Doomsday Pillars

Spirit enhancers were those who had more spiritual talent than others. The spirit abilities of talented spirit enhancers could already be seen when they were still only at the Mortal Realm.

Fighters like Arief, Sergei, Jerry, Ark, Dinda, and the others could already show their spirit talents before they left for Australia.

Meanwhile, of the other 500 fighters who also came to Australia, all of them had been tested, and on average, they all had physical abilities above normal Mortal Realm fighters. So it was not a surprise that after entering the Doomsday Pillars, more than half of them had spiritual talent.

Aptitude A: 9

Aptitude B: 35

Aptitude C: 90

Aptitude D: 150

For the fighters with aptitude A, all of them were people whom he had known about beforehand. As for the fighters with aptitude B, not all of them were able to show their spirit talents before stepping into the Earth Realm. However, there were indeed some who could, albeit rare.

The result showing that there were 35 spirit fighters with aptitude B from various spirit elements was indeed great news for him. This was promising.

Fighters with aptitude A needed around 3 months to master the spirit cultivation to reach the peak of the Earth Realm, fighters with aptitude B needed around 9 to 12 months, fighters with aptitude C needed 2 or 3 years, while fighters with aptitude D needed at least 10 years to reach the peak of the Earth Realm.

With the apocalypse nearing really fast, Alex could only depend on the fighters with A and B spirit talents. For those with aptitude C, it would require quite a lot of challenges. And of course, Alex also had other plans for the fighters with aptitude D and those with no spirit talent.

In the last 3 months, those with aptitude A such as Arief, Sergei, Jerry, Dinda, Ark, and the others had reached the peak of their spirit level, surpassing the physical strength of ordinary people at the peak of the Earth Realm. Because of this, at this moment, they were already at the bottleneck of the Earth Realm and could only wait patiently until the second hall facility of the Doomsday Pillar opened.

For the fighters with aptitude B, they had reached high-stage spirit element cultivation and could already use high-stage spirit skills. So, out of the 35 fighters with aptitude B, Alex was very happy to know that 8 of them were masters of the water element.

This was because the "Soothing Mist" skill was the first healing skill that only fighters of the water element could master. And this skill could only be mastered by those who were already at the high stage of water spirit cultivation. After 3 months now, the elite forces of the Star Army had 8 medical fighters who were ready to treat those who were injured. Although this skill was very limited in use, this healing skill would be very substantial for the victory of the troops.

Meanwhile, the fighters with aptitude B and others with aptitude C were gathered and directed to master one major skill for their element and a set of weapons. And so, this Magi battle formation was formed.

Earth: Spear and shield, "Stone Skin" skill. Front line formation, focus on defense.

Ice: Spear and shield, "Ice Wall" skill. Front line formation, focus on defense.

Plant: Spear and shield, "Vine Spike" skill. Front line formation, focus on defense.

Fire: Bow and arrows, "Fire Infusion" skill. Rear line formation, focus on ranged attacks.

Metal: Bow and arrows, "Metal Hardening" skill. Rear line formation, focus on ranged attacks.

Wind: Sword or machete, "Wind Walk" skill. Wing formation, focus on melee attacks.

Lightning: Sword or machete, "Energize" skill. Wing formation, focus on melee attacks.

Water: "Soothing Mist" skill. Rear formation, focus on healing assists.

For those with aptitude B or A, of course, they were given more freedom to practice other disciplines. But currently, those with aptitude C were strictly limited to focusing on mastering one spirit skill only.

Those who had the element of light and darkness were so limited that including them in the formation wasn’t ideal. Whereas those with aptitude D or no aptitude at all were trained to be able to use all three types of weapons so that they could adjust themselves in battle.

This was the army that Alex had prepared for the challenges of the apocalypse. Alex had lots of other plans for them, but that would only be possible for him to do after he completed at least two Doomsday Pillars of this apocalypse. And of course, he had to take care of these Uruks first in order to achieve that.

At this moment, the Uruk leader with reddish skin was using a skill called "Battle Frenzy". When this skill was used, not only the leader was affected, but even the berserkers around him went crazy.

Alex was worried that there would be casualties from his troops, so he assigned Arief to intervene.

[Arief]

[Male - 44 years old]

[Earth Realm level 30 - Peak stage]

[Spirit Energy - Metal - Peak stage]

[Spirit Talent - Level A]

When Arief entered the battle area, the fighters immediately cheered and the fighting spirit of all of them skyrocketed. Since the majority of the troops who were taking part were part of the special forces, especially the Death Squad, the presence of Arief, who was their leader, was certainly very impactful.

A berserker lunged toward Arief with a slash of his big sword. However, Arief easily avoided the attack. Arief drew the giant sword in his hand, and with the speed of lightning, the berserker was split in two.

[Greatsword, Tier 2]

[1.8 meters long, weighs 32 kilograms]

[Enhances speed]

Even though it was only a tier 2 sword, the extra speed bonus combined with the size of the sword and the metal elemental skill [Metal Hardening], Arief’s attack became very deadly for his opponent.

Arief lunged toward the Uruk-hai army with his fighting experience, deep swordsmanship, and adequate equipment. Nothing could stop him. Every Uruk that tried to get in his way was immediately split into two.

When Arief got closer to the middle of the battlefield, the red-skinned Uruk leader realized how great Arief’s strength was in comparison and ordered dozens of Uruks to surround him.

Each one of these Uruks had a physical strength equal to that of a fighter at the peak of the Earth Realm. But Arief very confidently fought them all, not even seeming to feel pressured in the slightest bit.

In the middle of the surrounding Uruks, Arief released his deadly skill.

[Special combat skill]

[Ares Strength - Stage 2]

[Increases muscle strength]

[Increases speed]

This was a skill obtained as the main prize for clearing the first challenge of the Doomsday Pillar.

Arief was able to crash at the Uruk that was using a shield. Immediately after, with one hand, he threw that Uruk toward the other Uruks surrounding him on one side. When they were pushed back, Arief easily slashed several of those Uruks at once. As those ordinary Uruks were not even able to follow his movements, they weren’t able to do much of a retaliation against Arief’s attacks.

Only the Uruk berserkers were able to follow his movements and block his attacks. When the red Uruk began approaching him, ready to attack, Arief was forced to start using tactics. Every time the red-skinned Uruk leader and the Uruk berserkers attacked Arief, he avoided their attacks and approached other Uruks that were fighting, causing the Uruks and Uruk berserkers to kill each other. And Arief was always ready to counterattack whenever an opportunity showed itself.

The red Uruk leader was getting more and more irritated. The red Uruk used his Battle Frenzy skill again, and at the same time, 20 more Uruks surrounded Arief.

This time, Arief was beginning to get overpowered by the Uruks.

Clank! Clank! Splat!!

Fortunately, his "Metal Hardening" skill had reached the peak of the Earth Realm. Not only was his sword hardened, but his entire body was also enhanced with the same metal hardening skill.

Amidst the fierce battle, all of a sudden, the ground around them began to tremble heavily.

Sergei’s skill, "Earth Smasher", appeared to assist. He struck with his special hammer at the perfect time, exactly when it was needed.

Arief did not miss this opportunity. When the red Uruk’s leg was stuck in a crack made from Sergei’s skill, with all his might, Arief swung his greatsword through to the leg of the red-skinned Uruk leader. Because of his sudden attack, the Uruk could only be stunned to see his legs cut off before instantly falling.

Arief did not hesitate to immediately cut its head. He then raised his head as high as he could and shouted their yell of victory.

The fighting spirit of the entire Star Army was immediately peaked while the Uruk-hai army, who saw that their war chief had died, finally started to panic and tried to run away. But this gave the fighters with wind and lightning elements the best opportunity so far. At an extremely high speed, those fighters pierced and slashed the Uruks that were running one by one, leaving none alive.

Very soon, the battle of 300 against 300 was finally over, and the fighters began to receive spirit energy from the corpses of the Uruk-hai army and the orcs.

The battle of the last 30th floor was finally over. Almost every member of the Star Army there reached the maximum level of the Earth Realm.

"Now, it’s time for us to try the second challenge. Gather all the fighters."