"What do you mean by that?"

Like the careful knight he was, Keith asked for the precise meaning.

"The wave we're stopping right now is the second one."

"The second...? Are you saying there's a third?"

"If it only went up to three, we'd be lucky. There'll be a total of a hundred and eight waves, and they'll keep getting stronger. We can't stop them."

"How do you know that, Ian?"

It had been a while since he'd heard that question.

Ian pointed at the sky.

"The One up there told me. You know that."

"Yes. Of course."

Keith answered with equal seriousness.

For some reason, Ian felt as though he had actually said, That was part of the setting, wasn't it?

Shut up, auditory hallucination.

"We have to kill the Demon King."

He rose from his seat.

Sweeping a hand across the dungeon map, he knocked over the markers standing on it. They rolled across the table and tumbled off the edge.

"Before we get trapped here and die, we have to cut off the source of the attacks. That's the only way."

"So it was true after all. The Demon King is targeting the dungeon."

"Yeah."

"Is the Demon King truly targeting the dungeon?"

"What are you talking about?"

Hadn't Ian just said exactly that?

Keith remained perfectly serious.

"Isn't he targeting you?"

"What's the difference?"

Ian blinked in confusion.

"...?"

"If the dungeon collapses, I'll die too."

Keith's eyes widened.

Realizing the man had misunderstood something, Ian hurriedly corrected himself.

"I don't mean I'll follow it into death because the dungeon is precious to me."

If the dungeon fell, it was simply game over.

This world would end.

But as expected, a half explanation wasn't enough to convince Keith.

"If the dungeon falls into the hands of demons, were you planning to take your own life?"

Keith's voice trembled.

"No. Listen to me."

"I am not intelligent enough to understand if you speak indirectly. Please answer only yes or no. Without lies."

"I'm not going to kill myself!"

"Then why did you say something so horrifying about dying together with the dungeon?"

His interrogation was relentless.

Ian felt both bewildered and strangely warm inside.

Stop it.

When had anyone last worried about him?

The fact that such a thought could even occur to him felt absurd.

Ian tried to stay calm.

How was he supposed to explain, If the dungeon falls, a Game Over screen appears and everything shuts down. Not just me. You disappear from existence too.

So he resorted to an old method.

"The truth is, I received a mission from God."

"Surely...?"

"That's right."

Ian nodded.

"My mission is to protect this dungeon."

Since it was the main quest, it wasn't technically a lie.

But a spark suddenly ignited in Keith's blue eyes.

"If you fail to fulfill that mission, will God take your life?"

Did I accidentally press the fanaticism button?

Would he suddenly draw his sword and declare, God would never do such a thing, you false prophet?

It didn't seem like Keith, but Ian felt an urgent need to salvage the situation.

"That's not it."

"Then what is it?"

Keith's blue eyes fixed on him.

Without warning, Ian's mind went blank.

If he suddenly vanished from the world one day, there would be no one left to worry about him.

It was such an obvious fact that he'd never even needed to think about it.

Yet Keith was worried.

His expression was stiff with horror at the mere possibility.

"It just... happens."

Ian stumbled over the words.

No fabricated answer would come out.

"I know that it'll happen."

The moment he said it, he realized he'd made a mistake.

But Keith didn't press further.

"This place is your heart, and yet you're saying you'll leave your heart behind and march against the Demon King?"

"If we want to protect the dungeon, we have to kill the Demon King."

"But if the dungeon falls, you'll die."

So that's what he was getting at.

Ian folded his arms.

"Do I really look like someone who'd throw away his own life?"

"Yes."

Keith answered without even a second of hesitation.

Seriously...?

What was he supposed to do when the man answered that quickly?

"I'm keeping you off the battlefield and observing the situation because my life is precious! I'm only suggesting we move because I think we can trust the alliance to handle things here. What exactly do you want? To sit in a corner and get crushed to death by mamool?"

"I will kill the Demon King."

"What?"

"I will lead the Holy Knights to the Demon King's castle. That is likely the reason I have remained alive until now."

"What kind of nonsense is that?"

Ian couldn't understand where this grand talk about a reason for living was coming from.

"When my homeland was trampled beneath enemy feet, I alone survived. When I was branded a traitor and stabbed in the back, I survived. Not only that, but throughout my long years wandering battlefields as Commander of the Holy Knights, crossing the boundary between life and death and losing countless comrades, I always returned safely to the Vatican. It was God's protection. If He has preserved this insignificant life so carefully, then it must be because the mission given to me has not yet been fulfilled."

"Yeah. Cut the bullshit."

"..."

Keith's composed expression faltered.

When spoken to politely, this idiot never listened, so Ian's language naturally became rougher.

"I've survived death more than a few times myself. Now that I think about it, it must've been because I had a mission too."

"..."

"My mission was to kill the Demon King."

"Ian, just because you force it to sound plausible doesn't make it true..."

"Then stop saying blasphemous nonsense and say, 'Yes, understood'! I'm using the exact same logic you are to justify killing the Demon King, so why do you keep arguing?"

"Didn't you just make up that excuse after hearing my story...?"

Sharp bastard.

"Are you doubting God's messenger?"

"No..."

"You think I'm marching into the Demon King's castle because I want to?"

Ian snapped.

Words he couldn't say to Keith rose all the way to his throat.

He was tired of trembling and feeling guilty over deaths that were no longer happening behind a screen.

Even while planning the defense battle, he couldn't shake the feeling that he was deciding exactly where each person would die.

He hadn't chosen to end up here.

He hadn't chosen to become responsible for so many lives.

But even outside the game, nothing in Ian's life had happened because he wanted it.

His parents died.

No relatives reached out a hand.

He ended up in an orphanage.

He pretended to be strong because that was the only way to protect himself.

Jung Iwon had always struck first to protect himself.

Even now, he was doing the same thing.

If he had been the sort of person who could quietly step back and stay out of trouble, he never would've become a game addict and ended up trapped inside one in the first place.

When some bastard acted like a bastard, he couldn't ignore it. That's how his life had turned out. What was he supposed to do about it now? Being foul tempered was simply in his nature.

"I don't want to leave everyone behind here and walk away. I want to command the battle myself. Their chances of survival will be much higher that way."

For once, Ian spoke honestly.

"And I'm scared of taking you for granted."

Scared that I might get you killed.

Words like scared and afraid were unfamiliar to him.

But he knew Keith would listen without dismissing them.

Meeting those blue eyes head on, Ian continued.

"The Demon King's castle? Of course it's more dangerous than the dungeon. So what, are we supposed to hide in a corner of the dungeon and wait until everyone dies? If there's only one way to survive, then that's the choice we have to make."

A second passed that felt like a year.

Then Keith finally spoke.

"Yes. You are right, Ian."

Good.

Ian drove the point home.

"We might die."

"..."

"Even so, come with me. I need you."

Cutting off whatever Keith was about to say, Ian made his request.

Keith was tall enough that Ian had to tilt his head up to meet his eyes.

A mission bestowed by God.

Practical necessity.

And finally, a personal request.

He won't be able to refuse.

That was simply the kind of person Keith was.

The moment Keith's expression twisted in resignation, Ian knew he had won.

"Of course. Am I not the one who protects you?"

Just as expected.

Too damn nice.

A smile spread across Ian's face.

Rising onto his toes, he kissed Keith.

Live together.

Or die together.

Either way, Keith's fate was now bound to Ian's.

Ian couldn't bear the thought of throwing Keith alone into the Demon King's castle and then sleeping soundly elsewhere.

If that was the case, then the least he could do was keep him where he could see him alive with his own eyes.

"We don't need the Holy Knights. I've already got a list of people in mind for the assault on the Demon King's castle."

"No one is better at fighting mamool than the Holy Knights."

"Your tactics are too inflexible. And they're way too loud."

"We are loud...?!"

Keith was just beginning to protest when the bronze mirror rippled.