Genius Engineer in the Labyrinth - Chapter 74
Only Noblemtl
The journey went smoothly thanks to Taylor, who acted as a guide. As if boasting decades of experience, he chose the shortest route and rest periods and proceeded steadily.
However, unlike Zion, since the senses were weak, the frequency of encountering enemies was rather high. In fact, this was normal.
Taylor knew that very well, so he wasn’t discouraged at all. Instead, he spoke confidently.
“You have to fight to make money. Am I wrong?”
“Brother, that is shameless and yet true.”
“There’s something more important than that. It’s teamwork. We fought together at the mining camp, but that’s not enough. Why did the Matan team kill happen?”
“Team kill? I’m still alive and well. Anyway, I agree with that part. If you know each other’s abilities, intentions, and habits, the squeaky parts will disappear.”
Allen had the same thought. What good is having enough firepower if you just hesitate because of friendly fire?
There were other ways. Instead of using the magic bullets in melee combat, you could use them for preemptive strikes like aircraft air strikes, or load magic bullets with special effects.
The runes of [Penetration], [Confusion], and [Blocking] were the kind of nullifying magic bullets that, instead of exploding in range, would emit a mana pulse to disable the automaton itself.
It was a useful magic bullet even if you had to fight people later. It could silence magical tools or interfere with magic engraved in the air.
‘Or determine the direction of the explosion.’
That would require carving more runes, so it was still too much. I could remove other runes, but that would lower the power.
In fact, it didn’t matter how many times Shiva was hit. It was the result of the dwarf’s innate physical characteristics and the sacred law intertwined.
But Alan just kept quiet because he thought it would hurt him if he said that to himself. The previous slip of the tongue was something that came out without him knowing it while he was thinking about several things at the same time.
‘Let’s not do any mathematical calculations when we talk from now on.’
With that determination, I arrived at the 10th floor. I thought I would not be able to meet the gatekeeper again and go down, but suddenly, a particularly large manhole popped out.
“This is the goalkeeper.”
“I heard that it’s hard to see you because you have so many competitors, but you’re lucky. This is a chance to send another soul to your mother.”
Alan stopped Shiva, who was about to jump out.
“Can I go alone this time?”
“Alone?”
Shiva’s eyes moved up and down quickly. It was a gesture that hinted at the thought, ‘What is a magic engineer going to do by coming to the forefront?’
“It’s not me, it’s this child who will be dealing with it.”
At Alan’s gesture, the leopard moved forward. Taylor watched it and crossed his arms.
“I’ve been wanting to sing this song for a long time, and now I have the chance. It’s great.”
As Taylor took his hand away, Shiva, who had been swaying, also relaxed his posture.
Meanwhile, the leopard lowered its body and ran quickly towards the goalkeeper. It flexibly dodged the hammer blows coming from above and dug in between the goalkeeper’s legs.
Card grab!
[Sharp] claws dug into the armor on the inside of the knee. The armor was so thick that it couldn’t cut through the artificial muscles or pipes in one go.
The goalkeeper bent down and tried to grab the leopard’s body with his hand. However, only air remained in his grip, and the leopard, which had completely escaped, clung to the goalkeeper’s back.
Wheezing! Crunch!
The drill fangs dug into the nape of his neck in an instant. If it were a living thing, it would have already spurted out a large amount of blood, but the goalkeeper was an automaton who did not know pain.
He put down the hammer and moved both hands behind his back. This time, the leopard with its fangs embedded in its armor was unable to dodge and was caught in the goalkeeper’s two hands.
The goalkeeper slammed the leopard hard against the wall. The sound of rock and metal clashing reverberated through the passage.
As soon as the leopard was thrown, the goalkeeper rushed forward with his shoulder forward. The huge body pounced on the leopard that had just raised its body.
Boom!
The force was like a bomb exploding. Small pebbles flew everywhere.
Shiva, who instinctively covered his face, looked at the sight and admired it.
“Oh. This is exciting.”
“Is it okay for a priest to enjoy watching a battle?”
“They’re just automatons. And no one would dislike seeing a bloody battle between mechanical monsters.”
“There is a formal gambling table in Maze City where they fight like that. It’s so famous that they even broadcast it on TV. Of course, horse racing is the most fun.”
Alan, who was observing the leopard from a distance, reacted to certain words.
“Horse racing?”
“How funny…. I let go. Seriously. But what are you doing? You should be worrying about the leopard instead of me. Aren’t you going to lose like that?”
“It’s okay so far. It’s only noisy, but the breakage rate is low.”
As Alan said, the leopard was fine. Just before the collision, it had escaped like an eel, so the goalkeeper’s shoulder ended up crushing the wall.
The moment the goalkeeper recovered from the shock, the leopard that had taken over the flank struck with its front paws repeatedly. The 3m tall giant staggered slightly.
The blows, which included [Acceleration], [Strengthening], [Enhanced], and the circuit magic 『Pulverization』, penetrated deeply. Even if the outside looked fine, the internal parts would slowly break down.
The goalkeeper, who had shaken off the leopard with a big swing of his arm, retrieved the hammer from the floor.
“After all, people need to use tools.”
I could faintly hear Taylor’s words, as if she was cheering someone on. Even those were quickly drowned out by the clash between the two automatons.
As the goalkeeper grabbed the hammer with both hands, smoke rose from the hammer’s head. He swept it horizontally downwards as if sweeping dust with a broom.
The leopard jumped like a flexible cat and narrowly avoided the hammer, but the goalkeeper’s tricks were not over. The smoke from the hammer grew thicker.
bang!
It exploded and shook the surroundings. The leopard was pushed back by the impact and almost reached the ceiling. The belly was also blackened.
Just as the goalkeeper was about to strike the enemy who was still floating with his hammer, the leopard opened its mouth wide. A red flash of light flashed inside.
The powerful heat ray dug into the nape of his neck. The armor, tattered by the fangs, easily allowed the heat ray to penetrate. The light was so strong that a red light flowed out through the gaps in the guard’s armor.
thud!
That was the end of it. The goalkeeper stopped, getting down on both knees.
Taylor applauded the sight.
“It was very exciting.”
“Brother Taylor.”
“why?”
“Automatons are useful when used as allies, so why doesn’t anyone carry them around?”
“Maintenance and repair costs. The DT-10 at the camp only needs to be operated when necessary, but the explorer’s automaton cannot be stopped, so it consumes a lot of power.”
“Ah… I see.”
“That doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist at all. You can see it a little bit from the primeval forest. Now that it’s all cooled down, let’s dismantle it.”
Taylor, who had loaded the wagon with important loot, spoke to Alan, who was inspecting the leopard.
“what’s the matter?”
“I added a mana sword function to the claws while replacing the DT-10’s magic path, but it doesn’t activate. Is this the problem···?”
When Alan tapped the leopard’s paw, a blue blade suddenly appeared. The light that could easily tear through even iron plates was beautiful yet fierce.
“The circuit was a little twisted. If it weren’t for that, I could have finished it without even needing to use the light.”
“It upgrades every time I look at it. This will make dealing with the guards easier.”
“It’s still a long way to go. I think I’ll be satisfied if I can at least deal with someone like Chairman Marshall.”
“Am I misunderstanding what ‘at least’ means? Yes, the bigger the dream, the better.”
*
The 20th floor, which I finally arrived at, was different from the scenery I had seen so far. The black fog was still thick, but instead of the rocks typical of caves, there were buildings forming the walls.
It was no exaggeration to call it a maze made of walls made of buildings. When the light of a lantern was shone through the cracks in the windows or doors, the dilapidated internal structure was revealed. It was like an abandoned house that had been covered with cement for a long time.
Alan went inside and looked around every corner.
“We can camp here without having to find an empty lot.”
“That’s right. Everyone who comes down here is like that.”
“Can we call this place a cave? It would be better to call it an underground city rather than something as simple as that.”
“If you look at the overall structure, that’s true. People use the names they’ve been calling them. Perceptions and customs don’t change easily.”
Taking a short break, Taylor leaned against the cart and began to explain, gesturing with his hands.
“It looks like they’ve unearthed an old city buried in a mound of dirt. The paths are clear and there’s even a ceiling.”
“The 19th floor is 5m, and this one is about 6~7m.”
“Actually, there’s not much difference from above. The only change is the exterior, but it’s still a maze. However, you can hide in the building, so you have to be careful of surprise attacks. Whether it’s underground people or maggots that commit robberies.”
“Huh… Are there people down here who reject their mother’s teachings? It’s really sad.”
Shiva, who had been quietly listening to the story, sighed.
“The explorers who come down here are well-equipped. They’re dangerous to deal with, but if you want to make a killing, there’s no better place to do it. If you’re not up to speed, you can just stay in the primeval forest and wait until it’s quiet.”
“It seems that the primeval forest is surprisingly a livable layer.”
“Catch wild animals to gather food, get drinking water from the river. If you have the strength, it’s a much more livable place than a maze or a cave. Wait, where’s Alan….”
“Here it is.”
Before Taylor could get up, Alan came out of the inner room.
“What did you do?”
“I was looking at the structure of the house. There are traces of water and sewerage, and pipes that seem to have been used as a power source. The house is not just for decoration.”
“I told you it was an underground city. Scholars have calculated it before, and if you roughly convert the city into a square, it would be 30km long and wide.”
The underground city is a ruin, but its scale shows how prosperous it once was. Of course, this assumes that it was a civilization that actually existed.
“Who on earth created the Labyrinth? Who kept this city hidden, even down to the smallest detail….”
“He’s a pervert.”
“why?”
“Imagine if you built a city this size with your own hands. What would go through your head?”
“The tenacity and passion to stick with something?”
“···.”
Regardless of Taylor’s reaction, Allen continued the conversation.
“There is a theory that it was manufactured, but since no traces of the underground people have been found outside, there is also a hypothesis that it was brought from another dimension.”
“Can we stop talking about this? My head is starting to hurt…”
Shiva nodded slightly, as if he was the same. After confirming this, Alan went out into the passage with his group.
The 20th floor was more deserted than I thought. It was almost as if it were an empty place, except for the underground people walking around the plaza like people or popping out from resting inside the building.
Even the armament of the underground people was poor. Some underground people did not even have weapons, and the automatons that accompanied them were more like pets than combat-ready.
“It’s like a normal citizen.”
“There are quite a few explorers who find that unsettling. I want to ignore them, but they attack even if I leave them alone, so I have to deal with them.”
“That’s right.”
Who would want to quietly give up their neck? Alan quickly shook off his distracting thoughts. It was of no use to have a complicated mind when exploring.
The city, which looked as if it had been destroyed, had different building shapes the further you went inside. If the entrance reminded you of a slum, the place you were walking now reminded you of a wealthy neighborhood.
As we left the area, we saw a huge door that reached all the way to the ceiling. It was now half-collapsed, allowing people to easily enter and exit, but if it had been intact, it would have been a great sight.
Taylor stopped the group for a moment.
“We call it the palace. Once you pass through that gate, it’s the real beginning. If you exaggerate a little, you can think of it as a place where there’s no time to rest.”
End