Lordtoss's golem, Urgan, approached the entrance with measured, cautious steps.
About a hundred meters from the abandoned mine's mouth, its form flickered and vanished.
"That is a Stealth barrier," Lordtoss explained.
"Ho."
"It can also deploy a silence barrier, making it quite capable for reconnaissance missions."
Jin felt a silent surge of admiration. The golem’s performance was a clear testament to the training Lordtoss had received under Marikka’s tutelage.
Then, a voice crackled from the magi-device Lordtoss held.
《Entering the tunnel now.》
It seemed the device was equipped with a communication function similar to a manacam.
"Oh, this is marvelous!"
Tomax Bartman and Duke Blue, standing nearby, voiced their admiration.
Two minutes passed.
《No abnormalities so far. The tunnel is essentially a single path with short shafts branching off to the sides.》
Urgan proceeded smoothly.
(Nothing is happening.)
Since it wasn't a dungeon, that was only to be expected, but Jin felt a slight sense of anticlimax.
Five minutes passed.
Advancing with extreme care, Urgan reached a depth of nearly two hundred meters.
Seven minutes in...
《Barrier discovered.》
"What!"
At Urgan’s report, Lordtoss, Tomax, and Duke Blue all grew tense.
"There is a barrier deep within the tunnel that I know nothing about..." the duke muttered. "This is undoubtedly someone's secret base."
As the lord of the territory, any installation unknown to Duke Blue was unauthorized. It was only natural for her to conclude that it had been placed there with malicious intent.
(...)
Jin felt a momentary prick of conscience, though he wasn't entirely sure why.
"Hmm. At the very least, we must bring them in for questioning. If this is the only exit, we have them trapped. But if there’s a back door, they might slip through our fingers."
Duke Blue pondered the situation for a moment.
Then, she turned to the pilot of the Blow Floater she had arrived on.
"Very well. Return to Blue Land immediately and dispatch the Second Security Guard here."
"Yes, Your Excellency!"
Having dropped off Duke Blue, Tomax, and Illumina, the Blow Floater immediately took flight and sped toward Blue Land at full throttle.
"That should do it. Lordtoss-dono, please wait a moment."
"Understood."
Lordtoss ordered Urgan to stand by.
They waited for a short while. In the interim, Jin contacted Laojun through Reiko and had him conduct advance reconnaissance using the Peeper.
("So, what’s the status of the escape route?")
Laojun had confirmed long ago that this was a secret base. Naturally, he also knew an escape exit existed.
(『Yes, My Lord. I sealed it off just a moment ago.』)
To ensure no one escaped, Laojun had dispatched two Smith golems via transporter to block the exit.
Now, with the main tunnel as the only viable way out, the occupants were cornered rats.
After thirty minutes of waiting, ten Blow Floaters and two airships appeared in the sky.
"Oh, they’ve arrived."
The duke intended to suppress the area while maintaining a strict aerial watch with the Blow Floaters. Each Blow Floater carried a crew of three security guards, tasked with intercepting and detaining anyone attempting to flee.
Jin suspected they wouldn't actually have much to do, however.
Five golems and twenty security guards descended from the airships and quietly deployed around the tunnel entrance.
"Now then, Lordtoss-dono, could you have your golem proceed further?"
"Certainly."
At Duke Blue’s request, Lordtoss instructed Urgan to advance. He was to remain cautious, however, and not rush in blindly.
《Passing through the barrier. Nothing to report so far.》
Jin and the others speculated that the barrier likely wasn't defensive in nature.
(It's probably a detection type... if so, there should be a reaction.)
Just as Jin thought this, Reiko spoke up.
"Father, there has been movement deep in the tunnel... underground."
Laojun had been monitoring the interior with the Peeper and had conveyed his findings to Reiko.
"There are five people inside, as well as twenty golems that appear designed for combat."
"That many? No, I suppose that makes sense."
If this base had been the source of the golems and Pseudo-Gigas sent to Avalon, those numbers were only to be expected.
《Engaging hostile golems!》
Deep underground, Urgan had begun his battle.
＊ ＊ ＊
Urgan, invisible under his Stealth barrier and hushed by his silence barrier, had been slowly descending into the depths.
However, the barrier he had passed through earlier had indeed been a detection type, and his intrusion had triggered a response from the base's inhabitants.
"Security golems?"
A bolt of lightning magic was fired directly at Urgan, despite his invisibility.
The spell wasn't powerful enough to damage him, but it proved his position was completely compromised.
Urgan deactivated his Stealth barrier. Lunging forward, he drove a heavy fist into the chest of the enemy golem.
The dull sound of impact echoed as the enemy golem’s chest caved in and it collapsed. These units were apparently weaker than the ones sent to Avalon.
However, the golem was still sturdily built. Despite the massive dent in its chest, it forced itself back up and lunged at Urgan. Its movements, however, were far more awkward than before.
Urgan delivered a second punch to the exact same spot.
This time, his fist punched through the chest armor and shattered the internal magi-device. The enemy golem toppled over slowly and did not move again.
Of course, there was no way this commotion would go unnoticed by the masters of the base.
＊ ＊ ＊
"It seems we've been sniffed out."
"It looks like that brainwashing magi-device was discovered as well."
"It was only a prototype, but its effect seems to have been a bit weak."
"Now that we've lost contact with Lord Markitus, establishing a reliable brainwashing method is our top priority... yet it proves quite difficult."
"I thought that if it worked, we could go around installing those devices that look like streetlights in every country... but things rarely go so smoothly."
"I suppose there were some reasonably clever people or technicians in Avalon as well."
"Could it be that fellow calling himself Deus Ex Machina III?"
"It seems Nostalgia is also lending them their strength."
"And I thought this would make such a fine base."
"Must we scrap it? What a shame."
Deep within the mine shafts, five figures were conversing without a hint of panic.
"Let's use the teleportation magic circle to escape."
"That would be for the best."
"There are likely soldiers watching the perimeter, so that is the right choice."
"What about the golems?"
"Let's wake them all up and set them upon those intruders."
After activating every golem they possessed, the figures vanished into parts unknown via the teleportation magic circle.
However, Laojun, the management magi-brain of Hourai Island, had already pinpointed their destination with absolute precision.