The Girls Are All Coveting Me

Chloe secretly breathed a sigh of relief in her heart.

Kai, you did well, you did wonderfully.

Upon discovering the root cause that the old pal could maintain stability and not be polluted by the Great Sin, Chloe almost burst into laughter.

Since the birth of the Seven Deadly Sins, no one has successfully eliminated the pollution; at best, they've kept it within acceptable losses.

Previously, he was pondering how Kai managed to control this power, only to find out that the entire Pantheon was helping to bear the load.

Of course.

What Chloe cared about was not this.

More importantly, Kai had demonstrated feasibility through his actions and provided him with a reason.

——A reason for an Asura Field to fully erupt.

If someone asks him again why such a jerk has so many beautiful wives, he would give a backhanded slap, questioning them, "I'm accommodating Abyss pollution to save the world."

Regardless of cause and effect, just say, is it saving the world?

For Chloe, saving the world wasn't as troubling as the potential Asura Field anytime.

Especially since none of his lovers were easy to deal with, he sometimes worried upon waking that he'd get his head chopped off by one of the cuties at home and they'd take it out to sea.

...

The adventurers' actions in the Abyss started to speed up.

They encountered several Headless Knights on the 16th floor.

Logically speaking, these Headless Knights should appear on the 18th floor or beyond, yet they were now in the upper zone.

Moreover, just as Chloe previously encountered, these Headless Knights were all clad in the Locke Empire Knight Order's armor.

"Something's not right," Lilith frowned and said: "The strength on the 16th floor is too low, it completely doesn't match the ecosystem here."

Fratiss, somewhat surprised, said:

"Wasn't it said that Headless Knights only appear on deeper floors? How is this considered low strength?"

"Headless Knights typically appear on deeper floors, but the most crucial thing is that the number of Maze Monsters on this floor is really too few."

Nearby, Rephya clapped her hands and said:

"It seems that's indeed the case. Previously, when we were speedrunning high-risk Mazes, we saw Maze Monsters everywhere. The number of Maze Monsters on this 16th floor is even less than the previous c-grade Maze."

Laura spread her hands and said: "So, improving quality without considering quantity is a false proposition; since we entered the 16th floor, we've almost seen no Maze Monsters.

The few there are might even have migrated from deeper floors, so it's certain..."

"Hmm, the 16th floor has been extensively cleaned out," Miseria frowned and said, "It's troublesome; something's not right."

Some students who hadn't realized the gravity of the situation muttered quietly:

"Aren't fewer Maze Monsters better? This way, we don't have to face danger directly."

However, Miseria shook her head, pointing to the Headless Knight gradually turning to ashes in front of her:

"These Headless Knights are artificially created, their armor sourced from the Locke Empire, and their overall strength ranges between Sequence seven to Sequence eight.

This matches the grade of the Locke Empire's Elite Knight Order, and so far, we haven't seen any other Headless Knights besides them.

So it can be confirmed that these knights died en masse in the Abyss of Woe."

The group nodded but still couldn't understand why Miseria was so serious.

It was Aisha on the side who seemed pensive:

"Under normal circumstances, no one would sweep clean the Abyss of Woe's floors, right?"

"Why?"

Miseria said in a deep voice:

"Because it's too big. If we weren't heading to the Safe Zone for rest and vacation, normally delving into the 16th floor, it wouldn't be possible to traverse half of the floor."

The map of the Abyss of Woe explored by the Ethereal Emblem actually has only one path.

Students exploring the Maze routinely would follow the school's map, clearing monsters in different floor surroundings.

The Safe Zone was established in earlier years by some bored seniors treating the lower floors as sightseeing spots, reluctant to delve deeper, so they marked this Safe Zone at the Hot and Cold Springs on the 15th floor on the map.

And the Hot and Cold Springs Safe Zone is roughly at the extreme north and south distance from the regular Ethereal Emblem exploration path.

The Ethereal Emblem teams choosing to come to the Hot and Cold Springs Safe Zone today have a common trait.

That is, they rush through the first 14 floors without any backup, progressing crazily.

Such teams sacrificed a lot of time on the first 14 floors and accumulated a lot of fatigue.

Whether they like it or not, they need to rest a bit on the 15th floor.

Chloe and his team are even more excessive.

Clearing the 15th floor in three days, averaging five floors a day. Meaning excluding the necessary eating and restoring physical energy, they didn't even sleep in the Maze and kept moving forward.

This is how they could leisurely spend two days vacationing at the Hot and Cold Springs.

However.

In reality, most exploration teams wouldn't operate like them.

Because it demands too much of the Extraordinary in logistics.

Once the healers and other supports fail to keep up, this kind of forced march can easily lead to heavy casualties.

Miseria furrowed her brow and said:

"If we were to follow the school's main exploration routes, clearing some Maze Monsters around and opening a path to the next floor, we should keep going deeper.

It's impossible to clean the whole floor, but the reality is that the 16th floor has indeed been cleaned."

Aisha sighed upon hearing this:

"That leaves only one other possibility: there's a certain force that had to clean the entire floor due to tasks outside Maze exploration."

Lilith glanced at the Headless Knight slowly dissipating, leaving only armor behind, and said:

"And this force is the human ancient power, the Locke Empire."

Upon hearing this, everyone had some subtle expressions.

It wasn't so much fear of the Locke Empire.

The realm of the Ethereal Emblem and the Locke Empire were originally allies.

But the problem is, this large-scale extermination seems more like executing a military mission.

They are not willing to participate in the military actions of another country.

If a conflict arises, it would be very troublesome.

At this moment, Abigail, who had been silently blending into the crowd, suddenly raised her head.

She quietly tugged at Chloe and said, "There's movement on the 17th floor."

"You can hear it?"

"I can hear it, don't forget my situation."

Chloe nodded.

In terms of gathering intelligence, Abigail had much more credibility than herself.

"Let's speed up and head to the 17th floor."

Everyone looked at Chloe, and Lilith asked, "Did you discover something?"

"A Locke cavalry unit is surrounded on the 17th floor... Surrounding them are Maze Monsters from the 25th floor and below."

"What?"

Everyone exchanged glances, unable to fathom how it was possible to discover events on the 17th floor, possibly so far away.

But they chose to "believe first."

If they were unaware, that would be one thing, but knowing that their allies were under siege, they couldn't just ignore it.

—More importantly, judging by Chloe's expression, those knights didn't seem to be on a military mission.

...

Location: 17th floor

"Attack!"

Within the roaring noise, a dozen knights collided with countless Skeleton Tyrants.

The Skeleton Tyrant, a Sequence Seven Maze Monster.

Logically, such Maze Monsters should not withstand the assault of a dozen well-trained knights.

But the issue is, there are over seventy Skeleton Tyrants.

The sheer number absolutely suppressed the Locke knights, leaving them barely able to lift their heads.

The two-story-tall Skeleton Tyrants attacked like pile drivers, shattering surrounding rocks.

Some even used chains wrapped around boulders, swinging them like windmills directly at the knights.

In the violent collisions, the sturdy armor began to deform.

Just as a fatal flaw was about to appear in their defense, a clear female voice rang out:

"Castling!"

In an instant, Fratiss appeared in front of a knight losing balance.

The half-human-high shield she held was slammed onto the ground.

Amidst the roar, the magic coating on the shield was smashed open.

The Skeleton Tyrants roared and charged forward.

"Leave it to me!"

Rephya's figure appeared in front of Fratiss.

The heavy sword in her hand spun out like a hula hoop, and the concentrated Divine Power instantly tore the Skeleton Tyrant to pieces.

Next, there was a series of flickering black sword lights.

Aisha, transported directly to the Skeleton Tyrant's side by Fufu through Shadow Teleportation, sheathed her tachi.

The rapid Piercing Power shattered a Skeleton Tyrant into pieces, but she immediately cried out.

"Senior, help me!"

Amidst the roar came a faint trace of laughter.

A pitch-black Thunder Spear was launched at a Skeleton Tyrant.

Fratiss, without a word, stepped forward and grabbed Rephya and Aisha, drawing them into her magic coating.

The black light exploded, and the spreading Filthy Thunder floored a group of Skeleton Tyrants on the spot, leaving the besieged knights tingling with electric shock.

"What are you standing there for? I've stopped."

Aisha's eyes lit up, taking advantage of the opportunity to charge forward and reap a group of Skeleton Tyrants in no time.

Rephya suspiciously glanced at her.

She acutely sensed that Aisha's aura had slightly risen.

"Huh?"

It was the effect of the Abyssal Blood War.

Xiaolu quickly understood, grabbing a Skeleton Tyrant on the spot and throwing it over.

"Aisha, take it down!"

Aisha sliced it in two with one stroke.

She was utterly thrilled.

Now she seemed to somewhat understand why the demons in the Bottomless Abyss were so insane.

She had just recently ascended to Sequence Eight.

But after slicing through the horde incessantly, she was surprised to find herself vaguely touching the threshold of Sequence Seven.

This [monster-leveling] trait, combined with the susceptibility of Abyssal Power to corrupt minds, makes it hard to resist once entangled.

Fortunately, the Abyss' corruption didn't linger on her but was instead channeled into the Star Realm Armor, or she'd worry her willpower was not firm enough.

The besieged knights exchanged glances.

The sudden rescue granted them a moment of respite. Without further thought, upon seeing the Ethereal Emblem insignia on the students, they decisively began to counterattack.