360 Man Vs. Beast
Once Arthur crawled up to Lily, he tugged at Lily’s trousers for some time and Lily sighed as she finally bent low and picked him up. Yue laughed as she held onto Lily’s hair tighter and Arthur giggled as he played with her hair as well. Lily grumbled in annoyance. Fuck! Just kill me!
Kim went to the side and asked Yuuma what was going on. Yuuma scratched the back of her neck as she answered. She couldn’t even explain it well since she just arrived a few minutes before Kim also arrived. Yuuma couldn’t go out much since she was still hiding from the Celestials so she formed a research team under Han’s army and started to develop weapons in secret! She would make sure that her weapons are on par or even stronger than anything that the Celestials throw at them. There is a large mine on floor eighty of the temple and it is filled with myrtle, and that is what Yuuma is using to create the weapons that she is planning on using against the Celestials. Myrtle was the strongest mineral in the temple and it should be strong enough to harm a Clestal if they go all out.
Yuuma was busy in the lab when she suddenly got a call from Lily that there was an issue with Rin. It seems that Rin heard about one of the dangerous missions that Esteroth sent Gregory on.
Gregory has been doing the most dangerous missions out of all of them. He has even done missions that would have been difficult for aking to even attempt!! Gregory had lost limbs, and eyeballs, and he almost turned into a zombie at that one time if not for the healing spell that Rina cast on him quickly! Rin has always been against it! She saw Gregory as her son and she knew that Han saw him in the same way! No mother would be happy that their child was going on those dangerous missions! But she agreed to always overlook it since it helped him get stronger! But she couldn’t overlook this one! Yuuma didn’t see the problem at first, she thought it was just a regular mission that was dangerous, but once she heard what monster Gregory was going to fight, she knew exactly why Rin was angry.
There has been a dangerous monster on floor eighty-nine that no one has ever bothered to even go close to for centuries! People named it the ‘Black Star Killer’ because it is one of the only monsters that has ever managed to kill a black star on its own! It was very strong! And Esteroth – the idiot! – sent Gregory – the bigger idiot! – after it!! Rin was pissed! She was so pissed that her first shout made Esteroth flinch for the first time in his life! It almost made him deaf! Esteroth knew that she wasn’t even close to being as strong as him but she looked like she was ready to throw herself at him and fight anyway! She was just so angry!
Esteroth and Rin have been having this shouting match for almost thirty minutes! Cersai and Esse were the ones that told Rin about the mission. They heard about it and they didn’t like it at all! But Gregory already left for the missions and they couldn’t do anything about it so they got the next best thing! The king of King’s wife! Rin was the only person that Esteroth even bothered to listen to and the only reason he listens to her is that she is Han’s wife. Esteroth wouldn’t be bothered to even look at Cersai or Esse and they knew he would ignore them so they got Rin instead!
Rin first tried her best to reason withEsteroth calmly! She thought that she could talk him out of this madness if she tries to stay calm, but she just couldn’t stay calm when he was being so annoying! He refused to call Gregory back no matter what!? What the hell is wrong with him!?. No matter how you look at it, this mission is far too dangerous! How can you expect Gregory to kill a beast that can kill a king!?.
Esteroth gave Rin a side glance.
“I don’t think you’ve been following that boy’s progress as much as you should have. As his mother, don’t you think you should know him more than that? When was the last time you even spoke to him about his power? He has grown.”
Esteroth’s voice was scathing and Rin felt her eye twitch as she recognized the jab! She immediately gave a stony reply.
“I would speak to him more if you weren’t sending him on a mission every single day! He barely comes home and he hasn’t had a full day’s rest in months. I know you’re meant to be helping him grow stronger, but this is too much! Do you want to kill him!?”
Esteroth shook his head and he almost laughed as he spoke.
“No, you have no idea what you are saying. Do you think that boy isn’t strong enough? After the king of kings, that boy has the greatest potential out of all of us. If there is something above the realm of the black star then he will get there before even myself. I know that you don’t trust me fully, I’m not even a family friend, so I don’t expect you to. But trust your son. He can kill this beast. King Han chose this boy as his right hand for a reason and I can see that reason as clear as day. He is a monster hiding in the shadows. If he does not return victorious, I’ll kill myself as penance, but I till then, you have no choice but to trust him,”
Rin couldn’t even say anything back! Her eyes were wide in surprise at the lengths that Esteroth was willing to go! Gregory was strong, but was he really that strong!? To be able to kill a monster that would even give Ratte a hard time! Does that mean that Gregory is already as strong as Ratte? Han has been taking Gregory with him to many places and I can see how sad Gregory is that he couldn’t go to the higher floors with Han. Is Gregory doing all of this so that he would be able to stand with Han? Rin knew there was a special ability that Gregory had, just like Han. Gregory was growing at a speed that was faster than any of the other chosen! But is he already that strong?
Before Rin could say anything, Esse spoke up from behind her. Esse and Cersai were the ones that brought up the issue at first and they didn’t like the fact that their lover was going on this dangerous mission without any support!
“I still don’t like it! You should have at least sent another black star with him! How can he come back if he has a serious injury!?”
“He’ll use the shadows. He has a link to you two, doesn’t he? He can move through the shadow and come back to you if there is a real issue. Don’t think I just sent him there without any preparation, little girl. Do you underestimate him so much?”
Esteroth looked down at Esse with a condescending look as he said this and Esse glared up at him as her teeth ground against each other. There is nothing she can say anymore. Esteroth was right that Gregory had a connection to both of them. He could easily move through their shadow and come to them wherever they are. But even if she knows about all of this there is no way she can be happy about this! She didn’t like to think about it, but she couldn’t help but be worried! What if Gregory died!? Then what!? Will Esteroth still have anything to say then!?
Rin put her hand on Esse’s shoulder and stopped her from saying anything else. There was no point since Esteroth wouldn’t budge no matter what! Rin could tell that Esteroth would not call Gregory back no matter what they said
“That is enough, Esse. We will just wait for Gregory. Since Esteroth believes that he can do it then we can just wait. But if anything happens to him it will be on you, Esteroth. Han will not be happy about that…”
Rin gave Esteroth another glare and Esteroth grunted before he turned and walked away.
It doesn’t matter if the king of kings isn’t happy! King Han said that the army should be ready by the time he comes back and I’m preparing the army! If Gregory kills this beast then he will become as strong as Ratte! That will be a great boost to the army! We need him to kill this beast no matter what!
…….
Gregory slowly opened his eyes as a drop of water landed on his forehead. He gasped as he drew in a deep breath and he slowly stood up from the ground. His clothes were torn in various places and he could feel that his left arm was fractured. What the hell happened to me?
“Hisssssss~”
Gregory shook his head once he heard this sound. Okay. That doesn’t sound good. What the fuck was I doing again? I can’t remember. I just remember falling… Falling… Oh right. Now I remember.
Gregory came here more than an hour ago. Floor eighty-nine was a very large floor and it took Gregory a long time before he managed to find the forest where this snake lived. One of the strongest monsters in the temple, rumored to have killed a black star before. The black star killer. Why the fuck did it have to be a snake? Gregory tried to come up with a plan for attacking the snake at first, but there was no plan he could come up with once he faced the snake! It was just that strong! The only thing that Gregory could think of doing was going head to head with it. But the snake didn’t get its nickname for nothing! It was dangerous! It attacked at speeds faster than the speed of sound and its tail could break mountains with a single swing! It was a true monster that earned its name by killing every chosen that has ever challenged it!
Gregory put his hand to the side and his scythe appeared in his hand as he looked up at the beast that was circling him. Gregory was standing in the middle of a large cavern and there was a humongous black mamba that was coiled around him and staring down at him with red eyes.
[0)ᴠʟ Woosh!
The beast suddenly shot forward and Gregory dodged to the left as the spot he was standing in was destroyed by the beast! He twirled his scythe again and activated [Almighty Overseer] as his eyes changed to red! Gregory was able to develop his eyes skill to the max and he now has the Almighty Overseer skill! The world sharpened into an otherworldly clarity and the beast slowed down by a small margin as Gregory could now see more! He tried to run further away from the snake, but it coiled its body tighter and prevented Gregory from going anywhere! Gregory grit his teeth and turned around with a shout as he activated another skill!
[Shadow Slash] has been activated!
A large arc of shadows shot out from his scythe and traveled straight for the beast! It struck the beast on the side of the head and a large explosion traveled across the cavern!
Boom!
Gregory breathed heavily as he immediately activated [Shadow Travel] and traveled out from the snake’s hold! He appeared on a small elevation and looked down at the snake! Gregory waited for the smoke to clear! He hoped that he would have injured the snake a little at least! But once the smoke cleared, Gregory saw that the snake was not even injured at all! Gregory immediately jumped down from the elevation as the snake used its tail to break the elevation into rubble! Gregory ran through the cavern and he started to think of what next to do! There was only one path out of here and the snake was using its body to block the way. Gregory couldn’t force his way out because the snake was far stronger than him and he couldn’t even use his shadow to travel because it was daylight outside. What the fuck am I going to do here!?
Hisssss~!?
The beast hissed as it shot towards Gregory again!