Chapter 70 - Volume 2 Chapter 31 The Man Called Branch Chief (1/2)

—Raust—

Since we were already battle-ready, we finished our preparation in less than the allotted time and left the adventurer guild.

However, even a few minutes later, Master was only walking around looking for something without even leaving the adventurer guild.

Observing Master, I unconsciously tilted my head.

If the branch chief and his staffs really had caused the labyrinth runaway, wouldn’t they be fleeing the labyrinth city?

I don’t think there is any point to meticulously search this place.

I wondered if I should tell her that.

It was then Master raised her voice.

「Great. I found it.」

「………Huh?」

Leaving me clueless, Master pressed her hand to the ground.

The next moment, magic was activated, the soil that Master pushed raised.

The sudden action Master took made me involuntarily opened my mouth.

「Master? What the…!」

However, I never got to finish those words.

In the middle of my speech, my eyes widened from what came into my sight.

It was a hollow below the raised soil.

The space, illuminated by a few lights, was clearly not a natural formation.

Under the soil, there it was, a man-made passage.

「What… is this……」

Seeing the passage before me, I couldn’t hide my agitation.

Not only there was a passage below the soil, but the passage itself was also too bizarre.

The passage was reinforced on all sides with something like white stone.

In the minimally lit passageway, it was hard to tell exactly what it was.

However, when I saw the slight luster on the white stone, I understood.

This wasn’t possible to replicate even with magic in today’s civilization.

It was plain to see that it was made using a technology that is incomparable to now.

While I couldn’t hide my agitation when I saw the passage, Master was not perturbed at all.

She stood up, brushing the dirt from her hands, then opened her mouth.

「At the end of this passage is the branch chief and his cohort. It took me a while to find it, though, because it was blocking my magic detection. As I thought, they prepared an escape route.」

「Wha-! This… This is made by the branch chief?」

「Yeah, probably. This is a passage built based on lost technology.」

「This is the lost technology…」

Having a glimpse at the passage, I finally understood what Master was saying.

I don’t know if that’s really enough to make the current event happen.

However, the lost technology is certainly a fairly advanced technology that the current civilization can’t comprehend.

When I came to that conclusion, I asked Master the same question I had been asking myself.

「Master, what are you going to do with the branch chief? Is the lost technology, maybe, capable of dealing with the labyrinth runaway?」

Even when I saw the passage, a product of lost technology, I didn’t think lost technology could intervene the labyrinth runaway.

Without Master, the Labyrinth City would surely have been overrun by the group of monsters led by the lich.

After seeing that, I can’t believe a human can do anything to the labyrinth no matter how great the technology is.

However, Master who knows more about lost technology than I may have a good reason to be confident that lost technology can control the labyrinth runaway.

After thinking that far, I couldn’t keep my curiosity bottled up in my heart.

Because I understood that this would give us hope to deal with labyrinth runaway.

That expectation was immediately dashed by Master.

「No. It would never be able to do that. The mechanism of a labyrinth is not something that people can control. There is no way to control the labyrinth runaway other than destroying the labyrinth core. Incidentally, with a labyrinth of this size, even World-Class adventurers like me can’t destroy its core.」

「………Huh?」

Hearing Master said that, my mind went blank for a moment.

The reason Master looking for the branch chief who knew lost technology, I thought it was to deal with labyrinth runaway using said technology.

Hence why, when Master said that was impossible, I couldn’t help but feel shocked.

Then why looking for him?

Is there any way to deal with the current situation?

Such thoughts dominate my mind, I even missed my chance to ask Master to elaborate.

Without paying me any attention, Master continued.

「In the first place, I don’t think it’s even possible to cause a labyrinth runaway with lost technology. Can you even easily cause a labyrinth runaway like that?」