The dim evening light barely illuminated the surroundings.

Being close to the coast, Rigo would soon be in the dark as the sun began to set.

They’d said they’d leave today, and while the destination itself was surprising…

Burke, who had brought a torch, let out a small, incredulous laugh without meaning to.

He had no idea how to describe what he was seeing.

He’d seen people fly before, but this…

“…I didn’t even think it was possible.”

Burke stood with his mouth open, staring at the woman standing high above the sea.

Ethan, standing next to her, didn’t look much different in his reaction.

The purple seawater – obviously unnatural – shimmered and rippled in the wind.

The fabric of her shoes, standing on it, was damp as they soaked up the moisture.

When his eyes landed on that, Ethan frowned immediately.

Sure, her body was immune to the poison – but that didn’t mean she had to bathe in it.

“Your shoes will get soaked.”

That’s not the problem here.

Burke let out another dry laugh at Ethan’s remark, which sounded more like he was scolding a child for playing in the mud.

At Ethan’s words, If – who had been staring out at the sea – lifted her head.

Without even walking, her body floated gently upwards and settled on Ethan’s shoulder like a chair.

Burke’s eyes followed her movements, then shifted to Ethan, who looked completely at ease.

She hadn’t set foot on the ground since revealing her true identity.

And Ethan, as if it was only natural, let her use his body like a seat – not even trying to move her.

No wonder he kept carrying her around.

She seemed far less accustomed to walking than he’d expected.

Her actions were so uninhibited now that Burke really wondered how she’d managed to hide her identity until now.

It was likely that Ethan had gone to considerable lengths to keep her safe and undetected all this time.

Even though Ethan was aware of Burke’s observations, he ignored them completely and calmly slipped off If’s shoes.

They were already soaked, having absorbed the purple seawater, and looked nowhere near dry.

“No way they can be used again.”

With one gloved hand, Ethan threw the shoes far out to sea.

Immediately the glove itself followed and sank into the water.

It felt wrong to leave them in the village or to dry them for reuse.

As she watched the shoes plop and disappear under the waves, If waved her now bare feet in the air.

“If I come with you, the lift would be more comfortable, wouldn’t it?”

The city below had been built entirely for human convenience.

But the ” humans ” the city referred to were based on their physical abilities –

including the ability to fly.

What to them was just a ventilation sh*ft served as a path, but to Ethan it was no different than a sheer cliff.

Ethan nodded at her question.

Whatever the lift was, it had to be better than climbing like they had when they escaped from Belphirn.

“Hmm, then…”

In the past, she hadn’t been able to distinguish between what modern humans could do and what they couldn’t.

But now she had a better understanding.

Since the city was under the sea, they would have to descend quite far.

They’d have to withstand the pressure of the water and breathe at regular intervals…

The lift really was the better choice.

The distance between the ancient ruins deep underground and the ventilation sh*ft leading to the outside was considerable.

If someone fell down the sh*ft, their body would surely be destroyed.

Staring out at the sea, she thought about this – an idea that would have sent Ethan into a panic if he’d heard it.

Apart from Belphirn, there were no other human settlements, so the place probably received minimal maintenance.

She had worried that it might be malfunctioning, like the robot with the code error…

but the signal came through fine. No problem there.

She rolled her eyes upwards.

The lens over her special pupils displayed a screen visible only to her.

The next moment, the changing numbers appeared clearly, indicating the lift’s estimated time of arrival.

[0:00:01]
The numbers gradually ticked down, and when they finally hit 0, a large shadow appeared beneath the surface of the sea.

Splash!

As something began to emerge from the water, Ethan quickly pulled her into his arms and stepped back.
Burke, too, raised his spear in caution, eyes narrowed.
If tilted her head.

“Not getting on?”

At her question, Ethan let out a breathless chuckle and looked at the object, water still dripping from its surface.

Whirrr.

With a faint mechanical sound, one of the glass panels splits down the middle, slowly parting to reveal the interior.

That was a vehicle?

The transparent glass box was bigger than a coffin, but it didn’t look safe.

He’d seen with his own eyes how easily such expensive glass could shatter.

As he eyed it with deep scepticism, If, tired of waiting, floated up and stepped into the lift.

“If you’re not coming, I’ll go alone.”

Distrust or not, Ethan could never let her go alone, so he jumped in after her with a grim expression on his face.

Burke, still hesitant, followed shortly after and the transparent doors slid shut.

The doors extended from both sides and closed tightly without a gap, causing Ethan to quickly scan their surroundings.

“This thing isn’t going to break, is it?”

Burke asked, afraid it might shatter if he touched anything without putting a hand on the surface.

If nodded.

“It’s reinforced glass.”

Technically, it was a special type of glass, stronger than acrylic.

“So it’s still glass?”

“Yep.”

At her unhesitating reply, Burke’s face turned ashen.

As the glass-walled capsule began its descent into the sea, his expression became increasingly lifeless.

But even that didn’t last long.

The water around them was a deep purple – so dark it could easily be mistaken for black from a distance.

It was the kind of water that made you wonder if anything could live in it.

Burke instinctively lifted his head and looked around, scanning their surroundings.

As he had expected, there was not a single fish to be seen in the murky depths, which looked as if someone had dumped an absurd amount of paint in it.

“I never thought I’d set foot in this sea.”

“Who would?”

Ethan hadn’t expected to go down like this either.

He thought it would be over land or through a cave like before.

Not that they’d actually use the sea itself as a passageway, just because the ruins were underwater.

He stared at the blinking numbers above the door.

The numbers at the back were ticking up rapidly, while those at the front were moving as fast as a second hand.

Even though the depth was increasing rapidly, there was no unusual sensation in his body.

As he checked his condition, Ethan looked up at If, who was perched on his shoulder.

“That artefact you said was charging in the forest…”

“Hm?”

“I remember you saying once that robots were meant to serve the ancient humans.”

“Yes.”

“But those things didn’t listen to your orders, did they?”

Sure, she had interfered with the charging system later to stop their movement – but that could hardly be called obedience.

If lowered her gaze, her eyes like a forest, and tilted her head.

“Ethan, we’re not perfect.vWe’re just close to perfection.”

The present humans once praised them, called them gods.

But to them it was a way of thinking they could never understand.

“…”

“I said it before, remember? We all died because of a ‘mistake’. The mistakes in the code too, you could say they were all our mistakes”.

If they were really perfect, they wouldn’t have broken.

He have never really understood science.

In science, perfection means constantly reducing the margin of error – getting closer and closer to perfection.

A margin of error of 0.00000001%.

Near perfect, but not perfect.

Left unchecked, this failure rate will only increase – and the only way to reduce it is through regular inspection and ongoing maintenance.

“Normally this wouldn’t happen – but we haven’t been around all this time.

No matter how well built they were, it would have been hard for them to last that long without someone to maintain them.

Besides, the one out there was an unfinished robot.

Just as Belphirn’s central system had been damaged, the main computer here must have developed errors.

That meant it was time to overhaul everything.

“No matter what kind of errors occur, the core base code from when they were made can’t be changed. So the fact that they can’t hurt me – that much hasn’t changed.

Gu-gu-goong.
(A deep mechanical rumble echoed.)

The moment she finished speaking, the transparent glass elevator they were in touched down at the bottom of the sea.

“There’s an ancient ruin here?”

Burke couldn’t hide his confusion as he looked in all directions.

All he could see was the toxic-looking water and clouds of murky sediment drifting upwards.

“We need to get further down.”

If reached out and pointed down.

Burke followed her fingertip with his eyes.

Whiiiirrrr.

“…You’ve got to be kidding me.”

He cursed before he could stop himself.

The seabed was split cleanly, as if someone had drawn a line across it.

He’d thought that strange sound was coming from the lift…

but now that he listened carefully, it was coming from below.

The lift began its endless descent through the crack in the seabed.

As it passed, lights flickered on along the metal-lined path, and Burke stared with his mouth open.

“Wow…”

The smooth, metallic passageway shone brightly, as if lighting the way for them.

“No wonder people say it’s some kind of palace of the gods.”

As Burke spoke in awe, If tilted her head.

“There are no gods in this world.”

“Don’t say things like that so casually.”

Ethan sighed and tapped her lips lightly.

Burke chuckled at the sight.

“With all this, it’s no wonder they didn’t believe in gods, they built all this themselves like gods – why would they think there was anything above them?”

Well… he had a point.