My SSS-Rank Clone Talent: I Level Up Endlessly!
Chapter 148: Slums!?

"I really spawned in the slums."

Eryke the Fifth looked around. Everywhere was filth and nothing else.

A disgusting stench hung in the air, the kind you'd smell near garbage bins, the kind that makes you clamp your nose shut immediately.

The nauseating odor made his head spin.

His legs were shaky, and he struggled just to stay standing.

He scanned his surroundings.

The walls were coated in grease, and an eerie silence hung over the place.

Amid the littered garbage, he spotted a man leaning against the grimy wall, clutching a broken beer bottle in his hand.

Curious, he walked up to the man and snapped his fingers, but there was no response. The man was completely unresponsive.

Eryke strained to hear a heartbeat, nothing.

"Sigh. Rest in peace." He muttered, offering only his condolences before moving on.

Eryke the Fifth glanced at the street children in ragged clothes who watched him silently, unmoving.

They begged in the streets, and numerous makeshift camps were scattered around, their presumed homes.

A bar on the side emitted faint sounds, the only place with any light.

Suddenly, a drunk man slammed the door open, forcibly pushing a woman along with him.

"Baby, I'll show you heaven like you've never experienced before. Just follow me."

"No!" the woman screamed in despair.

Her scream echoed through the empty streets, but no one stirred. Everyone's eyes were vacant, distant.

She shouted in sheer horror, her voice trembling:

"You spineless bastards!"

Still, the people didn't move a single inch. The whole place was swallowed by silence and despair.

There was no hero to step forward. No kind soul to intervene.

The harsh truth was far colder.

The world held very few kind people and even fewer with the strength to stand against its cruelty.

"Hehe, I already paid you 200 shillings. I've been dreaming of this every day…" the drunk man grinned lecherously as the woman struggled to break free.

Dissatisfied, he grabbed her by the hair and dragged her mercilessly.

"Ahhh—" the woman cried out in pain, tears streaming down her face.

Suddenly, Eryke the Fifth vanished.

In the blink of an eye, he appeared right in front of them, blocking the drunk man's path.

"Who are you, brat?" the drunk man slurred, hiccuping. "How dare you stand in my way?"

Without a word, Eryke stepped forward. His towering figure loomed over the man, casting him in shadow.

Then, with deadly calm, he raised his hand and grasped the man's neck.

"What did you say?"

Slowly, he lifted the drunk man into the air, the man's eyes widening in terror.

The drunk man's legs gave out beneath him, his lungs gasping as he struggled to breathe. Yet Eryke the Fifth held firm, his grip unyielding as he locked the man in a chokehold, silencing his desperate thrashing almost entirely.

Even the man's drunken haze began to fade, his blurry eyes clearing as they fixed on the long golden-haired figure before him. Fear hammered in his chest, his heart pounding wildly, only for consciousness to slip away once more.

He wanted to scream, to beg for mercy, but Eryke the Fifth allowed no such chance.

At the edge of life and death, on the brink of his final breath, countless thoughts raced through his mind, only to be drowned by one overwhelming feeling: regret.

Maybe he shouldn't have been such a douchebag?

At last, the grip loosened, and the man collapsed to the ground, gasping for air.

"Do you regret it?" Eryke the Fifth asked, his gaze piercing the now sobered man.

"I… I do," the drunk man stammered, trembling.

"Good," Eryke said coldly. "You may have been a shitty person, and you might still be one in the future. But if I ever catch you doing something like this again, I will grant you a punishment so cruel you'll beg for death and I will never give you that release."

"Y-yes," the man stuttered, scrambling to his feet before stumbling away into the streets.

Eryke the Fifth watched him go, his cold blue eyes unblinking.

Then he turned around to the trembling woman and went to her. She was crouching in place, tears streaming down her face. Eryke the Fifth extended his hand to help her.

But she wasn't in the right state of mind; her eyes looked at him wearily.

"Sigh." He shook his head and crouched down. "Calm down, girl. I'm here to help you."

Breathing heavily, the woman finally managed to nod after a long pause.

"Good. Now, are you willing to listen to me?"

"Yes." The woman nodded in agreement.

"Do you know where Nightingale City is?"

"Nightingale City?" The woman tilted her head in confusion.

"You don't know?" Eryke the Fifth frowned.

"Nope." She shook her head.

"The city of Dragon Slayers, Nightingale City, located in the Falcon Empire," he asked again.

"Falcon Empire?" The woman looked at him incredulously, as if he were an idiot.

"Where is this place?" Eryke the Fifth asked, a twitch in his brow.

"This is the Ragnarok Kingdom. I've heard of the legendary city of Dragon Slayers, but I thought it was just a myth," she said, wearing a clueless expression.

Seeing Eryke the Fifth's funny expression, her mood lifted, and a small chuckle escaped her lips.

Eryke the Fifth rubbed his forehead, tilted it toward the sky, and shouted with all his heart:

"How far am I?"

His shout shook the surroundings, rattling the entire place.

Before he could say anything further, guards swaggered in.

"Who shouted so loud?"

Eryke the Fifth felt his brows twitch even more violently as he stared at the guards.

"You didn't come before when this poor woman was being dragged, and now you have the gall to show up here?" Eryke the Fifth spoke through clenched teeth, his rage barely contained.

"Who are you to question us?" one guard snapped back.

Five guards stood before him, clad in silver armor. Two had bows slung across their backs, while the other three wore swords at their waists.

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