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Inside the great hall, the Giant Apes that had scattered to avoid the frost breath and the Spacium Beam all poked their heads back out.
They stared through the breach in the ceiling at the tunnel punched straight through to the surface, and swallowed hard. Good thing they'd had the sense to back off earlier.
Otherwise they might have ended up exactly like Skar King.
He had all that power, and he still tried to reason with them before using it. Nothing like Skar King, who never bothered with anything except force.
Every one of them felt the relief settle in.
"Ooo—" Shimo lowered its head and looked at the human lying flat on the ground in a floral shirt, arms and legs splayed out like a starfish. It blinked.
At least that beam hadn't landed on it.
And... it was free.
Shimo stretched its body, letting the feeling sink in. Millions of years under Skar King's control , even with a disposition as calm as its, that kind of thing leaves a mark. But Skar King was gone now. No point dwelling on old grievances. It was already thinking about where to build a nest.
"Looks like it's over."
"This guy..." Outside the temple, Jared looked up at the breach, already filling with Hollow Earth energy as the tunnel reshaped itself. He let out a slow breath. "He just drilled a man-made Hollow Earth Tunnel straight through the rock."
That arrogant, untouchable Skar King had finally found out what a Spacium Beam tasted like.
In terms of backing, they still didn't understand how Skar King ever thought he could win. A Hollow Earth local who figured Shimo's power alone was enough to stand up to a space cop.
"Their leader's handled," Old De said, eyes on the temple. "But there are still plenty of Giant Apes in there."
"Three minutes are already up. Something could've gone wrong inside. Let's move." He drew a tactical knife from his belt and started walking.
They both knew Natsuki could only hold his transformation for three minutes on Earth. They'd lost most of their weapons in the chaos, and knives weren't going to cut it against Giant Apes. But sitting outside and doing nothing wasn't an option.
They went in.
When they reached the entrance of the great hall and saw what was inside, they both stopped dead.
"Roooar—!!"
"Roar! Roar!"
Kong stood in front of the assembled Giant Apes, battle axe raised, bellowing. Whatever he was saying, he meant it. Some of the Giant Apes lifted their arms and roared back. The ones who hesitated watched the others submit, and then they followed.
The Titan-class Giant Apes that had been loyal to Skar King sat in the corner. Scorch marks from the beam were still visible on their bodies. They'd barely survived. Now they listened to Kong's promise , that he would lead them into something better , and their expressions were hard to read. They looked at the human sitting beside Shimo, and quietly made their decision.
When you can't win, there's only one answer.
You join.
"Over here."
Natsuki was sitting on the floor of the great hall next to a campfire. He'd propped up a grill using bones from the Hell Hawk and was roasting its meat over the flames. When he spotted Jared and Old De, he waved them over.
Beside him, Shimo listened to the exchange between Kong and the other apes, but kept glancing back at Natsuki. Its eyes were full of open curiosity.
How had he gone from a giant to a human?
And how did something that small hold that much power inside it?
"Want a bite?" As the two men came closer, Natsuki held out a skewer , meat threaded onto bone , with the easy confidence of someone who has never once doubted his own cooking. "I'm actually pretty good."
A proper food lover had to know his way around a fire.
"I'll... pass." Jared looked at the Hell Hawk carcass lying nearby, at the wide pool of green blood soaking into the ground, and felt his appetite vanish completely.
"Forget the food. What's the plan? You going to keep exploring the Hollow Earth?"
He declined the skewer and turned the conversation. Their whole reason for coming down here had been to help Kong and Jia find their people. Kong had found them , and from the look of things, was already positioning himself as their leader. Jia's situation should be manageable too. The fact that Natsuki had made it here in time meant that side was already dealt with.
There wasn't much left to do down here.
"Head back to the surface, obviously." Natsuki set the skewer back over the fire. "I caught the one I came for. There are still two left up top."
Based on what he'd pulled out of the Sage, the Hollow Earth was most likely clear of dimensional travelers. Once he was back on the surface and tracked down the remaining two, his mission in this world would be more or less wrapped up.
But the prophecy carved into the Iwi stone tablets was still sitting in the back of his mind.
More surprises might be coming.
He'd need to be ready when he got back up there.
...
Surface.
Bermuda Triangle. Monarch Outpost Site 54.
"Sir, Dr. Serizawa isn't trying to evade anyone. He's working right now to prevent a war that hasn't happened yet."
"Please — just give us a little more time. Peace is all we're after." Inside Serizawa's office, the acting director stared at the wall of screens in front of him, sweat forming on his forehead, and kept talking.
The moment Serizawa had descended, the U.S. military and senior officials from half a dozen countries had started squeezing Monarch from every direction. The acting director had held the line for a week. He couldn't hold it much longer.
The magnetic field inside the Hollow Earth was unlike anything on the surface. Hollow Earth energy warped time , and not uniformly. The ratio between Hollow Earth time and surface time shifted depending on where you were. Some areas ran at the same rate as above. Others ran slow enough that one day underground was a full week on the surface. Monarch's internal archives documented one case where an operative who stumbled into the Hollow Earth spent two weeks inside and came out to find fifty years had passed.
They had no idea which zone Serizawa was in. All they could do was stall.
"You are out of time."
"Mr. Serizawa and that alien have been dark for too long. We are not going to allow a threat of this magnitude to remain loose in the world."
"You have three days. After that, the military assumes full control of all Monarch operations." The general had no interest in negotiating. He needed everything , every piece of Titan intelligence Monarch held, and whatever it took to find that alien.
Over the past week, the military had already moved into several Monarch outposts. Three days from now, the rest would follow.
The whole organization.
➤ Next: Let Me Explain Some Logic to You
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