.  

"That crystal is dispersing the mist and increasing the visibility of the area… but the amount of light that it is giving off is suspicious. It will definitely also lure the beast hordes in."

The other battalion captains looked uneasy, "Isn't that a bad thing?"

Van shook his head, "The reason why we are here is to kill as many monsters as possible. Standing in front of a lure is perfect for that. The problem is… I feel like this isn't enough. The voice wouldn't have reminded us of where we are standing for no reason…"

['Standing ground.' The place that I'm standing on…]

Van looked at the tile below his feet and inspected it carefully. It was made of hard and cold material. The tile was a 10 metre by 10 metre square that fit the entire battalion.  

[Hm?]

Van crouched down and dusted off the centre of the tile. A faint symbol had been engraved into it.

"It looks like the character for 'water,'" Van murmured to himself.

Van immediately instructed the battalion captains to investigate nearby tiles. They rushed back within the minute to discuss their findings. It seemed that each tile was engraved with a different symbol. The ones they discovered were air, fire, light, dark, water, earth and lightning.

['Find your standing ground…' Ground.]

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"It should be the 'earth' tile," Van decided.

Within the remaining two minutes, Van's battalion found themselves an earth tile on the edge of the clearing. He had instructed the other battalion captains to do the same. It was just in time, for the next moment, b.e.s.t.i.a.l chattering and screeching noises filled the air.  

The earth symbol on the tile flashed briefly.

Van felt a tingling in his spine. He wasn't sure what it meant.

The first wave of monsters was coming!

 "They're coming. Get ready!" Van shouted, red hair flying behind him as he wielded his battle-axe.

"Yes, Captain!" The battalion shouted.

At that moment, a giant ma.s.s of demonic bats swarmed into the clearing area, lured by the light from the giant crystal.

Van's back went cold as he saw their sheer numbers. They were so numerous that they seemed to be a writhing ma.s.s of black in the distance. It was easy to imagine a disciple getting swallowed by that swarm and being left as a pair of clean white bones.

Van used the power of the Tri-Divine Blood Flame to extend his Blood Vision. His heart somewhat settled.

"Their numbers are huge, but they are only in the 1st rank. This will be an endurance test. Don't waste your spiritual power by using flashy moves. Be quick and effective!"

"Yes, Captain!"

The swarm closed in.

Hut!

Van punched forth. With a single fist, the air surged forth and immediately killed a few dozen demonic bats. For Van, this type of punch was so well-practised that it consumed minimal energy for maximum efficiency. Like him, his battalion was each carefully conserving their energy dispatched the bats in their vicinity. Seeing Van single-handedly blow apart dozens of demonic bats with a single fist, they felt immensely invigorated. Things would be fine with Van here!

Samuel was fighting near Van. Seeing his captain's incredible punches, he couldn't help but comment.

"You could kill so many more if you actually used a spiritual skill though!"

Van flicked his eyes to the side, "This first wave. Do you know how long it is?"

Samuel looked sheepish, "I wasn't really paying attention."

"It's 10 hours long," Van said calmly, "And we've only been fighting for 20 minutes."

"What!?" Samuel groaned, "I've been fighting forever!"

"Exactly," Van said, "Can you use your spiritual power at full power for 10 hours straight?"

Samuel shook his head, "I would run out of spiritual power in the 2nd hour."

Van casually blasted away a couple of dozen demon bats.

"If we want to last until the end, the worst thing we can do is deplete our spiritual power in the first wave."

Samuel immediately tried to control his power more so that he was only using the minimum amount of power to eliminate the bats. He couldn't help but admire the red-haired youth in front of him more. His Captain's insight and calm were incredible!

As Van predicted, things were not going so smoothly for the other battalions in the area. When the swarm of demonic bats descending, many battalions were consumed with fear by the sight of their numbers. Despite knowing that the bats had low cultivation, they fought wildly without conserving their energy. Some people used giant, flashy, area attacks that killed many demonic bats but also expended a lot of energy. As an hour pa.s.sed, they grew more and more exhausted, until they needed to take a rest. This dramatically reduced the firepower of the battalion, causing them to kill fewer monsters overall.

When the eighth hour began, the demonic bats suddenly grew enraged.