Chapter 569: Rifts (1/2)

”Are you ready?” Ogras asked as he stopped next to the console. ”You'll have to deal with any eventual threat by yourself, you know?”

”I'm fine,” Zac nodded as a swirl of emerald leaves surrounded him. ”Open it.”

Ogras nodded and touched the panel, and he immediately melded with the shadows as the door slid open. A fractal edge had already appeared on [Verun's Bite], but Zac could quickly breathe out in relief as there was nothing on the other side. Ogras soon reappeared from Zac's shadows as well, though his eyes were fixed at the corridor outside, confusion evident in his eyes.

Zac was just as baffled, as the scenery definitely didn't match what he had pictured in his mind. Ogras had described the dilapidated state of the inner sectors in great detail for his report, but everything seemed to look the same as in their own private area. The hallway was devoid of life or activity, but it was clean and without damage. The fractals that ran along the wall shone with bright luster, and there was no dried blood to talk about.

“How is this possible?” Ogras muttered from behind as he looked around in confusion.

Zac wouldn't immediately trust his eyes though, and he carefully entered the inner sector, readying himself in case what they saw was an illusion. But if it was one, then it had to be a damn good one as Zac couldn't feel anything amiss.

“Is the layout the same as before?” Zac asked after some thought.

“It should be,” Ogras nodded after looking back and forth for some time. “The missing pieces have been replaced, but the general layout is the same.”

Zac nodded in relief. He was afraid for a second that the Mystic Realm was able to move its corridors to rearrange its layout. That would have made it almost impossible to map the place out, and any progress would be random.

“I guess it’s the arrays?” Zac ventured. “The walls slowly heal themselves, so there are probably even more maintenance functions. There might be repair-puppets or machines running around and replacing broken things or something. Pretty convenient for the natives if the materials they scavenge actually get replaced somehow.”

“That might explain why our sector is untouched,” Ogras muttered. “No point in breaking past this door if they can keep mining their old tunnels. Perhaps they have already broken through to our place before, only to find the same empty corridors and barracks as us.”

“Or they’ve already taken everything of value,” Zac noted with a grimace. “We passed a lot of empty rooms back there.”

“The simplest way to find out what’s going on is by catching another native. The last one I took hostage actually went and died before I got a hold of anything interesting,” Ogras spat as he looked around.

Zac nodded in agreement. It was a shame how things panned out with Ogras’ captive. He had only managed to confirm that the beastkin truly was a real-life werewolf and that they were of rival factions. A short time later the human had shuddered and died, likely from suicide as to not divulge any critical information. Perhaps he was afraid of leading a new unknown force to his faction’s gates.

“So, where do you want to go?” the demon asked.

“Let’s head in the direction where you saw those two fighting. Perhaps we can find some clues where the natives stay,” Zac said after some thoughts. “No point in looking for the core areas at this stage.”

“It’s this way… I think,” Ogras said as he led the way.

It was quite a distance between the door and the scene of the battle, and Zac only got increasingly baffled as they walked. He just couldn’t make sense of the mental map of the compound. He understood that the Technocrats might not have the same sort of budgetary constraints as earthlings did, needing to make the most out of every square meter, but the winding pathways felt extremely sub-optimized. It almost felt like this place was built just for the sake of it, and that they didn't really fill any objective.

“What do you think the purpose of these endless hallways is?” Zac finally asked after a while. “It would be one thing if there were a bunch of laboratories or office space, but the rooms we’ve looked into are just empty storerooms. Most of the space between these corridors doesn't even seem accessible.”

“I guess millions worked in this place if this really was a research base,” Ogras slowly said. “That is the same as a decent-sized clan. Any organization of that size would need a vast number of supportive functions. Perhaps this area is some sort of ancillary area, and arrays that run this place are hidden within the walls. These corridors might just be for array masters to make their way between the arrays.”

“So service corridors,” Zac nodded in agreement. “That might be it.”

“It’s also possible it’s intentional,” Ogras mused. “That these pathways form some sort of array themselves. Just think of those lines in the sky over the fields. They are not random, but rather form some sort of pattern.”

“An array as large as a small country,” Zac muttered. “It should be extremely powerful.”

“We can’t guess what’s in the mind of some Technocrats,” Ogras spat. “They’re all insane. No offense.”

Zac snorted, but he kept mapping the surroundings in his mind. It was a shame that the magical map that the Zhix owned couldn’t be transferred over here as it would have been a huge help. He had already checked his [Automatic Map] as well, but it didn’t possess an indoor function. There was just one dot on the parchment, which called the base [SGR-03].

He guessed it was the abbreviation for the base, but he didn’t know if it was the name given by Leandra’s force or something decided by the force who took over after the technocrats left.

”So, while we're on the subject. Care to explain how the token from your mom could turn you into a Council Inspector?” Ogras said as he threw Zac a sideways glance.

”I don't know,” Zac shrugged, and it was the truth. ”I only found out about the credentials inside the Tower of Eternity, I didn't lie about that. Personally, I don't think it's real. I think it's something she prepared as some sort of Technocrat Array Breaker, something that would allow her to go where she pleased without divulging her real identity.”

”You know what that means, right?” Ogras said with a calculating look. ”You would have to be a real bigshot to accomplish something like that. I can't imagine what kind of person would be able to create something that could bypass all the defenses of the Azh'Kir'Khat Horde. We would be killed long ago by the Beastmaster or some other enemy if it was that easy.”

”Well, I'm still trying to figure out the truth as well. I'm hoping we'll be able to find more inside this place,”