[The first night is officially over. Please cease any actions toward claiming [The Jay Family]'s territory.]
After that message appeared in front of him, Erik's stiff shoulders dropped. While letting out a heavy, relieved sigh, he scanned his surroundings, briefly taking glances at the motionless Challengers on the ground. He had the sudden urge to just fall on his back and rest, but he could not do so yet, as there were still a few enemies left standing.
Erik managed to take down the majority of the present Challengers during the night, but he did not manage to get all of them. He glared at them, waiting for them to make their first move. The system message might have announced that any kind of hostile actions should be ceased for now, but it was always better to be safe than sorry.
Only a small number of people were still unharmed. They looked at their fallen comrades; however, they appeared unfazed. Usually, one would expect them to show emotions akin to anger and worry, but they seemed indifferent about the fact that their comrades were knocked out. And instead of picking them up, they just turned their backs on them and leisurely walked away from the scene.
"Weird bunch." Erik sneered quietly as he turned back. With his body at its limits, he staggered to the hospital and headed toward the elevator.
"Our duty is over for today, right?" Scarlet asked. She was leaning her back against the reception desk as if she were already waiting for Erik to enter the building. However, her typical confidence was nowhere to be seen. Her eyes did not meet his, and instead, she completely averted her gaze from him.
"Yes, thank you for standing guard." Erik replied weakly as he pushed the button for the elevator.
Rather than confronting Erik like she usually would, she did not spare him any attention. Scarlet pulled out her transmitter and began to reach out to her subordinates to relay the information that their duty for the night was over.
Meanwhile, Erik entered the elevator and headed toward the floor where Jay and the others were. The policemen stationed on that floor passed by Erik without taking a look at him. Carrying an air of professionalism, they just headed down.
Erik let out a short yawn, no longer able to wait to rest. Now standing in front of the room, he opened the door casually as if it were his own room. However, the moment he opened the door wide, a spear's tip blocked most of his field of vision.
He quickly evaded the spear thrust by arching his back, although he had to let out a strained groan due to the pain of his already battered body. Erik reflexively grabbed his staff, but it did not even take a whole second after that to realize who launched the attack.
"What the heck are you doing, Luna?" he said, both unimpressed and confused.
"E-Erik...?" Luna gasped in surprise. She instantly pulled her spear away from him, realizing that she had mistaken him for an enemy. Like the others in the room, they received the system message that the first night concluded, but since they did not hear anything from Erik, they decided not to let their guard down.
Erik observed the others and the room. From their side, everyone—aside from the bedridden Jay—fortunately just got away with a few bruises. There was also some debris falling from the ceiling, but besides that, everything seemed fine.
"Looks like you managed to capture the intruders." Erik pointed out, glancing at the intruders who could not move from their spot as they were tied up with ropes. For the most part, they also seemed fine, except for one person whose arm was twisted gruesomely.
With his gaze falling on Neil and the others, Erik approached Neil and patted his shoulder.
"Thanks for your help. You can go ahead and rest for now." he said kindly.
"Y-yes, sir!"
Thus, the rookie party left the room, going to the reception of the hospital, where they could ask for a room to rest for the time being.
"Shouldn't you get yourself checked?" Jay asked, his tone indifferent. With his head resting on his arms, he stared at the ceiling.
"That can wait for now. I'm sure there's something that's more pressing." Erik remarked, his eyes probing Jay, which earned him the same glare coming from Jay.
Both of them knew that it was certainly not about the reward given to those who had to claim their territory for the current quest. Despite having been shocked by Neil's revelation that their opponents could earn the right to skip the next section, Jay was eager to know something entirely different.
Luna, who had a rough idea of what they were thinking, closed the door and leaned on the wall beside it, in case someone were to enter the room.
"Who exactly is Alice?" Jay asked sternly, his gaze sharpened.
Erik, in turn, remained relaxed, with the corners of his mouth lifting.
"She's the only daughter of the current head of the Kilgen Family, Kaizer Kilgen. At a young age of 20, she already managed to reach the higher floors and possesses strength equal to that of other Conquerors. She-"
"That's not what I want to know." Jay cut Erik off.
"Why does she know who I am?" he asked, his tone even sterner now.
"Well, what's so odd about someone so high-ranked as she is to have a rough overview of the people inside the tower?" Erik replied, shrugging his shoulders.
"But everyone inside the tower...? How could she possibly memorize everyone?" Jay doubted him.
"Remember, we're in a place where the impossible can be made possible." Erik answered with a playful wink.
Still unsatisfied with the answers, Jay unconsciously tightened his grip on his blanket. The answers themselves seemed reasonable, but at the same time, it felt like Erik was intentionally avoiding the core of the topic.
"Erik-"
"Don't worry about anything. Alice is your ally." Erik stated, his expression serious.
"She must have done something that caused you to be suspicious about her, but trust me. She is on your side. Just be patient, and the answers will all come to you on their own." he added before he walked toward the door.
"Hm? Where are you going?" Luna wondered.
"Just getting a checkup."
It would not take long before Erik would actually collapse from pain and fatigue; therefore, he wanted to visit the doctor as soon as possible.
He took one last glance at the confused Jay.
"Once I'm back, we will hold a meeting for the next two nights. Luna, can you tell Neil and the others to come as well?"
"Got it!"
And with a satisfied grin, Erik left the room. However, that grin quickly disappeared again as dozens of thoughts crossed his mind.
The first night was just for their enemies to scout how difficult it would be to breach the defense, and what exactly the territory could be—in other words, they used today's groups as a test. The actual challenge was yet to come.
The more challenging enemies would appear during the next two nights, and among them, Erik was certain that Jays were coming for them, too. The current quest could potentially be a quest given to every Challenger inside the Tutorial Section, regardless of one's level. And if that was the case, then the Jays there would surely have received the quest to claim [The Jay Family]'s territory as well, meaning that Jay's location was leaked to his other parts inside the section.
The odds were against the small and newly formed party. Still, Erik had an idea of how to turn the tables against them and emerge as the total winner in that quest.