Sidney's heart lurched.
The mines were the only spoils of their expedition. It was for these stone spheres, from which supernatural materials could be mined, that the Empire had spared no expense in sending soldiers and fleets to the Sea of the Moon.
If they lost even these mines, wouldn't their expedition have been utterly meaningless?
"What happened? Michel, take your time!"
Michel looked grim. "We left men to garrison every mine we reached, didn't we? Just now, a boatload of men fled back."
"According to them, after the strange changes on the seabed, those mines suddenly changed completely."
"They..."
Before Michel could finish, a commotion broke out outside. Someone seemed to have clashed with the guards.
Both men looked over. It was a man who seemed to have a head wound, his blood staining the front of his clothes red.
"Let me in! Let me in!!"
Michel waved a hand. "Let him through."
Then he turned to Sidney. "He's one of the soldiers who fled back."
The man stumbled into the cabin, panting heavily, his wounds only half bandaged.
"Your Highness!"
Sidney nodded to him. "What did you see? What exactly happened to the mines?"
"The mines..." Terror instantly surfaced on the man's face, as though he had become lost in his memories.
"Yes! The mines, the mines came alive! They came alive!"
As soon as he said it, he shook his head violently. "No, they didn't come alive... They were alive all along. We just forgot."
Sidney and Michel exchanged a glance. Michel shook his head slightly.
The man seemed mentally unstable.
"You said the mines came alive? Did they attack you?" Sidney asked tentatively.
The man suddenly spoke again:
"Yes, it was attacking everyone. No, that's not right either... That wasn't a mine. It was its... egg."