Pandora Unchained - a Cultivation Progression Fantasy

Fortunately for the sapphire-tier heroes, the remaining matches did not produce more unexpected surprises. In fact, one of the teams even obtained one of the rare silver flames, which directly upgraded their wish-fire spheres from sapphire grade to ruby grade.

The ruby teams then went on to accept their arena challenges, and as predicted by Daphne, the wheel underwent another transformation. A third boss monster appeared, and the number of elites increased to 20 slots out of 100. The number of flames naturally increased as well, but the variance introduced took its toll, and many more teams were surprised by inconvenient matchups just as they were about to complete their quotas.

One of the ruby teams was unlucky enough to encounter a floor boss. Unlike the first team, however, theirs was ready and up to challenge and managed to defeat the boss, obtaining a reward equal to equivalent to ten elites.

Defeating a floor boss did not reduce the number of boss symbols, but the remaining teams had sufficient confidence to continue their challenges. Eventually, all ruby teams completed their challenges, leaving only those who'd obtain bronze blessings or higher, excluding Astley and a few other daring individuals.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Stephan confirmed one last time before their team was up. "Gareth is our strategist, but he doesn't have the final say—you do. You can come with us, Sorin. If people make an issue of it, my York Clan will have your back."

"I want to do this," Sorin confirmed. "If not because of the negatives if I don't, then because of the rewards associated. If I get a silver wish fire sphere, I'll gain an additional measure of power to resist Melinoë with."

Gareth also pulled Sorin over just before their team stepped up to challenge the arena. "What, are you going to convince me not to go after practically goading me into accepting the solo challenge?" asked Sorin.

The archer shook his head. "I just wanted to remind you that times of great stress and danger are opportunities for corruption to encroach. You draw upon its power if need be, but you must remain vigilant so that it doesn't change you any more than it already has."

Team 'We Don't Need a Life Mage' was one of the last bronze-tier teams to step up. The black disc pulsed with white runes as they entered the arena, manifesting a spinning wheel with 20 elites, three bosses, and flames to balance them out.

The only difference between the bronze-tier wheel and the ruby-tier wheel was the larger number of demons. One could expect normal demons per challenger or a total of three elites.

Michael approached Sorin once the wheel started spinning. "It's very noble of you to let them go on ahead. Your situation is quite precarious—having a gold-tier quota without the powers of a God Seed."

"I still have a few hidden cards I've yet to reveal," said Sorin. "At the very least, I'm confident in being able to secure a silver wish-fire sphere."

Sorin clenched his fists as the wheel slowed. The odds of encountering elites was twenty percent, and as the wheel gradually slowed, it became clear that their first fight out of the gate would be a group of three elites.

Three giant rats measuring twenty feet each appeared in the arena and simultaneously let out an ear-piercing shriek. Corruption oozed out of the arena disc and took the form of thousands of tiny rats that clawed at legs of Sorin's teammates.

Daphne immediately responded by letting out a pulse of flames. The tiny rats shrieked as acidic flames consumed them and dispersed the corruption used to summon them.

At the same time, entered her myth impersonation state as the Dark Lady used her abilities to slow down the three elites. Their movements instantly turned sluggish and stiff.

Next came Stephan. The beast-shift warrior entered his Silver Spine Form and used Natural Selection to provoke his enemies. Taunted, the lone rat they singled out unable to avoid the arrows and fireballs that rained down on it, nor was it able to dodge when Lawrence appeared in front of its face and stabbed his poison-laced sword through both of its eyes.

Having dealt heavy damage to the elite, the trio adopted an unconventional tactic and switched targets "Why would they…" muttered Michael. "Oh. I see. You might be out of the battle, but you're still participating, in a sense, with your enchantments and the poison you supplied."

"Poisons are very flexible," said Sorin with a grin. "I blended quite a few different kinds for them to use throughout their challenges. This one is a paralytic that resonates with Astley's myth-bound form. Notice how Stephan can basically dodge all the rat's attacks? And now the second is hobbling just as badly as the first."

It only took the team five seconds apiece to disable all three rats. They then took their time in dealing with them to make good use of their resources and even replenish what they'd lost.

This continued for fifteen minutes before the arena seemed to realize something was going on. The elites suddenly exploded without causing damage, ending the trial in favor of the challengers.

Defeating three elites immediately netted the team sapphire wish-fire spheres. This was a good start, especially since they hadn't spent more than 10 percent of their resources.

The wheel began spinning once again, and to Sorin's dismay, it was an elite combat again, giving his teammates no time to recover.

"It's probably just bad luck," assured Michael. "No cause for concern."

"Right," said Sorin drily. "Bad luck. Well, at least it's in the first two bouts, where it can't hurt them much." This time, three undead abominations were summoned, an unfortunate match-up for their team. These undead creatures were immune to Astley's myth-impersonation, forcing her to return to her original form and summon three weaker elite spider demons from the first level of the catacombs to keep them in check.

Undead creatures had the unfortunate trait of being immune to critical strikes, greatly reducing Lawrence's usefulness in combat. But the rogue was flexible and switched to acitoxin-coated blades, targeting joints instead of vitals. He, Astley, and Gareth then worked together to restrain the creatures. At the same time, Stephan, sporting acitoxin-coated gloves in his Arctic Rune Bear Form, whaled on one of the creatures as Daphne, having switched her acidic flames to ice-aligned ones, supported Stephan by continuously injecting his target with freezing energies.

The battle was a long one, but eventually, Sorin's team prevailed. Their wish-fire spheres gained three more elites charges, bringing it almost up to ruby tier. What's more, their resources were still acceptably high, making it so that another elite combat wouldn't be a problem.

Just as Sorin was thinking this, the wheel slowed down. Something shifted. "I'm going to kill her," said Sorin, activating his wraith-hare boots and appearing in the midst of the remaining high-ranking individuals.

"Sorin, how can I be of serv—" Charles started, only to cut off as Sorin stabbed a poisonous spear at the person standing beside him, Melinoë. The spear punched through three levels of distortion before shattering into a poisonous cloud that was immediately consumed by a nightmarish creature.

"I'm not sure what's gotten into you, Sorin, but—" Melinoë started, but Sorin stabbed a dagger towards her chest, pierced through a light shield that sprung up to defend her. He was about to continue his assault when he felt a surge of Violence from the side. He dodged, barely avoiding a curse that came flying his way.

Sorin looked at the caster of the curse, Onesca Wayfair. "Onesca, I don't recall our clans having a bad relationship. In fact, we even cooperate on treatments from time to time. Are you sure you want to do this?"

"You literally just attacked a God Seed out of nowhere, Sorin," said Onesca. "Why don't you tell us what the problem is, and we can talk it through."

"Talk it through?" said Sorin, his anger mounting as a chained serpent appeared in the arena in front of his friends. Under Gareth's urging, his team adopted a combat formation to counter the monster on the off chance they'd have to face it.

"My friends just encountered two elite combats and are now fighting a floor boss," said Sorin. "Just before the floor boss appeared, I sensed a wave of distortion. Or are you going to pretend nothing's happening? That you can't feel luck in this place being siphoned off by this vile woman?"

Onesca's expression wavered, and when Michael arrived looking none-too-pleased with Melinoë, the situation became clear to everyone.

"Explain," said Michael to Melinoë.

Melinoë smiled. "It appears there is a misunderstanding that we need to clear up. Perhaps talking things over will be more productive than resorting to Violence, which will cost the entire group greatly?"

"A misunderstanding?" said Sorin. "Are you telling me you didn't siphon off their luck? That what I sensed was just an illusion?"

"No, I won't deny that," said Melinoë. "I am currently siphoning off their luck, just as I have been during the preceding battles."

Everyone's expressions changed, including Michael's. "Tell me what's going on. Now." God Light erupted from the archer and bore down on Melinoë. The clash of two God Seeds forced everyone back. Everyone save Sorin, of course.

"I've been doing what's optimal for the entire group, by adjusting the odds based on every team's performance," said Melinoë. She waved her hand and revealed a golden container that was filled to the brim with a strange energy. "This is the group's luck bank, which I have been filling up to use when the most important battles come about."

"What the bloody hell," said Fenrig, finally losing his cool. "You've been sabotaging our teams this entire time? So that brush with death where my team almost died—that was all your doing?" He was on the verge of exploding and attacking Melinoë just like Sorin had.

"I'm also very interested in the answer to his question," said Michael, "because this doesn't just concern those teams who perished. It concerns whether or not the remaining individuals can trust you going forward and risk taking on higher-level challenges."