The next morning, at the work site where the repair team had arrived the day before.
"Stop! Brake that fucking winch!!"
The instant the furious shout rang out, the steel cable, as thick as a child's arm, snapped taut with a piercing, string-like twang!
The enormous wreck wedged deep in the collapsed wall had barely been dragged half a foot outward when a series of bone-chilling cracks erupted from the rock above the lintel!
Crack!!
A vicious fissure raced like a snake along the massive load-bearing beam overhead, sending gray-white stone dust pouring down like rain!
[Anemia]'s pupils contracted. Without a moment to think, he grabbed the Hepa Apprentice beside him by the back of his collar and hauled him out from under the falling rubble with one arm, shielding him as they retreated to a rock wall three meters away!
"Fall back! Shore up the beam!! Hurry!!"
The craftsman operating the winch broke into a cold sweat and immediately stomped the pneumatic brake flat!
Two burly mechanics in heavy gear snatched up a pair of heavy hydraulic supports and lunged forward. Their alloy bases slammed into cracks in the rock, and with a shrill pneumatic roar, the supports extended section by section until they locked tight, forcibly bracing the immense stone mass as it continued to sink and crumble!
Rumble!
Several head-sized rocks smashed against the alloy crossbeam, throwing sparks and ringing out with terrifying clangs.
[Anemia] leaned against the rock wall, panting hard, his back teeth clenched until they hurt.
He had only brought the repair team here yesterday. If the accompanying apprentice got crushed to death by the clearance crew today, their reputation would be fucking ruined!
Yet the Hepa Apprentice, his face covered in stone dust, did not even brush the dirt off himself.
He planted