"…That wasn't just a scam?" Alicia gasped.

"It's usually treated as such," I cut in, stepping forward. "But as I said before, I believe it."

Both Alicia and Darien turned to me with wide, rabbit-like eyes.

In a crisis, when everyone is losing their minds, the one person who remains calm—even if they are crazy—becomes the leader.

I rode that momentum. I walked straight toward Darien.

She flinched. She tried to step back to maintain her three-step 'safe zone,' terrified of the thoughts she might hear from a man who smiled at the apocalypse.

But I didn't stop. I broke through the boundary without hesitation, stepping right into her personal space.

"You know what you have to do, right?" I whispered, leaning down to her eye level. "It's your father's prophecy. You're the only one who knows the counter-measure."

"Y-yes?"

Darien looked up at me, flustered.

I grabbed her trembling hand and slapped a piece of parchment into it.

It was a detailed map of the Spire's interior—specifically, the mana ventilation ducts hidden in the walls.

"The doctrine teaches you how to prevent the disaster, doesn't it?" I asked, staring into her eyes. "Remember."

"…Ah, th-that…" Darien stammered, her eyes darting to the map. "If… if you control the Mana Crystals in the Sacred Ventilation Shafts… you can minimize the pressure… preventing the explosion…"

As she spoke, clarity began to return to her eyes. But then, she stopped.

She stared at me.

Her pupils dilated. Her breath hitched.

She looked at me not as a savior, but as if she had discovered a creature that shouldn't exist in this dimension.

"I can't…" she whispered, her voice barely audible over the rumbling earthquake. "I can't… hear anything?"

"...?"

"Why is it… silent?"

To a mind reader who lived in a world of constant, screaming noise, standing next to me must have felt like stepping into a void. My [Mind Barrier] wasn't just blocking her; it was presenting her with absolute nothingness.

To her, I wasn't human. I was a hole in the world.

'She's freaking out.'

I knew exactly why she was terrified, but now wasn't the time to explain my skill tree.

I squeezed her hand tightly, snapping her out of her trance.

"I'm counting on you, Saintess."

"...!"

Darien jolted. She looked at the map, then at her terrified followers, and finally back at the Spire.

She swallowed her fear.

"Everyone!" she screamed, her voice cracking but authoritative. "Follow me! We have to stabilize the Mana Vents! Move!"

She turned and ran toward a hidden maintenance hatch at the base of the Spire, her followers scrambling after her.

"Saintess? Why the long face?" one follower asked as they ran.

"No. It's nothing," she muttered, casting one last, terrified glance back at me. "For now, let's just… focus on staying alive."

I watched them disappear into the structure.

"...What's wrong with her all of a sudden?" Alicia asked, tilting her head.

"Who knows?"

I shrugged, turning toward the main entrance where Tony had disappeared. The rumbling was getting louder.

"Now then, Alicia."

I cracked my knuckles.

"The janitors are doing their job. It's time for us to take out the trash."

"…We're taking it on, just the two of us?"

"Yup."

"…"

Alicia looked at me like I had finally lost the last marble rolling around in my brain.

In fact, she had a point. Anyone other than me (who knew the mechanics) and this girl (who was a hidden SSR-rank talent) would likely just get in the way.

"Uh, Boss. I know you're confident, but the Area Guardian will be at the top of the Spire," Alicia argued, gesturing to the spiral staircase Tony had vanished up. "We'll meet them on the way there anyway—"

Thud.

I ignored her and kicked a seemingly random section of the obsidian wall.

Thud. Crack.

"Boss?"

CRASH.

On the third kick, the wall didn't break; it slid open. A hidden mechanism groaned, revealing a dark, spiraling staircase leading down into the earth, not up.

Alicia shut her mouth with an audible click.

"This," I said, dusting off my boot, "is the path to the real Boss Room."

"…Then what's the path the survey team went up?"

"The tourist route," I replied, stepping into the darkness. "If you go that way, you have to fight through ten floors of minions just to find a stone tablet that gives you a hint that the Boss Room is actually in the basement."

I smirked at the dumbfounded expression on her face.

"In a case like now, Tony and his friends are drawing the attention of every Demonic Beast in the Spire. They are effectively becoming 'bait' for us."

Alicia, who was following me down the stairs, looked at my back blankly.

"…How on earth do you know things like that?"

"It's the prophecy," I said smoothly.

"No, seriously," she whined, her voice sounding like she had a migraine coming on. "Why do you know the secret doctrine of an unknown cult? Why do you know hidden paths? Are you a human Wikipedia? Did you swallow a library in your past life?"

Seeing her talk nonsense to cope with the stress, it seemed she still had quite a bit of composure left.

I chuckled.

"Something like that."

We reached the bottom of the stairs. A massive set of iron doors stood before us.

From far above us—through the layers of stone and crystal—we could hear muffled explosions and faint screams.

BOOM! ARGH!

"Sounds lively up there," I noted.

Normally, the passage I was walking in should also be teeming with Guardian Golems. But thanks to the loud, aggressive hunters upstairs making a ruckus, the basement security had been rerouted to the upper floors.

The path was completely empty.

Alicia swallowed dryly, looking at the ceiling.

"…Th-they won't die, right? Those people?"

Hmm.

Tony was a B-Rank veteran. He was tough. But he was also stupid.

I answered with a big, bright smile.

"Maybe?"

"…"

Alicia shuddered.

****

[The Boss Room]

I placed my hand on the iron doors.

"Ready?"

"No."

"Good spirit."

I pushed. The doors swung open effortlessly, revealing a cavernous chamber lit by blue mana torches.

"…"

"Don't faint."

I grabbed Alicia by the shoulder just as her knees gave out.

"Th-that thing…" she stammered, pointing a trembling finger into the center of the room. "Just the two of us… are supposed to catch that…?"

Standing in the center of the room was a statue.

No, calling it a statue was an insult.

It was a Titan.

Twenty feet tall. Carved from black basalt and reinforced with Adamantite plating. Its eyes were two massive rubies that were currently dark. A greatsword the size of a carriage lay resting against its shoulder.

[Ancient Combat Golem: The Gatekeeper] [Rank: B-]

Strictly speaking, it wasn't a living creature. It was a machine of war operated by a Mana Core.

'…It does look like a crazy thing to do.'

A B- Rank monster wasn't something a student and his maid should be fighting. It was a raid boss that required a coordinated team of 4-5 seasoned B-Rank Hunters—Tony's level—to even scratch.

In short, it was a monster where two chicks like me and Alicia would die without even being able to run away if we messed up.

'Especially since it's a Combat Golem…'

I looked at its armor plating.

It was a boss notorious as a "Newbie Crusher" in Asteria Online.

Its attack patterns weren't diverse—it mostly just smashed things. But it was the representative of a Raw-Spec Boss.

It had Attack Power that could turn a human into paste with a single graze. It had Defense Power thanks to a passive [Mana Force Field] that showed no signs of depleting even after being bombarded for hours.

It was one of the most hopeless bosses for a player who relied on tricks. You couldn't poison it. You couldn't bleed it. You couldn't mentally dominate it.

You just had to hit it harder than it hit you.

"…"

A smirk escaped me.

Right.

That would have been a hopeless story if I hadn't been able to cheat.

I glanced at Alicia.

She was trembling, terrified. But she hadn't run away. Her hand was gripping her rapier so hard her knuckles were white.

I opened my System Eye and looked at her.

[Status Window: Alicia Valemont]

Skill List:

[Fire Magic: Lv. 7] (Expert)

[Swordsmanship: Lv. 4] (Intermediate)

[Martial Arts: Lv. 3] (Basic)

[Insight: Lv. 5] (Advanced)

[Domestic Arts: Lv. MAX]

'Hmm… She has grown quite strong.'

Lv. 7 Fire Magic was ridiculous for someone her age. It was the result of my rigorous (hellish) training and the high-grade mana potions I'd been feeding her.

She wasn't just a maid anymore. She was a glass cannon.

And me?

I touched the [Rune of Vitality] on my chest.

I was the unkillable tank.

"Alicia," I said, racking the bolt of my Benelli M4.

"Y-Yes, Boss?"

"I'm going to get its attention. You just burn it until it stops moving."

Her eyes widened. "You're going to tank a Golem? You'll die!"

"I won't die," I promised, stepping into the room.

Step.

As my foot hit the floor tiles, the ruby eyes of the Golem flashed red.

[INTRUDER DETECTED.]

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