"The Ruins disappeared?"
Vanessa looked at the others in some confusion.
What did they mean? She had only just come out of the Ruins. How could they have disappeared?
Suddenly, Vanessa thought of Eleanor.
After Eleanor escaped from the Ruins, Director Randall had led a team back there.
But no matter how they searched, they had never found those Ruins again.
Could the same thing have happened this time?
Vanessa stood up and walked over to examine the spot where the Ruins had just been.
During the earlier battle, after Maeve and Vanessa had joined forces to drive the monsters back into the Ruins, they had used the last of their strength to smash the entrance shut. The area was still covered in rubble and dirt, just as Maeve had left it.
The only difference was that Allen and the others had cleared away some of the rocks, trying to open a gap into the Ruins to see what was happening inside.
But the passage into the Ruins that had been there earlier was now completely gone.
Beneath the rubble was only more rubble, as though this were an ordinary stretch of wilderness, without the slightest trace of human workmanship.
"We tried digging down in several different places, but there was nothing underneath. It was as though the Ruins had vanished into thin air, right before our eyes..."
Dorothea's voice was full of disbelief.
After all, she had the [Radiance Mirror], which let her send a single lens flying into narrow gaps to investigate. She had controlled the lens to search beneath the rocks, but there was nothing but solid earth.
It seemed there really was something strange going on.
"Th-this shouldn't be happening..."
Simon scratched his head. "I've been here several times before, and it was always fine..."
"When