Then I'm sure you can imagine how much higher those walls were with no connections to the outside at all.

[He doesn't see a point in comparing beyond that. Those were an obstacle he wouldn't allow himself to tear down even when he wanted to. With the Phantom Thieves, he still feared getting hurt too much.]

I would have kept turning down those connections if I hadn't been put in a situation where ... Well, it wasn't even a matter of life or death at that point. We were all already dead, after all.