Chapter 115: Beneath the Dunes
The stairs seemed endless.
Each step echoed through the underground passage.
Clang.
Clang.
Clang.
The further they descended—
The colder it became.
Strange.
Above them was a scorching desert.
Yet beneath it...
The air felt almost lifeless.
Kai tightened his scarf around his face.
"This place..."
"It feels familiar."
Munnu glanced over.
"You've never been here."
"I know."
"...That's why it's strange."
The mana lanterns illuminated the corridor.
Ancient stone.
Steel supports.
Collapsed ceilings.
The architecture immediately caught Kai's attention.
It wasn't identical to the laboratory inside the Forest.
But...
It shared the same design philosophy.
Smooth walls.
Embedded mana conduits.
Circular patterns carved into pillars.
Noah would've loved this place.
He would've probably spent days trying to understand how everything worked.
Kai quietly smiled.
"...Definitely connected."
Their footsteps echoed through the ancient passage.
The walls had changed.
Gone were the weathered stone corridors from the upper ruins.
Here—
Everything looked different.
Metal plates.
Steel pipes.
Wooden support beams holding cracked ceilings together.
Someone had reinforced this place.
Not centuries ago.
Relatively recently.
Munnu ran a hand across one of the beams.
"Someone kept this place alive."
Persia adjusted the large radio on his back.
"...Or still is."
Nobody liked that possibility.
The group continued deeper.
Rooms lined both sides of the corridor.
Most had collapsed.
Some still contained rusted equipment.
Broken tables.
Cracked glass containers.
Bent restraints bolted into the floor.
Kai didn't need memories to know this place had never been normal.
One of the Outlaws quietly muttered,
"...I don't like this."
Nobody argued.
Further ahead—
A lantern illuminated something lying against a wall.
A scarf.
Covered in dust.
Munnu immediately picked it up.
His expression changed.
"...Jamil."
One of the Outlaws looked closer.
"That's his."
Another member searched nearby.
A broken rifle.
A torn satchel.
A knife.
"Sadiq..."
Silence.
Their missing companions.
No bodies.
Only the things they carried.
Munnu slowly clenched the scarf.
"They're alive."
Persia folded his arms.
"...Or someone wants us to think that."
Nobody answered.
The corridor narrowed.
Unlike the abandoned upper laboratory—
This section showed signs of recent activity.
Fresh footprints.
Recently repaired beams.
Oil stains.
Boxes stacked against the walls.
Someone had been working here.
Recently.
Kai's instincts immediately screamed one thing.
"We're not alone."
Everyone drew their weapons.
Then—
A scream echoed through the corridor.
It wasn't human anymore.
It started human.
Ended as something else.
The entire underground facility fell silent afterward.
Nobody moved.
Then...
A calm voice echoed somewhere ahead.
"So..."
"...that was the last test subject."
A sigh followed.
"Oh well."
"We'll simply acquire more."
Kai froze.
His head exploded with pain.
White.
Everything became white.
A laboratory.
A man wearing a long bloodstained doctor's coat stood over an operating table.
His glasses reflected the surgical lights.
Someone stood nearby.
Kai.
Not the Kai of today.
Another Kai.
His expression was cold.
Emotionless.
"When will you achieve a one hundred percent success rate Doc."
The doctor continued writing notes.
Without even looking up.
"When you provide me with more test subjects."
The cold Kai smiled.
"...Fair enough."
The memory shifted.
Kai now lay strapped to the operating table.
Every muscle screamed.
Metal restraints dug into his wrists.
Dozens of glowing magic circles surrounded him.
The doctor worked frantically.
"Mana pressure stable!"
"No..."
"It dropped again!"
He immediately adjusted another device.
Needles pierced Kai's chest.
His arms.
His neck.
Mana surged violently beneath his skin.
The pain became unbearable.
Kai screamed.
Not from fear.
Not from panic.
Pure agony.
The doctor's eyes widened.
"...Impossible."
"The body accepted it..."
The machines roared.
Light flooded the room.
Then—
Silence.
The doctor slowly lowered his shaking hands.
A smile spread across his face.
"...Magic Circuit implementation..."
He looked at the barely unconscious Kai.
"...Success."
The memory skipped.
Kai stood before the doctor.
The glowing patterns beneath his skin slowly faded from view.
Invisible.
Hidden.
Waiting.
The doctor chuckled.
"I still think you're insane."
Cold Kai turned toward the exit.
"I've been called worse."
"You really believe this Archive exists?"
Kai stopped walking.
Without turning around—
He answered.
"I know it does."
"The Cult found it."
"Then lost it."
The doctor laughed.
"Then I hope you find your precious Archive."
"...Whatever it actually is."
The world shattered.
Kai gasped.
The memory vanished.
He found himself back underground.
Sweat covered his body.
His breathing had become ragged.
"...Magic circuits..."
He whispered.
"So that's..."
Before he could finish—
A gunshot echoed down the hallway.
Bang.
Then another.
And another.
The Outlaws immediately reacted.
"They're under attack!"
Munnu drew both revolvers.
"Move!"
The group sprinted toward the sound.
As they rounded the corner—
Blue magic circles erupted across the corridor.
A fireball exploded against the wall.
Stone shattered.
Smoke filled the hallway.
Figures wearing hooded robes emerged from the darkness.
The emblem stitched onto their cloaks caught Kai's eye.
A twisted symbol.
One he had seen before.
One burned into countless memory fragments.
The mark of the Cult of Azathoth.
One of the cultists raised a sword.
"Kill the intruders!"
Munnu grinned.
"Finally."
He spun one revolver around his finger.
"I was getting bored."
The underground laboratory erupted into chaos.