Ch.222Futri (6)

# 222. Putri (6)

“Oh! You’ve opened your eyes faster than I expected! As expected of Veritas’ raid leader.”

“…?”

Where am I?

A voice that irritated me just by hearing it reached my ears, and since my brain seemed to be functioning, I probably hadn’t died in that crazy horse race. But my eyelids felt like they weighed a ton, making it difficult to see clearly.

“Oho, you don’t need to force yourself to get up! Usually you criticize me so harshly, yet now you’re trying to raise your body just for conversation.”

“Ah.”

As my consciousness returned slightly, I could immediately recognize the owner of the voice even without seeing them.

“Putri…”

“Correct! You got it in one try, as expected of Veritas’ raid leader.”

“Ha! What are you saying… it’s not like we’re meeting for the first time.”

“Ah, that’s right, isn’t it?”

My voice was quite hoarse, suggesting I must have been screaming a lot without realizing it. This wasn’t good—perhaps due to exhaustion, I was speaking casually as if talking to a friend.

“Your way of speaking feels quite different.”

“Oho! You noticed immediately, as expected of Veritas’ raid leader.”

Of course, while Putri’s speech pattern had changed, his ability to irritate people remained the same. I didn’t know why it had changed, nor did I want to know. If I had to guess, he probably thought it would be more entertaining this way.

Normally, I would have passed out long ago, but the fact that I was barely maintaining consciousness was likely also his doing.

“Ah! If you don’t want to see me, feel free to close your eyes, or if you can’t stand it at all, you can lie down completely!”

“You want me to close my eyes and lie down in front of an enemy?”

“As if you could swing a sword at me in your condition anyway?”

Ah, he was casually getting under my skin again. But he was absolutely right. Maintaining my pride was physically exhausting, but making myself comfortable felt like following his suggestions, which I hated. Above all, if I closed my eyes now, I’d probably fall asleep within three seconds…

“Even if you feel like you’ll fall asleep immediately upon closing your eyes, you won’t, so don’t worry!”

“Ha.”

The moment I heard those words, what little strength and tension remained in my body drained away. Just as he said, I closed my eyes and lay down completely.

If he had wanted to kill me, he would have done so already.

‘I wonder if the others are safe? They must be, right?’

As I was thinking about each raid member and hoping for their safety, that unpleasant voice cut through my thoughts.

“Are you curious about your comrades’ safety?”

“How could I not be?”

“I’m curious about something too.”

“What do you want me to do about it?”

“You can answer or not, but answering would be beneficial for you.”

I remained silent. Putri seemed to take this as consent and immediately asked his question.

“What was it like climbing the tower?”

“What do you think? Ridiculously difficult and exhausting.”

“I see.”

Since it wasn’t a particularly difficult question, I answered with whatever came to mind. Then suddenly, I heard the sound of fingers snapping. Curious, I managed to lift my heavy eyelids and saw Seyeon struggling through what looked like a maze. My mind instantly cleared.

“How does it feel?”

Considering Putri’s identity and actions, this vision could easily be an illusion created to deceive me. But right now, Putri held all the cards.

“…The tower feels like it has a persistent malice toward those who enter, and even if you uncover that malice, your body and mind end up in tatters. Even when there are places to rest along the way, you can’t fully relax.”

Putri grinned, seemingly pleased with my more sincere answer.

“How did it feel when you killed the various monsters that appeared in the tower?”

“There were too many different kinds.”

Putri rubbed his fingers together. What a bastard.

“It was difficult. I nearly died several times. Got seriously injured too.”

“No, what I asked was different. Not about the difficulty, but about your emotions, the changes in your state of mind.”

“Emotions and state of mind?”

I looked at him, wondering why he would ask such a thing, but Putri just maintained his sly smile.

“Well… Some deserved to die, and sometimes I killed just because I needed to advance. I guess I didn’t have the luxury to worry about such things.”

“I see.”

At his second finger snap, this time Yuri appeared, covered in blood from head to toe. Even knowing that most of that blood wasn’t hers, I unconsciously gritted my teeth and bit my lip. She looked that devastated.

“Are you enjoying my reactions?”

“Oh. While that’s also fun, it’s not my main purpose. Now, my questions aren’t over yet. May I continue asking?”

Putri threw out the next question without waiting for my answer. His attitude suggested I had no choice but to answer anyway.

“Your comrades are certainly strong. Among the humans I’ve seen so far, they’re among the best. That’s for sure! Oh? Aren’t you pleased?”

“…”

“Haha. But you must know. Your comrades’ strength and stamina aren’t infinite.”

“That’s not a question.”

“Choose just one person. Then, the rest can live. Who will you choose?”

“You—”

I tried to move, forgetting my physical state, and collapsed to the floor. Putri, who had been asking questions that could drive one to neurosis, had a truly devilish smile on his face.

“Isn’t this quite a generous offer from your perspective? I’m saying that instead of all of you dying helplessly, if you just ‘sacrifice’ one person, the rest can all live.”

“While climbing the tower, we were prepared for death, but that doesn’t mean I would abandon a raid member. Absolutely not. No human could do that. Absolutely impossible… You’ve been watching us, haven’t you? You should know.”

“Humans are animals whose true nature emerges when they reach their limits, aren’t they?”

—And watching that is extremely entertaining.

I didn’t need to hear his last words to understand.

I was furious.

We had come so far.

After all that suffering.

We were right at the point where hardship ends and happiness begins.

In a game, when your character falls during a raid, you might be annoyed, but you just restart. You exchange fiery feedback, review tactics, take a bathroom break, drink some water, chat about other games or daily life, and prepare for the next try.

As it had always been since entering the tower, there would be no “next try” now.

And ever since I had unintentionally summoned Seha as a reward, I had always carried one thought in my heart: the best outcome would be everyone returning safely, and the second-worst would be if someone had to die first, it should be me.

“You’re asking even though you already know my answer, just because you find it entertaining, right?”

“Is that so?”

“Me. I choose myself.”

I didn’t bother asking, “Will you really let the others live?” Our fate was already in his hands.

“My, I thought you would choose one of your comrades.”

“Cut the nonsense you don’t even believe while making that face. You already knew.”

The die was cast.

I might look pathetic, and he might find me amusing, but… I tried to maintain a dignified expression and tone.

How much time had passed?

As I was struggling to lift my eyelids, which felt heavier than ever, like Atlas bearing the weight of the sky, he finally spoke after muttering incomprehensibly to himself for a while.

“Actually, the original plan was for me to be the ‘final boss’ for the tower climbers, and only the party that defeated me first would be allowed to leave the tower.”

“You?”

“Haha! Of course, in your knowledge, I wasn’t the final boss, but anyway. Except for your group, most others have settled for staying in the tower. In your world, the gap wasn’t this extreme.”

It’s no fun anymore, you see.

I wanted to see people “competing” for the first clear.

He shrugged his shoulders, creepily emphasizing the word “competing” as he approached me.

“I don’t particularly like sole bidding in terms of entertainment, so instead I played with you all a bit. How was it? Did you enjoy it?”

“…”

“Haha! Yes… your reaction is no fun. Some things are entertaining even when you know about them, and some aren’t. Earlier was the former, now it’s the latter. In that sense.”

Putri came up to where I was awkwardly sitting and crouched down.

“When you’re all dying anyway, saying ‘I’ll die instead of the woman I love!’ might not be that difficult. So I’ll ask you.”

Slowly matching his eye level with mine, he raised his index finger and poked my forehead as he spoke:

“Dying with your memories intact. Living with your memories destroyed. Which would you choose?”