Elaine couldn’t say anything as if she had no words, and closed her mouth.

His black eyes and gaze interlocked with hers for a long time.

But there was only a sense of pity in them.

Suji knew it too.

Even thinking objectively, no matter how great her mother’s skills were back when even the 50th floor wasn’t open yet, it wouldn’t have been enough to face the Four Horsemen monsters.

She felt it more keenly after directly encountering them herself. She didn’t even confront them because Elaine stopped her, but even if she had properly engaged them, the odds of winning were 1% at best.

They were beings of a completely different level.

The possibility of obtaining the item guarded by such monsters was nonexistent.

Suji glanced back at Nature.

Fear was still mixed in his eyes.

How ridiculous.

He’s not even afraid of dying, to the point of easily threatening with his own life, yet he falls for such an absurd torture threat.

“Still, I really liked that Nature was always bright. I couldn’t be like that. I was always preoccupied with the revenge right in front of me, and felt like my head would explode from worrying about how to survive and climb even one more floor. Whenever I saw someone smiling like that, I felt so envious and thought it took incredible mental strength.”

“…Daphne?”

“But it turns out it all came from an absurd delusion. What kind of fool would pursue immortality to the point of becoming a sacrifice to an EXS-grade monster?”

Nature shook his head as if trying to calmly explain again.

Suji found his attitude of trying to educate her even in this situation so amusing that she let out a hollow laugh.

“You know what immortality is, and you keep saying you’ll aim for it, right? Nature, think straight. Is what you’re aiming for really real?”

“Of course it is, Daphne. That power is from another world, so for ordinary people, it’s not easily… Mmph!”

It was the moment Nature’s eyes grew strangely hazy.

Suji pushed the gag, covered in dust from rolling on the floor, back into his mouth.

She was sure she had heard those lines he was reciting like a spell before.

“I know. Some story about Akashic Records or whatever. The privilege of the ‘Messiah’ and all that.”

Nature’s eyes grew wide.

He must be wondering how she knows.

“Because those were the last words Zero left before he died.”

Suji muttered bitterly.

“Implant a trigger in the heart and give an uncontrollable ability.”

“A trigger?”

“When a word that must not be divulged is spoken, it kills even one’s own life. It’s a device that activates when a specific word is uttered.”

“You’re saying a human can operate like that, like a machine?”

What Elaine said after Zero’s death also came to mind.

Seeing Nature so surprised, perhaps those lines just now were the ‘trigger’ Elaine had mentioned.

‘Pathetic.’

If he was trying to easily choose death again after being comforted and cajoled to that extent, she really hated it enough to be disillusioned.

After closely examining Nature to see if there were any unusual signs, Suji stepped back.

At the time, she had wondered how Elaine knew so much about cult religions, but thinking back on it now, it made sense that he knew.

When she questioned how he knew, Elaine had answered quite shamelessly.

He said he had received a recruitment offer from the ‘Messiah’ and did some research on it.

Just thinking about that moment made her feel a sense of self-loathing, wondering how much he must have been laughing inside.

Suji went to sit next to Elaine and plopped down, saying:

“I thought I wouldn’t be able to understand why Elaine disliked Nature so much… but I was wrong.”

The corners of Elaine’s mouth slightly curved upwards.

“Actually, the reason I started disliking Nature was because Daphne disliked him first.”

‘I didn’t know that.’

It seemed Nature had acted similarly in the future as well.

No, in the past.

The point of reference didn’t really matter.

“Saint and I will get off first.”

Just then, Peace interjected.

Looking up, Suji saw Peace grabbing Nature by the collar and lifting him up.

Peace had been quite friendly with Nature, just like Suji. It was understandable that he was more furious in this situation than Elaine, who had always been on bad terms with him.

He might find it even more unpleasant to see Nature trying to die by his own hand when they were barely clinging to life.

“Okay. Let’s meet on the 82nd floor of the tower.”

“Sure thing.”

Peace grinned mischievously and made a peace sign with his hand, then deactivated the safety device and swung the door open.

Beyond the open door, the blue sky stretched out.

The view of the boundary between the ground and sky, which never got old no matter how many times one saw it, was quite beautiful.

Peace thrust his hand out the door while still gripping Nature’s collar.

“Mmph! Mmph!”

From the position of someone who couldn’t move their limbs, there didn’t seem to be much leisure to enjoy such beauty. Nature struggled desperately, bound like a caterpillar.

Peace spoke in a calm voice in that state.

“Ah, right. Saint.”

“Yeeees, Peace. Did you call for me?”

Saint responded with a smile as if doing a comedy skit.

“Isn’t there a limit to the load the wing item can support?”

“Of course. It’s possible with one person, but two… it’s quite burdensome. Especially two adult men in heavy armor? Oh my. What should we do? Looks like we’ll have to dump one.”

“Isn’t there a way to quickly reach the ground even without wings?”

“Huh? Is there such a thing, Peace?”

“Nature says he’ll demonstrate it now.”

With those words, Peace lightly opened the hand that had been gripping Nature’s collar.

Free fall.

Nature began experiencing gravitational acceleration by personally putting those four letters into practice.

“Mmph! Mmph! Mmmmmph! Mmph!”

He couldn’t open his mouth, so it was muted, but he was undoubtedly screaming desperately. The sound could no longer be heard from the plane, but Nature’s face, spinning and plummeting in a mess, had turned deathly pale.

Suji looked at Saint and Peace, who were giggling and watching Nature.

‘I should never mess with those two.’

She felt that resolution anew.

They were always bickering, but the moment a common enemy appeared, they united exceptionally well. They were so good at tormenting people efficiently that it was uncanny.

Even though she was so furious at Nature, she felt a little pity for him as he rapidly grew distant towards the ground.

“Well then, shall we catch up now?”

“Yes, let’s.”

Peace and Saint leaped from the plane and soon disappeared from view.

Suji turned to Elaine.

“You know, Elaine.”

“Yes?”

His face, always wearing a gentle smile, was composed as usual.

Not just externally, but mentally calm.

If they didn’t conquer the tower in a week and put an end to the bet between those beings called the ‘Great Existences’ or ‘The Lords,’ he would immediately lose his memories.

How could he be so unfazed?

He wouldn’t die, but that was also a form of death.

Every time he said something, Suji had to be surprised and accept new information, but no matter what she said, he wouldn’t be surprised, which was a bit annoying.

Honestly, she didn’t know what she was thinking.

Her head just kept hurting, and she was irritated. Maybe she wanted to give him a hard time.

Instead of voicing the consultation about the 10-tier item she originally intended, Suji brought her hand to his neat face.

She cupped his cheeks, neither cold nor warm, in her hands and pulled him down to eye level.

It was so close. Their noses almost touched.

Elaine’s eyes momentarily avoided her gaze, which was unlike him, then slowly returned.

Because they had been colleagues for such a long time, it wasn’t difficult to find a hint of awkwardness in his brazen and nonchalant face.

“What did I do wrong again…?”

As if unable to endure the lengthening silence, Elaine spoke first.

And at that moment, Suji overlapped their lips.

Their lips softly touched for a brief moment and then parted.

Elaine’s ears had definitely turned a deep red. The hands on his cheeks quickly grew warm.

She had thought he might remain composed even in this situation, but that didn’t seem to be the case.

The tips of his long eyelashes trembled.

His eyes wavered as if not knowing what to do.

‘…Wow.’

She never thought she would have such thoughts while looking at a man’s face, but his flustered expression looked truly poignant.

Suji slowly removed her hands from his face.

She wondered if this was right, but she was intoxicated by the strangely pleasant sense of victory.

Anyway, she had scored a hit.

“If we dawdle like this, we’ll miss the team. Let’s go too.”

Speaking nonchalantly, Suji approached the door first. She saw Elaine turn towards her.

“Hurry up.”

Urging him, she threw herself outside.

Usually, she would have tied her hair or tidied her clothes so her hair wouldn’t flutter before jumping out. Unable to do so, her violet hair fluttered in a mess.

The sensation of being thrown into the air felt good.