Chapter 187
Chapter 187: I Am a Fine Upstanding Example for Humanity!
Erika lay quietly on the ground, breathing evenly and steadily.
The adventurers, too, had recovered feeling in their bodies, their eyes brimming with shock.
None of them had expected that Viktor would truly slay that terrifying, colossal magical creature.
The stupefaction and disbelief continued to reverberate ceaselessly within their hearts.
They had no way of knowing what a Calamity truly was—but they had witnessed it with their own eyes.
That terrifying and mysterious existence was a powerful monster unlike anything they had ever seen.
And Viktor, who had defeated such a powerful magical creature, seemed—in their eyes—to be several degrees more frightening than the creature itself.
But the crisis had passed, and they no longer wished to dwell on such things. Instead, their attention shifted to the girl lying unconscious on the ground.
At the sight of her, their eyes went blank—utterly baffled.
That enormous magical creature just now—it should be considered…dead, right?
So why, of all things, had a small girl they had never seen before come falling out of its colossal body?
Who was she?
At this moment, Viktor reached a hand into his black Coat, made a show of rummaging around for a moment, and pulled a blue vial from his inventory.
Right in front of everyone, he opened that glowing-blue vial, raised it to his lips, and drank it down.
Shortly after, a thin layer of blue spread across Viktor's body.
A cool current flowed into him, and even the mental fatigue he'd been carrying seemed to ease considerably.
After a few sparkling moments, he felt the Magic Power within him rapidly replenishing.
Watching this scene, the other adventurers were somewhat at a loss—but the sole 4th-Tier elder Mage was no longer entirely calm.
He widened his eyes, staring at that rather distinctive vial.
"That is……the Magic Potion sold exclusively in the Royal Capital?"
Being a 4th-Tier Mage, Wolt had naturally heard of this Magic Potion that had been spreading widely among Mages.
He had even paid a steep price in the hopes of getting his hands on a single bottle.
Most Mages were never short of money—4th-Tier Mages especially, whose wealth reached heights that some people could never touch in an entire lifetime.
And yet even so, those potions had simply never made their way to him.
After all, within the Empire, Mages were an extraordinarily numerous group.
Those 50 limited bottles were not even enough to go around among the Mages of the Royal Capital alone.
To say nothing of distributing them elsewhere.
Even though he was a 4th-Tier Mage, he was hardly the only 4th-Tier Mage in the Empire.
There were plenty of wealthy Mages out there—why would anyone obediently hand over such a remarkable potion simply because he threw out a high offer?
It wasn't as though Wolt hadn't considered making the trip to the Royal Capital himself.
But as a high-tier Mage who was also a member of an Adventurer Guild, he naturally couldn't afford to spend many days traveling to the Royal Capital ahead of schedule, just to buy a single bottle of something like this.
At that moment, Wolt recalled Viktor's full name.
Viktor Clavena!
That Magic Potion pursued so fervently by countless Mages—it appeared to be manufactured by the Clavena Family.
In a flash of realization, Wolt immediately understood.
No wonder Viktor's Magic Power reserves were so terrifyingly vast.
After all, he had an unlimited supply of Magic Potions—just 1 sip was enough to restore a substantial amount of Mental Energy.
That being the case, the enormous Magic Power capacity made perfect sense.
The 1 thing that remained most difficult for him to accept was this:
Why was it that as a single Mage, acting alone, he could release those powerful, terrifying War Magic spells as easily as eating a meal or drinking a glass of water?
Given how extraordinarily capable he already was—how was any other Mage supposed to live with themselves? How were they supposed to compare?
Both of them were 4th-Tier—so why were you the only exceptional one!
It was simply humiliating to even try!
Meanwhile, Viktor naturally paid no attention to what the people behind him were thinking.
He watched his MP bar in the Status Bar replenish little by little, until it reached the point where he could sustain ordinary Magic usage.
With that, he extended a hand.
A wisp of white split into 2 currents of air, coiling around Viktor's forearm, and traced a gentle loop around Erika's body through the air.
The unconscious Erika gradually lifted from the ground and drifted into Viktor's arms.
In a princess carry, Viktor steadied the unconscious Erika securely against his forearms.
He held Erika, sensing the rhythm of her breath—faint exhales brushing against Viktor's skin, carrying a trace of warmth.
She was in no danger to her life. Her body was simply a little weakened, nothing more.
And yet, had it not been for her appearance, the tens of millions of people in the Northern Frontier might have been extinguished—swallowed by an endless storm with Dorakon's arrival.
A single person had saved countless lives.
And moreover……
Viktor's gaze swept across her once from head to toe, and he clearly sensed that within Erika's body, something had changed—there seemed to be an additional surge of wind-element power.
That Natural Magic Power had fused into Erika's blood, making her breathing steadier and more grounded than before.
Erika, Lv28.
Half a year ago, when Erika had first enrolled at the Academy,
she had been nothing more than a Mage who had just stepped into the 2nd Tier.
And yet, with only 1 holiday break having passed, she was on the verge of breaking through to the 3rd Tier.
Weija's eyes flickered with a gleam of quiet wisdom.
"It appears she has obtained a portion of the Calamity's power within her."
Without that, there was no reason her strength would have grown so rapidly.
But Viktor did not respond to the Crow, his expression without a single ripple.
He did not turn his head—only let a voice, cool and flat, ring out like a question directed at those behind him:
"Do you know why I refused to let any adventurer enter the Abyss?"
The moment those words left his lips, the adventurers standing at his back all gave a sharp shudder in unison.
Hearing Viktor's indifferent voice, those adventurers naturally understood that Viktor was speaking to them.
That man's voice carried not the slightest trace of emotion—and yet fear had their bodies going cold, trembling without cease.
If they were given another chance to choose, they would absolutely not set foot in the Abyss at a time like this.
After all, Viktor was powerful in a way that no longer resembled a human being.
And now, they also fully understood how that Council Member title of his—already staggering just to hear—had come to be.
At the same time, Hera stepped slowly forward from among the crowd.
Her bearing was composed and graceful, a calm, unhurried air radiating outward from her.
She raised her fan to cover her mouth, and the floral patterns in her eyes began to slowly turn, like flowers gradually blooming into full blossom.
"You had already prepared yourself to fight that creature here, hadn't you?"
Viktor said nothing, nor did he nod—but that lack of response was as good as confirmation.
"Is that so?"
Hera lowered her chin slightly, eyes tilting upward just a fraction, as the flowers in them bloomed fully open.
A languid voice drifted out.
"You truly are…powerful, and yet kind."
Viktor listened to Hera's praise, then turned to look at her.
His gaze remained as detached as ever—seemingly unmoved by Hera's compliment in the slightest.
"Kind? I have never thought of myself that way."
What had happened between him and the Rether Family had spread across the entire Empire—there was no one who didn't know.
Looking solely at Viktor's behavior of venting his rage on the Rether Family, it would be difficult for anyone to consider him a kind person by any stretch.
But Hera gave an unusual, easy laugh, her eyes narrowing as the floral patterns within them gradually stilled.
A mysterious air suddenly burst forth from those eyes.
"Please do not misunderstand, Council Member Clavena—what I am praising is your kindness, not……the useless pity of the weak."
Those flower-blooming eyes of hers continued to swirl without rest, as though some wild beast were emerging from within those dark ashen petals, parting its enormous, tearing jaws.
"You had absolutely no need to warn them in advance—and yet you did."
Viktor listened to her words, his tone unmoved.
"It was simply something I did in passing."
"But even a single act done in passing was enough to spare them their lives."
"That is already your kindness."
Hera laughed softly, a beguiling warmth threading through her smile.
Just as she had said—had Viktor not warned them ahead of time, the adventurers inside the Rift might have been wiped out completely in a battle like this.
Even though they were all 4th-Tier adventurers, it was only through Viktor's deliberate care and attention that they had been able to watch the battle safely as spectators, without coming to harm.
And Viktor could hardly keep watch over everyone.
As she said this, Hera let her gaze linger deliberately on the golden-haired girl in Viktor's arms.
Young in years, to all appearances. Not the slightest bit threatening.
Perhaps Viktor's reason for sealing off the Rift had something to do with concealing her existence—that possibility wasn't out of the question.
After all, after such a terrifying and powerful magical creature had been defeated, a human girl had emerged from within its body.
Once that piece of news got out, it would be an earth-shattering revelation—no matter the location, no matter the country.
At this, Viktor slowly raised his head and glanced once more at Hera, his voice turning cool.
"Then—who sent you?"
At his question, Hera lifted the sweeping hem of her enormous skirt and gave Viktor a slight, graceful bow, wearing an expression of particular elegance, wreathed in an especially mysterious smile.
"Council Member, we are an Adventurer Guild."
"We are free. No one can command us."
"Unless……"
At that, Hera ran her tongue lightly along her lips and looked at Viktor with anticipation.
"Someone can prove themselves stronger than we are."
The moment her words fell, Viktor couldn't help but look at Hera—and the 4th-Tier adventurers at her back—with renewed seriousness.
Though it was true that, aside from Hera herself, the combat strength the other adventurers had displayed left Viktor feeling rather unimpressed,
they were nonetheless 4th-Tier adventurers—the kind of elite you could count on the fingers of one hand anywhere in the world.
Viktor happened to know a fair amount about the Beast Guild.
While the First Prince was still alive, the south had been under his direct, personal control at every turn.
With the military's presence, the Guilds had very little room to breathe.
Even the most powerful Beast Guild had been constrained and regulated at every step within the Adventurers' Capital.
Because of this, the resources the adventurers themselves could access were extremely scarce.
Fundamentally, in the south, they had almost no opportunity to rise above their circumstances.
And so, what Hera had said carried an implication clear enough to be unmistakable.
"A fine ambition."
He turned to face Hera directly, Erika cradled in his arms.
"So, if I need you to answer to me—what price would that cost?"
At those words, Hera's body paused slightly, as though something had stirred a kind of anticipation within her.
Her eyes grew somewhat hazy, a faint flush creeping across her face.
The snarling beast in her eyes retreated back within, as the floral patterns began spinning rapidly once more, and 2 dark ashen heart shapes made of embers appeared within her eyes again.
She looked at Viktor this way, as though gazing upon a perfect treasure.
"You need not pay any price at all. You need not even move a finger."
"I only hope that you and I could……"
"Have a child together."