King of Ants; Beru the Slayer

Week after week quickly passed and finally one month had finally passed.

Kouro's relationship with Mei was becoming increasingly romantic and intimate, they were even sharing a room together.

Ayame, Kiana and the others did not say anything against this, they already had a tacit understanding not to interfere.

After all, if they were to interfere with the two of them being together, it would be the same as interfering with their own relationship with Kouro in the future as they would soon be able to date Kouro as well.

Moreover, with Mei and Kouro close, they were able to see and know what Kouro liked so they could prepare for it.

They also learned that Kouro really has unlimited stamina when doing 'it' so they secretly made an alliance to 'suck dry' Kouro together.

What Kouro would think if he found out about this...

On the other hand, once every 1 week Kouro always entered the 'Trial Tower' Dungeon to strengthen himself.

Unfortunately he only had 3 hours to enter the dungeon so as not to make Mei suspicious.

Even so his progress in climbing the floors of the 'Trial Tower' has not slowed down, he has already reached level 93 and floor 65 in the dungeon, bringing him closer to reaching floor 100.

This is how his status interface looks like now.

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Name: Hanagami Kouro

Level: 93

Job: [Herrscher of Shadows] [Ruler Rank]

Title: [The One Who Overcomes Adversity]  [+3 more]

[Authority: Death and Life, Origin, Fire, Thunder, Wind, Shadows, Void.]

[HP: 640,000/640,000]

[SP: 241,280/241,280]

Fatigue: 0

Strength: 368 -- > 370

Agility:  300 -- > 320

Vitality: 300 -- > 320

Senses:  300 -- > 320

Intelligence: 300 -- > 320

Shadow: 370 -- > 377

Point(s): 0

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(Mastery from beginner > intermediate > advanced > master > grandmaster > saint > transcendent)

Combat:

Weapon Mastery (Saint), Martial Arts (Grandmaster).

Commons :

Cooking (Master), Parkour (Master), Mechanical Mastery (Grandmaster), Riding (Master), Swimming (Advanced), Acting (Grandmaster), Singing (Advanced), Painting (Grandmaster), Massages (Grandmaster). 

Logistics:

Learning (Grandmaster), Stealth (Grandmaster) Survival (Grandmaster), Hacking (Grandmaster), Disguise (Master), Medicine (Grandmaster).

__________________________________

Abilities :

Active:

Sprint Lvl: Max

Power Strike Lvl: Max

Dominator's Touch Lvl: Max

Bloodlust Lvl: 8 

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As one could see in addition to his increased status, his skills and abilities have also increased a lot after going through the battle in the Dungeon.

He also gained more shadow troops, now his shadow army has almost reached fifty thousand which he spread all over the world.

He had also fought a boss on the 50th floor who had become his shadow soldier.

This led him to speculate that every time he passed 25 floors he would encounter a Boss.

The Boss on the 50th floor was different from the enemies he fought in the Dungeon, this Boss has an appearance similar to an ant but had a Humanoid body, it had sharp claws, and wings that allow it to fly.

When fighting this monster, Kouro for the first time was able to fight in earnest even though he was not actually using his Herrscher form.

This monster was also the one that made his skills and abilities surge by leaps and bounds.

[Beru lv 35]

[Rank: Commander]

Kouro named this shadow warrior after the name that appeared above his head while still an enemy.

[King of Ants; Beru the Slayer]

Beru had a truly loyal nature although a little mischievous, he was initially arrogant and looked down on Igris and the others because he felt he was the strongest as Kouro's shadow warrior.

Although his level looked low compared to Hei Xuan, Bai Xuan and Igris, his rank surpasses the three of them so he could easily compete with the three of them at once.

Beru could defeat Hei Xuan and Bai Xuan without any trouble but if it was against Igris... Surprisingly he lost.

This was actually not surprising because Igris was a truly unique shadow warrior, this comes from his sword skills which are so outstanding that they could negate and cut through a concept.

He was even able to cut off Kouro's ability activation using his sword skills, so even though he had a lower rank, he was more threatening than Beru himself.

Although Kouro has the [Shadow Extraction] ability, one of which allows him to use his shadow warrior ability, he was strangely unable to borrow Igris' ability to be able to cut or negate concepts.

This led Kouro to speculate that Igris' swordplay ability was not a supernatural ability like an ability or an authority, but pure skill.

Who exactly is the creator of this sword technique that allows its users to negate and cut a concept? And most importantly, who is the person who taught Igris the sword technique?

Was it KOURO? Or was it someone else?

He was not sure.

Kouro was only sure that Igris was not the creator of this sword technique, because when he asked Igris to teach him, Igris only demonstrated swinging the sword a thousand times.

Kouro followed his demonstration for several weeks, gradually increasing the number to ten thousand or even a hundred thousand.

This practice did improve his sword skills, but he still didn't get Igris' sword technique.

In the end he gave up trying to get Igris to teach him the sword technique.

Because his intuition vaguely told him that when he reached the 100th floor.

He might be able to meet the creator or perhaps the person who had perfectly mastered the technique.

__

It was a beautiful morning with birds chirping melodiously.

Kouro opened his eyes and was about to get up from his bed before feeling his right hand slightly heavy.

He turned his head to the right to look at Mei who was sleeping peacefully hugging his right hand while not wearing a single piece of clothing.

Kouro tapped his forehead as he remembered last night. Since today was the last day for Mei to date him, she immediately asked him to do 'it' brutally even more brutally than their first time.

Even though Kouro himself had vowed not to get addicted to doing it... He could not resist Mei's invitation because Mei would actually bite him and would not let go before accepting her invitation...

This made Mei certainly addicted to segs, it could be seen from how once a day she would always ask for Segs, even though she herself was always unconscious because she could not keep up with Kouro's stamina.

Kouro really didn't know what to make of the fact that Mei, who was virtuous, mature, gentle and had a motherly nature, would be addicted to segs...

This made him wonder if girls always have a high libido?

While Kouro was thinking about this, Mei seemed to wake up as she sensed his movement.

She rubbed her eyes with a half-asleep face before kissing Kouro's cheek and then hugging him like a Koala before falling back asleep.

"Honey…" Kouro murmured with a helpless expression.

"Uhm?..." Mei replied, still half asleep.

"Can you let go of me for a moment?" Kouro remembered that Mei was not wearing any clothes so he could feel Mei's cleavage and her fragrant scent.

"... Alright..." Mei said weakly before yawning and getting up from the bed and taking Kouro's white shirt, that was oversized for her, before stretching.

"I'll take a shower first, Darling~" said Mei before going to the bathroom.

The bathroom door then opened slightly revealing Mei peeking through the crack and looking at Kouro with a curious expression.

"Kouro... Why did you reject Fu Hua that time?"

A few weeks ago, Fu Hua also came to the academy and stayed in Himeko's dormitory.

When Fu Hua came here, she was really surprised that Kouro was dating Mei, but what surprised her the most was that Kouro was dating everyone from Bronya, Ayame and the others.

She was surprised that Kouro had just decided this even though Fu Hua originally thought Kouro had intended to create a harem from the beginning, she assumed this because Kouro had a lot of female friends.

Moreover, since her memories had returned although not all of them, her memories when she was the protector of Shenzhou still existed.

Shenzhou back then was still an Imperial dynasty and not a republic like now. Back then it was common for Emperors to have harems and concubines, and she even remembered an Emperor who had thousands of concubines and made a harem palace for himself.

It was because of this that Fu Hua's mindset towards harems and so on was a little different from modern people like Mei and others.

She was really open-minded and didn't feel strange at all.

Ayame and Mei also asked her if she had any feelings for Kouro.

Fu Hua's reaction to both of their questions was a little strange, she did blush like an apple indicating that she did have an attraction towards Kouro, but she also put on a longing expression as if what she wanted was something of the past.

The two of them didn't think much of it and asked Kouro if he liked Fu Hua given that the two of them had talked.

But to their surprise, Kouro rejected Fu Hua and said that he was not the person she was looking for, making their relationship a little awkward.

Hearing Mei's question, Kouro's movements stopped for a moment, he seemed to have a thoughtful expression before saying calmly.

"The man Fu Hua likes is not me."

Kouro knew Fu Hua's feelings of love were not for him but for KOURO.

Just because he had a resemblance to KOURO made Fu Hua believe that he was KOURO's reincarnation, no, Fu Hua wanted to believe that he was KOURO's reincarnation.

He didn't want Fu Hua's love and fondness for seeing him as KOURO's replacement.

If he accepted Fu Hua's confession, it would only hurt her and it would also hurt Kouro's own morale.

Therefore Kouro planned to change Fu Hua's mind to make her accept reality.

Mei raised her eyebrows and didn't really understand Kouro's answer, the person Fu Hua loved was someone else?

Seeing her not understanding, Kouro didn't explain anything and urged her to hurry up, after all he had a date with Bronya today.

"Umnnn~..." Mei puffed out her cheeks and grunted in response to his answer before closing the door again.

Kouro just shook his head when he saw this, he then thought of his mysterious senior KOURO, he didn't know anything about him other than that he was here because of this senior.

He then thought of Mobius, Aponia, and the rest of the people from World Serpent, they seemed to really expect existence, even though he felt that all these MANTIS had feelings for KOURO.

Thinking of this, Kouro involuntarily let out a long sigh and muttered.

"Huh... If you are still alive, senior.... At least come to earth and tell those women about your situation."

...

On the other hand, in Himeko's dormitory.

Bronya was currently looking at the mirror with a faint smile, she was trying on the clothes bought by Mei.

Understandably, Bronya really had an empty knowledge of fashion trends, she only wore clothes that facilitate movement and good raw materials without caring about the shape and color of the clothes.

Right now she was planning to take Kouro to the beach and observe the sea together. It was a dream of hers from long ago when Seele was still by her side, but now...

Bronya immediately shook her head to dispel this negative thought.

But just as she was about to exit her room, a virtual interface emergency message instantly appeared before her.

Bronya's expression instantly turned serious, this message signaling that there was a Honkai Eruption occurring.

She immediately changed her clothes and put on her battlesuit before going out and found Kiana and the others who were fully armed and standing facing Himeko, she even saw Sakura, Higokumaru, Kallen and Wendy among them.

"A large-scale Honkai Eruption occurred in Sapphire city 20 minutes ago. We have been ordered to deal with this eruption directly. " Himeko said with a serious expression.

"The principal has launched Hyperion, we will be leaving in 3 minutes! Get your stuff ready!"

Moments later Kouro and Mei arrived, Mei immediately told Himeko a few things before entering her room to get her Battlesuit.

Kouro looked at Kiana and the others before turning to look at Himeko before saying while scratching his head, "I'm sorry, I can't seem to help you guys since I got a different mission."

He could not tell that his shadow army was actually already in Sapphire City and was currently secretly helping and rescuing the residents.

"But rest assured, I will help you guys as soon as I complete my mission!" He said with a determined expression.

Himeko patted Kouro's shoulder and smiled, "You don't have to push yourself, Kouro. You are very strong but we also don't want to always depend on you."

"We are already stronger thanks to you, so this time, let us show that your actions were not in vain."

Kiana and the others smiled and nodded confidently.

Seeing their confidence, Kouro smiled before nodding his head.

"I understand, take good care of yourselves."

After that Kouro jumped and flew in a certain direction at high speed, he headed towards his mission location which was also a Honkai Eruption, unfortunately that place was quite far away at the edge of the Asian continent so it took about 30 minutes for him to arrive.

The Sirin consciousness inside Kiana saw Kouro leaving and smiled happily.

Finally her chance to revive had arrived!

She didn't know that Kouro's shadow army had been lurking in Sapphire city.

After preparing, Himeko and the others then boarded the Hyperion with Theresa already inside waiting for them and without further ado the Hyperion quickly sped towards Sapphire city.

A few minutes later, Kiana and the others could see the city of Sapphire with part of the tall buildings swarmed by hundreds of thousands of Seraph types flying everywhere.

"We will divide the team into three parts. Mei, Kiana and Bronya are team 1, you will go north."

"Sakura, Higokumaru and Kallen are team 2, you will go east."

"Wendy, Ayame and Fu Hua will be in team 3, you will go west."

"The Headmaster and I will remain at Hyperion to keep an eye on the situation further."

"Understood!" said Kiana and the others.

They instantly carried out Himeko's orders and jumped off Hyperion.

Fu Hua's eyes momentarily glanced at Kiana and thought of Otto's order, her expression looking very complicated before quickly becoming cold.

She held her glasses before saying.

"The target has moved. Start the plan."

... 

On the other hand, in the place where Kouro's mission site was located, in one of the buildings, Ashborn was sitting cross-legged while closing his eyes.

Hearing Fu Hua's voice from the communication device in his ear, Ashborn immediately opened his eyes slowly.

His purple eyes looked as deep as an abyss and emitted a bright light.

He then stood up and raised his head to look at the sky before squinting his eyes. From a great distance he could see a small speck that was Kouro.

"He has arrived."