Chrome Shelled Regios

Chapter 6: On the polluted earth

"It" had been living inside the earth for a long time. Without moving, only ingesting pollutants from within the soiled earth, for a long time.

Maybe "It" didn't even have a sense of time; living beneath the surface without ever feeling discomfort, moving slightly between sleeping and waking to eat soil. Time was wasted away in slumber.

However, the time to awaken was approaching. Since "It" was already a Mature Form, it could survive by consuming pollutants. But it's offspring were different. Since the larvae were intolerant to pollution, they couldn't digest it.

That's why they needed unpolluted nutrition.

In order to thrive, it could no longer sleep.

With the cracking of the earth, the signal to awaken rang.

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The sound of grinding pipes echoed all over the place. The violent shaking of the floor caused Nina to lose her balance, but Layfon caught her by the arm.

For a moment, there was a sparkle on her face. Feeling that he just did something which shouldn't be done, Layfon thought of letting go of her arm. However after reconsidering it instantly, he slowly stopped.

"What...is this...?"

To overcome the sound of metallic screeching all over the place, Nina raised her voice. Otherwise, her voice wouldn't be heard by Layfon, who was standing next to her.

"It's a city-quake."

Layfon also raised his voice.

"This is...... a city-quake?"

Looks like this is the first time Nina has experienced such a thing. Layfon thought, as she looked at her surroundings with a confused face.

"At first it was shaking up and down; maybe the city took a misstep into a ravine......"

Layfon carefully checked the pattern of the shaking. At first it was shaking vertically, and then it was shaking diagonally. The bucket and brushes that were near their feet were now sliding freely along the floor.

If it took a bad step, maybe it's sliding into some kind of hole? If so, then this was the worst possible situation. A city which cannot move is perfect prey for filth monsters.

Nina, who was momentarily overwhelmed by the shaking, quickly recovered herself and shouted, "There should be an emergency call! We have to return, quickly!"

"But the floor is unstable! We can't move around yet!"

"Even so, we still have to go back!"

Nina shook off Layfon's hand and stood up, Kei running through her body. Using Internal-type Kei to enhance body movement, Nina ran between the gaps of the pipes, as if weaving them together like a needle.

"Ah, to hell with it!"

Also using Internal-type Kei, Layfon chased after Nina. Even faster then Nina, Layfon quickly moved forward, as if he was half-flying.

In front of him, Nina was running through a passageway suspended in mid-air.

"She's too reckless."

Although that was the shortest route to go to the surface, it was a risky action. At that moment, the passage was swinging left and right, as if it could collapse at any moment. As such, it wouldn't be strange if Nina, who was running with all her strength, suddenly got thrown out from the passage.

There wasn't time to use the stairs. Layfon leaped upwards, using the pipes around him as footholds. Beneath the corridor was the heart of the machinery, where the Electronic Fairy lived. While chasing after Nina, he caught Zuellni at the edge of his vision, an existence pulsating with dim light. In the form of a child, Zuellni was gazing at the deep earth with a terrified expression. She was curled up, as if she was too scared and was trying to hide somewhere narrow.