The Girls Are All Coveting Me

The survival environment deep in the Abyss of Woe was harsher than Chloe had imagined.

At this moment, having accelerated their pace, they had already reached the 35th floor.

Since entering the 30th floor, Maze Monsters at Sequence Seven had started to become frequently active on this floor, and the level of regular monsters had risen to Sequence Eight.

According to Chloe's original plan, Rephya, Fratiss, Miseria, and Fufu all needed to hone their Extraordinary Means on these floors, striving to minimize the diluted components from their rapid promotion.

But the situation was worse than they thought.

In order to delay time as much as possible, they bypassed the middle ranks and stepped directly onto the 35th floor.

On this floor, the number of Maze Monsters at Sequence Eight drastically decreased, while the proportion of Sequence Seven monsters began to rise, and even Sequence Six Great Devils started to make appearances.

This place was a dead end for the weak, where merely surviving was a sin for ordinary Extraordinary beings.

The sudden surge of battle pressure left Aisha, Fratiss, and Miseria, who were still at Sequence Seven, struggling somewhat.

Rephya and Fufu were slightly better off, but under the massive assault of Demons, they still felt suffocating pressure.

This was the terror of the 35th floor of the Abyss of Woe, known as the [Demon Castle].

Metal armor stomped over the surrounding rubble as Fratiss raised her sword and shield once more.

With a roar, a fist the size of a truck slammed heavily onto her shield, the pressure from the gigantified Great Devil was far beyond what it used to be.

Fratiss could be sure that if not for that strange power bestowed by Lilith, relying solely on her professional abilities, she feared she would have been shaken enough to numb her hand from the impact.

But in the next moment, a piercing whistle sounded.

A series of Hell Magic instantly shot out from each corner of the gigantic castle. As the strong light of Magic was about to sweep across the area, Fufu patted the ground, and Laura raised her Magic Staff.

Shadows, like tendrils, transformed into barriers to block the attack, and several Shadow Soldiers quietly emerged from the soil beneath the Great Devil's feet.

Detecting something was amiss, the Great Devil swept out, sending most of the Shadow Soldiers flying, but somehow a chain had wrapped around its leg.

The chain extended all the way into the shadows.

The sudden tug stopped the Great Devil's movement instantly.

The intended charge turned into a staggering knee fall.

A black light flashed.

In the form of the Enchanting Demon Queen, Aisha severed its head.

"Retreat, don't fight them inside the castle."

Lilith's voice coldly instructed.

The illusory scene constructed by Fantasy Power around them rapidly vanished as the Maze Monsters, held back, surged forth.

Confused about what these people were thinking, Tiffany slashed open a rift, leading the group to another corner of the Maze.

"What exactly do you want? Exhausting useless power in the Maze will only make it harder to face the Saint later."

Chloe didn't speak, merely tossing the extracted Extraordinary Trait directly to Rephya.

"Rephya, make the most of your time."

"Okay."

Rephya didn't speak, just absorbing the Extraordinary Trait into her body.

Soon, murky auras, under the interference of Divine Power, were extracted from her body.

Tiffany frowned.

Typically, a complete Extraordinary Trait inevitably carries some contamination.

For example, this [Gigantification] trait taken from the Great Devil would carry some of Bator Hell's contaminating power.

But this wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

The power of Bator Hell is more corrosive, and if used properly, it can increase one's combat strength further.

The price to be paid is simply adapting and transforming Bator Hell's power into personal strength.

In the reports of high-level researchers in the Locke Empire, this isn't even seen as contamination but rather as a [Merger and Assimilation].

Before the Dawn Era, people's understanding of World Will was insufficient.

But since the King of Self-redemption, the activity level of World Will has increased significantly.

There are countless signs showing that such acceptance of other world powers is favored by The Stars.

The purpose... is to convert the traits of the World Group into one's own use.

The King of Redemption called this behavior [Multiverse Power of Starry Characteristics].

But strangely, the little girl in front of them seemed undeterred from following the common path.

Are there other impurities in the Extraordinary Trait that can increase destructive power?

No need, just expel them from the body.

This odd behavior puzzled Tiffany.

But those in the know like Chloe understood it was simply to speed up the process of promotion.

They weren't lacking that bit of special power from other World Groups.

What they lacked was time.

Sure enough, within a few breaths, Rephya had solidified the Extraordinary Trait within her.

She opened her eyes and looked at Chloe, saying, "I need two more."

"Then let's continue," Chloe said without hesitation.

"Hey, hey, hey, at least give me an explanation."

"Don't ask too much, just know that once we accumulate enough Extraordinary Traits, promotion is assured."

"..."

Accumulate enough Extraordinary Traits and you can get promoted?

What a joke, if acquiring Extraordinary Traits alone could easily lead to promotion, The Stars would be filled with Demigods.

No time needed to solidify Extraordinary Traits?

No time needed to extract and accommodate Extraordinary Traits?

No time needed to digest and absorb after accommodation?

Not even any time needed to activate power and break through after digestion and absorption?

Why does this sound as simple as "Have you eaten?" when it comes out of your mouths?

But Tiffany didn't ask any further.

It's not impossible to advance so quickly.

She had seen similar rapid advancements before, and she was one of them herself.

The difference was probably the Curse Blood inherited by the Curse Swordsmen from their ancestors; with that same origin, the digestion rate and utilization were superior.

But that was because of the Curse Blood given by the ancestors, [of the same origin]!

Not to mention this direct method of absorbing the Extraordinary Traits of a Great Devil, even within the Thirteen Bloodline Families of the Locke Empire, transferring from one family to another can make one's head spin with inefficiency in using Curse Blood.

But since her companions said so, she could only suppress her doubts suspiciously and continue accompanying them in the hunt.

The second one, the third one...

In Tiffany's astonished gaze, the girl named Rephya continuously absorbed three Extraordinary Traits into her body and then said:

"Give me 10 minutes."

She found a corner to sit down, and soon, the spreading Divine Power began to pervade.

For a moment, the surrounding energy surged tumultuously.

Visible energy particles were swept into a vortex by the Divine Power, and the girl sat on the ground with a hint of celestial purity on her face like a Divine Messenger.

The originally solidified Extraordinary Traits began to reveal more intense forces as if winnowed.

This first step stunned the Swordswoman.

"You can just extract it directly? No need to expand capacity?"

When people are considered as [vessels], there's naturally a limit to how much they can contain.

When the limit of the current level is reached, the overflow occurs.

To accommodate more power, the vessel must be shattered and a new, sturdier one must be created.

However, for this girl, it was as if this wasn't even a factor.

When her body's capacity reached its limit, the vessel just expanded with a "biu" sound.

Just like...

"Just like it had already gone through the process of expansion."

But it was even more confounding to her.

Typically, the digestion and absorption after promotion is also a challenge.

Especially if the Extraordinary Traits have [impurities], making digestion very prone to issues.

Some nutritionally essential substances for life are inherently hard to digest.

Ordinary Extraordinary individuals would endure to absorb them.

But the girl's method was [simply discard whatever is hard to digest].

Such methods have been done before.

But this inevitably presents a problem, which is an uneven distribution of Extraordinary Power, leading to structural issues, turning into a house of cards.

Lacking vitamin C can easily cause scurvy in a person.

But this girl lacked more than just vitamin C.

Yet something more outrageous happened.

At the moment her intake of Extraordinary Power reached its peak, all Extraordinary Traits were instantly activated, breaking through the advancement barrier.

Tiffany: ???

"Rebuild?"

Tiffany felt like she had guessed the truth. If not, there was no way to explain the current situation.

The elements needed for advancement must be complete.

There's no scenario where you can still advance lacking key elements.

So there's only one other possibility — this girl already had the key elements in her body.

Tiffany had occasionally heard of such cases.

Those experts whose Life Sequence had declined due to accidental factors found it much easier to return to their peak than the first time they reached it.

So it's highly possible that this girl belonged to such a case.

But if there truly was such a young girl, possessing high Sequence power early, she should have heard of it.

However, this was merely the beginning.

After this squad advanced, they headed to the 36th floor to start hunting new Extraordinary Traits.

"No way."

Tiffany vaguely guessed something.

If it really was as the boy named Chloe said, the goal from the beginning was to obtain Extraordinary Traits for advancement.

The Extraordinary Traits corresponding to the 35th, 36th, 37th, and 39th floors matched the paths of the four girls.

35th floor: Rephya's Titan Path.

36th floor: Fu·Icarus' Shadow Stab Path.

37th floor: Fratiss' Iron Blood Path.

39th floor: Miseria's Fantasy Path.

The only exception was that of Aisha.

But Tiffany saw very clearly, the girl with the Enchanting Demon trait needed to reap demons from different Mazes, using the forces of the Abyssal Blood War to accumulate capital for advancement.

But isn't such behavior easily prone to falling into being an Evil God's Followers? How dare she?

Yet a scene that made Tiffany's scalp tingle even more unfolded.

The girl named Aisha, after accumulating enough Demon Essence, had eyes filled with demonic madness.

Yet Rephya stepped forward, and the Divine Power radiated.

The originally maniacal Demon Power, instantly, like an obedient child, complied with the girl's command.