378 Friends And Foes
Arthur giggled as he hugged Han! He held his hand around Han’s neck and refused to come down no matter what! Han just smiled.
“You’ve really grown into a troublemaker, haven’t you? Hope you’ve been good for mummy,”
Arthur pouted and looked away guiltily once Han said this and Han laughed! Only from the flour on Arthur’s face, Han could tell that Arthur was one hell of a troublemaker! Arthur probably went into the kitchen and played with the food again! Yue tugged at Han’s shirt again to get his attention and once he looked down at her she asked him how long he would stay! All the girls there looked towards him whole awaiting his answer. They all wanted to know! Han cocked his head to one side and thought about how to answer that. He could only stay here for a week before he had to go back but he wouldn’t be able to stay with his girls for that long since he had to train. Han needed more power so he would be in his shadow world for most of that week to train. If he was being truthful, he wouldn’t even see the girls for more than three days altogether. Han sighed as he told the girls this information.
“I wish I could stay for longer but I can’t stay more than a few days. I came back for a reason and I need to finish it before I can go back to the upper floors. But I’m almost done with all this, so just wait a little bit more for me. I promise we’ll be free soon,”
Lily frowned slightly when she heard that Han wasn’t staying for long. She thought that she would have him for at least a month before he goes back up, but he wasn’t even going to stay for more than a week. Lily didn’t have a choice but to just accept it. She didn’t care about how long he would be staying, so long as he was there with them right now that was all that mattered.
Han wanted to drop Arthur back to the ground but Arthur wouldn’t let go of Han’s neck and so Han just held onto Arthur and allowed Yue to hold his hand as he deeper into the restaurant with the girls. Han asked Rina how the restaurant has been doing and Rina told Han about how successful they have been. The restaurant was in top shape because of how much they were selling. And luckily, they weren’t getting into any trouble with their competitors because of Han’s name. Things were going very well.
Kim asked Han if they should be expecting visitors. Now that Han was here won’t some of the kings be able to sense his power and come here? Han shook his head. Even if they tried, Han didn’t think that any of the kings could sense his power anymore. Han was almost breaking through to the Epic rank and none of the kings were even in the Unique rank so they won’t be able to sense me.
The only other person that knows Han is here is Esteroth and that is because Han left Gretha with him before coming to see his family. Han didn’t want Gretha to be present when he is meeting his family for the first time in months so he told her to stay with Esteroth until he calls for her. Esteroth is strong enough to handle some celestials on his own so Gretha should be safe with him for now in case there were any attacks. She was so paranoid and she even wanted to come here with Han, but Han wouldn’t allow her near his restaurant.
Ka-cha!
“Hey, what happened outside? I suddenly saw a lot of the customers leaving and they said that you told them to go. Did someone get -“
Rin suddenly came through the door with a bag of groceries in her hand and she looked worried as she spoke quickly. She saw the people leaving the restaurant and she was afraid that something bad happened to someone! Did Arthur get hurt!?
But immediately she entered the restaurant, she stopped dead in her tracks as she stared with wide eyes at Han. She couldn’t even move because she thought for sure that this was a dream! There’s no way this is real! Did someone use a skill on me? Was Han really here?
Han saw that she was too shocked to say anything and he grinned as Arthur giggled while stretching his hand out toward him.
“Hey, Rin. You look great,”
There was a small sob from Rin before she dropped the groceries immediately and walked forward and hugged Han around the chest. Han put his hand on her head and kissed the top of her head lovingly.
“What the hell are you doing here!? *Sob!* I thought you wouldn’t come back for another three months!”
Rin spoke into Han’s chest while holding him tighter and Han just told her that he was here to visit. He didn’t plan to stay for long, but he just needed to see them. It took some time for Rin to get herself back and she finally asked Han how things have been on the upper floors.
Kim guided Han over to one of the tables and Lily went to bring some food so that they could all eat and talk. Han told them all about the tests he took as well as the people he met. He told them about Taurus and his trip to the celestial plane and also about that idiot Gretha. The girls really laughed when Han explained some of the things that Gretha did and Han had no idea why they liked it so much. Han just thought it was very annoying.
When Han explained about the second test and the sleepy naked woman called Balance he could see Lily pouting in annoyance. Lily was pissed that Balance would try to seduce Han like that but there was nothing she could do about it so she could only settle on pouting! Even if Lily met Balance, she would probably lose in a direct fight! Although, if Han was being fair, Lily might not actually lose. Balance’s powers were based on equivalent exchange and so if Balance ever meets Lily then both of them will have the same level of strength. If that is the case then the winner will come down to whoever has the most ferociousness in attacking. Han remembers that Balance loves to sleep and she couldn’t hurt a fly even if she wanted to, on the other hand, Han looked at the yandere Lily that likes to suck blood and stab people and he decided that he wouldn’t introduce the both of them anytime soon.
Luckily, Han didn’t tell Lily about the proposal that Balance made to him. Balance was ready to erase all their memories if Han agreed to stay with her! Han knows that Lily and the other girls would have been even angrier if he told them about that so he didn’t bother to make things worse.
Han knew he needed to get back to training soon but he decided to just spend the night with his girls first and then he would go meet Esteroth tomorrow. It was already the end of the day so it wasn’t like Han could do anything else today! It was best to rest first! I’m sure Gretha would be fine with Esteroth.
…….
At Esteroth’s palace, Gretha screamed as she dodged around a giant blast of pure energy from Esteroth’s blade! She scrambled to run away but she tripped on her gown and fell right to the ground! Gretha grunted and she looked up in fear as a shadow fell upon her.
Esteroth grinned madly as he looked down at her. Gretha didn’t even know how the fuck this man suddenly became like this. It was like he changed immediately after Han left her here!
Once Han left Gretha in Esteroth’s castle and went to meet his girls, Esteroth immediately asked Gretha what floor she was from. Gretha didn’t see any issue with telling Esteroth what floor she was from and so she told him that she was floor ninety-eight. That was the highest floor that she and her former master Taurus went to before Taurus was killed by Han.
It was like a switch flipped in Esteroth’s head once Gretha said this! Usually, in this temple, the higher a floor is, the stronger the monsters on that floor are, and the harder it is to survive on a floor like that! That means that for any chosen to survive on a high floor they have to be very strong! This correlation flowed into Esteroth’s mind and he looked towards Gretha with that predatory grin that he only reserved for the chosen that were very strong! For Gretha to be from the ninety-eight floor, that means that she must be strong!
Gretha was busy eating and she was no longer looking toward Esteroth. She thought that his questions were already over so she just decided to ignore Esteroth and get back to eating! But before she could put the next spoon in her mouth there was a great release of power in front of her before a massive force immediately slammed into the table!
Boomm!!
Gretha yelled in shock as the table and all the food on it were destroyed! The table broke into pieces and all the food spilled over and burnt to a crisp! Gretha landed on her bottom in shock and she looked at all the damage done to the room! My food! He destroyed my food!! My food!!!
“Hehehe… It seems Han brought back someone interesting for me to practice with,”
Gretha looked up when she heard Esteroth’s gruff voice speaking from right in front of her! Esteroth was now holding his large sword and looking down at Gretha with menacing eyes! Esteroth put his sword forward and pointed at her like a general going to war!
“Come at me! Allow me to test your power until the very end!”
Gretha’s face changed into one of absolute disbelief! What the fuck is this madman talking about!? Isn’t this meant to be one of the kings down here!? What sort of mad king is this!? Gretha put her hand up in a calming manner. She has to try and talk him out of this madness. What does he even mean by test my power? Isn’t he just trying to kill me?
“Hold on. M-Maybe we can talk -“
“I said to come at me!!”
Esteroth brought his sword up again and a massive wave of power gathered at the tip of his sword as he got ready to release the biggest blast yet! Gretha yelled as she jumped to her feet and ran!
“Han!! Han!!! Save me, Han!!!!!!”
Ka-Boooommmm!!!!