Chapter 87 – The Watchers Beneath the Stars

The forty-second floor was quiet.
Too quiet.

Not the uneasy silence of an ambush.
Not the heavy silence that came before a battle.

This silence felt ancient.
As though countless years had passed beneath the endless night sky without a single disturbance.

For three days Team Snail traveled beneath the stars.
The moon never moved.
The stars never changed.
No sunrise came.
No sunset followed.

Time itself felt strange here.

Even Mira eventually stopped asking what time it was.

“At this point,” she declared while sitting beside a campfire, “I think the answer is always night.”

Aerin nodded seriously.

“Reasonable.”

Mira threw a piece of wood at him.

The mysterious man looked away to hide a smile.

Even Kael’s lips twitched slightly.

Moments like these had become more common.

Months ago they had been companions.
Then teammates.
Now they felt closer to family.

A strange family.
But family nonetheless.

The next morning they continued following the faint guidance inside the crystal sphere.
The light within it pulsed occasionally.
Always pointing toward the same distant direction.

Kael still kept most of its secrets to herself.
Not because she distrusted the others.
Because she still didn’t understand them.

And she refused to burden them with uncertainties.

Around midday, Aerin suddenly stopped walking.

His hand moved toward his sword.

“Something’s watching us.”

Everyone immediately became alert.

Mira scanned the surroundings.

The plain stretched endlessly.
Empty.

“No monsters.”
She whispered.

The mysterious man narrowed his eyes.

“I feel it too.”

For several minutes they remained still.
Listening.
Watching.
Waiting.

Then they saw them.

Dozens of figures standing far away.

Motionless.

Human-shaped silhouettes.

Watching.

Mira instantly moved closer to the group.

“I don’t like that.”

Nobody disagreed.

The figures remained distant.
Neither approaching nor retreating.

Just watching.

Hours passed.
The watchers followed.

Whenever Team Snail moved, the figures moved.
Always maintaining distance.
Always observing.

By evening even Aerin looked uncomfortable.

That alone worried Kael.

Eventually Mira lost patience.

“Can I hit one?”

“No.”
Kael answered.

“What if I hit it politely?”

“No.”

“What if—”

“No.”

Mira sighed dramatically.

The mysterious man quietly looked toward the distant silhouettes.

“They aren’t hostile.”

“How do you know?”
Mira asked.

“I don’t.”

That answer didn’t help.

At all.

The fourth day brought answers.
Or at least part of them.

Team Snail discovered a massive stone structure rising from the plain.

A city.

Or what remained of one.

Ancient buildings stretched across the horizon.
Broken towers.
Collapsed walls.
Ruined roads.

The entire city looked abandoned.

Yet not destroyed.

Forgotten.

Kael immediately became interested.

Ruins meant history.
And history often meant answers.

The moment they entered the city, the watchers disappeared.

Every single one.

Gone.

As though they had been waiting for Team Snail to arrive here.

Mira noticed first.

“They’re gone.”

Nobody felt relieved.

If anything, the situation became stranger.

The city remained silent.

Not even monsters appeared.

They spent hours exploring.
Mapping roads.
Examining structures.
Searching for clues.

Then Aerin discovered something.

A mural.

An enormous one carved into the side of a ruined building.

The moment Kael saw it, she froze.

The mural depicted a tower.

Not similar to their Tower.
The Tower.

There was no mistaking it.

The same structure.
The same shape.

And surrounding it—
People.
Hundreds of them.
Perhaps thousands.

The strange part wasn’t the people.

The strange part was their position.

They weren’t climbing.

They were kneeling.

Facing the Tower.

As if worshipping it.

Mira stared at the mural.

“…that’s creepy.”

Aerin nodded.

“A little.”

The mysterious man’s expression became unusually serious.

Kael approached the mural slowly.

Then she noticed another detail.

At the very center stood a single figure.

Not kneeling.

Standing.

Facing the Tower.

Unlike the others.

And in that figure’s hands rested a sphere.

A crystal sphere.

Incomplete.

Missing pieces.

Exactly like hers.

Kael’s heartbeat accelerated.

For the first time in months, she felt genuine shock.

Because this wasn’t coincidence anymore.

The shards existed before.
Long before.

Someone had carried them.
Used them.
Needed them.

Perhaps even completed them.

The discovery raised more questions than answers.

As always.

That evening they camped inside one of the ancient buildings.

Nobody slept easily.

The mural remained fresh in everyone’s thoughts.

Especially Kael’s.

After the others fell asleep, she quietly left camp.

The crystal sphere rested in her hands.

The moonlight illuminated its surface.

For several minutes she simply stared at it.
Thinking.

Then something unexpected happened.

The sphere pulsed.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

A beam of light emerged.

Not powerful.
Not bright.

Gentle.

The beam pointed toward the center of the ruined city.

Kael immediately stood.

The final shard.

It wasn’t on another floor.

Not yet.

Something connected to it existed here.

She hesitated.

Then glanced back toward the sleeping camp.

Normally she would investigate alone.

Months ago she wouldn’t have thought twice.

Now?

Now things were different.

She quietly returned.
Then crouched beside the fire.

“Aerin.”

His eyes opened instantly.

“Mira.”

She groaned.

“Five more minutes.”

“No.”

The mysterious man’s eyes were already open.

As if he hadn’t been sleeping at all.

Kael looked at them.

Then held up the glowing sphere.

For the first time in a long while—
She didn’t choose to investigate alone.

“We’re going together.”

And under the eternal stars of the forty-second floor, Team Snail followed the crystal’s light toward whatever had been waiting in the ruins for countless years.