Amid this crumbling complex of buildings, a group of burly men, filthy and dust-covered, crawled with difficulty through the underground pipes. Their faces and bodies were smeared with foul-smelling sludge, as though they had just been through a brutal battle.
Shino was the first to crawl out of the underground pipe. After carefully checking the surrounding area and confirming there was no danger nearby, he called to the others still inside the pipe:
"Come out! It's safe outside."
After saying that, he lay directly on the ground, his eyes staring blankly at the sky obscured by heavy clouds as he recalled the hardships of their journey.
Shino no longer had the resolute bearing he had possessed when he first left the underground fortress. His face now bore only the marks of hardship and weathering.
Who could have imagined how long a detour they had taken? Every passage Shino knew of had been buried beneath collapsed rubble and dirt.
They had no choice but to keep searching for new routes. Even Shino himself had nearly lost his way in that complicated underground maze. Fortunately, they had ultimately managed to leave the underground pipes.
After receiving Shino's signal, the remaining members of the elite squad crawled out of the underground pipe one after another, their expressions grim as they kept watch over their surroundings.
"Lord Shino, without your guidance, we probably never would have escaped this underground passage," a bounty hunter said with an ugly expression.
"It would be more accurate to say that you suffered because you followed me," Shino said with a bitter smile.
"Lord Shino, without your guidance, all of us would have died at the hands of those terrifying Orks long ago. Please don't say that."
The bounty hunter hurriedly tried to comfort him.
"Lord Shino, this isn't