Chapter 194. Hole punchers (1)
A full-scale survey began.
This is a process that must have been performed every time construction has been done so far.
A process that looked similar every time, but wasn’t always the same.
It was the same this time too.
‘Because it’s a time-space that connects irregularly scattered tunnels in the ground.’
location too.
length too.
depth too.
even the direction.
It was dozens of tunnels, all of which were different.
Such tunnels were scattered randomly in the desolate plains between the foot of the mountains to the west here in the city of Kandara.
Moreover, most of the depths were more than 5 meters below the ground.
This meant that surveying from the ground would not allow the underground scanning option to determine the shape and size of the tunnel.
“That’s why I need your cooperation.”
This is an abandoned warehouse outside the city of Kandara.
The place where Lloyd was kidnapped about 15 days ago.
At the place of that memory (?), Lloyd raised his head.
I looked around at everyone gathered in the warehouse.
“You didn’t miss the map I mentioned, did you?”
nod
Thermes and the rebel leaders nodded at Lloyd’s question.
Thermes collected dozens of maps from everyone and heaped them up on the table.
“Here he is.”
He unfolded the map one by one.
“Most of the tunnels we have secured or are aware of are outside of the marked map. First of all, I have classified them in my own way.”
“A classification?”
“In order of proximity to Kandara. If the distances are similar, in order of magnitude. I tried to classify them based on two criteria.”
“Oh oh.”
Lloyd sighed in delight.
The rebel leader, Mr. Termez.
I liked the fact that it made the work smarter than expected.
“Good.”
Satisfaction flashed in Lloyd’s eyes as he looked at the map.
The map was much more detailed than I expected.
In addition, the map’s notation and unit symbols were neatly unified, probably because the map was managed systematically.
‘good. very good.’
This will drastically reduce the amount of work.
There is no need to go through the headaches of arranging the map of Jung-gu Heating and unifying the units.
“Then now it is my turn.”
Dduk Dduk Dduk!
Lloyd grabbed the map and stepped back from the table.
I stretched out my whole body.
Seeing him like that, Thermes gave a puzzled look.
“Is it your turn?”
“ah.”
A smile crept across Lloyd’s lips.
He acted like it was no big deal.
“I want to run a little. Based on the map you provided.”
“Are you saying you want to run through the tunnel?”
“yes.”
“….”
“It is natural. I have to measure. I have to see it with my own eyes.”
“The distance must be considerable.”
“So, why not dress comfortably like this?”
No wonder Lloyd was already wearing a comfortable shirt and baggy pants.
He even had a towel wrapped around his neck.
Would this be the outfit of a full-fledged local marathon runner?
“Still, thanks to the map being organized so well, I think my running distance will be reduced by half than I thought. See this aisle here? I can understand places like this where I don’t have to go at all.”
“Am I supposed to say that this is fortunate?”
“yes. So please support us.”
After warming up, Lloyd left the warehouse.
Outside, a 10-meter-tall Podongi was waiting for him.
“Ppodong!”
“What about Kkoming?”
“Podo-dong! Boo-dong!”
“They said the knotted wing muscles haven’t loosened up yet?”
“Ppodong!”
“okay. He had a lot of trouble going back to the king this time. I’m just going to let you rest for a while.”
“Ppodong! Podo-dong!”
“Okay, let’s go. Now, Mr. Termez is riding too.”
Lloyd, along with Thermes, rode on Pudongi’s back.
A smile came out at the smooth and soft ride (?) that I tasted after a long time.
So I rode the little boy and ran westward.
Thanks to Termez’s guidance, we soon arrived at the first tunnel closest to Kandara.
entered the tunnel
and ran alone.
It was the beginning of a full-scale marathon for surveying.
“Whoop whoop whoop!”
I took a deep breath and ran down the aisle.
Sometimes straight.
Sometimes meandering.
As if relaying the Olympic torch, I activated my surveying skill while running down the aisle holding a torch.
Tsutsutsutsu…!
Numerous information about the tunnel was identified through surveying.
‘I’m really doing all these things now.’
A marathon that I couldn’t even sell under a few meters underground.
Laughter came out of nowhere.
At the same time, several memories came to mind.
‘It reminds me of when I first learned swordsmanship.’
Was it for a duel to punish Sir Neumann, the traitor of the territory?
At that time, he learned swordsmanship for the first time from Xaviel and brushed up on his basic physical strength.
It was a day where I felt like I had run more than I had run in my whole life.
Of course now?
I was able to run much faster than before.
It was thanks to the dark mental method that formed the triple circle and the mana heart that reached the level of an intermediate sword expert.
“Whoops! Whoop!”
When did you run so hard?
Oh yes.
‘Beast ant.’
Was it during the construction of a coal mine in Yeongji?
The end of the mine had come into contact with the beast ant’s tunnel.
Thanks to that, he ran and ran underground to lure the beast ant.
‘At that time, I thought a lot.’
feed once again.
I ran while capturing the memories that came to mind.
Then, without realizing it, we arrived at the last part of the tunnel.
He checked the map.
‘good. You can build a waterway according to the route you have run so far. I think we can block this here and this side so that the water doesn’t flow elsewhere.’
He quickly checked several places on the map.
In just an hour or two, the survey of one tunnel was completed.
After that?
“Let’s move again.”
“Ppodong!”
I rode the padongi again and moved.
With Thermes’ guidance, we arrived at the next tunnel.
Of course, even in the meantime, Lloyd did not rest.
The route between the first tunnel and the second tunnel was carefully surveyed.
The shortest path connecting the two tunnels was predicted and calculated.
In the meantime, we arrived at the second tunnel.
“Please wait here with Podong until I come back. If you’re bored, the two of you hang out together and play.”
“Are you saying the end?”
“yes. Podongah?”
“Ppodong?”
“Would you like to start with you?”
“Ppodong!”
“You can receive it as ‘Dong’.”
Lloyd looked back at Thermes.
Termez was frozen in the end.
“…Also circle.”
“Hey, Podong?”
“Podo-dong!”
“I’m an artist,” said Podongi. But you know that the podongi-style pronunciation ends in ‘dong’, right?”
“….”
This ending is a scam.
Termez wanted to refute that.
But Lloyd didn’t even listen to his answer and fell into the tunnel.
I left the diligent marathon path for surveying.
In the end, Termes, who was left alone, had no choice but to look back at Podongi and say,
“Whoa. coin.”
“Ppodong!”
“East Continent.”
“Podo-dong!”
“….”
Termez felt like he had hit a bigger wall than when he was rebelling against the Sultan.
♣
Squak!
“omg…! Huh!”
huge wall.
A wall too far to gauge its size.
Is this what it feels like to hit a wall like that?
Serazade shuddered at the helplessness that pierced his chest.
And he swung his sword again.
“Cheet!”
Shhh-!
The advanced level of Sword Expert.
It was a sword that had been sharpened and polished countless times while coming up to this point.
The essence of that blood and sweat was a van blow.
That’s why she was confident in her sword.
It was definitely like that until this moment shut up.
Huung…!
“…!”
Missed.
It was neither touched nor threatened.
‘why?’
Serazade’s pearly black eyes shook.
Her eyes quickly tracked the opponent’s trajectory.
Prepared for a counterattack that might return.
However, the opponent did not fight back.
I just stepped back slightly from this side’s sword attack trajectory.
“Are you kidding me now?”
Serazade’s trembling voice filled the interior of the dorm.
Then, the opponent, Xaviel, responded with an expressionless expression.
“no.”
“then?”
“I would have said. I’m just following Lloyd’s instructions.”
“That ridiculous order to keep me here?”
“Lloyd didn’t ask you to be locked up here. I just wanted to get to know you better.”
“That’s it!”
shuck! Shock!
The hot-headed Serazade took two quick steps forward.
He split the beat with an off-beat and launched two attacks.
The curved scimitar unique to the desert region divided the space with an oblique line.
It was an exquisite timing to dig into the gap between breathing and breathing.
If the opponent was a normal swordsman.
No, if it was a sword expert knight with similar skills.
It was an offensive that could have been caught off guard and taken aback.
Unfortunately, her opponent was Xaviel.
“….”
Swoop.
Xaviel took half a step without blinking.
That was already enough.
Serazade’s trump offensive missed again in vain.
He split only one of the poor tables and chair backs near Xaviel.
“Are you taking me? Do not be ridiculous. I am an escort warrior. Appointed by the Sultan!”
“I know.”
“But why are you doing this to me!”
“I already told you, but it is because of Lord Lloyd’s orders.”
“What did that fellow say!”
“They say the desert sun is bad for your skin.”
“…what?”
Serazade was attacking Xaviel without even having time to breathe.
For the first time, she hesitated.
He asked with one eyebrow quivering.
“What did you just say?”
“It is to convey exactly what Lloyd-sama said.”
“what….”
“The sunlight in the desert has strong ultraviolet rays, so they say it accelerates skin aging. In addition, the air was dry, so it was even worse. In addition, there is a lot of fine dust, so it does not have a good effect on the respiratory system, and in the long term, it increases the probability of getting various lung diseases.”
“….”
What does that mean?
Feeling a bit dazed, she listened to Xaviel’s words.
“Actually, I don’t even know what ultraviolet light is. To be honest, it’s not even fun to keep you in your quarters during the day.”
“Then why are you preventing me from leaving?”
“I’ve said it many times, but it’s because of Lord Lloyd’s orders.”
“also! That word again!”
The hot Serazade gripped the scimitar handle tightly.
In fact, she felt as if one side of her chest was sinking down.
‘no. I can’t waste my time like this.’
He had been stranded like this for several days already.
During the day, I was blocked by Xaviel and couldn’t leave the dorm.
at night?
Lloyd came.
As soon as he came to me, he started talking about bizarre things like witchcraft.
There wasn’t even time to share a conversation.
Listening to Lloyd’s bizarre words made me drowsy like a flood or tidal wave.
Even if I open my eyes to resist.
Even if you pinch your thighs as hard as you can.
Eventually, I fell asleep without realizing it.
It was a comfortable and comfortable sleep that I can count on one hand in my life.
‘So it’s a problem!’
It was good to sleep.
But after waking up?
It was already bright and bright in the morning.
Lloyd was nowhere to be found.
Instead, Sword Master Xaviel blocked his path.
Like today, like now, I couldn’t leave the dorm like this.
In fact, it was a perfect system of confinement that ran seamlessly day and night.
‘This is completely intentional. Those two are openly tying me up here. I don’t know why. But I’m sure it was intended to ostracize me.’
so impatient
At most, the Sultan gave me a chance.
I took the opportunity to live up to expectations.
If you make that man Lloyd Frontera your own.
So, if you make him the son-in-law of the Sultan and take him.
For the first time, I should be able to be properly acknowledged by my father.
‘That precious opportunity…I can’t fly like this!’
To do that, you have to go outside.
You need to stay by Lloyd’s side as an escort.
As such, you should naturally increase the time you spend with him.
So, you have to get out of this damn dorm first!
Serazade gnashed his teeth and swung his sword.
but couldn’t reach it.
Even a strand of hair.
Even at the end of the collar.
I couldn’t reach it at all.
Even though Xaviel didn’t fight back, it was like that.
Even with bare hands, it was the same even though it was only moving within two steps.
That fact drove Serazade even more crazy.
“Gaaaaagh! Please!”
get caught
Just one knife (?) Hit me.
She shouted eagerly and swung the scimitar again and again.
Of course, Xaviel resolutely refused her earnest request.
He easily parried all of Serazade’s attacks.
At the same time, he looked at Serazade with a strange gaze.
“….”
Did Lloyd-sama tip you off?
This woman is actually the Sultan’s daughter.
It’s not like they became a group purely for escort.
That’s why it’s better to tie your feet to this inn so that you don’t do anything else.
It would be better not to create a situation where the sultan’s daughter and the rebels collide.
That’s how Lloyd’s new request came to mind.
‘Well, if it’s this level of skill, it’s also helpful to me.’
Xaviel’s gaze at Serazade deepened.
Her level is Sword Expert Advanced.
It was a step that I couldn’t reach for myself.
Even so, her sword had a unique sharp momentum that made her opponent frightened.
‘It’s a great talent.’
Xaviel was deeply impressed.
No one can spray a sword with such momentum.
This is not a momentum that can be produced just because the level is high.
‘It’s a realm of talent.’
In terms of talent alone, she seemed to be second only to King Alicia.
So what if you just meet a good teacher and the right opportunity?
Sooner or later, as a sword master, he might be able to blossom into brilliant talent.
‘I don’t think Lloyd-nim doesn’t know that either.’
Shallow wrinkles formed between Xaviel’s forehead.
The Lloyd he knows is a quick-witted person.
It is not a person who does not know what potential the sultan’s daughter has.
However, he gave himself to this woman.
Tie your feet up at the inn.
If you need?
I wish I could give you a true education.
It doesn’t matter if I experience what real swordsmanship is.
Did you tell me with a smile?
“….”
What would happen if that woman became a sword master through a confrontation with herself?
Sultan’s daughter.
enemy princess.
What if such a woman became a sword master?
The result would be that the enemy country would become stronger.
‘Nevertheless, if you entrusted me with this job…I guess Lloyd-sama is drawing a bigger picture.’
Believe.
If it’s Lloyd you’ve been through so far.
You can believe the plan he is drawing.
‘Then let me help with that plan.’
Decided.
I’ll roll it right.
At that moment, Xaviel’s hand moved.
I picked up a candlestick on one side of the dorm.
Kaaang-!
His candelabra effortlessly blocked Serazade’s scimitar, sparking.
“…!”
Serazade’s eyes widened.
Xaviel’s eyes flashed coldly.
It was from then.
Serazade truly regrets his childhood choice to pursue a single path in swordsmanship.
