Chapter 151 Ciello'S Tower
――We reunited with our friends without a hitch and entered Ciello's Tower right away.
"Ugghhh! There are too many enemies There are too many stairs!"
After finishing the battle with the monster, Marta squatted down on the spot. Even Julius, who would normally scold her, nodded in agreement and gazed up at the ceiling with a sigh.
――We've been climbing this tower for a pretty long time. Yet, we still haven't reached the top.
Vake sheathed his sword and gazed out the window, muttering to himself.
"I think we've climbed quite a bit already."
Indeed, when we looked down from the window, the forest was far below. The view from the window was proof that we had climbed a considerable number of floors.
Inside Ciello's Tower, a monster was waiting for us on each floor. We would defeat the monster, and then the stairs to the next floor would appear. It was a repetition of battles and climbing.
"I'm so tired of fighting every time we climb! It's so monotonous!"
"If you're complaining about that, what will you do when the next floor becomes a maze? Defeating the enemies is the easiest way to progress."
"That's true, but..."
Marta expressed her dissatisfaction, and Julius teased her. I smiled at their familiar exchange.
I took out a water bottle from my bag and replenished my water. Although the dungeon was simple in design, the physical exhaustion was intense.
As I wiped the sweat from my forehead and took a breath, Diona called out to me, concerned.
"Laura, aren't you tired?"
"I'm fine, thank you."
Fatigue was starting to show among our friends, and after defeating the monster, we decided not to climb the stairs right away. Instead, we took a break on the same floor.
We lit a fire, sat in a circle, and used healing potions and magic to recover our strength. We filled our stomachs with emergency rations and took a short rest. When we stood up, ready to move on, someone suddenly shouted.
"Ah, danger!"
Lukas cried out. When I turned to look, a monster had suddenly appeared behind Marta, about to attack.
"Wentle-sama!"
I reflexively pulled out my crossbow and fired an arrow, borrowing Wentle-sama's power. However, due to my nervousness, my aim was off, and the arrow, strengthened by the wind spirit's power, deeply pierced the wall.
It wasn't my arrow that defeated the monster, but Vake's powerful single swing.
"Marta, are you okay?"
"I'm fine! I was really surprised, though. Thanks!"
My friends and I all breathed a sigh of relief at Marta's cheerful smile. We were glad she wasn't hurt.
We exchanged words of relief and began climbing the stairs again. When we finally reached the top, the monster was waiting for us.
"Ugh, are there still more?"
Marta slumped her shoulders in exhaustion. I wanted to say something, but when I saw the monsters in front of us approaching, I readied myself instead.
――We didn't have time to waste until we defeated all the monsters.
The last one fell, and the floor was enveloped in silence. Someone let out a deep sigh, which echoed through the air.
"I'm exhausted..."
Diona, who rarely showed weakness, leaned against the wall, looking tired. I turned to her, intending to offer some encouragement――and noticed a small wound on the wall she was leaning against.
Ciello's tower was flawless, both inside and out. Its perfect appearance seemed to have been left untouched by the passage of time. That's why the wound on the wall――a small hole――stood out.
I approached the wound to take a closer look. After gazing at it for a few seconds, I realized the hole's size was familiar.
I pulled out an arrow from my quiver and carefully aligned it with the hole on the wall. ――It fit perfectly.
"...This wound on the wall, it's from the arrow I fired earlier..."
I muttered to myself. Diona, standing right next to me, looked at my hand in surprise.
The crossbow arrow fit perfectly into the hole on the wall. The crack spreading from the center of the hole was likely due to the increased attack power of the arrow, which I had strengthened with Wentle-sama's power.
Probably, yeah, without a doubt, the wound on this wall was made by the arrow I shot earlier to help Marta, and it ended up hitting the wall instead.
"Are you saying we've been walking around the same floor?"
Diona, who quickly grasped the situation, asked. I nodded slightly, saying "Maybe so."
"Liar!"
Marta rushed over to me. And when she saw the arrow stuck in the wall, she let out a voice that sounded like a scream, "What the...?!"
The guys also approached me, looking suspicious, and nodded reluctantly as if they couldn't help but believe it.
I didn't want to believe it. But if we think about it, we might have been walking around the same floor all along. That would explain why the tower's design seems so monotonous. It's not that each floor has a different design, but rather we've been walking around the same floor over and over again. And that's why we kept encountering the same gimmicks!
"...Is it a barrier?"
"Probably."
Lukas said, and Diona nodded.
"Then let's find a way to break through that barrier!"
"Yeah, but if we find it easily, it won't be a challenge!"
Julius muttered, and Marta raised her voice.
My friends all looked exhausted, as if they realized that our efforts until now had been in vain. I could understand their frustration, but I stood there, staring at the hole in the wall, lost in thought.
We've been trapped by the enemy's trick, walking around the same place over and over again. This gimmick seemed familiar to me.
(I've seen this trap before... in "Last Brave"... back then, there was a real staircase hidden somewhere else...)
I looked up at the staircase leading to the next floor. That staircase was probably a "fake."
I turned around and asked Vake and Arnold, who were relatively calm,
"Is it possible that the staircase we climbed up was fake?"
"What do you mean?"
It was Vake who responded. Arnold was standing next to him, silently staring ahead with a serious expression. I thought it was quite unusual for him to be like that. He must be really exhausted too.
"I wonder if there's a real staircase hidden somewhere on this floor... We're just going around in circles on this fake one."
"Aah, that's right!"
Marta nodded in agreement, looking impressed.
"Let's split up and search!"
Diona suggested, and we began investigating the floor, searching every nook and cranny. We touched the walls, floor, and ceiling with our hands and weapons, looking for any weaknesses in the barrier.
As I watched my friends search, I desperately tried to recall my memories from my past life. In "Last Brave," how did I discover the hidden staircase?
(Uh, where was it again? Did I examine the statue? Did I use an item?)
Hmm, I couldn't remember. It's times like these that my past life's memories would come in handy, but my memory is so unreliable... Ah, but then I remembered something.
It was what happened in the forest on our way to Ciello's tower. The water spirit followed a certain scent and guided us to the tower. Maybe it could do the same thing here.
I peeked into my bag. The water spirit was looking up at me with a complex expression.
"Hey, can you understand?"
It hesitated, looking around nervously. But when I stared at it, the spirit seemed to give up and jumped out of my bag, sniffing the floor.
Sniffing and sniffing, the water spirit eventually reached the wall. Then it scratched the wall with its claws.
"Is it behind this wall?"
"What's going on?"
Marta leaned in close.
"This child is really interested in this wall..."
"Hmm... Are the spirits communicating with each other? Is the real path behind this wall?"
I think that's probably the case. It's likely that the real staircase is behind this wall.
But the problem is how to break through this wall, right? I try to touch it with my palm to check its texture, but it's not something that can be easily broken. It's a pretty sturdy wall, and even with Wentle-sama's power, I could only make a small hole the size of an arrowhead.
As Marta and I were standing in front of the wall, wondering what to do, our friends gathered around us without us noticing.
"But how are we gonna break through the wall?"
"Maybe... explosives or something?"
It was Julius who asked, and Marta who answered.
Marta's suggestion was probably the most feasible. However, unfortunately, we didn't have any explosives, and if we were to use a similar method...
"Move, I'll do it!"
Whoa, I was pushed aside with incredible strength. I stumbled for a moment, but managed to regain my balance and saw the person who pushed me. It was Arnold.
He didn't even glance at me, and just kept staring at the wall in front of him. And then, without any warning, a large magic circle appeared at his feet.
Before I knew it, I was being pulled towards him by a powerful force. The next thing I knew, there was a loud explosion, and I felt a shockwave hit my head. Luckily, I was wearing a helmet, so I think Vake protected me.
I reflexively opened my eyes, which I had shut tight. And then, I saw that the wall that was there just a moment ago had been destroyed by Arnold's powerful magic.
"Hey, isn't that a bit too much?!"
Vake, who was still holding me, shouted. But Arnold didn't seem to care, and just walked forward, past the broken wall.
"Whoa, there's a staircase beyond the broken wall!"
Julius followed after Arnold.
After the smoke from the explosion cleared, we could see a new staircase beyond the wall. The others cheered and rushed towards the real staircase.
(Uh, was that really necessary...)
I thought to myself. I remembered that in "Last Brave," I solved puzzles in a smarter way... but well, at least we were able to break through.
I thanked the water spirit and gave it a hug. Then, I followed after my friends, stepping into the area beyond the wall...
Suddenly, I noticed that my childhood friend had stopped in his tracks, frozen in place. For some reason, he had a stern expression on his face, intently staring at something.
I followed my childhood friend's gaze. Ahead of him, I saw our friends chatting and laughing near the stairs.
"...Luka? What's wrong?"
"Ah, no, it's nothing. Let's go."
When I called out to him, Lukas snapped out of it, giving me a reassuring smile. However, as my childhood friend, I noticed that the smile he forced was unnatural.
What was he... who was he glaring at, I wondered?
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