"Yes, and you should be grateful that I showed up."
With an expressionless face, she let out a cold snort.
"So... Did you learn anything after talking to your father? Did this empty brain of yours finally get something in it?"
Poking Eldric's head with her forefinger, she kept on asking.
"You don't have to be so rude." The happiness and relief that Eldric was feeling a moment ago completely vanished after hearing her.
"Ouch!" The girl looked at Eldric with tears in her eyes almost crying while speaking with a mocking voice.
"Did I hurt your feelings? Are you going to cry? Huh?"
The more he listened to her, the darker Eldric's face got. By the time she reached the end of her sentence, he even wanted to pick up the chair and hit her with it.
But thinking about how she would just vanish and wouldn't talk to him he gritted his teeth. Right now, he needed her and for that, he was willing to endure her constant nagging.
"What? Cat got your tongue?" Looking at Eldric whose forced smile looked like he was about to cry, the girl shook her head.
"Forget it.
Tell me... After this small talk with your father, have you realized anything at all?"
Eldric didn't answer immediately but thought for a moment before speaking
"I want to try the trials again."
As Eldric said this, he opened the panel which he hadn't seen in the past few days.
[Name: Eldric Stormborne]
[Profession: Brawler]
[Vitality: 1]
[Power: 1]
[Agility: 1]
[Skills: Thunderous Barrage] +
With the balance of fourteen tokens, Eldric didn't rush to see what the upgrade materials were and how much were they going to cost. Even if he did complete all the missions of the Hell difficulty, the total amount of tokens was going to be only twenty-nine, which was definitely not enough to buy the materials.
So, Eldric didn't waste any other second on seeing the upgrade costs and selected the tower of trial before disappearing from his room.
.
.
Standing in front of the three-story tower, Eldric didn't even bother to glance at it once and directly entered the first floor.
Standing in the familiar forest, Eldric didn't have time to marvel at its beauty as he looked at the bush on his left side before directly jumping toward it.
After thinking about it for a long time, this was the only idea he came up with.
In the trial, he was going against a pack of wolves. Even though the mission said he needed to kill ten of those, it didn't mean that the total number of wolves in the trial was going to be ten.
Just like the previous trials, there could be more than ten wolves.
So, instead of waiting for them to encircle him and make their move, he was going to strike first.
He didn't know how effective it was going to be, but at least it would be much more effective than just standing there, waiting for them.
With these thoughts running through his mind, Eldric reached in front of the bush in an instant. He then activated his skill and threw a punch with all his strength towards the bush.
"Weeehhh."
The moment Eldric punched, he felt his fist connecting with something before a whimper echoed throughout the forest along with a shadow that flew out of the bush before hitting the ground.
"FUCK YOU."
Looking at the wolf which was lying on the ground unable to move, Eldric finally cursed out loudly.
After dying to this bastard once, he finally got to pay him back.
Without wasting another second, Eldric rushed towards the stunned wolf, intending to finish it in one go. But the moment he reached halfway, he suddenly felt the hair on his back standing up as an intense sense of crisis overtook him.
Eldric wanted to stop, turn around, and punch towards the back, but his body wasn't able to move as fast as his mind.
Before he even had time to turn back, an intense sense of pain overtook him as he felt someone crushing his left leg.
"AAAAAHHHH..." Unable to tolerate it, Eldric could only cry out in pain.
And before he could even let out a painful cry, he felt something crushing his right leg.
Soon, more than four wolves surrounded him, each munching on his hands and legs. Other than the sound of the wolves crunching on Eldric's bones, one could only hear the heart-wrenching screams of Eldric throughout the forest.
The wolf which was lying stunned on the ground due to the properties of the skill soon regained its freedom.
Snarling, it slowly came near Eldric whose hands and legs were now gone before opening its mouth and tearing his stomach, eating him alive.
.
.
.
"Aaaahhh." Waking up in the familiar white place Eldric looked around in panic before touching his body.
After realizing that everything was fine, he breathed in relief. But soon this relief turned into anger as he rushed inside the tower once again with red eyes to challenge the wolves.
But he came out with the same speed with which he entered the trial.
"AGAIN." Dying once again, Eldric didn't stop but his anger grew as he stepped inside to challenge the wolves once more.
Entering the trial, he once again rushed to the bush to punch and then turned around to punch the incoming wolf.
But after successfully stunning two wolves, he was immobilized by the third wolf who soon ate him alive.
"AGAIN." Opening his eyes in front of the tower, Eldric who was overwhelmed with pain and anger rushed once again to challenge the wolves.
.
.
This process went on for a long time. Every time Eldric died, he would rush back inside with an ever greater anger.
Eldric lost count of how many times he was eaten alive. Even the anger that grew after his constant deaths was beginning to fade away.
The only thing that didn't fade away was the pain of being eaten alive. It was as if after each death, the pain was engraved deeply in his bones.
After dying more than thirty times, Eldric's anger finally disappeared. And what was left in its place was endless pain, suffering, and fear.
"I..." Looking at the tower in front of him, Eldric muttered with dull eyes.
"I can not do it."
When anger is the flame, reason fades into the shadows. But when the blaze dwindles, leaving only the ashes of despair, one must confront the stark truth of their limitations.
This was the case with Eldric who soon came face to face with despair and a bitter truth.
No matter what he did, no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't get past the wolves. And every failure would result in him going through the hellish experience of being eaten alive.
Exiting the trial, Eldric stood in his room in silence. If before he was just afraid, then at this moment he was afraid as well as helpless.
Controlling his trembling hands, Eldric picked up the blanket before draping himself.
Sitting on his bed, in pitch darkness, his body kept on trembling. Even though he was still back in his room, Eldric could still feel the pain of being eaten alive.
Floating beside him, the girl kept on looking at the pitiful state of Eldric but kept silent.
Throughout the night, Eldric couldn't sleep. Just dying once was already something that gave him nightmares. But after dying so many times, Eldric felt like he was going to go insane.
Even inside his room, he could see wolves snarling at him, waiting to pounce and eat him alive.
'Knock... Knock... Knock'
It was the sound of someone knocking on his door that brought Eldric back to his senses.
"Coming," Eldric spoke in a hoarse voice.
Opening the door, Eldric saw the familiar face of his father Cedric.
"Holy... You look terrible."
As soon as Cedric saw him, he let out a startled voice.
At this moment, Eldric looked like a ghost with dark circles under his eyes as well as a pale bloodless face. His every action seemed to be done under a lot of pressure. Even the usual crisp voice of his was now gone, replaced by a hoarse one.
"Did you keep on challenging the trial throughout the entire night?"
As soon as Cedric asked, he widened his eyes in disbelief. With his current strength, how could it be possible to not sense Eldric's sudden disappearance in the room?
But he didn't think about it too much at that time. Who would have thought that instead of challenging once or twice, this little bastard would keep on challenging until he looked like a ghost?
"Have you completely lost your mind?" He still couldn't believe that his son would be stupid enough to go through the trials the entire night. And judging by his situation, he didn't seem to succeed.
The more he thought about it, the more regretful Cedric got. Last night he spouted so much nonsense, and the result was the current condition of his son. For a while, he even regretted talking to Eldric.
"....." Eldric didn't reply but looked at him with a blank expression as if asking for his reasons for arriving there.
"Uh..." Aware of it, Cedric thought for a moment but shook his head immediately. "I was going to let you work as an assistant from today, but since you are in this condition, then forget about it.
I will talk to them and you can start from next week."
Cursing himself, Cedric pushed Eldric inside the room before speaking hastily in a muffled voice.
"Just take some rest and if your mother comes, then tell her that you are feeling sick.
Don't mention anything about taking part in the trial and spending the entire night there unless you want both of us to spend the night on the roof with bugs."
With this, Cedric closed the door and walked away, forcing a smile on his face.
.
.
.
"Well, he isn't as stupid as I thought him to be. I'll give him that."
Floating beside Eldric the girl looked at the closed door as if she could see Cedric walking away before turning her head and looking at Eldric with an expressionless face.
"You are afraid?"
As soon as she asked, Eldric's body trembled for a moment. His eyes kept on looking around the room, not daring to meet hers.
"Tell me one thing." This time, the girl didn't mock him or laugh at him.
"Why is it that you still want to challenge the trial in the 'Hell' difficulty?
I mean, you have already completed both the ordinary and hard difficulty, and with the points you gained, your evolution is bound to be extraordinary.
So why are you challenging the 'Hell' difficulty? You keep dying and then after your deaths, you sit here in fear.
Why?"
"Why go through so much pain and suffering when you could have done it easily?"