At Suji’s insistence, a hesitant answer slowly came back.

– Interfering with individual human lives is not my job. Come on. Give me a break.

Her breathing became rough on its own.

“Do you know my mother? Have you met my mother, Peneos? Uncle Seunghwan, were you the one who played tricks on Knight as well?”

As Suji shouted, stomping her foot, the floor cracked in a radius of several dozen meters, centered on where her foot touched. Even in such a wide space, the air echoed hollowly.

The voice in her head was silent for a moment, as if in a difficult position.

Energy leaked out due to anger. Her always neat purple hair fluttered in the air as if blown by the wind, and the long cloth decorations attached to the bottom of her armor also fluttered.

“Spill everything you know about my mother. When, where, and why did you meet her!”

– I can’t tell that story.

“Why?”

– There are hints mixed in. I really can’t say. Mentioning it was my mistake.

It was truly incomprehensible.

Even if a being superior to humans doesn’t need to be perfect, can they make mistakes so frequently? It was impossible to tell how much of it was calculated behavior.

It was frustrating.

Who would know if not I, the daughter, even if they knew how much those creatures knew about human blood relations? Shouldn’t they tell me if they know something?

Suji gritted her teeth, pulled off the ring, and threw it on the floor.

– Wait…

The voice in her head abruptly cut off.

The ring, which should have bounced off the floor, was stuck in the acrylic-like black floor due to her strength.

‘As if I don’t have enough pent-up feelings towards these creatures already. How much more are they trying to provoke me?’

It was sickening.

The entire hunter system itself was their trickery. Each time she learned about the abilities possessed by the ‘great beings’, she became infuriated.

She pitied the humans being toyed with by them, and when she thought of her mother who had passed away while doing her best to save people in the tower, she felt suffocated.

She also felt sorry for her younger self who had lost her mother because of these damn things and lived missing her so much.

But she had to think rationally. The situation unfolding right now took priority.

After reaching the top of the tower, after properly preventing the extinction of humanity, she had been constantly putting off settling these emotions, convincing herself.

But then they scratched her insides like this.

‘Like mother, like daughter?’

Reflecting on what the creature had said, Suji sat down on the floor, holding her forehead.

She was so angry she couldn’t stand it, but she had to maintain her cool.

She learned for the first time today that her mother had met the ‘great beings’. Her mother’s name was not on the list of hunters who had encountered them.

It was a story she had never heard from Uncle Seunghwan or Aunt Yeonju either.

If even the two people closest to her mother didn’t know, did her mother hide it? Or did she face them in a moment they couldn’t know about?

For them to say ‘like mother, like daughter’, it meant her mother must have demanded something very strictly from the ‘great beings’.

What could that have been?

‘I’ll remember it. Since it wasn’t a deliberately leaked statement, it will be even more meaningful.’

She took a deep breath in and out with that resolution.

What’s with that damn tower. What’s the big deal about telling me some hints when it’s a facility made by those measly things?

What’s the big deal about telling a daughter who misses her mother so much a small story? What’s with bringing up a story about my mother first and then shutting up now?

But controlling anger was a familiar thing for Suji.

Managing emotions was the most important virtue when climbing the tower.

Suji wiped away the tears that had welled up in her eyes from anger with the back of her hand and stood up with a cold face.

Someday, she would definitely pay them back.

“If you’re giving it, I’ll just take it.”

No answer was needed.

She didn’t even wish for one.

The log going up entered her sight on one side, but without even reading it, she gripped the sword in her hand. As if responding to her anger, white light leaked from the pattern engraved on 〈(Incandescent) Shackles of the Annihilated〉.

Suji raised it high and struck down on the glass box in front of her eyes.

Bang!

It looked like just ordinary glass, but it was much sturdier than expected. Even though she struck down quite hard, the box only cracked without shattering.

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Crash!

The moment she struck down with full force three times in a row, the fragments of the glass poured down on the floor with a loud noise.

Suji reached out and obtained the 〈(Devastating) Boots of Justice〉 that were inside the glass box.

Then, holding the sword again, she headed towards another nearby glass box.

Once again, the log quickly went up, and this time, even before she could strike down, the glass box disappeared into the air as if scattering on its own.

She picked up the 10-tier 〈(Blazing) Prayer of the Abandoned〉 with a hollow laugh.

It was a necklace that seemed familiar, and she liked that it increased speed and came with magic defense. It would be a useful item no matter which team member wore it.

After taking the items, she looked around and muttered in a low voice.

“Send me back before I break this place more.”

As soon as the words left her mouth, her vision flipped dizzily.

When she barely regained her balance with a dizzy sensation, the sight of the 81st floor of the tower came into view again.

Along with the faces of her teammates who had rushed over urgently.

“Are you okay?”

“What happened to all this?”

“You said you won the bet, but why does your expression look like that, Team Leader?”

She thought she had hidden her emotions well, but seeing their faces full of worry, it seemed not quite so.

Or perhaps the teammates knew Suji too well.

“I’m fine. It felt pathetic to struggle with something they were going to give anyway, so I got upset from arguing a bit.”

Nothing really happened except for her voice getting choked up. She was just angry by herself.

She thrust out the spoils she had brought, saying ta-da.

Regardless of the process, everyone’s eyes widened at the sight of the 10-tier items they had never seen in the tower.

“What are these?”

Suji calmly explained, pointing to the items.

Even though she had started the impromptu bet alone, after all, the teammates had joined forces to clear the 81st floor. As the team leader, she had a duty to provide an objective explanation of the situation in which she obtained the items.

“I had a chance to choose 10-tier items.”

“10-tier… items?”

Suji nodded, looking at Saint, who had slightly opened his mouth as if it was unbelievable.

“I told you earlier. That I made a bet. As the reward, what I demanded was to give me items that would help in defeating the EX-rank.”

She pointed to the items she had brought, saying that.

“Since it was a non-negotiable environment, I picked the ones that looked good.”

“If you did that, Team Leader, that’s enough.”

“Honestly, I don’t know the criteria for the items displayed there. It’s probably just random, right? Anyway, the only main weapons there were Elaine’s 〈Silence that Swallows Screams〉 and my main weapon 〈Shackles of the Annihilated〉, so I tried choosing accessories or armor.”

Pace and Saint quickly nodded their heads as if that explanation was sufficiently convincing.

However, Elaine, who always agreed with Suji’s words first, was slow to act today.

As if thinking about something, she stared at the 〈(Devastating) Boots of Justice〉 for a long time and even slightly lifted and put them down.

Judging by her yearning gaze, she seemed to like them quite a bit.

“Do you want to take the boots, Elaine? Since they’re a set item with the wings, take the wings too if you’re going to wear them.”

Suji really didn’t mind.

She had brought the items in the combination that would best increase the team’s power.

However, as if she had been lost in other thoughts with her focus blurred, Elaine quickly raised her head when her name was called and smiled brightly.

“But those wings suit you the best, Team Leader.”

Suji felt that her calm smile was somewhat foreign.

She suspected that he was hiding something. Just like how he acted as if nothing was wrong even when he was injured last time.

“Really?”

“Yes.”

But whenever she stared at Elaine’s face, such suspicions easily faded away. When she looked at his soft gaze and eyes full of unconditional loyalty and goodwill.

She couldn’t help but smile back.

“I’ll take that as saying I’m good at flying around flashily.”

Suji responded softly, shaking the boots.

“If anyone wants them, take them.”

Everyone shook their heads.

“The wings have a berserk termination penalty. It’s too scary to take that.”

“After you two have such a lovey-dovey conversation and then ask us, who would take them?”

Saint and Pace voiced their groans in turn.

Suji looked at her teammates’ faces and finally burst into laughter.

Even though they said that, it was definitely an item that would make them greedy. Yet readily yielding it to Suji meant that she had gained their trust to that extent.

That she would show results equal to taking good items.

That was a really good feeling.

It was the moment she smiled brightly.

The ring she had thrown into the subspace fell in front of her eyes, rolled around lightly, and casually landed at her feet with a thud.