Tunnel

Nathan hesitated as he stood in front of the sloping tunnel's entrance after grabbing the three javelins. Since he had focused on the tank top and their surroundings, he hadn't probed deeper into the tunnel.

But now that he was free to do so, he could tell that it was dangerous down there. He couldn't grasp any details. He could, however, feel an alarming degree of power accumulated. It was too vague for him to guess anything.

Nathan tried extending his senses even deeper into the tunnel. But it stretched further into the ground than he expected.

'Well, what's the worst that could happen, right?'

Nathan entered the tunnel with the javelins in hand.

He didn't dare to relax his senses. But it took a long time to walk through the tunnel, so he started getting a little worried when he finally arrived at the end of the slop.

The tunnel itself was wide enough for large vans to pass through with ease, even if it was dug straight through the ground, dirt, and stone. But it opened up even wider as the path leveled out.

Nathan stopped walking as he inspected the large metal sliding doors like the gate of a hangar blocking his path.

"Nota? Was there something going on up there?"

The lighting in the tunnel was bad to begin with. So, when Nathan hid to the side in the shadows, it was only natural that the guards in front of the gate assumed he was the tank top from his silhouette.

"Nope."

Nathan answered nonchalantly and threw the javelin in his hand before they could react. Nota's and Nathan's voices were very different, after all.

The first guard took the spear to the throat and flew back into the gate behind him. The other guard instantly reached for the walkie-talkie by his waist. Unfortunately, Nathan's second javelin pierced through the walkie-talkie and transformed it into a pile of shards of plastic and electronics.

Nathan stalked closer to the guard, who raised a baton and faced Nathan.

However, if Nota, the javelin-throwing tank top wasn't a match for Nathan, neither would the two ordinary guards be, especially when one of them was dead already.

Nathan used the remaining javelin to smack the baton out of the guard's hand. He pointed at the guard's scared face with it.

"If you answer my questions, I will let you live."

The guard gulped audibly and raised his hand. In front of an awakener, whether they be a hero or villain, he didn't stand a chance. And against a guy who threw javelins with enough force to lift and carry his comrade into the wall, lodging him there, the guard decided to surrender.

"I-I'm just a guard! I only inform the people on the other side when someone comes so they can open the door. I don't know anything."

"So, you're useless."

"N-no! Please spare—!"

A javelin to the throat interrupted the guard's plea for mercy, and he coughed up blood before collapsing to the ground in a pool of his own blood when Nathan pulled out the weapon.

Nathan picked up his javelins again as well as the walkie-talkie from the other guard.

He looked at the walkie-talkie in his hand with a frown. He wanted to get inside. But the only way to do that would be to ask them to open up. If they did open up, it would be to welcome him inside and kill him.

If it had been before his regression, he would have done it without hesitation since he was curious and looking forward to some excitement. But Nathan didn't want to throw his life away that easily when he still had things and people to live for this time around.

However, he hadn't heard or noticed anything about this underground hangar or whatever it was in his past life. Even after killing what he thought was the entire Vijang Syndicate, Nathan hadn't heard a peep about what they were doing underground.

It could be unrelated to their activities on the surface. But Nathan's instincts told him it was related.

It was more likely that he just hadn't been in a state to listen or care about anything but murderous revenge back then.

Nathan thought it would be easy to get rid of the Vijang Syndicate when he first regressed. He just needed to find and kill an organized group of thugs. But the more he saw and experienced after regressing, the more he found out that the Vijang Syndicate and what he knew of them was just the surface.

He could find the reason to why they razed Avalio to the ground behind the metal gate.

'Fuck it.'

Nathan decided to take a risk. He pressed the button on the walkie-talkie.

"Hey, guys, were we expecting anyone this late? Or is it early?"

"Jim, are you coming down with a cold or something? And no. No one's supposed to come anytime soon. Why?"

"There's this guy in a black sedan telling me to open the gates. He's got a mean glare. I mean, he's got sunglasses, even in the dark, so I can't see his face. But it feels like he's someone I shouldn't piss off."

"I can check. Hold for a minute."

The line went silent for a few moments.

"I'm opening up."

Immediately afterward, the metal gates whirred into action with a mechanical hum as they parted and slid open. As soon as they did, Nathan sharpened his senses and spread them into what he thought would be a hangar or underground facility of some kind.

However, he was shocked by the information that flooded him.

Light spilled out in a flood.

Sounds of all kinds of activities also escaped when the surprisingly noise-cancelling gates opened.

But what surprised Nathan the most was the size of the space on the other side.

It wasn't just a hangar. It was an underground space that stretched beyond his senses. That meant it was wider than a few blocks.

Nathan could sense all kids of machines, vehicles, supplies, and munitions within.

Nathan took in as much information as possible during the first second of the gate's opening. His mind breezed through the information so that he could make a decision or dodge an ambush if he had to.

After that second was up, he turned around and ran as fast as his legs could carry him.