An upright air conditioner stood in the meeting hall of the Ancient Labyrinth, humming away as it swept through the oppressive August heat, just like the refrigerator against the living room wall.
Both were products of the human world that Shizuku had brought here from Greed Island with Evil Tenderfoot. Their power, naturally, came from the electricity generated by Manless Stone.
Cool breezes, colorful shaved ice, ice cream, popsicles, sodas in all sorts of flavors...
At last, those who had stayed behind in the Ancient Labyrinth could enjoy the conveniences of human society once again.
The inhabitants of the Dark Continent had their own convenient ways of getting through the hot weather.
But their bodies were different from humans', and so were their ways of cooling down. In the end, the two sides couldn't understand each other.
It had been two days since Gelman and Shizuku returned.
Their return had broken the somewhat calm, unhurried pace of life in the Ancient Labyrinth. The station team was back on high alert.
Everyone had gathered in the meeting hall that day, and Gelman opened the discussion.
"Two kinds of Disaster and Hope remain, and the colonization fleet is closing in on the Dark Continent. Things could get complicated. We can't just sit around and wait."
Gelman set his tricorn hat on the edge of the round table.
"First, we need to settle two things before we can take on the next Disaster and Hope."
Ging, Biscuit, Shizuku, Knuckle, Menchi, Shubika, and Buhara were the other members of the meeting.
Everyone except Ging, who had folded his arms and lowered his head to study the grain of the table, turned their attention to Gelman.
"First, we'll reduce the next Exploration Team to four members. The other four will stay behind at the Ancient