Suji glanced at the spot where Nature’s hand had brushed past.

Recently, even the slightest handshake made her nervous, but with Nature, it didn’t bother her at all.

“I like it too. Talking with Nature. But is there something troubling you?”

When she asked, Nature let out a big sigh and sat on the armrest of Suji’s chair, resting his arm on the backrest.

“It would be a lie to say I have no worries. Daphne, what do you think?”

“What do I think about what?”

“About me.”

It was a statement that could be interpreted in many ways depending on how one heard it.

However, Suji understood his question perfectly.

From the 83rd floor to the 85th floor. Nature had been struggling ever since joining the team.

“Well…”

It was a sudden question.

Suji picked up a few strands of her hair that had flowed down to her waist and pondered her answer as she braided them with her fingertips.

Gaps between team members were an inevitable part, and to some extent, they had to be accepted and moved on from. However, if that gap exceeded a certain range, it would be far from helping the team and instead act as a poison.

That’s probably what Nature was asking about.

Suji had no intention of telling a pointless lie.

Just when catching the Black Smoker on the 85th floor, the team members had quite a hard time covering for Nature’s slow reactions.

She conveyed the answer she had sorted out in her mind.

“It may be difficult for Nature right now, but I think you’ll gradually adapt. The teamwork is getting better and better. You can’t adapt all at once, you know.”

With a pensive look, Nature took the braided hair Suji had made and unraveled it.

“I didn’t join the team to hold you back.”

“I know.”

“I came here because I wanted to help.”

“You’re helping plenty. When you adapt, you’ll be even more helpful.”

“…Honestly, I’m not confident I can adapt.”

Suji blinked her eyes wide and leaned her head against the chair’s backrest, looking up. Their eyes met straight away with Nature’s.

He was smiling mischievously as always, but his eyebrows revealed beneath his blonde hair were drooping in a 八 shape.

She felt a bit sorry somehow, seeing the person who came to help the team looking so dejected.

She spoke in a comforting tone.

“Why do you say that.”

“Because I’m less helpful than even the Saints with lower grades than me. This is the first time I’ve been so far behind in skill that I’m dumbfounded, to be honest.”

“Saints are Saints, and Nature is Nature.”

“That’s true, but still.”

It wasn’t something the Saints would be happy to hear.

Suji glanced back at her playing chess in the back seat, then looked up at Nature again.

“What do you want to do, Nature?”

“…I think, in my opinion, I need to improve my weapon.”

At his words, which he had difficulty bringing up, Suji let out a small sigh inwardly.

He was right. When fighting together, if everyone else’s weapons were 10-tier and only his was 9-tier, he was bound to blame the performance of his main weapon.

She had already been thinking that it would be nice to be able to provide Nature with a 10-tier weapon someday.

“Take it slow. Most of the overseas dungeons can be cleared around the 70th floor, so it won’t be that difficult. When the first clear reward comes out, I’ll help push for Nature.”

“If you say that… But how do you obtain 10-tier items that way?”

“The more we keep clearing, the more chances we’ll have to collect 3 9-tier items. We can receive the first clear reward in several countries.”

“But you guys obtained them from just one place, the 〈Sage’s Tower〉. How did you do it?”

It sounded like he was interrogating her.

Somehow, it felt strange.

It seemed like he wasn’t asking out of genuine curiosity, but rather trying to dig something up.

“There’s the luck stat, you know.”

“Ah. That updated thing?”

“Yes, that stat helps a lot. I think the luck stat has a significant effect when drawing from random boxes.”

“I see. I thought…”

“Thought what?”

“I thought it was because of the 〈Laurel Wreath〉. I heard the rewards for that were quite good. How many rewards did you receive, Daphne? 1? 2?”

Suji felt like Nature’s eyes were shining strangely as he said that.

It didn’t seem like Nature was simply talking about item rewards.

‘Does he know that I saw the future regarding the apocalypse? If he already knows, why is he probing like this?’

One by one, there was nothing that wasn’t suspicious.

Hunters never ignored their intuition. Especially if one believed in their own abilities.

Suji casually surveyed her surroundings.

The inside of the plane was the epitome of peace. The plane, cruising stably at a high altitude, didn’t even shake. Only the occasional chatter of Pace and Saint and the noise of moving chess pieces could be heard.

And the log of the ‘Great Beings’ was rapidly increasing in the status window.

There’s something.

Definitely.

Suji tried to get up from her seat, but Nature maintained his posture and didn’t let her pass.

“Nature. What are you doing?”

“What am I doing?”

“…You’re acting strange right now.”

“I’ve never acted strange. It’s all for you.”

As he said that, Nature took out a small dagger that he might have been hiding in his sleeve and grasped it in his hand.

She swiftly noticed it.

Knowing the huge gap in strength between them, he had talked for so long to completely block Suji’s movements.

Realizing why he had been talking so closely all this time, Suji looked down at the dagger pointing at her neck in dismay, unable to say a word.

No matter how many tiers that dagger was, she knew he would stab her neck if she even slightly tried to move.

“…Nature, what are you doing. Really.”

Nature could be seen taking a small breath.

Rather than being scared, Suji was annoyed by the situation itself.

The reason she had accepted Nature as a team member despite Elaine’s strong opposition was because she trusted him. Because she could see him trying really hard.

But… what is this.

“You must have received a message from Ms. Priya.”

When Priya’s name popped out of his mouth, Suji closed her eyes tightly.

She was dumbfounded.

Again, she thought, is it 〈Messiah〉?

She didn’t care if they worshipped the apocalypse or turned their backs on all of humanity just to save themselves… She just wished they would leave her alone.

“Nature. Do you think this counts as a threat right now?”

She muttered, asking in a dismayed tone.

Even if she couldn’t take out a single item, it would be more strange if Suji couldn’t defeat Nature with her bare hands.

That’s the kind of existence an SSS-grade hunter was.

“But what if I’m the same as Zero.”

“…Right now.”

“How would you feel if I burned up in front of your eyes like Zero, Daphne?”

It was really terrible to hear such words from a kind and pleasant face that she thought she knew well.

She hated being reminded of a scene she never wanted to recall again in this way, and she disliked even more that he used himself as a threat.

“What are you trying to do now? What’s your purpose?”

“Change the destination.”

“…To where?”

“To where Ms. Priya is.”

Suji gave a hollow laugh.

Priya had a way of handling things in a dirty manner.

It had been like this from the beginning.

First, she lingered around Suji’s father, getting on his nerves to make him listen to her, and now she was using Nature.

Why were the followers of 〈Messiah〉 so blindly devoted?

“It’s not like you’re getting paid to join, you say you’re paying to join. What are you trying to gain by doing this? Eternal life? Is that what you really want?”

“Is it wrong to want that?”

It was an obvious conversation given the flow, but after confirming that Nature was part of 〈Messiah〉, she was even more dumbfounded.

“Not everyone is on our side.”

Suddenly, Suji’s eyes, which had been glaring at the tip of the knife Nature had brought to her neck, trembled.

Elaine’s voice from the 82nd floor rang in her ears.

Looking back now, it felt like he already knew Nature’s true identity.

Right?

Was it too much of a guess?

What if it wasn’t?

What if Elaine’s warning was knowing everything?

“What are you going to do, Daphne? It’s good for you too. Really. That’s why I stepped up. Don’t doubt me and trust me just this once.”

It was the moment he whispered softly like a lover.

Thud!

At that moment, the plane shook violently.

As if it had encountered turbulence, the aircraft vibrated greatly with a completely different force than the serene flight so far.

If it weren’t for a hunter, an ordinary person would have fallen on their buttocks.

Nature must not have expected it either, as the tip of his sword wavered.

A brief gap.

That was enough.

Suji grabbed the tip of the dagger with two fingers and threw it far away, strongly elbowing his chest. Once the means of intimidation was gone, the two had fundamentally different reaction speeds. The outcome was as good as decided.

With a single blow, Nature’s body was jammed between two seats.

Suji grabbed Nature’s collar and lifted him up, narrowing her eyes and looking in the direction of the cockpit. A familiar silhouette could be seen faintly beyond the curtain.