Author Of Worlds: I Reincarnated Into My Novel As A Random Character
Chapter 5: Matthew Enters The Horrifying Trial... Decay World?

Chapter 5: Matthew Enters The Horrifying Trial... Decay World?

Darkness.

Not the comforting kind that lulls the senses, but the kind that presses against the skin like damp cloth, seeps into the lungs, and coils behind the eyes.

It swallowed everything... Light, sound, air, thought, and even time felt absent here. There was only the sensation of falling, and then... nothing.

Matthew gasped.

His lungs dragged in a breath that tasted of ash and iron. The air scraped his throat as if it hadn’t known warmth in centuries.

He lay sprawled on the cold obsidian ground, almost naked and bleeding from multiple parts of his body.

The ground pulsed faintly beneath him and seemed as though it was alive, he could even hear a faint heartbeat from the ground.

Where am i?

He was puzzled as he rose slowly from the ground, his muscles ached lightly and the blood on him was already drying.

Around him stretched an endless palace made of shifting black glass and above.

There was no sky, only a dome of swirling shadows that similarly pulsed faintly as though, given the chance, it wouldn’t hesitate to swallow him.

What trial is this? Matthew tried to rack his brain to come up with an answer.

Just then he noticed a few silhouettes appearing, condensing from faint shadows.

He stared at the shadows as they writhed and morphed, slowly forming figures.

In the blink of an eye, they had formed 49 other people who had varying expressions.

They stared at each other, their expressions ranging from shock to fear and apprehension as well.

They fell into the hands of the sleeper trial and woke up here so they could tell that the place was definitely dangerous, they didn’t even know if the other 49 were real humans or... part of the trial.

Matthew stared at them in deep thought, he was getting a rough idea of what trial this was, but he couldn’t be certain now, he still had to wait and see how things played out.

Just as everyone was weary, a mysterious voice sounded in each of their minds, and along with it were a series of glowing runes that appeared in their line of vision.

[You have entered the Trial World: Hollow Eclipse.]

Objective: Destroy the Decay Heart before corruption reaches 100%.

Time Limit: 72 hours.

Survivors: 50.

Reward: Awakening.

Failure: Permanent Shadow Integration.

Surprisingly, they could all understand the complex, glowing runes perfectly.

Reading the information matthew was shocked.

How can it be this trial?

Matthew was in disbelief; this was one of the hardest trials, involving many complex factors to pass, it tested one’s morality, emotions, will, fears, and many other things; it wasn’t just about finding the decay heart.

If one wasn’t careful, their heart would be decayed in the process, there was only one person to survive the trial, and after that the person died a few trials later because of how increasingly terrifying it became.

Matthew took a deep breath, his hand running through his hair slightly, with his brows furrowed.

How do i overcome this? He glanced at the 49 people, who could be the decay heart? Matthew sighed, the first stage of the trial would be extremely misleading; he had to be careful...

Also, I have to warn the others about... just as he was about to continue speaking, a loud shout cut through the air...

Everyone’s attention was quickly drawn to the person.

They realized that it was a young girl who was similarly of the same age as everyone else, about 16.

She was trembling as she glanced around, muttering incoherent words.

Her eyes were searching frantically as she stepped backwards repeatedly, as though she was moving away from something.

Seeing this matthew immediately frowned, this is bad!

"Stop!" he immediately called out, he couldn’t let this happen; if not, it would reduce his chances of successfully passing this trial.

"Stop moving about, calm your emotions!" matthew made his voice sound as gentle as possible as he slowly approached the young lady.

However, she didn’t seem to hear his words; she continued to mutter under her breath, "i just want to go home and take care of my parents. I didn’t sign up for any of this... I... I don’t want to die... someone please, save me..."

She didn’t notice that as she continued pleading, the ground, which was pulsing faintly, began to quicken around her.

The ground continued to pulse repeatedly as though it was listening to her sobs and pleas. Then the heartbeat grew louder and moved faster.

The stone began to throb beneath her skin, and hairline cracks formed in the ground around her like veins spreading rapidly.

A wet, sizzling hiss cut through the air.

The shadows on the ground shuddered slightly.

All around the trialists, the darkness began to writhe as though it had been awakened by emotions.

It twisted and squirmed, pulling itself into different forms before, slowly, the shadow fused into a single shape.

A thing... stepped forward.

Over two meters tall, it was a monstrous silhouette, its body seemingly formed from thousands of serrated spikes, each one twitching as though it had a mind of its own.

Its surface was obsidian and oozing with a black liquid that looked like blood.

It smiled.

But this smile wasn’t human. It stretched far too wide, splitting open to the sides of its face... no, past its face, where a normal jaw would end, its mouth simply kept going.

And then it began to laugh. A low, bubbling sound like boiling tar resounded in the minds of all 48 remaining trialists.

Several of them fell to their knees, while others backed away instinctively, their eyes wide with fear.

One boy screamed and didn’t stop, clutching his ears as if trying to shut out something only he could hear.

Another lady quickly vomited continuously. None of them dared to speak as they were frozen in fear, their heart continuously palpitating.

With a stretch, the creature opened its large jaw, appeared in front of the trembling young lady and bit down on her.

Before she could react, her head was snapped clean, and blood continuously oozed out of her neck.

Seeing this, a few trialists immediately screamed in fear and terror.

The creature turned to glance at them, and immediately, its figure vanished, appearing consecutively in front of them.

It bit down hard, and just like the last time, their head was snapped in one swift motion.

In the blink of an eye, five trialists had died; seeing this, all of them were horrified.

Just then the runes in front of them flashed once again and a new line of words appeared.

[Corruption rate: 10%]

[Destroy the decay heart before being completely corrupted.]