"What do you mean?" Isaac narrowed his eyes.
"The Thousand-Year Stampede isn’t simply a monster invasion. It’s a test, or if you prefer, a filter that determines which Sectors deserve to continue existing and which ones don’t. Every Sector undergoes a different test. If a Sector passes, the System increases the resources allocated to it. If it fails, the Sector receives a grace period of one thousand years before the test begins again," Beroga explained.
His voice became noticeably heavier as he continued. "Each Sector only gets three chances. Our Sector has already failed twice, and this Thousand-Year Stampede is the third and last attempt. If we fail again, everyone living here will be erased."
The place fell completely silent.
Isaac had always known the Thousand-Year Stampede was dangerous. Countless monsters would descend from Mourning Frost Mountain, cities would be destroyed, and entire races could disappear overnight.
Now he understood that the monster invasion was far more dangerous than he had believed. Unlike the previous two times, people could not survive the Thousand-Year Stampede just by holing in their cities, and bolstering their defenses.
"So that’s why you wanted Emily to enter the Tower of Heaven and Hell," Isaac said.
Beroga nodded without hesitation. "If our Sector disappears, someone inside the Tower still has a chance to survive. Once she enters, she’ll no longer be tied to this Sector in the same way."
Emily’s expression became slightly complicated after hearing that.
Isaac folded his arms and looked at Beroga thoughtfully. "You sound awfully certain that we’re going to fail."
Beroga gave a dry laugh before shaking his head.
"Trust me. I know what I’m talking about. Our Sector’s overall strength is nowhere near enough to pass this test. Even worse, the strongest mid-ranked species are already buried under problems they can barely handle," Beroga said.
"What kind of problems?" Isaac frowned slightly.
"Complicated problems. Take the Florathi for example. There’s a real chance they’ll be destroyed before the Thousand-Year Stampede even begins," Beroga said casually.
Isaac’s eyes widened slightly. The Florathi were one of the strongest races in the Sector. If even they were in danger of being wiped out, then the situation was much worse than he had imagined.
"What’s happening to the Florathi?" Isaac immediately asked.
"The World Tree is happening to them." Beroga let out a quiet snicker.
Isaac waited for him to elaborate, but Beroga simply waved his hand dismissively. "That’s enough information for now. Become stronger first. Knowing too much before you have the strength to act will only place another burden on your shoulders."
Emily frowned the moment she heard that answer. She clearly wasn’t pleased that Beroga had deliberately stopped halfway through his explanation. She felt like he was not respecting Isaac.
"What is happening to the Florathi?" she asked again.
Beroga simply looked at her without saying another word.
Emily’s patience finally ran out.
A wave of Spirit Element silently spread from her body and descended upon Beroga’s soul. As his summoner, she should have possessed overwhelming authority over him.
To her surprise, Beroga did not look affected in the slightest. The invisible pressure reached him but stopped there. It failed to suppress him any further.
Emily blinked in disbelief. Beroga looked at her before letting out another quiet snicker.
"You really think Ascenders are children. If you believe this amount of pressure is enough to suppress me, you’ve underestimated us," he said mockingly.
Both Isaac and Emily were surprised by what they had just witnessed.
Emily’s Spirit Element had always been extremely effective against Spirits she rose, and against her summons. Even Catastrophes struggled to resist her authority, yet Beroga had shrugged it off with little more than a slight frown.
Isaac quietly observed him while another question surfaced in his mind. ’Ascenders are still Overlords. Just how much stronger are they than Apex Overlords?’
He couldn’t understand where such an overwhelming difference came from.
Although that question interested him, something else bothered him more. He didn’t like the way Beroga had spoken to Emily.
A smile gradually appeared on Isaac’s face, hiding his thoughts.
"Hey," he called out.
Beroga turned toward him.
"We still have some time before Sage Sea finishes preparing the formation. How about we have a spar?" Isaac asked.
"You want to fight me?" Beroga raised an eyebrow before looking Isaac up and down.
"It’ll be good practice for both of us." Isaac nodded.
Beroga’s lips slowly curled into a sneer. "Fine. Since you asked for it, don’t complain if you end up regretting it."
"Are you sure about this? He’s an Ascender." Emily immediately looked toward Isaac with concern.
Isaac simply smiled.
As they walked toward an open area, several of Isaac’s clones returned. Behind them followed the summons that had been stationed with Emily, the Ashfang Tribe, and throughout the surrounding wilderness.
Isaac had already planned to gather all of them before entering the Great Dungeon. This unexpected spar simply gave him a chance to test everyone’s coordination beforehand.
Meanwhile, Sage Sea continued working.
He remained focused on constructing the massive rune formation surrounding Ki Beli. Even so, he occasionally glanced toward the battle, clearly interested in seeing how Isaac compared against an Ascender.
The spar began without any formal signal.
Isaac did not have the East Sea Dragon King and the Ancient Dwarf King for obvious reasons. Still, his summons were quite powerful.
The moment they exchanged blows, Isaac and Beroga were both surprised. Isaac because understood just how enormous the gap really was between normal Apex Overlords, and Ascenders. Beroga because Isaac was stronger than most Apex Overlords he had seen.
Beroga’s movements were frighteningly fast. Every attack carried enough power to crush an ordinary Overlord in a single strike.
But Isaac wasn’t fighting alone.
He used Alice’s her choir skill to fuse attacks of Ember sprits summoned through Emily’s skill. At same time, the Bosses and Catastrophes charged forward together. Isaac continuously cast buffs on himself and every summon.
With Alice’s skills strengthening them further, the battlefield quickly became chaotic.
Beroga found himself surrounded from every direction. Every time he pushed one summon back, another immediately filled the gap, while Isaac continued casting support skills as though his mana would never run dry.