The next morning, the group arrived at the gateway leading to the Fourth Floor.

Blue Light swirled within the archway. Misha stepped through alongside the others. The familiar sensation of weightlessness washed over her for a brief moment before solid ground returned beneath her feet.

Ding!

「 〔 FLOOR QUEST 〕

Destroy Signal Towers (0/3)

Failure: Death 」

「 〔 QUEST WARNING! 〕

Enemy scouts are present within the area.

Each successful alarm will increase Alert Level.

Alert Level: (0/3)

Enemy scouts can alert nearby forces.

Upon reaching the limit, the quest objective will be considered failure. 」

The smile disappeared from Misha’s face. Nobody spoke, and even Nyxie looked unusually serious. The change in atmosphere immediately caught her attention.

A sense of unease settled in her chest. Misha slowly lifted her gaze and there before her were three enormous towers that rose above the forest canopy in the distance. One stood in the east, one in the west, and one in the north. Their silhouettes dominated the landscape. Even from a distance, Misha could tell they were massive. The signal towers looked old. Thick wooden platforms wrapped around the sides while crude banners fluttered near the top. The sight reminded her of watchtowers from an old kingdom... only far more intimidating.

A chill ran down her spine. Those towers were their objective, which meant enemies were waiting there... probably goblins, right?

Yara stepped forward and studied the towers for a few moments while the others remained silent as well. Most of them had already cleared the 4th floor before, only Misha stood here for the first time. She glanced over her shoulder. "This time, our enemies are not goblins."

Misha’s attention immediately snapped toward her upon hearing her words. Were their enemies not goblins? Then what were they going to fight?

"Have you already killed a human, Misha?" Yara’s voice carried none of its usual warmth.

"E-Eh?" The question caught Misha completely off guard. She stared at her for a second, her mouth slightly open.

"If this is your first time encountering a human enemy, then... you have to prepare yourself. The ones guarding the signal towers are humans."

Misha’s mind went blank for a moment. The words didn’t register immediately but when they finally did, another chill ran down her spine.

The enemy were... humans?

The image that appeared in her mind wasn’t some terrifying creature. It was a person who could talk, think, and someone who probably had a family of their own.

"You’ll have to kill them even if you don’t want to." Yara’s voice remained calm.

Misha lowered her gaze. Her chest felt strangely heavy. If they were zombies, she might have no problem killing them since they were already humans who died and become monsters.

She already knew Yara wasn’t being cruel, and she was just being realistic. But still...

Misha swallowed hard. The thought bothered her more than she wanted to admit. Would she really be able to do it? If a human stood in front of her, weapon raised and ready to attack... would she actually swing her sword?

"I hate this floor the most," Nyxie said with a dramatic groan. She leaned back against a tree trunk and crossed her arms. "I swear, every time I come here, I tell myself it’ll be easier this time... but it never gets easier."

Misha found herself paying closer attention. This wasn’t the usual Nyxie who spent half her time teasing others. This was someone speaking from experience.

"The monsters don’t bother me." She shrugged. "Humans are different."

Misha understood exactly what she meant... or at least, she thought she did. The thought of killing a goblin still bothered her, but the thought of killing a person felt much worse.

Misha hesitated before speaking, "Since the goal is to destroy the signal towers... maybe we can just avoid the people guarding it?"

The group fell silent once more, which made her gulp nervously. Did she say something stupid?

Her gaze shifted from person to person. Nyxie scratched her cheek, Jules awkwardly looked away, and even Elyes released a heavy sigh.

"That’s actually the first thing most people think of," Yara answered. "Unfortunately, the corrupted humans guarding the signal towers aren’t standing there by coincidence."

"They’re part of the defense system," Elyes added.

"Most people struggle the first time." Yara turned to Gerbaut. "So I’ll leave Misha with you again."

A small wave of relief immediately spread through Misha’s chest.

Thank goodness... The thought escaped before she could stop it. Realizing it, she quickly felt guilty. Gerbaut had literally gotten stabbed protecting her, and her first reaction was relief? What kind of teammate was she?

Gerbaut gave a short nod. "Understood."

"You two will take the north tower," Yara continued.

"Understood." The answer came with the exact same tone.

Misha couldn’t help but stare. Did this man only have one setting? The world could probably be ending and Gerbaut would still answer like that.

Across them, Nyxie laughed. "Look at him!" She pointed openly. "Does anything even scare you?"

"Yes."

Everyone turned toward Gerbaut and looked at the man who stood quietly for a moment. Then, he opened his mouth and continued, "I once met a goose."

"..." Misha blinked a few times.

"..." Nyxie blinked twice.

"..." Yara blinked once.

"..." Even Elyes looked confused.

"A goose?" Jules asked.

Gerbaut gave a single nod. "It was aggressive."

Misha stared blankly at him. Was he serious?

Nyxie suddenly burst into another laugh. "I can’t believe that’s your answer!"

"It chased me." His face certainly looked serious.

"It’s a goose!"

"It knew what it was doing." That somehow made the story worse.

Misha pressed a hand against her mouth to stop herself from laughing. The tension inside her chest eased slightly.

Gerbaut glanced in her direction, his gaze softened for a second before he looked away and faced Yara. "Do continue with the plan."

Yara chuckled inwardly. The others probably hadn’t noticed but she had.

Gerbaut wasn’t much of a talker, he wasn’t the type to comfort people with encouraging words either. Yet somehow, he had managed to pull Misha’s attention away from her worries. It seemed like he was taking care of his student in his own way.

"Ah, yes." She straightened and focused on the briefing. "Nyxie, Elyes, you’ll take the west tower as usual while Jules and I will take the remaining tower. We do things as we usually do."

Everyone nodded. The light atmosphere earlier disappeared now that the mission had begun.

"Let’s go." Gerbaut turned and walked away from the group.

Misha hurried after him. "Wait for me!"

Behind them, the others split off in different directions as well.