Near the side of the management center's main entrance.
Swarms of four-legged crabs surged out of the swamp, brandishing their massive pincers as they attacked the soldiers guarding the breach.
The soldiers hacked at them with their weapons, but the crabs' shells were incredibly hard, leaving only faint white scratches from the blades.
The giant pincers snapped spears and crushed shields with loud snaps.
From time to time, soldiers were seized by the massive pincers and dragged out of formation, only to be torn to pieces by multiple crabs.
Screams echoed across the swamp, and blood splattered over the moss-covered ground.
Taking advantage of the chaotic battle between the giant crabs and the soldiers, Rosie and the dwarf successfully slipped over to the side of the main entrance.
There was a palm-sized panel there with a moss-grown slot.
“This must be it.”
Rosie pulled out her dagger and scraped away the moss and grime from the surface, revealing the metal underneath.
Then, she aligned the Chief Engineer Identity Card with the slot and slid it in.
There was no response.
Rosie frowned and tried pushing it in deeper.
Still, nothing happened.
“Has the door mechanism failed along with the alarm system?” she muttered under her breath.
Just then, another wave of noise drifted in from the distance.
More four-legged crabs were swarming in from all directions of the swamp.
A few of them noticed Rosie and the dwarf huddled by the entrance and turned to charge at them.
Click, click, click, click—
The sound of snapping pincers drew closer and closer.
On the other side, the knight guarding the entrance saw that things were going south and immediately bellowed, “Retreat into the breach! Hold the entrance! Hurry!”
The soldiers quickly fell back into the blasted hole in the wall, blocking the opening with their shields.
But the four-legged crabs did not give up, continuing their attempts to breach the defense.
The shields clanged loudly under the impact.
However, by packing tightly together, the soldiers managed to withstand the crabs' relentless onslaught.
“I'll hold them off.”
The dwarf hefted his axe and charged at the approaching crabs.
His axe whistled through the air, cleaving straight into the leg of one crab.
With a loud crack, the crab lost its support and collapsed to the ground.
The remaining crabs waved their giant pincers and snapped viciously at the dwarf's feet.
Snap, snap!
The dwarf scrambled around in a panic to dodge the snapping pincers.
“Lass, hurry up! There are more and more of these things!”
Rosie pulled the card out, shoved her dagger into the slot to scrape it vigorously a few more times, and then slid the card back in.
Click!
With a soft click, a low, mechanical rumble echoed from inside the main entrance.
The heavy doors began to slide open slowly, kicking up a cloud of dust.
The gap gradually widened, revealing a passage leading inside.
Rosie pulled out a spherical bomb, ripped off the fuse protector, and struck it against the sphere, causing sparks to fly.
Aiming for the densest cluster of four-legged crabs, she hurled it forward.
“Get inside, quick!” she shouted to the dwarf.
The dwarf knocked aside a crab's pincer with his axe, turned, and bolted through the doors.
Rosie yanked out her identity card and rushed in right behind him.
Boom!
The bomb exploded behind them, and a scorching wave of air carrying shrapnel slammed against the doorframe.
The nearest crabs were blown flat on their backs.
However, the noise of the explosion only drew more crabs, which waved their massive pincers and followed them inside.
The interior of the management center was a massive hall.
Multi-layered corridors immediately came into view.
Near the entrance, at the blasted breach, the Count's soldiers were holding a tight formation to defend the opening.
Rosie pulled out a small sphere, struck it to light the fuse, and threw it in their direction.
Then, without looking back, she dashed toward the deepest part of the hall.
Boom!
The small sphere exploded not far from the Count's soldiers.
The four-legged crabs that had just entered the hall were instantly drawn to the noise.
They paused for a moment before turning toward that direction in unison.
“Ha, they're heading over there!” the dwarf said, glancing back as he ran.
“All part of the plan,” Rosie replied, her voice filled with smug satisfaction as she kept running.
The Count's soldiers, having just secured the breach under their knight's command, were about to catch their breath when they were caught completely off guard by the crabs attacking from their flank.
The four-legged crabs plowed straight into their ranks. Their giant pincers tore the soldiers apart, sending blood and flesh flying everywhere.
The soldiers' formation collapsed instantly.
Some turned and fled, only to be seized from behind by the crabs. The sickening sound of snapping bones followed, cutting their screams short.
“Damn it! Retreat! Retreat now!” the knight roared.
However, the interior of the management center was pitch-black. Lacking darkvision, the soldiers couldn't see their surroundings at all.
In their panic, someone lit a torch. The flickering flame danced in the darkness, illuminating a small cluster of terrified faces.
In the chaos, several soldiers were caught by the crabs and torn to pieces.
Screams rose and fell in quick succession.
Meanwhile, on the second floor of the management center, Anna and her group were advancing along a wide corridor.
The light radiating from the tip of her wand illuminated the surrounding darkness.
A knight paused, listening intently for a moment. “Lady Anna, it seems something has gone wrong with the defensive squad.”
Without looking back, Anna replied, “Keep moving. Trust that they can handle it.”
The knight glanced at her calm back and said no more.
The group continued forward in silence.
Down on the first floor, Rosie was standing in the deepest part of the hall.
In front of her was a massive wall, embedded with a dusty directory map.
The screams outside were drawing closer, but she paid them no mind, her eyes quickly scanning the Ancient Gnomish text on the wall:
“Architectural Design Center... Weapons Archive... General Information Inquiry... Complaint Resolution... Map Reading Room...”
Her gaze finally locked onto one specific entry.
“This is the one. Third floor, Map Reading Room.”
“Follow me!”
Rosie took off.
The dwarf followed immediately.
“Go straight, turn right, go straight for a bit, then turn left to the second floor...”
Rosie muttered the memorized route under her breath as she jogged.
The two of them crossed a corridor, turned right, went straight again, turned left, and stepped onto the stairs leading to the second floor.
Once on the second floor, they kept going straight for a bit, then turned right... left, straight, right...
Finally, they spotted a flight of stairs leading to the third floor.
“What kind of genius designed this layout? It's so winding!” Rosie complained as she ran.
“This route is more complicated than our dwarven mine tunnels... It's a miracle you can remember it!”
The dwarf panted heavily from behind.
“Honestly, I think we might get lost on our way back down,” Rosie admitted.
“Hahaha...” The dwarf burst out laughing.
The two jogged along, finally arriving at their destination.
A plaque hung above the corridor door: Map Reading Room.
“This is it.”
Rosie quickly stepped up to the door, pulled out her identity card, and swiped it against the authorization scanner on the side.
With a click, the lock popped open.
Rosie pushed the door open and entered, with the dwarf close behind.
The room wasn't very large. Rows of tall cabinets stood against the walls, with labels pasted on their doors.
Rosie scanned the room and quickly locked onto one cabinet.
She walked over quickly.
The lock on this cabinet wasn't a standard combination lock, but an authorization lock.
Fortunately, she possessed a high-level authorization card.
She slid the identity card into the slot.
With a click, the cabinet door popped open.
Inside, a stack of maps was neatly piled up.
Rosie pulled one out at random and unfolded it. It was identical to the map they had found in the Mammothkin leader's room.
She put it back, closed the cabinet door, and continued her search.
She opened the cabinets one by one, but they contained either outdated blueprints or partial detail maps.
This continued until she opened an inconspicuous little cabinet in the corner.
There was only a single map inside, but it was much larger than the previous ones.
Rosie quickly pulled the map out and unfolded it.
It was densely packed with information: underground rivers, mineral veins, ecological zones, building numbers, and functions...
She scanned it rapidly, her gaze finally halting at a special marker on the southwestern edge of the map.
“Special Escape Route, High-Level Identity Card Required.”
“Found it.”
Rosie quickly folded the map and stowed it away.
“Time to go.”
“Since we're already here, why don't we check out the Weapons Archive? There might be some good stuff there,” the dwarf suggested, a hint of anticipation in his voice.
“If you know there's good stuff, Anna definitely does too. I bet they're probably there right now, trying to find a way in—”
Before Rosie could finish her sentence—
Boom!
A massive explosion echoed from the floor above.
Dust drifted down from the ceiling, fluttering through the air.
“Cough, cough... A mage resorting to forced entry? How uncivilized!”
Rosie waved her hands repeatedly to disperse the dust in front of her.
The dwarf, completely unaffected by the dust, asked, “Are we leaving, or going up?”
After a moment of thought, Rosie said, “Let's go up and teach her a lesson!”
The dwarf raised his axe. “Let's kick her ass!”
Rate on N.U.
