Tsunami

"Even so, you're not thinking of going in right now, are you?"

"...No."

So the line about there still being things to farm—the excuse she'd used to send me out ahead—had been a lie. Don't feel guilty. Just escape. As if I could pretend I hadn't heard that. I had to help her.

"Then how about this?"

"How about what?"

"This time we farm as much as we can, and next time we climb together."

A first-floor start was solo random matchmaking and nothing else. The second floor, though, let you enter as a party from the very start. There was a condition, of course. You had to have already reached the second floor and escaped it. That was the requirement for a second-floor start. If we made it out of here, the condition would be met.

"I'll have to refuse. There's no need for you to take a risk like that, Jaeha."

"Isn't that the same for you? You helped me too, Sia. You gave me time you barely had to spare."

"I was only helping while I did what I was already going to do."

Happy to give help and take it, and still she tried to turn this down. She really was like a prim little cat.

"Let's put the answer off until after we escape. You never know. I might walk out of here with a cheat-tier unique skill."

I might actually get ridiculously strong, you know?

"A unique skill?"

"Ah."

Right. I'd been hiding the fact that this was my first time in the Tower. And a veteran hunter like Yoo Sia still hadn't caught on. Maybe I really was some kind of talent monster.

"Jaeha, what on earth is going on?"

Sia's glare looked ready to burn straight through that motorcycle helmet.

"Ugh. I should've forced you out back then."

Better to keep quiet for now. Forgiveness was easier than ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠permission.

"How about we think about nothing but escaping for the moment? We can take our time deciding how to clear the major hospital."

"Haah, honestly. Fine. Then we think about escaping first."

"And farm, if we can."

"All right. But safety comes first."

"Yes, ma'am. I'll follow your lead and no one else's."

I'd been caught as a first-timer, but that was fine. It had loosened an atmosphere that might otherwise have turned heavy.

Oh, right.

"By the way, what's your skill, Sia?"

"It's called Adrenaline. The worse the crisis, the more my physical abilities multiply."

Ah. So that was it. I'd wondered why she insisted on fighting everything head-on.

"But the more my body is amplified, the more fatigue piles up, so I have to manage my condition."

"Then you didn't really need to pick a full-on fight every single time, did you?"

Even if there was a drink that took the edge off the fatigue, it wasn't infinite.

"Because the major hospital is my goal."

"Ah."

Had she been training for it? Don't tell me she'd meant to go in alone. Because her body would be amplified that far? Reckless, sure, but not impossible.

If I'm going to be any help at all, a broken skill had better drop.

We went back to farming. The building was only open up through the third floor, which was a mercy. If every floor had been accessible, it would have been packed with that many more zombies. The first floor had already been picked over, however roughly, by hunters who'd escaped, so there was nothing worth taking. On the second floor, though—

"A key!"

A key had dropped.

This isn't something that shows up often. There were hunters who claimed they'd never gotten a single one. Scan first!

I ran it through the Tower of Calamity app.

"Aaah! Ah...."

A common safe key.

No. This isn't something to mope over. This alone is already a jackpot. And the hope of a mega-jackpot was still alive. A C-Grade safe didn't guarantee a C-Grade item. By the same token, a common safe didn't mean no items at all. Maybe this time too?

No. Don't get my hopes up. I'd already taken plenty. Have a little conscience.

For now—

"Sia."

"Yes?"

Yoo Sia, who'd been searching the far side, turned around.

Heh. She answers right away now. It was like taming a stray cat, and the thought made me smile. She still hadn't let ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠her guard down completely, though.

"What is it?"

When I didn't answer, she eyed me with open suspicion.

"Ta-da."

I showed her the key.

"Aaaah!"

Sure enough, even the great Yoo Sia was delighted.

"Seeing this, doesn't it feel like we've taken a step closer to the major hospital?"

I asked it with a sly grin.

"Hmph. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Let's just find the safe."

She turned away, cool as ever. I couldn't see her face, but to me it looked like she was grumbling on purpose.

We climbed to the third floor and were midway through the search when her voice rang out.

"Found it!"

"Did you scan it?"

"Yes. It's a common safe."

"Nice!"

My luck was really carrying me today.

"Then I'll open it!"

"Hurry up and open it!"

Her voice had climbed a notch. She was pretty excited too. I slid the key in, turned it halfway—clunk—then the rest of the way. Click. The moment the lock released, I threw it open and scanned.

"Holy shit! D-Grade!!"

"Aaaah!"

A D-Grade item had actually dropped. I hadn't even hoped for this!

"No way!"

Sia was just as stunned. Definitely a jackpot. But—

"Do common safes normally drop D-Grade gear?"

"Absolutely not! At least, never from any common safe I've opened. Forget D-Grade. Even E-Grade barely shows up."

Not a jackpot, then. A mega-jackpot.

"Kahaha. Is that all it takes? D-Grade drops pretty often for me."

I started showing off at once. Smug, smug.

"D-Grade... drops often?"

Her voice sounded, somehow, angry.

"Ah, it's nothing. I'm just a little lucky."

"Lucky...?"

"Ah. Sorry."

Keep bragging and I'd catch a fist. Better check the option first.

Footsteps disappear for thirty seconds when you trigger it? The effect didn't quite click. Hmm. Kind of ambiguous. Thanks to Quiet Footsteps, I already barely made a sound. How dramatic a difference could wearing these really make?

"The option is insanely good."

"Oh, really? It's that good?"

Seeing her reaction, I couldn't hold the bragging in. If she hit me, I'd just take it.

"Of course! Imagine running down the road without making a sound."

Ah! It wouldn't make a sound even while I was running!

This is actually insane?!

The moment I thought about running, the boots were practically a spare life. Outrunning zombies was no easy thing. Their vision was blurry, but they were keen to sound, and once you started running, other zombies got added in. Fleeing only called down a bigger threat. But if you ran in the Ghost Boots? No footfalls, so the ones chasing you would lose the trail. No adds, either. You could sprint between sleeping zombies. And that wasn't the end of it. Combat noise would drop drastically too.

I'd been thinking way too one-dimensionally. Sia's eye for gear was incredible. To think of running on top of everything. Ever since I'd entered the Tower I'd done nothing but creep, so it hadn't even occurred to me.

Then these boots—

"Take them."

"What?"

"I think these suit you better, Sia."

"What are you saying! Of course you should use them, Jaeha!"

Triggering Adrenaline forced an all-out fight. To use the skill, she had to put herself in danger. But with the Ghost Boots, even if she fell into a crisis, she could get back out.

"Doesn't it look more useful if you wear them?"

"Absolutely not. You found them, so you should have them."

She had to want them. She'd know better than anyone how well they'd fit her, and still she drew the line this firmly. That only made me want to give them to her more, if only for the sake of teasing her.

"You're not going to the major hospital?"

"Ngh."

"The stronger you get, the safer I am. And the safer we are, the more chances we'll have to farm."

If we'd been about to say our goodbyes right then, I wouldn't have given them up either.

"I'm not just handing them over. When something that suits me drops, pay me back then. We're going to keep farming anyway, aren't we?"

"Even so...."

Even after all that, Sia hesitated. I caught her hand and set the Ghost Boots on her palm.

"Hurry up and put them on so we can test them. I'm curious."

"Aagh, what am I supposed to do!"

Still torn, she fidgeted and trembled, and the sight pulled a laugh out of me.

"Pfft!"

"Don't laugh! Ugh, fine. I will pay you back for these."

"Of course. With interest."

"Fiiine...."

To think I could put Yoo Sia in my debt. I was kind of amazing, wasn't I?

"Then shall I try running?"

"Go ahead."

She broke into a run at once. As expected, with no crisis to feed the skill, her speed had fallen off badly. But—

"Huh?"

Watching her run, a fierce sense of wrongness hit me. She was really running, and there wasn't a sound.

"These are seriously good. There's no sound at all."

"Wow. You might as well be an assassin. I'll turn my back, so run up and tap my shoulder."

Tap.

"Wha—?!"

The touch landed the instant the words ended. I hadn't felt a single trace of her.

"This is seriously insane...."

If even a person couldn't sense her, then a zombie? Somehow it felt like Sia was smiling. Ah. I kind of wanted those now.

I decided to take the rest of the loot. I peeled off the magazines I'd padded my legs with and strapped on the MTB gear—knee and shin guards meant for mountain biking.

Yeah. Way sturdier than the makeshift padding. The lining was soft, so they felt good to wear. I'll sell the diamond ring once we're out. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠The cash is a little awkward. Maybe because I'd already cleaned out a bank once, it didn't stir anything in me.

"Shall we get moving?"

"Yes."

First I pulled up the map.

Somewhere worth going next... we need to get clear of this area, at least. We had to get off the roadside, if nothing else.

KWOOOOAAARGH!

UWOOOOAAAHHH!

Damn it. Run. Of all places, here!

KYAAAAK!

A shout tore through the air without warning.

"It's from the road!"

I went to the window and looked down. Two people were sprinting toward this building.

Don't tell me—because of the exit?

They didn't seem to know it had already closed. On the way in, the glare would have kept them from turning their phones on. An exit's shutdown started its count the moment someone went through, so if you were lucky you could still escape even arriving late. They must have come clinging to that hope. And in the end, they'd made a mistake.

At first it would have been nothing but a faint noise. But starting from that, an awakened zombie cried out, and the startled survivors' screams woke the sleeping city. On the black, dead asphalt—their path forward and their path back, the barricades of stacked furniture, the chain-link fences, the depths of alleys branching in every direction, the buildings packed full of them—an unstoppable chain of madness. Nowhere in any of it was there a road that would let them live. A pitch-black carpet of asphalt. That would be their final stop.

"We have to get out, now!"

She was right. Stay here and that tsunami would swallow us for sure. But going out like this was just as dangerous.

"Wait a second!"

I'd known a crisis like this would come someday. Good thing I brought this. It was a mannequin I'd already rigged. I lashed the cable running from it to a piece of furniture.

"What are you doing?! There's no time!"

"It's already too late to go out now!"

I duct-taped a noisy toy to the mannequin. The moment I switched it on—whirrr, whirrr, bwoop, bwoop—I hurled it out the window.

"This way!"

I grabbed Sia's hand at once and ran for a corner of the office. This should do. A steel cabinet.

"Get in here."

"What?!"

I pulled the hesitating Sia into my arms, climbed into the cabinet, shut the door, and threw my weight against it.

BANG!

The cabinet toppled, opening flat against the floor.

"Kh!"

I took the impact in full.

"Aah."

Startled by the sudden embrace, Sia squirmed.

"Shh."

I wanted to help the survivors being chased, if I could. But that was a current far too vast to stand against.

"KWEEEEEECK!"

"KURRRAAAAGH!"

"GWWOOOOOT!"

"KYAAAAAAAH!"

From within that tsunami, the survivors' screams drifted in, faint and far. Listening to them, I thought of death for the first time since entering the Tower. It might be a future waiting for us, so long as the major hospital remained the goal. Sia must have thought the same. Her body trembled, just a little.

THOOM, THOOM, THOOM, THOOM!!

KRASH! CRACK!

Shatter. Crunch. Crack.

In the end the enormous wave crashed into the building itself.

"GWWOOOOOOAR!"

"Krrrrrk!"

"KUWEEEECK!"

That tsunami could never be controlled. Stimulated by one another's noise, they seemed seized by madness, sprinting wildly in every direction. Crash. Crunch. Thoom, thoom. The sound of shattering, begun on the first floor, climbed the stairs toward us.

All we could do was hold our breath, clinging to each other's warmth.

Please. Let this enormous wave pass us by.