Chapter 231: A Regressor?

"Are you crazy?" Kaelen asked in disbelief. "What the hell are you doing here? You’re supposed to be on the elevator."

"What? You don’t appreciate my help? You could’ve died back there."

Kaelen scoffed in cold disbelief and twisted his blade in the boss’s guts until it came out the other side for Saha to see.

"I totally had it under control, and you just stole my kill, which is a breach of agreement. I don’t care if you’re insane, but I want compensation," Kaelen said and pulled his blade free.

She stared at the tip of his blade poking out of the boss’s back before pulling her hands back from the boss’s chest.

"Oh, very well, then. I’ll be taking my leave." She winked at Kaelen before turning to walk away.

Kaelen grew angry and grabbed her shoulder. She immediately responded by placing her bloody hand over his as her nails began elongating into something unrecognisable.

But almost immediately, SKD jumped in front of her, and even without drawing his sword, his stare was hard enough to kill a bull. This made her pause and look around the throne room to see thousands of shadow summons all staring at her.

Her expression suddenly changed from indifference to confusion. She lifted her hand to see her long nails slowly retracting and turned to look at Kaelen.

"W-What’s going on?" she stuttered in confusion. Then her eyes slowly widened. "Did Hara do something?"

"Stop with your bullshit. I don’t care if you’re crazy. You’re gonna have to compensate me for the boss kill before I let you off," Kaelen said with a frown.

"What? The boss kill? Did she really do that?" she said as she stared at her bloodied hand and the boss lying next to its dead heart on the dry floor.

This only made Kaelen’s frown deepen. She was pretending to have split personalities, but if that were true, shouldn’t the skill Hara used to suck the water out of the throne room have been deactivated the moment Saha took over?

"Well, I’m sorry about that. I don’t really have anything on me right now, but if you insist, you can take me instead and punish me. We share the same body, so Hara should feel the pain too," she said with a smile that told Kaelen she was imagining something inappropriate.

Thud.

Everyone’s attention shifted towards the sound of someone falling. They turned to see Elsa, who had just swum out of the ocean and into the throne room through the window, which was a considerable distance above the ground floor.

She winced and took a moment to catch her breath before finally lifting her head to look at Kaelen. "Wait..."

"Elsa?" Saha called out in surprise.

"Saha." She acknowledged her and turned her attention back to Kaelen, whose hand was still pressed against the woman’s shoulder.

"Whatever she’s telling you is true," Elsa said out of breath.

Kaelen didn’t reply and simply stared at her blankly.

"They’re not the same person. They are, but they have different consciousnesses," Elsa explained.

"Are you trying to stage a split personality? That doesn’t change the fact that I want compensation for the boss kill. That’s a lot of Evolution Points lost there."

"It’s not split personality. Their name is Sahara. But to differentiate between the two, she is Saha, and the troublesome one is Hara."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"This is not something that should be said in the open. Let’s return, and I’ll explain everything to you. If you still insist, we’ll compensate you," Elsa said with a serious expression that reassured Kaelen she wouldn’t try to ditch him.

He took his hand off her shoulder and shifted his attention to his notifications.

He was too busy handling the crazy woman that he must’ve missed the first clear notification. So he decided to check his notifications to be sure.

[Lobby #111 has achieved the first clear on the Eighth Floor]

"..."

Kaelen stared at the notification blankly.

He had wasted countless skill books and risked his life just for that first clear. To think he’d miss it in the end.

Without a word, he walked towards the exit, where an invisible barrier separated the water from the throne room, and dove straight into it as he began swimming back to the elevator.

On his slow grind to the surface, a water bubble holding Elsa and Saha passed by him, and Saha waved at him as they disappeared towards the surface, leaving him dumbstruck.

If she had the ability to manipulate water like that, why the hell had she not spoken up in time and assisted in making it to the boss room earlier?!

Kaelen gritted his teeth, wildly swung his arms and feet until he resurfaced, and jumped onto the elevator.

He took a moment to breathe in the fresh air before facing Saha. "Why did you not tell me you could manipulate water?!"

"What? I asked how you planned on breathing underwater, and you said you were a Slime and jumped in before I could even speak."

Kaelen paused. That was indeed true.

"And why the hell did you not help me up just now?!"

"You already knew I could manipulate water from the throne room but ignored me and chose to jump into the water and swim to the surface. You don’t expect me to start begging you."

Kaelen almost choked on his saliva. He felt like pulling out her tongue and wrapping it around her neck.

"You..." He ground his teeth. "I’ll make you pay for everything."

She had the power to give them the first clear but chose to use it to steal the kill.

"I’m not paying you for anything else aside from what Hara might’ve done. And I already told you I have nothing. You can only take me hostage."

"What the hell is with you and being taken hostage?"

"That’s the only way to get your compensation. If you let my brother set eyes on me first, forget about ever getting compensated. He’d rather duel to the death than give you a dime. So when we get to the Ninth Floor, you’d have to drag me away to an inn and lock me up in the bathroom. Then Elsa here would be sent to him to relay our demands, and when he sends the payment, you give me my own share, and we go our separate ways. If my brother refuses our demand, you can drag me away to wherever you want and do whatever you want with me," she said with a serious expression.

Kaelen was dumbstruck. He had never seen anyone so dedicated to getting kidnapped before. He hadn’t even mentioned anything about abducting her, and she was already planning everything out ahead of time.

He turned to Elsa, who didn’t say anything but had tired eyes from listening to her friend speak.

"Is this Hara speaking?" he asked her.

She sighed wearily. "No. But like I said, they’re the same person. Except Hara is Saha... from the future," she said as she turned to look at him with a serious expression.

A regressor?

[You have arrived on the Ninth Floor]

[You have received a 3-Days Visa]

[You will be live for the entire time. If you have any private business, do them inside an inn room where your privacy is 100% guaranteed.]