“By administrator request, there is a change in the missile target’s planned trajectory. The target: Tokyo the Sacred Floating City. Detonation will be carried out inside the facility in ten minutes.” When Huyghe heard this, the look on his face suddenly changed, and he punched the display showing Chatani’s face.
“Brown… You… Youuuuu!”
“I’ve waited tens of thousands of years for this. I’ve lived until this today to see that look on your face! Our colleagues are probably laughing their heads off in the afterlife, too. Oh, that reminds me. I have a request for you, heroes. Please bring the communication devices back to the royal capital in one piece. I want to share the memories with the main unit, by any means possible.” Chatani boasted of his victory…but Flum and the others were shaken.
“That voice just now, it sounded like it said this fortress was going to completely explode.”
“Shouldn’t we be running away now, too?” When Maria asked Chatani that question, Chatani spoke without a hint of remorse in his voice.
“Yeah. Get away in ten minutes. Starting right now, Tokyo is going to go up high and explode in midair.”
“Hey, this is way too sudden!”
“Master, let’s hurry and get out of here!” Linus grabbed Maria’s arm and Milkit grabbed Flum’s arm, and they started to run away. Meanwhile, Huyghe drew his sword and cut through the wire netting attached to the wall.
“Huyghe, that bastard, he’s trying to get away!”
Gadhio moved to stop him, but then Chatani said “That won’t be necessary” and stopped Gadhio from acting. Meanwhile, Huyghe quickly destroyed the wire netting and quickly jumped into the air vent.
“Hey, Chatani, or whatever your name is, is it really okay to let him go?!” Tsyon was almost shouting angrily when he asked that question, but Chatani remained calm.
“I had set that ten-minute time limit so that he wouldn’t be able to do anything. I know where he’s going, and he cannot escape or fight back. I’m going to have him die along with his distasteful dream.”
“If Chatani says so, then it’s fine. Come on, let’s hurry up and get outta here!” When Linus leapt out of the room, the others followed behind him.
“Leave the navigation to me. I’ll take that much responsibility.” Emitting lights from the communication devices, he guided the heroes on the shortest route to the exit. Following his instructions, Flum and the others raced through the intricate underground passageways.
“Milkit, the footing here is dangerous, so hold my hand tight, okay?”
“Yes! I will never, ever let go.”
“Heh, those two are always flirtin’ whenever they get the chance.”
“You ought to do the same with Maria, Linus.”
“Eterna, what are you saying all of the sudden?!”
“It makes me happy when my big sister is happy!”
“Sara, you too… Oh, heavens.” Perhaps because it was a victory lap, the conversation seemed to be somewhat frivolous in nature.
“Don’t get carried away now.”
“You say that, but I’m sure you’re thinking, ‘I want to see Sheitoom right away!’ aren’t you, Tsyon?”
“Who are you to talk?!”
“Oh no, I’m not telling you. It’s my and Sara’s love story.”
“You’re undefeatable…” Putting aside the question of whether Tsyon was thinking about Sheitoom, it was certain that he was worried about Selayde.
“You’re all excited but…I’m the only one who feels like they’re about to be killed.”
“I didn’t know about that!”
“Don’t worry, Echidna. Out of consideration for Linus, I’ll wait until we reach to royal capital before I kill you.” Gadhio was taking up the rear, monitoring Echidna so that she didn’t escape. Since she was an excellent scientist, she wondered if she might have been able to escape somewhere, chances permitting, or perhaps find protection from a noble who desired the Chimera’s technology. That was what Echidna had been thinking, but when directly confronted with Gadhio’s murderous intent, she realized, painfully so, how naïve her thoughts had been. There was no way that she could escape.
“Linus, why’ve you been silent all this time?”
“I dunno, it’s just…I’ve got a bad feeling about something…” Now that they could feel the wind blowing, they felt that they were gradually getting closer to the surface.
“Seven minutes remaining.” There was plenty of time. They thought they would be able to escape after getting just a little further. That was what they had thought, but…
“Master, is there something worrying you?” Their footing became unstable. Then Milkit, being held by Flum, asked her that question. She hesitated for a moment before answering.
“It’s just, ever since a little while ago, I’ve felt some unpleasant sensation, like this tingling sensation on my skin.” Flum didn’t want to dampen the cheerful mood, but she couldn’t lie. Tsyon, who was nearby, asked her another question.
“Is that because you have the attribute of Reversal?”
“Maybe. I can kind of sense the presence of things like Origin cores. It’s similar to that.” Maria’s face clouded over when she heard that.
“This place is close to the Demon Lord’s castle, so Origin’s influence should be greater than in the royal capital.”
“You’re worrying too much, Flum! All you’ve gotta do is go outside if—”
“Kukyeeeeeee!” The cry of a small-sized Chimera could be heard coming from somewhere. Due to the complex terrain, there were many shadows, but even though they couldn’t see it, they knew the Chimera was close.
“Sara, duck!”
“Uhyaaah!” When Maria and Sara crouched down at the same time, the Chimera passed overhead. The Chimera went to hide behind cover once again, but Linus quickly fired off an arrow.
“I see you there!” His arrow drew an arc and pierced the small-sized Chimera’s core from a blind spot. The Chimera’s corpse fell into the abyss. Neigass immediately wheeled around and pressed for answers.
“What is going on here, Echidna? You didn’t do something, did you?”
“This is strange. The stop order should still be in effect.” Echidna didn’t intend to come off as flippant at all, but Gadhio mercilessly held a blade to her neck.