141 Chapter 141: Warehouse (1/2)
Alicia and Kureha approached the warehouse…well, warily. Because they had to be wary of the warehouse. Got it? No? Never mind…
Ahem…anyway, the two girls cautiously approached the front, but Alicia suddenly raised a hand and called for a halt.
”Something's not right,” she said as she scrutinized the warehouse from a distance.
There was a huge truck rumbling through the entrance, crates of bottles jangling in the back. The guards waved it in, and then stood aside. The heavy vehicle proceeded past the checkpoint and toward one of the unloading bays, where a couple of workers emerged. As soon as the truck stopped, they hopped up into the back and began shifting the crates of drinks.
”I don't see anything wrong,” Kureha remarked, puzzled. ”They're just unloading the drinks.”
”No, not the truck.” Alicia was frowning. ”The warehouse. It's too quiet and empty for a warehouse of that size. There are only two workers on a weekday. Where are the others?”
”That's true.” Kureha understood what Alicia was talking about. Even with her limited senses, she couldn't detect the presence of any other humans inside the warehouse. Alicia, whose senses had been sharpened because of her role as a ranged gunner, already picked up the unnatural emptiness inside the warehouse. It wasn't like an x-ray vision or radar, but more of a sixth sense, where she could sense the mana signatures of people.
”…underground.” Alicia suddenly straightened her back and stared intensely at the back of the warehouse, on the other side of the loading bay where the truck and workers were. She then glanced back at her smartphone, as if to confirm something. ”There's a tunnel leading underground. Someone has just gone through it recently.”
Kureha shook her head, amazed. She hadn't sensed or seen anything at all. ”How do you know?”
”Thanks to these,” Alicia admitted as she raised a hand. A tiny, ant-size mechanical drone buzzed in the palm of her hand, its metallic wings fluttering as it took flight. She then turned to her smartphone, which was beaming a holographic screen that displayed multiple videos, each recorded by the many drones she had set upon the warehouse. She selected one of the videos and magnified it, indicating to a hatch deep inside the center.
The drone hovered closer to the hatch, and using its multi-spectrum array, it scanned the interior. An in-built radar showed that it was hollow, and led to a tunnel that gradually sloped downward. Its limited range meant that they couldn't see anything beyond that, and obviously the tiny mechanical drone had no way of opening the door and flying inside to find out.
”We'll have to sneak in.”
”Want me to subdue the workers and driver?” Kureha asked, already drawing her sword. Alicia gave her a dry stare.
”I said we're sneaking in, no fighting our way in. We don't know how many people are in there, or even if this is the right place. If we end up mistaken, I don't want to draw too much attention to us, get arrested, and then having to explain to my father why I decided to trespass upon private property and assaulted innocent people.” She gestured toward the workers. ”We don't know for sure if they're the enemy. Don't be hasty. Let's gather more information first before we start shooting.”
”You got a point there,” Kureha admitted sheepishly as she placed her sword back in its sheath. ”Sorry.”
The two girls snuck over to the back, and then vaulted over the fence. The barbed wire that was coiled at the top proved to be ineffective in keeping out intruders…then again, they were designed to keep out normal humans, and not mages capable of casting basic physical reinforcement spells. There wasn't even a basic magic barrier to protect the premises.
That was normal. The warehouse was inside a city, which was itself already protected by a large-scale barrier that kept out low ranking monsters. There was no need for extra precautions against magical foes or monsters, not unless there was something extremely valuable inside. It wasn't as if mages were desperate enough to steal crates of drinks from a warehouse.
Taking a deep breath, Alicia then did her best to cast a stealth spell. She wasn't very good at it, but she had studied the basics as it was part of the class on sniping. Obviously, the best snipers were also the stealthiest, which was why she learned a bit of stealth magic, but she wasn't as proficient as it as her sniper brethren as she tended to be a frontline gunner rather than an actual sniper. The two girls snuck past the workers and driver, who were completely unaware of their presence at all.
Stopping by the hatch, Kureha bent down to lift it, but Alicia quickly stopped her.
”Wait. It's warded. There's an enchantment over it.” Taking a deep breath, Alicia closed her eyes and placed her hand above it, but not directly touching it. ”Allow me to defuse it first.”
Regulating her breathing, Alicia did her best to disengage the enchantment, while Kureha kept watch to ensure that the workers didn't discover them. Perspiration dripped down her face as Alicia struggled with the complex mechanism of the spell, meticulously dismantling floating runes and symbols of lights that were now hovering above the hatch.
With a click, the enchantment vanished completely, and Alicia wiped the perspiration from her pale face. Raising her head, she smiled tiredly.
”It's done.”
”Let me go in first. In case there's a trap or ambush.”
Alicia snorted at Kureha's concern, but she couldn't argue against the need for caution. Nodding, she stepped back and allowed her friend to enter first. Kureha drew her sword as she descended the slope, scanning the area for any traps, or anything out of place.
They found nothing.
”…how far does this tunnel go?” Kureha asked impatiently as she swept her gaze across the dimly lit corridor. The tension was getting to her, especially when she found nothing.
”Just ten more meters.” Alicia was studying her smartphone, tracking her drone's view. Her done spotted nothing, and triggered no traps. The tunnel was practically deserted, but then again…of course it would be. Why would anyone hang out in a dark, dreary tunnel? Of course they would go inside the room at the end of the tunnel. ”There's a chamber at the back. I suspect that's where the people are.” She paused and closed her eyes for a moment. ”It's faint, but I can sense a few presences behind that door.”
”Have they detected us yet?” Kureha asked tersely. Alicia shook her head.
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”No reaction. They're milling around in the room. I'm not sure what they're doing…I can't see anything past the door.”
”Let's hurry then.”
The two of them hastened their pace and reached the door in fairly short order. Coming to a stop just before the huge, metallic door that barred their way, Kureha raised her sword.
”Mind if I cut it?”
”Uh…”
”No time for stealth now, unless you have a way of opening the door without alerting them.”
”No, wait! Look out!”
Alicia suddenly drew her guns and let off a couple of shots. Kureha dodged on instinct as the magical bolts soared above her and struck something.
Clang!
Looking up, Kureha watched in horror as two gigantic golems detached themselves from the walls on either side of the metallic gate. About three meters tall and two wide, they lumbered forward like mechanical giants, their single eyes whirling about nosily as they tracked her.
Bang!
Alicia fired off a barrage of shots that pelted the Golem on the left, and one of them struck its optical lenses, which fizzled. The Golem staggered, but didn't fall.