Strongest Superhuman System
Chapter 127: River Crossing

Mark waited... and waited... and waited. But he slowly started to squeeze his brow in disbelief as he noticed that nothing was happening. Fucking hell, did he get it wrong? Mark looked up at the large crowd of zombies that were right in front of him, and he gritted his teeth and drew the sword to prepare for a fight as a zombie jumped over the altar to get to him.

Click!

But before the fight could begin, a slick sound was heard from the altar as red lines traveled across its body and formed a circle in the middle of its forward-facing side. A small slot opened there, and a black light shone throughout the cave.

Sheen!

The first person who seemed to notice how dangerous the situation was at that moment was Ryax, and she immediately shouted out to everyone else who was standing around the cavern.

"Run to the side! Now!!!"

Everybody started to run towards the wall of the cavern as the black light dimmed before a massive torrent of black flames surged to life across the cave.

Phwoom!

The hole released a massive flood of fire that burned everything in front of it! All the zombies that were in front of the altar were immediately scorched to death as they were blown back by the black flames. Mark easily ducked under the zombies that managed to get over the altar before he grabbed them and threw them back from where they came, for them to be destroyed by the fire.

It took more than five minutes for the fire to die down, and by then, there was nothing left in the middle of the cavern other than dead, twitching bodies. Mark made sure that there were no more monsters around before he stepped back and fell back on the wall with a sigh. That was fucking tiring. If Mark never saw another zombie in his life, it would be too soon.

The other survivors in the room didn't even reach a tenth of what they were at the start of the battle. Barely ten people were left standing at the end of it all, and Mark glanced at Ryax as she came up to the altar to ask if he needed help. Mark shook his head and stood up alone.

Rumble!

The door leading out of the cavern opened, and Mark wasted no time as he started to walk through to leave that place. The others also followed after him, and they all reached a long corridor that led into darkness.

"Hey, Mark, aren't you coming?"

Ryax spoke up from in front of Mark as she noticed that Mark was no longer walking with the rest of them. Mark didn't say anything for a few minutes as he looked at them with a blank face. He closed his eyes for a moment before he opened them and smiled slightly.

"No, you guys go on without me."

"Really? It's pretty confusing down here. You can easily get lost if you're wandering around on your own."

"Don't worry about me, Ryax. I'll be fine. There's something I have to do before I can leave. You go on without me."

"Alright, but don't forget our promise, okay? Come visit my hometown when this is all finished! I'll replace America! I promise!"

Ryax raised her hand to wave goodbye to Mark, but all Mark could notice was how her pale, rotten skin and sunken eyes started to reveal themselves. Her clothes were becoming more tattered, and worms were going in and out of holes in her skin.

And she was not the only one; every single person there was starting to turn into rotten corpses as they waved at Mark from a distance, and Mark remembered that these were damned souls that were only being used for the test. They weren't alive anymore. They seemed so real during the test that he completely forgot.

"I'll try my best! Bye, Ryax!"

Ryax laughed heartily as she disappeared into the darkness while waving to Mark, and the smile on Mark's face disappeared once Ryax was gone. The scene in front of him slowly changed until he was standing at the bank of an enormous river that was filled with still water that glowed green.

Fog covered the surface of the water like a blanket, and Mark could feel goosebumps rise on his skin just from looking at it. There was a boat on one side of the river with a man sitting inside with his head bowed.

Mark felt the chains hanging from his hands fall off, and he blinked down at his free wrists in surprise. I suppose the chains were only for the first test. Mark clenched and unclenched his gloved palms to get feeling back into his arms. Mark then looked towards his system again.

[Test 2: The River Crossing]

[The User has been placed at the edge of the crossroads between the world of the living and the dead, the River Styx. In order to cross the River Styx, a soul is required to pay a ferry fee to the ferryman, the river crosser Charon.

The User does not possess any significant valuables to act as a crossing fee; therefore, the user is required to strike a suitable deal with the ferryman, Charon, to get him to the other side.]

[Test Conditions]

-> The user is not allowed to use all skills during the fight.

-> The user must not fall into the river more than twice. If the user falls into the river, the user will suffer the consequences on his own without help from any of the gods.

-> The User must strike at least one deal with the ferryman Charon.

[Number of Lives: III]

[The user has been granted a favor due to the incessant demands of his patron god, Sozin. Thanatos has agreed to allow the user to use one skill during each test. Please select the skill you wish to use]

[Mana Circulation – D Rank]

[Taunting – F Rank]

[Blunt Force Trauma – D Rank]

[True Sight – D Rank]

...

Here we go again. Mark looked across the skills that he had with a critical gaze as he tried to see which of them would be useful in a mission like this. Mark had heard about the River Styx before. It was a river that served as a crossing path for dead souls.

According to myth, souls that die would have to pay the ferryman Charon a gold coin to have him take them to the other side, but if you don't have a gold coin, then Charon will refuse to take you to the other side, and you will have to swim across the river to get to the other side.