Chapter 8 - Prelude to Calamity - Part 1

"I'm flipping the switch. Get ready!"

I shouted at Alicia and Salim, who stood a quite far away behind me with their weapons drawn (Salim doesn't have a weapon though).

I shifted my eyes towards the two of them. They are clearly nervous about what's going to happen next.

I can relate to that, a little bit.

They looked toward each other and then nodded.

I strengthened my grip to the switch and pulled it.

As soon as I pulled the switch a loud sound reverberated throughout the room. The loud sound of clanking metals and rumbling caused the room itself to shake.

I backed away and joined the two as I raised my alertness.

And like that, accompanied by the loud and rough mechanical noise, we waited.

…

"…"

"…"

"…Nothing happened."

"Yeah…"

The loud and the shaking stopped and nothing happened.

We stood alert there just in case, but nothing really happened.

The switch did not do anything.

"What are we going to do now kak?"

I looked at the switch.

"I have no idea… Let's just eat and relax in the meantime?"

───

"Move! Move! Move! Move those asses!"

A very big man was barking out orders towards a group of other big men who were carrying boxes around.

"Yes, boss Geren!"

With a "Hup!" the big bodied adventurers lifted the boxes that were stacked in one corner of the room to another location.

Geren, after noticing visible magical particles, changed direction and pointed his finger at a group of adventurers who just arrived through the portal.

"You three! Take out the boxes from your storage and put it on the corner over there."

Geren pointed towards one corner of the room with stacked boxes. The adventurers nodded and did as they were told.

He then shifted his attention to the group of adventurers who were opening up the boxes and shouted.

"Good, sort the tents and other equipment based on the label that I posted on them. Don't get them wrong you hear me!"

They casually saluted at Geren, telling him that they understood and went back to work.

Like this, Geren surveyed the room and gave orders where appropriate.

After a while, a woman wearing the Adventurer's Guild Association staff uniform approached Geren with several stacks of paper.

"What's wrong Cherry?"

"I have more reports of damages, sir."

Cherry handed over one stack of paper to Geren.

"…I see. It's bad."

"Agreed."

Geren went through the whole stack with a grim expression as he rubbed his temple.

"How comes things are getting worse each time a new report came in? What the hell is up with that?"

"…More buildings are crashing down after the expedition started... Our engineer speculated that it's because the earthquake damaged the foundation of the buildings. Aside from that, we also have more casualties from the collapsed buildings and monster attacks."

"…hah. Thank you for the very depressing summary, Cherr. And? What's that other stack you are holding?"

"These… they are damage reports from other cities all over the continent."

"…what?"

"Every guild branch in the continent submitted their reports. These are the submitted reports. I have already submitted our most updated report to the central office."

Cherry paused for a short while before continuing with a very concerned expression.

"We also have reports from other countries…"

"Give it to me."

Geren gravely told Cherry and snatched the papers out of her hand.

"You, you will replace me as a temporary head. Here are the notes of how things are supposed to be. If anything unexpected happens, just be flexible. Contact me in my tent only in case of an emergency, got it?"

Geren handed over control of the site to one of his subordinate and left with Cherry to his tent.

───

"What the fuck is this?! This is too freaky to be a coincidence!"

After reading the papers, Geren struck and cracked the table that he was using, making Cherry flinch.

"Umm… The central office is currently scrambling to make contact with all affected country leaders, sir. As of now we have no explanation to what's happening."

Geren rubbed his temple with a grim expression. He did his best to relax his body and went back re-reading the papers once more.

The damage reports detailed all the damages and losses of basically every cities of every countries on the continent. Even from countries that are famous for their refusal to interact with other countries. Some are affected by the earthquake, some are struck by massive monster stampede attacks, and every coastline are suffering from tsunami. Landslides and volcanic eruption (both above sea and under) struck several cities as well.

"This is horrible…"

"…were you referring to the tragedies or the amount of work?"

After a moment of delicate silence, Cherry asked a question to lighten up the mood.

"Both." Geren answered with a voice tinged with exhaustion.

He sighed as he rubbed his temple and gestured to Cherry. She knew what he wanted and immediately handed him a pencil.

"Thanks- a pencil? Don't we have a pen?"

"Our stock of pen ran out when I was writing reports."

"All of them?"

"Yes. I just used the last box before I came here and the warehouse where we keep the rest was destroyed during the earthquake."

"Oh… Right. I remember reading that in my office…"

Geren nodded and started writing.

While Geren and Cherry were working in the tent, the adventurers who were working outside already made significant progress. Several tents were raised and had plaques with names of their function on them. People wearing aprons, who were in charge of their own respective tents, were going around the tents, opening up boxes and checking inventory.

"Is it really okay for us to be here?" An adventurer wearing an apron asks.

"What do you mean?" Another adventurer who is also wearing an apron replied.

"I mean shouldn't we be helping the city? You know, with all that debris and shit?"

"Sure, if you want to go out? This base building isn't exactly mandatory. You've already done enough here. What are you going to do to help the city anyway?"

"Cleaning and breaking the debris and shit?"

"…Sometimes I wonder how in the hell did you ever reach B-rank."

"What? Why?!"

"You are an idiot dude. We were called here because we have already done pretty much all that we can to help the city. Now it's all up to the specialists to rebuild the city. We were briefed about this dude. Weren't you there?"

"Sheesh! I was there! I just didn't listen! It was so boring, I just tuned out a bit and then followed you = here."

"Again… Why the hell did they let you advance to B-rank…"

"Surely they appreciate my on-site skills, that's why! Muahahaha!"

After they've checked their inventory, the two picked up another boxes and brought them to their tents. On the way, they passed an adventurer running for dear life.

"Where the hell did I put my storage terminal?!"

She was frantic. Her heads bops up and down, left and right, looking for her storage terminal.

"Excuse me!"

She stopped in front of another adventurer who was carrying a long box. Although not obvious, she noticed that he was having difficulties due to his posture. She decided to asked him about her missing item as a pretext to help her fellow adventurer.

She stood on one end of the box and helped the adventurer carry it to its designated location.

While carrying the box, she asked the other adventurer if she had seen any storage terminal around here.

"What type?"

"It's uh… the necklace model. The AGA standard issue necklace model. No modification at all."

"In that case, no. I haven't seen it at all. I saw one earlier. But it was a ring model with some modification to its design. I already submitted it to the lost and found container in the security tent. Have you checked there?"

"I did. Just earlier."

He went silent for a brief moment.

"How did you lose it? If it was a necklace model then the chains should be pretty tough to break."

"I put it down since it kept bumping into the boxes I was carrying. I remembered picking it back up from the top of the box, but I can't find it on me"

"I see… Maybe it got stolen?" The adventurer asked jokingly.

"Haha, no way. Who would steal a storage terminal in this day and age? Even the black market aren't interested in dealing with it anymore after 'that' incident."

The two chuckled a little bit after imagining the incident they were referring to.

"Alright, I'm sorry I can't help you all the way. I have to get back to searching now."

"It's okay, it's okay. I wish you good luck. If I see your storage I'll submit it to the lost and found. So check it later just in case yeah?"

The two noticed that they've arrived at the drop point, so she slowly moved to the side, bit by bit, letting the other adventurer to regain his balance. She let go of the box after making sure that he got it covered. They both nodded to each other and she left running.

She saw two adventurers who were resting and leaning to the walls and approached them. One of them was old. From the way he carried himself, she could tell that he was a veteran. Even though he was sitting there seemingly relaxed, his eyes and posture was alert. The other one was young. While not as seasoned as his companion, he was still looking out to his surroundings properly. Also, she could see their bronze and silver ID hanging from their neck and wrist.

She asked the same question about her storage terminal to them. Getting no closer to finding her storage, she said her thanks and left running again.

"Good luck kid! I hope you find your device!" The old adventurers waved their hand and shouted. The female adventurer waved back in return. After the female adventurer was out of view, the two went back to talking once more.

"Well… Where were we?"

"You were talking about seeing a sudden bright light in the forest?"

"Ah, yep. That."

The old man cleared his throat before continuing.

"So I was there, in the usual place. I just finished hunting for a quest and was resting, when all of a sudden I felt a weird pressure in the air. It was as if the mana in the area was agitated."

The old man looked at the young adventurer to make sure that he was paying attention.

"Go on, I'm listening."

"Have you ever experienced a ritual takes place before? In person?"

"Ritual? You mean like a large scale invocation of a bunch of Crafts and Signs? No, I don't think I have. I heard that one took place around five years ago though. I was still just a kid then."

"Yea, that one. I was there during the event you mentioned. It was an emergency sortie. All available B-rank and above adventurers were called to action to help prepare and defend the ritual site. It was hell… but it succeeded. The moment the ritual started, it was as if air itself became rough and stiff. It was like we were being pushed by an invisible force. I was barely able to move my fingers then."

The old man closed his eyes while talking about it. His face showed a complicated expression, but from the way he was talking about it, it was clear that he held the experience dear.

"It was like that. Back in that cave, the mana around me was like that. Though this time I was able to move! Thinking back, I really showed that I have grown stronger since five years ago! Even though I'm this old, I can still grow more! You musn't slack with your training, young man! Don't lose to this old dust! Harharhar!" The old man laughed while the young adventurer moved a bit away from the spraying spit.

"Okaay, I get what you are saying old man. Continue the story please, I'm curious."

"Right on. Since I was able to move, I immediately went outside of the cave. Trying to see what's causing this. It was then that I saw it. A bright light coming from somewhere deeper in the forest."

The old man paused for a moment, then continued.

"It was so bright. SO BRIGHT that it overpowered the light from the forest!"

The old man paused once more before continuing.

"At that point I was debating whether to go deeper into the forest to investigate or to run back. Since I am still alive here, guess which path I took?"

"Um… You ran back?"

"Hell no! I dashed forward to the light! Harharhar! Seriously though, if you ever see something like this, don't do what I did. I was just lucky."

The young adventurer nodded. Seeing this the old man continued.

"I cautiously ran to the source of the light. There I saw something unbelievable. It was a man. It was so bright still, but I was sure that it was a man. He was floating while holding something. I can't see what it was, but he was holding something."

The old man swallowed his spit and then continued.

"When I see this, I immediately hid behind a tree. I was hyperventilating at that point, you know! If he saw me, I was sure that I would die! He gave off that kind of feeling. After I was able to calm my breathing slightly, I slowly inched my head out from behind the tree. To try to peek, you know? It was then that my eye met with that man's eyes! Then a burst of blinding light came from him! It blinded me, and when I was finally able to see again, the man had already vanished!"

The old man was smiling ear to ear as he finished his story. He sat there looking at the young adventurer straight in the eye, waiting for his reaction. The young adventurer on the other hand was holding his head in his hand. He thought the story would be something that he could learn from, but it turns out it was just some fairy tale that the old man made up to sound cool. He looked back at the old man's eyes, full of conviction to practically slap the old man with the words that he had perfectly concocted to insult his made up tale.

However, before he was able to say anything, a wave of shouts alerts the both of them into high gear.

"HOSTILE INCOMING! ALL HANDS READY FOR COMBAT!"

One by one every adventurers immediately assumed combat ready stance as they rushed to their assigned groups.

From the way they are moving, it was clear that they are a rowdy bunch. There was no coordination in their movement. Because of all the rushing, plenty of adventurers were barely avoiding collision with one another.

Despite that, they were all still an amazing bunch. Easily proven by the fact that there was no collision at all, despite the chaotic nature of each individual movement route.

Without communication with one another, each and every one of them moved towards their designated groups and position. And in such chaotic but swift motion, all adventurers were at the ready with their attention aimed squarely at where the threat was coming from; the giant double door adorned with an angelic design on one side and a demonic design on the other. A staple design for entryway into the majority of the known Lost Grounds.

"What's going on substitute boss?"

One of the group leaders asked the substitute head of the base with a clear whisper.

"There's a knocking coming from the entrance. It's faint, but we heard what sounds like voices too."

The substitute head went silent for a moment before nodding his head and he issued his order.

"We need a canary… Group C and D, send three people each from your group to the each side of the door. Two scouts and four close combat fighter. The scouts will head straight and close to the door. The others will be guarding the scouts. Make sure they come out unharmed."

Swiftly, six people from both group C and D approached the door as instructed. One of the scouts placed her ears to the doors while the other stood close behind the former.

After a short while, the female scout began to talk.

"It's positive. It's a voice. From the sound of it, it's a female. Young. And she is banging on the door non-stop."

"What was she saying?" The other scout replied.

"It's hard to say… Give me a moment."

The female scout then placed her ear to the door again. This time, focusing all of her attention into listening for the faintest of sound.

"She's… crying. She's crying and begging for the door to open. She doesn't seemed to notice that we are here."

She conveyed what she discovered to the other people around and they decided to return back to the group.

"I see… What should we do now then boss?"

The substitute head asked the boss, Geren, that had finally arrived at the head of the group.

When the alarm was first sounded, Geren had actually already went out of his tent. But he decided to not move and observed the adventurers instead.

He was disappointed with how the adventurers were so disorganized, but he was impressed that they were still disciplined enough to not cause unnecessary accidents and praised their response time. "It was better than back in my day," mused Geren as he stroked his non-existent beard.

"We have no means to contact the other side, so we have only one choice. Open the door!"

There was a small commotion saying that Geren was rushing the opening of the door too much. But, they were convinced by what Geren said next.

"Of course, opening the door with barely enough preparation is dangerous, but considering that our main reason of being here is to rescue our missing fellow adventurers, then opening the door was our only real option. Our targets are two males and one female, so the voice from beyond the door fits! Whatever happens next, I will take responsibility. Also, listen! This is important. At the first sign of us being overwhelmed, I want everyone to run back to the portal and return to the city! Starting from the non-combatants, Group D, C , B, then A! Got it?!"

The adventurers replied with a vigorous "AYE AYE SIR!".

"Fantastic! Melee Group A and B guard the front! Ranged Group C and D at the ready! Fire at my command!

Tension slowly filled the air as every group moved to their position.

"…OPEN THE DOOR!" Geren ordered.

Two scouts ran towards each side of the door and they pulled the door open with all their might.

As soon as the door opened, the light that came rushing from behind the door revealed a lone female almost falling due to the sudden opening of the door.

Seeing this Geren stepped forward a bit and shouted.

"You! State your name and affiliation! If you don't we will begin our assault!"

The female was obviously taken aback by the situation. The first thing she saw as the door opened was an army of people aiming their attention and hostility right at her. Nevertheless, she break through her nervousness and shouted back.

"I─! I am Salim! I am a rookie adventurer! I─ we fell from a cave and got forced teleported to this Lost Ground! P─please! We need help!"

"Everyone stand down!"

After hearing her answer, Geren immediately ordered everyone to lower their weapons. Seeing this, the girl appeared to be eased a little. Then she immediately shouted once again.

"My party is being attacked by a horde of goblins! Please, you have to help us!"

Hearing this piece of information, Geren immediately ordered the adventurers to start preparing for combat. After that he approached Salim and helped her walk into the unfinished basecamp to ask her about her situation. She was given water to drink and then he began to talk.

"Are you the one that registered the coordinates of this Lost Ground?"

"Yes… I found a small teleporter and followed the instruction of kak Ahiro─ Ah, he was the senior adventurer who fell and got teleported together with me and Alisa here. Um… I don't know where that teleporter was going to teleport me to, so I didn't enter it. We really took a gamble there. I'm glad that we picked the right path..."

"I see… Thank you for your hard work. You rest here. We will save your two friends."

After confirming the name and location of the rest of the rescue targets, Geren left Salim alone to help with the preparation.

"Alright folks! We're going to go in 2 minutes! Finish your preparation by then! Remember that our Crafts and Signs aren't working here, so be thorough!"

"OOOOOOH!"

The adventurers replied energetically and continued with their preparation.

───

"All rooms are in order. Connecting all hatches. Good luck."

"W─what what that?!"

"Hyah?!"

All of a sudden, a female voice came from somewhere, which surprised Salim and Alisa. 'Her' voice was so clear and loud, as if she was talking right beside your ear. So I don't blame either of them for being surprised. It did surprised me too the first few times.

"It's the announcer."

I told the two of them.

"We don't know who she is or why is her voice is all over the Lost Grounds. We just know that when you hear her voice, there is one thing that is clear. It's either you have chosen the correct choice and you could live, or that you fucked up and you're going to die."

"O-oh..."

"Does that mean we did something wrong?"

"I don't think so. She said something like 'connecting all hatches' or something right? I'm sure that means something or other is finally being activated. And she said 'good luck' too. I heard from people that had heard the announcer that she often said good luck when they are progressing through the Lost Grounds."

"Wow…"

"You really knows a lot of things huh, kak?"

"That's just a perk of being a wanderer. You go to a lot of different places and meet a lot of different people. More opportunity to learn or something along those lines."

I sighed and sat up.

In front of me, I saw Alisa swinging and thrusting the spear relic that I lent him with relative ease. He spent most of the time practicing with the spear. He's a really diligent boy. I'm sure he's going to be able to become a successful adventurer one day. I'll wish for his luck to keep him up and not let him down. In this business, luck is the only factor that you cannot influence. Well, supposedly you can, but there's no proof of any of those 'karma' thing being real as of yet.

I looked to the side and Salim is diligently thinking and trying to solve another adventuring puzzle that I gave her. This is her fourth one now. She's also a good girl. Diligent. I'm sure she would also become a successful adventurer one day. I'll hope you the best of luck too, dek.

As for me… I'm now pretty used to using this black sword. I can use it no problem. It's just I found out that I couldn't use this sword's skill. So I can't use that double sword thing from back in the cave. It's a shame, but I can make do, I guess. With myself still in a buffed state and all that.

With a small "Hup" I jumped and stood up.

"Well, okay. Enough lazing around. Salim! Alisa! We are going!"

"Eh? Where are we going?"

Oh? I expected Alisa to ask that question, but it was Salim who bite.

"We're going to check on the doors. Remember that the announcer said 'hatches'? That's just another word for 'door'. So the door should be connected to something now."

"Are you sure kak? Maybe that 'hatches' could mean something else…"

It's Salim again. Perhaps, could she be getting used to being with me? So now she's more comfortable speaking to me?

"I'm sure. It's another thing that I learned from the people that had experience with Lost Grounds. Apparently it's an ancient tongue of some sort."

Salim looked satisfied with the answer, while Alisa is nodding like toy.

We slowly and carefully checked one of the door. I looked at Salim. He understood what I wanted and confirmed that his [Sense Entity] did not pick up anything. After putting my ear to the door and confirming that there's no noises on the other side of the door, we opened it.

Instead of the usual long plain white corridor, now it immediately connects to a similar room to this one. After being disappointed with that, we checked the other door in the same manner. What's on the other side of this door is… progress. It's a spiral corridor, heading upwards.

"So, what do you two suppose we do? Salim, what do you think?"

"Umm… Since the corridor is heading upwards, we can assume that this place is structured like a tower… right?"

She looked towards Alisa, seemingly asking for his opinion on this matter.

"I, uh, I think so. But there could also be a chance that this place is out of norm and doesn't work on real life logic. Um, if we go with the stories that kak Ahiro has been telling us."

"You two are correct. Now, do we know which one this place is?"

The two of them shook their head nervously.

"Hum, hum." I nodded in return.

"Then it's a matter of flipping a coin. Which way should we go? Do we take this spiral route, or the other room?"

The two looked at one another for several seconds, then they chose… the spiral.

I'd choose the spiral too, I agree.

"Well, let's go then. Be prepared for combat at any time. Salim, don't get left behind. Alisa, don't forget to check on your teammate. We've already cut the rope, so pay attention to one another."

The spiral corridor is similar to the plain white hallway. It's plain white with nothing else but white, except it is spiraled upwards. At the end of it, is another plain door.

After checking the door for traps as best as we could (well, I did), we opened the door. Behind the door is the same old room as usual… But the content is interesting, or rather, concerning.

"There are goblin corpses everywhere…"

He's right… Just quick counting them, there are definitely more than ten corpses here. So the goblin horde was also teleported as I thought.

…well the good thing is this view confirmed something for us.

"It seems like we could still die here. Good to know."

"!?"

"Ah…"

After hearing that, Alisa was obviously surprised, while Salim seemed to realized it at the same time as I said it.

"It's a good thing that we found out this way right? It wouldn't be funny if we found out about this by seeing one of us dying."

They let out a tiny wry and dry chuckle. I guess the joke isn't that funny huh?

We slowly approached the middle of the room.

There is also a switch there. At a glance, the difference between our switch and this switch is that it's green colored. However, when we got closer…

I touched the throbbing, beating lever.

"…it's fleshy."

The two behind me looked shocked.

"Salim… What was the lever on our room looked like?"

"It- it looked like a transparent glass."

"And this one is fleshy… and beating, like a heart."

I looked at the goblin corpse that fell near the lever and the corpses that was scattered around this room.

"This lever is made out of goblins." Was what I said out loud.

"What do you mean?" Salim grimly asked, while Alisa was looking even more confused.

"Remember what I did when we left our room before the lever appeared? I put an empty potion bottle down on the floor. And when we left and arrived in that room again, all of a sudden the switch appeared. The lever and the pedestal, they're both made out of glass… just like the potion bottle."

I've thought of this. I wasn't expecting it to be true, even though it was the only possibility that I could think of. It was absurd. However, this green, fleshy, beating switch proved it without a doubt.

"It's a good thing that we didn't leave anyone behind," I said.

The two of them seemed to agree. They've fully realized the danger involving Lost Grounds. With this kind of experience, I'm sure they'll never underestimate the unknown ever again.

A positive note. At least there are still good things that come from this accident. Unlike some other accident that I know…

I was briefly reminded of something that happened in the past, back when I was still green… naïve. Not really a good memory to think about at times like this.

I shook my head and shifted my head to look at the two behind me.

"Let's move. I don't think there are anything else to see here."

The two nods, and we slowly approached the other side of the room, to the unopened door.

Let's hope for some good news in the next room.