[Protect your territory.]
The second night of [The Jay Family]'s eighth quest officially started. As the group had initially planned, Luna and the other rookies were waiting outside right in front of the hospital's main entrance, whereas Erik was guarding Jay. Furthermore, the police also arrived just like last night and guarded the people unrelated to the quest. And this time, Scarlet Kilgen was stationed at the reception, showing no interest in Erik or Jay.
Acting as a wake-up call, the system message once again caused dozens of Challengers to flock near the hospital. Seduced by the idea of skipping the next section, those Challengers stared at Luna and her fellow beginner friends like hungry hyenas.
Nina, who was standing behind the others, tried to calm herself down. Despite tensing her body up, her trembling would not stop. Unfortunately for her, Carl noticed her nervousness, and instead of teasing her as he would usually do, he looked at her reassuringly.
When she looked down at his knees, she realized that he was shaking, too. Still, he had to appear tough and confident. Facing a group that was more than ten times their size, Carl would obviously be scared, but he could not allow himself to show it on his face.
Currently, the enemy was still wary of them. Since the entrance was defended almost perfectly last night by just one person, the enemies had difficulty imagining how tough it would be with a group of five people. However, the moment one of those five showed something akin to anxiety on their faces, it would spell the end for that small group. The opponents would instantly see through their act once there was an opening, and they would not hesitate to charge.
Therefore, the small group had to show a demeanor equal to Erik's—and Luna was the first one to do that. With a spear in her hand, she puffed out her chest and placed her other hand on her hip, all while grinning confidently at the enemies who had not taken a step forward yet and hid behind corners.
"They don't even look that strong...!" one of the hidden enemies remarked, clicking their tongue. Many of them were more than eager to launch an attack, but last night taught them not to judge someone by their looks. After all, a lot of their comrades were knocked out by an individual who was injured.
At the same time, Scarlet received a message from a subordinate. She was leaning back on the chair at the reception desk, thinking that tonight would end without her having to do anything.
"What? Some of our men left their posts...?" she muttered. Scarlet was confused as to why some of her subordinates would abandon their tasks, although the police force was known for their strict discipline. On the other hand, she also expressed her concern, thinking that something had happened for some of her people to suddenly leave.
"Continue with your tasks. I'll look for them." Scarlet added sternly. She glanced through the glass door at Luna and her group, standing tall against the opposition.
Scarlet sneered and made her way to the rooms, which apparently two of her subordinates had abandoned. She set foot into the elevator and pressed the button for the floor beneath Jay's room.
However, it did not take long before she received another message from another subordinate.
"What is it this time? Hm...? Multiple exits were opened?!"
Following that, she was told that groups of people stormed the hospital through those open exits. But due to them being a neutral party, they could not touch them.
"Let them be as long as nobody else gets harmed. But investigate how they were able to get inside and tell me as soon as possible." Scarlet commanded. The doors that were just opened could only be unlocked from within, but that should not have been possible as the night had just commenced, and no hostile force had been detected before that.
Her gaze turned grim as she changed her mind and pressed the elevator button for the floor where Jay's room was. And when she finally arrived, the first thing her eyes captured when the elevator doors opened was a flying body. Not just one but a lot of them. Dozens of shady-looking people were sent flying in the same direction.
Scarlet quickly looked over at the person who caused all of that.
"Y-you...!" she grumbled when she saw Erik beating up a few others with his staff.
"Don't worry, there wasn't a single complaint yet!" Erik stated with a wide smile. Mindful of the other patients on that floor, he tried to knock all of the intruders out with a single hit and without them getting slammed to the walls and doors.
Scarlet did not retort. Instead, she was pondering how so many people could already get to that floor so quickly. From her perspective, it appeared like it was thoroughly planned. On top of that, the intruders seemed even more skilled and dangerous than those wannabe thugs eyeing Luna and the others. However, they were still just people new to the tower, and they were clearly no problem for Erik.
"What led you to this floor? Still curious about him?" Erik asked while he kept fighting.
A cold shiver ran down her spine, thinking about Jay.
"N-no... I'm here to look for some subordinates of mine who have left their posts..." she answered, her gaze averted from Erik.
"Oh, is that so? I thought you had ordered your people to do that for you? At least that's what those two officers told me." Erik replied, trying to sound empathetic despite his indifferent expression.
"What? I told them something else, though?" Scarlet stated, tilting her head in confusion.
Meanwhile, in Jay's room.
"This infiltration was easier than I thought!"
"Be quiet unless you want to wake him up!"
Two officers were whispering to each other as they stood beside the bed where Jay was sleeping peacefully. While one of them had a wicked grin on his face, the other man remained stern.
"But I guess it was true then. Setting foot inside this room did not meet the condition of claiming the territory." the stern man muttered, looking around the room.
That man walked over to the window wall and violently pulled the curtains away. He took out a small bottle from his pocket, took off its lid, and splashed the transparent liquid at the window.
"With this, our job is done!" the other man snickered.
The spot on the window, where the liquid was splashed, began to quickly dissolve as if it came into contact with acid. And in a matter of just a few seconds, a fresh evening breeze entered the room through the person-sized hole in the window.
Sensing the change in the temperature, Jay slowly opened his eyes.
"Policemen...?" he muttered hazily as he rubbed his eyes.
It was not until his vision cleared up that he noticed the presence of not two but three men inside the room.
"You did well." the third man stated indifferently. He was standing right in front of the window's hole.
Jay's eyes widened in an instant. Not because the third man cut off the two officers' heads without warning, but because Jay recognized that man.
"It's been a while." the man, who had blood stains sprayed on his face, said as he came closer to the shocked Jay.
"I'm here to get one step closer to our true self." he stated, pointing his bloody sword at Jay.
Currently, Scarlet was at Erik's side, who, in turn, was in the chaotic hallway and fought against a wave of intruders. Therefore, no one was there to help Jay.
No one was there to stop him—the cold version of Jay.