All My Summons Become Divine Girls

Chapter 319: Everyone Above the Gold Line

The first miner reached Hajin as the joined Aegis ribs began separating beneath him. Hajin caught his harness with his left hand, pulling him across before the widening gap trapped either leg.

Juna released the man’s rear strap only after his weight settled upon the chamber floor. The five ribs divided behind her, leaving her beside the remaining workers until the next ninth symbol.

"Follow the line uphill and stop beside the lower lift," Hans ordered, keeping his spear beneath Bren’s opening, "Loccy does not pull until all four reach the platform."

The miner obeyed without looking toward the damaged node, using both hands along the secured retrieval line. Hajin kept two Rings turning while the Chain pressed its wrapped fragments against his right palm.

Another nine symbols crossed the moving ribs before three sections joined across the western break. Juna brought the second worker at once, matching her steps to the panel’s changing angle.

White-gold writing reached the joined panel during the seventh second, folding inward around another empty center. Hajin rolled the path beneath them, breaking the final stroke without disturbing their footing.

"The next correction arrives sooner," Aria warned, reducing the safe interval across his sight, "the buried orbit gained speed after accepting that broken line."

"Then count faster," Hajin said, taking the second harness as Juna stepped backward, "I am not teaching it a longer sentence."

Hans called the symbols while watching Bren’s final wedge, giving each shape one number instead of another name. His count stayed even when the side collapse settled against his spear shaft.

The third worker crossed during the next opening, carrying the splinted wrist against his chest. Hajin moved one rib beneath his shorter step, keeping the joined path level until Juna cleared it.

Pressure struck upward before the sequence could repeat, traveling through the retrieval line toward Loccy’s brace. Dust fell across the eastern opening as Bren’s strap pulled tight above his trapped knee.

"First pulse," Hans said, checking the worker beside Hajin before resuming his count, "we leave before the second one finds the lift guide."

The western path returned after nine more shapes, though its far edge remained below the isolated shelf. Juna lowered the final worker by his harness, then crossed behind him as the panel started turning.

Hajin carried their combined weight through one full rotation before placing both upon solid floor. The fourth worker grabbed the retrieval line, joining the other three along the rising passage.

"Shelf group clear," he reported, driving his shoulder beneath the spear, "Bren remains east, so the crew count stays short."

Aria marked movement inside the ceiling route before Hajin could shift his barriers toward the collapse. The modified creature’s remaining bands were retreating beyond Divine Eye, carrying a weak signal matching the pieces inside his Chain.

[ Modified orbital trace leaving detection range ]

[ Pursuit window: closing ]

The eastern passage remained open enough for Juna, while Bren’s opening narrowed around the final wedge. Chasing now could preserve the trace, but removing either Ring from Aegis would leave Hans beneath the collapse.

"Let it leave," Hajin said, turning every rib away from the western shelf, "show me the load above Bren’s knee."

Aria removed the fleeing trace, replacing it with pressure lines across the side collapse. Two stones carried most of the ceiling while a third pinned Bren below the joint.

Juna entered through the upper gap as Hajin placed one narrow rib beside her shoulder. She reached Bren’s harness, keeping her claws folded while she tightened Hans’s strap around his thigh.

"He can move backward once the stone rises," she said, pressing her other hand beneath his ribs, "his lower leg cannot turn through the gap."

"It does not turn," Hans replied, moving his spear beneath the loaded edge, "Hajin lifts, then we pull him straight through."

Three Aegis ribs spread beneath the ceiling stones without giving the array one stable surface. A fourth slid beneath the pinning edge, while the last continued turning under the damaged node.

Both Rings slowed as Hajin raised the fourth rib less than two inches. The stone left Bren’s leg, transferring its weight into the moving ceiling supports before the ancient writing could finish.

"Now," Hajin ordered, keeping his right hand closed around the Chain, "take him before the next shape reaches the center."

Hans pulled the rescue strap while Juna guided Bren through the upper gap. His injured leg cleared the stone without turning, then landed across Hans’s coat beside the retrieval line.

The released collapse struck Hajin’s ribs after they passed, forcing both Rings toward his elbow. He rotated the barriers apart, sending the impact around Bren before closing the abandoned opening.

The second pulse began beneath the dark center, carrying the same unfinished sentence toward every upper closure. Its first pressure wave erased the creature’s fading trace before Divine Eye could recover another direction.

"Signal is gone," Aria reported, tracking the wave into the return passage, "the lower lift remains reachable if Loccy holds its main guide."

"She holds," Juna said, lifting Bren beneath one shoulder, "the four above us are still moving."

Hans secured Bren’s injured leg between two rescue wedges, then took his other side. Hajin followed them uphill, keeping five rotating ribs between the pulse and each unfinished symbol along the route.

The four workers waited beside the lower lift with their harnesses clipped around its rail. Loccy’s line remained tight through the shaft, holding the platform against a guide already bending inward.

"All four ride first," Hans ordered, checking every clip before closing the gate, "nobody steps off until Loccy pulls you across the gold line."

The platform rose after he gave the withdrawal signal, carrying the shelf group beyond their lamps. Hajin held Aegis beneath the guide until four return pulls confirmed every worker had reached the surface.

Loccy lowered the empty platform while the buried sequence entered its eighth shape. Juna placed Bren along its center, leaving space for Hans to brace his leg during the ascent.

Hajin stepped onto the rail last, extending one Aegis rib beneath the platform as Loccy pulled. The remaining sections rotated along the guide, preventing the white-gold writing from closing around their path.

The ninth symbol reached the lower station before they passed the final reactive closure. Hajin joined two ribs across its opening, holding the route while the lift scraped upward through both edges.

Daylight reached Bren first when the platform cleared the exterior brace above them. Loccy pulled him across the painted gold line before helping Hans move his splinted leg onto level ground.

Juna climbed out beside them, then caught Hajin’s coat as the second pulse struck the lower guide. The lift dropped half a foot beneath his weight before Loccy hauled both of them onto the surface.

Hans drove the quarantine pin through the upper wheel, sealing the platform while its cable snapped somewhere below. He fixed the closure board across the lift entrance, then checked each worker against Bren’s crew mark.

"Lower Third, five recovered alive," he said, drawing the final line through the count, "seal stays until the lord orders another descent."

Below the quarantine board, the broken cable dragged once across the sealed lift, then fell back into the closed route.