The Stargazing Witch & The Dungeon Planet-Chapter 164: Situation
Chapter 164: Situation
BOOMMM!
Fuck!
Multiple explosions went off in such a tight space, and I was jumping around through the tight halls simply trying to avoid it.
I did, in fact, jump into the hole where the mechs were being shot out from and had to break through a lot of sheets of metal and rock, which led me to some very tight hallways. This whole area was mostly just really tight tunnels where box-storing machines came and unloaded their payloads.
My great attempt at industrial sabotage went swimmingly, meaning I broke some stuff, and now a lot of water was filling up the whole area. Not sure where it all came from, because I didn't see any signs of water before, but it was a little bit of a nuisance.
If the water was bad enough, I damaged other things, which caused more things to explode. So, dealing with large amounts of flowing water and constant explosions. Neither was going to kill me, but it made it hard to navigate, considering how tight these spaces were.
“Argh, dammit.” I complained, “Where is the important stuff?”
(“ There she goes, utterly confused ”)
Not my fault; this place is a maze.
(“ Blame the designer ”)
I am!
Blaming the designer was currently my passion as I tried breaking through whatever wall I could, and if it led me to stone and dirt, then it meant I had to go another way. On the upside, I did get work done, destroying the area where those mechs were coming up from. Of course, there were multiple areas where this was happening, but destroy the base one section at a time, and you make a pizza.
Is this the way?
I tore through the floor as I felt there wasn’t rock underneath this section. The flow of water followed me as we plunged deeper into the base.
“Well, this is deeper.”
A blade of blue light went sliding towards my head.
“That’s quite rude.” I caught that arm and spun around, stabbing into the attacker's shoulder with my claws and pulling his arm off his body. “See? You shouldn’t leave your arm with strangers.” With speed they couldn’t match, I let go of their arm and crushed their head.
“...Maybe I could’ve asked for directions?” [Star Mapping] was doing its best down here; there were so many completely closed-off areas that didn’t even allow light to pass. Honestly, a little rude. I get it; zero anything for security reasons, but what’s wrong with a little light?
(“ She is going psycho again ”)
I’m fine, just having some fun.
(“ Fun and murder, a lovely pairing ”)
It’s life.
(“ Sure ”)
I moved down the hallway, and apparently, that one backslasher was the only person in the area, as I hadn’t come across anyone else yet.
Come on, Soul Pressure, where are the people?
I felt the nearest sign of life and chased it down; it wasn’t moving, but they clearly were alive.
Finally escaping from all that water, I found the room with the nearest life sign, and I broke through the door, finding two people in normal clothes, not armour, huddled in the corner of the room, showing extra fear at my entrance.
Espr?
(“ They aren’t a Dominous Hood member if you are curious ”)
That was kind of obvious by the way they were reeling back, but I was kind of hoping they might, which was why I asked for confirmation.
Sigh… I was hoping I wouldn’t run into prisoners.
I preferred breaking things; saving people was best saved for the saving-people people.
“Okay, let’s get you two out of here.” I didn’t walk over. I figured the bright-horned lady was maybe a little scary.
How do I get these two out of here…?
Going out the way I came might not be exactly possible. I could try, but many things had already collapsed, and I would rather not give the duo a panic attack while trying to free them. I created multiple Starlight arrows and had them fly, breaking through doors and the like that were blocking my vision. I was going to map out this place as best I could.
Exits hmm… There appears to be a shaft, well, another elevator for bots, not too far away.
…
Making a hole through the rock is probably a bit much; I want to recharge energy after all.
I ditched that idea and went for the simple option, going up through a pre-existing hole.
“Okay, you two.” I turned back to them, turning off my light show for a moment so I looked like a normal person in armour. “I will break you out of here.”
“...But we will die…”
Espr?
I used a bit of Starlight on them, and there was no tech that would kill them. I could feel that they were scared but decided to double-check again. But the fact that I had to double-check twice made me really wish for the ability that Espr had, which just let them scan things in some extra way.
(“ They are just scared ”)
Good to know.
I double-checked the way out just to make sure there weren’t any better options.
“Don’t worry, you aren’t going to die in this room or in this base at least. Unless you keep staying here, the whole place is under attack by a number of different governments and organisations, and a bunch of you people have already been rescued, so I think you should join them.”
My words of reassurance apparently weren't that reassuring, as the two of them were more scared.
“...I am that bad with people?”
(“ Yes ”)
Fuckkk. I’m unpopular.
(“ I think you are just terrifying to people ”)
“Hmmm. Okay, how do you want to be dragged out?” I asked out of the kindness of my heart, allowing for them to have the option.
Instead of giving me a nice, simple answer, they just sat terrified, shaking in their boots, shivering in their hats. I was using this time to break more doors, walls and floors as I slowly allowed my vision to expand. Eventually, I found where the main force was attacking. Nina was protecting people, and there were a bunch of soldiers fighting against the waves of pop-up turrets and the few Dominous Hood soldiers who were firing highly dangerous explosions in their general direction. Nina’s mana seemed to be well still, which was good considering how much she burned with all the shielding and healing she was forced to do.
So many stupid items, like always.
I could feel all the different artefacts that were being used, and oh, stars, there were so many. The combatant on the surface before didn’t have any or maybe only one, but down here in that segment of the base, I could feel multiple artefacts on many people. Sure, they were weak, but it was really evidence of the fact that they had been keeping their more powerful forces back as they tried to whittle us down.
“Okay, I’ve waited too long.” I created a box of Starlight, which scooped the town of them up. “That will keep you safe.”
There were some screams of their end, but they would be safe, so yeah, that was all that mattered.
I was doing a good service.
Kept safe in the box that floated behind me, I reactivated my horns since I didn’t need to worry about them being scared. Since they were going to be scared anyway and I wanted more energy.
Someone tried to surprise attack me, but I surprised them by shooting a Starlight arrow right through two walls to hit them behind the corner. Since that didn’t kill her, I jumped around the corner and clobbered them into the ground out of sight from some innocent eyes.
“Don’t worry, don’t worry, you will be out soon,” I explained as I widened a hole in the wall with my hands so they could fit through into the box. The complaints had stopped since I blocked my ears, and the three of us flew out via the hatch that I had to break open. Seeing the surface again so soon after I went underground was interesting. I nearly felt like I was taking a step back, but saving lives was important, and I quickly found the area on Asta where they could be picked up by the rescue operation.
“Ergh. That’s going to be ten minutes of flying…” Any faster, and I might accidentally kill the two in the box.
On the way, after I made it most of the way, I noticed something occurring thanks to [Star Mapping]. Well, even without it, the change was clear as day.
Near but a little off where the assault force had been attacking underground, the ground began to shake as metal plates underneath the surface began to move.
The ground split apart, and a mechanical giant pulled itself out of the ground. Completely different from the mechanical chimaera that was a bunch of different machines stuck together, this was a true behemoth built as one solid unit. Multiple legs, four main arms and numerous other weapon systems on the side of this massive main body with a large cannon on the top.
What person with too much time on their hands made that thing? How in the hell were they even going to get it off the planet for use?!
My complaints, of course, went unheard as I quickly split my attention to figure out my next step.
Chapter 164: Situation
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