Hyper Express Labyrinth, Day 57
They transported all the Mechanic Hydra's corpse—that is, its parts—to the mechanical factory.
Poof poof. Finally, the transport's done.
Outside the mechanical factory, Omega wore a satisfied smile as she gazed at the parts packed tightly into the massive warehouse.
Kiiieeeek—thud! The warehouse's massive door slammed shut. Omega turned to face the exploration team.
Alright then, now let's head to where the Explorer... no, Gauntlet is. Poof.
Building civilizations across the labyrinth. Crafting new machines from the Mechanic Hydra's parts. And researching the emotions felt toward the Helper Trait bearer to uncover the principles behind those abilities.
Omega decided to put those three things off for later. First, she'd meet me in person and handle what I'd asked for.
The exploration team nodded and turned to leave. Seeing this, Omega tilted her head.
Where do you think you're going? Poof?
Aren't we heading straight back to Father right now?
Arachne halted and asked. Omega shook her head.
We're departing now, that's true. But I have no intention of walking. Were you all planning to walk back? Poof?
...Yeah? We walked here, after all. Is there some monster we can ride?
Poof poof. Of course. Not a monster, though—a machine.
The moment Omega finished speaking, a low kuuuu—! rumbled from the sky as a massive silver machine descended. It hovered a few meters above the ground.
Roughly 100 meters long, it had a sleek oval shape, pointed at both ends. Its smooth surface showed no seams. No engines or thrusters were visible at the rear either.
We'll ride this to get there. It's called the Hyper Express. Poof poof.
That must be their ride. Now that I looked closer, it did resemble a train.
I'll load the necessary parts into the cargo hold first. You all board ahead. Poof.
Jiiing— With a smooth sound, the Hyper Express's side split cleanly open. That must be the entrance.
Arachne boarded first, carrying Jellyfish Princess on her back. Princess still couldn't move properly after using her power yesterday. The other exploration team monsters followed one by one, and finally, the two Iris entered, illuminating the interior.
The inside was surprisingly spacious—several times larger than it appeared from outside. It must use some kind of space manipulation tech.
After taking in the interior, I switched screens to the Iris trailing Omega.
"Omega, isn't that ride a bit too big? No way it'll fit through the door to the deep sea."
Poof poof? No need to worry. The Hyper Express has built-in size compression tech.
From her explanation, once everyone boarded and the door closed, it could shrink to Iris-sized. But the interior space stayed the same—no effect on those inside.
I've got everything we need now... Anything else, I can warp in and grab. Time for me to board too. Poof poof.
Omega loaded various mechanical parts into the cargo hold, closed its door, then entered through the passenger entrance on the side. As the door sealed shut, the Hyper Express shrank rapidly to Iris size.
The Iris filming that stayed behind at the factory. The prepared Hyper Express glided smoothly into motion and departed.
Passing through a desolate zone tangled with mechanical wreckage. Exiting a narrow passage. Before long, they arrived at the massive door on the deep sea floor.
It took just 30 minutes. Faster than expected.
The screens inside the Hyper Express displayed the outside view perfectly. Near the massive door in the deep sea, one recently tamed Deep Guardian waited.
The Hyper Express entered the deep sea, then slightly expanded. Its side split open, revealing the door. Somehow, no seawater flooded in—must be the tech.
Omega and Iris stepped slowly out into the deep sea.
Poof poof. So this is the Deep Guardian Gauntlet mentioned.
Here, there was a faster way to move. A method to reach sea level in under a second.
Of course, first she had to ask the Deep Guardian something.
"Deep Guardian. Can you banish non-living things too?"
Yep.
"Good. And you can banish it not back along the exploration team's path, but straight up to the ocean surface, right?"
Yep.
The fast way to the surface: deliberately taking a hit from Deep Guardian's banish. You'd shoot up to sea level in an instant. Since it worked on non-beings too, no issues here.
"Omega, confirmation's done. You can head back in."
Poof poof. Hold on a sec.
Omega opened the cargo hold, grabbed a mechanical device, and installed it beside the massive door.
Better install one here too. Poof.
The device was a Warp Device, or Portal Generator. Identical ones were scattered throughout the mechanical factory, all networked.
With simple controls, you could target another Warp Device and open a portal to it—instant long-distance travel.
She said she'd install one at our shelter too.
Omega finished installing the Warp Device and reboarded the Hyper Express.
"Deep Guardian. Once Iris is in and the door closes, banish us to the ocean surface."
Yep.
Iris followed Omega inside. As the Hyper Express shrank...
Paaaat—! The team-carrying Hyper Express was banished, rocketing to the uninhabited island surface in a flash.
"It can't even move or use its powers properly out of water."
"Of course I have no plans to irresponsibly leave it there alone. Later, I'll build a village in that deep sea and appoint it as manager."
I'd originally planned a simple sea shelter—or beach shelter—like the desert one, small-scale.
But after meeting Omega, plans changed. Since she wanted civilizations built across the Ancient Labyrinth, why stop at shelters? Better to invest effort in full villages.
The desert shelter would evolve into a village too.
'That means assigning plenty of monsters to each village... so I'll leave minimal staff here at HQ. Elite headquarters squad vibe.'
Desert village, undersea village, and more. I slowly organized in my head which monsters to deploy where and who to keep at base.
About 40 minutes later...
Shiiiiiing— The Hyper Express returned alongside the long-term exploration team.