Mob No.76: “Don’t move, intruder. Move and I’ll kill you.”
I turn on the light of my wrist-mounted Wrist-Com device and look around the cave.
The cave is about 2-5 meters wide and 3 meters high. It slopes gently downward as it goes deeper.
Near the ceiling, there’s a pipeline with light sources and vents, and a similar pipeline on the ground.
Probably for air circulation in the cave – the ceiling one for oxygen supply and the ground one for carbon dioxide exhaust.
There must be a large power unit and air pump outside.
Well, they’re not working now though.
Under the ceiling pipeline, there are plates marking the distance from the entrance every 10 meters.
Other features include unusually flat walls and floors, and remnants of lights – traces of ancient civilization can be seen here and there.
And worst of all, I found cracks in the cave.
Probably damaged by the earlier bombardment.
I should hurry to escape.
Thinking there might be a pickaxe left somewhere if they were doing excavation, I decided to go deeper.
After about 50 meters from the entrance, the path split in two, with the pipeline also branching left and right.
The right path extended straight from the entrance, while the left path curved about 45 degrees.
So I decided to take the right path first.
The right path had the same height and width as before, but there were short side tunnels here and there, which I realized were excavation sites.
The professor’s team seemed quite meticulous, not leaving tools scattered around.
After walking for about 1800 meters from the entrance, nearly 30 minutes, I could feel I had descended quite deep despite the gentle slope, and it was becoming noticeably harder to breathe.
At 1850 meters, the pipeline and light sources ended, and after walking another 20 meters, I reached what seemed to be a dead end at the excavation front line.
Having no choice but to turn back, the breathlessness gradually eased.
Still, I need to do something quickly.
The cave could collapse anytime due to the bombardment damage.
As I returned to the fork in the road, I decided to take the left path this time.
This left path had no side tunnels, and like the path near the entrance, it had unusually flat walls and floors, with remnants of lights.
About 20 meters down this path, a small space opened up.
Looking around, it seemed to be a base for excavation. There were light sources, boxes for excavated items, oxygen masks for emergencies, anti-gravity hover carts for moving dirt, excavators, large and small batteries, shovels, small pickaxes for ruin excavation, portable toilets, chairs and tables for breaks, radios for external communication, water servers, etc. It looks like the escape might be a bit easier now.
I should have chosen this path from the start.
The light sources were battery-powered and worked fine, so I turned them on and noticed cracks in part of the wall.
The professor’s team wouldn’t have missed these cracks, so like the ones in the cave, they must have been caused by the recent bombardment.
I checked the excavator’s battery and tested if it worked properly, then carried it back to the entrance along with the light sources, and started digging right away.
At first, I thought it would break through quickly.
But after digging for about two hours with the excavator, the earthen wall didn’t seem to be getting any thinner, and the air was gradually thinning, making me anxious.
It’s past 8 PM now, after an hour round trip to the right excavation site and two hours of digging.
It’s amazing how the air in the cave has held up.
Anyway, since there’s a water server, let’s go back to the base camp and take a break.
Heading back to the base camp, I sat in a chair, drank some water, and took a deep breath, realizing it wasn’t as hard to breathe as I expected.
This cave slopes downward, so while it might be hard to breathe near the entrance, this slightly lower area should be more suffocating. Considering the size of the cave, I should need an oxygen mask by now, but I can still breathe comfortably.
Does this mean there’s an air hole somewhere?
It’s possible that one of those cracks connects to the outside, replenishing the air.
This means I can continue digging for escape without worry.
Come to think of it, the excavated rocks and dirt are getting in the way, so I’ll remove them with a shovel.
After a 10-minute break, I resumed work.
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Thanks to the oxygen supply from somewhere, I didn’t get out of breath even after spending 20 minutes removing dirt, and then continued digging for another two hours, but still didn’t break through.
“It’s already 10:30…”
I arrived here around 5 PM, and the rain and wind are supposed to continue for about three days, so there’s still time before those bastards return.
So I’ll go to sleep now. I can line up the chairs at the base camp to make a bed.
Thinking this, I returned to the base camp, but for some reason, it was a dead end.
“Huh… why?”
It’s impossible that I took a wrong turn, and there weren’t any tremors that could have caused the cave to collapse.
As I was confused by this bizarre situation, a beam of light appeared vertically on the dead-end wall, which began to open silently.
Instinctively sensing danger, I hurriedly turned on my heel to hide in the excavation site, but I was a step too late.
The moment the dead-end wall opened silently, several laser shots hit the ground at my feet.
“Don’t move, intruder. Move and I’ll kill you.”
A female voice came from behind, and I stopped moving.
“Let’s hear why you came in here. Follow my instructions. If you do, I won’t kill you. If you understand, throw that shovel weapon far away.”
I threw the shovel far away as instructed.
“Slowly turn around.”
Following the instruction, I turned around to see the person giving orders was a tall woman, about 180cm, with sharp eyes showing whites above and below the iris, and a gun in her hand.
“Hand over what’s on your waist too.”
Of course, I handed over the heat ray blaster on my waist.
I probably can’t win against her anyway.
“Now, I’ll ask again. Why did you come here?”
I told her everything from the beginning.
That this place is currently a ruin and excavations are being conducted.
That I came to retrieve something the excavation leader had forgotten.
That when I did, I was attacked by thugs trying to steal the excavation leader’s findings and fled into this cave.
That the thugs, partly out of spite, fired at the cave.
That I was trying to dig through the entrance’s dirt and rocks to escape, and so on.
“I see. I understand why you’re here. Then quickly dig a hole and get out.”
She seemed to lose interest in me and was about to return to her original location in this elevator, so I called out,
“Ah, can I ask a question?”
“What is it?”
“Why couldn’t the professors who first investigated this place notice that this room was an elevator?”
The professors must have used various survey instruments, so how could they not have found it?
This was the main reason I called out to her.
She nonchalantly gave me the correct answer.
“This facility’s camouflage uses what’s called ‘disguise soil,’ which contains nanomachines that interfere with sound echoes and detection equipment radar. It’s not something that can be uncovered with your current tools.”
Similar things might exist, but the level of technology is probably on a completely different scale.
“One more thing. Does the word ‘Rossweisse’ ring any bells?”
This was the other reason. Something I felt I had to ask since I first saw her.
“That’s the name of one of my foolish younger sisters. Do you know her?”
“Yes.”
“I see. I am Gerhilde, Lot No. 02 of the small combat craft Wagner-Valkyria Sisters.”
So it was as I thought.
Her face and height are completely different, but I had a feeling they might be related because their aura was somewhat similar.
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well that’s interesting he met a sister of rossweise so really hope once mc get’s out he recording the corrupt nobule and co’s actions and wouldn’t be shocked if by time he get’s back mob;e claims there was a pirate attack or some other issue and mc died and thus tried getting ahold of mc’s ship which i wish he’d replace with with gerthild but given having any fancy ship means trouble for someone like him doubt it