Chapter 277: Free City Alliance (10)
A vast underground cavern lay deep beneath the Free City Alliance.
Darkness saturated the place. Light could not reach this abyss.
Pillars, grooved by the passage of countless finger-worms, stood amidst the endlessly sprawling cavern. The vibration born from this combination pulsed through the air, an ominous resonance. This resulting echo felt like the wailing of a thousand ghosts.
Amidst this resonance, the scuttling footsteps of Object prosthetics traversing the pillar grooves could be heard.
Tap-tap, tap-tap.
The sound, like fingernails endlessly tapping stone, possessed a maddening quality, grating on the nerves of any listener. The ghostly wails and the tapping fingers intertwined, weaving an atmosphere thick with horror.
But this grim ambiance was not eternal.
Grrrrk!
With that chilling sound, the cavern’s atmosphere instantly transformed.
The finger-worms filling the tank began to convulse like leeches sprinkled with salt. Their pale, limp bodies tangled together, creating a repulsive spectacle.
That wasn’t all.
The viscous, foul-smelling liquid in the tank began to bubble furiously, spewing hot vapor like boiling water. The finger-worms’ unnatural seizures and the liquid’s ominous change evoked chilling terror and disgust.
And on the three worm-like monitors attached to the tank by tangled wires, urgent red lights began to flash like alarms.
[Object that kills Objects.]
[Gray Reaper has invaded.]
[Why? Why? Why?]
The words displayed on the monitors betrayed raw panic and confusion.
Meanwhile, the underground tank continued to boil violently, radiating heat.
[Though there is aversion, it does not seem hostile.]
[Then it is fine.]
A moment later, as new text began to appear on the monitors, the tangled worms’ convulsions and the tank’s heat gradually subsided, returning to calm.
[Special-Grade Object, the Object beyond.]
[The ‘Colossus’, having reached beyond, should be able to defeat the Gray Reaper.]
[But the Colossus’s preparations are not yet complete.]
All three monitors simultaneously displayed the same phrase.
[Then let us buy time.]
This sentence seemed to hint at some underlying plan amidst the chaotic situation.
***