Coming out of the woods weren’t some simple bandits from earlier. It would have been a piece of cake to get rid of them. Those approaching us wore heavy silver armor, resembling knights.
"T-Those are my knights!" the princess suddenly said with a bright smile.
She immediately stood up, but just as she was about to run forward, I held her back.
There was no way the 3rd Floor Challenge had become easier. I had no idea who those people were, but they certainly weren’t Royal Knights.
"What are you doing?! Let me go!"
"Hello, milady." The knight standing in front of the large group removed his helmet. "Your father asked us to take you back to the Capital, unsure if those... mercenaries could handle it. Please follow us."
"Do you recognize him?" I asked.
None of this had happened in the past. I had no idea who those people were at all. However, none of it made any sense. The Challenge couldn’t change so suddenly.
’Albert must have modified the challenge. I better receive a fucking big chunk of money.’
[The 3rd Floor’s Challenge has slightly changed.]
[Escort the princess and find all the traitors.]
"I do. He’s my closest aide."
I sighed. "I’m sorry..."
"Huh? Sorry about what?"
I hit the back of her neck. I couldn’t have her see what would be happening next. It would just make things a lot more difficult in the long run. I needed to keep our relationship intact to ensure the success of the 3rd Floor, especially if I wanted to get first place on the leaderboard.
"Why did you do that?" the knight asked with a frown. "How dare you attack Lea in front of us? Do you have a death wish?"
I burst out laughing.
"Y’all are just a bunch of traitorous knights. Anyone with two eyes can see that."
I didn’t want to exchange any more words with them. Without saying another word, I activated [Bloodlust] using all 30 points of my Mana.
[All enemies have -50% Movement Speed, -50% Attack Damage, and are thrown into a state of fear.]
This skill was ridiculously overpowered.
"D-Don’t approach us!"
"Emma, take care of them."
I had never seen her fight. It was about time I used this chance to test her.
She immediately pulled out her bow and drew it, shooting three arrows with perfect accuracy. Each arrow landed in the head of one of the knights. She had aimed directly through the slits in their helmets, which showed just how precise she was.
None of them even had time to react or dodge.
Maybe it was because of the reduced Movement Speed, but that didn’t seem to be the case.
There were a total of fifteen knights, and she had already taken down three in the blink of an eye. However, now that they knew she was a bow user, all of them became a lot more careful, lifting their shields and making sure they could react in time.
That was why Emma immediately got rid of her bow and pulled out her dagger, dashing forward without an ounce of hesitation.
It didn’t take long for her to take care of every one of them.
’She’s really powerful...’ I thought to myself.
Those were 3rd Floor enemies, but nevertheless, the way she moved as she killed all of them was extremely impressive. There was no doubt she could become even more powerful as time went by. However, there was only one problem: I wasn’t too sure how to make her stronger.
She wasn’t an actual challenger like me. She didn’t gain EXP from killing others or completing Floors.
’I’ll have to ask the Elf Queen.’
After all, the Elf Queen wanted to help her as much as possible. I had no doubt about it.
"I got rid of them all," Emma said coldly as she looked at the bodies surrounding her without an ounce of pity.
I nodded in approval as I was about to turn around and pick up the princess on my shoulder.
However... there was a little problem.
The princess had disappeared.
[POV - ???]
"Sir, isn’t he progressing a lot faster than anticipated?"
I looked at him, a little annoyed. However, he was right. Even with the opportunity we had given him, this was unexpected.
Of course, we had expected his growth to be exponential. But we had forgotten to take into account a key component: his talent. It was unlike anything we had seen before, and the fact that he had caught the eye of the Elf Queen so early hadn’t helped things.
"Will what we have planned be fine?"
"Increase the number of monsters and their strength for the first monster wave. We will increase the speed at which their world evolves. As long as he takes part in defending his planet, they should survive."
There was no doubt that their evolution was happening a little faster than planned. But this was a good thing overall. After all, the sooner they evolved, the sooner everything would change.
I stood up from my seat and walked toward the nearest mirror. With a simple wave of my hand, its surface changed, revealing a blue planet floating alone in the darkness.
Earth.
A red countdown hovered above it.
[Time Until the First Monster Wave: 9 Days, 18 Hours, 42 Minutes.]
My assistant remained silent behind me as I watched the small lights spread across the planet. There were billions of humans living peacefully below, completely unaware of what was about to happen.
"Raise the first wave by one rank," I said.
My assistant’s eyes widened. "But, sir, that will lower their chances of survival by more than thirty percent."
I smiled slightly.
"Then they should pray that their Hell Challenger is as powerful as he seems."
The mirror shifted once again, this time showing Caliste standing within Blackwood Forest.
"After all," I muttered, "a man who has already seen the end of his world should be capable of creating a much more interesting future."