“What… What do you mean, an accident? That was clearly—”

“Silence, girl.”

Meanwhile, aboveground, trouble was brewing.

“I will not be silent! The attack that got Ziel involved was clearly not an accident! It was a deliberate strike!”

“And if it was, so what?”

This confrontation stemmed from a comment Godach made, calling the incident an “unfortunate accident.”

Godach’s devastating blow using his Demonic Sword Release—which caused the floor boss and Ziel, the party’s key swordsman, to plunge into the lower depths—had set off the chain of events.

Godach’s dismissive words, uttered after witnessing the scene, ignited Klaha’s courage.

“I’ll report this to the guild. An attack on a member from behind constitutes grounds for adventurer deregistration under Article Nine, Section One. Furthermore, harm caused within a labyrinth is only exempt from punishment in cases of negligence or emergency… If it was intentional, it’s a criminal offense.”

Godach shot Klaha a sharp glare.

But Klaha stood firm, refusing to yield even an inch to his piercing gaze. Though her nerves betrayed her with a bead or two of cold sweat, she stood unwavering.

That was why—

“You little—”

“Well-read, aren’t you? For someone so useless… or perhaps because you’re useless?”

Godach’s right hand clamped down on her cheek with force.

“Let… go…”

“That was an emergency,” Godach said in a low voice. “We couldn’t have defeated the third floor’s boss using standard methods.”

He continued, “I had to use my Demonic Sword Release immediately. The young fool was at fault. Despite facing such a formidable opponent, he stuck rigidly to the initial strategy. He couldn’t even gauge the enemy’s strength. I won’t sacrifice my precious party for an idiot like that.”

“You dare—!”

Klaha knew the truth.

It was deliberate—he had deliberately abandoned Ziel.

The third floor’s boss was, indeed, overwhelming, even to her eyes.

But Ziel had been holding his own, matching the boss blow for blow.

If they had supported him from the rear, they could have gained an advantage. With the front line managing to restrain the boss so effectively, it was even conceivable that they might have broken through nearly unscathed.

The Demonic Sword Release had been unnecessary. Even someone of her skill level could see that. Godach, the leader of an S-rank party, could not have missed it.

Tears welled in her eyes, but even so, Klaha glared at the towering man before her. She knew full well that if he applied enough force, he could easily shatter her jaw and leave her to die here. Yet, she mustered every ounce of her resolve.

“No matter how much you try to talk your way out of this, there are witn—”

“Where are they?”

Godach glanced around.

Following his gaze, Klaha scanned the room.

Not a single pair of eyes met hers.

Everyone avoided her gaze, staring down as though struggling under the weight of guilt.

“You all saw it, didn’t you? You must have—”

“No one saw anything.”

Godach crushed Klaha’s protests with his words.

“It’s your delusion, you useless wretch. No one—no one here saw what you claim to have seen.”

“――――”

Speechless, Klaha was hurled to the ground by Godach.

By the time she raised her head with a groan, he had already turned away.

“We’re withdrawing. If defeating the likes of a third-floor boss requires Demonic Sword Release, this labyrinth is beyond us. The expedition is over.”

“You’re abandoning him—no, you’re killing him! Killing Ziel!”

Godach gave no reply.

The members of The Next Apex followed him out of the main chamber. None of them spared so much as a glance toward the lower floor where the Dragon Slayer swordsman had fallen, their departure heavy with gloom.

As Klaha bit her lip in frustration, a voice called out to her.

“Get up. If you’re left behind, you’ll die in no time.”

“…Holland.”

The voice belonged to Holland, a veteran archer and one of the main raiders. In his forties, around the same age as Godach, he wore his long hair tied back and sported a scruffy beard.

He extended his hand to her, but instead of taking it, Klaha asked,

“Why… Why didn’t anyone…?”

“We had no choice,” Holland said, his expression bitter.

“There’s only one S-rank party in this country. For an adventurer, this is the pinnacle. If we anger Godach, we’ll lose that status immediately.”

“For something like that—”

“Something like that,” he said. “I’ve got a wife and kids your age. If Godach tells us to ‘look the other way,’ then that’s what we do. No matter how suspicious it seems. This is a job where you earn while you can. Not many people are willing to let go of that.”

With a sigh, Holland grabbed Klaha’s hand and pulled her to her feet.

“Even a hero like that young man ends up like this after being stabbed in the back by his comrades… I can’t afford to die yet.”

“…”

The party retreated.

None of them spared a single glance toward the lower floor where the Dragon Slayer had fallen, their faces dark with despair.

“I…”

Walking beside Holland, a single tear traced Klaha’s cheek.

“This isn’t why I became an adventurer…”

“…Sorry. All I can show you is the sorry backs of professional adventurers like us.”

After returning to the party’s quarters, however, Klaha didn’t submit her resignation.

She hated being part of such a party—of that, she was certain. But more than that…

She knew that leaving The Next Apex, an S-rank party, meant she would never again set foot in the highest-difficulty labyrinth, Abbyss. Her abilities simply weren’t enough.

Someday, she thought.

Someday, when I can explore that labyrinth again—when we venture into its depths.

At least then, I can recover his remains.

She knew he couldn’t still be alive. No dream could be so absurdly convenient. The Demonic Sword Release had swept him into the abyss along with the boss. The odds of surviving even a single day in the unexplored depths of the labyrinth were nonexistent. She understood. She had given up hope.

But still…

If only she could retrieve even a fragment of the man who had protected her, the man who had promised to teach her the sword, and bring it back to the surface.

And so Klaha chose to remain with The Next Apex.

She chose to stay under the leadership of the heartless man, Godach.

But her hopes would not come to fruition.

Without ever returning to Abbyss, three months would quietly pass.