Chapter 201: [APEX PREDATORS]

As soon as the elevator doors slid open, Eli’s entire body tensed.

Not the normal kind of nervous tension—this was deeper, heavier.

Like something invisible pressing down on his lungs.

Because the moment the doors parted…

He felt them.

Not saw.

Felt.

Dozens of razor-sharp auras bleeding through the hallway walls like pressure waves.

Dense.

Overwhelming.

Familiar in their intensity yet suffocating in number.

Eli had been stuck inside a dungeon with four S-Class hunters—two of them tied as Rank 1. He thought that alone was already overwhelming.

But this?

This was worse.

Much worse.

It felt like standing at the edge of a cliff while a storm tried to swallow him whole.

Eli swallowed hard, throat tight.

“What’s wrong?” Lawrence asked, though his tone suggested he already knew the answer. He stepped out of the elevator with calm, practiced professionalism.

Eli forced one shaky breath. “I just… I can sense a lot.”

Lawrence nodded gently. “There are eleven S-Class hunters already inside. I’m sure you’re familiar with most of them.”

He began listing names as they walked down the hall.

“Tali Rane. Ryan Chae. Samantha Park. Mio Zhi. Ezra Yun. Nari So. Seiran Baek. Zacharias Kim. Arman Dae. Helena Shin. And Juro Woon.”

Each name landed like a weight on Eli’s shoulders.

These weren’t just random hunters.

These were monsters in human skin. Guild masters, prodigies, untouchable elites. People who could flatten cities if they wanted to.

And they were all in one room.

Waiting.

For him.

Eli felt his legs wobble slightly.

’Eleven…? Out of twenty-five…? That many are already here?’

He tried not to think about the fact that the rest were probably coming.

He tried not to imagine being stared at by two dozen S-Class monsters at once.

He failed.

He rubbed his palms against his glittery sweater nervously.

“…Oh. Kairo and Caelen still aren’t there?” he asked, mostly to distract himself, to grasp onto anything familiar.

“Yes,” Lawrence replied. “They’re still handling some business upstairs. They’ll be down shortly.”

’Some business? With Midas, I’m assuming…?’

Eli blinked, heart kicking up again.

Great.

Even the Rank 1 sharers weren’t here to buffer him from whatever was about to happen.

But at least…

At least Mio was inside.

And Arman. Eli wasn’t exactly close with Arman—he barely had time to talk to him during the chaos of the dungeon—but Mio was different.

Eli could say that Mio and him already went through a lot in the dungeon, so that made them…closer? Maybe even friends.

And right now?

Mio was a lifeline.

Eli exhaled shakily.

’Okay. Okay. I can handle this. I survived two strong dungeons. I survived two S-Class hunters annoyingly fighting each other. I can survive a room full of S-Class hunters.’

…Probably.

They reached the heavy double doors of the meeting room.

The aura leaking under the door was so thick it made Eli’s skin prickle.

Lawrence placed a hand on the door handle, giving Eli a small, polite nod.

“Ready?”

Eli stared at the door.

At his reflection in the polished metal.

At Wormy shifting under his sleeve trying to soothe him.

And all he could think was—

’I am absolutely not ready for this.’

Lawrence didn’t speak again.

He simply pushed the double doors open with a smooth, practiced motion—like he’d done this exact thing countless times before, guiding terrified people into rooms full of monsters disguised as humans.

Eli wished—sincerely, desperately—that he could run.

Because the moment the doors cracked open, a tsunami of aura slammed into him.

Not a wave.

A tsunami.

Invisible weights crashed onto his shoulders, pressing against his lungs, squeezing the air from his chest. His breath caught halfway up his throat. His spine tensed so violently it almost hurt.

It was instinctive. Immediate.

’Back—back—back—too strong—too many—too loud—’

Wormy felt it before Eli even processed it fully.

The tiny serpent tightened around his wrist under the sleeve—sharp, sudden constriction like a pulse of static wrapped around his arm. Its scales bristled. Its glow flickered in stuttering bursts.

Agitated. Alert. Ready to attack anything that moved wrong.

Eli’s heart lurched.

He wanted to whisper “It’s fine—it’s fine—don’t react,” but he couldn’t risk anyone hearing.

So he did the only thing he could.

His other hand slipped toward his sleeve, fingers brushing gently over the small, trembling body hiding there. Soft strokes. Slow pressure. Silent reassurance.

Wormy twitched again but slowly, slowly loosened.

A little.

Barely.

Eli swallowed hard.

Of course Wormy reacted.

Anyone would react in front of S-Class hunters.

Because S-Class hunters didn’t walk into rooms—they took rooms.

Their energy wasn’t passive.

It wasn’t subtle.

They didn’t dim themselves for others.

They were apex predators walking in circles around each other.

Territorial.

Competitive.

Always pushing, always flexing—always testing who would bow first.

Kairo did it effortlessly.

Caelen radiated it without even thinking.

And Midas—who presented himself to be gentle—still carried a pressure that made skin crawl, a quiet dominance that made everyone aware he was the highest authority in the room until proven otherwise.

But now?

There were eleven of them.

Together.

A cocktail of aura—fire, cold, rage, wind pressure, illusion static, electric traces—all swirling in the same space like storms colliding.

Eli forced his feet to move.

One step over the threshold.

Then another.

The first thing he registered was noise—voices, shifting chairs, rustling papers, the vague hum of professional conversation.

And then—

Silence.

Complete, ringing silence.

As if someone snapped their fingers and killed all sound in the universe.

Every head turned.

Every pair of eyes locked onto him.

And Eli was familiar with all of them.

Tali’s predatory stare pinned him instantly.

Ryan Chae’s lightning crawled faintly across his fingers.

Samantha’s expression fell somewhere between suspicion and annoyance.

Ezra Yun tilted his head, gaze sharp and unreadable.

Mio’s brows shot up in recognition.

Zacharias’ glare hardened into judgment on sight.

Arman straightened in surprise.

Nari So’s breath fogged in the cold surrounding her.

Seiran Baek’s flames dimmed, but his gaze brightened with interest.

Helena Shin stopped mid-motion, steel petals hovering in her palm.

Juro Woon’s aura rippled like a deep, quiet ocean preparing to swell.

Eleven S-Class hunters.

Eleven monsters wearing human faces.

All looking.

Directly.

At him.

Eli’s heart punched against his ribs so violently he swore it bruised something.

For a split second, he genuinely felt his soul peel out of his body and float toward the ceiling.

’Nope.’

His foot moved on its own—one small, startled step backward.

He hovered there, caught in purgatory between two instincts:

Move forward.

Run away.

’I want to leave. I want to leave. I want to leave—’

Lawrence stepped ahead, as calm as a man announcing lunch orders.

“Mr. Elione Noa Ahn has arrived.”

No fanfare.

No flourish.

No explanation.

Because he didn’t need one.

They all already knew him.

The B-Class anomaly who survived an S-Class dungeon with just him and Caelen.

Survived the first ever SS-Class dungeon.

The scandal magnet with a famous family name.

The newcomer who supposedly stood beside two Rank 1s and lived.

Eli felt every stare like a physical weight pressing down on his skin.

Judgment.

Curiosity.

Irritation.

Suspicion.

Interest.

Pressure so heavy his breath hitched.

Wormy tightened around his wrist again—small body coiling up like a spring, protective and trembling. The faint pulse of its glow under his sleeve made Eli’s fingers twitch.

He forced himself upright.

Straightened his back.

Lifted his chin by a few pathetic millimeters.

He tried so hard not to shake.

Tried even harder not to bolt.

He took one step into the room.

Then another.

His throat felt as tight as a fist. His tongue felt glued to the roof of his mouth.

But he somehow managed to speak—soft, strained, painfully human:

“…Hi.”

The word sounded microscopic in the vast, suffocating silence.

No one spoke.

For several seconds, the room remained frozen—eleven S-Class hunters staring at him like he’d just walked into the wrong battlefield. Their expressions were a messy blend of curiosity, confusion, suspicion, and… mild disbelief.

Eli’s muscles locked.

His feet refused to move forward.It was like there was an invisible wall—a pressure—pushing him back.

I can’t walk into that. I physically can’t walk into that.

He swallowed hard.

The silence was suffocating…

…until—

“Eli!”

A familiar voice cracked through the tension like sunlight splitting fog.

Mio.

The silver-haired S-Class support shot up from Samantha’s side, practically gliding across the room before anyone else could react. His threads jingled faintly from his sleeves as he reached Eli with a bright grin.

“Good to see you—though waaay too soon if you ask me,” Mio said, hands on his hips as he gave Eli a dramatic once-over.

Eli let out an awkward laugh, some of his stiffness breaking. “Tell me about it.”

He turned slightly to Lawrence. “Thank you for guiding me here.”

Lawrence blinked—surprised by the politeness—then bowed and stepped back, his presence fading into the edge of the room like he’d never been there.

Eli finally stepped fully inside, instinctively shifting closer to Mio—one of the few safe people in this ocean of apex predators.

But then his eyes landed on something that made his stomach drop.

“Mio… your neck. What happened?”

Light bruises—violet and blue—peeked above Mio’s collar, like someone had tried to throttle him.

Mio chuckled, rubbing the side of his throat. “Ah—just the aftermath of the dungeon. We got tossed around pretty badly near the end. Samantha almost killed someone. I’m surprised you didn’t need extra medical attention, though. You lost a lot of blood, didn’t you?”

“W-Well… it wasn’t enough to need a hospital trip,” Eli tried, though his voice wavered.Because the truth was: the system had healed him.

Mio hummed. “If you say so. But still—”

“So this is the boy that Kairo is going crazy over?”

The female voice cut through the conversation like a knife.

Eli froze.

Mio turned.

And standing behind them—

Hands on her hips, expression sharp, eyebrow lifted in pure amusement—

Was Samantha Park.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep