The black gravity bomb exploded, tearing the sky apart.
Within the galaxy-like waves of gravity, the night sky itself shook violently.
But—the emotion in those massive eyes wasn't fear or anger.
It was closer to 'interest.'
"■■■■■■-!!!"
When the "Silent Deep Night" emitted a strange wavelength, the surrounding stars began to vibrate in unison.
Soon after, flashes of light poured down from thousands, tens of thousands of stars simultaneously.
A concentrated beam raining down from the entire night sky!
"[Density Barrier]."
But Crow calmly formed a gravity field with his left hand, wrapping it around his body.
However, the energy density contained in the pouring beams was beyond what a simple defense could handle.
A pressure like the weight of the universe pressed down on him.
He couldn't hold out like this.
"[Gravity Dispersion]."
Crow immediately scattered gravity around him, simultaneously creating dozens of small black holes.
The beams bent, curved, and twisted in the gravitational distortion.
Trajectories aimed at death began to narrowly miss their mark.
Thus, barely breaking through the gaps in the attack, Crow continued his vertical ascent.
In a split second, he emitted another [Diffuse Gravity Wave] to reduce his speed, and landed upside down on the 'top' of the night sky.
And he was certain.
This night sky had substance.
Though it appeared to be sky, it was clearly an entity composed of 'physical matter.'
Which meant—it couldn't escape the laws of physics.
"Got you."
Crow grabbed the night sky of the "Silent Deep Night" with both hands and activated the most powerful skill he could use.
"[Gravity Collapse]."
At that moment—
-KUOOOOOOOOO!!!
As all gravity vectors applied to the "Silent Deep Night" collapsed, the surrounding night sky began to twist and compress as if being crumpled.
"■■■■■■■■■■■—!!!?!?!?!?"
A wavelength like a monster's scream echoed throughout the entire night sky.
Confusion, fear, and—a sense of crisis.
The "Silent Deep Night" began to panic greatly.
However, Crow's real attack was just beginning.
"[Supernova Explosion]."
The final stage induced by gravity collapse when nuclear fusion in a star's core stops.
The most powerful and terrible explosion caused by gravitational collapse.
Crow used [Gravity Collapse] to forcibly create those conditions and trigger it.
The "Silent Deep Night" tried to emit beams of light once more to counterattack, but.
"[Wormhole]."
Crow had already calmly thrown himself into a wormhole.
And then—
-TUKWAAAAAAAAAANG!!!
Explosion.
A shockwave powerful enough to cover the entire 95th floor tore through the night sky.
In an instant, darkness became as bright as day, and even the plains on the ground were flipped over and devastated.
Though weaker than an actual cosmic supernova, its power was absurdly strong enough to obliterate the entire floor.
And so—
The night sky disappeared, and the entire 95th floor went dark.
------
Tricia was holding her breath, staring at the crystal ball.
The 95th floor inside the crystal ball had long lost its original form due to the tremendous explosion.
The [Warp Point], however, was still installed in its original position, presumably protected by the System.
'...Wow, I didn't expect it to turn out like this.'
Tricia recalled the battle scene from moments ago.
Even for someone who had awakened as a Climber, being able to freely control gravity was impressive.
But Tricia didn't evaluate Crow's battle solely on power.
'He has truly monstrous mental strength.'
The 95th floor boss, "Silent Deep Night."
That entity possessed powerful hypnotic abilities that could block surrounding senses, erase vision, and paralyze thought with just a slight release of its power.
But no hypnotic effect worked on Crow at all.
In fact, even without the hypnotic effect, anyone would be frightened seeing such a cosmic horror, but Crow wasn't scared at all.
Instead, Crow charged at the "Silent Deep Night" and unleashed a barrage of attacks.
This was also because if Crow hadn't attacked quickly, the "Silent Deep Night" would have grown stronger over time, putting Crow at a disadvantage.
But Crow responded with swift decisive action, resulting in feeding the "Silent Deep Night" a [Supernova Explosion].
This man's true weapons were his extreme mental strength and judgment born from experience.
"He's on a completely different level from the Climbers who first entered...!"
That was something beyond human limits.
The appearance of a true powerhouse, different from the ordinary [Climber] she had seen before.
Tricia was exclaiming in admiration while replaying the battle so far.
In her hands was an already empty popcorn container.
"Butler!"
"Yes!"
"Bring me another container of popcorn!"
"I'll bring it right away!"
How entertaining must it have been for her to finish one container and ask for a refill already.
"At times like this, I need cola!"
If there was one disappointing thing, it was that while they had implemented popcorn, they couldn't implement cola.
Fortunately, since sparkling water was available, she was drinking cider as a second-best option.
And with that, Tricia fully entered movie-watching mode!
By this point, even the butler was starting to worry.
"...Lady Tricia, didn't the 'Silent Deep Night' just get defeated?"
"Yes. That's right."
"...Pardon? Isn't that dangerous then?"
"Don't worry! It won't die!"
"...Excuse me?"
"That wasn't even its main body to begin with; its true form is elsewhere."
The butler was dumbfounded.
The main body is elsewhere?
"That creature caused a lot of trouble back when it was in Eriel, so my colleagues and I sealed it away. Afterward, we stuck it on the 95th floor like a glow-in-the-dark wall decoration... but unfortunately, the sealing effect weakened a bit when this place became a tower."
"Is that so?"
"So I just roughly set it up as the 95th floor boss. We can reseal it later!"
It seems she hadn't particularly cared for it as a colleague, but rather just sealed away a troublemaker and then repurposed it.
"Lady Tricia, then is the seal perhaps..."
"Yes. That night sky that just disappeared."
She manipulated the crystal ball with her hand and rewound to the battle scene from a few minutes ago.
Then, pointing at the vast night sky, she said:
"—This 'night sky' itself was the seal that was restraining it."
"...!!!"
At Tricia's bombshell statement, the butler was literally speechless.
"So that night sky... was sealing the monster?"
"That's right. It was quite a long time ago, so you probably don't know much about it, Butler."
"And now that the seal is broken... that Climber is going to die."
"Right? But since he'll revive if he dies, it's not such a big problem—"
Tricia's words stopped midway.
A thought flashed through her mind like lightning.
—That Climber didn't come up through the regular route from the 1st floor.
"...Revival buff!"
Which means... he doesn't have the revival buff!
In other words, if he dies here, it's permanent death.
Tricia's expression darkened.
To be honest, if that Climber died, she could obtain a large amount of Tower Coins.
So ordinarily, there would be no reason for her to intervene.
But—
'It would be a shame to let him die like this.'
If such a strong Climber were to die, it would likely cause an even bigger commotion soon.
A casualty in a place where revival is guaranteed?
That wasn't the picture Tricia wanted.
Her decision was made.
She couldn't let him die like this.
"Butler, I'm going to the 95th floor for a bit."
"...Pardon?"
Eriel Tricia spread her wings wide and headed for the 95th floor.
------
The completely devastated 95th floor.
At its center, a wormhole rippled, and Crow reappeared.
"...I've defeated it."
Fragmented earth, evaporated sky.
It was a brutal landscape where anyone would think the enemy couldn't possibly have survived.
However—something was strange.
Even though he had clearly defeated the "Silent Deep Night," the System hadn't announced the trial's completion.
Before he could wonder about it, another system window appeared before Crow's eyes.
But it wasn't a congratulatory message.
「The "Silent Deep Night" reveals its true form.」
"...What?"
Crow instinctively looked up to where the night sky had been.
There were no longer any stars or sky there.
All that remained was complete darkness where not even light could reach.
Void.
A world of nothingness where even eyes couldn't adapt.
But in that darkness, Crow saw something.
A form.
A single center into which everything was quietly being drawn.
There, 'two eyes' emerged.
Rings of endless abyss that sucked in gazes like blazing black holes.
Simultaneously—
Enormous wings covered in incomprehensible noise.
They spread out, devouring all the surrounding void.
"...What on earth is that."
Even Crow held his breath.
Though he had faced countless monsters, this was utterly different.
A head in the form of a dragon with a body silhouetted like a human.
Yet an alien sense of dissonance strongly whispered that this form 'should not exist in reality.'
The entity opened its mouth.
"────────────"
Vibrations that couldn't be heard.
But those wavelengths tore through space and twisted even time.
Crow's gravity field greatly distorted and fluctuated.
In that moment, he lost control of the 'gravity' he wielded and placed one hand on the ground to steady himself.
"...So the real one has appeared."
The tide of battle had completely turned.
The fight until now was merely a ritual to release the seal.
The real battle was about to begin—
"STOP IT, YOU BASTARD!!!"
WHACK!
"@#$%─!"
Cutting through all that tension and darkness, Tricia's super-finishing karate chop struck!
The crown of the "Silent Deep Night's" head was dented in the shape of Tricia's hand!
At the same time, a system window appeared before Crow's eyes!
「The "Silent Deep Night" has fainted.」
「You have cleared the 95th floor!」
"?"
The battle, the tension, the magnificent climax.
It all ended with that single strike!
