The Gate Stability Agency was bombarded with emails and phone calls requesting confirmation of the situation over and over again.

However, the Gate Stability Agency’s stance remained firm.

The official position of the Gate Stability Agency was that ‘you will soon find out even without confirmation’.

At this point, there was no choice but to report on it, whether you believed it or not. It was definitely a golden opportunity to boost ratings, regardless of whether it was true.

As soon as the embargo was lifted, several broadcasters began reporting.

“It is now past 3:00 p.m., and we are starting this news as a special report. Looking at the scene, there doesn’t seem to be anything particularly unusual.”

“Yes, that’s right. The disappearance of the 〈Tower of the Sage〉 stands out, but other than that… Oh, there’s Team Daphne!”

“First of all, to explain in order, we received news from the Gate Stability Agency about 10 minutes ago, so we hurriedly launched a filming drone and are bringing you this breaking news. The news we received was quite shocking…”

“We are sending you this live broadcast from the scene, hoping it’s not true. The reason being, we are told that the next stage monster from the 〈Tower of the Sage〉 is about to appear.”

Upon hearing the ongoing on-site report, the citizens who had been waiting for news could only freeze in shock.

Suji was gathered with her team members, surrounding the buff items and staring at the serene sky above.

The blue sky was layered with white clouds. The scenery of fluffy clouds that neither blurred nor flowed and the blue moon hanging in the daytime sky seemed quite ordinary, yet also strangely eerie.

It must all be because she was feeling tense.

They had been waiting like this for about 30 minutes, but apart from the drones passing overhead, there was no sound at all.

“Shouldn’t they at least announce when it’s starting before disappearing? Now that there’s no reaction, it’s driving me crazy.”

Suji grumbled as she looked at her terminal.

Several alarms related to breaking news and evacuation orders were displayed.

As soon as she escaped from the all-white cube, she immediately contacted the dedicated manager.

She asked them to keep the citizens currently in the shelters in place, and to issue a separate alarm if necessary so that all civilians nationwide could go to the shelters.

Creusa must have given them a heads-up in advance.

Kim Ha-young said that the Crisis Management Support Department was ready to respond at any time, and hung up saying they would take care of it even without further explanation from her.

She didn’t hear the details, but they would probably assign teams to protect the citizens in each zone.

Regarding that, Suji decided to completely entrust everything to Ha-young.

Since then, she had been blankly letting time pass.

“Do they usually delay like this?”

When Suji grumbled, Elaine smiled faintly with a tense expression and gripped the handle of the greatsword she had stuck in the ground.

“Even if you don’t rush like that, it will come soon.”

As soon as Elaine said that, it felt as if the brightness of the sky, which had been nothing but clear blue as if paint had been dissolved, was lowering.

The next moment, it seemed to darken even further, and when she blinked and opened her eyes, the sky had darkened to a gray color.

Thump, thump, thump.

Her heart was pounding heavily.

She wasn’t the only one who had a premonition that the time had come.

The team members, who had been looking at their terminals, typing messages to leave for their families, or checking the breaking news, gathered together again.

It wasn’t a sports team, so they didn’t usually shout “Fighting!” together.

But somehow, they found themselves naturally holding each other’s hands.

Eight hands came together as one.

“Saint, Elaine, Team Leader… Damn it. I absolutely can’t die here. Anyway, whoever survives, please take care of my kids.”

Peace, whose face had turned pale, unlike his usual self, muttered through clenched teeth.

It was a serious matter that couldn’t be taken as a joke.

“Of course. But…”

As Suji hesitated, trying to find the right words to respond, Peace shook his head and cut her off.

“I know. We’ll live. We’ll live, but… Damn it. I feel like I’ve already peed my pants from fear.”

The trembling of Peace’s hand could be felt on the back of her hand.

Suji could fully understand how he felt.

She, who had directly seen the future, was trembling even more.

The next one to speak was Saint.

Saint closed his eyes for a long time as if offering a prayer, then opened them and spoke.

“Peace, Elaine, Team Leader. I love you all. Really. I was fortunate to meet a team like this, and it’s an honor to stand here in this final moment… Let’s really do our best, everyone.”

“You love even a man with two kids?”

“…Wh-what are you saying?”

As usual, Peace responded to Saint’s words with a joke, and Saint also retorted while bickering, but both of their voices lacked vigor.

“Elaine, do you have anything to say?”

When Suji asked that, Elaine gazed up at the sky with calm eyes and let out a long sigh.

“I find this sight beautiful.”

Suji turned her gaze to where he was looking.

The gradually darkening sky, the view of the Han River and the bridge with not a single car passing by.

The still scenery, as if everything had stopped, was indeed beautiful.

Beautiful enough to not want to lose it.

“…It is beautiful.”

At her answer, he smiled slightly and turned to look at Suji.

“In my past life, I had the opportunity to cook, but I didn’t know how. So I made a burnt chicken dish for Daphne. That was the last dish I made for her.”

Suji looked at him as he spoke of memories she didn’t know about.

He had said he needed to learn how to cook.

He had memories with the her from a different timeline that she didn’t know about.

And he also had memories of hell that she didn’t know about.

“How is it?”

“Pardon?”

“Compared to back then, are we a bit stronger now?”

Elaine smiled faintly.

“Much stronger.”

“Do you think we can win?”

“…We have to win. Because now there’s no other choice.”

Just by listening to his voice, it was clear that the chances of winning were not high.

But as Elaine said, they had to win.

It was no exaggeration to say that they had obtained everything they could.

They had even visited the secret shop of the ‘Great Beings’ and procured the weapons used by herself from other timelines, drew the maximum from the random draw boxes, and on top of that, the ‘Great Beings’ had left them with the utmost they could do at the very end.

If they couldn’t win after going this far, it would be a gamble with unimaginable consequences.

They had to win.

Even more so now that she had made up her mind to let the whole world know what was happening.

“I also… have something to say. First of all, I know I’m the youngest and lack reliability in many ways, but thank you all for trusting and following me as the team leader, and I love you all.”

The sky, which had been gradually darkening, had now turned a murky gray.

The sight of the gray sky spreading between the large buildings of Seoul was definitely a familiar scene she had seen before.

In the reward of 〈Laurel〉. Under the name of ‘νόμος’s Special Hint’.

It was the moment she gripped the swords held in both hands once again.

After making people wait for so long, the monster revealed its true form in an instant as soon as it began to appear.

Goooooo−

With an ear-splitting noise, the sky was literally torn into several pieces.

It was ripped into dozens of pieces, and from between them, huge things that could be hands, feet, or tentacles sprang out.

The thick red things, comparable to a high-rise building, started from the sky and instantly reached the ground.

Kwang!

Kwang!

Kung−!

The sound of tentacles hitting the ground in search of humans could be heard from here and there, and the land where Team Daphne was standing was not spared either.

As soon as the group reflexively left the spot, the ground heavily collapsed, creating a pitch-black pit of immeasurable depth.

“Team Leader, status check!”

As Saint shouted in a breathless voice, Suji’s ability was activated.

Can check the status of all monsters within an 80m radius.

〈Messiah〉 ???

− The Overseer of Time

− The Guardian of Time

− The End and Eternity

− Strength 9,999 − Health 89,899,988]

Suji clenched her teeth tightly.

‘What kind of status check is this.’

It would have been better not to look.

Even the abilities were not displayed.

Perhaps because it had no abilities at all.

Abilities like poison or bleeding seemed meaningless.

Looking at the health close to 100 times that of 〈Demiurge〉, she was utterly disheartened.

And the strength was even more absurd. It was 5 times that of 〈Demiurge〉, meaning a direct hit from one of those numerous tentacles would result in instant death.

A monster with such a monstrous health pool is more terrifying than one that inflicts various status ailments.

“Health is 89,899,988! Strength is… Anyway, everyone dodge skillfully!”

Shaaaak!

As soon as she said that, Suji leaped to avoid a tentacle targeting her and swung her sword.

“…Ugh!”

The tentacle was way too thick.

The cutting power of 〈(Incandescent) Shackles of the Perished〉 was tremendous. It could pierce through most armors.

However, due to its immense physical thickness, the range that could be cut off with one swing was only a portion of the tentacle.