Honestly, I was accustomed to the point of nausea to people dying or getting hurt.

Not that such things were good, but I had experienced them so much that I couldn’t help it.

But hearing that Elaine was injured was strangely disconcerting.

Suji headed towards him, cutting across the shortest route.

In between, there were clearly two dungeons where flying monsters had gathered, but she passed through them in an instant, defeating the opponents so quickly that she barely remembered encountering any monsters.

However, what greeted Suji when she arrived hastily at Ulleungdo beach was Elaine sitting peacefully next to a military helicopter.

He was alone, as the officials were probably still in the midst of post-operation work.

As if he had known Suji would appear, Elaine had been following her trajectory with his eyes from the moment she appeared in the far distance.

With his greatsword carelessly stuck in the ground nearby, facing the wind, he looked like someone who had just come to the island for a trip. His expression was calm as he looked up, brushing away his black hair fluttering in the strong wind with one hand.

Suji frowned deeply as she glared at Elaine.

Seeing him sitting there so nonchalantly after making people worry so much made her unusually angry.

As she waited for the unicorn to land gently next to the helicopter before jumping to the ground, Elaine stood up from his seat and approached her.

Despite saying he needed to be transported to a hospital, there was nothing strange about his gait.

“Take it off.”

“How can I do that in a place with so many people watching?”

It was the kind of joke Pis might make. Elaine wasn’t the type to say such things.

Besides, there was no one watching.

Suji narrowed her eyes and spoke again, more forcefully.

“I mean the armor. Take it off. Before I do it for you.”

He looked like he had something to say, but seemed to think there was no need for further argument.

He removed his body armor and shoulder plates in order.

Suji stepped right up to his face and abruptly grabbed and lifted the thin shirt Elaine was wearing under his armor.

With one irritable gesture from her, his well-built body was fully exposed.

Among the thick scars she had already seen once on the beach, there was one new wound visible. It was on the right side of his torso.

Was it a penetrating wound?

The wound wasn’t long, but it was quite large.

“The opponent?”

“It was a 〈Poisoned Giant Scorpion〉.”

It was an S-rank monster that was difficult to approach due to its approximately 40 legs moving extremely fast, and tricky to catch once poisoned due to its continuous damage.

But it wasn’t something he couldn’t handle, given his remarkable talent not only in strength and speed but also in pattern recognition.

Rather, compared to magic-using creatures, this was a monster Elaine could easily deal with since it only needed to be defeated with pure physical force.

“Were there civilians?”

“No.”

“…Was there a mistake in the officials’ response?”

“No. I made a mistake.”

What kind?

Suji narrowed her eyes and looked into his.

The Elaine she knew was a person who moved with truly meticulous precision.

To the point of memorizing the order and cooldown of the skills Saint used and matching them down to the second when they were together.

He couldn’t make such a mistake against a monster he had already encountered dozens of times.

“…I don’t understand.”

[νόμος is intrigued by your actions.] [Νύμφη is intrigued by your actions.] [Κάστωρ is paying attention to your actions.] [σκιά is saddened by your actions.] [Μουσα is intrigued by your actions.]

The logs moved rapidly on the status window that she had turned back on after the battle ended.

Suji glanced at it with a glare.

Although they were ‘great beings’ whose standards were impossible to grasp, they were rather honest, being obsessed with entertainment.

‘What reason is there for such logs to appear in a conversation situation, not even during combat?’

Just as Suji was about to sink into thought, Elaine answered sheepishly.

“I recovered sufficiently with potions. There’s no need to go to the hospital. I think the officials misjudged a bit. More importantly, is Daphne uninjured?”

Seeing him change the subject so blatantly, Suji gave a dry laugh.

But when she raised her head and their eyes met, seeing his face smiling gently, she couldn’t say anything.

“…Be careful.”

“I’m sorry if I worried you.”

She placed her palm on the front of Elaine’s abdomen and gently traced it around to his back. There was a very faint wound on his back as well.

There had clearly been a large penetrating wound. Enough for the officials to decide he needed to be taken to a hospital.

And he had patched it up with top-grade potions that even the officials rarely encountered.

She knew it was fine.

Intellectually, she knew it was fine as long as it was at a level that could be somehow managed with potions.

But why was her heart fluttering like this? Why was she so anxious? Why did she feel like she couldn’t understand anything and was just angry for no reason?

Just a simple mistake.

Surely Elaine could make one too.

It was probably just that, nothing more.

“How are you going to climb the tower like this? From the 81st floor, there are only worse ones.”

“I paid my dues.”

“You haven’t forgotten your promise not to die first, right?”

“Of course not.”

She turned her head with a small sigh and let go of his shirt.

She objectively recognized that in this situation, the strange one was herself, not Elaine. Trying to act as nonchalant as possible, she picked Elaine up in both arms and walked over to place him on the unicorn.

It was such a familiar action.

There was no fool here who would feel his pride hurt because a grown man was carried by a small woman.

“Just in case, let’s go to the hospital first without overdoing it.”

“Alright.”

“I’m letting you off easy because you’re being obedient.”

“I’m sorry.”

“…You’re a pro at making people speechless.”

Suji ordered the unicorn to head towards the headquarters, and the two of them took off gracefully.

As she absentmindedly watched the white wings moving greatly up and down, she suddenly checked the logs again.

Had they just been playing among themselves earlier? The logs that had momentarily exploded were quiet again.

As soon as they arrived at the Gate Stabilization Department headquarters, Suji pushed Elaine into the medical ward first. If potions could work, there probably wasn’t much more to worry about, but it couldn’t hurt to make sure.

After diligently receiving a medical check herself while there, she immediately went up to the top floor to meet Yeonju.

In the conference room without Seunghwan, Yeonju was sitting alone.

“You’re here?”

“Yes. It’s only you, aunt.”

“Yeah. Seunghwan is overwhelmed because of this wave. Try to understand. He’ll be up soon.”

Suji glanced around and sat down carelessly, crossing her legs, in one of the empty chairs. She knew it was a seat meant for high-ranking people like the President or politicians, but she didn’t feel much emotion about it.

After all, when a bad incident strikes, they all have to die side by side anyway.

What difference does it make which chair one sits in?

Suji spun the chair around to look out the window.

One wall of the conference room located on the top floor of the Gate Stabilization Department headquarters was made entirely of glass. Through that window, the 〈Sage’s Tower〉 was clearly visible.

The thought suddenly struck her that the purpose of building this structure was very clear.

“Our goal of conquering the 〈Sage’s Tower〉, it turns out, was well set.”

Yeonju brought over a glass of carbonated drink, placed it next to her, and tucked Suji’s fallen hair behind her ear.

“What’s with this sudden talk? The Sage’s Tower?”

Suji smiled faintly.

She had come to share the hints obtained from 〈Laurel〉, but she didn’t feel like having such heavy conversations multiple times.

“I’ll tell you when Uncle Seunghwan arrives.”

“You will?”

Yeonju, who was sipping her share of red carbonated drink, suddenly asked as if she had just remembered something.

“Ah, right. What was Priya’s message?”

“Pardon?”

“There was something related to the wave. If that’s true, it’s a situation where South Korea should officially antagonize 〈Messiah〉, right?”

Suji opened her eyes wide.

She hadn’t thought that far, but if Priya had deliberately created the wave, it would naturally be something that should be checked at the national level.

But the email came as if it was Priya’s personal judgment, yet hearing from the ‘great beings’ said it wasn’t like that. It was difficult to make a judgment so easily.

“I think we need to investigate a bit more. I’ll tell you when we reach a definite conclusion. However, it seems right that we should keep an eye on 〈Messiah〉. No matter how I think about it, they don’t seem to be a sane group.”

“I heard that Priya had already applied for entry into the country, but it was rejected for other reasons.”

Suji paused and looked at Yeonju.

She had been too busy stopping the wave, but thinking calmly now, there was a point she had missed.

Because she had seen Priya deliberately creating a wave before. There should be someone casting something like a spell at that point.

Then it means other believers, not Priya, created it.

‘…I didn’t think of this because I was distracted by other things.’

Suji quickly explained the general situation to Yeonju.

After calmly listening to the story, Yeonju contacted the headquarters team of the Crisis Management Support Division.

“Please secure CCTV footage from where each wave occurred, and analyze if there were any suspicious people nearby. If any candidates emerge, issue a warrant immediately and contact us.”