Chapter 13: Do you ever think about the world outside the tower

The vertical transport finished its movement upward, coming to a dead halt. When the front panels slid to the side, a new zone revealed itself. This level did not have any heat or sulfur fluid. Instead, it was a deep, canyon where the walls and the floor were made of a solid mineral ore.

Dante walked out first. He kept his posture relaxed. He looked at the narrow passages ahead. His memory of this level was clear. Marcus had once lost three logistics workers here because he ignored the text signs on the path.

Yenna stepped out behind him, her black tail moving from side to side. She used her map interface to scan the area ahead.

"The text on my screen shows that the twentieth level is just five hundred meters away," Yenna said, her ears twitching as she checked the movement data. "Marcus has already established his defense grid at the entrance of the next transport zone. They have deployed twenty high-level units. But right now, we have a reptile guarding this specific passage."

Dante did not slow his movement. He walked directly down the narrow mineral passage. "Let the reptile come. The faster we clear this level, the faster we reach the vanguard."

As they walked deeper into the opening, the ground began to vibrate. From a deep hole in the mineral walls, a giant serpent crawled out. It was a fifteen-meter reptile covered in dark scales that scraped against the ground with a dry movement. It had rows of jagged teeth that ground together, and its gaze fixed instantly on Dante.

The serpent opened its jaws, releasing a small hiss of fire fluid, and lunged forward with extreme speed. It aimed its teeth directly at Dante’s midsection, intending to tear him apart.

Dante did not move away. He did not draw any weapon. He simply stood his ground on the grey mineral floor, keeping his digits inside his pockets. His face remained completely blank. He looked at the charging reptile with absolute indifference.

The serpent’s teeth hit Dante’s torso. The impact was immense, but the reptile’s teeth did not pierce his clothing. Instead, his SSS-Rank reflection ability initialized. The total force of the serpent’s lunge was instantly multiplied by two and sent right back into the monster’s own frame.

The reptile’s front teeth exploded into tiny mineral chips. The amplified force traveled backward through its skull, causing its dark scales to rip off its skin, revealing the red fluid beneath. The giant serpent tumbled onto the ground, thrashing in pure agony as its own momentum ruined its body.

Dante walked past the dying reptile without looking down.

[System Notification: Hostile target is terminating.]

[Sovereign’s Tax has collected 5% of the target’s base attributes.]

[You permanently gained: +5 Strength, +5 Speed.]

Meanwhile, on the twentieth level, the leader of the guild vanguard squad was looking at a portable text screen. He was a trusted associate of Marcus.

Suddenly, his screen received a direct text message from the fiftieth floor.

[Emergency Order from Guild Master Marcus:]

[The intruder has just entered Floor 19.]

[The target cleared Floor 18 in less than three minutes without taking damage.]

[Do not attempt to negotiate. Activate the fire arrays immediately.]

[Burn the entire entrance zone the moment the transport doors open.]

Captain Vance looked up at his twenty elite units, who were standing in a circle around the main transport gate. They were holding mineral shields and fire staffs, ready to unleash their strongest techniques.

"Listen up!" Vance shouted, his skin turning hot with stress. "The target is already through the nineteenth level. The system logs show his speed is impossible for an F-rank. The moment that gate opens, you unleash the fire. Do not let him take a single step into this zone!"

Back on Floor 19, Dante reached the end of the canyon. A massive gate stood before him, blocking the way to the twentieth level.

Yenna walked up next to his shoulder, her ears pinned back as she looked on her map. "They are completely ready for us on the other side. The fire signatures are maxed out. The moment you push this gate, the entire area will transform into a burning pit."

Dante reached out his left hand, touching the cold mineral gate. A spark appeared at the tip of his middle finger, humming with the power of his Hellfire Genesis attribute.

Dante did not push the gate. His hand rested against the surface for a second, then he slowly pulled it back and shoved his digits back into his pockets. He turned his body around, looking away from the exit.

"We are stopping here," Dante said.

Yenna blinked, her black cat ears tilting forward in surprise. Her tail, which had been tense and straight for the last three levels, twitched slightly. "Stopping? But they are is right on the other side. If we wait, won’t they prepare more defense systems?"

"Let them prepare," Dante said, walking over to a flat ledge of grey mineral ore. He sat down casually, leaning his spine against the canyon wall. "They have been standing in their battle stances for two hours. Their muscles are getting tight. Their mana is draining just from holding their staffs active. The longer we sit here, the more their focus fractures."

He closed his eyes. Yenna stood in the center of the passage for a moment, watching him. The dust of the nineteenth level settled around them. She could see the dark circles under Dante eyes. Even with his systems multiplying his stats and giving him divine attributes, his mind had not rested once since he woke up in his old apartment. He was running on pure, burning intent, but he carrying somthing big.

Slowly, Yenna walked over to the ledge. She did not sit right next to him. She kept a careful distance of two feet, respecting his boundary, and pulled her knees up to her chin. Her ears flattened against her hair, filtering out the distant hum of the upper level machinery.

"Do you ever think about the world outside the tower?" Yenna asked softly, her amber gaze fixed on the grey floorboards of the canyon. "Before the global descent?"

Dante did not open his eyes. "No."

"I do," she whispered, her tail coiling around her foot. "In my world, before the system swallowed our skies, my tribe lived in the green valleys. We didn’t have ranks. We didn’t have status text floating in our vision. I was just a gatherer. When the tower came, the human guilds arrived and told us our survival depended on clearing levels for them. They made us feel like we were lucky just to carry their extra supplies."

She looked over at Dante’s still profile. "When Marcus left you behind... did it feel like the sky falling?"

Dante opened his eyes slowly. The reflection in his pupils was completely steady, but there was a deep, silent ache behind them that no system script could cure.

"It didn’t feel like anything," Dante said, his voice dropping lower. "That was the problem. When the claw hit my shoulder, I didn’t feel pain. I just felt stupid. I had spent two years ensuring those five people had the best mineral armor, the best potions, and the safest paths. I thought we were building a home at the top of the world. But to them, I was just an S-Rank asset that was blocking their promotion."

He looked down at his middle finger, where the dark Eye of Fate ring sat silently.

"The system gives you power, Yenna but it strips away your skin piece by piece," Dante said, looking back at her. "The person who believed in teams died on the fifty-fifth floor. I don’t want a home anymore. I just want the account balanced."

Yenna watched him, her chest tightening with a strange mix of fear and deep understanding. She reached into her vest, pulled out a small, dried mineral root she had salvaged from the twelfth floor, and broke it in half. She extended her hand, offering the larger piece to him.

"It’s not a high-tier potion," she said, her amber eyes steady. "It just tastes like mint. It helps clear the dust from your throat."

Dante stared at her small hand, and at the piece of root. For the first time since his resurrection, his movement hesitated. He didn’t look at it like an asset or a stat boost. He just looked at it as a gesture. Slowly, he pulled his hand out of his pocket and took the root, his fingers briefly brushing against her claws.

"Thanks," he muttered, putting the mineral root into his mouth. The taste of mint cut through the dry sulfur taste in his throat instantly.

They sat together there for a full hour, not speaking a single word. The silence wasn’t cold anymore; it was a shared space where two people who had been thrown away by the world could simply exist .

On the other side of the gate, twenty elite vanguard units were sweating in their armor, their hands trembling as their fire arrays slowly leaked mana into the empty air. They were waiting for a monster to burst through the doors.