Chapter 97 A Door for the Workers

The metallic clang of descending bulkheads echoed through sub-level four, accompanied by the desperate shouts of trapped miners. Acrid smoke and steam poured from ruptured overhead flues, turning the main extraction junction into a blinding maze of heat and shadows.

Ren dropped through the shattered ventilation ceiling, unfurling the spectral wings of his Night Moth mask to glide silently over the guards.

[ Equipped mask: Night Moth | Source rank: D ]

[ Personal rank: C | Agility: 56 | Perception: 55 | Phantom Wings Active ]

He touched down behind the two crossbow sentries on the upper catwalk, sweeping his sheath in a swift horizontal arc that disarmed both men instantly.

Before the disarmed guards could shout a warning, Ren shifted his stance and drove the flat of his shield into their chests, knocking them unconscious against the handrails. He retracted the phantom wings smoothly, landing on the lower platform without making a single sound.

Below the catwalk, Akane drove her magnetic cutters into the primary hydraulic line of the closing bulkhead door with a shower of blue sparks.

"The hydraulic piston is severed, but the mechanical counterweights are still pulling the gate downward!" Akane shouted over the roar of escaping steam. "I need four seconds to wedge the magnetic guide pins beneath the lower threshold!"

Ren leaped from the catwalk to the lower floor, drawing his hooked sword as four armed company enforcers charged forward with raised batons.

"Step back from that portal if you value your lives!" Ren commanded in a voice of unyielding authority, locking his shield into a braced defensive stance. "Under registered guild clearance law, these workers are under official hunter protection!"

The lead mercenary sneered, lunging forward with a vicious downward strike aimed directly at Ren's collarbone.

Ren parried the blow with the rim of his reinforced shield, channeling his unmasked core strength into an immediate counter-thrust with the flat of his blade. The concussive impact sent the mercenary crashing backward into a stack of ore crates, disarming him before his squad mates could react.

Tapping his Firecrest Salamander mask, Ren projected a controlled curtain of low-intensity flame across the floor between the guards and the workers.

[ Equipped mask: Firecrest Salamander | Source rank: C ]

[ Personal rank: C | Core Reserves: 95% | Controlled Thermal Barrier Active ]

The wall of bright crimson fire established an impassable barrier that forced the remaining guards to retreat, completely cutting off their access to the escaping miners.

Ren carefully contained the flame output, keeping the thermal blast low to avoid generating suffocating smoke near the wounded laborers. His precise temperature control prevented the wooden support beams from catching fire, maintaining structural integrity across the entire junction.

The second squad of company guards attempted to flank around the eastern ore bins, leveling their loaded repeating crossbows at the defenseless stretcher line.

Ren swept his left arm forward, sending a concentrated wave of heat distortion that warped the crossbow strings and rendered the weapons instantly useless. The frustrated mercenaries dropped their ruined crossbows on the ballast, retreating behind the safety of the reinforced blast pillars.

The veteran miner on the wrong side of the gate threw his shoulder against the iron grating, shouting frantic directions to his trapped crew.

"The bypass lever is jammed on our side by bent reinforcement rods!" the old miner yelled through the rising smoke. "Do not let the counterweights drop or forty tons of ceiling slag will crush the medical exit!"

"The magnetic guide pins are locked into the foundation seam!" Akane shouted back, hammering the final bronze wedge into the threshold with her spanner. "The opening is secure—get your men through the breach immediately!"

Behind the fireline, Yui organized the evacuation with serene, unwavering efficiency, directing the uninjured miners to carry the burned workers on wooden stretchers.

"Take the western ventilation drift straight to the surface staging camp!" Yui instructed calmly, applying burn paste to a laborer's scorched shoulder. "Do not stop for dropped tools or personal belongings—move quickly and steadily!"

The rescued miners scrambled through the eighteen-inch gap secured by Akane's magnetic wedges, their eyes wide with profound gratitude.

Two veteran teamsters helped carry an unconscious apprentice whose legs were trapped under an ore cart before Ren's arrival. Yui quickly checked the apprentice's breathing, administering a dose of revitalizing mint tincture before clearing the stretcher through the portal.

Ren reached into his leather coat, retrieving twelve silver coins and pressing them into the hands of an uninjured senior teamster.

"Twelve silver pieces for emergency wagon transport and medical supplies from the upper depot..." Ren said in a low, firm voice. "Ensure every injured worker reaches the municipal clinic in Suzuhara without delay!"

[ Personal Cash: 210 Silver | Emergency Transport Funds Dispatched ]

The teamster nodded with fierce determination, securing the silver in his belt as he helped guide the last stretcher through the narrow opening.

"We will get every man to safety and ensure the city magistrates receive a full report of this betrayal!" the teamster vowed, leading the medical train up the escape shaft. "Your courage today saved thirty families from being buried alive in this mountain!"

Akane tightened the locking clamps on her magnetic wedges, ensuring the four-ton bulkhead door could not drop another millimeter.

"The escape portal is permanently stabilized against fifty tons of overhead pressure!" Akane announced, wiping sweat and machine oil from her brow. "Every single laborer from the extraction shift is safely across the threshold!"

Ren extinguished the thermal barrier with a sharp clench of his fist, the flames dissipating into wisps of harmless steam.

The company guards stood frozen on the opposite side of the corridor, unwilling to test their steel against a hunter who commanded both fire and iron. They slowly lowered their weapons, backing away into the shadows of the secondary tunnels as the realization of their defeat took hold.

Shizuka moved like a silent phantom through the smoke, slipping past the disarmed sentries and entering the company dispatch office adjoining the main hall.

She kicked open the locked mahogany filing cabinet, sweeping aside forged production reports to reveal the leather-bound master dispatch register. The confidential ledger contained every internal movement order, equipment requisitions, and clandestine payment logs from the past three operating quarters.

Flipping through the ink-stained pages beneath the glow of her pocket lantern, Shizuka suddenly froze as her eyes locked upon an entry dated two weeks prior.

There, inked in familiar, rigid handwriting, was the precise tactical route notation of her fallen courier captain, marked with a false retreat path into the volcanic collapse zone. Directly beside the falsified route was the bold, stamped wax seal and signature of Foreman Gendo, officially confirming his direct complicity in the murder of the courier unit.

A cold, lethal stillness settled over Shizuka's face as she traced the inked signature with the tip of her dagger.

"I found it..." Shizuka whispered, her voice trembling with intense, vindicated fury. "The order that sent my entire team to their deaths was signed by Gendo's own hand!"

Ren stepped into the doorway of the dispatch office, his hooked blade resting at his side as he stood guard over her discovery.

"Take the original register and make a duplicate copy immediately," Ren advised softly, offering steady support in her moment of revelation. "We will ensure this proof reaches the high court in Ouka before Gendo can burn the archives."

Shizuka pressed the open ledger against her chest, her eyes flashing with unbreakable resolve as she looked toward the inner corridor.

She drew a sheet of translucent tracing paper from her vest, rapidly copying the crucial signatures and seals with waterproof charcoal ink. The duplicate record provided an essential legal safeguard, ensuring the evidence would survive even if the primary ledger was damaged in the coming battle.

"The order references an executive authorization code signed by Director Arata from the Ouka headquarters..." Shizuka pointed out, tracing the stamped administrative serial number with her pen. "Gendo was following high-level corporate directives, but his signature executed the actual ambush in the field!"

Ren examined the seal, noting the crimson diamond insignia that matched the corporate guards' breastplates.

"That reference code links the entire chain of command from the local mining pits to the executive towers in the capital," Ren observed with grim satisfaction. "When this register is presented to the Guild High Court, the Shirogane Consortium will have no legal defense!"

Akane stepped into the office doorway carrying her magnetic shears and two recovered measurement gauges from the compressor control room.

"I managed to trip the primary power breaker and lock the steam release valves open!" Akane reported, wiping soot from her forehead. "The drills on sub-level four have completely lost power, and the pressure in the central manifold is finally stabilizing!"

"The copy is sealed and verified with my personal courier insignia," Shizuka said, handing the duplicate scroll to Ren for safekeeping. "Now we make that butcher answer for every life he destroyed in these dark shafts!"

Ren secured the scroll in his inner coat pocket, feeling the cold weight of truth settling beside his sword hilt.

The evidence of corporate murder was secured, but the man who held the bloody pen was already approaching with armored footsteps through the smoke. The loud hydraulic hum of Gendo's impact gauntlet reverberated through the masonry, heralding the arrival of the ruthless B-rank tyrant.

With weapons drawn and justice at their backs, the hunters turned to face the final architect of Mount Kurotake's suffering.

The surrounding steam parted as the massive silhouette of the corrupt foreman filled the shattered doorway. Every shadow in the corridor fell away as the inevitable confrontation for the frontier's future arrived at their door.