Even if Verona did question utz''s decisions and his actions to herself but unlike Bret and Kristie, she didn''t feel like teaching this man a lesson no matter how much anger she felt in her heart.


    "Why do I feel like I am missing something important?"


    She bit her lips trying hard to remember. She was the archer of the group, so she was standing a bit away from the beast as she shot her arrow. So she did see ir stumble to the beast before dying. But her fright and horror and then after that ir''s death made her go nk. She couldn''t remember the details at all! But somewhere at the back of her mind, she knew that she was missing something important.


    "Guys I know it is sad that ir is not with us anymore but we also need to move onto the next stage soon. We can''t stay here with him forever. I am sure if we make it out of this trial alive, ir''s soul will find peace." Dant said.


    "Peace my ass!" Kristie scoffed. But he didn''t refuse Dant''s proposal. After all, what other choice did he have? Life must move on, and they must try their best to survive. It hadn''t been so long since they had lost a member. But that doesn''t mean they didn''t have deaths before. They did! And they had to move on. The beasts won''t wait for them toment their friend''s death. So they had no other choice.


    Bret didn''t reply, neither to Kritie''s outburst nor to Dant''s proposal. He took out a piece of monster hide from inside his inventory and covered the poor boy''s half-eaten dead body. He wiped his tears. This was thest time they will be seeing ir. They need to wish him a proper farewell.


    He joined his hands together and bowed his head, as he said his prayers. Bret was quite a devout before he was transported to this world. But s this world had no God or at least they had never found one. Neither was there a prophet nor a messenger, for here only chaos reigns supreme! And demons flock in every corner.


    utz who was now done with putting aside the monster meat in his inventory walked up to the group.


    "I hope you guys are better done by now."


    utz didn''t cease to be haughty with them, cause he can''t let these people get on his head. What''s the point of handling the tantrums of dead people?


    Bret got up from his knees as he stood back on his two legs.


    "Yeah let''s go."


    Dant nodded. This time things went ahead without a hassle. He was d that there was no drama likest time around.


    "Take us to the next stage!"


    [Do you wish to proceed to the next stage of the Trial of Control? (yes/no)]


    "Yes," the others whispered under their breaths. They were still not sure of what was going to happen with them at the next stage. Wishing for the best they closed their eyes.


    A binding light that originated from their status screens grewrger as it wiped them around.


    utz opened his eyes. The sudded bling ding light had caused him to close his eyes shut.


    When everyone had shouted out a ''Yes'' to the system message, utz however chose not to say anything aloud. No one had noticed that he whispered a ''no'' under his breath. The blinding light that swallowed everyone left utz behind.


    [User had chosen to stay back in the second stage]


    [User would be forcefully sent to the third stage after 22 mins]


    A message unique to utz appeared on his status screen.


    "I have to check it out."


    There was a reason why utz had chosen to stay back. After ir''s death, he had felt a weird sort of connection with the dead body; he wasn''t sure what it was but if he was right then...


    "It must have a connection."


    He had found a weird parasite like object infesting the body. What was even weirder was the fact that only he could see it and the others could not!


    He walked up to where the carcass was. It was covered in a beast''s hide. He removed the cloth. It was then he felt a calm breeze flowing over his face.


    [User has found a spirit whose stats are lower than 20% of the user''s stats.]


    [User can choose to conjure the spirit and add it to his collections.]


    utz frowned as he furrowed his brows. utz did have a hunch a that it might be something rted to his ss but the system messages caught him offguard.


    "Spirit?" utz furrowed his brows. "I thought my ss had something to do with spirit type beasts!"


    There were a group of monsters in Hell who only attacked the people from the shadows in the darkness of the night or in abandoned and closed rooms where sunlight cannot seep through. utz had thought that his ss Spirit Conjurer had something to do with those.


    But he was wrong.


    "There are no spirits in this room!"


    The room might have ck walls and floors which gave it a rather dull and monotonous appearance but there was no way the room was dark. It was slightly illuminated enough so that no Spirit beasts could exist here.


    utz had put off testing his ss due to the absence of any spirit type beasts in this newbie ground. He had hoped to test it after he actually cleared the newbie grounds and reached Hell but now the ss has made its appearance itself!


    "Spirit Conjure!"


    utz shout out as he reached out his hands to the carcass. A ck form that had a translucent appearance wriggled from within the body as it came out...


    ***


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