The three rans toward the dungeon entrance. The screams for help awakened the other adventurers, making them peek out of their tents. Lyka and Camilla also ran outside their tent to look what’s going on.

As Akino and Alexa reaches the dungeon entrance, they saw some adventurers were already assisting the screaming woman, who’s actually Diana, carrying a nearly dying adventurer who first entered the dungeon that morning. The leather armor of the adventurer was drenched in blood and pull of holes.

The mages healed the wounded adventurer, and carefully took him from Diana. Akino noticed that Diana’s left hand was burnt so she tends to her by spraying a cooling disinfectant coming out of her hand.

Diana: AHG!

Akino: Sorry, I should’ve warned that will hurt.

Diana: It’s – it’s fine…

After Akino disinfects Diana’s wound, Alexa covers it with a clean cloth.

Akino: What happened? I told you to press that thing when something is amiss!

Diana: I’m about to press it when those things shot my hand, as if they were really aiming at the thing you gave me!

Alexa: What? IT shot you?

Diana: Yeah! But we aren’t sure what really it was! All I remember is that it creates that sound similar to that thing!

Akino: What thing?!

Diana: The – the… I don’t know! That thing you brought in the guild days ago!

Akino paused. That same moment, Lyka and Camilla enters the scene and wonders what is happening. Alexa assisted Diana to the other adventurers so that she could be further treated of any injury.

Lyka: Is everything alright?

AKino looks far at the injured adventurer Diana brought.

Akino: Gunshot wounds, huh?

Camilla: Gunshot?! H – how? You’re the only one I know that has gun thingy!

Alexa: Hey! Keep it down!

Camilla: There are no nations in this world that has produced any type of firearms!

Akino: I kinda guessed that already.

Camilla: So, who could that be?

Lyka: The Institution…

The placed cleared on, the awaken adventurers went back to sleep, the healing mages tended to the injured guy, and Diana has given her testimony on what happened in the dungeon.

After that, they let Diana take a rest. Matias left and saw Akino and her team along with Camilla right outside his tent.

Akino: Hey, leader. We’re going in.

Matias: Don’t be ridiculous, we don’t know what we’re dealing with! We can’t just enter the place without planning!

Alexa: We know about it, boss.

Lyka: We should head in, or else the rest inside might already be in grave danger.

Matias stares at Camilla.

Matias: Can she be trusted?

Camilla: I’m… sorry about last time…

Akino: She is.

Matias: Well, if my comrades trust you, I shall do the same then. Just - tell it to your knights or they might wake up and start another... you get what I mean right?

Camilla: I’ll tell them immediately as soon as they wake up.

Matias: Thank you. So, are you sure about entering in?

Akino: We don’t have any choice, do we?

Matias sighs.

Matias: Be careful then.

Akino: We will. Let’s go guys, Kal and the others must be waiting.

Alexa: Aye!

They left and entered the dungeon.

Like the same cave they’ve entered before, the dungeon entrance is a downward inclined cave but with stairs. The walls are only made of solid earth, and the place is being lit by the torches the first team has set.

Upon reaching a few stories below, they could faint sounds of banging.

Camilla: Those are gunshots, right?!

Lyka: You were brave when we’re still fighting… and now you are afraid of gunshots?

Camilla: Guns are freaking scary! And destructive!

Lyka: I… agree with that…

Akino: Stop with the chit chat and let’s go!

They hurriedly ran. The floor seems to change from a downward incline to a stable flat. They’ve reached a chamber where the clutter of the first team were found on the ground. They could far up that a group of people gathers in a single area.

Akino looked past with her enhanced vision and saw familiar figures – the MC-00 units. There are 5 individual units, carrying rifles but those firearms look new to her. The machines shoot one at the time, they’re not barraging the stuck group with their bullets. They took this opportunity and rans towards the group.

Akino erected a metallic shield and Lyka summoned a magic barrier between the group and the machines, while Camilla and Alexa tended for the injured.

Kal: Hey, little sprout… Took the damn time going in here…

Akino looks down on Kal, with his armor and shield filled with holes and blood. The other adventurers are also injured, and Finn is the only one that’s keeping alive but he’s already exhausted.

Finn: I’m sorry I couldn’t heal them that much… I’m running out of strength, and the potions we have are already depleted…

Lyka: Hang on! We’re here to help! Aki, what should we do?

Akino: You go with Camilla and heal them.

Camilla: Aren’t there any bullets inside them?! Look at those wounds! They look like gunshot wounds! Hell, they are gunshot wounds! They might die due to lead poisoning if we didn’t remove those!

Akino: Just – wait, there are no bullets…

Camilla: O – okay! I’ll heal him! Wait, no bullets?

Akino peeks out of the constructed barrier, seeing the machines aim again at them. They fired their rifles, hitting the barriers, creating small explosions, but no leads could be heard clinking the ground.

Akino: Plasma rifles?!

Camilla: Plasma what now?!

Lyka: Wait, the thing that you can also use? The one without bullets?

Alexa: Umm, can we just smash them off and stop the attack?

Alexa dashes out of the barrier and one-by-one smashes the machines to the ground. Akino comes out and tried to look at the napes of the machines. She injects a wire from her hair at one of the napes, the machine jolts and some sparks came out of its “face”.

Akino: That’s weird…

Alexa: Weird?

Akino: Accessing the data file of this machine made it haywire… a security protocol?

Alexa: You should be able to hack through it, right? Like, you’re a freaking supercomputer or something and you can’t hack through it?

Akino stares at Alexa with disagreement.

Alexa: Sorry…

Akino: The moment I connected to it, it started to break itself down. Additionally, the model is… the model seems to be new, in line with the years when both of us were still ‘dead’.

Alexa: So…?

Akino: So, some facility must be nearby with inhabitants? I’m not quite sure…

Alexa: What’s bugging out your detective skillz?

Akino: Look, we’ve been locked inside an underground laboratory for hundreds of years and when we went outside a million years already passed, forgot about that one?

Alexa: Oh… yeah, right…

Akino: Time is messed up, or THEY fucked it up… but my point is if these machines were up to date, that means the facilities here are also up to date. They might have some form of connection, a portal or something.

Alexa: And we could find ourselves some proper explanation. Neat…

Akino: Yeah…

Akino tried to check the other smashed machines, but all ended up sparking and destroying themselves.

Alexa: Got any luck?

Akino: Nope. Every one of them has the same system… I should try to make a programming that enable a system override on contact.

Alexa: You haven’t thought of that earlier?

Akino: I haven’t… yet…

The two went back to the group. The other adventurers were already healed, but Kal is still lying on the ground.

Camilla: His wounds are already closed… he must be very tired…

Lyka: I learned that when we magically heal the injuries, the body of the injured uses its stored energy to heal efficiently. The magic does add energy to the body but if its severely injured –

Camilla: Then the body will need to use its stored fat and muscles and energy to act on its own to regenerate the cells, making the body exhausted! Wow! I didn’t know you’re knowledgeable in molecular biology!

Lyka: Umm – uhhh not r - really… but I – I was taught with some stuff by Aki… hehehe…

Camilla: Lucky to have her, huh?

Lyka: Yeah…

Akino cuts through the two.

Akino: You guys done?

Lyka: Kal is stil unconscious, but he’s safe now thanks to Camilla.

Camilla: No problem!

Alexa: We should bring them back to the camp.

Akino: Okay, those who can stand should walk and assist those who can barely stand. We can slow things in walking out of here, but we should rush a bit. There might be more that may attack us.

The able-to-walk adventurers helped the others who can barely stand. The others carried the ones who can’t stand at all. They left the dungeon and brought back the injured on the surface.

Matias: Our mages will take of them. Good thing you guys made it in time.

Akino: We’re going back.

Matias: Oh, oka – wait, what?!

Akino: It’s our shift right now, and those things might come out of the dungeon. Better keep those things dead than letting them out in the future.

Matias: I – I see…

Akino: I’m going to bring Camilla as well.

Camilla: ME?!

Akino: You should come with us.

Camilla: O – okay…

Matias: Just come back before your knights wake up.

Akino: We won’t stay there for long, we’ll come back before sunrise.

Matias: Be careful.

The group went back to the dungeon. They’ve passed on the place where the adventurers first settled, and the place where they encountered the machines. They could see the pieces of those machines. Akino looked farther into the dark, the direction where the machines supposed to be came from.

Akino: Lyka, Camilla, you can detect the magic in here?

Lyka: The atmosphere’s… a bit weird…

Camilla: Yeah… like it’s dead…

Alexa: Dead? Like there’s a presence of the undead or liches or necro-something?

Lyka: Not like that… it feels like there’s no magic in here…

Camilla: I could say the same… every moment we take a step deeper, the magic keeps losing…

Akino: Then it’s near… somewhere deep in this dungeon…

Camilla: Wait, wait, wait! What’s near?!

Alexa: Something related to us.

They kept on walking down and they ended up in a dead end.

Alexa: A rock solid cave wall… no sounds coming from the other side, just a dead end…

Akino: And I can’t see past through that wall…

Camilla: We can’t see through the wall, come on! It’s just a dead end! But wait… where did the machines came from?

Akino: I can’t even see through with my x-ray on… that explains a lot…

Camilla: That explains a lot? I told you, you can’t just see through – did you just said x-ray? Like, x-ray vision?!

Lyka: Oh my god… she’s so talkative…

Camilla: Sorry… but I mean, x-ray?! Like, supes’ x-ray vision?!

Alexa: Supes?

Camilla: Oh… that comic character must not be existing in your world… forget what I’ve said…

Alexa: So… if you can’t see through it, there’s lead on the other side?!

Lyka: Like the one on the trade house!

Akino: I’ll drill out this wall. Everyone, stand ba –

Before Akino finishes her word, the wall oozes out with black liquids. A stain of black appeared on the wall, and an MC-00 machine slowly crawls out of it. Camilla comically shrieks in terror as she sees the machine aim a rifle at them. Lyka quickly acted by going in between them and casting a barrier spell, Alexa extended her flesh hair and guarded the trembling Camilla, and Akino immediately blasted the machine with her arm turned into a ballistic cannon.

The blast created a huge impact, obliterating the machine and the wall where it crept out. The dust settled, leaving a hole on the wall. They could see a metal plate uncovered from the stone and earthly substance of the cave wall. Akino approached the metal layer and touches it.

Akino: Yup… it’s lead…

Camilla: How the hell that thing managed to phase through a wall?!

Alexa: Gee, calm down! We are clueless as well!

Akino: The phasing tech we had uses light and electromagnetism, but I haven’t detected any photonic and EM fluxes when that thing came out of the wall…

Lyka: Ugh, my head is hurting…

Akino: Okay… that machine isn’t supposed to go through a solid wall by just spitting that black juice, got it?

Camilla: Still confusing…

Akino sighs and touches the metal wall again, but this time her arm turned metallic and plate-like structures retract outwards. The temperature in that place rises, Lyka and Camilla starts to feel it, so they stepped back away from Akino. After a minute, Akino was able to melt the wall and create a hole large enough for people to pass through.

Camilla: That’s… fucking lit!

Alexa: HAHAHHAHAHAHAHA!

Camilla: No, seriously! Look at that!

Akino and Lyka sighed. They entered the through the wall, seeing only a very dark place – a pitch black chamber. Camilla summons a small sphere of light and Lyka raises her right arm covered in blue flame.

The place is illuminated, and they are seeing a scenery similar to a library but not with wood. Metallic stalls, all of which have weird containers made of greyish material. There are light bulbs on the ceiling part, but they can’t see the switch for it. The floor is tiled, and astonishingly clean that you can see your own reflection.

Lyka and Camilla looked around the other stalls, only seeing the many grey containers. Alexa tried to pry open some of the containers, and only saw dust and ashes inside of it.

Alexa: Tenth box, still dusts… nothing is in here, is it?

Akino: Yeah, nothing but those machines surely came from here. How about you two? See something that might give us a clue?

Lyka: This place is like a dead forest… like, no magic at all, like that time we went in that facility thing…

Camilla: Yeah, and its hecking creepy in here. Can we just seal this up and go back?

Akino takes the container from Alexa and examined the dusts inside of it. She holds at it for seconds.

Akino shouts repulsively, throwing the container away. The others were shocked, especially Lyka and Alexa. They didn’t know that Akino could express such kind of emotion.

Lyka: Aki! Are you alright?!

Alexa: Hey, hey! What’s wrong?

Akino: I – I’m fine… that’s some fucked up shit… fuck!

Akino tried to examine the other containers as well. Her expression went full on disgust.

Camilla: Hey! Can you at least tell us what you’re seeing?

Akino: Alexa, remember that case I had where the victims are burned?

Alexa: Wait, don’t tell me… it must be cremated right?

Akino: No… they burned them… and placed in these containers... they fucking burned people!

Lyka & Camilla: Burned?!

Alexa took a pinch of the dust.

Alexa: Burnt cells… of a 6-year-old… WHAT THE FUCK?!

Lyka: What is this place?!

Camilla: Ca – can we go now? Leave this place?!

They agreed to leave the place. They head back to where they came from, but the hole is no covered with black gooey substance. Two MC-00 units came out of the stained wall and immediately open fires at the girls. Akino manages to block all the fire and swoops the machines’ head by a swipe kick.

Akino: We need to seal-off this dungeon.

Akino tried to blast off the gooey substance on the wall. They entered the renewed hole, but instead finding themselves outside, they found themselves inside the same place: a dark hall with metallic stalls carrying weird grey boxes.

Then, Akino, Alexa and Lyka saw something in their peripheral vision:

-WARNING: SPACE-MATTER ANOMALY DETECTED

-ANOMALY LEVEL: 3

-REALITY SUSPENSION FIELD IMPLEMENTED

-TERMINATION OF ANOMALY SOURCE IS HIGLY RECOMMENDED

Lyka started to freak out.

Lyka: Wh – what is this?!

Akino: Hey, hey! Calm down!

Alexa: Aki, what’s going on?

Akino: I – I don’t know… I’ve got no clue… but we have to destroy this place…