It wasn’t a nuisance to move around since Noah was wearing a miner’s clothes instead of a dress that reached her ankles. When she got off the train and hurried to Kyle’s side, he shook the lock on the closed iron door and gestured not toe closer.


    “Why?”


    Instead of answering, he took the revolver that was hidden within his clothes. A faint gunshot rang, the revolver’s muzzle shing red.


    The lock of the iron door, neatly prated by the bullet, plummeted to the ground. Since the silencer could notpletely eliminate the sound of gunshot, Noah nced above the mine, fearful that anyone might have heard the noise. Fortunately, there seemed to be no one who noticed.


    Kyle, who had roughly pushed the shrapnel of the broken lock away, pushed the heavy gate. The interior of the dark, enclosed workshop slowly emerged.


    Noah was about to poke her head into the open door, but Kyle grabbed her by the shoulder, pulling her back. “Don’t go anywhere carelessly. This is a mine that swallowed fifty-four professional miners. It’s dangerous.”


    “We have Mu, so what’s there to worry about?”


    “I’m worried about you. Step back.”


    Noah was forced to withdraw a few steps behind, and Muell, who was holding onto her leg, snooping around, jumped inside in her ce. The little boy flung his hands into the air, and thenterns hung along the walls lit one after another, revealingpletely the interior of the workshop.


    “Wow, it’s really big.”


    Big… big… big…


    Her voice echoed throughout the massive space. The ceiling was arched at a height of about three stories, and uneven rocks surrounded it everywhere. On the floor, which was padded with steel nks, miners’ pickaxes and five or six mana detection rods rolled around at random. Severaldders were suspended on the wall, and the chalk marks at the end of eachdder seemed to indicate the location where the Mane Ore was detected.


    Noah circled around the workshop, searching for a pathway besides the entrance. “There is nothing particrly suspicious, sir.” The workshop was apletely enclosed space, which was created by digging from the outside to the inside, so there was only as much space as excavated. “There’s no way out here to steal the ore,” she mumbled. It didn’t seem like it was a ce where not only the magical ore but also miners would disappear en masse. There were no traces of fighting, nor bloodstains, nor the victims’ belongings. However, Kyle thought differently.


    “Why is there no passage? It could only mean one thing.”


    “What?” Noah looked back at him in question. Unlike her, who had been constantly looking at the inner walls of the mine, Kyle was crouching on the ground. His eyes scoured the floor of the steel-structured workshop.


    “Not one or two, but fifty-four people disappeared in groups. There is only one entrance, as Miss Noah said. Then, there’s only one ce to disappear.” Kyle’s hand stroked a part on the floor, and immediately aimed his revolver downwards. Four shots rang continuously, and the steel nk tilted with a squeak. Kyle kicked the nk with his foot, and the board fell to the bottom.


    Plop.


    “Ah…”


    It was only after Noah heard the sound of water that she realized where they were right now, and what Kyle meant when he said there was only one ce to disappear to. The lowest floor of the Maobiana mine wasn’t an ordinary mining area simr to the workshop upstairs. The bottommost of the mine faced theke and resembled a huge offshore cave.


    Underneath, theke gleamed emerald, and after the artificial floor, made out of steel nks, was created, the topmost wall was excavated to mimic a massive cave. Kyle was right. If there was no other passage allowing the miners to suddenly vanish, there was only one way.


    Under theke.


    “Thiske is not made of rainwater. Digging through a ce where arge amount of Mane Ore was detected revealed a hugeke hidden underground. In other words, no one knows how deep thiske is. Even the owner of the mine said he had never measured the depth of theke. If so, it is not unreasonable to assume that there is a passage down there.”


    The rumor that a monster was living under theke didn’t emerge out of nowhere. Suddenly, Noah remembered a horror movie that she had seen a long time ago. It was a movie about gruesome sharks that came ashore, dragging humans under the sea. Perhaps the same thing happened to the bodies that drowned to the bottom of theke…


    “Miss Noah.” A calm voice interrupted her thoughts, putting an end to her worst imaginations. “Can you swim?” Kyle asked. He was so casual that it sounded like he was saying, ‘How would you like bacon toast for breakfast?’