"Then let's demolish the one closest to us first!"
Mira tossed the rock she was holding toward the corner of the wall, kicking away the pebbles at her feet as she landed.
Lin Yuan did not make a move immediately.
The outline of the mountain remained in my perception, but the details had become blurred. Each time the yellow ripples swept across, the locations of the mine tunnels became clear for a moment, before being covered again by the dense vibrations.
He could follow the True Magic circle to find a distant place, but he couldn't cast a spell across half a mountain.
"Try one place first."
He raised his hand and pointed to the metal pillar on the left. At the base of the pillar, three magic runes converged, and a circle of yellow light was climbing up the pillar.
The black and silver creases swept across the ground, offsetting the distance between the pillar base and the array patterns below.
The aperture stopped immediately.
The vibration underfoot lessened.
Just as Mira smiled, the two metal pillars beside her lit up simultaneously, the gears whistling as they accelerated their rotation, and the dust falling from above suddenly turned into a gray curtain.
Lin Yuan immediately removed the creases.
The yellow halo climbed back up the original pillar, and the light from the other two spots dimmed.
"You can't break it off piece by piece," he said. "If you break one part, the magic will be pushed to the side."
Mira glanced at the half-broken magic thread in her hand, which she hadn't yet discarded, and silently stuffed it into the crack in the rock.
Lin Yuan glanced at her.
I saw it.
"Look at your formation!"
He withdrew his gaze and continued searching along the brighter lines. There were connecting lines of varying thickness between the six pillars, the thickest of which passed under the control panel and extended towards the top of the hollow.
There is an iron axle embedded horizontally in the rock wall.
Half a rusty red gear was fitted onto the end of the shaft, and a heavy brake plate was suspended below it. Every time the machine turned, the iron shaft tried to lift the brake plate, but it was firmly stuck by the deformed bracket.
"Stop the power switch," Lin Yuan said.
"You finally found something you can dismantle?"
"You need to lower it. If you smash the support directly, the gate might break as well."
Mira flapped her wings and took flight, dodging the falling rocks, then reached out and grabbed the iron axle, pressing it down.
Amidst a piercing screeching sound, the gate moved half an inch.
All six sets of drill bits slowed down by one beat at the same time.
The next moment, the central crystal lit up, and the iron shaft suddenly twisted back. Mira flipped over, and the spot where she had been gripping the rock wall grazed her fingertips and bounced back, sending sparks flying.
"It will take it back!"
"Magic has been pushing it forward."
Lin Yuan swept away the dust in front of the control panel with his foot, revealing several engraved lines buried underneath. The six branches eventually converged into the same circle of patterns, but only the one leading to the other side of the mountain remained lit, its ripples still sending back.
When the gate closed, this was the line that lit up first.
To shut down the device, the returning magic must first be stopped.
He looked along the line to the upper right. Behind the two beams was a narrow hole, with a magic conduit extending along the bottom of the hole, and grooves worn into the edge of the hole by the iron ladder.
"That leads to a distant node."
"I'll go over there," Mira said.
Lin Yuan looked up. "The situation inside is still unclear."
"So let's take a look first."
Instead of crawling in directly, she stopped outside the hole, broke off a piece of turquoise hanging on the edge, and threw it inside.
The stone rolled a few times and then stopped.
Mira leaned out to the side, then quickly retreated. "The road ahead has collapsed; the pipe runs under the rocks. If we try to break through, the top part might collapse too."
Lin Yuan gazed at the mountain's outline, which was intermittently appearing in his perception.
"We can only go around the outside of the mountain."
"Then we'll go around it."
"After you leave, I'll have to control these six locations and deal with the falling rocks. By the time you find the key point, we won't be able to act simultaneously from across the mountain."
Mira landed beside him, followed his gaze to the metal pillar, and then looked at the gate blocking the way above.
Why must it be at the same time?
"Otherwise, the magic will transfer to --"
"I mean, why are you suppressing the Sixth Division now?"
She pointed to the base of the pillars that had initially been separated.
"Only one branch broke just now; the others got much worse. If we don't do anything now, it can at least hold out for a while. Let's go out and find a way out, then come back and shut it off, okay?"
Lin Yuan paused for a moment.
He glanced at the instrument panel. The last needle was still a small increment away from the red zone. Although the device in front of him was making an alarming noise, it did not accelerate any further.
They need to hurry, but it's not yet time for them to stay here and gamble everything.
"Can."
He bent down and left a mark on the rock face at the entrance, and then confirmed the landing points along the way one by one.
Mira picked up an old, engraved iron plaque from beside the control panel. Lin Yuan reached out to take it, but she switched the plaque to the other side.
Do you recognize the words on it?
"I don't recognize them all."
"Then why are you holding it?"
"There are experienced repairmen outside; are you planning to have them only handle moving wood?"
Lin Yuan smiled and raised his hand to shorten the distance to the exit.
Mira stepped into the crease first, then turned back and gestured with her chin towards him.
"Don't just laugh, S-Class Mage."
"Listen to me this time."