Chapter 129: Inbetween

Chapter 129: Inbetween

Waiting was pure torture. Guard work was always going to be boring when compared to marching into an old-world government vault. But it was ten times worse than he expected. Erec walked back and forth and tried his best to keep his nerves together; Robin and Juliana had gone on about him proving capable, but part of him craved war. Staring into a dark tunnel and picturing what was ahead was worse than pulling teeth.

Thankfully, they didn’t waste any more time once everyone got together.

The standard operation was simple. Knights led the way since if they got peppered with bullets. They could take them. Meanwhile, those with guns would move behind them, forming an effective two-layer strategy.

It had the benefit of letting Boldwick look at any possible traps, though, as they found out by the occasional body, any traps had already been triggered.

Before they marched, Erec stole another look at Enide. Her eyes were tense as she walked down into the tunnel, locked ahead with a tight grip on her gun. Her eyes drifted to the concrete walls around them; he didn’t think she caught his look before he pulled away to do his job.

The tunnel was quiet. Aside from the bodies and occasionally wrecked machines, there was nothing—only further proof of Seven-Snakes.

About half a mile downward, they came to a massive steel-vault door torn apart. A hole melted clean through the middle, which must’ve required an enormous amount of magic or tech. Inside it was flashing red lights and an annoying alarm.

“INTRUDERS DETECTED. MAIN HALL BREACHED.” Over and over again. Erec shifted his axe at his side as they stared at the hole.

“In we go, I suppose.” Boldwick declared, stepping forward and closely following behind through the breach.

Erec let out a small gasp as he saw the other side.

When he’d pictured a vault, he’d thought of something like Vortex Industries, but this place was nowhere like that—in either direction, roads stretched below, disappearing into corners and turns of red flashing lights. Ahead of them was a lobby—with sparking and broken turrets all over the place—more bodies and blood and a veritable farm of broken steel. Ñøv€lRapture marked the initial hosting of this chapter on Ñôv€lß¡n.

The roads that stretched from the lobby drifted far, and based on the navigation on the visual display of his Armor, they went outward from Worth.

Boldwick gave the dark paths ahead a long look, then sighed. “Goddess, that’s a lot of unknown ground to cover. A lot bigger than expected. There could be alternative entrances as well. This is not a vault.”

“No Vault is the same,” the leader of the Pendragons entered the lobby, looking in either direction. His tattoos seemed to almost crawl on his skin with the light. “The only thing that unites them is they contain old-world secrets. By that definition, it is, without a doubt, a vault. I suggest we pick our directions and get exploring.”

“We can’t afford to leave any of my Knights behind to guard this exit on a chance that it might be the only way out.”

“I can leave one of mine instead,” the Pendragon nodded. “All you must do is trust us. You do trust us by now, I take it?”

Boldwick paused and then slowly nodded. “We’re in this together. May we find this bastard fast and get out of here before we wake up anything.”

“No way! Is that a Rift?!” Enide yelled, her voice barely above the horrible whirring.

[This design... There’s no way.]

Tense minutes passed, and the group huddled together for safety. At any minute, he expected the rings to explode; or for a monster to appear. Anything might come out and attack. Fury began to stir, waiting for something to appear for him to bury an axe into.

Yet nothing came. The whirring flowed to a stop, the glow ceased, and once more, silence returned.

Erec looked down the tunnel. The way they’d come was still. But below, the place was spilling steam or smoke, rising to vent in their direction. Enide stepped out of his protection, pointing a finger down the tunnel.

“There was—was it a Rift? It was almost like it. For a second, I could’ve sworn...”

“How do you know?” Dame Robin asked.

“Felt it before. Feels the same way every time. Skin starts to itch. I think it’s because it throws off what I’m used to. It touches the in-between and breaks through it.”

“How could there be a Rift down here?” Erec asked, gripping his weapon tightly.

[They stole our research!]

“It was weird, not exactly like it, and now it's gone.” Enide shivered and frowned. “We gotta see what it was.”

Dame Robin radioed the others, and they began to walk. It only took another minute for the light strips to flash red and the steam to clear. But, down the tunnel was danger.

A wave of drones flew, followed by walking mechanoids armed with larger guns. Behind those, and slower, were even bigger machinates, bordering on the side of vehicles, slowly plowing their way up the tunnel on massive treads. Not only had some allegedly opened a Rift, but in doing so, they’d woken what appeared to be the slumbering beast of the most guarded part of this facility in doing so.

There wasn’t time to run and nowhere to hide from these killing machines.

“Watch me. Then show me who you are.” Erec told Enide, stepping in front of her.

He swung his axe around, tightening his grip on the handle, unable to stop the smile from spreading across his face. Fury began to burn bright, pure light in this darkness, and he’d let it carry him through anything this place had to throw at him. He’d kill anything that got in his way.

Erec released a war cry and charged alone toward a wave of deadly old-world war machines.