Center Mines

Seeing the appearance of Yuuto alongside two other people, Dan Heng let out a small relieved sigh before he pushed his feet off the ground.

"You took forever!"

"Stop exaggerating it."

After hearing Stelle yell as she launched a big swing toward the large robot, Yuuto pulled his sword out of the bulky metal shoulder he sliced off and gathered more moonlight around his blade.

Finding the small gap at the robot's waist, he swung his sword following a movement that complemented his newfound mastery over manipulating moonlight.

The energy radiating off the edge of his sword formed a vertical silver line in the air as he swung before flicking his wrist back tracing a horizontal line right on top.

Manifesting a medium-sized cross.

Completing this movement, the cross left his sword and streaked through the air aiming to hit the small opening the robot had.

'I finally have something more offensive orientated other than just slicing and kicking spears.' 

This also included his mist which was more on the side of constructing structures and objects that he could use to help in his fight. 

[Waxing Moon], a part of Yuuto's swordsmanship that focuses on the manipulation of moonlight to create sharp silver lines in the air to form different types of attacks or projectiles of different shapes.

'Thankfully I can control the moonlight pretty decently.'

Yuuto thought as he formed a few horizontal lines before him after seeing his previous attack dig itself into the initial robot. Leaving behind a few large cuts on its torso.

So far he could only manage to manifest a few lines at a time but for the current situation, it would be enough

The newly made lines floated in the air and stood in place while Yuuto moved his position after seeing a large piece of metal go in his direction.

"You almost hit me."

"I knew that you would move."

Yuuto rolled his eyes when he caught Stelle walking to him after bashing the robot backward after Dan Heng successfully parried a few of its attacks.

The lines of moonlight Yuuto left behind pierced the flying robot and left behind a few holes in its legs before eventually collapsing from the damage it suffered from both Dan Heng and Stelle.

After piercing the legs, the lines of moonlight eventually faded away as if it had accomplished the goal it had been tasked to do.

Noticing that the swarm of robots finally calmed down, Yuuto shattered his sword and regrouped with the others amongst the litter of scrap in his surroundings.

"You guys move way too fast! Just left me behind…"

Finally catching up to his location was Luka who was breathing heavily while Yuuto and Seele awkwardly turned their heads after seeing the state he was in.

"Blame this guy, he just ran ahead without saying anything."

"Don't pull me under the bus. Also, you were the one who wanted to speed things up since you saw the hoard ahead." 

"I thought you wanted to act fast but you ran a bit slow, you know."

"You…"

Yuuto felt a vein grow when he saw Seele's provoking smile and felt like she was getting back at him for hitting her on the forehead earlier. 

"How childish…"

""What do you mean by that?""

"Nothing."

Luka's eyes awkwardly moved away when he was suddenly faced with both Yuuto's and Seele's attention.

While this was happening, the other three looked at this scene with some amusement after hearing what Seele said to provoke Yuuto.

"I should ask her how to do that…"

"Please don't"

Dan Heng let out a heavy sigh after hearing Stelle's quiet mumbles before tapping his spear onto Yuuto's shoulder to get his attention and place things back on track.

"We managed to evacuate the majority of the people in the mines but It seems like a huge number of robots suddenly appeared when the conflict almost reached its peak."

His words grabbed the attention of everyone in the area and a serious atmosphere enveloped the space.

"If it's robots it must be due to Svarog's influence."

"Who's that?"

March asked curiously after hearing Seele's answer and wondered who this person was as it seemed like they had a lot of control over the countless robots she had seen in the Underworld so far.

"Well… Svarog is troublesome is all I can say. Other than that, he usually never leaves his base and leaves his subordinates to do everything. But considering the large number of robots here, the chance that he's here is very likely."

Seele briefly told them what she knew about Svarog, leaving the people from the Express extremely curious about who this individual was.

"I want to go closer to the center of the mines and check for myself if any other people have been left behind."

"We'll also come! We still haven't fully completed our task yet so it's natural that we'll follow along. "

"Thank you, that will be some good help."

March raised her hand hearing Seele's suggestion and began to speak with her about their next destination.

While they were grouping, Yuuto scanned the area around him and noticed that a few white lights were dimly shining in the corner once again.

'Again?'

This was something odd since the woman who was hunched over was also wearing similar clothes to the man Yuuto saw earlier and felt like this was no coincidence.

Yuuto approached the location where the dim light was and immediately used [Clarity] to unveil the dark mist eroding the transparent woman.

[I'm… too tired…]

After a few seconds, the woman leaned her entire arm against the stone wall and let out rapid breaths as if she was trying to catch her breath.

[I should have… exercised but.. the opportunity to mark that lady's public service exam was too tempting…]

'Seems like she was some sort of examiner or a teacher of some kind.'

Yuuto guessed after hearing the faint murmurs this woman managed to let out despite her heavy breathing covering the majority of her words.

He stopped in place to think for a bit before Yuuto allowed a small trace of the Stellaron's energy to seep through the transparent woman's body.

After experiencing this type of phenomenon for the third time ever, he was able to kind of guess the type of task he needed to do to fully erase this 'ghost'.

It would go on the lines of completing a sort of task or perhaps a wish depending on how powerful the dark mist eroding this entity was.

As the mist on this woman was even less than the one eroding the man from before, Yuuto was able to quickly figure out what he needed to do.

[Hmm… I feel warm. Seems like I gathered enough energy to go…]

The woman stopped leaning her arm onto the stone wall before walking a few steps and disappearing into small sparks. Leaving behind a familiar-looking fragment which Yuuto grabbed.

"I feel like going to the center of this mine will be more than just briefly meeting Svarog and Clara…"

Staring at the dim fragment in his hand, he looked into what it had inside and noticed that it was leading towards the center Geomarrow vein.

Similar to how the man's fragment asked him for directions so that he could pass on notes he had for the Supreme Guardian of that time.

Yuuto closed his palm and turned around to follow the others who were just about ready to leave.

***

"You! You'll regret messing with us!"

"Keep barking like a dog and I might consider throwing you a bone."

"What did you say!?"

Yuuto covered his ears and gathered a lot of mist to surround the man who was screaming at him with full anger.

"Once my friends find you, you'll regret this after seeing some of our guns aime—"

Before he could finish his sentence, Yuuto wrapped his iridescent mist around the man's mouth and created a thick piece of ice to close his mouth shut.

"This dude talks too much."

"Well, we did bust them when they wanted to run away so I could guess why they're so angry."

Luka said as he wrapped a piece of cloth around another vagrant who resisted.

Leaving the area where they destroyed a hoard of robots, Yuuto and the others made their way toward the center of the mines under Seele's guidance.

Along the way, a few entrances and paths were blocked by rock and other obstacles that may have appeared due to the confrontation between the miners and vagrants.

However, they were able to quickly deal with it after a few large swings from a certain bat and strikes from a rocket-powered fist obliterating whatever came their way.

Obstacles weren't the only thing they encountered but also a few roaming vagrants who ran away from the robot swarm that suddenly appeared.

"We should be close."

Seele said and looked at her surroundings that felt even more familiar and began to hasten her steps.

Dragging a few vagrants with them, they finally exited the rocky passageway they were previously in and reached a ledge that overlooked the abundant ore veins in the distance.

This was even more apparent when they saw a large orange ore that glowed brightly showing the bright energy it had within it.

Seeing this large crystal, Yuuto's eyes looked at it with great interest but he turned his attention away from it since he noticed a few other presences a few meters away from them.

"..Mr. Svarog.. did the conflict finally end…?"

[Affirmative. I have taken temporary control of the area and prevented any further instigation that may potentially occur between the two parties.]

"I guess that worked for now but I feel like this is not enough.. I wish we can do something more to prevent this from happening again…" 

[Human actions and thoughts will always deviate from rational calculations Clara.]

A tall dark blue mech with a singular glowing pink eye looked at the little girl beside it who looked a bit sad as her reddish-pink eyes were downcast.

The mech looked for a while longer before switching its attention to the large group of people gradually heading down the cliffs near them.

[Let us go. The arrival of some major variables has triggered a small reset in calculations. The Furnace Core hub needs more protection.]

"I understand."

Clara nodded her head but her eyes didn't fail to catch the group of people headed their way. She quickly hid behind the mech that was with her but noticed a familiar-looking face among the group of people.

"It's the mister who told the stories…"

Although it wasn't for too long, Clara was able to catch a glimpse at the floating constructs and stories Yuuto told when he first gathered some people around.

On her way to find some materials she noticed the eye-catching display despite only watching it from far away.

She remembered the story was about something called a 'sea' that contained a multitude of life and this vivid story stayed stuck in her head.

'I wish I could see…'

Clara eventually shook her head to chase this thought away and followed Svarog who created a safe path for her to walk in.

"Svarog left this area pretty fast once he noticed that the place was under his control."

Seele clicked her tongue feeling a bit annoyed considering the amount of robots he just let loose and after seeing his goal accomplished, he left right away.

"At least it seemed like he didn't have any ill will."

Luka said and pointed towards some people who were silently sitting down and looked at the group with bright eyes after figuring out they were there to help them out.

A few looked like they had some injuries but nothing serious compared to the ones who were resting at the entrance of the mines.

"I'll go and see if any of them need medical help."

Seele rushed towards the nearest person near her while Luka did the same thing and reached his arm over.

While they were checking on the people who were sitting down the other four gathered together and spoke to each other.

"So anything noteworthy so far that can help lead us to where this Stellaron is?"

March asked as she felt a bit puzzled about whether or not they had any information during this trip so far.

Stelle and she looked at the two thinkers of the group and waited patiently for their answer.

Dan Heng looked at Yuuto who was silent and who also noticed that everyone was looking at him.

"What?"

"I got nothing from interrogating the vagrants I caught so I was wondering if you found anything." 

"Hmm…"

Yuuto heard what Dan Heng said and crossed his arms while he thought of something.

'I already roughly know where the Stellaron is but leaving Svarog out of this will be a bad development if I just leave it how it is…'

Considering Svarog was considered the 'Underworld's Guardian', he will continue to prevent any Underworlder from going to the surface and may even prevent the other side from entering down here as well.

Due to his 'calculations' that say the best way of protecting the people of the Underworld from the ever-growing corrosion, was to seal any possible path towards the surface. 

Based on the orders he received he will continue to do this until a certain situation where Clara helps change this thought.

Weighing this in his mind, Yuuto finally spoke.

"When I was staying at the town while waiting for Oleg I heard a few stories that may give us a clue."

"Oh, what is it?"

March felt curious to find out that Yuuto actually had something and waited for him to talk more.

"It's probably that tall robot we just saw. I heard that he's a few centuries old so he probably has some trails about the Stellaron."

Yuuto began to talk about what he knew while trying to make it sound like he found out from a person who just knew the history of the Underworld very well. 

"We have to find a way to communicate with Svarog then…"

Dan Heng held his chin and thought about a few things that they needed to do to meet up with Svarog.

Yuuto stayed quiet while he thought and looked at his surroundings for a bit. Feeling like the topic has moved forward, he decided to think about the other things in his mind.

'The center looks normal but I feel that something else is here.'

The way each of the fragments he saw kept leading towards this area, he felt the need to explore and find out why this place was so special.

"I'm going to roam around."

"Not again…"

Dan Heng snapped out of his thoughts and covered his forehead hearing such a familiar sentence from Yuuto who smiled brightly.

"Don't worry I won't cause any trouble!"

"I feel like that won't be the case… anyways before you leave, I'll bring that vagrant with us."

Yuuto followed where he pointed and nodded his head.

He walked to the man who was tied up with a piece of ice covering his mouth and noticed his eyes shake before it opened wide which made Yuuto frown.

–BANG

A loud gunshot echoed through the space and Yuuto felt a large amount of energy escape his body.

He quickly turned around and saw a bullet floating in the air which was suspended in a blue and gold-colored energy.

"Thankfully I have [Mother's Embrace] or else…"

Yuuto frowned even more and let out a dense mist to cover his surroundings while he located where the gun was shot from.

The others also escaped from their previous confused state and quickly armed their weapons trying to find the person who shot the gun.

"Near the cliff over there."

Dan Heng's sharp eyes caught some movement near the top of the cliff and saw the brief shine of what seemed to be a barrel. 

"I'll go after him—"

"Ora!!"

Yuuto paused his steps when he heard a loud shout from the direction of the person who shot him was at.

"I don't know how they managed to get their hands on something like this."

Appearing by the cliff was Oleg who was dusting some dirt off his hands while he dragged the unconscious man with him.

And following right behind him was a woman who had gray hair and matching colored eyes. Her face was serious but a hint of confusion, gloom and doubt was evidently growing with each step she made.