After a minute—
Thud...
—She fell on something soft.
Rubbing her rear, she looked around, finding herself inside a narrow tunnel.
She raised an eyebrow as she wondered, ’Where am I?’
That was when she took a glance down and found the purple-haired Heroine underneath her, dazed and also squished under her body.
"L-Lil’... Not to say ya is heavy, but..."
"S-sorry..."
Standing up from sitting on the back of the Heroine, Lillian dusted herself off before pulling Mills up to her feet. Looking around again, she looked towards the woman for answers.
Millis, dusting herself off as well, noticed the look she was getting. She shrugged, "I made us an escape tunnel. But anyway, that was quite a spooky experience, huh? Hahaha~"
"Huh...?"
Lillian, ignoring Millis’s casual take on what had just happened, widened her eyes in astonishment, "When did you create this?"
"While ya was thinking whether or not we should run or not." Millis grinned smugly, "Ya didn’t actually think I meant what I said, did ya?"
"W-well..."
Millis waved dismissively as she took the lead down the tunnel, "Bah, no worries! Let’s just get out of here quickly."
Millis then looked back and pointed upwards, "I think there are some people above us."
After reaching the end of the tunnel, which stretched on for a dozen metres, Lillian looked up, finding a separate hole to the surface.
She was extremely shocked. She didn’t think Millis was someone to create something like this beforehand. Not only that, but she was surprised by the Heroine’s skill in pulling this off remotely.
Millis then tapped her foot on the ground, causing the ground to rise and elevate them upwards like an elevator. They were quite deep underground, most likely 50-60 metres down.
As they ascended upwards, Lillian fell into deep thought again, remembering the scene of the ceiling of eyes staring down at her and the metallic whiskers that moved like snakes.
It has been a while since she had been frightened that badly. In that moment, she might’ve even felt the monster’s chilling Predatory Aura.
...
Or that could’ve been just another variation of fear.
Regardless, she could now confirm that she wouldn’t be able to win against the monster on her own, even with the help of the Beetle.
However, she was sure she would be able to escape at least. Even if she were to be swarmed, if she were to use any means possible, she would survive.
"Hmm... I think I’m forgetting something..."
Millis glanced towards Lillian, finding the girl holding her own chin. She tilted her head and asked in a curious tone:
"What’s up?"
"I just feel like I am forgetting something... Or I guess, someone."
Millis’s ears twitched at this. She then also fell into thought, but not a deep one, for she woke up a split second after.
She shaped her hand into a gun and said, "Are ya talking about the captain of the guards here?"
"Oh, yeah—!" Lillian then froze before clutching the sides of her head in panic.
After they made their way back up to the surface of the cavern, Lillian suddenly squealed. She had totally forgotten about the captain of the cavern’s guards!
If she remembered correctly, he was someone who had gone to check what was going on and one of the few to combat the monster.
’He had some heavy ass balls for that.’ Lillian shivered before returning her focus to her surroundings.
And what she found was...
"Huh?"
She was alone.
Lillian called out the Heroine’s name:
"Millis?"
But no answer came back.
Lillian then felt a tremor through the ground, stiffening as the cries of a horrific beast echoed through the cavern. The Alpha must still be wounded by the Bombardier Sunflowers explosion.
"C-crap... Where did Millis go?"
Lillian then watched as the walls around her cracked, and the standing lights flickered as something dreadful shot out from the walls. It was another Barrel Mole.
But unlike the ones she had killed, this one was enhanced by the Alpha’s aura. She hissed and pulled out her shortsword, which she had put away earlier.
She needed to kill it fast and find Millis.
But right before the sword appeared in her hands and the electrical aura that came with it, the mole’s unattractive face was suddenly littered with holes.
It was as if a firing squad was targeting the mole from a point-blank range.
After a moment, the mole finally dropped to the ground, the increasing holes on its face stopping. At the sight of this, Lillian couldn’t help but feel her skin crawl.
It wasn’t a pleasant sight in the slightest.
A moment later, she felt something land on her shoulder, tensing and gripping it tightly.
Lillian, who was about to swing her sword, suddenly stopped herself as she found Millis staring at her with a deadpan look.
"Ya really are quite jumpy, huh? Could ya also drop this aura ya got around ya? It’s hurting meh hand."
"Ah, sorry... W-wait, where were you?"
After putting her sword back into her Mana Realm, she looked towards the Heroine, finding her smirking and pointing back with her thumb.
Tilting her body and looking past the woman, she found several men standing behind her—they were the miners—and they were holding onto each other.
Like they were each other’s lifeline.
And standing near them with guards, each wielding firearms except for one, who looked at his colleagues wryly. They were the cause of the Barrel Mole’s death.
All of them had been invisible the entire time!
At this realisation, she watched as a middle-aged man made eye contact with her.
He was dressed in the same armour as the rest, except his seemed to be of a much better quality and had a unique badge on the right side of his chest.
He also wore a military officer hat and a black eyepatch over his left eye, which gave him a stern impression, coupled with his taciturn and scarred face.
This was the captain of the guards, Zeke Barrago. And was the holder of the unorthodox element of invisibility.