Leonardo, pupils contracted, turned his head. Through the moonlight pouring in, a black cloak fluttered.

There was no time even to sigh. Leonardo grabbed Ero by the waist and threw him across the collapsed stairs.

“Keep running!”

“Aaah— yes!”

For a moment Ero’s body floated before landing. His ankle twisted, but he caught himself with his palm. He looked back, but only briefly. Quickly recalling his role, he left the situation to his boss and climbed the stairs without complaint.

Behind him, Leonardo kept the nuisance in check.

“Hah, bastard. Persistent....”

Frowning, he stood midway up the tower and hurled a fireball swollen to his height over the wall. As he ignited the sparks in midair, the humid air and heat wave met and raised thick fog, clouding the area.

Through it, Leonardo fired seven blue lightning shots in rapid succession.

About three seconds later, the scattered concentrations of magic exploded and thunder roared across the surroundings.

He had never intended to hit the target. Intimidation was enough. If he could not kill the opponent anyway, it was wiser to shake him off and pass the portal quickly.

Perhaps the loud feint worked—the wavering shadow of the whip vanished again. In that moment, Leonardo drove his fingers into the torn fibrous surface of the tower.

His superheated fingers penetrated the inner wall with a hiss, carving jagged holes like claw marks from a beast.

Where his hand raked, a fence of high-voltage current formed. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

Temporary, but unless the pursuer wanted to be roasted, he would not easily break through.

Just as Leonardo prepared to follow Ero—

“Boss, I think it’s here! There’s a small hole!”

The voice echoed from above. Not far away.

After roughly four hours of struggle, a small exclamation slipped through his teeth at the thought of finally. Leonardo raised his hand and fired a straight crimson beam upward. In an instant, his magic pierced five floors of the tower at once.

Only shock and dust drifted along the scorched cylindrical path—no debris fell. Leonardo leapt up the new path and met Ero about four and a half floors above.

At the center of that level rose a thick core extending up and down. It resembled stalactite and stalagmite about to meet and form a pillar.

“This it?”

The upward-rising section had a flat top toward the ceiling. Holes dotted it like a sliced lotus root. Without remembering it was part of a plant, it resembled an altar where a legendary sword might be embedded in ruins.

Leonardo placed a hand on it and looked at Ero, who answered awkwardly.

“...Boss, what if you blasted even this away—”

“Hurry, give me the crystals. We have to insert them together.”

Ero glanced between the pierced floor and ceiling but said nothing more and took out three crystals. He handed Leonardo the white he wanted most, while he held the yellow and red he had seen enough of.

“Does it matter where we put them?”

“There wasn’t any specific explanation, so it should be fine?”

They nodded.

“Putting them in.”

“Yes.”

At the signal, they dropped the crystals into different holes. They wondered if this was right, but only briefly. About two seconds later, the holes slowly closed.

Soon the cores above and below extended and met in the middle like stalactite and stalagmite. The seam vanished cleanly as if it had always been one pillar.

Now a complete column, the stamen core began to undulate, then pulse. Like a flexible hose transferring liquid elsewhere. At the same time the fibrous floor vibrated.

As if worsening matters, a roaring sound like a tectonic fault before an earthquake erupted.

Thud, thud—

“B-boss, what is this?”

With irregular tremors and impacts, the tense Ero clung to Leonardo’s arm. Being slightly shorter, Leonardo stepped back while pulling him toward his chest, eyes alternating between ceiling and floor pierced by the core.

Why is it doing this? Does it normally shake like this?

The question lasted only a moment. The ceiling, contracting and expanding like living cells, split wide and opened a new path. Oxygen rushed in as if the sky opened, and transparent slime rained down.

Realizing the path to the top had opened, both tried to move upward.

But as they took the first step, a massive shock shook the entire tower.

Kwaaang—!

“Aagh!”

Ero bounced upward before landing. Leonardo staggered but kept balance. As he reached to steady Ero, a cold sensation scratched his nerves.

The same sharp whip sound sounded nearby. The tearing noise grew closer— the one outside was smashing the outer wall again to find them.

As Leonardo lowered his posture, a black whip pierced the inner wall and passed over their heads.

It could no longer be called a whip. It resembled a giant scythe gleaming coldly.

The transformed blade severed not only the stairs but also the core they had just inserted the crystals into. The severed hose flailed as transparent slime gushed out.

Covered in strange liquid, they had no time to care.

Though standing upright, their bodies tilted. The sliced section slid and the night sky appeared above them.

“...Huh?”

Looking up, Ero turned pale.

Below, long fibers snapped repeatedly. From the point where the whip struck, the raised stamen platform slowly bent.

Ero screamed as if the world collapsed.

“Boss, the tower’s tilting—!!”

Understanding the situation, Leonardo tucked Ero under his arm like baggage.

“That insane bastard—.”

They leapt through the cut section. The distinction between wall and floor no longer mattered.

In an instant, the view of the stamen tower from above was astonishing.

The thick structure had split into seven segments like a peeled banana and was collapsing sideways.

A structure at least fifty meters tall falling was surreal. At its end flickered a faint blue portal.

Perhaps because the energy supply had been severed, the leaking light flickered as if about to extinguish.

Without thinking, Leonardo rushed toward the top. ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) Using the broken segments as footholds, he accelerated at full speed.

“Hold tight!”

Wind tore Ero’s lips so he could not answer. Instead he clung to Leonardo’s waist like a lifeline.

Remaining pass slots: four. Since eleven passed in the previous time, this portal might effectively be the last chance.

Final moments draw out courage people never had.

As if worsening matters, other participants flew upward simultaneously. Normally the portal was hidden by clouds, but the collapsing tower exposed it to all waiting participants.

They must have saved strength for this moment—their approach speed was abnormal. Even so, Leonardo drew out all his strength and overtook them.

At that moment, the annoying slicing sound followed nearby. Slightly changing direction, he glanced back.

The spiral gale gathered in the sadist’s hand was right behind him.

At the same time Ero saw the barely sustained portal closing.

“Boss, hurry—!”

Only three meters remained. Leonardo met the eyes inside the silver mask.

This bastard....

His golden eyes wrinkled deeply.

With his acceleration, the goal was within arm’s reach. Yet the man’s gaze was fixed only on him. The sadist’s strange behavior finally made sense.

Leonardo gathered violently boiling magic in his left hand and stretched his palm toward the silver mask.

From the beginning, his target was me.