Chapter 125: Thirty-Second Floor, Sky Whale Protector (2)

The Community of the Dead on the thirty-second floor.

[Breaking news: Kwon Su-Hyeok spotted something weird.]

[Huh? What happened? I was watching him until he got on the airship, then switched to someone else.]

[Something’s off with the elves.]

[What do you mean? Aren’t they just trying to save the sky whales?]

[I don’t know. The elves made up some weird excuse to block Su-Hyeok from entering the airship.]

[Didn’t they say it was for cleaning? What’s so strange about that?]

[Man, you’re so clueless. They’re obviously shady.]

[Whatever. I’m going back to watching Ha Hee-Jeong.]

[Why would you watch that murderer?]

[Murderer, my ass. She only killed some bad guys. If anything, she is the Batman of the Tower of Ordeal.]

[Stop spouting nonsense. She killed me, and I didn’t do anything wrong.]

[Lol, innocent people definitely died too. How come Kwon Su-Hyeok and the others don’t know about it?]

[Nope, not true. She said she had a precognition skill. You all just end up becoming bad guys later.]

[Hey, guys. I saw the elves dragging someone off earlier.]

[?? What are you even talking about?]

[I’m serious. When Kwon Su-Hyeok and the airship captain were fighting, they took one of the tied-up guards.]

[Why didn’t you mention this before?]

[I thought they needed the person to operate the airship, okay?]

[...]

***

[Safely guide as many sky whales as possible to the eastern plains of Regium. Time remaining: 102 hours 35 minutes.]

“Those are royal airships. They’re equipped with tracking devices.”

Tracking devices? That does make sense I guess.

No wonder the pursuit force had managed to track us within two days. I had assumed everything was prearranged by the tower, but Roxanne’s explanation made more sense.

Still, that didn’t answer all of my questions.

“Couldn’t you have removed the tracker before taking off?” I asked.

“If we remove it, the airship won’t function!” Roxanne shot back hastily before turning to the elves. “Revrin! Prepare the cannons!”

The distance between us and the pursuit force was rapidly closing. Their airships were simply faster, and herding the sky whales prevented us from traveling at full speed.

A heavy sigh escaped my lips. I had hoped the Shadow Veil would allow us to avoid combat altogether.

To be honest, I didn’t want to fight them. Though they lived on a different planet, they were still humans like me. Saving the sky whales wasn’t worth taking their lives.

I am being a bit hypocritical, though. I did ally with elves who killed humans practically in front of me.

Even so, I couldn’t shake off the discomfort.

No, stop it.

I shook my head deliberately, forcing the thoughts aside.

If it wasn’t within my abilities, I wouldn’t force it. I had resolved to follow that mentality several times, and I couldn’t let doubt cloud my mind now. The situation had already escalated to the point of no return.

At this point, I had to evade the pursuit force to clear the thirty-second floor safely. This was no longer about the whales’ lives versus the hunters’—it was my life against theirs.

I stared at the approaching airships and braced myself for the inevitable confrontation.

How can I have the most impact during a dogfight between airships?

Nothing came to mind; aerial battles were a foreign concept to me. Unless I got the opportunity to fight in close combat, Lightning Essence would be my only option.

While I was lost in thought, the pursuit force fired a volley of red flares into the sky. They weren’t aimed at us. Instead, they detonated high above in the twilight, creating bright explosions that lit up the dim evening.

“Miss Roxanne!" an elf called. "They sent a request for communication. What should we do?”

Roxanne bit her lip, hesitating briefly before letting out a sigh. “There’s no escaping them. Send a signal back.”

“Understood!”

I couldn’t help but feel puzzled. The elves, who mistrusted humans and refused to negotiate with the hunting party, were now willing to communicate—while escorting sky whales, no less.

“Isn’t it a bit too early to give up on fighting?” I asked.

As soon as the words left my mouth, a red flare shot skyward from our airship.

Roxanne shook her head in resignation. “No. With six battle airships chasing us, escaping or engaging would be equally futile. And... there are far more of them than I anticipated.”

It seemed like battle airships differed significantly from standard airships, or at least more than I would have anticipated. Inspecting our enemies’ airships a little more closely, the disparity between our weaponry and theirs became even clearer.

Regardless, her comment about their numbers stuck out to me the most.

“More than you expected?”

“Yes. I knew they would dispatch a force to pursue us once we stole the airship, but I didn’t expect six airships to arrive. I only expected two at most..."

Considering even Roxanne, a leader among the elves, had underestimated the kingdom’s response, this situation was clearly unusual. I still had about four days left, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that this could be the thirty-second floor’s most critical moment.

“Should I dispel the veil?”

“Yes. Since we’ve agreed to communicate.”

I immediately reduced the range of my skill, ensuring the sky whales remained concealed even if we were visible. Roxanne glanced at me with a hint of surprise, likely because the whales were still hidden, and she probably couldn’t see them now that the veil was lifted.

“I kept the whales hidden just in case.”

“Ah, I see. Thank you.”

The enemy airships were drawing closer, so I quickly began to strategize. Though we had agreed to communicate, I couldn’t help but worry about any potential fallout. There was no way they would let us go peacefully. If so, then a battle was inevitable no matter how the conversation played out.

Roxanne said confronting them head-on is out of the question.

On top of that, the whales were a burden I had to factor in.

The situation was overwhelmingly disadvantageous. Still, as I liked to think, this was a trial established by the tower, so there had to be a solution somewhere.

Considering they wanted to talk, the conversation itself could hold a clue.

I resolved to wait calmly, hoping for an opening. As if on cue, a thunderous, indignant voice erupted from the lead airship.

“How dare you impersonate me, conspire with the elves, and steal an airship? Show yourself this instant!”

A stout man stood on the deck of the airship, red-faced from anger. He looked like the stereotypical heir of a wealthy family.

A figure beside him tried to calm him down. “Mr. Retra, please restrain yourself.”

“

Restrain

myself!?

Does this look like a situation in which I can remain calm!?”

Retra?

The name rang a bell. I had seen it in the hunting party’s records.

What was it again...?

I pondered for a moment, then it all came back to me.

Ah, that’s right. Retra Delraheim is the hunting party’s captain.

As the memory surfaced, a chill ran down my spine.

That angry man is the real captain? Then who did I replace?

The captain who had arrived with the airship, stayed with the hunting party for a week, and authored the logbook—who was that?

I felt as though I was possessed, caught up in something far beyond my understanding.

Is this all part of the tower’s design, or is there something deeper that I don’t understand?

My thoughts continued to spiral into chaos.

“Imposter! Whoever is so presumptuous that they would dare impersonate me, step forward and kneel to preserve your petty life!” the arrogant man shouted, his words echoing across the airship.

Roxanne turned to me, eyes widening in shock. She, too, seemed completely lost as to what was going on. “An imposter?”

I avoided her gaze, focusing on the lead airship.

“Is it true?”

Her sharp question cut through my silence like a dagger.

I let out an awkward laugh. Dragging it out any longer wasn’t an option, and hesitating now could ruin the trust I had worked so hard to build. After a brief moment, I decided on a response.

“Yes.”

“What? How—”

“I heard they were sending hunting parties to kill the sky whales. I couldn’t just stand by and let it happen,” I quickly interjected to prevent her from overanalyzing.

Her gaze softened as her pupils trembled slightly. For a moment, she looked almost moved.

“You know, you could’ve told me earlier.”

“Now isn’t the time for that. Let’s figure out how to deal with them first.”

Our pursuer’s goal was obvious: catch the so-called imposter and reclaim the stolen airship. Just like Roxanne had mentioned, aerial combat wasn’t an option.

For some reason, the spoiled noble standing on the other ship felt like the key to resolving this situation.

Not that he looks like someone I can reason with.

Then, an idea suddenly came to me. I turned toward Roxanne, who was still staring at me worriedly.

“Hand over the imposter right now, and I’ll spare the elves!” Retra once again roared in fury.

Frustrated by our lack of response, he focused his anger on the pilot. “Pilot! Fire at them!”

“Mr. Retra, this is a royal airship. We can’t fire without proper reason, especially not before they respond.”

“Just do it! I’ll take responsibility!”

We couldn’t keep stalling. If we didn’t act soon, our airship would be shot down for nothing.

I gave Roxanne a faint smile. “I’ll go.”

“What? No! They’ll kill you! Let me talk to them instead. I can reveal my identity. They wouldn’t dare attack!”

“No, trust me. I have a plan. Don’t worry.”

“Mr. Kwon Su-Hyeok!”

Ignoring her desperate plea, I tucked my axe and dagger into the mimic, then stepped out onto the deck with my hands raised. “I’m the imposter! I’ll come to you!”

“So, it’s you! Come here and kneel!” Retra clapped his hands like an excited child, a wide grin spreading across his face. His carefree attitude was almost ridiculous given the tension of the moment.

As I stepped forward, the lead airship maneuvered closer, aligning itself with ours. A broad plank was extended between the two ships, forming a bridge.

Retra stood at the other end, his smug expression daring me to cross. I looked at everyone on deck—none of them seemed to pose a threat to me.

I only need to worry about the pilot and Retra’s four guards.

I stepped onto the plank, keeping my hands raised to display a lack of hostile intent. Everyone’s eyes—the elves, guards, and even Retra—were fixed on me.

The soldiers kept their weapons aimed at me, but that didn’t intimidate me. If anything, my brain focused more on the swaying plank beneath me since it reminded me of walking across a sky bridge.

With that odd thought in mind, I calmly crossed over to the other ship.

“Kneel and confess your crimes, imposter!”

How many times is he going to say that? Can’t he come up with anything else?

Suppressing my irritation, I locked eyes with Retra unflinchingly.

“If you don’t kneel in three seconds, I’ll shoot you in the head! Kneel now!”

How amusing.

He had no idea how quickly things were about to change.

Instead of kneeling, I gave him a wide, confident smile. Then, I activated Flash Strike.

With everything moving sluggishly, I relished Retra’s slow-moving, albeit obvious, change in expression.

His smugness contorted into a blend of confusion and mounting fear as he realized that something had gone terribly, undeniably wrong.