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At a loss for words, Rudger stares at Belaruna.
"Why did you withhold such an important fact?'
Belaruna avoided Rudger's gaze.
She'd been hiding things like this all along, even from him, because she knew she wasn't usually doing anything wrong.
When Rudger's gaze grew more intense, almost piercing her skin, she suddenly realized she had been wronged so she straightened up and glared at him.
'You're in no position to talk to me like that.'
Belaruna had been cast out of the Elven Kingdom for her sins.
All things considered, Rudger did not have a better record, did he?
Jack the Ripper, the shadow of the First Princess and a man known for tearing people apart.
Abraham Van Helsing, the hunter of the century and the man who killed the Beast of Gévaudan.
James Moriarty, the criminal mastermind who terrorized a nation.
Machiavelli, the legendary mercenary who ended the civil war in the Northern Kingdom and many more.
The hunter and the mercenary may not have done anything bad but what about the rest?
Even his current identity, Rudger Chelici, is a false identity, a false employment that violates the laws of the Empire.
What Belaruna did was certainly sinful, but Rudger added to it, not subtracted from it.
Knowing that, Rudger cringed inwardly but he glared at Belaruna even harder.
'At least I didn't hide it.'
He was claiming immunity for revealing all of his hands to his companions and Belaruna had nothing to say about that. Her barely scraped-together courage shattered once more.
'We'll have to talk about it when this is all over.'
'That's…….'
Finally, just as I thought things were getting organized, an unexpected interruption came in.
"Excuse me."
Chris's sharp gaze flicked between Rudger and Belaruna.
"You two are exchanging some kind of glance. Have you known each other before?"
His tone is a mixture of insults directed at Rudger and respect for Belaruna.
The way Chris glared at Rudger was particularly disturbing.
Rudger wondered what was wrong with this man, but felt compelled to say something right away.
"I don't know her, I just can't believe she kept such an important fact from us."
"You need to be more empathetic, Mr. Rudger Chelici, because anyone who looks at you like that is going to have a hard time with you."
Is that what you're going to say?
Rudger usually let Chris say whatever he wanted, but this time it was hard. Ever since Chris's involvement with Belaruna, there was a strange irritation that was hard to ignore.
"After all, she's an elf recommended by the First Princess herself, so there shouldn't be any problems, right?"
"……."
Come to think of it, he had said that when introducing Belaruna.
Of course, this was all Belaruna's fault for hiding the fact that this had happened.
"What matters now is not her past, but the root of the World Tree in front of us."
Belaruna spoke up, happy to be able to get out of this situation.
"First of all, let's get this straight: inside that dead World Tree's root is a demonic power. I don't know who the hell put it there or when or where, but……."
"So you're saying that demonic power is stirring to burst forth from its roots at any moment."
"Yep. And that's most likely why the warlocks here are studying the World Tree. They're trying to harness that power."
Trying to harness demonic power.
The three of them realized that this was a serious matter but it was still mere speculation. Without hard evidence, no one would believe it if they told anyone else.
At that moment, Rudger spotted a tiny butterfly fluttering by.
'That one.'
Rudger held out his hand lightly, and the butterfly landed on it. Then the butterfly slowly unraveled and turned into a tiny note.
'Sedina.'
There was no way Sedina could have gotten the note all the way here on her own, so Hans must have helped.
Rudger quickly scanned the note's contents. It turned out that Hans had been telling the truth when he said he was watching the situation through the chimeras.
The message inside described what he had seen through the chimeras.
'A breeding facility for chimeras. The warlocks there are working on something.'
What could the warlocks, already mass-producing chimeras, possibly be researching?
The answer was already there.
'They're really trying to do something with the demonic power.'
Speaking of demonic powers, he felt like all the questions in his head were answered at once.
Why the Liberation Army and the Warlocks were fighting a hopeless battle.
Why, even with special gunpowder and the Legion of Chimeras, they were just buying time.
"I think we're going to have to get out there and tell them about this……."
Chris and Belaruna nodded in agreement with Rudger as they realized the gravity of the situation.
First they had to get back to the command center and tell everyone what they had seen and what the warlocks were up to inside.
That might take some time but at least for the time being, it would be far better to have as many people as possible thinking together, rather than individuals making judgments and doing things on their own.
"First of all, if we take a sample of the World Tree as proof, everyone would believe us……."
The moment Rudger spoke a huge vibration began to reverberate through the entire underground space.
Rudger, Chris, Belaruna, and everyone else panicked as the underground ruins shook as if an earthquake had occurred but something even more surprising happened to them.
[Boom!]
The bulkhead at the back of the passage they'd come from collapsed, blocking their way back.
It wasn't just the path that was blocked. The landscape around them was changing.
Rudger recognized something similar in the changing scene.
'What is this, a maze?'
The underground structure itself was a maze, set in motion by someone. When the tremors subsided and stabilized, the three people found themselves standing in a completely different place.
"How did this happen?"
"It seems that this underground space itself was no ordinary facility. It was originally a labyrinthine structure, but I never thought it could move around like this."
"So this place itself is a facility that literally changes its structure?"
"Sort of, and the ones who did it must be the Liberation Army and the warlocks."
"Unless they're stupid, they know they're under attack, and that a mere chimera army can't handle it."
"So they plan to deal with us by cutting off our escape route and isolating us?"
"At least that's what I think."
Chris frowned. He hadn't expected to find himself in this position when he'd joined the analysis group.
"Is there no way out?"
"Unless we know the geography, we'd be hard pressed to find the exit. Or maybe they've blocked the way out."
"Which means we've effectively abandoned the idea of……getting out."
Rudger examined himself lightly.
"In that case, it's probably for the best."
"Why?"
"Well, now that they've taken it upon themselves to block the means we have to get out, there's only one way left."
You can't get outside, your communications are down and you don't know when your enemies will unleash the demonic power.
The fact that they would do something like that knowing that the capital's power was gathering in one place means that the demonic power is at least strong enough to affect the entire capital.
"……You're crazy."
Chris muttered, adjusting his glasses because he understood what Rudger was saying but he didn't make it clear that he wasn't going to do it.
He knew that there was no backing out of this. He knew that their opponents were up to something with the demonic powers and they had to be proactive and stop them.
"If you're not up for a fight, you can leave that to me."
Rudger said in his usual tone but Chris sensed a subtle mixture of reprimand and sneer in his tone.
"……Don't look down on me, just because I specialize in pharmacy doesn't mean I can't fight."
"That being said, you didn't compete in the duels at the Magic Festival."
"That's because I never felt the need to. I may look like this, but I've been training harshly since childhood. Don't judge me the same as everyone else."
Chris glared at Rudger with an unwavering gaze and Rudger nodded in satisfaction, since he was ready to enter the fray.
"Very well, then, I want you to guard that elf lady as hard as you can, Chris."
"What?"
"You don't want to?"
"……Of course not. I will protect Lady Belaruna even if you don't say so."
"Chris……!"
Belaruna called out Chris's name, seemingly impressed. Of course, given Belaruna's skills, Chris shouldn't have to protect her, but since she was nominally a non-combatant, he had no choice.
"Is that all right?"
"What do you mean?"
"Even if we know what to do, this is their home base. We can't just move around, and with the terrain shifting like this it's hard to pinpoint their positions."
If you move blindly and the terrain changes again, you'll be lost again. It would mean that all the progress they had made would be for naught.
They could be stuck in the same place for the rest of their lives but Rudger dismissed Chris's concerns.
"Chris, do you see those roots over there?"
"The roots of the World Tree that……me and Lady Belaruna were studying?"
"When the structure of the terrain changed a moment ago, paths were created that weren't there, and old paths disappeared. Perhaps this is a facility where the terrain moves in three dimensions."
"How does that work?"
"Well, the position of the roots over there just stayed the same, so that means the block with the roots sticking out can't move."
"……!"
Chris's eyes widened at that.
"Indeed. You're saying that the area where the roots of the World Tree poke through are frozen and can't be moved."
"Yes. And if we can trace the direction of these roots, we can find their lair."
The underground facility was shaped like a giant disk. There was a large cavity in the center, presumably where the core of the dead World Tree resided.
The roots of the World Tree had spread out from the center, breaking through the outer walls, which was probably why the facility was only partially movable.
So if you looked at the direction the roots were coming from and followed them, you'd end up in the center, so at least you wouldn't get lost.
"But just as we can think like this, they must know that we can find them backwards through the roots."
"Yes. That's exactly what they want."
"So changing the terrain like this is effectively a pointless act?"
"That's what I thought at first, too, but now that I think about it, it's not quite that."
"What?"
"Look ahead."
As Rudger spoke, Belaruna and Chris looked where he pointed and saw an uninvited visitor staring at them from beyond a long, lighted archway, despite being underground.
The other side has a rough idea of their strength, so they can't be sending ordinary Liberation troops. If so, the Liberation Army must have been sent the most skilled among them, as well as the warlocks.
Whatever the case, the enemy was not to be trifled with.
"They knew they couldn't stop us by changing positions, so they came directly to us."
With that, Rudger gave himself a quick check. His body was in good shape and his mana pool was full.
"You should get comfortable."
Rudger gripped a long, black staff with the tip decorated in the form of a raven and channeled his mana into it.
"You didn't have to come to me, I came to you."
Without speaking to the other party Rudger immediately manifested his magic.
* * *
"This."
Passius sighed in disbelief at the altered internal structure.
They were not lost because although the terrain had changed the roots that broke the walls were fixed.
As long as they followed the roots, they wouldn't get lost. However, he was surprised that an underground facility would behave this way.
It's amazing that something like this could exist beneath the capital city and still be functioning after hundreds of years.
'What the hell were they doing 500 years ago, in the former Empire?'
He sure it was possible if people tried to create it today, but it's hard to believe that something like this could have been created so long ago, in a time when science wasn't as advanced.
Unlike Passius's comfortable thoughts, his companion, the iron-masked mage Rotheron, simply stared ahead in silence because after the structure of the underground facility had changed an enemy appeared in front of them.
"You said you were Lord Rotheron, right?"
"You can call me Rotheron if you wish, Sir Passius."
"I'll do that, then. But there's an enemy over there, what are you going to do?"
"Is there such a thing as a choice?"
Rotheron immediately prepared himself for combat.
"We'll fight."
Passius smirked at the belligerent words.
"I can understand that."