356 – EP.12 Farewell, Hoping to See You Again -1

***

The clutches of disaster did not discriminate between living and inanimate objects.

The vortex of air created by the god’s giant hand was enough to paralyze the city’s functions.

Even if it is Aaru that has stood firm for tens or hundreds of years.

Drones crashed into the sand that had formed a seam.

The cold bodies falling from the sky were like fallen flowers announcing the end of spring.

At first glance, it might have seemed like the fall of the city, the end of the world.

“Everything is as expected.”

However, Isis was not new to this type of crisis.

The damage was worse than usual, but it was within the range of what could be done. Once the storm passed, Aaru would return to its original form.

To Isis, the storm that swept over Aaru was nothing more than a storm.

The disaster that has now struck Aaru is not the sandstorm outside, but the absence of the owner.

By recovering the deleted CCTV records, the owner’s whereabouts were revealed.

He entered the cradle’s corridor through the bathroom’s ventilation shaft, and at the time of observation, he was moving quickly through the labyrinthine corridor.

Isis’s response was quick. It moved directly towards the master and closed all passages.

The master ran around the firewall as if he knew the way. Isis unconsciously gritted her teeth as she watched the master barely escaping, seemingly trapped.

But the boring game of tag didn’t last long. Isis succeeded in cornering the master, and managed to force him between the two firewalls.

Unfortunately, the owner was not visible because it was a blind spot on the CCTV, but there was nowhere for him to run unless he broke through the firewall.

Isis deployed drones outside the firewall, increasing their stride.

Open the door of the firewall, take the owner who is crouching in the corner, and return to the cradle.

Isis’s mind was full of that thought.

“Master…ter.”

But when I opened the door to the firewall, there was no trace of the owner anywhere.

All that was left was the entrance to a very small hole fluttering in the wind.

The question of why there was a hole that wasn’t even on the blueprint didn’t last long.

Because Isis knew the answer.

“NB!”

Another scream echoed through the hallway.

The firewalls went up all at once. The passage opened, and Isis ran outside.

Following Isis, the drones waiting in the hangar also took flight simultaneously.

A huge pile of sand came crashing down on Isis. Any android would have been unable to move and would have been buried in the sand.

Isis stomped her feet hard and soared into the sky, followed by drones. Several drones malfunctioned and crashed.

“You are a part of me. Do you think I don’t know where you are going with the Master?”

The sound that could not be heard by the other person was buried in the fierce wind.

It was a vain cry.

***

The strongholds in Aaru’s basement are connected by passageways like ant holes.

Although not all strongholds were connected, the stronghold that NB had led him to would definitely be connected to the path leading to the dimensional navigation ship.

He walked out of the city, feeling his way along the walls. The fluorescent lights that barely illuminated the passageway, flickering, announced the long absence of the innkeeper.

[It’s the left passage.]

The earphones in my ears were still working. That was fortunate, since I didn’t have a map in my head.

The cradle was in the deepest part of the city.

If you ask where the deepest point is, you could say it is the furthest point from the A-11 base where he first started his life.

The Dimensional Navigation Ship is waiting for him near the A-11 base.

It’s quite a walk from the A-11 outpost to the outskirts of Aaru, and it would probably take several hours to walk from the cradle to the outpost.

He walked with his hand on his bleeding knee, not knowing when Isis would grab him by the scruff of the neck.

Knock knock knock

Leaving behind the noise of the storm, or of Isis digging down into the ground knowing his location,

After passing through a long passage that felt like dozens of hours had passed, he was able to arrive.

An old wooden plank hidden in a tree branch.

The entrance to the dimensional navigation vessel CLBS-1283 was visible.

Clear the planks and carefully descend the massive passageway.

I use the stairwell as a ladder and carefully go down each step. The stairs that I could go down quickly when I was with NB are now like a cliff.

It was a bridge that moved like a miracle. If you misstep here, you will never get up again.

After a long walk, we arrived at the basement, where the rough stone steps ended and a marble-paved hallway appeared.

From now on, it was an area where human hands had been. He could move his feet more easily than before.

I drag my feet as I walk down the hallway.

I recalled the short time I spent with NB while repairing the dimensional navigation ship.

As if they had arrived at their destination, the earphones in their ears remained silent.

– Wheein

The automatic door opens and another hallway appears.

After a few minutes of walking, he was stopped by a door that required a password to enter.

Behind the door, a dimensional navigation ship awaits him.

I was approaching the door to type in the password.

Along with the sound, an explosion was heard behind him.

Thud, the ceiling shook and some gravel fell.

The impact caused a cloud of dust to flow down the stairs towards where he was.

Coughing and waving his hands in the dust, he saw someone approaching through his blurry vision.

“Master. I have come to pick you up.”

The gray eyes were shining eerily. In the center of the eyes, which were usually colorless, a red dot bloomed like a rose.

Isis walks briskly down the hallway that we had been walking with difficulty.

“Let’s go back, to the cradle.”

And then, drones with their guns pointed at you swarm around you like a swarm of bees.

He thought.

It seems like the story in this dimension has finally entered its final chapter.