Back at the surface, the crowd remained wonderingabout the whereabouts of Erus after he was swallowed by the Unseen. He had been pulled into the ground. They were expecting to see him on the 100th floor, but no Erus showed up. He was not even on the other floors.
Meanwhile, Nick Sabatican was impatiently stomping his feet on the cold floor. His thoughts matched those of the audience, but he had a feeling that something was not right.
If Erus was done with the 99th-floor trial, he should be on the last floor now. Unless it was not yet finished, or something more concerning had happened. He also noticed that the Elders were looking around, but they were not saying a thing. Meanwhile, King Leomar was just staring at the screen where his legitimate sons were.
Nick wanted to ask and protest, but he had no valid reason to stop the trial right now. Plus, even if he said anything, they would not care because it was Erus. No one cared for that stubborn man. There were only a few who did.
Deep within the abyss, Erus's eyes were still glowing a predatory crimson as he stared down the Queen of the Mermaids of Death. To assert her dominance, she hovered in the stagnant air, her tail shimmering just inches above the rotted forest floor, yet even with that advantage, she still had to look up to meet his gaze. Standing at a towering 6'7", Erus didn't just occupy space. He dominated it. He leaned in slightly, his lean, statuesque frame casting a long shadow that seemed to swallow her spectral glow whole. He knew she was on the verge of lashing out at his taunts, but she suddenly composed herself. Despite her emotionless mask, she was far too easy to read. To a man of his stature, her fury was nothing more than a shallow, transparent pool.
Erus grinned. After all these years, someone finally uncovered the secret of his curse. But he doubted a creature born of malice and pure darkness could survive his curse for long.
"You are as arrogant as everyone says, but you are just a mortal. I am a deity, right hand to the God of Death!"
"You are just a familiar of a mortal king. In short, a mortal's slave."
'You—I know what you were trying to do!"
"What's wrong? I was only reminding you." Erus' voice was full of sarcasm, as if he were just fooling with a kid.
The Mermaid of Death felt her emotions building up. She distanced herself enough to avoid the shield's aura once it detected her malicious intent against Erus.
"What? Shy now?"
"Ungrateful brat!" The mermaid hissed, as if Erus owed her his life. But then, she curved her lips into a grim smirk. "This time, there's no escape from your long-awaited fate."
Erus did not flinch or show any reaction of surprise. These words had been repeated since he could understand language. How badly he wanted to clean his ears with his finger, but he remembered he was wearing gloves. It wouldn't work.
But when the mermaid showed him some trimmed black hair, floating above her hands and caged in a black mist, he became confused and curious at the same time. He looked at his shoulder-length hair. There was the cut part. It made him wonder, howdidithappen, and when? He did not see her reach for his hair.
Was it her real purpose—to suppress her malicious intent so that she could get close and steal something that was part of him? This time, it was not all words. She had upgraded her brain.
This was not a case like before where Erus could joke around. This was the real deal because he knew this trick. He had tried it before with his shield by making decoys to attack him using different methods.
"Child's game," Erus scoffed.
But the Queen of the Mermaids did not mind him. She distributed and attached every strand that she had from Erus among her subordinates.
"Now, son of the Witch, the real hunting begins." She let out her eerie laugh again. "Scrape him to death. Not a single piece of flesh to be left!" she commanded the grotesque mermaids of death.
The mermaids who were hiding instantly followed their Queen's command. They showed their even more hideous faces, ready to pounce on their prey like starving animals. Their body movements showed both excitement and hunger.
But the moment a mermaid entered Erus' space, she vanished into thin air with just one swift slash from Erus' hand. The others became wary to attack.
The Queen was surprised to see Erus use such an advanced wind magic. It was as if Erus did not necessarily need the shield at all.And if she were to only stay and watch, then her entire domain wouldbewiped out just like the Dark Mists.
Erus' crimson eyes were deadlocked on the Queen of the Mermaids. It was visible in her body movements that she was panicking, the same reaction she had during her past attempts to harm him. The look Erus gave her was the same look he always gave when he meant doom.
"Don't you dare! I am your father's familiar. He will hate you even more if you harm me," the Queen squealed in terror.
Erus started to raise his hand, but then he stopped.
"I am his flesh, yet he did not hesitate to order you to kill me today. So, what are you to your master if I kill you? Just a worthless familiar, nothing more!"
Erus nimbly dashed to the side to trick the Queen of the Mermaids, and he did not fail. She attacked straightforward using her magic, expecting Erus to charge in. But her eyes went wide.
Erus smirked like a devil behind his golden mask upon witnessing how the other mermaids behind him were turned into gross slimes and dried out.
"What was that for?"
"You— EEEEAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" She screamed in anger. Her voice was so piercing it could make you lose your hearing.
Erus' eyes narrowed and in an instant he sent her flying into the stone walls. It irritated him so much he wanted to smash her a hundred times on the slimy rocky floor. His fists were erupting yellow flames matching his crimson eyes.
The Queen of Mermaids coughed dark blood, but her physical body was not that affected by the attack. She was just caught unguarded. With her ability to instantly heal, the attack from Erus seemed like nothing. This was also the reason she had survived all those fatal backfires from Erus' shield. If not for her ability, she would have died on the first day she attempted to kill him—her life would have been pulverized by an infant.
On the other hand, Erus became wary of himself. He didn't understand, but that scream from the mermaid almost made him lose his self-control if not for his instinctual action to stop her. It felt like a monster was about to get out from his body and wreak chaos.
He could feel the throbbing beat of his heart. It wasn't fear but was full of something negative. His intent to kill was at its peak right now.
The scream from that damned creature wasn't just to vent anger. It was a trap too and it hit him.
"Did I hit the mark?" the Queen of the Mermaids mocked him. She grinned maliciously. "Your curse protects you from any ill intentions toward you. What if you are filled with negative emotions? Would that shield still activate and protect you?"
That idea never occurred to Erus since he didn't treat the shield as his own ability. He treated it as someone else's protection, but he had no idea who it was to begin with.
He chose to stay silent. There was no need for him to answer the enemy.
Seeing Erus' reaction, she became overconfident and continued her gaslighting and insults toward him.
"EEEEEAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"
The Queen of the Mermaids of Death screamed again, but this time she immediately hid in the shadows before Erus could smash her again. Even in the shadows, she continued the ear-piercing scream while lingering around the area while she kept her distance from him.
Erus was so mad he couldn't catch her. Plus, the ringing in his ears was too irritating. He could not concentrate. His hearing was far more enhanced than an ordinary mortal's, and this was one of his flaws.
He used the shield to filter the outside noise but it was of no use. The shield could not protect him from that kind of attack since it was not physical, and the mermaid was holding a part of him—a strand of his hair.
He covered his ears but it also did not help him. Now, he could feel the fear of losing himself because of his thinking that something darker would arise from him. He didn't know what that could be but he got a feeling it will not do any good.
When the Queen's subordinates saw how defenseless Erus was, they tried attacking him. He used his aura to attack them but the damage was minor. Out of madness, he let his fire ability handle the situation. Though not a hundred percent sure it would work, he was desperate now to use that fire attack that cost some lives before—his hellfire.
Without any enchantment he let the energy flow within him and in just seconds a yellow flame erupted from his body. It was crawling fast and it made the entire hundred-meter area look like a ring of fire. At first it was just a yellow flame then it hit a mermaid and the poor creature was automatically vaporized. A random white flame emerged and it was like a dancing maiden in rage among the yellow flames. It directly attacked every enemy within range. The lowly creatures were easily beaten while the others were fortunate enough to escape.
But this kind of sudden surge of energy had its fatal backfire. Especially if someone was not trained enough or didn't have the right flow of energy within his body. Erus was the latter. His energy was too much for him to handle. Might be the price for being an overpowered man compared to the other mortals.
Erus coughed blood. It tasted like iron being polished for a long time but gained no sharpness. He was still the same weak child from before if not only for his enormous ability—but he couldn't harness it the way it should be.
Aside from the ongoing ear-piercing scream of the Queen of the Mermaids of Death, he could also feel the slow searing pain in his chest. His heart was burning just like the flames he let out. He could also feel the dryness in his throat.
He didn't know where to hold anymore—whether to cover his ears or hold his chest and throat. His mind was in a total daze like everything happening around him was giving him mental shock.
Erus heavily knelt on the solid rocky ground. The jagged edges tore through his skin but he didn't mind the pain. The heat of the stone felt like a mercy compared to the fire tearing him apart from the inside.
Was he going to die? Would this be his end? Was this the extent of all his strength and power?
He was really a total asshole for still trying to win the favor of his father despite the obvious fact. The King would never see him as his own flesh and blood. He was just a mere sprout from those lustful nights of the King with a woman he didn't know was from the line of witches he despised.
He wanted to cry because of remembering his father in his supposedly ending, but he couldn't find the feeling of real grief for such abandonment.
Had the monster he was trying to suppress was out now?