Chapter 621: Weight Before Thunder

The freight carriage struck the bedrock terminus, and Loccy braced its handrail before the team stepped into the loading terminal.

Before them stretched the vast subterranean loading terminal of the storm viaduct, carved directly from the living mountain core.

Twin tracks ran along a raised gallery where dozens of freight wagons stood coupled to a colossal mechanical conveyor.

Ferra tapped a bronze test probe against the nearest rail tie, listening intently to the acoustic feedback in the metal.

"This entire southern section is fractured at the primary junction," the smith warned, pointing her wrench toward a sheared bracket.

"If anyone applies sudden torque to this loading bed, the carriage snaps and crushes the lower gallery into dust."

Loccy crouched down, placing her bare palms against the vibrating beam to gauge its structural resonance.

"The fracture runs along the left bolt sleeve," she observed, feeling the hairline fissure beneath her calloused fingertips.

"I am not taking the burden through a broken joint that splits the second I lock my posture."

"We need a solid support beam before we can brace the civilian evacuation route," Ferra agreed, stepping back toward the shaft.

"Wait... listen to that echo coming down the tunnel," Loccy whispered, raising an ear toward the dark gallery.

Deep mechanical vibrations shuddered through the granite gallery in steady, resonant thuds from the eastern corridor.

Coordinated blows struck against the tracks from the eastern gallery, sending violent tremors rattling through the rails.

A towering figure clad in spiked plate armor strode into the illumination of the lanterns, brandishing a two-handed warhammer.

Behind him marched a dozen auxiliary engineers, their sledgehammers striking the rails in steady patterns to amplify the vibrations.

"Well now, what foolish rats crawled down our private elevator shaft?" the armored captain boomed with a guttural laugh.

"I am Dorrak, master of the viaduct loading rails, and nobody touches this machinery without my authorization!"

"You talk too much for a man with sloppy mechanical joints," Loccy shouted back, resting her hands on her hips.

"Your conveyor bracket has a three-inch fissure, and your rail alignment is crooked by half an inch!"

"Insolent brat!" Dorrak roared, his face contorting with rage as he raised his warhammer toward the vaulted roof.

"Let us see how much your spine bends when sixty tons of mountain rock comes crashing down on your head!"

He slammed the warhammer onto the rail bed, sending a concussive shockwave rippling through the structural ironwork.

The sheared bracket shrieked under the violent impulse, snapping several retaining bolts as the entire elevated loading bed tilted dangerously.

Down in the lower gallery, twenty civilian haulers cried out in terror as the collapsing framework threatened to bury them alive.

"Clear the pit—move, move, move!" Hajin commanded from the rear, drawing his twin blades to intercept the auxiliary engineers.

"Taren, guide those workers toward the secondary elevator shaft before the ceiling collapses!"

Loccy did not hesitate for a single second, leaping forward onto the buckling foundation with unyielding rabbit resolve.

She drove her feet deep into the ballast, positioning her shoulders directly underneath the sagging iron carriage.

[ Trait activation: Stationary Worldbearer ]

[ Foundation anchor engaged: Absolute mass transfer online ]

[ Structural load bearing: Sixty-four tons neutralized ]

The colossal descent halted with a deafening screech of stressed metal, frozen entirely in place by her unyielding grip.

Her leg muscles bunched like thick cables, and her teeth clenched as the immense burden pressed against her shoulders.

Yet she did not tremble, and her feet remained anchored to the bedrock as if rooted into the world itself.

Dorrak stopped in his tracks, his eyes widening in utter disbelief as he watched a single girl hold the entire conveyor.

"What kind of demonic abomination are you?" the hammer captain gasped, gripping his weapon with trembling knuckles.

"Just a girl who hates watching honest workers get crushed by shoddy engineering!" she snarled back through gritted teeth.

She kept her gaze locked onto Dorrak’s stance, noting how his weight shifted onto his right heel before each hammer swing.

’He relies on leverage and momentum from the rails to build his concussive strikes,’ she analyzed with keen tactical insight.

’The moment he leaves the tracks, his balance crumbles like wet sand.’

Below her braced posture, the last civilian hauler scrambled safely out of the collapse zone into the reinforced side tunnel.

"The pit is completely clear, Loccy!" Taren yelled from the entrance, waving his sword to signal the all-clear.

"Ferra, get that auxiliary jack into position right now!" she called out, her voice remarkably steady despite the crushing burden.

Ferra slid a screw jack beneath the carriage crossbeam, rapidly cranking the handle until the threads locked tight.

"Jack is secure!" the smith announced, stepping back and wiping sweat from her brow.

"Transfer the load on three... two... one!"

Loccy smoothly shifted her shoulders, transferring sixty tons of deadweight onto the mechanical jack with effortless grace.

She rolled her shoulders, shaking out the tension in her arms as she turned to face the stunned hammer captain.

"Civilian lives are safe," she said with a fierce, predatory grin, stepping onto the loading rails under her own power.

"Now it is just you, me, and your crooked hammer!"

"You will die on these rails, girl!" Dorrak yelled, swinging his glowing hammer in a sweeping horizontal arc.

"Try to hit me first, you oversized tin can!" she shouted back, ducking beneath the whistling head of the weapon.

The warhammer smashed violently into an empty ore cart, shredding the wooden panels into splinters with an ear-splitting boom.

"Watch the hydraulic lines on the left wall!" Ferra shouted from behind the support jack, waving her wrench urgently.

"If he ruptures that high-pressure line, boiling steam will flood the entire gallery!"

"I will keep him pinned to the center rails," Loccy called back, dropping into a low, agile combat stance.

"He will not get anywhere near your pipes, so finish securing the civilian corridor!"

High above the subterranean vault, the celestial stream broadcast exploded with deafening cheers and a deluge of golden superchats.

[ Seoul_Tactician: "LOCCY ABSOLUTE POWERHOUSE! She caught sixty tons of falling machinery with her bare shoulders!" ]

[ StarlightScholar: "Stationary Worldbearer is the coolest defensive trait in the entire stream, bar none!" ]

[ IronVanguard: "Look at Dorrak’s face, the man looks like he just saw a goddess descend from heaven!" ]

[ HearthKeeper: "Dorrak keeps taunting her from the rails. Loccy, please show him who built this road!" ]

[ ShadowMage44: "Loccy holding the entire world on her back while Hajin and Taren clear civilians, peak teamwork!" ]

From behind the support jack, the summoner caught Loccy’s eye and pointed toward Dorrak’s exposed hammer arm.

"Incredible catch," Hajin called, keeping safely clear of the captain’s next swing.

"Keep him off Ferra’s hydraulic line, and the honey buns are yours."

"It was nothing... barely a warmup," she answered, her rabbit ears lifting at the promise of a pastry.

"Just make sure I get to crack that noisy captain’s armor into scrap metal before lunchtime!"

"The entire rail is yours," he called, stepping back behind Ferra’s support jack.

Dorrak raised his glowing warhammer once more, channeling furious concussive force through the iron head as he prepared his ultimate strike.

"He favors that wall for the pipe," Ferra warned, pointing her wrench at Dorrak’s left shoulder.

Loccy shifted to cut off his angle, forcing his next swing toward the empty rail instead of the pressure line.

The confrontation on the viaduct loading rails reached its boiling point, and the thunder of combat was about to erupt.