Chapter 237: Secret Pipelines (2)<hr>    <hr>


    Anlutine would no longer feel left out. And she was not the only one happy about that, as Sanctia, and even Worthramble joined their conversation through the spiritwork.


    Mira could not hear them, however. There were actually two levels to the spiritwork, a restricted one used exclusively by the Spirit King and Martel to watch Miras actions and talk with her, and themon level where all spirits could talk whenever they wanted.


    That second level had been created by the Spirit Kings own interests, under the guise of expanding his own knowledge of the world, and Mira had no ess to it. Though she would likely go insane from all the ovepping voices there if she could tune in, so she was better off being cut away from it.


    Whenever the other spirits had something they wanted to tell Mira, they would just let the Spirit King or Martel pass on the message.


    While they exined all of that to Anlutine, things were dead silent for Mira, who could not bear with it for much longer since she had just obtained a new summon.


    Well, the contract was a resounding sess, yes? Could you tell me all about your abilities?!


    Mira had no idea what they were talking about in thework, but her main interest was knowing everything Anlutine could do, and as soon as she ran out of patience she just went after her.


    Ah- Right, we should do that first.


    Seeing Miras maddened grin reminded Anlutine of the time when she formed contracts with Sanctia and Worthramble, so she turned her focus to Mira again and began exining her abilities.


    To put it simply, Anlutines abilities werepletely different to those of Undine, who had been raised forbat.


    First off, Anlutines best ability was submersion. Basically the same ability she was using when Mira first met them, and they carried her into ake. She could take anything that fit within the range of the ability and carry it underwater to any depth regardless of the effects of water pressure.


    ording to her, she would be perfectly fine going as deep as ten kilometers, which was a depth never explored before. While not showy at all, it was a really impressive ability, just like Worthrambles.


    Attacking was not her forte at all, but she did have various defensive abilities, and she described various of them.


    Amongst those, the most impressive one was a water coating. All it did was create a thin film of highly pressurized water around a target, which did not seem like much until one factored in its properties.


    That was when Worthramble stepped in, as he was also a good friend of Anlutines. ording to him, the biggest key point was that there was arge amount of waterpressed into that thin film, letting it easily repel physical and magic attacks, and Worhramble rted proudly how at one point it hadpletely neutralized a dragons fire breath.


    Anlutine just let him exin, smiling slightly awkwardly. But in the end only the fire dragon, Worthramble, and Anlutine knew exactly what had happened in the past.


    Her only means to attack was to enshroud an enemy in a sphere of water and increase its pressure to suffocate a target.


    Hmhmm, I think I got the gist of it! Thats so incredible, my hearts beating so fast!


    Overall most of Anlutines abilities centered around manipting water pressure. Spirits were experts at taking concepts into many different directions, so this was the first time Mira was hearing about many of those abilities, which only made Miras heart flutter even more knowing that she had formed a contract with such a spirit.


    Underwater ruins and sunken ships Theres a whole new world to explore all of a sudden.


    There were countless stories and rumors floating around the sea, mentioning ruins at the bottom of the sea or old vessels that had sunk into the ocean. But there were very few ways to actually explore them, with the only options being water spirits with abilities simr to Anlutine, or spellcasters who specialized in simr magic spells. Still, even those could seldom be found.


    So exploring the seargely remained an untapped source of adventures.


    Im looking forward to working with you from now on.


    Mira was already dreaming of that future as she firmly shook Anlutines hand.


    Also, Im sorry for making youe all the way here. How do you n on returning? Maybe Worthramble can apany you all the way to the city gates?


    Her main objective wasplete, but Anlutine still had to find a way to evade all the adventurers looking for her when heading back home. Going undetected with Worthramble until they were outside of the city was certainly a good option.


    At least that was what Mira thought, but Anlutine shook her head and said she was alright on her own.


    The ce I was hiding earlier is actually a vastwork of underground pipes that cover the entire city. I felt my way through it for a bit and noticed that its also connected to a river outside, so I shouldnt have issues leaving the city.


    Anlutine was looking down at the ground as she mentioned that.


    Ohh, underground pipes you say? Interesting.


    Thinking back to it, Anlutine had been hiding underground until Mira got there, and then came out through a drain. In other words, that drain was connected to those underground pipes, and as a water spirit she would be able to move through those pipes without being detected by the adventurers looking for her.


    But Mira was still wondering exactly what kind of pipes those were.


    Just to be clear, those pipes were different from the sewers, yes?


    All sorts of waste material was emptied into the sewers, so Mira still felt like going with Worthramble was a better option than having to wade through that filth. But Anlutine quickly dispelled those worries.


    I wouldnt say they were dirty at all.


    She gave an instant reply, barely having to think about the state of the water there, but then she detailed what she saw a bit more.


    When she first got there, she decided to investigate the whole pipelines to know how far she could travel through them. As it turned out, water spirits had the ability to feel the extent of a water volume just by touching it. The total range of that ability differed a bit between water spirits, but usually it was possible to <em>see</em> the area of a whole city at least.


    Miras first reaction was shock, as Anlutine had omitted that while exining her various abilities earlier. But she said that all water spirits could do that, so she did not think it was worth mentioning.


    Either way, that special ability allowed Anlutine to grasp the various peculiarities of those pipelines.


    First there was an opening in one side annexed to arge river, with the rest of the pipes arranged so the water could flow inwards through them. There were some other inlets for water further inside, and some channels for rainwater to get in too. There were no inlets of sewage though, and the water itself was so clean it was almost surprising considering it was all located under a city.


    On top of being so secluded, the pipes were also arranged in a veryplex way, which Anlutine described as looking like a pipelinework built into another pipelinework.


    Most of the pipes were also covered with moss, and dark. There were no visible entrances for people to ess the pipelines, and if there were, they were too well hidden. But there was one area to the northeast of their current location without any moss, so maybe there was an entrance around there.


    Its really weird now that I think about it. I wonder why someone would build such aplicatedwork of pipes?


    There were no signs that the pipelines were being used for irrigation purposes, and there was no need for them to be arranged in such aplicated fashion if they were rainwater drains. The moss showed that people had only been in one area of them, there were no sewage outlets, and yet they spanned the entire city for some reason.


    Hmmthats true, I wonder why theyre there?


    Anlutine could not help but wonder who had constructed that and why. But Mira was just as puzzled, unable to even imagine a reason for its existence.


    Well then, thank you again Mira. Call me if you ever need anything.


    Im the one who should be thanking you. And Ill definitely be counting on you.


    With thatst exchange, Anlutine slipped through the drain and went down to the underground pipelines, moving through them to return home. Her journey to Haxthausen had been extremely rushed, but now that she was going back she would be able to take the time to really see the scenery, which was something she was looking forward to now.


    Watching the scenery was also something the Spirit King and Martel had requested, as they wanted to see everything through her eyes as well.


    Thank you too, Worthramble. And oh right, well be going up against a thief soon, so I might need your powers to deal with him.


    Mira brought that up before sending Worthramble back, but he had already heard the gist of it from the Spirit King, so he let out a reliable Ill be there. Preparing for situations outside of purebat were necessary when facing a thief, and someone who could provide perfect silence and camouge would be extremely useful. Or at least that was what Worthramble believed.


    Mira was the same, thinking of Worthramble as her secret weapon for the encounter.


    Alright, see youter then.


    Mhm, got it.


    Later that night or the next, whenever there was time for it, she would have a meeting with everyone to discuss their n to catch the thief. Mira let Worthramble know of that before sending him back, and then she headed back to the Baron Hotel too.<hr>    <hr> <ul><li>Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)</li><li>Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)</li><li>Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)</li><li>More</li><li></li></ul><ul><li>Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)</li><li>Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)</li><li>Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)</li><li>Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)</li><li>Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)</li><li>Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)</li><li>Click to share on Mastodon (Opens in new window)</li><li></li></ul>