The underground tunnel was basically a hollow pillar of stone that shot up from the underground world to the surface.
Their size could reach as far as two hundred meters in radius.
However, the hole this time was only about forty meters in radius. It was used to create several elevators that could bring a lot of things to the underground world.
But the truly shocking sight was not the fact that the hole was huge or had majestic equipment. It was the fact that the tunnel was actually being filled with rubble.
"This is…" Clovis gasped. "The tunnel has collapsed?"
"No. It’s impossible for the tunnel to collapse. With all the tunnels in the world, we have no record of them collapsing." Kanaria shook her head.
Jay raised his eyebrows. "Artificial?"
Erwin nodded his head with a grim expression. "Exactly so. That’s what we currently believe to be the case."
"What? Can you just blow this up? I mean, if the tunnel won’t collapse, you can just use explosives." Ragna pointed at the rubble.
"There are a lot of uncertainties, such as the fact that all these rubbles will fall to the bottom, causing a lot of destruction. And what will happen to the underground city?" An aged voice echoed from behind.
"!!!" Everyone turned around and saw an old man in his mid-fifties walking toward them. He had a thin frame and didn’t exude any aura that reflected his identity as an explorer.
When Clovis glanced at Erwin’s face, he immediately extended his hand. "Thank you for inviting us here, Professor."
"Oh my. I’ve heard that Erwin has made a lot of unique friends. It seems that the rumor is true. To think that my egoistic son will have a lot of friends. It’s like a dream come true." That was right. The person that approached them this time was none other than Erwin’s adoptive father, Professor Genzert.
"Father. You’re making your son look bad, you know." Erwin sighed.
"Haha. If they’re people who consider that kind of lighthearted joke to look down on you, you won’t consider them your friends." Professor Genzert smiled while shaking Clovis’ hand. "Welcome to the city. My son must have troubled you, but I hope you can help him."
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Clovis only smiled, not denying what he said.
"Clovis. That’s when you’re supposed to say, ’That’s not true. He has been taking care of us,’ you know." Erwin commented, his eyebrows twitching.
Clovis and Professor Genzert chuckled.
Clovis ignored him and asked, "What do you mean by we’re unable to use explosives to blow it up? No, I think I should ask this question first. How is the underground city’s condition?"
"Oi!" Erwin facepalmed.
Professor Genzert nodded. "Follow me."
While walking, Professor Genzert began his explanation. "I guess we should start with that event six months ago. This underground tunnel has a total of four elevators.
"In the beginning, an elevator suddenly broke. It was a huge blow to the city, but it didn’t cripple the city since the other three elevators were still enough to take care of the job.
"However, this situation didn’t last long. One more elevator broke down, which was weird. While trying to repair these two elevators, the remaining two were used at full power.
"During that time, we finally found the cause of the problem. In both broken elevators, we found out several bite and scratch marks, from the steel that was used as the foundation of the elevator itself to the cables."
"!!!" Clovis raised his eyebrows. "Bite and scratch marks? Beasts? But how? Has the underground city fallen?"
Professor Genzert shook his head. "We don’t know, but the last time we made contact with them was three days ago. A few hours after that, we were unable to contact them anymore. That was also when those rubbles appeared."
"Why would we lose contact?" Kanaria looked down. "There are three ways of connecting the underground city and the surface. Physical contact, which is the elevator itself, but looking at the rubble, it seems that none of them can move anymore. Cables must have been cut if we follow the same pattern. But we still have wireless connections."
"As expected of Erwin’s friend, you’re pretty clever." Professor Genzert nodded in approval. "However, those rubbles are not ordinary rocks."
"Don’t tell me." Kanaria gasped. When they visited the hot spring, they noticed that there was a rock formation that could block the ’suppression’ that the underground tunnel gave to the surrounding beasts.
It wouldn’t be weird if there was a rock that could block signals. In fact, a normal rock alone could weaken the signal, so if they had a specific rock, it could create a barrier. And this might be the reason why Professor Genzert became an important person.
"Indeed. Those rocks are the reason we’re unable to contact the underground city. Still, we haven’t received any reports that showed the underground city being attacked from the outside."
"From the outside? Are you saying that they have been attacked from the inside? That’s the only explanation for those rubbles." Clovis frowned.
"Exactly." Professor Genzert nodded.
Erwin continued his father’s explanation, "There are two ways to attack a city from the inside. First, the flying beasts will approach the base from up high before landing directly on the inside. However, the soldiers have confirmed that there are no flying beasts. It means it’s going with the second scenario, underground!"
Clovis nodded in agreement. "Indeed. If there are beasts that can dig a tunnel underneath the base, it’s possible. Does that mean the city is fighting right now?"
"Yes." Professor Genzert answered without hesitation.
"According to our information, beasts are emerging from a spot near the pillar and spreading in all directions, causing a lot of commotion and deaths. They are still fighting right now, but the situation is a bit dire because the water supply to the underground city has been cut as well.
In other words, they’re resisting those beasts with a limited amount of supply." Erwin explained the biggest problem.
Clovis couldn’t help but furrow his eyebrows. "In that case, have you identified the mastermind of this incident? At least, the beast that has commanded them."
"We are not very sure right now. However, there is something bugging us. It seems that a spider is involved in creating a web to withstand all those rubbles, but the problem is that… the underground city has never found any spiders in all explored areas."
"!!!"