Bang! Bang! Bang!
The sound of closing the bulkheads echoed periodically. It was evidence that everyone was performing their assigned roles smoothly without any issues.
'The remaining role must be what I need to do now.'
The monster was moving. Even though its screams were very far away, they resonated as if they were being shouted nearby.
Osian stared beyond the darkness.
The sound of closing bulkheads and the monster's screams were gradually getting louder.
The sound of lowering the bulkheads seemed to echo like heartbeats.
Standing beside him, Krua clenched and unclenched her fist. Though trying to act tough, cold sweat was forming on her palm.
"Are you afraid?"
"What?""I asked if you're afraid."
At Osian's question, Krua glared at him as if to say what nonsense, then clicked her tongue.
"You're probably the only one maintaining sanity against that monster."
"Yes. Probably just me. So you don't need to worry."
-Shing.
Osian drew his sword from his waist.
"Because I'm here."
The continuous screaming stopped. For just a moment, a suffocating silence lingered in the underground where loud echoes had been resonating.
However, that was merely the prelude announcing the terrible storm that was about to come.
-Whoosh.
A wind blew from beyond the darkness. It was an ominous wind carrying the sticky smell of blood and the scent of death.
And at the same time, as black things could be seen writhing, beasts rushed out in droves.
-Kyaaak! Kieeek!
Giant rats, two-headed snakes, underground insects that had grown hundreds of times larger, lizards with skin turned metallic.
They were mutated creatures living in the underground waterways.
Mixed among them were the foreign summoned beasts controlled by Atilla.
Beasts that would normally be wary of each other or try to eat each other were now running in the same direction with one mind and purpose, as if trying to escape from something.
The reason became clear soon enough. Beyond the fleeing beasts, a giant arm shot out and crushed those beasts flat.
-Crash!
Several mutated beasts were caught in one arm and squeezed together.
"It's here! Run quickly!"
The underground keeper who was guiding the way shouted while taking the lead.
The Slithering Sisters followed behind, and finally Osian chased after them.
Behind them, the screams of terrified beasts and the sound of crushing destruction echoed.
"My, my summoned beasts are all dead!"
Atilla shouted while running. Her summoned beasts that were meant to lure the monster had been depleted as calculated.
"It's still fine! The underground beasts are still there too! So don't look back and keep running!"
Though Krua shouted that, it was an optimistic observation. Black tentacles that shot out from the darkness pierced through all the bodies of the beasts.
-Kieeek!
The beasts pierced by the tentacles struggled but it was useless. As the black tentacles undulated, all the bodily fluids were sucked out of the beasts.
Seeing all those numerous beasts die instantly, Krua's complexion turned pale.
Now that all the creatures that could divide its attention were dead, it was too obvious who would be the next target.
-Drip. Drop. Drop.
The corpses with only skin remaining after all fluids were sucked out fell limply.
And beyond them in the darkness, emerald eyes flashed like burning flames.
The monster's target had now changed to this direction.
“Son of a-“
Krua barely held back the curse that was about to escape through her lips.
Even though she understood it intellectually, the moment she met its eyes, she couldn't stop her heart from beating frantically.
There was a hand that patted Krua's shoulder. It was Osian.
"Just keep looking ahead and run."
"......"
Krua nodded heavily.
Even without any words of encouragement, it strangely felt reassuring.
The group kept running. The sound of the monster approaching from behind continued to echo endlessly.
"Close the bulkhead!"
People waiting in passages throughout began lowering doors to other corridors.
As passages to the left and right closed, Osian's path was narrowed to just one, extending straight ahead.
'The situation itself is going smoothly.'
Since there were now only living creatures in this direction, the monster would continue to chase only after them.
By now all the water should have drained, so they just needed to return to the monster's dwelling.
'According to his words, once it reaches its residence, it should stay there.'
At that moment, the monster chasing from behind suddenly stopped its footsteps.
When the sound of its footsteps ceased, the underground keeper who was running in front turned back in confusion.
"What's this, why isn't it chasing us?"
The monster that had been trying to kill all living things until just now suddenly started showing strange behavior.
It stopped in place, slowly looked around, then stretched out its arms and strongly struck the closed bulkhead.
Bang!
Along with the thunderous noise, a shockwave echoed like thunder through the waterway interior. The destructive power was so strong that it created ripples on the water pooled on the floor.
Bang!
The monster continued striking the bulkhead door, swinging its massive right arm without concern.
Seeing this, Krua's eyes widened.
"Don't tell me that thing is trying to break through the closed bulkheads to escape somewhere else?"
The only known characteristic of the monster beforehand was that it goes berserk to kill living things.
This was a situation that wasn't calculated at all.
"Atilla!"
"Ah, got it sis!"
Atilla chanted an incomprehensible spell. Then barnacles grew on the wall the monster was striking and fell onto the monster's body.
The barnacles attached to the monster's skin, took root, and tried to absorb its life force.
Normally it would have violently shaken its body to remove the barnacles or targeted whoever attacked it, but this time was different.
-Bang! Bang! Bang!
The monster continued swinging its right arm, paying no attention to the barnacles attached to its body.
Each time it did, the thick and massive bulkhead was dented and crushed. At this rate, the passage they had barely blocked would be breached.
"Why is that crazy bastard suddenly acting like this?"
"I don't know! We need to somehow divert its attention!"
Krua stepped on her stance as she answered the panicked underground keeper.
The ground rippled like water and two conger eels each bit the monster's ankles.
Though not fatal, it should have been painful, but the monster didn't even pay attention.
As one side of the door gradually distorted and seemed about to completely collapse, Krua bit her lip hard.
At that moment, a brilliant light flashed beside her.
The monster's fist that had been frantically pounding the door stopped at the intense white light swirling around.
The monster's gaze slowly turned toward Osian, or more precisely, toward the starlight burning in his hand.
-Woooooh.
The monster let out a dull cry as it took in Osian's sword with its eyes.
"No way, how?"
Krua couldn't hide her surprise at how the monster became so quiet just because Osian used starlight.
How could something that didn't even react to her attack with her sister respond to mere light?
Osian stared at the monster with an even more subdued gaze.
"Why? Do you want this?"
As if it understood these words, the monster's fierce face distorted more grotesquely than ever before.
That appearance made even Krua, Atilla, and the underground keeper unconsciously step back.
Regardless, Osian threw out a provocation in his usual voice.
"Then come and try to take it yourself."
-Aaaaaargh!!
The monster let out a roar and ignoring the half-destroyed door, charged toward Osian.
"Uh, uhh? Run!"
The underground keeper shouted in surprise as the monster targeted them again.
Feeling the monster's presence chasing more violently than before, the group had to run like mad just to survive.
The monster no longer showed interest in bulkheads or other passages.
Though Osian had extinguished the starlight, the monster that had the starlight deeply etched in its mind did not stop.
The monster's purpose at this moment converged to just one thing.
To once again grasp some light that had now become dim.
"The distance is getting closer!"
The monster's speed was faster than originally thought. At this rate, it was clear they would be caught before reaching the checkpoint.
"Detonate it!"
The running underground keeper shouted at the signal device.
Then the bombs installed in advance in the ceiling passage exploded with timing matched to when the monster passed.
-Kaboom!
The monster's speed slowed somewhat after being hit by the explosion's heat, shockwave, and debris. But that was really just slightly.
The monster that regenerated its wounds in an instant came chasing after the group again.
"This is crazy."
Atilla cursed at the sight. The trap that was thought would hold it back for at least 1 minute didn't even last 10 seconds.
The monster charged forward without caring about its wounds.
'Just what did you do?'
Krua observed Osian's face as he ran calmly beside her.
Even in a situation where the monster seemed about to pounce from behind at any moment, his emotions were still unreadable to the point where she couldn't tell what he was thinking.
"We've arrived!"
A large open door could be seen up ahead.
Compared to how the waterway doors until now had some kind of bulkhead mechanism, that door looked like an entrance to some dungeon.
Maybe it felt that way because it was the monster's residence.
In the monster's residence B-3 sector, water that hadn't fully drained pooled up to the ankles, and there was a musty smell from mud mixed with various scrap metals.
The height to the ceiling seemed to be almost 30m, and the space was so wide it brought to mind a sports field.
Piles of all sorts of scrap metal were scattered throughout that wide space.
The scrap metals piled as small as a house or as large as almost touching the ceiling had corroded or rusted from being abandoned for many years.
'This is...'
As Osian was looking around somewhat curiously, the underground keeper shouted.
"Hey! What are you spacing out for? Hurry over here! Let's go according to plan!"
Though they had entered the monster's residence, it wasn't that there was no way to escape outside.
Rather, this place was more like a cavity created where numerous waterways overlapped the most, so there were many small passages besides the large entrance they had officially come through.
According to the original plan, the group would end things by escaping through that emergency exit.
And the underground keeper knew well where the passage was.
-Aaaaaargh!
The monster's approaching footsteps and thuds could be seen from behind.
The pale-faced underground keeper approached a floor door hidden between piles of scrap metal.
Though it was a passage entrance large enough for two or three people to easily enter, the underground keeper's expression wasn't very good.
"Damn it! The door won't open because the water hasn't fully drained!"
If not that, it could also be that the door had broken when this place was filled with water.
"Then what do we do?"
"We need to go to another nearby door!"
But to get there, they would need to break through between the scrap metal piles while avoiding the monster.
"Somehow we need to avoid its sight..."
Before the underground keeper could finish muttering, Osian strode up to the door and stomped down hard.
Bang! Crack!
Though it was a smaller door compared to other closure bulkheads, it was still made of very sturdy material.
Yet it shook slightly from just one stomp of Osian's foot.
"You, what are you doing..."
"This is sturdier than I thought."
"Of course! It was made to withstand water pressure when this space was filled with water! Even if your physical abilities are extraordinary, you think it can be breached with just a kick?!"
"But not against a sword."
Osian drew his starlight sword and thrust it into the gap of the door.
The water pooled slightly on the floor evaporated with white smoke from the starlight sword's heat, and the metal door glowed orange.
"Hup."
With a short breath, Osian swung the starlight sword sideways.
Following that trajectory, the door was cleanly cut and fell down with a clattering sound.
"It's open."
"This is crazy. Even an industrial welding torch would take quite a while to open that..."
At least Krua was less surprised since she had already seen similar scenes.
"Well it worked out! Let's hurry and go!"
The underground keeper went in first, followed by Atilla.
As Krua was about to enter, she turned her head to look at Osian.
"Hey. What are you doing?"
Osian, who seemed like he would follow right away, was staring fixedly at one spot.
Meanwhile, the monster's thundering footsteps were gradually getting closer.
"The monster is coming! Hurry and come in!"
"No. It seems I'll have to stay here."
"What? What are you saying all of a sudden now...!"
Krua couldn't finish her words because Osian who approached her lightly hooked her ankle and broke her balance.
Before Krua fell, Osian firmly gripped her collar.
"I'll follow right after I finish this."
With those final words, his hand released with a snap.
Krua was too shocked to say anything as she fell into the underground passage.
After sending Krua away like that, Osian collapsed debris to cover the entrance so they couldn't come up.
The monster's footsteps rapidly approached at that sound.
Regardless, Osian's gaze had been fixed on one pile of scrap metal since earlier.
Though the color had faded from rust after many years it wasn't very difficult for him as a knight to recognize the familiar form among the gaps of those piled metals.
"Armor?"
It was armor. And armor with a very familiar design at that.
In Osian's mind, the name of one NPC from the game came to mind.
"So this was your grave. Rommel."