The old man made a lap around the dust-covered palace. The burly man trailing behind him snorted.

“What, are you reminiscing about the good old days, old man?”

“There is nothing to reminisce about here.”

“Huh. Still, didn’t you train a few apprentices in—” The man’s face grew a little pale as his impassive voice trailed off.

The old man was looking at him with cold eyes.

“I-It was a slip of the tongue. I apologize if you were offended.”

“Do not speak lightly about my apprentices.”

The man nodded and grumbled internally.

‘People say that he has no feelings, but he loves his students a disturbing amount.’ 

Well, that explained why he harbored so much resentment toward Specter. After all, the Player had killed all his students.

The man, Colonel Charbork, wiped the thin layer of sweat that condensed on his neck.

“Still, we somehow managed to succeed, thanks to you. To be honest, I thought it would fail,” he said.

“How amusing. Who is it that you think is capable of failure?”

The grand plan to connect the Floors was an operation decades in the making. They had received the blueprints from the demons, and the entirety...