Earth: The Second

Building of Chambers

The further they are into the dungeon, the darker it gets since there is no way sunlight could reach the inner part of the structure. Boran lit up a torch and leading, while each Gon and Adma have also given a torch to light up each of their section. 

The dungeon itself looked similar to a cave, with corridors made of ground and stones, at first, Adma expected it to have the feeling of ‘abandoned office’ or something that resembles old world’s skyscrapers, but apparently, those are not the case.

As if this building is not made by civilization from his time, but instead, by someone else who is interested in the concept of skyscrapers.

“We got companies!” shouted Boran. from behind, Adma and Gon can see three monsters, that looked like wolves with sabretooth in their mouth, blocking their way. Those wolves are bigger than ordinary canines, it’s easier to compare their size to the extinct Sumatran Tiger.

Boran slamming his shield and starting with a taunt skill. He successfully catching the attention of all of those creatures, and make them focused on the shielder.

The sabretooth wolves then starting to attack Boran with their teeth, only to find that Boran’s shield is far sturdier.

Two of them got pushed back after hitting the shield, while one is gnawing the side of Boran’s shield, trying to rip it apart from its owner. Too bad that its attempt is for nothing as two cold blades are piercing through its neck, and gushing out a pool of blood. Kaina has started to act, starting with the nearest enemy to the group. After stabbing the wolf, she twists her hand and spins that knife around. After that, a thud voice coming from the front, and that wolf’s head has separated from its body.

No matter how beastly they are, the sabretooth wolves still have some bit of intelligence. They knew very well the smell of blood that comes from their kin. 

Notice that those creatures are twitching in fear, Boran is shouting his taunting spell again.

howling coming from one of those, at it started to charging forward them again.

“This one is mine!” shouted Boss, he charged with this giant sword, and with a single thrust, he easily impaled the wolf’s body.

Two beasts lying dead is enough to threaten the last beast. Its survival instinct kicked in, and it commanded him to get out of that place quickly. The last that Boran cast is not working, and that wolf whimperingly, run back into the darkness.

Adma has clearly seen that this has already become an everyday job for the group of Black Claws. They let Boran take the initiative, and become the shield for everyone. While he is being attacked, he does not budge, but instead, letting his teammate do anything that is necessary to beat their opponent.

This is how a party of adventurers is working, putting the trust of each other’s back, and do their respective roles. Something that Adma can learn, even from a group of Black Claws that he kind of despises so much.

Not far after their first battle, the group can see light coming at the end of the tunnel. 

“Are we outside?” asked Gon to their lead.

“No, not yet. This is still the part of the dungeon,” replied Boss. They bring them closer to that light, showing what is hidden beneath this structure.

Out of the tunnel, they see the inside part of the structure, which has a spiraling road connecting every level in this building.  In here, there is no roof that blocking the light of day. 

“It’s just like the outside,” mutter Rika, they are fascinated by its grand scale and spend a little bit of time admiring it.

“Indeed,” comment Adma to her, Meanwhile, Adma is looked at thousand rectangular holes in the wall, that seem functioned as a door. Probably, they are connected with each of the doors that they can see from the outside too? He thought.

“We have arrived rather early, sometimes you can see a bunch of adventurers is using this place as a resting area before they continued to explore,” said Boss, understandable, since the natural light and the tunnel that lead outside would guarantee their safety from the threat of darkness.

“Adma! Where are we going to go next?” said Hepaetus, automatically, all of their gazes pointed towards him. 

“Wait, since when you are pointing me?” asked Adma back.

“What else? You are the last one to meet Clara and understand what is happening to her. Either Gon and I are completely clueless. We just stick around because we need to,” said Hepaetus.

Indeed, Hepaetus probably are looking for a way to get his inventions back to work, while Gon and Rika looking for new business partners.

“Boss, have there been any discoveries of mysterious equipment that planted in the ground or wall?” asked Adma,

“Yes there are, heck, there are too many of them, I also lose my count,” said Boss.

“I see, can you take us to one of them?” 

“Sure did,” replied him instantly.

Following Boss to walked upwards, he sometimes is pointing to the walls. 

“This is one of those, scholars said they are some kind of tablets that used to storing information. Because it’s planted to the wall, they decide to net taking it out by force. Until now, there still have no idea what are their actual purpose.

What Boss is talking about, is actually an electric door lock that used a combination of numbers to locking and unlocking. Located right beside that hole, Adma can clearly see its purpose.

After that, Boss lead them into one of the doors. and found themselves into some kind of chamber.

Inside, Adma sees a lot of broken monitors that are lying around. their screens are broken, and their cables have melt, what has previously happened here?

“This chamber is one of the places where those mysterious glasses are stored. Many people feel unwell inside this place, said it was cursed.”

“The curses probably coming from this equipment,” said Adma, replying to Boss’s explanation. “Burned rubber is usually letting out a toxic smoke that is dangerous for health. It could irritate the lung, and the lack of air will cause a headache,” said Adma.

Boss is shrugging his shoulder, said he does not know that either.

“There is a lot of chamber like this. With the mysterious devices that have been left for god knows when only the imagination of scholars and adventurer that could decide what is their actual function,” said Boss.

***

Two hours they have spent inside those rows of the chamber, with nothing that really catches Adma’s interest. Sometimes, he would found a computer inside the room, but it won’t turn on, or connected to Adma’s peripherals.

Until finally, Boss takes them to the last mysteries of the dungeon, The Room of Glass.

Located at the very top of the chambers, they spent more time climbing than ever before. As they reached the top, all of them, except for Adma, already lost their breath and stretching their feet on the floor.

“I’m sorry, let us rest for a bit,” asked Gon. No one is complaining, because even the Black Claws seem like can’t continue either.

Adma decides to venture by himself inside that chamber. Following a narrow corridor, that he doesn’t know where it will take him. Adma lifts his torch high and started walking.

“...This is…!” Adma’s is muttering impressed. His curiosity has been paid off with a huge room, bigger than any other. The sensation inside this place is not like a cave or ruin, instead, this really feels like a modern structure, that is preserved in time. 

The room has a shape like an auditorium, which is divided into a higher level and lower level. Both of those platforms are facing one huge monitor, that is surrounded by other smaller devices. 

Those screens are connected to the panels under them, with lots of buttons, levers, and controllers. Rows of computers are also lining up at the lower level, unfortunately, some of them are gone or broken.

“Navigators, can you tell me what is this place?” asked Adma.

“Report: according to the structure, this is the command center of the building. This is where commandants are issuing mission and watching the situation of the war that is going on,” reported Navigator.

“Wait, war?” asked Adma confused.

“Yes, Because of the political instability and competition between corporations and countries, conflicts tend to happen, especially on sides of the world with a lot of mining resources,” said Navigator,

“These wars are controlled by the players who have powers, either they are corporations or countries. Result of war: undetermined, since Anna Kirschev pressed the doomsday button, in the middle of the war that is still happening,” reported Navigator.

“But… as I remember, there is no war, as long as I remember,” said Adma, worried.

“Hypothesis: because data from Clara is not enough to enhance your knowledge, there is a huge possibility that you can’t connect your memory to the existing information. It is recommended to increase your amount of knowledge first,” said Navigator.

 “Alright then, so all I should do are just to connect myself to the board right?” asked Adma.

“Yes, but please be careful,” although she still sounds robotic, Adma can feel a genuine concern hidden beneath Navigator’s voice. In the first place, he already knows that coming to this place is also some kind of trap. But it’s too late to back down now.

“Navigator, search for the port into the computer,” said Adma.

Through Adma’s body, the Navigator is scanning the panel in front of Adma. It successfully found a hole hidden beneath dusk. After cleaning it for a bit, Adma’s finger turned into a connector, and once again, he diving into the virtual world.

“To ensure your safety, this time I would be the one that dived into the virtual world,” said Navigator, Adma looked at Navigator who appeared in the shape of a ball.

“Nonsense, let me coming too,” reject Adma.

“As I said before, in this virtual world, you are weaker in terms of resources. The damage to your system will have similar cost like losing your soul and life,” warn Navigator.

But still, Adma won’t let his companion go to the danger alone.

“Recommendation rejected,” said Adma smugly.