The guards patrolling the hallway arrived at a large door located in a deserted corridor.
At a glance, the heavy door was layered with numerous locks, making it look like something was being locked away inside.
“It doesn’t seem like there’s any trace of an intruder…”
“Hey! If everything checks out, let’s hurry back and report.”
After saying that, the guards disappeared beyond the hallway…
After checking the surroundings and confirming there were no passersby, Rudell and his group descended from the ceiling and landed on the ground.
“So? Are we planning to escape this way?”
“Yeah.”
In response to Leje’s question, Rudell examined the tightly shut door.
The door was sealed so thoroughly that even an ant wouldn’t find a way out.
Thankfully, it seemed there were no magical defenses preventing their entry.
“Everyone, retreat.”
As Rudell said this, he accumulated magic power, and Leje and Kurt stepped back, watching him.
At that moment, a black shadow flickered beneath Rudell, and countless shadowy blades pierced through the steel door.
Thud! With a clean cut, the door fell away, revealing a black space behind it.
“Let’s move quickly.”
Given the situation, there was no time to leisurely investigate the inside.
Rudell stepped in first, followed closely by Kurt and Leje, into the dark corridor.
“Wait a moment.”
After the two entered, Rudell turned his head and extended his hand, chanting a spell.
As he did so, a crackling sound filled the air as the steel door began to freeze.
After a while, the passage they had just traversed was covered in thick ice, and Rudell nodded with a satisfied expression.
“This should hold for a while.”
With plenty of magic power infused into the ice, even a highly skilled magician would take quite a long time to melt it.
It would be sufficient to buy them time to escape.
“It’s too dark.”
Meanwhile, while Rudell was blocking the entrance, Leje muttered as she looked down the long corridor.
The path, where not even an inch could be seen, seemed to lead deep underground.
It was an utterly creepy sight, but they had no other choice.
“Let’s hurry; we don’t have time.”
After observing the eerie view for a moment, Rudell created a light with magic and stepped deeper into the dark corridor.
*
The secret passage was, quite literally, endless.
They hurried along the passage for several tens of minutes.
However, no matter how far they went, all they saw was the seemingly endless corridor.
“How much further do we have to go? It feels like we’ll never reach the end.”
“Kurt, do you sense anything?”
“Nothing at all. No smells, no winds.”
“Hmm…”
Even Kurt, whose senses were keen, shook his head as if he couldn’t feel anything.
Why on earth does such a massive secret passage exist underground?
Considering the dubious dealings of the Gold Rush Company, it was understandable that a secret passage could exist.
But it was only natural to wonder if it had to be this long.
Just as they were trudging along the seemingly endless corridor…
“…”
“Kurt? What’s wrong?”
“I smell blood up ahead.”
“Blood?”
Why is there a smell of blood in an empty escape passage?
Rudell tilted his head in puzzlement at his words.
“It’s getting closer.”
“What?”
At that, Leje drew her sword, and Rudell began gathering magic power.
Meanwhile, the sound of footsteps began to echo from beyond the darkness of the corridor.
“…”
The sound grew closer, and Rudell and his group turned towards the direction of the noise with tense expressions.
And just as the noise was right in front of them…
[…]
“Ugh…!!”
The moment they laid eyes on the figure emerging from the darkness, Rudell and the others could only gulp.
Describing what appeared before them, it looked like a nearly withered corpse.
Its body was so skeletal that hardly any flesh remained, and its eye sockets were deeply hollow, making it seem like they were empty.
Draped in tattered rags, it was nothing less than an undead being.
[…]
“W-what is that… an undead?”
“I don’t think so…”
In response to Leje’s question, Rudell shook his head.
Judging by appearances, it certainly looked like an undead, but it was undeniably a living being.
What on earth is such a creature doing in this deep underground secret passage?
As Rudell pondered this, he continued to observe the figure in front of him.
“More are coming.”
“What?”
With Kurt’s words, even more of them began to appear.
Each one was so emaciated that it was hard to believe they were human.
Beings that looked like people yet somehow didn’t, moving in a group, was a sight that was utterly horrifying.
“Wait… are those… people?”
As Leje gazed at them, her eyes widened in shock.
Just like zombies, they were carrying unconscious people in their hands.
Vagrants, the impoverished, and ordinary citizens mixed in among them.
One and all, they were being dragged along, unconscious, by these strange figures.
“You! Where are you taking those people?”
[…]
Leje, brandishing her sword, asked them, but the beings in front of them did not respond.
It was as if they were being controlled by something, merely staring at her with vacant, clouded eyes.
[…]
“Where are you going!?”
“Leje. This isn’t the time for this.”
Shortly after, the creature turned its head and moved along with the group, while Leje shouted at it.
But Rudell raised his hand, stopping Leje.
Even at this very moment, the Company’s pursuit team was surely after them.
They had no time to waste in this place.
“First, let’s get out of here. We can learn about this later.”
“Tch… I don’t like it.”
At Rudell’s shout, Leje clicked her tongue briefly before she put her sword away.
“Kurt, do you sense anything?”
“I think I feel a breeze coming from that direction.”
In response to Rudell’s question, Kurt sniffed the air, taking in the smells.
How he could smell anything at all with such a strong scent of blood was another matter entirely, but getting out of here was their priority.
“Alright, let’s keep moving.”
And so, Rudell and his group continued onward down the empty corridor.
*
In the office of the Gold Rush Company branch in the Empire.
A man was berating his subordinates.
“Find them! We have to find them by any means necessary!! If they discover that, everything is over!!”
“B-but that place is off-limits…”
“I don’t care! If we can’t catch them, we’re all dead!!”
“Y-yes, understood!!”
At the man’s angry shout, his subordinates hurriedly left the room…
“Damn it…!! Damn it!! Aaaah—!!”
Cursing, he slammed his fist on the desk.
Documents on top of the desk scattered everywhere, and even then, he still couldn’t calm down as he screamed.
“It seems we have a problem.”
“…!?”
At that moment, a voice emerged from the shadow in his room.
Startled, he turned his head to see a man.
A pale-skinned man revealed through the folds of his robe.
“Uh… uh… it’s nothing serious. Just some thieves causing trouble…”
“Really? But why is it taking so long to deal with?”
“It seems these thieves have some skills. Ha. Hahaha…”
Trying to cover up the situation, the man spoke with an awkward laugh.
However, the other man, looking at him, sighed and approached him.
“We still consider you a friend. But… if this situation goes awry, I don’t think our friendship can last much longer.”
“W-who would doubt that? I assure you, all our troops are searching desperately…!!”
“In that case, I will trust you.”
While the man observed him, the robed figure placed his hand on his shoulder, and with awkward laughter, he continued to bow his head repeatedly.
As the robed man walked toward the hallway, he blended back into the shadows of the corridor.
[It seems I’ll have to speed up the plan a bit.]
In the empty corridor, only a cold, echoing voice resonated.
