Stormlook smiled and nodded.
Now that the main guests had arrived, the banquet could officially begin.
The soft sounds of a violin filled the grand hall, accompanied by a variety of exquisite delicacies, fine wines, and gourmet dishes being served by the attendants. A group of elegant socialites and beautiful women laughed and chatted, and the atmosphere of the event was lively. However, now and then, some people would cast occasional glances toward the table at the front.
The wealthy businessmen and influential figures present in the hall were mostly not qualified to sit with the noble heirs, and in all of Celephais, only Stormlook and a few others could converse with them on equal terms.
As the toasts flowed and the wine passed, the young man at the head of the group, Hummer, seemed to have remembered something. He turned to Stormlook, smiling as he asked, “By the way, I heard of a young man named Luca while I was in the capital. I wonder if Mr. Stormlook is familiar with him?”
Upon hearing the name, the conversation at the table quieted down, and both Stormlook and Yuel were somewhat surprised, even thinking they had misheard.
The disparity in their social status was like a chasm; how could these people possibly know Luca?
Noticing the change in their expressions, Hummer’s eyes narrowed slightly. “It seems like you two know something. If you don’t mind, would you care to share?”
The other heirs looked at Stormlook with meaningful glances.
To ordinary people, Stormlook was untouchable, but to those from prestigious families like themselves, he was just a slightly larger ant.
If Stormlook didn’t understand the situation, they wouldn’t mind showing him a thing or two about how their generation handled matters.
However, Stormlook was no novice. He understood that such matters were difficult to keep hidden. If these people really wanted to investigate, they could easily find information about Luca.
So, he decided to be straightforward. “I do know someone by that name. He recently saved my daughter. However, I’m not sure what Mr. Hummer might want with him?”
Stormlook could never repay kindness with ingratitude, so he laid everything out on the table. If Hummer was looking to cause trouble for Luca, he himself had connections with some of the powerful families in the capital. At that point, it would be a matter of who had the stronger resolve.
“It seems Mr. Stormlook may have misunderstood,” Hummer replied, as if he anticipated Stormlook’s thoughts.
He fiddled with his wine glass, still smiling, and continued, “This person had some friction with a senior member of our James Family in an online game. I came here this time to clear up the misunderstanding, and I don’t intend to cause him any trouble, so you can rest easy.”
Luca and your brother have a conflict, and you’ve come here to help him resolve the misunderstanding with Luca? Stormlook couldn’t help but twitch his lips upon hearing this. I think what you really want is to recruit him to go against your brother.
At this moment, he finally understood the other party’s intentions.
It seemed that even within so-called prominent families, not everything was harmonious.
…
Meanwhile, in Sunshine Tower.
In the pitch-black corridor, Luca had been observing the 8th floor for a while, but he couldn’t find a single clue about Coarmy’s disappearance.
There was no sound coming from either upstairs or downstairs, and this only made his brow furrow deeper.
It was impossible for a person to simply vanish into thin air. The most likely explanation was that he had fallen victim to some kind of illusion. However, with his current mental power, the only type of entity capable of obscuring his perception would have to be at least of Superclass level.
If there was a monster of that level in Sunshine Tower, Luca’s priority shouldn’t be to rescue anyone. Instead, he would have to focus on figuring out how to survive against such a foe.
After a brief moment of contemplation, Luca decided not to backtrack but to continue heading upward.
Although he didn’t know exactly how the monster was managing this, he was sure that its strength wasn’t as terrifying as he’d initially thought. Otherwise, he would’ve felt the danger by now.
More importantly, if he couldn’t save Kanade and Coarmy, even if they were still alive, their fate would be sealed.
Luca’s footsteps once again echoed through the corridor—steady and forceful, reverberating at a fixed frequency in the empty hallway.
However, it wasn’t long before Luca stopped again.
He stared at the prominent 8th-floor sign on the wall, silent for a long time.
After a brief pause, he took another step up, continuing his ascent.
Soon, he reached another floor and looked up.
The sign on the wall still said “8.”
He continued upward.
8th floor… 8th floor… still the 8th floor!
Luca climbed another floor.
But whether he went up or down, the result was always the same—the 8th floor!
It was as if this building only had 8 floors.
This endless, looping phenomenon could easily drive a normal person to madness, but Luca couldn’t help but smile. “So that’s how it is. No wonder…”
No wonder those people lost contact with the outside world after entering Sunshine Tower. No wonder Coarmy had been right behind him one moment and disappeared in the blink of an eye.
No wonder he hadn’t been able to detect any Demonic energy after entering the building…
“So it’s a space-type monster,” Luca said with a light chuckle, as silver-white magic runes quickly spread across his body.
Even the Starseeker in his hand was enveloped by a shimmering silver light.
Then, he took a step forward, ascending the stairs.
“Boom!!” The surrounding space seemed unable to bear his weight, shattering like a mirror. The fragments of space scattered in all directions, only to slowly fade into white light.
The scene in front of Luca twisted and changed, and once again, he found himself back on the 8th floor. The only difference was that this time, there was someone on the platform of the 7th floor—Coarmy, who had disappeared earlier.
He was collapsed on the ground, his eyes bloodshot, his hair in disarray. He looked a bit disheveled, with a half-burned cigarette still clenched in his mouth. He stared up at Luca, as if in disbelief.
Luca smiled and said, “I told you not to come. Look at you now—how embarrassing.”
“Hahaha! I knew it! I knew it! You kid must have a way!” Coarmy, confirming that this wasn’t just a hallucination, rushed up and excitedly hugged Luca. He was so thrilled that he could hardly speak clearly.
It was hard to imagine the psychological torment this old man had gone through in the past ten minutes.
“Old man, you’re so sensitive,” Luca teased, then broke free from Coarmy’s arms. He wiped the smile off his face and said seriously, “Calm down. The priority is to save them. Those guys are probably stuck in the same spatial illusion we are.”
“That monster is no joke. If we’re too late, they probably won’t be able to hold on much longer.”
A monster with the ability to manipulate space to such an extent was at least a high-tier being. If they were too late, they would likely only be collecting the corpses of Kanade and the others.
Coarmy quickly understood the situation and urged, “Then let’s hurry up! If something happens to them, Mr. Drumph will definitely skin me alive.”
Without wasting any more time, the two of them quickly made their way to the 9th floor.
Upon reaching the 9th floor, Luca’s hand flickered with silver light as he casually slapped the wall.
“Boom!!”
The space shattered once again!
The mirror-like illusion broke apart, and what appeared in front of Luca was a figure wrapped in bandages—Melania.
She was sitting on the stairs, casually playing with a dagger, seemingly having been waiting for some time. When she saw Luca, she showed no surprise and calmly said, “You’re a little late.”
“Sorry, I got delayed on the way,” Luca apologized, then asked, “Did you see that monster?”
Melania nodded and said, “It’s just upstairs. It’s a Diamond-level Void Crossing Silver Fox.”
As she spoke, she stood up.
It was then that Luca noticed the clear wound on Melania’s abdomen, the blood staining the bandages wrapped around her stomach. The injury seemed severe, likely a result of an encounter with the monster.
“Stay here with Coarmy. I’ll handle the rest,” Luca said as he reached out and grabbed Melania, who had been preparing to head up to the 20th floor.
Melania’s body stiffened slightly. She turned her head to look at Luca, her gray eyes shimmering like stars. But she didn’t say much. She simply opened his hand from her shoulder.
Luca shrugged and said to Coarmy, “She’s all yours.”
With that, he continued upwards, heading straight for the 20th floor.
As soon as he arrived, Luca was hit by an overwhelming stench of blood—so intense it was nauseating.
There were numerous bloodstains on the 20th-floor ground, clearly having flowed down from the 2nd floor. But strangely, the blood trail abruptly stopped at the 20th floor, as though it had been severed halfway.
As Luca stepped onto the 2nd-floor landing, his mind focused.
From the point of his footfall, ripples of silver light began to emanate in expanding circles.
Space shattered, and Luca gripped Starseeker tightly, ready for anything.
But as the surroundings quickly morphed and changed, the scene that unfolded in front of him left him rooted to the spot.
Dozens of people, wearing Morning Star uniforms, lay in pools of darkness and blood, their Starseeker and Obsidian weapons scattered across the floor.
Some of the bodies were eviscerated, their organs torn out. Others had been cleaved in half by a sharp blade. A few had their heads mangled, as though torn apart by beasts.
The scene was grotesquely bloody and unbearable to look at. Among the corpses, many were familiar faces.
It was the Yelling squad.
They had all been trapped here, mercilessly slaughtered by the Void Crossing Silver Fox.
Luca’s eyes scanned each of the bodies one by one.
His gaze finally stopped on a head, eyes wide open in shock.
It was Yelling.
Just a few days ago, he had been joking with Luca, talking about drinking to the wedding of him and Donlow.
The guy had always thought no one could tell he had feelings for Donlow. But the whole division knew about it.
Now, this conflicted boy was dead.
Luca exhaled deeply, picking up the Starseeker that had been left behind by Yelling’s side. He raised his eyes to the stairs leading up to the 2nd floor, and something hidden deep inside him seemed on the verge of exploding.
Someone had to be held responsible for these deaths.
He knew that, if nothing unexpected had happened, the culprit would likely be on the 2nd floor.
The only thing Luca felt relieved about was that he hadn’t seen Donlow or Quagmire’s bodies on the 20th floor.
He could only hope that he wouldn’t be forced to witness the scene he most dreaded on the 2nd floor.