CHAPTER 143: I’M... GOING BY MYSELF

The final moments of the 3rd floor, the ongoing celebration, the happiness along with the sadness that one cannot ignore, and the presence of the players who know about the floor’s nature.

As the bonfire flames illuminated the dimly lit evening streets, KiRA and Izzy watched the celebration from a certain nearby inn, in a new room they weren’t familiar with.

As they watched, the people, the natives who had lost their close ones, spent their time with their comrades and their families.

They talked about the late soldiers and how they fought on the battlefield, they talked about their lives before the battle, how they had lived, and what they had left behind.

The children were sad that they would never see their fathers, brothers, sisters, or mothers ever again. If they had older siblings, the kids were preparing to look after the younger ones without hesitation.

In their hearts, the ones who had passed were the best people ever. They fought and they saved other lives on the battlefield. Their deaths weren’t useless in the slightest.

Even though the children were sad, they weren’t devastated. They were happy that the people around them would remember their parents as well.

The departed souls would also have nothing to be concerned about. The little ones weren’t just their children; they had many other family members as well.

The city, the neighbors, and the ones who wanted to adopt the children as their own were plenty. Even if some of the children mourned the loss of their parents, they knew it was a momentary thing.

Much like most others, they would recover soon, and then they would go on with their lives, perhaps preparing for the next wave and their life forward.

They were still children, but seeing them gave a unique sense of envy to both those who were watching them play around the bonfire from their inn window.

"What would you do if I die on a-."

"You know I don’t like those ’what ifs’ even a little."

KiRA gave her a grave look as he shook his head. Just thinking about it was difficult for him, so he avoided it completely.

"But still, answer me. What would your reaction be if I did? Would you cry for me? Would you burn the world? Or would you just... lose yourself?" She had never had this question.

She knew he loved her madly. If something were to happen to her in their original world, there wouldn’t really be much he could do about it.

But within this tower, there were endless possibilities. Thanks to him, she knew there were ways to bring the dead back to life, but they weren’t simple.

People who walk that path either lose themselves or everything that makes them who they are. One would have to walk the three spiritual plains in search of the ways to resurrect someone.

The process was nearly impossible, so she did not want him to go through that. Ever.

"I wouldn’t let anything like that happen. But in case something like that does end up happening... inside the tower, I’d do everything I can to bring you back." She immediately gave him a concerned look, but he continued anyway, "And outside the tower, I’d do the same."

If the tower’s rules had been integrated into their world, there were still ways for her to live on. But, he still did not want to consider the possibility of that not being possible.

"What if it’s not possible? I mean... What if there’s no way to bring me back? That I’m actually gone forever? What then?"

He really did not like how she was saying all these things.

He may be a rational, logical person, but even he did not like it when she spoke such things.

They have been inseparable for a long time now. They loved each other immensely, and the bond they had was nothing short of a fate-made connection.

"I don’t want to live without you..." He spoke up after a long silence, looking straight into her eyes.

And after saying that, he fell silent once again. He simply stared at her, in her pretty eyes, watching her as the plaza slowly started becoming less crowded.

As the dusk had passed and night was approaching, everyone was finally going back to their houses for the night’s rest.

The children would sleep with their children or guardian for today, and those who did not have them would sleep with their neighbours.

In a few moments, the city would become quiet once again. And then, the remaining players would start leaving as well...

Though the two of them were going to stay the night here. So, they had some more time on their hands.

"I don’t know how I will live without you, Iz." He knew she wouldn’t like it if he said anything weird. Besides, taking his own life would be the most foolish thing to do when he was the only person who had the best shot at clearing this tower.

"And I don’t want to find that out anytime soon." He hugged her, held her tightly in his embrace.

One of his biggest fears had always been living without her. It was funny how, at the beginning of their relationship, they were almost always at each other’s throats, but that changed over time.

The relationship they had right now was not something simple or something one could compare with anything normal. They were a special couple.

And you don’t ask your partner what they’d do without you when you’re so special. Her question itself was flawed.

"You made things complicated. Now I don’t want to go there anymore..." The two of them sat down on their bed.

KiRA was looking down when he said that, so Izzy didn’t realise this was a serious matter. She got excited and asked with a new smile instead.

"Where were we going to go this time~?" Now that the 3rd floor was cleared, were they going somewhere new instead of going to the 4th floor?

She was now even more curious.

"North, around the desert area. I received a quest earlier when we were killing the monsters." His voice was a little shaky, but he was still looking down.

He knew how her reaction would be, so he kept his head down as he waited for a moment to pass.

"We’re going to the desert this time~? Won’t that be super fun~?" Izzy was happy and excited.

After seeing this forest for so long already, she wanted to go back and live in a closed house, or better, go into a desert with nothing around.

The sun wouldn’t be a problem. With the two of them, she believed there would be a lot of fun things to do. The night camping and the following fun were a fun experience.

She thought there would be a lot more things to do there since it was a quest that he got. Perhaps more than that. But there were still many things that she did not know.

The biggest of which...

"Izzy." KiRA looked at her, in her eyes, with a bitter expression that she wasn’t expecting.

"I’m... Going by myself." And then he said something she did not want to hear.

"What?" She did not understand it at first. She thought there was something wrong with her ears, so she looked at him with a twitching smile and asked him once again.

"What do you mean? Haha, are you saying you’re going by yourself? I must have heard it wrong. Silly me." The northern desert in their world was an area that had evolved into the largest field of their world.

It wasn’t small by any means. The simple-looking area that they were seeing just on the maps was as big as many of the countries of their continent.

It was also filled with monsters that were far beyond their current levels.

There were no players around that could deal with even the mobs that would appear in those deserts.

He may be ahead of the rest of the players, but even someone like him could not close the obvious level difference and make something out of it.

At the end of the day, going alone was the same as suicide. So, she thought she had heard something wrong.

"No, Izzy. It’s my quest. I will have to do it by myself... besides, it’s a dangerous place." He was the only person strong enough to do this quest at this point.

The mainstream players were too weak, and even if he brought Izzy or someone like Dame Althea with him, he would still not get anything out of it.

They might end up dying to the traps more than the monsters.

The dangers of the desert, filled with all kinds of traps, were the same as the 3rd floor’s battlefield, where they trapped and killed monsters en masse.

There were dangerous traps that the others could not pass through, even with training.

"I was going to wait and look for a good time to say this, but now that things have turned out like this, it seems like we will simply have to go with this."

He did not want anyone else to get in trouble, but going alone was also not that easy.

Izzy was not going to let him go by himself. In fact, the look she had on her face right now said everything she wanted to shout.

Even his family members wouldn’t accept it so easily.

"But... But how can you..."

"Go by myself? Because I know I’ll be fine." The timing was bad. Pretty bad.

It was a sensitive topic that concerned his life. The chances of him dying in that place weren’t small either.

"No grave can hold my body down, you know that, right?" He knew the night ahead was going to be pretty long once again.

"I’ll crawl back to you even if it’s from the bottom of hell."

He only had words to help him tonight, but lyrics from songs weren’t going to be enough...