Uragan, the golem of Rhodes, approached cautiously.

About 100 meters before the abandoned mine, it disappears.

"It's a stealth ward."

"Oh..."

"It can also muffle sound, so it can perform reconnaissance missions."

Jin was secretly impressed that Marikka had taught him so well.

And then..,

We will now enter the tunnels.

came a voice from Rhodoth's magic tool.

It seemed to be equipped with a communication function like a manacam.

"Oh, this is amazing!

Tomax Bartmann and the Duke of Breu, who were standing nearby, are impressed.

Two minutes have passed.

So far everything is fine. The tunnel is basically a single track with short side tunnels.

Uragan is making good progress.

（Nothing is happening.)

Jin felt a little disappointed, though it was natural since it was not a dungeon.

Five minutes passed.

Uragan is advancing cautiously, and has reached about 200 meters below the surface.

7 minutes have passed. .......

"Warding found!

"What!"

Rhodes, Tomax, Duke Blou and the others are all astonished by Uragan's report.

"There is a ward at the end of the tunnel that I don't know about. ...... This is definitely someone's secret stronghold."

Since the duke, the lord of the house, did not know about it, it could be assumed that it had been set up without his permission, i.e., with malicious intent.

(......)

It was somewhat painful for me to hear this.

"Well, at least we have to interview him. (......)It is good if this is the only way in and out, but if there is another way in and out, is there a possibility that they will escape?"

Duke Breu pondered for a moment.

Then..,

"Okay. ...... hurry back to the Breuland and send the second guard to us.

He ordered the pilot of the blower-floater he had brought with him.

"Yes, my lord?"

The blower floater, with Duke Blou, Tomax, and Irminah on board, immediately took off and flew at full speed toward the Blue Lands.

"There you go,...... Lord Rhodes, please wait for a moment."

"Yes, sir."

Rhodes ordered Uragan to stand by.

And they waited.

In the meantime, Jin had contacted the old man through Reiko, and had the old man conduct an advance reconnaissance using a "peeper" telescope.

（So, what's the escape route like?)

We have already confirmed that this is a so-called . And we know there is an exit.

（Yes, my lord. We have just sealed it.)

So, the old man sends two < golems with a transporter and seals the entrance.

Now the only way in or out is the tunnel. We were literally rats in a bag.

After 30 minutes of waiting, 10 blow floaters and 2 airships appeared in the sky.

"Oh, here they come!"

It seems that the duke intends to control the area while monitoring it from the air using blow floaters.

The blow floaters are equipped with three guards each, and if they see any enemy escaping, they are supposed to rush to the scene and capture them.

Although that will not be the case: .......

And from the airship, five golems and 20 guards.

They quietly deployed around the tunnel.

"Well, Mr. Rhodes, would you please move your golem onward?

"Yes, sir."

At Duke Blou's request, Rhodes instructed Uragan to proceed. However, do not proceed blindly, but as before, with caution.

The warding has been passed. Nothing so far.

Jin and the others guessed that it was not a defensive ward.

(If it was probably a detection system ......, there must be some movement.)

Right after Jin thought so, Reiko opened her mouth.

"Father, there seems to be movement deep in the tunnels ...... underground."

The old man had been monitoring the tunnel with a and told Reiko the result.

"There are five people in the back. And 20 golems that look like battle golems.

"There are a lot of them. ...... No, of course not."

<.

We've encountered a hostile golem!

And Uragan has also begun fighting with a golem.

* * * * * *

Uragan, who had disappeared by stealth, was slowly advancing underground, using a sound deadening ward as well.

However, the wards he had just passed seemed to be of the sensing type, and there was movement in the back of the room he was aiming for.

"A security golem?

It fired <> at Uragan, who was supposed to be out of sight.

Uragan was not damaged by such a blast, but he knew that his position was completely known.

Uragan breaks his "stealth" spell. At the same time, Uragan takes a large step forward and strikes the enemy golem with his fist.

A dull metallic sound is heard, and the enemy golem falls over, its chest concaved. It seems to be weaker than the one sent to .

However, the enemy golem seems to be made of sturdy stuff, and it rises up again, despite the dent in its chest, and comes toward Uragan. However, its movements were more awkward than before.

Uragan struck again with his fist, this time in the same place.

This time, the fist pierced through the chest armor and destroyed the internal magi device. The enemy golem slowly collapsed. It did not move again.

But the commotion did not go unnoticed.

The golem was not unaware of the commotion.

It seems that they have sniffed out this place.

It seems that they have found the brainwashing device as well.

It was a prototype, but the effect was a little weak.

"Now that we can't contact Mr. Markitas, establishing a brainwashing method is our top priority, but ...... it's difficult to say."

"If it worked, I was thinking of building something like that lamppost in each country, but ...... it's not going to work out very well."

"<> had its own share of wise men and engineers. ......"

"Isn't that some kind of deus ex machina III or something?"

"<> seems to be helping out as well."

I thought this place would make a good base.

It's a pity we have to abandon it. ......

At the back of the abandoned mine shaft, five figures were conversing without any sign of panic.

"We'll use the transfer magic circle to escape.

"That would be a good idea."

"Perhaps there will be soldiers watching the surroundings, that would be good."

What about the golem?

Let's fire them all up and hit them.

And then, after activating all the golems in their possession, they disappeared into thin air with a transfer magic circle.

However, the old man who was the head of the administration magic of Horai Island knew exactly where they were going to be transferred to.