The one-way passage from Inner Earth to Outer Earth, in the outer region of the Lava Waterfall.
This bizarre area was vividly known as the Great Steel Mill. Self-propelled machinery and Clay Figures rolled "off the production line" in fits and starts, heading toward the Forward Base in the deeper core region.
They had already reached this area. If they kept going and broke into a full sprint for a few minutes, they could reach the Forward Base. Even if they did not want to linger in that bizarre place that fleeced everyone who passed through, another burst of effort—ten minutes at most—would get them across.
Yet at this moment, Koni hesitated. Standing beneath a metal support frame on relatively high ground, he looked down at the scattered mixed force below and remained motionless for a long time.
Behind and to one side of him, Yates, an Inner Earth Transcendental Species who had happened to join him on the return trip, curled his lip. He quickly concealed it by brushing dust and ash from his face, then asked:
"Why have we stopped?"
"This damn place is too unsettling. I need to think it over."
"If it unsettles you, why not go somewhere else?"
Yates was a short white man. He and Koni made quite a contrast, one white and one black, one stocky and one lean. His face was unkempt, his beard scruffy, and he looked like a homeless man who could collapse onto the street at any moment. That appearance was somewhat deceptive, making it difficult to imagine that he was a Transcendental Species of the Physical Aspect.
In fact, among the Inner Earth Transcendental Species, he was considered one of the more senior members. He had joined only slightly later than Blood Demon and Mountain Lord, yet he