Chapter 445: Moving Back To The Mutant Village

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Elisa couldn’t really argue with him when he was already carrying her, and honestly, she didn’t mind that much.

Still, being carried in front of everyone was a little embarrassing.

Daniela noticed her expression and giggled.

"Aww, look at you two!"

"Daniela!"

"What? I didn’t say anything!"

"You’re clearly thinking something!"

"Ehehe!"

Carlos simply shook his head, while Label smiled at them.

Riven didn’t seem particularly bothered, either. He continued walking while carrying Elisa, occasionally glancing down to make sure she was comfortable.

Once underground, Elisa once more walked, but sloppily. Daniela and Riven held her arms as they helped her walk forward one step after another.

The underground passage wasn’t particularly difficult to traverse, but there were some uneven sections that required additional care. The mechanical armor was still functioning properly, although Elisa needed to concentrate more when walking over irregular surfaces.

She carefully placed one foot in front of the other, relying on the assistance of both Riven and Daniela.

"Like this?" she asked.

"Yeah, that’s good," Riven nodded.

"Try shifting your weight a little more toward your right side," Daniela suggested.

"Oh! Like this?"

"Exactly!"

Elisa smiled proudly as she managed to take another step without stumbling.

It was a little tiring, but she was enjoying herself.

And when they got closer...

"The Mutant Village is here?" wondered Carlos, seeing the underground subway station. "Oh, there’s a hole in the wall... Hm?!"

The underground station looked rather unusual.

There were old signs, abandoned tracks, and several metallic structures that seemed to have been built around the original architecture. Some of the walls had been reinforced, and there were strange cables running along the ceiling.

However, what attracted everyone’s attention was the enormous opening in one of the walls.

Countless colors, loud noises, and more echoed from the hole as they passed through it, landing in the fabled village of mutants.

And indeed, it was full of them!

The place was much larger than they had expected. There were buildings constructed from all sorts of materials, small shops, workshops, residential areas, and even several places where the inhabitants seemed to be gathering for their daily activities.

There were mutants of all kinds.

Some had insect-like bodies, others resembled enormous reptiles, and there were even some whose appearances were difficult to describe. Several of them were carrying tools, while others were working on machinery or simply chatting with their neighbors.

It was a rather lively settlement.

"Eeek! There’s really big cockroaches here...!" Daniela almost lost it, but Riven kept her from exploding.

He immediately noticed her reaction and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Calm down, Daniela. Don’t say something like that," sighed Riven, noticing the angry stares.

Several nearby mutants had turned toward them.

Some looked confused, while others seemed rather displeased by her comment. A particularly large cockroach mutant even stopped what he was doing and stared directly at Daniela.

"A-Ah, sorry?" she wondered. "S-Sorry..."

Riven sighed.

"Please be careful with your words. They’re people too."

"Y-Yeah, I know! I’m sorry!"

Carlos was amazed, his mouth wide open.

"Wow, look at all the giant bugs... I mean, people."

He immediately corrected himself, although he couldn’t help staring at the enormous insect-like inhabitants.

There were so many different appearances that it was difficult to know where to look first. Some mutants were surprisingly humanoid, while others had completely different body structures. A few even seemed to have mechanical components integrated into their bodies.

It was fascinating.

"It’s amazing, isn’t it?" Label asked. "I’ve come here before, so I know my way around! People can be really kind and nice too! So please don’t worry if they might seem a little unapproachable. They’re as kind as they can be."

Label had already visited the village on several occasions, so she was relatively familiar with its inhabitants. She knew that some of them could look intimidating, but most were perfectly reasonable people who simply wanted to live their lives.

"Is that so..." Elisa wondered, her eyes focused on the surroundings. "Huh... so much... so different from everything I’ve seen..."

She was particularly fascinated by the way the village had been constructed.

There were buildings made from recycled materials, strange machinery, and all sorts of inventions scattered throughout the settlement. Some mutants were even using tools that looked far more advanced than anything she had seen in ordinary human settlements.

It was a completely different civilization.

And yet, everyone seemed to have their own daily activities and responsibilities.

Some were working, others were shopping, and a few were simply enjoying their time together.

"It is," Riven said. "I’ve been building this world, slowly, dungeon after dungeon. I’ve still got five more on standby, but they’re going to be fused soon after, and imagine, the dungeon will become even more massive after that."

"Yeah..." she nodded. "It’s great... what you can do is just amazing, but... I’ve grown tired of saying that word at this point..."

Riven chuckled.

"It’s fine," Riven said with a kind smile. "I don’t take pride in what I do. This is a power I’ve only discovered recently. It doesn’t feel like it’s mine, but rather something given by someone else... I’ll use it as much as I can and for the best, but I know deep down... that maybe it was never mine."

"..." Elisa looked at Riven with surprise. "What do you mean?"

She hadn’t expected him to say something like that.

Riven had always been rather casual about his abilities, often using them to create things or solve problems without giving them much thought. However, she could tell that there was something more behind his words.

He didn’t seem particularly proud of his power.

If anything, he seemed somewhat uncertain about it.

"Nothing, don’t worry," Riven smiled warmly. "Let’s go."

Elisa continued looking at him for a moment, but eventually nodded.

She didn’t want to force him to talk about something he clearly wasn’t ready to explain.

Besides, there were more important things to do right now.

She wanted to meet the people who had helped create her new armor.

Riven entered with Elisa and everyone else, and met Solder not long after.

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