Raising A Few Wives in a Beast Apocalypse

{I'm in hell} That's the only thought Muku had as he felt every cell in his body getting burned.

There was nothing he wanted more than release from the torment. Yet for whatever reason, despite how much he was getting burnt. So much so that he couldn't open his eyes, and he couldn't even scream after a while. He wasn't dying, he could feel that he wasn't even getting hurt.

That's right, it hurt so much he desired the sweet release of death. Yet it wasn't coming. What kind of trial was this? What kind of fire was this?!

"It's actually a flame you're familiar with. Just that it's an advanced version of that. One powered by advanced mana. I'm not going to tell you which flame I'm talking about. You just have to open your eyes and you'll know. Don't worry, the first level won't do anything to you other than cause a little pain..." Mrs C's voice rang out as she gave Muku a little clarity.

Her voice was calmer than before. Maybe seeing him scream in pain softened her petty heart?

However, Muku still felt like cursing at her. What the hell did she mean by, "a little pain"? What was little about the pain he was feeling? It was easily amongst the worst physical pain he had ever felt, and that was saying a lot after all the painful experiences he had been through. (A/N: Some of the pain occurred in the time skips)

Anyway, Muku did as Mrs C said. Despite the pain, he willed himself to open his eyes. He barely opened them before closing them up again at that very moment. The pain was way too much.

He was wondering how the hell those bastards in novels traverse through fiery planes with eyes open with smiles on their faces?! Sure, they had mana or some other energy protecting them which he didn't but still, screw them! That was bull with how bright the flames were. Just the glare was painful enough.

However, he didn't linger on that too long. That's because he had recognised the flame. It was a flame he was very familiar with. He only needed that split-second look to know it. He didn't even clearly see it. But what he saw was enough. And that was... Gold.

The flames were golden in colour. And the only golden flames he had ever seen belonged to her. That's right, the person he thought of was the one and only Emily. One of the people he missed the most and missed more and more with each day that passed by.

But there was a problem. Emily's flames didn't have such an ability. They either burned you or they didn't. There was no burning you without hurting you. Was that an effect Mrs C added or was it something Emily actually developed after reaching R4?

If she developed it after reaching R4 then wasn't he screwed?! At the very least, if he dared piss her off now wouldn't he be in for a lot of pain without being injured?! That ability was way too sinister! And Emily was such a nice girl, she would never develop a clearly torture-oriented move right?...

Then again, the girl did have a mean streak when pushed too far. She wouldn't torture him for real would she?! That's completely unnecessary! No! She would never! He believed in her

The fear of what Emily might do to him in the future scared him so much that he actually managed to adjust to the pain he was feeling.

He still couldn't open his eyes but his pain tolerance had improved to the point that he could take the current level of pain with relative ease.

Who would have thought that just thinking about Emily would have such an effect? Or maybe he had been mentally preventing himself from adapting to the pain.

Did that mean that Mrs C actually helped him? No. She is the one who set up the trial and well as threw him into it before he was prepared or knew what it was so there was no need to feel grateful. It was the least she could do after everything.

Anyway, he didn't linger in those unproductive thoughts too long. He had a trial to do. And with his stabler state of mind, he was able to feel out his body and know his limits.

While it was obvious that it was a physical trial from how he couldn't use his mana. He still didn't know what he could use.

It was only with his calmer state of mind that he realised that his bloodline power had been stripped away again. He didn't care about that since it had been on the shelf for more than a year anyway. Without mana, his Telekinesis was off the table even if it was technically mental. Though that didn't matter since his mental energy was taken away too.

That was all expected. The real problem came when he realised that he couldn't use the Force Technique as well. Wasn't that too much?! That ability was clearly physical. Why was it stripped away too? He had even saved up a little force from the battle with the Earth Dragon in suspicion that it might come in handy.

But that was all ruined by a simple move from Mrs C. Then again, there were no opponents. So, he would be at the fire's mercy after a little reprieve with no way to combat it.

Only if he had reached the stage he could create and utilise his own force. Then he would have nothing to fear.

But then again, that would be counterproductive. After all, it was obvious that the trial's purpose was to improve his resistance against fire. So if he avoided it, the whole thing would be pointless.

"That's right. This trial's purpose is to improve your resistance against different magical elements. Each element has three levels of intensity. Starting with the fire you're in right now. You will move on to the next element after successfully passing through the three levels of the previous one. Oh, and the place you're in right now isn't even the first level. That's just a prelude to give you an idea of what's to come. Good luck" Mrs C's voice sounded.

It seemed she had mostly let go of the petty feelings as she gave Muku some actual information. She probably could have said more. But what she said was better than before.

At least Muku understood the situation a lot more. Now he could mentally prepare. Sure, he almost had a mental breakdown when she said that the area he was in wasn't even level one.

But there was nothing he could do about it. He dared not even think about complaining lest she make things harder for him somehow.

He didn't want to reverse the improvement in her mood.

With that said, Muku focused on the task at hand.. while there were no enemies to fight. He felt even more pressure than before. After all, the trial was on Floor 2 while the fight was on Floor 1.

Anyone with common sense would easily realise that the elemental resistance was going to be tougher than the CSK fight. That was rather hard to imagine after the gruesome fight Muku had with Scar. But such was life.

Mrs C might love him but she never lets that get in the way of his trials. She was a special and rare type of mother. After all, such qualities weren't usually found in the same mother.

Brutality was usually found in cold and goal-driven mothers, while overly loving mothers spoiled their kids left and right not caring about improving them. Yet Mrs C was both goal-driven and overly loving, a scary combination.

Muku didn't know if he was lucky or unlucky.

With those thoughts going through his mind, Muku walked forward. Since he had gotten used to, "Level 0", he could afford to think of something else while he advanced forward.

Unfortunately, easy mode didn't last long. After walking around fifty meters, he began feeling a change in the heat. After walking twenty more metres, he was certain without a doubt that he was about to step into the first level.

He couldn't help but nervously gulp down some saliva. After all, the heat was already getting unbearable even before he reached the region. His skin was already drying up.

The situation reminded him of his battle with the ED. He was certain that he would have completely forgotten about the ED's flames by the time he finished the trial.

After all, he had the support of his mana, mythril and force to fight off the heat before. One can say that since he now had his physic back, the situation should be the same right?

And the response was, since when was blocking something with a shield and blocking it with your body the same? Even if your body was super sturdy, tanking flames with it would still be excruciating and hurt more than when there's a shield in between. Even if the shield couldn't completely block out the flames.

Not to mention that the golden flames were even hotter than the ED's flames. Which was odd since the ED's flame quality was higher than most. The only possible answers to what had happened were either that Emily had improved her flame's purity back home and Mrs C had copied that or Mrs C herself had improved the quality for the trial.

Either way, Muku was in for a world of pain.

He didn't linger on negative thoughts too long since they wouldn't change anything. If the pain could not be avoided, he might as well get it over with as soon as possible.

With those thoughts in mind, Muku finally stepped onto the first level of the flame trial.

Less than a second later, he jumped back. He couldn't open his eyes but he was certain of one thing. His whole body had been charred and his clothes were gone.

Level One was way worse than he thought! It was like five times worse than Level Zero! What kind of jump in heat was that?!

And it wasn't just heat this time. The flames actually burned him!