Chapter 224: Monster

[You have received a message from Empress Rime]

Kaelen coughed awkwardly on seeing Emir’s message come in at that moment. She had replied on time, but the fact that she did so after he delivered his speech could only mean she had watched everything.

He was about to open the message when the elevator shook, and the angel’s gate slowly slid open soundlessly.

[Your inbox has been temporarily disabled]

Kaelen almost rolled his eyes.

He couldn’t understand whether they had added the feature to prevent candidates from receiving information from outside or whether they had done it to prevent candidates from texting while clearing the floors.

The latter sounded like something an elder would do.

The familiar hallway immediately came into view, with the undead knights positioned along the walls as far as the eye could see, remaining stationary like architectural props.

Kaelen had no time to waste. He already had a fast-clear strategy in mind, and three lobbies were already on the Fourth Floor, including Lobby #111.

"Rise."

Before either of the candidates with him could react, a shadow curtain sprawled across the length of the hallway, and several shadow summons began rising like ancient Greek gods.

"Milord..." SKD greeted, hinting at something.

"Do it," Kaelen commanded.

SKD already knew the plan, as they’d discussed it the last time.

Without wasting another second...

Boom—!!!

SKD transformed into a colossal dragon and roared at the top of his lungs.

As if a chain reaction had been triggered, all the dragons among the shadow army began transforming one after another and taking flight.

They didn’t stand around.

As soon as SKD gave the order, its neck glowed a terrifying crimson as it threw its head back and spewed a scorching flame that swept across the hallway, swallowing everything in its path while using its wings to protect Kaelen, who was standing behind it.

A series of kill notifications flashed across his vision.

Neither SKD nor the other shadow summons needed to be told what to do. As soon as SKD began conjuring its flame, everyone’s eyes snapped shut.

As for the candidates, as soon as the flames were spewed, they were forced to shut their eyes and shield their faces from the light and intense heat.

By the time they felt it was safe to open their eyes once more, Kaelen had already left them and was aboard SKD’s back.

Boom—!!!

They disappeared down the hallway along with thousands of other dragons, which swiftly began taking detours in pairs to clear each and every hallway while Kaelen led SKD and the rest straight to the boss room.

It had barely been a minute, and the candidates had their mouths hanging open.

It took every single one of them a whole minute to recover from the shock, and by then, the hallway before them was scorched black and hotter than a smithy. Not a single mob or knight was in sight. Everything had been molten.

The man who had confronted Kaelen roared in rage and suddenly dashed into the hallway, running as if his life depended on it. In reality, he didn’t want to let Kaelen have all the kills that would make him look stupid after their earlier confrontation.

The other men hesitated for a moment before they charged in as well, running after the man.

After the Second Floor, they could testify that, aside from Kaelen, there were two other monsters in their lobby. That man was one of them.

"Elsa, let’s go!" the blonde woman said hurriedly and tried to pull her friend along, only to be knocked back by her own momentum when Elsa didn’t budge from the spot.

The short-haired woman simply stared down the hallway for a moment, as if she could see something her friend couldn’t.

"Elsa, what are you doing?" the blonde woman asked in confusion.

"Don’t waste your breath. He’ll be back here before we can reach the end of the hallway. And if my intuition is correct..." she said, looking up at the elevator number blinking ’Three’, with an arrow to the side pointing upwards. "We’re better off here than running back this way before he leaves."

"What? What are you talking about, Elsa? If we stay here, we won’t be able to get any kills."

"Tell me something, Saha. Which do you think is more important: killing mobs or clearing the floor?" Elsa asked calmly. "And if you had the opportunity to do one without the other, which would you pick?" she added.

"What?" The blonde woman fidgeted with her fingers for a moment. "Clearing the floor, I guess. If I could clear each floor without lifting a finger or encountering any danger, then that would be really nice," she replied thoughtfully. "But I think Hara would pick the other option," she added timidly.

Elsa exhaled softly. "We don’t need Hara or her opinions. She’s just a nuisance."

Saha’s hand suddenly shot out towards Elsa, but Elsa grabbed it with her other hand and brought it down to her side while laughing in embarrassment.

"I don’t think she liked that very much."

Elsa stared at her friend thoughtfully, with a slight crease forming on her forehead.

"But how long do you think it’ll take before Kaelen clears the floor? Lobby #111 did it in 16 minutes, and no one has come close to beating their record."

"We will... right about now."

Just as those words left Elsa’s lips, a notification rang out across their visions.

[Your lobby has cleared the Third Floor | Duration: 00:04:25]

[You have received a 3-day Grace Period]

"Four minutes and twenty-five seconds?! That’s a whole twelve minutes’ difference!" Saha blurted out in shock and disbelief. "I never knew Kaelen Cross was actually this strong. He enjoys boasting and showing off, and when he’s not doing that, he’s either silent or talking about his wife like he can’t get her out of his mind. Hara thinks he’s the one obsessed with her and not the other way around."

"What did you just say?" Kaelen’s voice and a hot breath brushed against the back of the blonde woman’s neck, making her scream in fright and jump away, only to see Kaelen standing and leaning forward behind her as if he were lowering himself to her height.

"You shouldn’t sneak up on people like that. I could’ve hurt you, thinking you were an enemy," Saha blurted out in genuine concern, making Kaelen pause to process what she’d just said.

He tilted his head and scoffed in cold disbelief.

"...What?"