Entertaining a Small Thought

3rd Arc Part 10: Wild Adventures and Magical Insight

"Rin! There you are! You gonna go to tunnel now?" Gonta asked me as I entered the boiler room.

"Yep. I'm all set, big guy." I nodded. "If you don't mind, I'll be heading down there now."

"Okay. Gonta come down too in case friend Rin get hurt."

I couldn't help but smile and Gonta's pure response.

"I appreciate it. I'm sure I'll be fine, but it would be nice for you to be there just in case I do get hurt. Let's head down."

With that, Gonta and I headed down the ladder to the underground passage. Once we were down the ladder, we were greeted with the familiar tunnel entrance. I don't know about Gonta, but the tunnel was giving me bad memories. A feeling of dread still lingered here after our first day of attempting it. I can still feel the despair and pain that was created here.

"You sure 'bout this, Rin?" Gonta asked me in a nervous voice.

"Yeah. If this works, we can all escape and go home. So...here's to hoping." I said as I walked through the tunnel's entrance by myself.

After walking a fair distance and opening up the first gate, I was greeted with the old, familiar passageway that was not at all like what it appeared to be. That's when I took out my Electro Hammer and extended it for proper use. These traps here should be powered by electricity, right? One swing, and it should disable them for a short while if I'm thinking about this correctly. I took a deep breath and began my attempt at the Road to Despair by myself, armed with my single Electro Hammer.

As soon as I reached where I knew the first trap was, the fake floor trap, I cautiously approached it before I hit the floor with the Electro Hammer, creating a humming sound when it made contact. After that, I put away the Electro Hammer just in case something happened and slowly walked over the fake floor. Usually, it would give way and drop anyone on it into the waters below, but this time, it didn't do anything.

As soon as I realized that, I couldn't help but smile widely. It does work! With this, we can finally escape! I took out the Electro Hammer once again and began blazing through the tunnel, a new feeling of confidence and determination flowing through me. I can do this! I can help free everyone! Those were the thoughts that fueled me as I hit all the traps in my way with my hammer, disabling them completely.

After what felt like a few minutes, I finally got to the end of the tunnel. I couldn't believe it. There was an end to the tunnel, and at that end, there was an exit. It was an extravagant one, too. It looked like a large metal door that looked like it belonged to a vault from a sci-fi movie. The door was also surging with electrical energy, which meant I couldn't even touch it at the moment.

I then noticed a card scanner near the door. That was probably what was supposed to be used to open the door. I smirked. Like I need a card when I have the Electro Hammer. If it's electrically powered, all I need to do is hit it. So, with the hammer in hand, I walked over to the exit and bashed it with the hammer.

I expected all the electricity to power down and the door to open, but nothing occurred after I hit it with the hammer. I made a noise of confusion as I stared at the door. Maybe I have to hit the card reader? I walked over to the card reader and hit it with the hammer, but again, nothing happened. The door was still defended by electricity surging through the metal, as well as the door remaining closed and locked.

"The Electro Hammers...don't work on this exit?" I muttered, slight horror in my voice.

Is the hammer not strong enough to shut this stuff off, or is it a lack of power? The tunnel did drain a lot of power from the hammer. Or...do I need that key card before we can leave? Is the key necessary?