Genius Engineer in the Labyrinth - Chapter 63
Only Noblemtl
Cave ruins (2)
Caves are usually damp or dry. There are also small insects and animals that can only be found in caves, adapted to the harsh ecosystem. Additionally, there are no plants to produce oxygen, so fire is strictly prohibited.
But the labyrinth cave defied all common sense. Moderate humidity, cool temperatures that were good for moving the body, monsters that emerged indefinitely, and oxygen that was endlessly supplied from somewhere.
At first, I was so scared that I carried oxygen tanks all around me, but no explorer does that now.
“People with anxiety disorders still carry oxygen-generating magic tools. Turns out the walls themselves generate oxygen so there’s no need for that.”
“Okay, thanks for the useful information.”
A happy Alan and a tired Taylor moved quietly but quickly through the secret passage. They didn’t sweat even though they were moving at a brisk pace thanks to the cool temperature.
Wherever I turned my eyes, there were jagged rocks everywhere. If I saw the same scenery over and over again, I would easily get tired of it, but that wasn’t the case for Alan.
I felt the same thrill as I did when I was searching through Lanka’s garbage dumps. Monsters block my path, and sometimes bad people get in my way, but they are just minor problems in the face of knowledge.
Naturally, the excitement led to one-sided conversation, and Taylor felt the encyclopedia walking beside him, praying that it would quickly reach the end of the aisle.
The secret passage I discovered this time didn’t distort dimensions or space, so I had to move around the size of the fortress.
When we finally reached the dead end, Taylor provided an explanation.
“If you go out here, there is a cave with a fortress. You have to go through there to find the ruins, but if you run into underground people, it’ll be annoying, so move carefully.”
Taylor felt around the wall as Alan nodded.
“11 o’clock on the right hand.”
“I don’t remember telling you how to find the secret passage… Did you learn it when I was out of my mind?”
“Don’t worry, there’s nothing wrong with your brain. You just know it because your surroundings are rippling or blurry, like a magic tool or Ooparts.”
As Taylor touched a certain part, the rock opened left and right like an automatic door.
There was an empty space that looked like several soccer fields were glued together, and in the middle was a rock wall. It wasn’t just a fortress in name, it was a real fortress in appearance.
The reason Alan could take in the entire landscape at a glance was because there was no fog here, like in the factory.
“Don’t look at me like that. I really don’t know.”
Taylor struck the player, fearing that Alan’s mouth would open. It was quite effective, so Alan swallowed his doubts and prepared to move.
[Fairy Tale], [Silence], [Secret]
Alan carved three runes directly onto the cart, and drew the rest on metal plates, which he either fitted onto the leopard or gave to Taylor.
“It reminds me of the old days.”
“What happened?”
“The further down you go, the longer the exploration becomes, and the more important it becomes to take care of your equipment. Even then, one of the gongdols who went down with me was active in many ways. At first, I was so confused that I wanted to grab him more than once.”
As soon as I finished speaking, an explosive noise was heard from far away, where I guessed the main gate would be.
Taylor frowned as the wall blocked his view, while Alan moved slowly, pressed against the common wall, fiddling with something.
“Okay.”
The reconnaissance automaton, which had been curled up in a circle on his palm, stretched out its legs and looked up at Alan with its round camera eye.
Because it was connected to his left eye, Alan saw his own face while looking at the spider.
Depending on how the underground people move, the path may change, and I was also curious about what the Ibex mercenary group was doing.
“It’s a spider again.”
“Because it has many legs, it is easy to travel over any terrain.”
“Did you give it a special name?”
“Is this procedure absolutely necessary?”
“If you’re going to keep using it, it’d be better to give it a nickname. Right?”
“···.”
When Alan showed no sign of reluctance, Taylor began to persuade him in a subtle tone.
“Think about it carefully. It’s a famous weapon. The favorite weapons of the strong all have names.”
“Some inspector said it was a black consumable.”
“That’s true, but are you going to throw away weapons like the Dragon Sword or Tyrving just because they’re broken? Of course you should take them to a master and have them fixed.”
Old or treasured items are imbued with spirituality. This was a natural order in a world where mana and wonders were alive and breathing.
The names of such items themselves became a form of magic, showing off their power to the world.
“It’s hard to build up mystique in a day or two. Unless it’s a mythical achievement, it takes at least tens or hundreds of years.”
“They say getting started is half the battle. So I’ll help you name it now. The spider will be crawling through the deep darkness of the labyrinth, so how about Deep Dark Crawler?”
“···I will begin reconnaissance.”
“Not really?”
The spider leaped from Alan’s palm and ran towards the fortress in various directions. It dug its pointed feet into the wall and climbed up.
Taylor’s specialty is listed as reconnaissance, but his current equipment is not good enough to shine in the fortress swarming with underground people.
If the target was the underground people and automatons crouching inside the fortress, then it would be understandable. If they were caught and caused a commotion, it would be troublesome if the Ibex mercenary group noticed.
Alan pulled a cable from the back of another spider that was acting as a repeater and handed it to Taylor.
“Let’s watch it together.”
“Are you treating it as a beam projector now?”
“No, I’m connected remotely so I don’t need to do that.”
Alan tapped the area under his left eye. True to his word, a faint blue flash appeared inside his pupil.
“You said that artificial eyes are Oparts? Every time I look at them, they have new functions. You’re amazing at scribbling down special characters. Even when I read a book, I don’t understand anything.”
Taylor plugged the cable into the port behind her ear, and Alan shrugged and piloted the spider.
The spider climbed to the top of the wall and took a picture of the inside of the fortress with his camera eye. There were rows of buildings made of rock, and armed underground men came out of them.
Everywhere you looked, it was bleak and desolate. The facilities and furniture for daily life were just imitations, and they were all just like empty tin cans.
The only intact parts were the weapons and equipment for combat. Naturally, the underground people moved mechanically without any questions.
“It looks exactly like an automaton programmed by someone.”
“Aren’t people actually the same? Aside from the differences in their composition, they’re similar to well-designed golems.”
“oh···.”
“I also picked this up somewhere, so let’s not argue about it. If I do it wrong, my brain will get overloaded.”
Alan hid his regret and focused on the spider again. In the center of the fortress, in what appeared to be a square, heavy armored soldiers began to sprout up one after another and headed towards the fortress’ main gate.
“Power armor, or is it a suit? Anyway, the mercenary guys have struck it rich. They should have formed a fan-shaped formation at the main gate and harvested the enemies coming out one by one.”
As Taylor said, the armored soldiers who had passed through the main gate were one by one brought to their knees by the mercenary group’s firepower. The mercenaries skillfully dismantled the suits and took out the bloodied underground men and threw them away.
The loot thus harvested was loaded onto waiting wagons, and when the convoy grew in size, it headed for the ground, and others filled the empty spaces.
It was a method that only organizations with many members could do. Because a lot of people were needed to keep the cycle going. The whole process was reminiscent of a slaughterhouse.
After all the heavy armored men were killed, the fortress gates were closed. The mercenary group, not wanting to kill the goose, just watched blankly.
Taylor said, removing the cable.
“You said the collector stayed in the lower level of the cave?”
“yes.”
“I asked to confirm because I was feeling a bit out of it. I guess he must have been causing trouble around here.”
“If this is still the case after you leave, then it means that the Labyrinth has judged the Collector to be a very threatening thorn.”
“So we will continue to pump out troops from the fortress.”
As the scout spider slid into a small crevice beneath the wall, Taylor pointed to a spot.
“It looks like there’s no need to worry here, so let’s keep going. The ruins are right over there.”
“You don’t know about Ibex, do you?”
“When I was working here, only Breaker and a few big companies knew about it. It’s probably the same now. They’re such cheapskates that they keep any money-making knowledge a secret.”
This time, when I touched the wall, the rock moved smoothly. After moving along the gently sloping downhill path for a while, a place similar to a library appeared.
Bookshelves twice as big as an adult’s stand in a domino-like pile. The sad thing is that wherever Alan looks, everything is empty.
Taylor nodded as if he understood.
“It’s a structure that creates metal plates or books over time, but it’s clean, so it must have been emptied a while ago. Maybe a collector took it while investigating this place.”
“ah···.”
A sigh full of regret. It was so heartbreaking that even Taylor, who had experienced all sorts of troubles, felt depressed for a moment.
“Let’s look carefully to see if there are any left or new ones.”
“But is this place always this messy? The bookshelves are all messed up.”
“It wasn’t like this originally, but is that important? The book is important.”
Alan nodded. The spiders that had been sleeping on the cart also rose up in response to their master’s desire. They quickly spread throughout the library.
“Please stay···.”
“Yes, that would be great. If there’s anything that looks interesting, you should read it first and sell it to the research institute that commissioned it. Hand over the books that aren’t interesting to a broker.”
“I understand the research lab, but why the broker?”
“It’s a trend among the rich to display scraps of labyrinth paper in their study. They show off that they are a person with common sense and culture. To me, it’s just the bluff of a fool with a head full of shit. They also launder money on the side.”
Alan looked incomprehensible. Books are worth exploring, but why are they just sitting there?
“The facial muscles do move. How could I, a commoner, know the hobbies of the rich? Oh, this is how it should be done. If you make me rich, I will do the same and tell you what I think.”
“Are you bored?”
“Actually, I’m not the type of person who has a connection with books. My skin feels like it’s getting bumpy. Do you think I have a paper allergy?”
“It’s because it’s cold. I was suspicious that the artificial skin was so cheap, but it looks like it gives me goosebumps, so I made a good purchase. I think I made a mistake when I listed the price.”
“Sometimes it happens. Some sellers cancel, and some angels just let it go.”
After searching through the entire library, I found only two books. The contents inside were, of course, unintelligible.
“This is actually a character we know, but isn’t it possible that it was distorted due to the mystery of the labyrinth?”
“···.”
Taylor pretended not to hear and pretended to search through the shelves, then turned his eyes slightly to see what Alan was doing.
Alan was tapping his forehead with his eyes closed. Spiders were dancing on the metal plate right in front of him.
Taylor, worried that he might be acting strangely because of his heartache, ran over to him and saw the dots on the metal plate.
Maybe it was because Alan had been explaining the stars so much, but somehow the dots looked similar to them.
“It looks like a star.”
“Do you think so too, sir?”
“I don’t know, so don’t ask.”
Since Alan didn’t really ask for an answer, I started to verbalize the thoughts I had organized so far.
“Somehow the arrangement of the bookshelves felt familiar. If you think of each letter as a separate character, you’ll be able to interpret it.”
“Really? We tried a similar analysis before, but it didn’t work.”
“Did collectors come and go back then too?”
“That’s not it.”
“The Collector has a way to interfere with the Labyrinth. So he must have used black magic to overcome the constraints of the floor. It will be no different here.”
After speaking, Alan started running around the library, adjusting the positions of the bookshelves little by little. The reinforced exoskeleton was a great help.
“Can I help you?”
“It’s a little twisted. Just 2cm to the right. Then 1cm to the left. This time it moved too little.”
“I’ll just stay still.”
In fact, it was faster when Taylor took his hand off. After about two hours of work, Alan finally wiped the sweat from his forehead.
“What next?”
“Follow me.”
Alan headed to the corner of the library.
“If the bookshelf is a star, this is where it starts. Translated, it means, ‘Please give me a light to brighten the darkness.’”
“What’s with the lantern, Black Mage? Well, there’s no change.”
“It’s not over yet. I hope I’m right.”
After finishing speaking, Alan placed his palm on the floor near the bookshelf. The light unique to magical power flashed, and there was silence for a moment.
Before I could finish my second breath, there was a faint vibration. I turned my head towards it and a new passage opened up.
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