Chapter 207: A Tyrant named Atreus

Kelsey stared at Kaelen in astonishment. "You gotta be joking right now? Do you realize the words that just came out of your mouth can get you killed?"

"You can try," Kaelen replied almost immediately. "I wasn’t asking for your opinion. I was only saying my thoughts out loud. Do with it however you wish, but I’m going to become the strongest even if it’s the last thing I do."

Kelsey was speechless for a moment before she scoffed lightly. "You’re crazy. I’ll pretend I didn’t hear any of that. Good luck with your suicidal ideals," she said and shifted her attention to Melissa, whose wide eyes darted across the room.

"There’s no explicit rule that states candidates can’t be engaged in violent acts against themselves, just like Lysandra had sliced that man’s arm off on the first floor. In a case where the candidates involved are in the same lobby, it is up to the Herald in charge to intervene or not and carry out judgment. In your case, since you’re a foreigner in this lobby, if you’re caught by the Herald in charge here, you’ll be reported to the Herald Executioner, who’ll take up your matter with the council of Tower Masters due to its unique nature, and it’ll be up to them to do as they wish with you.

"Do with that information as you may. I was never here. But I’d like to make one thing clear to you, Candidate Kaelen Cross. There is no such thing as a one-man army. I needed allies to reclaim the universe’s independence. Emir needed allies to challenge the universe. And even Goddess Zemira needed an army to stop the War Demon.

"You’re undeniably strong, but don’t mistake pride and arrogance for strength. It’ll only get you killed sooner rather than later because, in the end, you’ll only end up miserable trying to challenge a system that has been in place since the days of Atreus, your forefather."

"Forefather? He was a man..."

A bloodline of only women started from and by a man?

Kelsey didn’t reply and simply stared at him for a long moment.

"Try not to get yourself killed, Candidate Kaelen Cross. And once again, try not to break any actual rules. Because I’ll always be watching you," Kelsey said as her form grew hazy and slowly dissipated into light particles.

Kaelen shifted his attention back to the struggling Melissa, who had stopped now because she was too stunned that the Herald Executioner was allowing Kaelen to torture her.

"Well then, shall we get started?"

Kaelen’s reply was a sudden attack from a whip, and he swiftly leapt backward, creating distance between them.

"Get started, my ass!" Melissa’s voice and expression suddenly changed as she jumped to her feet. "I’ll admit that you caught me off guard the first time, and I only played the part of the damsel in distress because I hoped you’d have the shittiest of luck breaking the rules with the Herald Executioner. But it turns out you have your way with words. A blasphemous one. So now I’m going to show you I don’t even need to move an inch from where I stand to skin you alive," she said and began spinning her whip wildly and cracking it violently in the air before she whipped it out at him.

Kaelen simply shadow-stepped behind her and pressed a dagger against her throat, making her freeze on the spot.

"You seem to enjoy inflicting pain on others using the privilege of strength. But have you ever thought of changing hobbies? Because maybe you’ll enjoy receiving pain as much as you love dishing it out."

Melissa shuddered as the cold steel pressed even further into her neck, drawing a thin line of blood.

"I know you’re scared to try it out yourself, which is exactly why I’m here to walk you through the process of becoming a masochist. Fun, right?"

---

Kaelen’s consciousness returned to the Third Floor after he finished controlling the conversation with Kelsey. Even with 50% of his strength, which put his shadow clone at Tier 40 whereas Melissa was Tier 91, and with the ability to shadow-step while her movements were greatly limited, Kaelen was certain his shadow clone would do a good job.

When he shifted his attention back to the knights in the ballroom he had been toying with, he realized they were all sprawled across the floor now. Dead.

"Huh? What happened to them?" he mumbled to himself.

It was then that SKD, whom he hadn’t noticed was standing by his side, took a step forward.

"You seem to have zoned out, milord. They took the opportunity to try attacking you, but I was quick to intercept and defeat them all with my eyes shut."

Kaelen was surprised. He had indeed zoned out while communicating with Kelsey through his shadow clone, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t physically there or that they weren’t in his line of sight.

If that were the case, the undead knights might be smarter than he had initially given them credit for to be able to tell the difference.

"Good job, SKD," he said as he ran his eyes across the ballroom before shifting his attention back to the Supreme Elder Dragon. "I’ve taken care of what I had going on outside. There’s no need to hold back anymore. Let’s push forward until the boss room before we return."

SKD bowed curtly. "I sent a few men to scout the floor ahead. I believe we have a rough layout of the castle and the position where the boss room might be."

Kaelen was impressed. "Alright. Gather the men. Let’s push forward to the boss room."

SKD tilted his head to nod at a shadow summon standing guard at the end of the hallway, and the summon ran off to inform the others.

Now, Kaelen could simply command all of them mentally, but letting SKD handle little things like this gave him a fancy feeling of role-playing a ruler.

He was going to be one soon anyway, so it wasn’t exactly bad to practice now.

His lips curled up into a smirk as he turned and began heading deeper into the castle, with the shadow army marching behind him.

Every time they came across a room with undead knights, a battle formation was set up ahead, with shields and weapons sticking out. Once ready, everyone was expected to shut their eyes.

When the situation became tricky, SKD, who claimed he could see with his eyes open or closed, would use that as a strategic advantage by opening his eyes each time the undead knights tried to attack but closing them the moment the formation ahead attacked.

Kaelen could have been able to do the same with the Infinite Mana Talent, which he had swapped for the Nameless Shadow God. And if he still had that, he wouldn’t need his shadow army to clear the floor. He could have done it solo.

The two abilities were incredibly powerful and had their own specialties, whereas the Infinite Mana Talent couldn’t save him on the second floor.

In that case, it wasn’t about picking the perfect ability because there was no such thing. It was all about picking your poison and using it to climb to the top despite its strengths and weaknesses.

As Kaelen thought about several things while his army advanced without him having to lift a finger, a thought suddenly crossed his mind.

"SKD, how’s Kenora doing? Is she still with us?"

"Yes, milord. I believe she’s doing great, but she spends most of her time in her world now. She’s returned to her player profession and mostly only returns when you’re clearing a floor."

"Huh? Clearing a floor?" Kaelen was confused.

"Yes, milord. She buys snacks and makes us watch your livestream each time. She could be watching us alone right now."

Kaelen was surprised to hear that. He half-expected her to run away, especially now that she’d returned to being a player and was roaming around on dangerous floors, just like when he met her.

"Oh, no. We’re not live right now. We’re only here to scout the floor and return by tomorrow morning to clear it as fast as possible, like we planned earlier," Kaelen replied before he remembered the initial reason he had asked about Kenora.

"SKD, do you think you can bring something with you from the castle?"

"Like one of your items in the Treasury, milord?"

"Something like that."

"I haven’t tried before. I can do that for you after we’re done here."

Kaelen nodded in reply. If he could find another loophole in the Tower by using SKD to smuggle items in and out, then he could have Kenora fetch another list of items for him through SKD, who’d also be the one to bring them to him.

That way, he could craft as many potions as he wanted and gather other ingredients for the Immortality Pill for Elyndra while they were busy in the Tower.

"Milord, there’s something Kenora mentioned that I thought I should let you know about," SKD suddenly said, piquing Kaelen’s interest.

"Oh, what’s that?"

"She said she learned more about you from the comments on your livestream than from living under the same roof for over three months. The most important piece of information has something to do with why you and humanity are loathed by the rest of the universe."

Kaelen’s expression turned serious as he listened carefully without interrupting SKD.

"She said it all started with your forefather, a tyrant named Atreus, who was the former Creator that oppressed and waged war against every other race on the fourth realm."