Genius Engineer in the Labyrinth - Chapter 87
Only Noblemtl
Rock climbing is a very challenging sport. To put it simply, it is a dangerous, difficult, and sweaty physical activity.
Climbers must be physically and mentally strong, and even if they have the first two conditions, training, equipment, and skills are essential.
So how many of the conditions mentioned above do you think Alan meets? Physically, of course, is missing, and he has never heard of education. Since he is physically lacking, it would be a waste of time to learn the skills.
Alan had only two elements: spirit and skill. Still, his overwhelming skill made up for all the other shortcomings, so rock climbing was easy.
When the robotic arm attaches to the rock face, its four fingers firmly grip the rock or crevice.
puck!
A dull sound was heard, and the stones were faintly scattered. A metal bar protruding from a place that could be called a palm dug into the rock surface to properly support the body, and then the next mechanical arm repeated the same movement.
With both hands free, Alan inserted bolts into the holes made in the pole and attached the rope.
Looking down for a moment, the leopard and box left below seemed to be dots. At the same time, Taylor, who was clinging to the cliff, tilted his head upward.
“Let’s go a little slower.”
“Senior said he jumped up, so we have to move faster.”
“No, how does he run around here? Even a mountain goat can’t do that. You’re surprisingly lively. Is there rock climbing in the monastic training?”
Taylor looked down and saw Shiva following along well. He was sweating a little, but he didn’t look tired.
“It seems like a unique trait of the race.”
Dwarves who love mountains and mining are so enthusiastic that they end up digging a little and then creating a vertical passage. When they do that, they have to climb up with both hands, so naturally their finger strength has to be very strong. Their forearms are also very thick to begin with.
The wind had cooled the sweat and made his skin cold. Alan’s robotic arm began to move again.
“I will go up now that you have found enough time to talk.”
“Let’s eat some chocolate. My blood sugar level is low…”
“Eat quickly. It’s the best time to eat now, since there are no mountain goats or birds of prey in sight. I think the senior has cleaned up on his way up.”
The body was gone, which meant that at least 30 minutes to an hour had passed. There were only so many things that a superhuman who could use magic could do with that much time.
“If I put my mind to it, I could easily run 40km in less than an hour.”
“How do you know so much?”
“I compared the movements when defeating the guards with the body scan data of the explorer. If my prediction is correct, you are between depth 4 and 5.”
I conveyed it with magic in my voice. I shouted loudly because of the wind, so I didn’t want to attract the attention of any animals that might be left behind.
Finally, he reached the summit, where there was no sign of vegetation. Only solid rock greeted Alan.
The top was about 300 square meters wide. The rocky mountain was structured to become narrower as it went up, so the circumference at the very bottom was much larger.
“It’s about 400 meters high. The view is nice.”
The forest spreads out in a circle around the peak, and a little further out is a plain, within which are scattered corporate bases.
If you look further, you can see the mountains surrounding the 23rd floor, which is a kind of boundary line. Beyond that, you can’t reach it because of the transparent wall.
Taylor, with only his head sticking out from the cliff, called out to Alan.
“Can you hold it for me?”
“Why are you acting so weak today?”
“Rock climbing at this age… this is elder abuse.”
Alan’s robotic arm grabbed the rope and pulled it out. Two fish jumped out, still hooked.
Alan nodded, looking at Taylor lying on the floor.
“That’s why explorers avoid this place.”
It took a long time and was difficult. This time, thanks to Zion, I was able to climb up easily, but originally, I had to endure attacks from mountain goats and birds of prey.
If the hunt was successful, the corpses would not stay still, so you had to descend again to collect the fallen loot.
While the two were drying off, Alan looked around. All he could see was a landscape without vegetation, and there was no trace of Zion.
“It must have come here, but where did it disappear to?”
“You know the technique I taught you in the cave?”
“Exploring secret passages?”
It was a skill that Alan learned from over his shoulder rather than being taught, but he didn’t necessarily judge whether it was right or wrong.
“Is there a secret passage here? How do I open it?”
“Just guessing, stop shooting lasers from your eyes. There might actually be a passageway here.”
“Still, it seems credible. Let’s look into it.”
Time passed again. My clothes, which had been soaking wet from the climb, had dried completely, and my body had become cold from the wind, but I still hadn’t found anything.
“If it were easy to find, other explorers would have already discovered it. There are people who come here for hobby or research purposes.”
“Brother, how about the compass?”
“I stopped earlier, but I’ll check again.”
Alan took the compass out of his bosom. The needle, inside a transparent, round crystal, guided the way to the peak and remained still as if it had done its job.
The sunlight hit the compass that had been rolling around in his hand, and something inside sparkled. Alan lifted the compass that had been in the shadow of his body up high.
As the sun reached it, the inside of the compass began to bubble up. The fine gold dust attached to the needle fell out of the crystal and landed on the ground.
It would be a shame to see the ordinary compass, but Alan focused elsewhere. The powdery sand shifted and rearranged itself into the shape of a star.
Taylor, who had been lying down, quickly got up and stuck her head next to Alan.
“Isn’t this a special character?”
“Yes. The bookshelf in the library was shaped like this. Just like back then, it says, ‘Please give me a light to illuminate the darkness.’ Oh, the light they’re talking about here is the sun.”
Unlike the dark labyrinths and caves, the sun in the primeval forest was always fixed in the same place. It was too coincidental to be called a coincidence.
The Underworlders live underground, and their skin is as pale as if they have never experienced light. However, in the visions that Alan experienced, the sun and clouds clearly existed.
‘Did you take refuge underground or were you forcibly confined for some reason? That’s why you yearned for the sun?’
Alan stuck his conjecture into the library of his memory. There was too little information to draw any conclusions.
As if a gust of wind had blew, all the sand was blown away, and the peaks trembled faintly.
Grrrrr!
The rocks scraped against each other, making a low, harsh sound. The solid rock gaped open, revealing a passage leading down. For some reason, a slide that rejected even light unfolded downward.
Taylor, lying face down, just popped his head out.
“This is almost like a vertical passage… I don’t know if I can get down there safely.”
“Let me check.”
The recon spider that had been attached to Alan’s shoulder jumped down and, moving in various directions, entered the passage. It seemed as if it was gliding for a moment, but then it freely moved up and down the walls and ceiling.
“Looking at the movements, the runes of [Attachment] and [Friction] seem to be working properly. If you go down slowly, I don’t think there will be any major problems.”
“Okay. Let’s go.”
The runes Alan had carved glowed on Taylor’s gloves and boots. He often joked, but he also threw himself in first when necessary. Shiva and Alan followed.
My body slowly descended. Fortunately, it wasn’t a completely vertical passage, but rather went down in a circular motion like a water slide.
Taylor’s voice, who was in front of me, echoed through the hallway.
“It’ll be easy going up, how far down is it?”
“According to my calculations, the peak height has already been surpassed. It must be underground now. It just passed 10 meters.”
“You can’t dig that deep in a labyrinth. In a labyrinth or cave, you’ll only get scratches, and in a primeval forest, you can only dig 1m deep?”
Even if you use strong energy or great magic, the result is the same. The labyrinth is very strong and cannot leave permanent scars. That is why even the strong with transcendent powers quietly move along the paths of the labyrinth.
Finally, I heard a sound of something falling in front of me.
“We’ve arrived!”
As soon as he heard Taylor’s voice, Alan’s robotic arms spread out to the sides. With a scraping sound along the passage, Alan’s speed gradually slowed down.
Alan dangled from the end of the passage, looked down, and then slowly stepped forward.
First of all, there was no black fog. And there was no light source, but I could see inside. It was like looking at a black and white screen.
The interior was a rectangular room. The most striking object was a square stone, set flush against the wall.
Alan approached and stroked the slab.
“There is writing on it, but I can’t read it.”
As if the spaces were intentionally created, only traces similar to ‘□□□’ were listed. Even if there were traces of letters, it would be different, but if it was like this, it was impossible to interpret unless you were a god.
Shiva, who was standing next to me, suddenly expressed his opinion.
“The atmosphere is like a tombstone. There was a graveyard like this near the monastery where I used to live.”
“There is only one way to find out.”
Taylor, who had pulled out the Mana Sword, placed the blue blade in front of the stone slab and swung it around. After cutting it in a grid pattern, he used his prosthetic hand to dig up the dirt.
“Brother, if you suddenly start robbing graves….”
“Grave robbery? There are many good words like geological survey and archaeological research. I’m still not very good at exploring.”
Taylor, who was digging the ground, straightened his back and made a groan. In front of him, all he could see was an empty hole.
“I dug around trying to figure out if there was some sort of mystery that tricked my senses or eyes, but there was nothing.”
“I guess it’s just for decoration.”
Alan immediately looked away. He was losing interest because he couldn’t get anything. But there were still places to explore, and for one thing, there were two passages connected to the cemetery.
Taylor asked Alan for his opinion.
“Left? Right?”
“Go left.”
“why?”
“There are stars written on it. On the left is peace, and on the right is asceticism.”
“This is a labyrinth. Could this be a trap set by that annoying guy?”
“If you’re going to be that picky, you shouldn’t trust the stars at all. I didn’t think the exploration would be easy anyway.”
The group eventually followed Alan’s words. Exploration naturally involves risk, and the greater the risk, the greater the reward.
The passageway, like the room with the tombstone earlier, had no light source, but I could see ahead. It had lost its color and appeared black and white, but thanks to the difference in brightness, it was easy to distinguish objects.
“I feel uneasy because my body is comfortable…”
“Brother, words become seeds.”
As Taylor said, nothing happened. The passageway that Alan chose was peaceful itself. Sometimes, a tombstone appeared like the first room, but it was empty.
After walking for a while, the place we arrived at was different from before. When we came out of the passage, there was a huge cave, and on the other side, there was another passage.
Alan recalled the structure he had been through so far.
“The passage on the right side of the first room leads there. It’s in the form of a decal.”
“Decal… what?”
“It’s symmetry.”
“Let’s take a look at the sarcophagus first.”
Taylor strode forward.
In the center was a high platform, and on top of it was a stone coffin. Judging from the appearance of the tombstones I had seen so far, the being inside was likely to be of an extraordinary status. Of course, it could have been empty, just like before.
Just as Taylor was about to place his hand on the sarcophagus, a light footstep was heard from the other passageway. Then a black doll popped out.
Zion had soot all over her clothes. She had her eyes closed, but as soon as she arrived, she opened them and looked inside.
“uh?”
“Haha, we got here first. You know the rules of the labyrinth, right? The first person to set foot in is the master.”
Yeah, yeah
At that moment, there was a sound of a heavy stone being dragged. Taylor turned his head and the eyes of the being lying in the sarcophagus met.
“Oh… there was an owner.”
The owner looked like he couldn’t be called human. His bones were visible through his flabby and torn skin. Where his eyes should be, they were empty. He looked like a mummy without bandages.
Shut up!
Still, I could make a sound.
End