Chapter 78
The inside of the tower gave me an odd sense of déjà vu.
‘Ah, that’s it. It looks like one of those old-school FPS game buildings.’
Those places usually had a military base theme—lockers here and there, with things like combat rations stuffed inside.
“There’s something strange here, Sir Sian!”
Sian, who had been walking around with a tense expression, relaxed a little at my calm tone.
But the moment he realized I was about to open one of the lockers, he hurriedly stopped me.
“It’s dangerous, my lady. You never know what kind of small monster might be hiding in there. Why would you open such a thing?”
Because I’m curious. Isn’t that what everyone does—open things just to see what’s inside?
As it turned out, there were combat rations inside.
Maybe it was the developer’s twisted sense of humor, but they looked suspiciously like chocolate bars. I had no desire to actually eat them, though.
On one wall, there were several mechanical devices and buttons—most likely powered by mana.
‘And, as usual, they’re probably broken.’
Sure enough, none of them were powered on.
[Tactician Sian’s favorability has increased.]
Judging by the situation, Sian was slightly off guard right now—almost as if he believed I was his savior.
The incessant ping of favorability notifications was driving me crazy, so I turned them off.
‘And now they won’t even go down anymore.’
The first enemies were archers.
While we were stuck in the frontline tower, Yeniel, Max, and the crown prince had already slipped safely into the banquet hall.
Sian, who had no spirit companion, was useless to me.
Then an arrow whistled past from outside.
“An arrow? Arrows are flying from outside!”
Sian, confused, soon froze as a rain of arrows poured down like mad.
In Normal Mode, you had to fight your way through the archers. Back then, I didn’t even realize they were archers—
Because their forms didn’t appear.
I just thought it was a bunch of monsters that happened to shoot arrows.
You could dodge every arrow as long as you hid behind a wall.
The arrows came at short, regular intervals, so once the rain stopped, you could sprint out and take down the enemies easily.
Once their arrows ran out, the archers were completely defenseless.
That was when you moved in for the kill.
You could either kill them or spare them, but sparing them just handed the opposing faction free points—never a good idea.
And every time the other faction won one of the Tower Defense rounds, a victory line would play.
For villainess Evelyn, it went like this:
Evelyn would cross her arms, tilt her chin proudly, and sneer—
[As expected, Lady Yeniel is such a fool. She’ll never surpass me.]
That line was infuriating—but not unbearable.
Yeniel’s lines, though, were truly blood-pressure-raising.
[It’s all right, Lady Devnoa. If you don’t know something, you can always learn.]
And she’d say it with that pitying expression—like she was looking at a poor, helpless soul.
Yeniel had an absurd number of taunt lines, so you got to hear a wide variety of her smug remarks.
Back then, I’d get genuinely angry.
From Evelyn’s point of view, Yeniel was unbearably annoying.
Every single time she said something, she’d question why Evelyn said it—and if Evelyn couldn’t answer, Yeniel would immediately go and tattle to others.
That would raise the Suspicion Meter.
No wonder people said that every bad ending in Evelyn’s route happened because of Yeniel.
So yes, I hated her.
Of course, at the time, I didn’t know much about her. I just whined to my brother, wondering why a horror game was trying to give me high blood pressure instead of scares.
The arrow rain didn’t stop. Now, flaming arrows dipped in oil were being fired too.
Worse—poisoned arrows were mixed in.
“My lady, don’t breathe it in! It’s a deadly toxin—one from a thousand years ago! No one would use something like this unless they truly intended to kill!”
“Deadly?”
“It’s not meant for demons—it was made to fight humans a thousand years ago. So many people died to this poison. So many… mostly traitors.”
Traitors—those who must have refused the throne of Aquilium, then?
At least the fire arrows weren’t dangerous; the defense towers were built of ordinary brick.
Sian’s lips trembled as he muttered,
“If this poison had struck, the Archmage’s entire mansion would’ve rotted from the fumes. The range is vast. What we’re facing now—it’s something that’s already happened before. I think I finally understand why the Archmage seeks revenge on us.”
I’d already known the world was cruel.
And I remembered.
That funeral was silent.
Synchronizing…
It came too suddenly.
Normally, a ceremony like that would have been more solemn, attended by family and friends.
No one had imagined that Lee Seo-woo, perfectly fine until now, would decline so quickly.
The sky itself seemed to mirror that grief—half blue, half gray, torn between sun and rain.
Under the cloudless, pristine half of the sky, I stared down at the coffin in horror.
Inside lay someone who had closed his eyes forever.
The calm, unsmiling face didn’t match the memory of the brother who always laughed when he looked at me.
Lee Seo-woo hadn’t returned to the real world, even in death.
The shadowy sky of the inner world remained unchanged, and a chilling wind rustled the forget-me-nots someone had left behind.
I knelt beside the coffin and leaned toward my brother, who looked as if he were simply asleep.
“Seo-woo…”
My whisper drew no answer.
A faint trace of color lingered on his cheeks.
His eyelids, sealed shut, would never open again.
You seem like you could open your eyes any second now—smile that dumb smile at me again.
But the Archmage’s death was far too pitiful.
My eyelashes trembled as I closed my eyes, hoping the sound of the wind would hide the crack forming inside me.
“I’ll come for you. I promise.”
The hand of my dead brother was cold as ice. It was the first time I had ever held it.
The inner world—and the Archmage’s memories—would not end here.
They would fail.
When I opened my eyes again, there was no trace of fear or weakness left in me.
With a cold, sunken gaze, I gripped my sword.
Because I would make sure of it.
