Braving the silent darkness, they retraced their steps and arrived back to the collapsed entrance of the tunnel after a long and tense hour. Nothing dangerous happened on their way back, and the convoy seemed to have fared well in their absence, too.
The uneventfulness of it all was deeply disturbing.
Hiding his concern, Sunny glanced at the dark walls surrounding them. The battered vehicles stood motionlessly, their wheels resting on the cold asphalt floor. Here and there, people could be seen resting or hurrying to complete various tasks.
'...I don't like this.'
Frowning, he headed toward the hatch of the Rhino. The people he needed to hear from were already gathered there, ready to report the state of things.
As Sunny passed the sentries, one of them suddenly called out to him.
"Captain Sunless, sir…"
He slowed down and gave the soldier a dark look.
"Yes?"
The man hesitated for a few moments. His face was still, but his tired eyes were full of some unknown, intense emotion.
"Outside, I was part of the rear vehicle's crew. What you did for us back then, near the end… you really saved us. Thank you, sir."
Sunny stared at him blankly for a bit, then turned away with a scoff.
"I am in charge of this convoy. These are my vehicles, and you are my people. No one takes what's mine… especially without paying a price. Do you even know how much a vehicle like that costs?"
With that, he shook his head and walked away.
'What a weird guy…'
The Irregulars, as well as Sergeant Gere, Professor Obel, and Beth were waiting in the command suite of the Rhino. Sunny received several reports, which slightly improved his mood.
The convoy had lost one civilian transport and one military vehicle as the result of encountering the Devouring Cloud. Luckily, it did not affect their logistics too adversely. After sacrificing the mobile infirmary to accommodate the displaced refugees, all they had really lost was a bit of firepower.
The remaining vehicles had all been patched up and ready to move.
Sergeant Gere sighed.
"We don't have a lot of ammunition left, sir. Additionally, our reserves of drinking water are also severely reduced. We discarded a lot of it to lighten the load on the transports before the swarm arrived. It should not become a problem in the next several days, but after that…"
Sunny waved a hand dismissively.
"Don't worry about water. I have a literally endless source of water."
He remained silent for a while, considering the options. They could either pass through the tunnel, or remain where they were and try to dig their way out when some time had passed.
Both options were less than ideal.
'It all comes down to how long I want to remain in the tunnel, it seems.'
The first option would allow the convoy to escape from underground sooner… if all went well during the drive to the opposite exit. The second option would force them to stay inside for much longer, but did not demand diving deeper into the chilling darkness. Neither was free of risk.
'Curses…'
In the end, Sunny just really disliked the idea of staying in the eerie tunnel even a minute longer than it was necessary.
He sighed.
"Start the engines. We're leaving."
A few minutes later, the Rhino came to life and rolled forward, slowly gaining speed. The beams of powerful spotlights installed on its roof cut through the darkness, forcing it to flee and cling to the walls of the tunnel. The civilian transports and the military vehicles followed, staying close to the massive APC.
The darkness flowed back and devoured everything once again behind them, making it seem as though the convoy was traveling inside a small, fleeting, fragile island of light.
Sunny climbed to the roof of the Rhino and stayed there with Saint, staring into the darkness with a grim expression on his face. He was still blind to everything that was happening outside the small bubble of light, which made him incredibly nervous.
'Where is it… where is the source of all this darkness? When will it attack?'
Minutes passed, but just like during the scouting mission, nothing happened.
The convoy rolled forward with modest, but constant speed. Meter after meter of old asphalt disappeared under the wheels of the Rhino, and the stone walls seemed to move past them, vanishing into the darkness. The tunnel was silent, with only the passing of the human vehicles making any noise.
From time to time, side passages opened up to either left or right of the convoy, making Sunny especially nervous. All these paths sloped down, leading deeper underground. He was prepared for something to lunge at them from the darkness… but nothing did.
'Ignore them… we don't need to set foot in those passages. We just need to reach the exit and escape this dreadful place.'
Just like that, an hour passed, and then another, and another. The tunnel continued to stretch forward, seemingly endless. The more time passed, the deeper Sunny's scowl became.
…After a while, he finally left the roof of the Rhino and dove back into its interior with a dark expression. Walking up to Luster, he ground his teeth and said:
"That's enough. Stop the convoy."
Luster glanced at him questioningly, then shrugged.
The APC slowed down, and then stopped. The other vehicles followed suit, and soon, the whole convoy came to a halt.
Sunny left the Rhino and stood still for a few moments, staring at the weathered asphalt. Sergeant Gere and the members of his cohort soon approached from the direction of other vehicles, while Luster, Professor Obel, and Beth exited the Rhino through the hatch. Saint walked over to the edge of the roof, looking at them from above indifferently.
Most of the gathered people had grave expressions on their faces.
Noticing the grim mood, Luster blinked a couple of times, then turned to Sunny.
"Uh… Captain? Why did we stop? Is there a problem?"
Sunny looked at him silently.
"...Yes, there is a problem, you fool. Can't you tell?"
Luster scratched the back of his head.
"What, is there a Nightmare Creature ahead?"
Sunny sighed, then looked up.
"No… there's nothing ahead. That's the problem. We've been driving for about seven hours, correct? What was our average speed?"
The young man hesitated for a moment.
"Thirty kilometers per hour, sir."
They had not rushed and kept a modest speed, to be able to react in case danger appeared from ahead.
Sunny nodded.
"That is more than two hundred kilometers of going straight forward. And yet, there is no exit. Do you see the problem now?"
Luster's eyes suddenly widened.
"Oh… well, if you put it like that… it really is weird…"
Sunny gritted his teeth.
"It's not just weird. If there was a tunnel of that length in Antarctica, it would have been the longest one in the world, by far. Everyone would have known about it."
Luster paled a little, then studied everyone's faces.
"How come no one did, then? Sir?"
Sunny looked down and shook his head.
"There is only one possible answer. This tunnel… something is very, very wrong with it."