That was the structure of this stage, the ‘Tower of the Demon Realm’. The number of floors in the tower was adjusted based on the total number of people in the party. The party must climb to the top of the tower, leaving their teammates behind on each floor.

It was a quest of solidarity, where everyone left on each floor must survive until the last person broke Elvie’s ‘heart’ at the top.

This meant that whoever was left on the first floor would have to endure a longer and harder fight than anyone else here.

“……You’ll stay.”

Cadel locked eyes with Van. There was a deep faith and trust in his gaze.

‘Van is the best choice for being in charge of the first floor, as he has a wide range of attacks in the game, and he has a dealer-tanker position that allows him to last longer.’

Even before he came here, Cadel was thinking about who to leave on each floor. These were tricky stages where one had to rely solely on their individual abilities. He had to come up with the most rational and efficient layout to ensure everyone’s survival.

There was no shortage of data collection through failure. His many trials and errors in the game would become the foundation for his subordinates’ safety in this world.

Despite the obviousness of the choice, he felt an indescribable stirring of emotions as he faced the prospect of leaving one of his men behind.

“It’s okay, I’ll stay behind, Commander. I just need to hold out until we kill that demon, right?”

Van spoke in a nonchalant tone as if he knew what Cadel was feeling. As always, Van tried to reassure Cadel, but it didn’t work. Cadel’s stomach churned and his chest tightened.

Cadel stepped in front of Van and wrapped the back of his rough hand holding the greatsword. He lowered his head and exhaled.

Since the events in the Mountains of Silence, he had avoided personal conversations with Van. It was awkward, and he couldn’t shake the thought that his feelings for Van were false, influenced by Cadel Lytos.

Van Herdos had been Cadel’s first comrade, the only one who knew the real Cadel Lytos.

Van had never been his own person. He cringed every time he saw Van, like a child who had been scolded for coveting something that belonged to someone else.

But it was only his own melancholy. Van had done nothing wrong, and his sin was his own selfishness for still shamelessly accepting Van’s loyalty when he knew everything.

“I believe in you more than you believe in me. I’m going to tear down this tower, so hold on till the end.”

Cadel lifted his head to meet Van’s eyes. A gentle smile curled the corners of his mouth.

[Knight ‘Van Herdos’ ‘s favorability has been increased by 1.]

[Current favorability: 91/100]

At the system window that popped up in response, Cadel smiled bitterly and stepped away.

As Van, who had decided to remain on the first floor, moved to the center of the hall, the closed door opened as if in anticipation. Beyond, a long spiral staircase, invisible from the inside, led to the upper floors.

Cadel climbed the stairs with the rest of the group.

Thankfully, the steps were marble, not ice. At the bottom of the narrow staircase were densely packed ice spikes. One wrong step and you’d be dead before you reached the top.

“Leaving our comrades behind to climb the next floor. What a wicked tower.”

Garuel clicked his tongue nervously, then looked back at Cadel and added.

“It’s not your fault, you know that, right, Knight Commander?”

“……I know.”

“You look like you don’t know that, and it’s tearing me apart to see that expression on your pretty face.”

He chuckled at the absurd bluster. Cadel rubbed his cheek with a sigh as he warned Garuel to look straight ahead.

Cadel tried not to think about it, but he kept worrying about Van whom he’d left on the first floor. A horde of goblins was no match for him, and even knowing that, the fact that he couldn’t fight alongside Van made him uncomfortable.

Perhaps it was because he knew that it was for Cadel Lytos, not himself, that Van chose to stay behind. In that case, he ultimately took advantage of Van’s sacrifice…….

‘Please, let’s get this over with. I decided not to think about that sh*t when fighting. Get a grip, you moron.’

Cadel clenched his mouth as he slapped the cheek he was lightly rubbing. At the same time, the voice of Lumen, who was ahead, was heard.

“Finally, a door.”

* * *

The second floor.

Inside, it didn’t look much different from the first floor. A hard, clear ice floor and ice walls, an entrance that disappeared as soon as everyone entered, and a new exit on the opposite wall.

Everything was the same as the first floor, except for one thing.

“Hmph, that’s a pretty good sculpture.”

The sculptures filled the ceiling. They all had the same figure, that of a beautiful girl in a flowing dress, and they were all suspended in midair by several strands of thin thread.

Lydon let out a gasp of pure admiration at the vibrancy as if a puppet show was about to begin. It must be quite a feat to create such a delicate sculpture with ice magic. It was almost artistic.

“The only thing on this floor are those creepy ice puppets. I’m guessing we’ll have to touch them to get anything going. They’re so high up, it’ll be hard to attack them.”

Tilting his head toward the ceiling, Garuel opened his reversed eye once more. It was too high to strike with normal swordsmanship. Lumen seemed to recognize this as well, a hint of annoyance in his eyes.

His sword technique was to ‘strike’ at close range, rather than send it flying like Van’s. Like the trial in the Blood Desert, it was impossible to strike the pieces stuck to the ceiling unless Lydon provided a platform.

“Lydon, like last time—”

Lumen, who was about to ask Lydon for a foothold, stopped and narrowed his eyes. At the same time.

Shriing―

From the transparent eyes of the frozen ice puppet, a red glow flashed.

Crack. Crack.

The puppet’s improbably articulated limbs twisted and turned convulsively. The threads that connected it to its body moved each part one by one, like starting a car.

A limp toe stood up, a bent arm stretched out, a palm stretched down, and the next moment.

“Holy sh*t……!”

The puppets from the ceiling began to fall in unison. Cadel reflexively created a barrier of fire above them.

Thud― Thud—

The fallen puppet’s palms slammed into the ground, one after the other. The enormous weight of the palms created large craters on the floor.

Cadel stuck out his tongue at the shockwaves that rippled through the barrier. It felt like the barrier was holding up a collapsed tower. It was impossible to believe that it was the weight of an ordinary block of ice.

As Cadel braced himself for the fall, Lumen and Garuel unleashed a barrage of attacks on the puppets on the ground, their sharp demonic energy and blue sword energy tearing the puppets’ bodies apart.

However.

“What the—”

“……This hurts my pride a bit.”

Even under their onslaught, the ice puppets did not suffer much damage. The ice sculptures, which would normally have been destroyed in one fell swoop, merely cracked and created a gap in one of its arms.

Lumen and Garuel’s faces hardened at the unimaginable intensity. They tried to strike again, but the puppets were not waiting. The ensuing threads pulled them up to the ceiling once more.

Before they could ascend, Lumen’s sword energy cut the thread, but it recovered at the same time as it was cut, pulling the puppets up unharmed.

Suspended upside down from the ceiling, the puppets twirled, glowing with a strange inner light. Their palms spread out menacingly, ready to crush the ground at any moment.

“I don’t think we should leave another person here.”

Cadel looked around at the floor, which had been torn apart in an instant. There were not only craters, but holes the size of fists.

In a normal tower, the first floor would be visible through the hole, but this was no normal tower. What lay beyond was a vast abyss, and there was no telling what would happen if they fell.

“Ugh, I’m annoyed.”

Just then, Lydon muttered in displeasure, his wide-eyed gaze following Cadel’s to the hole in the floor.

Soaring lightly into the air, he looked down at his comrades and spoke.

“Last time I checked, I was supposed to be alone with Cadel. This is all because of Lumen and Garuel’s incompetence. Why was I born with no wings and a useless body?”

“……Lydon.”

Lydon’s eyes moved at Cadel’s call. He looked exaggeratedly angry.

“Darling, are you so worried about me, your beloved, that you don’t want to leave? Me neither!”

With open arms, he swooped down to Cadel, embraced him, and kissed him lightly on the tip of the nose. His red eyes met Cadel’s determined expression with a mixture of mischief and affection.

“I want to go with you to the end, but…… I’ll hold out. It’s hard not to see Cadel, but it’s painful to see you struggle.”

“……I’ll be done soon. Just hang in there.”

Without question, Lydon was the only person Cadel would trust with the second floor. The enemy had been in the air for a long time, and the longer one held on, the less ground to stand on. The one with the best chance of survival in this Knight Order was the one with wings.

Reaching out and pulling Lydon into a brief embrace, Cadel turned to Lumen and Garuel.

“We don’t know when the puppets will drop again. Let’s move fast.”

Lydon stood in the center of the hall, watching the three men run for the door. As Cadel, Lumen, and Garuel stood in front of the door inscribed with the number ‘3’, it began to open with a loud vibration.

At the same time, the puppets resumed their attack.

It seemed like the puppets were falling faster than the door could open fully. Cadel clicked his tongue briefly and immediately generated a barrier to cover his comrades’ heads.

However.

“……?”

The puppets, which had hit the ground evenly before, this time aimed for the center of the hall where Lydon stood.

“Lydon!”

With a quick fed-up expression, Lydon flew into the air. There was a gaping hole in the floor where dozens of puppets had been shot.

The puppets moved faster than before. Pulling themselves up by the threads, they began to chase after Lydon as he flew. They launched themselves at him with their whole bodies like guided missiles.

“Ahaha! Cadel, you better get going!”

Lydon pointed through the fully open doorway, luring the ghoulishly pursuing puppets toward the wall. It was Lumen, tugging at Cadel, who couldn’t wait to leave.

“The longer we wait, the harder it’ll be for him. Let’s go, Leader.”

Harsh words, but true. Gritting his teeth, Cadel turned on his heel.

He knew it. This tower was built on sacrificing your comrades and trusting their sacrifice to get you to the next level. If it was that difficult, he had to put an end to this sh*tty tower owner as soon as possible.

As soon as the exit to the second floor that everyone had come through was closed, the loud noise stopped as if it were a lie.