Entering The Tower

'' HOWL!!! ''

Zeralf stood on one of the branches of a spiny withered tree and watched as the raging wind howled far ahead. 

It was night already in the exam location and the dark sky filled with multicoloured stars enveloped all living and non-living matters. 

He had left the region with the unending traps and he was currently watching the vengeful tornado to know how he would tread this place safely and quickly. 

The gravity was still unstable and he had landed on of the branches when it repelled him forward. Hence, he didn't dwell long on the tree before teleporting forward. 

Entering a tower was what would mark the end of the second phase as instructed by the examiners and since he had yet to see any tower ahead, he could only proceed till.

When Zeralf entered the cyclone, half of his concentration was on him not losing his footing as he advanced. The strong wind was blocking his vision and it was also causing Ki interference making his space sense pretty useless. 

With this, using teleportation would prove difficult because he had to set a particular destination in mind as the second point in space where he would appear. And so, Zeralf could only trudge with caution. 

EDF would never go easy on their participants though, and that was clear to Zeralf which was why he wasn't caught in surprise when he felt his path being obstructed, he was anticipating some obstacles to show up anyways and he wasn't disappointed. 

Two bots at the marble rank each being two meters in height, composed of greyish metallic body parts with a humanoid figure stood menacingly some distance from him. 

Zeralf had not got the chance to manifest his Zajra when he felt something cold approaching from behind. 

His eyes constricted and in reflex, he waved his right arm enveloped in a chaotic aura backwards in a one-eighty degree motion. 

'' Fling!! '' 

Zeralf was catapulted sideways and before he could crash down, gravity sent him upward but the second bot was waiting in midair with a laser gun that shot at him with immense speed. 

Zeralf had manifested his Zajra at this point and he swung the chain which made an arc in the air, his scythe clashed with the laser and a small explosion pushed the two of them away. 

Before the bot with teleportation skills could reach him, Zeralf launched multiple spatial blades which hummed in the air at him. 

'' Whoosh!! '' The bot vanished and appeared behind Zeralf's blindspot in midair and he proceeded to lock Zeralf's movement. 

Zeralf didn't bulge and he waited for the bot to make contact with him. 

'' Chaotic aura. '' A dark violet energy wrapped around his legs that the bot grabbed and one of the lights in its eyes went out. 

'' Boom! '' A laser beam struck the bot and it shattered into pieces. 

Bots did not have powerful minds like Devas and they couldn't cooperate with one another so Zeralf had exploited that weakness. 

The bot with teleportation skills might look impossible to hit but Zeralf himself had such skill. 

He had noticed when he sent the spatial blades earlier that the bot only reacted to the strongest Ki fluctuation and Zeralf being a hegemon in that department, had powered his chaotic aura with enough Ki and made himself look as if he was trapped in the air to bait the bot to touch him, by doing so, his Dharma of Chaos messed up with its internal connection reducing its efficiency and then as he planned his game, the other bot with laser gun who only had him as its target fired at him but the teleporting bot was already in its way the moment the laser beam left the gun. 

All these analyses and events happened within a short time frame but Zeralf's refined battle awareness made his judgement and thought process sharp. 

Even though his vision was blocked, he could still see to some reasonable distance and as he closed in on the last bot, he vanished, appearing beside it and before it could react, a dagger came down and split its head. 

'' Weaklings crossing my way, the audacity. '' He walked and stepped over the bots, further crushing them under his feet with his usual impassive expression. 

'' Now, where's the tower hiding? '' He thought to himself as his body got pulled to the ground. 

Zeralf advanced since he couldn't find the tower in this vicinity and after some minutes, he met other bots which he disassembled without hesitation. 

He progressed forward and after every few minutes, he would meet a bot or two that were blocking his way which he had to destroy. It was after he destroyed the fifteenth bot that something dropped to the ground. 

The raging wind blew it away but Zeralf was quick as he held it in his grasp in no time. 

'' A compass? '' His eyes perked up suspiciously as he decided to follow the direction the compass was pointing at. 

'' It's the exam, right? And they can't be laying some sort of ambush? '' He pondered over this sceptically. 

Half an hour later, Zeralf saw a magnificent tower about a hundred meters away from him. 

It had a dome structure and Zeralf couldn't discern its height or width from where he stood. 

The strong wind had died down in this region and all that was needed was for him to enter the tower, however, he was still cautious hence, he sent a couple of spatial blades forward. 

Multiple silver auras that threatened to cut through space hummed in the air and soon enough, they crashed on the aimed target. 

'' Boom! '' A small explosion rang in the air and Zeralf's eyes constricted when he saw two big metal spikes shoot out and launch themselves at the sharp silver auras. 

'' Congratulations on reaching this point, now leave your compass behind. '' A monotonous voice came from the tower. 

A short humanoid bot came out of the tower which had its chest opened showing some circuits and connection layout. 

Zeralf maintained a safe distance and observed it, from its glowing blue eyes to the other metallic body parts before finally throwing the compass inside the opened chest of the bot. 

The door to the tower slid open as Zeralf trudged forward, when he was a meter from the door, he was able to see the designs of the tower better than previously. 

The strong wind had completely stopped and when he looked back, he could see behind him the raging wind howling to test other participants who had yet to cross it. 

The tower had brown walls with peculiar engravings and the entrance alone reached about ten meters in height. 

Zeralf didn't know whether it was because they were still in the desert but he could feel the Dharma of Earth seeping out of the dome structure.