The girl known as the 19th entity was currently feeling quite annoyed about the situation.
To explain the reason, there could be various causes, but if we had to pick one single point…
It was simply that after rummaging through this vast space for far too long, she was utterly bored.
Now, just staying in this space made her feel a sense of tedium.
“This place is annoyingly huge…”
The girl muttered her complaints inwardly.
Earlier, from a small child she encountered deep in the underground, she learned that her party was heading towards the Emergency Exit, and she could have been guided to that location.
However, upon entering the Emergency Exit, she couldn’t find any marks or traces left by them.
With no other option, the girl assumed they must have gone up towards the surface.
So, she had no choice but to walk up the stairs herself.
As she climbed, every time she saw entrances leading to different floors, she couldn’t help but think, “What if they went in there?”
Thus, to investigate the numerous layers, she had no choice but to step inside those doors…
Finally, as the girl approached the surface, she felt as if she had completed the labor equivalent to thoroughly searching a building about 1 km high.
Despite this effort, she felt substantial fatigue from not having achieved anything.
Feeling frustrated and repressing the annoyance that was quietly bubbling up from deep within her.
“The kids I met here weren’t like Revi; they didn’t understand me at all.”
She thought back to the bizarre entities she encountered in a layer she briefly visited.
They looked nothing like humans and were full of personality.
With a flicker of hope, she had asked them about the whereabouts of her companions, but all they did was charge at her.
When it became clear she had faced more than a dozen of those creatures, feeling the futility in her inquiries, the girl eventually stopped asking them questions altogether.
Instead, with a fierce demeanor, she smashed every single one of those advancing towards her.
As she lifted her head, the scene above came into view.
Disgustingly distorted faces that awkwardly mimicked human expressions stared at her, all frozen in place.
The grotesque sight would terrify anyone, but she merely looked upon it as something familiar.
“So, I might as well ask…”
After a moment of pondering, she turned back to them.
“Has anyone else besides me passed through here?”
As if they understood her words, she casually posed the question just like asking for directions.
“―――――――”
Immediately after her question, a thick silence enveloped the entire space.
In that deafening stillness, they ignored her words and simply stood there, staring at her.
“…Sigh, well, of course.”
Realizing that none would respond, the girl sighed softly, wearing an expression of resignation, and tried to hide her embarrassment by looking away.
Right after she turned her head…
Suddenly, the shapes below began to stir.
As if they had been waiting, they all leapt toward the girl at the bottom of the stairs.
“――Tatat!”
Without any warning, those distorted faces flew at her.
In an instant, the ambush was launched with speed so quick, it was beyond human reflexes, soaring towards her before she even registered what was happening.
Just as they reached her and attempted to swing their hefty arms—
CRACK!
A rough sound echoed, as if something had shattered, and it seemed as though an invisible wall surrounded the girl.
Their trajectory was disrupted, scattering wildly, losing sight of their target.
“――THUD!”
Their bodies slammed against the walls and floor.
A heavy thud resonated.
Buried among the rubble, their necks were twisted, and they lay limp.
In a daze, they hardly realized what had just occurred.
Not long after, footsteps echoed again from the bottom of the stairs.
“Well, if you don’t want to talk, that’s fine.”
The sound of small footsteps approached, devoid of any intimidation.
Yet for some reason, they felt an enormous pressure that was indescribable.
“I prefer it that way, too.”
As soon as the girl’s musing ended, her body lunged toward the nearest entity—
“――KWA-BAANG!”
With a cloud of dust, a noise of destruction filled the Emergency Exit.
CRUNCH!
The sound of something breaking echoed.
What was beneath her feet crumpled under her weight.
It struggled to resist, making frantic movements, but eventually became stiff and motionless.
“――THUD!”
Its body tumbled down the stairs, clattering loudly.
With the thud, fragments scattered in all directions.
Next to the lifeless form was the pile of many others she had taken down earlier.
After toppling the last one, the girl brushed off her hands, as if shaking off dust, and looked around her.
“Phew…”
A small sigh escaped her lips, but it wasn’t for dealing with the little minions.
Dealing with those kinds of things was old hat for her.
In fact, breaking something like that while stressed was merely a small relief.
But her sigh was for what lay ahead.
The expansive area stretching out around her, intricately designed like a labyrinth, welcomed her with yet another location to explore.
Seeing that the already large space was expanding further only tempted her to smash through a few floors entirely.
“Speaking of which, how much time do I have left?”
The thought of a time limit for her mission crossed her mind.
Less than a day remained until the nuclear weapon was launched.
She had been sent here with the understanding that if they couldn’t stop the launch by the deadline…
The Management Office would surely obliterate this place to prevent the weapon’s launch.
Feeling the time passing since her arrival, she realized that she didn’t have long.
“….”
Honestly, she didn’t feel panicked, though.
Oliver had informed her that everyone in the expected blast zone was already evacuated.
Whether the nuke exploded or not, she also knew ways to avoid being caught in the fallout.
“But that’s one I really don’t want to use…”
Despite knowing she wouldn’t want to apply such measures on her homeland, she refused to think of the fact that the three of them would surely be in danger if the nuclear bomb went off.
After taking another deep breath, she prepared to resume her long search.
Just as she was about to step forward—
“…?”
Suddenly, she heard a loud sound, and felt the ground shake with a tremor.
“――KUGUGUGU!”
A tremendous noise erupted as vibrations seemed to shake the very earth beneath her.
It was like a powerful earthquake, but she quickly realized this wasn’t caused by a collapse or an earthquake.
Taking a moment to think about the cause of the tremor…
“Wait a minute, this is—”
In a flash, she realized that the massive vibration was for something to launch.
Quickly, she turned her gaze towards the presumed epicenter.
“I need to hurry up.”
The girl dashed ahead.
TAP, TAP echoed the sound of her small feet leaping between the gaps in the broken stairs.
Before long, she reached a large shard.
With a sense of annoyance, she pushed the piece away and discovered a hidden passage behind it.
Sliding her body through quickly, she vanished completely from the Emergency Exit.
