Chapter 24: No comparison, no heartbreak
Laviana was the first to regain her composure.
She immediately picked up her phone and contacted the Connection Center.
"This is Laviana."
Her voice was faster than usual.
"Use my authority to add Vylana’s name to the contact registration list for Erik. Raise the request to the highest priority level."
The other end was silent for a few seconds.
Then a mechanical voice sounded.
[Processing request.]
[Large number of registrations related to Awakened Erik detected.]
[System is currently overloaded.]
[The registrant’s priority level is insufficient to cut into the current position.]
[Please wait in order.]
Laviana knitted her brows.
"Insufficient priority?"
She directly called a contact she knew at the Center.
The call couldn’t connect.
Laviana tried two more times, with the same result.
In the end, a short message was sent back.
[There are currently too many high-level clans and madams with special authority requesting intervention in registrations related to Erik.]
[All processing channels have reached their limits.]
Laviana fell silent.
She turned to look at the secret group chat on the small screen beside her.
Messages were still appearing continuously.
[Madam Ravia: I want to add a request for direct contact.]
[Madam Ysera: My clan has already sent an official letter to the Center.]
[The Sleepless Madam: Why has my priority been pushed down to seventeenth place?]
[Madam Lilith: Because all of us are doing the exact same thing.]
[Meira: Don’t any of you even dream of it.]
Laviana slowly set the phone down.
The teasing in the group was no longer just talk.
Those madams had truly begun using money, status, along with influence to compete for the chance to get in contact with Erik.
She looked at Vylana.
"We can’t keep sitting still."
Vylana’s eyes were still glued to the screen.
"What do you want to do, Mother?"
"Go to the Center."
Laviana stood up and grabbed her coat.
"Before those women block off every path."
Vylana didn’t object.
She immediately stood up, but before leaving the room she still didn’t forget to switch the livestream feed over to her phone.
...
Inside the sixth floor, Erik had absolutely no idea just how chaotic things had become outside.
Before him there were only monsters.
The Echo Hunter pack showed no sign of giving up its attack after the two pack leaders were killed. On the contrary, the smell of blood along with Erik’s powerful life-force fluctuations only drove them more frantic.
Over ten of them surged into the corridor at once.
But the cramped space had limited their numerical advantage.
Only three or four could reach Erik at the same time.
He raised the Gale Thunder Spear, stepped back half a pace, then thrust hard.
The spearhead pierced through the first one’s head.
Erik immediately twisted his wrist, using the shaft to block the second one’s bite. Sharp fangs clamped down on the metal but couldn’t leave so much as a scratch.
The third one circled around to the right.
Erik kicked straight into the joint of its foreleg.
Crack!
The leg bent downward.
The monster’s body pitched forward, just as Erik pulled the spear free from the first corpse.
He didn’t thrust again.
Erik gripped the shaft with both hands and swung hard downward.
BAM!
The monster’s head was driven straight into the stone floor.
It was still convulsing.
Erik stomped on its neck, bent down, grabbed the upper jaw, and wrenched it hard to the side.
The sound of the neck being snapped rang out clearly.
Another one lunged in, its claws raking across his chest.
Clang!
Erik was pushed back a few steps, but the armor showed only a very small dent.
A dull ache transmitted through the protective layer.
Not serious.
He immediately charged back in.
The acceleration shoes propelled Erik forward many times faster than normal. He drove his shoulder straight into the monster’s chest, sending its body flying backward and slamming hard into the wall.
Before it hit the ground, Erik was already on top of it.
A fist smashed straight into the eye socket.
Thwack!
The eye caved in deep.
The monster shrieked, opening its mouth to bite.
Erik grabbed its muzzle with both hands, wrenched it to the side, then slammed its head into the rock wall.
The first time, a crack appeared in the wall.
The second time, black blood spilled from its mouth.
By the third time, its body went completely limp.
Erik dropped the carcass and immediately ducked to dodge a set of claws from behind.
He drove his elbow into the monster’s leg joint, spun around to grab its neck, then flipped it over his shoulder.
BAM!
The heavy body crashed down onto the stone floor.
The tip of the Gale Thunder Spear appeared right after, piercing through its head.
Purple electricity erupted.
The smell of blood, the stench of charring, along with the ceaseless roars flooded the corridor.
The madams watching were completely frozen with shock.
[Madam Ysera: Did he just beat that thing to death with his bare hands?]
[Madam Ravia: That was a ninth-tier Black Iron Echo Hunter.]
[The Sleepless Madam: I know the equipment is very strong, but equipment can’t make a man fight like that.]
[Madam Lilith: He’s not waiting to be rescued.]
[Madam Ravia: He’s even advancing.]
Meira sat in the car, her eyes not leaving the screen for a moment.
Before this, she had only wanted to bring Erik back to the estate, to have him live in the best room, eat the finest food, and never have to face any danger.
She was willing to support him for the rest of his life.
But right now, Meira suddenly realized she had been looking at Erik far too simply.
He was not some fragile treasure that needed to be placed under glass.
He had self-respect.
He had strength.
And he had a fighting instinct that most men in this world had lost a very long time ago.
A Bronze-grade Echo Hunter slammed into Erik from the left.
The force of the collision knocked him off the ground, and he crashed hard into a wall over three meters away.
BAM!
Stone fragments rained down onto his shoulders.
The group chat went instantly silent.
Meira shot up from her seat.
But Erik only braced the spear against the ground and stood up.
A clear dent appeared in the armor at his side, but no bones were broken.
He rolled his shoulder, feeling the pain already fading fast thanks to the combat suit’s impact absorption.
"This stuff really is worth the money."
Erik couldn’t help but mutter.
Five times the physique of a normal person.
The combat suit’s combined effect amplifying it by another three times.
Fifteen times.
Add the acceleration shoes, warning glasses, impact-absorbing armor, and the Gale Thunder Spear.
Elowen hadn’t bought him a set of equipment.
She had practically turned him into a fighting machine.
The Bronze monster charged again.
This time Erik didn’t dodge.
He lowered his center of gravity, wedged the butt of the spear into a crack in the stone behind him, and pointed the spearhead forward.
The Gale effect gathered.
Thunder ran along the shaft.
The monster drove itself straight onto the spearhead.
Thunk!
The spearhead pierced through its mouth, shattered the cervical bone, and sank deep into its chest.
The force of the impact still pushed Erik back nearly a meter, but he didn’t let go.
Erik let out a low growl, stomped hard on the stone floor, then lifted the monster’s entire body off the ground.
The ones behind it kept charging.
He spun, using the Bronze monster’s carcass still impaled on the spear to slam straight into them.
BAM!
Three were knocked down.
Erik pulled the spear free, stomped on the nearest one’s head, then thrust through the second.
The third had closed in too far, leaving not enough distance for the spear to generate force.
He directly let go of the shaft with his left hand and grabbed its neck.
Claws raked across Erik’s shoulder, sending a spray of sparks.
He didn’t back up at all.
Erik drove his knee into its belly, then used both hands to yank the monster’s body down.
His face and the monster’s head were nearly face to face.
It opened its mouth, the sharp fangs less than a handspan from his neck.
Erik clenched the hand on its throat, spun his body, and slammed the monster’s head down on the edge of a stone step.
BAM!
The skull cracked open.
Black blood splattered across his face.
Erik breathed hard, straightened up, then wiped the bloodstain on his cheek with the back of his hand.
Only a few stragglers remained ahead.
They slowed down.
Monster instinct seemed to have finally recognized that the creature before them was not easy prey.
Erik didn’t give them the chance to flee.
He picked up the Gale Thunder Spear, activated the shoes, and charged forward on his own.
The spearhead pierced through one.
The shaft swept and broke the second one’s leg.
Erik spun and kicked the last one square in the head, sending its body crashing into the rock wall.
He walked over, grabbed the small horn behind its head, and pulled down.
His knee slammed straight into its face.
Once.
Twice.
The monster stopped moving.
Erik let the carcass drop.
The corridor was finally quiet.
All that remained was the sound of blood dripping onto the stone floor and his own heavy breathing.
Erik stood amid dozens of corpses.
The tip of the Gale Thunder Spear was still dripping blood.
His black hair was drenched with sweat, many strands sticking to his forehead. Across his face along with his combat suit were long streaks of black blood, giving the image that was once handsome and gentle a completely different sense of danger.
Erik’s heart pounded violently.
The blood in his body felt like it was boiling.
But his mind was lighter than at any other time.
For five whole years, Erik had always had to calculate.
Rent.
Pairing fees.
Food money.
Tomorrow’s work.
The contemptuous gazes of the people around him.
In this place, everything was far simpler.
The enemy charged.
He killed them.
No need for patience.
No need for explanation.
No need to bow his head either.
Erik drew in a deep breath of the blood-reeking air, feeling the heartbeat pounding hard inside his chest.
Then he broke into a smile.
Not the gentle smile he wore when caring for Elowen.
It was a confident, exhilarated smile carrying a touch of wildness after victory.
The madams watching completely fell apart.
[The Sleepless Madam: He just smiled...]
[Madam Ravia: Stop talking. I can’t think right now.]
[Madam Ysera: How can he be both this gentle and this dangerous?]
[Madam Lilith: I just looked at my ex-husband.]
[Madam Ravia: And then?]
[Madam Lilith: I don’t understand how I put up with him for so long.]
Another madam silently looked at her husband lying on the lounge chair not far away.
The pale, overweight man was eating fruit and even demanding the Succubus beside him feed him by hand.
She looked back at Erik on the screen.
No comparison, no heartbreak.
In an instant, the ex-husbands, the former lovers, along with all the men they had once waited on hand and foot all became so bland they were hard to look at.
Erik’s Primordial Charm was still turned off.
Those reactions came entirely from their genuine emotions.
Erik had no idea how many households he had just pushed to the brink of collapse.
He only checked the glasses, confirmed there were no more large heat sources nearby, and immediately headed back.
When he reached the stone alcove, Erik placed his hand on the magic runes.
The barrier slowly opened.
Elowen immediately rushed out.
She hugged him tight, both arms cinching around his back as if the moment she loosened her grip even a little, Erik would vanish again.
"Where are you hurt?"
Elowen hurriedly inspected his chest, shoulders, and arms.
"I’m fine."
"You were slammed into a wall."
"The combat suit absorbed most of the force."
"And this blood?"
"It’s not mine."
Erik took hold of both her wrists and gently lowered them.
"Let me check on you first."
He brought Elowen back into the stone alcove and carefully peeled away the bandage at her side.
The wound had stopped bleeding but still hadn’t closed. Ordinary medicine could only disinfect and stop the bleeding, and couldn’t heal it immediately the way a Recovery Talisman could.
Erik applied a fresh layer of bandage.
Elowen looked at the blood-stained face before her, astonishment still lingering in her eyes.
Through the barrier, she hadn’t been able to see the entire corridor, but she had witnessed most of the battle.
The man she had always wanted to protect had killed the entire monster pack by himself.
Not with Detonation Beads.
Not with Defensive Talismans.
He had fought using the long spear, his limbs, and his own body.
[Congratulations on clearing the sixth floor.]
[Awakening Fruit completeness: 60%.]
[Floor Transition Rest Room has opened.]
[Participants may stay in the safe area or continue into the seventh floor.]
[Those who remain will not be attacked by monsters.]
[Progress from the next floor onward will only count for those who continue the trial.]
A door leading to the rest room slowly opened.
Erik helped Elowen inside.
After confirming the area had no danger, he set her down on a stone chair.
"You stay here."
Elowen immediately lifted her head.
"No."
"Your wound hasn’t healed."
"I can still fight."
"There’s no Recovery Talisman. If the wound tears open again, the situation will be more serious."
Elowen gripped his hand.
"Then we stop here."
Erik looked at the notification panel floating before him.
Sixty percent was already a decent result.
But he still didn’t want to stop.
"I’ll keep going."
"Erik—"
"You protected me for the first five floors."
He squatted down in front of her and placed his hand on Elowen’s knee.
"The sixth floor, I proved I can fight on my own."
Erik looked straight into the jade-green eyes brimming with worry.
"The floors after this, I’ll clear them myself."
Elowen gripped his hand tight.
She wanted to object.
But when she saw the calm and determination in Erik’s eyes, every word caught in her throat.
In the end, all Elowen could do was take the Teleportation Talisman from his pocket, check it one more time, then put it back.
"You have to keep it on you."
"I know."
"If you run into danger—"
"I’ll use it."
"Don’t push yourself."
Erik smiled.
"I promise."
He stood up and took hold of the Gale Thunder Spear.
A notification panel appeared before him.
[Do you wish to enter the seventh floor?]
Erik drew in a deep breath.
Then he chose.
[Yes.]
The door to the seventh floor slowly opened.