"When did you get a girlfriend? And a beastwoman at that?"
The young woman with silky, dark hair and a pair of purple eyes stepped through the door.
"Adriana…"
Keres' eyes clouded over. Adriana Maxwelton, his dearest friend since arriving at the Tower City, and also the Guild Master of one of the Seven Guilds—The Silver Eagle.
"Yo." Adriana waved with a lazy smile and approached the two on the bed. Her smile soon turned teasing once Cecia looked at her with her eyes narrowed and a gaze promising vengeance for the slightest slip.
"You really found yourself a girlfriend? She looks like a lioness. Am I right~?"
"Stop with the sing-song tone, it's irritating."
Letting out a sigh at that bland response, Adriana shook her head and sat down on the edge of the bed.
"Alright, jokes aside, what's wrong with you?"
"Me?"
Keres asked lightly, even tilting his head and furrowing his eyebrows.
"There's nothing wrong with me. As far as I know, at least. Oh and," as if just realizing, he pointed to Cecia. "This is Cecia, my loyal subordinate from now on. And Cecia, this is Adriana, a dear friend."
"Soooo boring, always, never changing."
Adriana grumbled and happily shook hands with the reluctant Cecia, she then leaned to her ear and whispered something.
"What are you telling her?"
"Nothing!"
Despite saying that, Cecia's reaction of relaxing and becoming much more friendly toward Adriana indicated otherwise.
Although curious, Keres had no reason to dig deeper into this matter. Instead, he thought about what he should do.
Him, a lone person, a Ranker who was merely D at best and had nothing aside from experience, would surely not appeal to anyone to listen to.
But if he asked Adriana—
'Would she even believe me?'
Their friendship aside, what he was about to say was concerning the whole city. He had no proof, and everything would only go downhill if she lost her trust in him in the worst case scenario.
Just then, an idea popped in his head.
"The 46th floor."
"Keres? Are you okay over there?"
"If I cleared the 46th floor of the tower on my own and without any help, would you trust me?"
Adriana gave him a helpless smile.
"I know it has been concerning the Silver Eagle and everyone else but you don't need to push yourself to do this much."
"Just answer me, Adriana."
"You just can't do that, why are you–"
"Hypothetically speaking, let's say I can and I did. Will you trust me afterwards? Trust everything that I say, even when it sounds like something an unhinged, mentally deranged man would say?"
Keres pushed himself off the bed and held Adriana's face, forcing her to look straight at him. Cecia on the side narrowed her eyes but stayed still.
Adriana frowned.
Keres had never lied to her from the moment they had met. He had been her greatest supporter even when he himself wasn't all powerful. Even the establishment of the Silver Eagle wouldn't be possible without him.
Thus, naturally Adriana would always believe her dear friend. But the way he was making it sound made her hesitant.
Although worried, Adriana decided to follow her instincts. She felt that Keres wouldn't answer her questions even if she asked.
In the end, she nodded.
"I'll trust you if that's what you need. But still, you never answered me. What's wrong with you? You look like shit."
"Ah."
Keres let out a soft sigh and laughed lightly.
"Let's say I had a lucky encounter. One that ripped me apart before rebuilding me again."
Cecia nodded blankly, remembering the scene of him hunched over and coughing blood like he was vomiting.
"What kind of lucky encounter was that?"
With a smirk, Keres responded.
"Perhaps the one that'll allow me to clear the 46th floor."
┈┈┈┈＊┈┈┈┈＊┈┈┈┈
Standing before the door of the 46th floor, Keres looked at Cecia who came with him and sternly told her.
"You must stay here, the deal was me clearing this floor on my own. Even your help isn't accepted, Cecia."
Cecia appeared unconvinced. "Will you be alright, Master?"
Keres looked at the large, violet door with intricate engravings of runic language and shrugged.
"This place is safer than what you may think. And don't forget, I'm not that weak anymore."
Cecia nodded and stepped back.
With a deep breath, Keres stepped forward and touched the door, "Ranker Keres requests entry to the 46th floor."
[Ranker status confirmed]
[The 46th floor, the Endless labyrinth, is opening]
[Success: The 46th floor cleared, additional rewards would be granted according to the performance]
[Failure: Being lost forever in the endless labyrinth]
[Surrender: Possible]
A half-transparent window containing the information regarding the floor appeared once his status was confirmed. Then, the Tower System requested.
[Please state the number of the people attempting to clear the floor]
"Only me, no one else."
[Understood]
Opening with a blinding light, the door swallowed Keres inside, leaving Cecia behind to wait until her master come out of this floor.
Once inside, Keres found himself in a dark garden. Poison ivy wrapped against each other and against the stone walls, creating a labyrinth.
In front of its gate stood a young child clothed in a tattered cloak.
"Welcome to the Endless Labyrinth, Ranker Keres."
"Hello, Erene."
The little girl's red eyes widened in surprise, looking at Keres with furrowed eyebrows.
"How come this esteemed Ranker knows my name?"
"Ah, right, you were still a prisoner at this time."
With a soft smile, Keres crouched before the little girl and pulled her cloak away from her.
On her back, a pair of broken black wings fluttered weakly. She froze in surprise while looking warily at Keres.
"Prisoner? What do you mean?"
'I meant you, Erene. Our Guardian Death Angel.'
However, he couldn't reveal this important information yet.
Keres couldn't tell her about how she had broken free from her chains with the 46th floor and became their Guardian Angel who brought death to many catastrophes that endangered the Tower City.
Erene was the first line of defense against them—she was the true Guardian of the Tower.