NOVEL NEXT “Hey! Wait!!”
Seeing the girl entering the hole, he shouted in a panicked voice.
With a flustered movement, he rushed towards the hole.
However, the ground suddenly began to shake again.
He couldn’t even take a few steps before losing his balance and falling.
―Aaaah, Aaaaaaaaah!
The masses that had jumped out also suddenly began screaming.
Abruptly, they started to shake their heavy bodies vigorously.
―No, don’t throw me down there, kid!
Some parts of the tentacles that had burst out on the ground began to fall back down.
The masses moved more violently.
But it was as if they were being sucked back in by something, repeatedly being dragged down slowly.
―Why, why are you going back? I just got back, why, why, why, why?
Without even a hint of resistance.
Even after the last part that had popped out of the ground disappeared, it let out a miserable scream.
Just endlessly, endlessly.
Continuing to fall into the cold abyss.
―M-Mother
Soon, with a short word.
It emitted an intense flash that seemed to burn its two eyes――
――――――――――――――――――――――――
In no time, the dark underground was filled with bright light.
Not long after that.
Just as a shocking explosion that could burst eardrums finally reached Cooper, who was on the surface.
He felt as if the world was falling apart.
And he lost consciousness right there.
“…”
After a tremendous storm had passed.
When he had no way to tell how much time had passed, on the surface with almost nothing intact.
At last, the fainted Cooper opened his eyes again.
“…Kuh, ah.”
A wave of pain washed over him.
It was hard to distinguish whether it was due to mere fatigue or actual injuries.
The last thing he saw was the sight of the world turning upside down.
Now he couldn’t even be sure if he was alive.
“Did I survive…?”
As he looked around, a scene of devastation entered his sight.
The cracked and twisted ground, like a giant wave.
And the massive concrete debris and sharp shards of glass that covered it.
The nuclear facility he had feared so much was already completely collapsed.
Whether by coincidence or fate, they were not crushed beneath the rubble.
Despite this grim state, he was fortunately still alive.
“…”
In silence, he recalled the girl.
The small girl who walked to her death without a hint of hesitation.
She could have easily escaped, but she chose a heroic death.
Now all that remained was a single selfish and cowardly human who only thought of fleeing.
“Ultimately, she was a mystery till the very end…”
From his lips, a slightly regretful murmur escaped.
That girl, who had been odd from their first meeting.
Even though it was a short meeting, he felt an inexplicable emptiness in his heart.
“…Dammit.”
He quietly cursed.
Feeling overwhelmed by the chaotic emotions he couldn’t resolve, he let out a big sigh—
“Who doesn’t understand? Who?”
“W-Whaaaat?!”
Startled by an unexpectedly familiar voice, he let out a scream.
“What the hell are you?! How are you here?!”
Half falling back, he pointed at the girl in front of him.
The last time he had seen her, she was going down underground.
He thought for sure she had died in the explosion, and he looked at her as if seeing a ghost.
“…? Why do you sound like I’m not supposed to be here?”
But the girl, looking as she always did, stared at him with a bewildered expression, as if she didn’t understand his words.
“No, it’s because it doesn’t make sense! I totally thought you went to blow yourself up with that thing!”
“I never said I was going to die.”
“That’s not it! I mean, there’s no way you got out of there—”
He too tried to make sense of the absurd situation unfolding before him, but soon stopped speaking. Lowering his head and holding his head, he started to laugh uncontrollably out of disbelief.
“…Ha, right. Come to think of it, it was always like this.”
After a brief chuckle, he mumbled as if he didn’t care anymore.
If he thought about it, most of the things the girl did were completely inexplicable.
When she kicked open the door blocked by anomalies, and when she stopped the dropping elevator.
Wasn’t it all just nonsensical?
Yet now, with everything winding up well, he found himself questioning understanding and logic.
Somehow, whatever he was about to do just now felt utterly foolish.
“…You’re going to sleep? Here?”
“Yeah. I’m planning to sleep for about a week straight.”
“You’ll get bitten by bugs sleeping here.”
“I don’t care. I can’t move anymore.”
And more than that.
Right now, he simply had no strength left to resist the drowsiness flooding over him.
Even in this wrecked environment, he felt far more refreshed than before.
The moment he lay down flat on the ground.
He slipped into a deep sleep as if he had fainted.
“Hmm?”
Just after Cooper fell asleep.
The girl, feeling something, began to walk somewhere.
The direction of her steps led to where her companions were lying.
To Elijah, who was passed out, a somewhat familiar voice reached his ears.
With an urgent call, the girl pulled out the communication device hanging from Elijah’s ear.
She quickly put it in her own ear and spoke the name of someone on the other side.
“Ah, Oliver?”
[Entity 19? Is that you?!]
“Yeah, it’s me. Elijah fainted, so I’m taking his call.”
As soon as she spoke his name, someone on the other end of the communication device recognized her voice.
It was Oliver Smith, the chief researcher at Base 17.
[Just now, a huge shock was detected from that place! What happened? Was the launch stopped?!]
“Ah, well…”
[Hurry up and tell me! Time is of the essence!]
“Calm down. That’s stopped. It won’t be going anywhere anymore.”
After her answer, a sigh of relief could be heard from the other side of the communication device.
After entering the facility, Oliver had lost contact with them.
Time passed in tense anxiety without gaining any information.
If this communication had somehow not responded, he would have had no choice but to authorize a final containment measure.
“However… um, what should I say…”
In the meantime.
A voice that sounded slightly uneasy reached Oliver’s ears.
[…Why? Is there a problem?]
From the other side of the communication device came a tense voice again.
Although he heard that the launch had stopped, the girl’s tone carried a hint of anxiety.
In a situation like this, it was only natural for him to think something else was wrong.
“No, it’s not that there’s a problem. I’m just curious about something.”
The girl spoke calmly.
Raising her head, she glanced around.
All she saw was an utterly destroyed environment.
Finally recalling Oliver’s plea to refrain from additional destruction.
The girl briefly stared at a building that had completely caved in and then――
“…Um, do you demand compensations or something?”
Suddenly, she said something so random in a slightly timid voice.
[…What?]
From the communication device in the girl’s hands, Oliver’s voice sounded incredulous.