Souta continued to observe the beautiful Mirror Lake. He looked at the sky and realized that it was getting dark. His dark attribute skills would rise sharply at night so he was glad that they were going to Mirror Lake at night.
But... The underground labyrinth at Mirror Lake was the headquarters of the Red Matter Association.
According to the report, the underground labyrinth was a den of several fourth stage monsters before, but the Red Matter cleared all those monsters and stayed in that place.
Souta shook his head as he turned around. He checked his equipment and every warrior did the same thing.
The time of battle was slowly approaching.
A few minutes later, a commotion occurred at the camp of the Chief Captain.
A lot of high-level warriors were gathering at the front.
Souta and the Blue Cross Squad had no idea about what was happening.
"The scouts had returned!" Leilus muttered.
"What did they discover in the Mirror Lake?" Souta asked.
"I don't know but it seems to be a bad news." Leilus shrugged his shoulders.
"There's a lot of uncertainty in this mission. I don't know what news we would receive soon." Souta muttered.
"I have a bad feeling about this." Drami muttered with a face full of worry.
"It's going to be fine," Marcus said as he held her hand.
Chief Captain Vandal came out of his camp. He assembled all the warriors as he was going to announce an important thing to them.
"Warriors!!"
Vandal's voice was coarse. Everyone could feel that he was tired.
Then, he slowly explained his plan and the things that the scout found in Mirror Lake.
The announcement shook the entire group of warriors. They didn't expect this at all. No one knew that it was coming.
In the underground labyrinth of the Mirror Lake lies a giant city, no, it was better to call it a country. The scout estimated that it had a population of more than fifty million people.
A subterranean country.
According to their guess, the citizens of this country didn't even know the Red Matter Association. In short, most of them were innocent people.
They were all hostages of the Red Matter without them knowing anything.
More than fifty million people... That's a lot. Most of the warriors knew that they couldn't handle the guilt of killing those people. Maybe, they would go insane and wouldn't be able to live a normal life after this.
"How?" was the question in Souta's mind.
The report before clearly said that the underground labyrinth was a den of several fourth stage monsters.
How did it become a place that could house fifty million plus people?
'Fuck! I think I would go insane from all this shit! My mind is slowly turning blank... I need to calm down and control my urges.' Souta said inwardly.
"I'll divide us into several groups! Some of us will stay on the surface while the rest will head underground! We'll take out the roots of the Red Matter Association no matter what!"
Vandal said in a loud voice. His determination could be felt in his words. He was resolute.
"Prepare your mind! Prepare for the worst! We are Warriors of Athena!!"
"Glory for Goddess Athena!!"
...
Souta and the Blue Cross Squad were assigned to the warriors that will head underground.
Most of the warriors that could fight were assigned this way. The only warriors that will stay on the surface were those that received injuries in the battle previously. While resting, they will guard the entrance of the labyrinth.
An hour had passed and people from the Fourth Set had arrived. They talked with the Chief Captain and Vandal arranged all of them.
They will fight alongside the Third Set.
Also, people from the other grain had slowly arrived. Most of their conditions were worse than the Tenth Grain War. According to them, a [Titanous Victor Golem] was activated right in front of their eyes. The War Golem took the lives of dozen warriors instantly. If not for their Grain Leader, they wouldn't be able to fight back.
It was a total destruction on their sides.
The Tenth Grain War was lucky that the activation of War Golem was prevented.
An hour had passed quickly and it was already dark. Everything was arranged so it was time to start the mission.
Souta and the Blue Cross Squad followed everyone.
They headed towards Mirror Lake.
"We're here." One of the scouts said.
"The entrance?" Vandal asked.
"Beneath the lake, Chief Captain." The scout answered politely.
"I see..." Vandal nodded. "Everyone! Follow me!"
Vandal jumped on the lake and the warriors followed him one by one. Their energy level scared the low-level monsters living in the lake. Most of them were at Shackled Realm so it shook the core of the monsters that were living here.
Hundreds of Shackled Realm experts were a terrifying lineup.
There was a small hole beneath the lake. The water in the lake strangely didn't even go inside this hole. It was the effect of the runes carved around it.
Vandal and the rest went inside this hole. This hole was a passage that will lead them to the so-called subterranean country. Some of them were looking forward to it and some of them weren't. After all, they all knew what will happen to the innocent people once the Third Set collided with Red Matter.
Unnecessary deaths will occur. That's the truth that they couldn't escape.
"Is there really a country in this place?" Leilus muttered.
"It looks like a dungeon..." Souta looked around.
He realized that the report that this place was once a den of monsters must be true. Maybe, there's another passage here that the monsters didn't know about and that passage was discovered by Red Matter.
This leads them to a far more spacious place that could house fifty million people.
The group explored the place for half an hour. It was like a maze. Fortunately, the scouts had memorized this place. So the time was shorter when the scouts were still trying to find the passage here.
Beyond this dungeon was the place that they were trying to find.
The subterranean country.
A country built beneath the surface.
The group slowly came out of the passage and what appeared before their eyes was a spacious place. It was beyond their imagination. They didn't expect anything like this.
"Whoa!!"
The sound of exclamations came out from the mouths of the warriors. They were surprised and shocked at the same time.
Souta was the only one who wasn't surprised. He saw dozens of subterranean countries before and those places were larger than this one.
Approximately, the distance between the surface and the floor was a hundred thousand feet.
This place was like a whole new world.
There was even a forest, lake, river, mountains, and hills. Near the ceiling, clouds were floating around slowly.
It has its own ecosystem.
In the middle of this land was a huge city filled with countless structures.
"Damn, it feels like I'm in a sub-world once again. The only difference is that the mana density here is higher."
One of the warriors exclaimed.
What the warrior was saying was true? This literally feels like they were in a sub-world.
But Souta's focus was on different things. His eyes were looking at the walls. The walls were full of ancient runes. And it was still active.
"I will look at it closely next time."
Souta shook his head and he turned his attention to the warriors around him. He wondered how they were going to approach this country.
Did this country know the existence of the surface or not? What's their attitude about the people on the surface?
He was looking forward to it.
...
The leader of the Red Matter Association, Avron Hallsmein, was leaning on a soft chair. A book was on top of his face and a bottle of wine was scattered on the table.
Suddenly, the door of his room opened.
A tall man with a scar on his face entered. He looked at Avron and said, "Master, they've stepped on the land."
This man was one of the twelve executives of the Red Matter Association.
The book fell on the ground and Avron glanced at the executive.
"Let Shiela deal with them... I'm sure that those people didn't know our place, right?" He asked.
"Yes, master. They didn't know anything about it. That place is only the outer land of the entire subterranean land." The executive answered.
"Then, it's good."
Avron nodded and he picked up a bottle of wine on the table. He removed the cap and drank the wine.
"Vandal... It's been a few years... Yet, you're still trying to stop me. Out of all people, I thought that you are the one who was going to understand me."
Avron narrowed his eyes as he turned to the executive.
"You can go now. It's Vandal we are talking about here. It's not easy to take him down. We'll use everything we've got."
