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There were a couple of more things that Ashton did there, after completing the trial. But they were none of Otiga\'s concern. Things like Ashton had a new summon as well as a certain new ally. Such things were better left hidden.

Otiga nodded along while Ashton recounted the tale of his trial to her. The more she listened, the more she realised how different his trial was from hers. She was only given the objective to escape the trial zone while the Siren tried to hunt her down.

But Ashton\'s trial was entirely different. Even though he came across the siren, defeating her or escaping from her clutches wasn\'t the objective of his trial. She did not know there could be such a sporadic trial hidden amongst the others.

Leon kept making odd noises all the while Ashton narrated the happenings. Almost as if he was telling Otiga that Ashton was lying. Otiga would have thought the same thing had she been unaware of the countless tales left behind by her predecessors. One such tale indeed had mentions of a demonic tree in it.

The way Ashton described the tree, was the same as the one mentioned in the story. Therefore, Otiga knew Ashton wasn\'t making things up.

\'I always thought the scriptures weren\'t true. But I guess, I wasn\'t capable of learning the truth about the trial in the first place.\' Otiga thought to herself.

The tales left behind by the initial challengers were treated as holy scriptures by the Zhasks and thus were kept in a protected location. A location that only the Patriarch of the family knew, and no one else. By default, not even the other monarchs had any idea about their existence... only Otiga knew what was written in them, just like her father did before her.

Considering the secrecy surrounding the vault, it was unlikely Ashton would be aware of the tale. Which meant he was speaking the truth, even though it was a bit too much to swallow.

"Who would have thought such trials would still exist after all this time?" Otiga smiled, "I genuinely thought all of the sporadic trials would be over."

"What do you mean?" Ashton asked.

"Initially, there were more than 12 trials spread across Euphoria. But as time progressed and challengers kept completing them, the number of trials reduced to what it is now." Otiga explained, "After so many years, we thought these twelve trials were periodic trials since they did not disappear after completion. Looks like Ursa\'s trial wasn\'t one of them after all."

This information was a bit... intriguing. But in hindsight, it made sense. If the trial was to kill a being, then once it was done, how would someone else be able to clear it? In this case, there would be no trial anymore.

***

A few minutes later, Ashton was dropped off at his hotel.

[Basically, if you had killed the Hydra before you were teleported out of there, that trial would have seized existing as well.]

"I guess, there will be more sporadic trials as well," Ashton mumbled, "Getting rid of them would give me better rewards, I guess. Just like Ursa\'s trial."

[By the way, was it really okay to send Ursa to earth?]

"She helped me get out of the cave. So, I\'ll trust her this once. If she screws up, I\'ll have her taken care of as well."

Thanks to Astaroth\'s comment, Ashton was reminded of what went down after he defeated Atlas.

Back in the cave, as soon as Ashton closed the notification, the underwater cave began collapsing. There wasn\'t enough time for him to walk out of the cave the same way he came in, as water flooded the cave.

Ashton quickly threw Atlas\' corpse inside [Valhalla] before sending the wolves back to earth. The situation was dire, but not hopeless... until it became hopeless. Ashton fought the wave and almost managed to get out of there on his own.

However, his fight with Atlas and the way he continually switched his genes had exhausted him. Fighting the high-pressure water, wasn\'t something his body could tolerate. At that moment, Ursa arrived to help him safely get back to land.

Surprisingly, the countdown only mattered while he was inside the cave as he wasn\'t teleported outside yet. Before Ashton could wrap his head around what was happening, Ursa hugged him tightly, knocking the winds out of his lungs.

"Thank you! Thank you for saving me!" She exclaimed happily, "Finally I am free!"

Ashton gently pushed her away after a couple of minutes, "I should be the one thanking you. After all, you saved me as well. But how did you know-"

"When I saw the undead disappear, I knew something was going on inside the cave. So I rushed in to check, only to see that the ave was falling apart and you were struggling in the current."

Ashton smiled awkwardly, realising that deep down Ursa was still the caring woman she once was. Only this time, no one was going to take advantage of her kindness.

"What\'s your plan now?" Ashton casually asked her.

Someone like her who had been thinking about escaping the \'prison\' for thousands of years, should have a plan regarding what they wanted to do next. That\'s why it came as a surprise to him when Ursa said she had no idea.

She had longed for her freedom for so long, that she had given up on making it out of there. But now that her freedom was no longer a pipe dream, she did not know what she wanted to do. That\'s when Ashton suggested she moved to earth.

No one would be able to enslave her there, and she would be able to live as she pleased. Ursa was a bit sceptical, but once Ashton opened the portal back to the domain of wolves, and she saw how good of a life the wolves were living, she agreed with his idea.

Just like that, Ashton gained a new ally. But that wasn\'t enough for his greedy ass. Despite Astaroth\'s protests, Ashton resurrected Atlas. Surprisingly, the only memories he had were of the time when he used to look up to the Precursors.  Therefore, when Atlas saw Ashton, he readily accepted him as his master.

It was a bit... uneventful that someone as strong as Atlas immediately accepted Ashton as his new master. But it was fine since Ashton wasn\'t in the position he could have fought against the behemoth once again.

That was all that happened in the trial zone before he was eventually teleported out of there. Up to this point, nothing had surprised him. However, the real shocker was when Otiga told him how long he had been inside the trial zone...

"I still can\'t believe it\'s been an entire week since I went missing and not just a day as I believed." Ashton chuckled as he opened the door to his room.

[The flow of time is surely messed up here.]

"Since it\'s you fuckers who created the planet, I wouldn\'t expect it to work properly in the first place. Now shut up and give me some privacy, will ya? I got a-"

Slap!

As soon as he entered the room, he was greeted by a hard slap across the face, instead of the smiling face, that he was expecting. But before he could even ask why Anna slapped him, she planted her lips on his.

[Damn... those mood swings are quite dangerous. Whatever, I\'m outta here gotta find a way to tame that Scythe as well. Good night to you, lucky bastard.]

Ashton paid no heed to whatever Astaroth mumbled. The only thing he could think about was the little succubus wrapped around his arms. He was hoping he would get some rest once he got back to his room, but that seemed unlikely now.