Echo

"So you're wanted by the Supreme Guardian herself? Crazy."

"I know right! We just wanted to peacefully help but I guess she wanted none of that."

Yuuto shrugged his shoulders after agreeing with what Luka said while Seele who was right in front of them quietly listened.

Leaving Boulder Town and finding themselves on their way to the mines, the three mainly Luka and Yuuto engaged in some small talk as they tried to get to know each other.

'But it's interesting to see Luka here as he wasn't in the original storyline for Jarilo-VI'

Listening to him ask questions about the surface and the reason why he was here, Yuuto felt sort of refreshed in meeting someone as honest as he was.

Considering his past so far was meeting with some unsavory human chickens to a woman who wasn't afraid to dice up an entire building just to test out her thoughts.

There were a few other ones he could name but he decided to enjoy this brief moment of normalcy before anything unexpected happens.

"But how did you arrive down here? From what I know the passageway to the Overworld was sealed for quite some time now."

"I had a little deal with Sampo to bring us."

"Sampo…"

Once Seele heard the name that came out of Yuuto's mouth, her face scrunched up and looked carefully at him.

"If it's Sampo it must have cost a fair bit for something like that. Are you sure you weren't scammed by him?"

"Scammed? Of course not! Let's just say I gave him a little encouragement to help us since he owed us something."

"Sampo owed you? That's the biggest piece of news I've heard yet."

Seele looked genuinely surprised after hearing that Sampo owed him something since from what she knew, Sampo didn't like giving favors to people at all.

"Money moves the hearts of many~."

Yuuto snickered to himself while Seele looked at him confused about the meaning of his words.

Gradually leaving the confines of the broken-down streets outside of Boulder Town, the three were able to finally reach the entrance of the mines where they noticed a huge crowd forming.

"Let's hurry."

Leaving no time, Yuuto rushed towards the scene while Luka and Seele instantly agreed.

Ignoring the sounds of miners complaining and people itching to find out more about the situation currently happening.

There were a large number of people lying on the ground with blood-stained bandages wrapped around their arms and legs.

Some were even bleeding from their hands which created an awful site for the people who just arrived.

"How bad was the conflict…"

Seele gritted her teeth after seeing the amount of people hurt while Luka silently took in the scene he was seeing.

"Thankfully it didn't escalate too much as we had some help from a few people in preventing the vagrants from going wild."

"Nat! You were also here."

"Of course, once I heard about the confrontation I had to be here to see if I could help in any way."

"It's reassuring to see you here, Natasha."

A woman with purple eyes and blue-gray bob-styled hair approached the three who arrived.

Yuuto looked at the woman who nodded her head towards him before she faintly smiled to calm down Seele who looked a bit angry.

Natasha or more known as one of the few Underworld doctors who people can turn to in regards to medical help. Considering the scarce medical supplies, a doctor is a crucial resource to have at this time.

However there was another title she tried to hide when Yuuto first met with some of the people from Wildfire after giving them some supplies for them to use.

Wildfire's head and leader.

'Since she's here it should mean that Dan Heng and the others went to deal with the main problem…'

Separating from the group, Yuuto walked towards the area where many miners sat down to deal with the injuries they had.

'I should thread [Heal] and [Mother's Embrace] together…'

Stimulating the memories inside his mind, Yuuto connected the two memories together as they had similar properties and raised his hand.

Passing by the injured people around him.

Subtle traces of blue and gold light wrapped themselves around the injuries these miners had and fastened the rate in which their bodies healed.

"Warm…"

Relieved whispers passed by Yuuto as he walked around using [Mother's Embrace].

"The healing properties are pretty good…"

Taking note of the rate at which the miner's wounds healed compared to the energy consumed, he felt like this memory was the most versatile defense-wise he currently has.

With each step he took, the people lying on the ground felt a comforting sensation covering their bodies. Eliminating the tense reaction their wounds were giving them.

"These people should be the last of…" 

Seeing that he got a decent amount of people, Yuuto was about to return back but he stopped in place when he noticed a faint light glowing behind some rocks leading up to the upper level.

Peeking his head out of curiosity, he saw the outline of a man hunched over which made him rub the center of his eyebrows.

"I swear.. it's another ghost isn't it…"

Taking one last look at the man, Yuuto took note that it had a similar shape to what Solar looked like when he found her sitting on the bed back at Solarian.

A transparent body with traces of black mist consuming the overall shape.

"Let's see what this man is here for."

Yuuto raised his hand and allowed [Clarity] to do its job and the man's entire body began to appear more clearer.

[I'm going to be late…]

A deep voice escaped the man and Yuuto was able to properly see what he looked like.

Hunched over posture while carrying some books near his chest, the man had clothes similar to what a scholar would wear.

Which was a bit odd as the location he was in was in the mines where Geomarrow sprouted all around the area.

[Lady Alexandra will scold me if I'm late but I don't know where the main marrow is…]

The man continued to mumble to himself before his eyes eventually met with Yuuto who was staring at him.

[Young man! Do you mind showing me where the main Geomarrow vein is? I'm in quite a rush since Lady Alexandra's notes have been with me this whole time!]

"Lady Alexandra?"

[You don't know Lady Alexandra? Impossible. Have the young people of Belobog failed to learn about the circumstances happening around them!?]

'This guy is pretty passionate.'

Yuuto wore an awkward smile seeing the man looking at him with disappointment.

"Ahem, I may not know who she is but I can tell from your tone that she is a very respectable person."

]Of course! Who else is as wise and enlightened as she was to govern the development of the Underworld. A genuine torchbearer!]

"DId she do anything else?"

[There were many feats she accomplished ever since taking her seat as Belobog's Supreme Guardian. Developing a University, the expansion of knowledge of the Underworld's ecology and unifying the units of measurements in Belobog.]

'She sounds amazing. But a Supreme Guardian huh…'

Taking the snippets of what the man said, Alexandra was probably one of the most liked Guardians of her time and probably one who forwarded the development of Belobog by miles.

[She also created the— Wait! I need to stop my ramblings and leave soon or else I'll be in big trouble.]

The man frantically looked around while also taking note of a piece of paper he had with him trying to find his way to his desired location.

"You can take the path down to your left and you can probably reach the place you want to go to."

[Are you certain?]

"I don't know if it's exactly where you want to go but that area is densely packed with Geomarrow from what I remember."

[Dense Geomarrow…]

The man took what Yuuto said before he gave him a deep bow that almost dropped the books he had with him.

[Thank you for your help, young man. I will be sure to relay to Lady Alexandra about your good deeds!]

He gave Yuuto a large smile before running past him and disappearing into white smoke. All that was left behind was a single fragment that Yuuto picked up and absorbed.

"He probably experienced something unfortunate on his way down here…"

Remembering the location where this man was hidden in, Yuuto wished that his judgment was wrong and was probably just a coincidence.

Finding no other reason to be here, he turned around to return back to where Seele, Luka and Natasha were.

But to his surprise, he noticed that Seele and Luka were already a few meters from him.

"Should I have Nat take a look at him…"

"Bro, you can take a break whenever you feel like having one alright."

"What are you guys even saying?"

Yuuto felt a bit strange after hearing Seele and Luka's words after they cautiously approached him.

"Well, you were…"

"Acting like an insane person talking to himself."

"....."

Seele had a serious expression while Luka rubbed his cheek as if he was agreeing to what Seele said.

"So you think I was going crazy for talking to myself?"

"No it's more like you talking to the empty space in front of you…"

"He does look like the type of person to do something like that though."

"What the hell are you trying to say?"

Yuuto pulled his finger back to flick Seele on the head, noticing the strange thoughts she's been voicing out loud.

"You bastard…" 

"Let's go to where my friends are."

He ignored the glare Seele was giving him as she rubbed the center of her forehead while she thought of retaliating back.

Yuuto on the other hand remembered the message he was sent when he was at Boulder Town and felt like he should hurry up.

***

"So where are the rest of you goons?"

"You can scrape the bottom of my shoes to find that out…."

"Hahh, should I just mash this guy in."

"W-wait a minute."

Stelle tapped the bat she had on her shoulder and blankly stared at the man who was frantically trying to escape the ropes he was tied in.

"You're acting like a vagrant right now."

"Am I?"

"Yes, so stop waving the bat around like that."

Dan Heng gave out a sigh as he tried to calm Stelle down as she was a bit bored after helping the remaining miners who were still stuck inside leave.

Following the separation from Yuuto, the three made their way to the mines after hearing the issues unfolding from the confrontation that occurred.

It was going quite smoothly as they were able to rescue a few people who were stuck inside but an unexpected problem suddenly popped up preventing them from getting any closer. 

–WRRRRM

"These guys again!?"

March yelled out before she pulled out her bow and fired a few arrows toward the enemy that suddenly appeared before them.

Past the corridor near them, a large number of automation began to swarm the area they were in, preventing any thought of escaping. 

Her arrows pierced the metal coating of the robots and pink ice began to grow on the surface causing the robot to pause in place.

"Get the ones that are at the back since they have projectiles installed in them." 

"Roger!"

Dan Heng rushed towards the swarm and used his spear to thrust through a few of them with a single move.

Feeling the weight of the robots pulling down on his spear, Dan Heng planted his foot forward and twisted his body to throw the robots attached to his spear.

The robots collided and a large gap in the swarm grew as the collision caused the formation to break allowing for a certain person to go crazy with her swings.

"One, two and three!"

Stelle gripped her bat and blue sparks exploded with each contact it had with the robots in front of her, leaving behind waves of crushed scrap around her.

"Hopefully these are the last ones…"

March pulled on her bowstring harder, releasing a flurry of arrows from the sky that began to barrage the remaining robots that tried to enter the space they were in.

"Unfortunately I don't think that would be the reality as of now."

"I should have just kept my mouth shut…"

Dan Heng pulled the spear that dug itself into the small robot and looked up to see an automation that was a bit intimidating compared to the ones they had fought so far.

It had humanoid features but the most eye-catching component it had was the large chainsaw on its right arm ripping through the air from the rapid speed it was spinning at.

"Just our luck."

Prepping his spear behind him, Dan Heng noticed a second robot with the same features slowly approaching behind it.

Stelle took a step back after seeing the two robots and cautiously made her way back to where the other two were.

"How should we do this?"

"I'll try to parry the chainsaw so be ready to rush when you find the opportunity."

"And the other one."

"Just let March fire her arrows to keep that one in place while we deal the first one."

Dan Heng looked at March to see if she heard him and saw her nod her head while gathering ice on the edge of her bow.

The automaton moved its large frame closer to where they were at but suddenly paused which confused the three greatly.

Stelle narrowed her eyes to see what was happening and noticed purple butterflies floating around the second robot.

"Thats…"

March also noticed the butterflies flying around but what surprised her the most was that a woman with a large scythe suddenly appeared and sliced the robot's left arm right off.

"You should have aimed for the other arm."

Another voice appeared and what the three saw was Yuuto jumping in the air with his sword close to his body.

Waves of silver energy wrapped around his sword before his arm blurred leaving behind a silver cross that attached itself to the robot's right arm.

The cross that left his sword cut through the bulky shoulder it had and opened a large hole for him to stick his sword into.

With the sword right under him, he planted his feet right on the hilt before placing more pressure on the initial damage he did.

The white sword ripped right through the arm with the help of Yuuto's body weight and left the robot with only its torso and legs.

"We came to help~"