Chapter 98. Attack from Underground (2)

“Did they drop it down?”

Randal leaned his body over the cliff and looked down.

From the side, it looked like a considerably precarious posture.

Leaning my head out just a little less than him, I looked down the cliff.

“Perhaps.”

There was nothing particular to see.

In the first place, I couldn't even see the bottom.

A darkness too deep to be illuminated by a torch filled the inside of the cliff.

It would have been nice to have a flashlight, but this isn't Earth.

Instead, I shone a different light.

[Deploying [Miracle: Halo of Light].]

A pure white light illuminated the valley.

In terms of light intensity alone, it would be comparable to a civilian flare.

However, I still couldn't see the end.

This means it's a depth well over a hundred meters.

“A path.”

The light, imbued with divine power, revealed something else instead.

From where we stood, a narrow path ran along the valley wall to the left.

A narrow and dangerous path with a cliff on the left and a precipice on the right.

It was probably a path leading to the few remaining traces of the abandoned mine underground, or to the ruins of an ancient civilization.

However, the trail of the dragged body did not lead that way.

“No matter how I look at it, it seems like they jumped.”

“You think so?”

Randal, who had been carefully looking down into the darkness, tilted his head and said.

“I can't see the bottom. Or a body.”

If it's so even to his eyes, which are superior to mine, then it must be true.

In the first place, this valley.

I can't even get a sense of how deep it is.

Since there are ancient ruins of the Lumer civilization underground here, could it perhaps reach all the way there?

I don't know the detailed topography, as this ruin only appeared on the strategy screen.

Anyway, I think I've reached a conclusion.

“Let's go back.”

It's not just the trail of the dragged body that has been cut off.

The footprints that had been following along have also disappeared.

I don't know if they committed suicide by jumping, but from the circumstances, I have to assume so.

Or they flew up over this valley using some kind of flight magic.

Either way, it's difficult to chase them right now.

“I told Karen to search the vicinity, so let's hear the results and continue the pursuit.”

It was the moment I said that and turned around.

Three things happened simultaneously.

“Viscount.”

Randal, who was still looking down at the cliff, suddenly called me in a low voice.

Kurururung…….

An ominous rumbling echoed from under my feet along the valley.

And.

‘Master, this guy's belly is at it again…!’

‘Tick-tock…!!’

The sacred relic of ‘The Maiden Who Heralds the Time’ foretold the ominous sign before my eyes.

Randal turned his body.

He said.

“Run.”

Kugugung…!

It's collapsing.

The firmness that supported my feet disappeared as if it had caved in.

It's not just the place where I'm standing.

The entrance of the cave we just came out of.

The narrow path created along the cliff.

The entire cliff face of the valley, encompassing all of that, is collapsing.

Kwagwagwagwa…!!

Running is out of the question.

My body has already begun to free-fall into the valley.

The wreckage of the valley, amounting to tens of thousands of tons, also poured down with it.

In that waterfall of huge rocks, the only thing I could do was to endure so as not to be killed by a stray falling rock right away.

[Deploying [Barrier].]

Thud!

A rock the size of a house hits the barrier in front of my eyes and shatters.

Thump!

“Keoheok…!”

My back hits the cliff wall and bounces off, the air in my lungs being squeezed out.

Kurururururu……!

Beyond the pouring rocks and debris, I caught a glimpse of Randal's figure.

He was falling too.

But he's far away.

Because the falling rocks keep bouncing my body and pushing it away, I can barely see his silhouette.

I shouted at the guy who was drawing his sword and striking rocks even in mid-air.

“Randal! I'll come find you!”

I believe.

That he will survive.

No answer came back.

The debris blurs my vision again.

I blocked and deflected with the barrier, avoiding only fatal injuries.

How many seconds had I fallen?

It should be about time to see the bottom.

I twisted my body in mid-air to face downwards.

I have no intention of falling like this and becoming a pulp.

‘Kkumteuli!’

Quickly changing my appearance to Tribus.

[Deploying [Hebrun’s Blood-Red Wings].]

Attempting to glide with the crimson wings that sprouted on both sides.

Crack!

As the speed decreased sharply, the rocks falling with me started to not just pound on the barrier spread behind my back, but also to crush my wings.

Every time a wing broke, I repaired it, and my mana drained away like an ebbing tide.

Thanks to that, I slowed down the falling speed a little.

I can see the bottom now.

Far below my vision, illuminated by the halo of light, a black bottom is reflecting the light.

That bottom is rippling.

It's water.

[Deploying [Wind Spirit's Aid].]

[Deploying [Barrier].]

I've seen divers on the internet jumping off cliffs tens of meters high.

If I further reduce my speed with the help of the spirit and absorb the impact of the fall with a barrier, I should be able to survive.

I straightened my body vertically.

So that I enter feet first upon impact with the water.

For a moment, I thought I might die if the bottom is shallow, but at that moment, the water surface touched my feet.

Splash!

Starting with the barrier spread at my feet, my whole body sinks as if being sucked into the water.

Splash! Splash!

Following behind, numerous rocks and stones fall on my head.

[Deploying [Earth Flow Reversal].]

If I stay still, I could be buried under the rocks in the water and die, so I quickly cleared away the rocks and moved to the side.

As I was swimming, almost being pushed by the current under the water, I soon felt a solid ground under my feet.

It's land.

“Puha!”

Pushed by the waves created by the waterfall of falling rocks, I came up onto the land.

To avoid any potential falling rocks, I dragged my soaked body and moved further inward.

In a place I thought was safe, I looked up.

I was thinking of checking where I had fallen from.

“……”

I couldn't even see the ceiling, let alone the cave entrance.

And that's with Tribus' mask, which has a night vision function.

I'll have to put climbing the cliff on hold for now.

It means I fell from at least a few hundred meters up.

For now, one thing is certain: this is the bottom of the valley.

I looked around.

What immediately came into view was a huge lake with no end in sight and some land, including the place where I was standing.

Randal was nowhere to be seen.

He doesn't show up on the minimap of [Battlefield-Overlooking Gaze] either.

He has been judged to be in a completely different battlefield.

It means he's that far away, or that a thick wall or structure is blocking the way.

‘Master. Look over there.’

At Kkumteuli's words, I turned my head.

Far away, on the wall of the valley, there was an entrance leading to a cave.

No, it would be a bit of a misnomer to call it a cave.

It's an artificially made entrance.

Is it a trick of fate?

Ironically, in front of it was a corpse, swollen from the water.

It's the body of someone who died relatively recently, with decomposition still in progress.

Although the abdomen was ruptured, some limbs were missing, and the face was damaged beyond recognition, it's not difficult to infer who he was just from the tattered pieces of clothing.

‘A miner.’

It's the body of the missing person we couldn't find until the end.

Someone had thrown it off the cliff, then pulled it out of the water and dragged it here.

Thump.

My heart, trained by long experience, faintly foretold of unease.

***

‘The more haste, the less speed.’

It's an adage that holds true regardless of time or place.

In the East, there are several four-character idioms that represent this meaning, and in the West, it's a well-known story that the Roman Emperor Augustus used to say ‘festina lente’ (make haste slowly) like a habit.

I interpret that saying like this.

The more urgent the decision that needs to be made, the higher the possibility that judgment will be clouded.

It means that at such times, a process of pausing for a beat, or even half a beat, is necessary to regain one's usual judgment for an accurate decision.

Of course, that doesn't mean doing nothing in that half a beat.

One must actively strive to regain one's usual judgment.

I fell from a cliff hundreds of meters high into a lake, swept away by a waterfall of rocks.

In a broad sense, it's a distress situation.

In that sense, what I need right now are three things.

Warmth to dry my wet body.

Medicine and time to heal my injured and tired body.

And calories to get my brain working quickly.

‘Aaat! My daily bread…!’

I took out a pouch from the subspace, grabbed a handful of sweet cookies, and put them in my mouth.

These are cookies made by Karen during the cooking contest, a prototype scheduled to be sold at the bakery that will soon open in the plaza.

For the purpose of taming Kkumteuli, I had specially requested Karen to make a version with a significant amount of sugar added to the original recipe.

Of course, for now, it's my emergency food.

‘Sob… Miss Karen, my strength was insufficient, and I let your masterpiece be taken away…….’

“Here. I didn't eat it all.”

Feeling a sweetness so intense it made the root of my tongue tingle, I returned the pouch, then dried my body with a fireball spell and changed my clothes.

Since acquiring the [Medium Subspace] trait, I have been keeping a spare set of clothes in the expanded subspace at all times.

Not only that, but I have also stockpiled emergency funds, food, medicine, potions, and various types of weapons.

For reference, the two statues of the Outer Gods are in charge of organizing under my supervision.

Should I call it the rent they ought to pay for being provided a safe and comfortable subspace as their living quarters?

After quickly drying my clothes, I changed back into Tribus' attire.

It's better to save my divine power, so I healed the wounds on my body with a potion.

“Good.”

‘Sob… half of it is gone…….’

I spent five minutes to get into perfect condition.

My heart still beats with a faint sense of anxiety, but [Lord’s Unyielding Mind] is maintaining my cool reason.

With my mind cooling down, I once again looked around the vicinity.

At times like this, one must try to see the whole situation rather than just what's in front of them.

‘Tick-tock…?’

First, the ominous sign.

The sacred relic of ‘The Maiden Who Heralds the Time’ foretells misfortune in the short-term future.

However, based on my experience so far, it doesn't seem to work for simply being unlucky or for natural disasters.

When the Emperor summoned me.

When the beastmen invaded the territory.

Even reflecting on the short story I heard from the late Marquis Ricardo, what this guy warned about was human intervention.

‘Sniffle. Ahem. Master's thoughts are correct. Tick-Tocky only foretells man-made disasters that are hostile to the guardian. A bolt from the blue is outside the flow of fate that he handles.’

“Why are you telling me this now?”

‘I thought you already knew, so I didn't bother to say… my cookies… sob sob sob.’

‘Tick-tock…….’

I'll have to set aside a day soon and start educating the Outer Gods.

Anyway, it's certain.

The collapse of the cliff was an artificial attack.

The key question is who did it.

It's highly probable that they belong to the same group as the culprits who murdered the miners.

‘It doesn't seem to be the other merchant guilds I initially thought of.’

The scale is too large.

The most plausible method is planting a large amount of explosives, but even if they somehow bypassed the tight security of the mine, it's nearly impossible for a mere merchant guild to access that many explosives.

From the possibility of a bomb, I also considered an internal enemy.

After all, we have the best demolitions expert.

However, this option is also dismissed.

Alina, who recently joined the Viscount's army, has the ability to distinguish between good and evil.

The trait called [The Scales of Good and Evil of the Four Angels].

Although the standard of good and evil is biased towards the Luark Church's standards, she can at least identify people who are likely to betray from within.

I had asked once about the disposition of William, the gunpowder-maker and priest, on our way back from Gunterburk.

‘You mean Father William? He held a white, clean light. It felt pure. Although it wasn't shining as brightly as yours, my esteemed one.’

That was just a year ago.

One could say that a year is enough time for a person to change, but I'm not so sure.

In the first place, if there had been any such signs, I would have already noticed.

The senior staff, including myself, especially old man Brol, have good instincts.

‘…Then there are two candidates left.’

Honestly, I don't welcome either of them.

They are all troublesome fellows.

I have a rough idea of which one it is.

But it's better to be sure.

Fortunately, I have a suitable reconnaissance asset.

***

[Deploying [Warrior's Binding].]

[Summoning a bound enemy.]

[Summoned Forces: Lesser Vampire Necromancer(1), Vampiric Bat(1)]