Esperanza headed toward Dr. Sullivan's research facility without hesitation. The building that would still be used as his research facility thirteen years later was located in a somewhat remote place. Though not as excellent as Cider Claiborne's research lab, it had everything it needed.
For instance, traps in front of the door—a hallmark of eccentric magical engineers.
When she picked up a stone and threw it, a bright blue light flashed in front of the door. As expected.
'I might have been roasted alive if I'd just walked in.'
It was the type of trap Dr. Sullivan favored. Esperanza clicked her tongue. When had she first met the doctor? Six years ago? It seemed like it was about a year after she started playing the game.
The eccentric magical engineer she met through Cyrus's introduction was skilled. Though his character trait of being mysteriously lacking in morals was quite stereotypical, there was no one better for weapon improvements or magical tool manufacturing.
Of course, that was because Cider Claiborne was dead.
Anyway, the doctor would have been at least six years older than now, yet he used the exact same type of trap. If triggered, it would have produced quite brutal results, but knowing how to disarm it made the trap not particularly frightening.
Esperanza took out her long rifle. She just needed to press the spots marked with white pebbles in order—spots the doctor himself had carefully marked in case he forgot. Originally, she would need to step on them directly with her feet, but just in case she was wrong, she fired magical power from a distance.
Fortunately, Dr. Sullivan was a consistent person. When she pressed the designated positions with magical power, the ground rumbled with a kururu sound and the door slowly opened to both sides.
'Sounds like some underground palace opening.'
For a research facility that had only been moved into a few months ago. Esperanza snorted and entered through the door, stepping only on the spots she had pressed with magical power earlier. The interior was dim.
There shouldn't be anyone here. Even if there were, she could just knock them unconscious. Esperanza floated a sphere of light with magical power. As the pale light spread, the interior of the building gradually became clearer.
She walked down the corridor without hesitation and threw open the door to the inner research lab. Sunlight streaming through the windows brightly revealed the interior.
It was a typical magical engineer's research lab. There was a display case filled with unidentifiable fluorescent chemicals on one side, and everything else was tools, gears, pipes, stimulators, and magic stones. The distinctive feature was that monster byproducts were piled up as if they had come from the world thirteen years later.
Her foot, about to cross the threshold, stopped abruptly.
"That's strange..."
This definitely seemed to be Dr. Sullivan's research lab. Looking at several machines the doctor had personally manufactured and continued using even thirteen years later, there was no room for doubt. Yet she felt a strange sense of incongruity.
Where was the spacetime machine?
Given the structure of the research facility, there weren't many spaces that could accommodate a spacetime machine. Of course, Sullivan might have renovated the research facility once before Esperanza met him.
Or maybe it was underground?
Developing a machine that used steam engines underground wasn't a good choice in many ways. Esperanza recalled the structure of the research facility and opened every visible door. It wasn't there.
Should she go down to the basement? Esperanza, who had been glaring at the stairs leading downward, slowly moved her steps.
The creaking stairs seemed like they hadn't been used for a long time. The basement door was closed, and yellow dust had accumulated on the handle. It became almost certain that it wasn't here.
Esperanza raised her leather-gloved hand and pulled the handle. The rusted hinges screamed.
"It's just a storage room."
Not a place for storing machines, but a storage room piled with food supplies and miscellaneous items. The dust, spider webs, and even squeaking mice made it perfect.
There were no other passages either. This was the end.
Esperanza's gaze fell on the flour sacks and fruit jam jars. Ah. It felt like electricity passed through her from head to toe.
Dust accumulating in a storage room for food supplies meant no one had been living in this house for quite some time. It was natural that she couldn't find the machine. Sullivan wasn't here. He had never been here from the beginning.
It was a trap.
She threw open the storage room door.
[Dungeon Occurrence!]
Type: Workshop
Grade: B
Danger Level: S
Hunter, we wish you luck!
A flashy window appeared in her vision. Esperanza inhaled sharply. A dungeon, and one with an S-grade danger level at that.
She was trapped.
Daria must have been watching nearby. She had been waiting. Until Esperanza walked into the research facility on her own.
Why wait here? The answer to that question came quickly too. Because she knew Esperanza would come!
'Luke Havenly, that bastard.'
He had deliberately set up the board. If it hadn't been for him, she wouldn't have thought to look for the research facility. When had he known? Since Sterling?
Right, since Esperanza had ambushed their plan, they had realized from then that this side had information. They had used that in reverse to set a trap. Perhaps they had lured her to confirm how much she knew.
Either way, what was certain was that she had been completely played.
Esperanza gritted her teeth, closed the basement door, and ran up to the first floor in one go. There was no time for this. She poured magical power into the rifle in one hand. Charrrrr, the sound of internal components rotating could be heard.
Even if it was small in size, it would inevitably take at least two to three hours to clear it alone. But there was no way she would fail to clear it. Wouldn't Daria know that? Even after directly confronting her at Sterling Harbor?
A trap completed over several months. The target of this trap wasn't Esperanza.
'They've separated us. If I'm here, Cider is alone. No, even if Cyrus is there, it's two against one...'
This was bad. Esperanza bit her lip as she aimed at the approaching monster through her scope.
Esperanza's part ended with being trapped in a dungeon, but Cider's wouldn't end like that. With such a good opportunity arising, there was no way they would be thinking of anything else.
They intended to kill him.
'No!'
Goosebumps rose on the back of her neck. She aimed magical power at the bronze-colored monster. The monster was large enough to fill the corridor, and despite its heavy body, it was agile. And the worst part was that it could attack from a distance.
Esperanza threw back her head to avoid the blades the monster was firing. She lowered her body and aimed at the lower half of the monster that was walking with thundering steps. One shot each at the thigh, calf, and ankle. Bang bang bang! She fired in rapid succession with precise aim.
It penetrated.
And that was it. With holes punched through it, the monster that had only slowed down slightly opened its mouth. Its deep, black throat made sounds like machine parts colliding instead of a beast's roar and poured out blades.
"Ugh..."
What is this! Shouldn't it slow down a bit when injured?
Esperanza recoiled in shock. The monster's attacks had short cooldowns. She threw open a nearby door and used it as a shield while catching her breath. It was an almost instinctive movement.
How long would it take to clear the dungeon like this, and when could she get to Cider? How long could Cyrus hold out protecting Cider against his past self and Daria?
A blade grazed past her neck. Esperanza gripped her stinging neck and looked straight at the monster. And belatedly, realization flooded in.
That monster—she hadn't seen it for the first time.
Not frequently enough to be familiar, but she had definitely seen it before. She had even cleared the dungeon where that monster appeared as a time attack.
'It's not exactly the same, but it's a similar type.'
It was a type she never thought would appear at this point in time. That was a monster that first appeared in a dungeon updated two years ago.
Given the 19th-century steampunk setting, Golden Claw had countless workshops. Equipment, weapons, magical tools, magic stones, even automaton-specialized workshops. It wasn't uncommon for dungeons to occur in such places. But the 'workshop' as a dungeon type had only been updated two years ago.
Its characteristic was... that the objects inside the workshop would become monsters and attack.
Though there was no spacetime machine in this research facility, there were other inventions. The machines piled throughout the room would have started moving as monsters by now. And the monster in front of her was the same.
Blades were densely embedded in the thick door. It looked like it would break through the door at any moment. The monster took heavy steps. Esperanza slowly moved backward, leaving the unusable door behind.
To be honest, workshop-type dungeons were failed content. They were good for bringing out the bizarre and threatening atmosphere and the steampunk setting, but they had a fatal weakness. Namely, once you knew the strategy, combat became very simple.
'There was definitely a strategy guide floating around on the forums.'
Her lips twisted upward. They probably didn't expect that using their brains would end up shooting themselves in the foot, did they?
If there was something Daria had overlooked, it was that no matter how much she racked her brains to avoid what Esperanza knew, everything that came out of her head was much the same. The thoughts that past Daria could barely come up with, future Daria could think of just the same.
She probably tried to avoid what Esperanza might know, but as a result, it was exactly a dungeon Esperanza had experienced.
A blessing in disguise.
Esperanza opened all the doors in the corridor. No matter how strong a hunter was, they could be injured by a moment's carelessness. She needed shields to buy time to think. This one had blades, but the next one might fire bullets.
But despite the high danger level, the strategy was surprisingly not that difficult.
'The problem is I can't remember.'
She felt like tearing her hair out. Of all things, she couldn't remember the most important part! While keeping watch in all directions, Esperanza constantly rummaged through her mind.
The four door panels were torn to shreds by the pouring blades. At this rate, she wouldn't last much longer. She had to think, had to come up with something.
If it were a victory she could achieve by just charging in recklessly, she wouldn't hesitate, but that wasn't the case now. There was no time to enjoy this. She had to break through faster, even if it meant creating shortcuts.
Something like discovering Cider dying at sea must never happen again.