Chapter 177: [Bonus Chapter] Training Program: 13 [Upper Floor]

A lifeless body lay on the ground, surrounded by silence.

"..."

Eli broke the silence as he commented, "Five more minutes, and he will be fine" His pondering expression didn't match the situation.

Hearing that, Arlyne and her group snapped out of their stupor and looked at Eli, who wore an innocent smile.

Veins popped on their foreheads.

What happened was simple:

Eli put the antidote into Oliver's mouth and forc--ahem, well, helped him drink it, resulting in something that no one had expected.

Oliver had screamed in pain as if he were being burned from the inside, and then he had wriggled and rolled on the ground. In his distress, he tried to vomit but to no avail. Instead, a disgusting smell emanated from his body, causing everyone to cover their noses. Unable to tolerate the smell....Oliver lost consciousness.

"Fine?" Arlyne snapped, grabbing Eli's collar once again.

Eli glanced at her, "Yes, he is" Eli tried to remove her hand, a frown on his face.

But Arlyne's grip tightened.

"What the hell do you mean he was fine?" she demanded, exasperated.

Eli frowned, caught her hand then,

'crack, crack'

He cracked her knuckles.

"Ahrr?" Arlyne was unprepared and let out a small scream.

"There are some limits, Ms. Arlyne.....Please refrain from taking action before drawing conclusions" he said, his tone indifferent.

It was the second time she had grabbed his collar, and he didn't like it.

Arlyne shook off her hand, and Eli immediately let her go.

She glared at him with hostility, but her attention was swiftly drawn elsewhere when...

"aarrrrr"

Oliver groaned, and his lifeless body started to return to normal.

Seeing this, Arlyne forgot about Eli and hurried to her brother. Eli, on the other hand, took the opportunity to walk away, focusing on collecting his rewards.

"Br-Brother," Arlyne called him worriedly while trying to hide her tears.

Oliver slowly regained consciousness and looked at his sister with tender eyes, "I am fin-".

Before he could finish, Arlyne embraced him, overwhelmed with relief and joy.

"..." Seeing this, Oliver sighed and glanced at the others, who seemed to be watching the siblings with sympathy....However, someone shot a death glare at him, but Oliver simply ignored them, focusing his gratitude on his sister.

Eli continued to collect Soul Crystals from the headless monsters, and Oliver couldn't help but be astonished.

'Damn Man, Is he for real?' Oliver wondered as he observed the hundreds of headless corpses lying around. Eli was walking among them with a sense of detachment as if the gruesome scene didn't faze him at all.

After calming Arlyne down, she exclaimed with excitement, "Brother, you turned normal!".

"Yeah" Oliver nodded as he examined his reflection in the mirror that Arlyne provided.

He then turned to his team and expressed his gratitude.

"I am grateful that you all went along with my sister's whims" Oliver said, sincerely bending his head. He acknowledged that if they had chosen to, they could have eliminated him and taken over the team without a problem.

"You should be thankful for your sister, Oliver" Kira said cheekily.

"Yeah," Kyra nodded in agreement, occasionally glancing at someone who was collecting the rewards.

"Well, you should be" Theo added as he nodded in understanding.

"...." Simon remained silent, his intense glare speaking volumes.

Oliver decided not to mention the topic of that incident.

He thanked his sister once more, saying,

"Thank you, Dear sister"

"Hmph" Arlyne remained somewhat upset, but Oliver decided to give her some time to cool off.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Only you Simon" Oliver said with an amusing smile.

No one raised their hand except for Simon, who seemed to be in disbelief.

"Huh?" Confused, Simon looked at Theo, silently pleading for support. However, Theo stayed silent, and Arlyne seemed indifferent, while the twins continued chatting amongst themselves.

"K-King...."

Ignoring Simon's plea at Theo, Oliver turned to Eli, "Do you?"

"..." Eli stayed silent for a moment, glancing at the other team and the surroundings. Then, he asked seriously, "Do you know of any way to find the Overlord?"

"We did find the way to the floor, but we don't know whether it leads to Overlord or not" Oliver said with a little smile.

"another floor...ah?" He pondered, 'So this must be where the real Overlord is, right?'

Eli then made up his mind and declared, "I'm in then".

"Tsk" Simon clicked his tongue in annoyance, and Arlyne, having observed Eli's strength, thought, 'He is strong'.

Everyone resumed walking, but not before the group tended to Oliver, who was still bleeding from his head.

As they proceeded, Eli continued to avoid making eye contact with anyone.

As they walked, Kyra couldn't contain her curiosity any longer and asked,

"Are you... by any chance a Hero candidate?"

"!!!"

The group went silent for a moment.

The identity of a Hero candidate wasn't a secret, but it was known to be dangerous. These candidates were sometimes used for experiments, leading to a nightmarish existence if discovered...it was really danger and if someone got the sniff, the Hero candidate would have a hellish life if not for his/her social status.

Even in Nex, there was a rumour saying that Nex itself conducted a series of experiments with Previous Hero candidates.

"Hahahahaha" Eli laughed and broke the silence with a laugh and a smile, "No, I am not.....I never meant to be a Hero"

However, Oliver and Kyra noticed something hidden beneath Eli's words.....a hint of pain, perhaps even hatred.

"I see," Kyra nodded, and the others breathed a sigh of relief.

Yet, Kira chimed in, asking, "Then why do the 'Faunmia' fear you?" Her question piqued everyone's curiosity.

Hearing that, Eli's face broke into a grin as he replied,

"Because I am more of a monster than those puny creatures".

"...." Kira was taken aback by his reply.

"Pff--hahahahaha" Simon burst into laughter, assuming Eli was joking.

However, Theo, Arlyne, and the twins hoped Eli was merely jesting, as what they had witnessed so far couldn't be explained if he wasn't a Hero candidate.

Soon, they reached a set of stairs spiralling upward.

"So, there was truly an upper floor ah?" Eli muttered and he felt some uneasy feeling.

"Yes, Did you think I was lying, Man?" Oliver frowned.

"Oh, don't get me wrong... it's just that there was a lower floor, so I thought you guys were relating to that" Eli clarified,

"Lower floor?" Oliver inquired.

"Yes, anyhow, are you sure you didn't have any kind of map or something?" Eli expressed his doubt. He had noticed that Oliver had found this route with relative ease, which made him suspicious.

"What you mean-"

But before Arlyne could say anything inappropriate.

"You see, my friend, I really love puzzles and mazes, and I can solve them without any hints... I'm really good at this....heh" Oliver chuckled.

"..." Eli remained silent for a moment silently clicking his tongue and then continued walking up the stairs.