Summoners War: Only I Summoned Divine Beasts

After finishing the battle, Nathan was supposed to be enjoying the food, as Risa was more fired up than ever.

Anubis told him to rest since he still needed to recover naturally instead of relying on himself. Unfortunately for him, he didn't have that chance. In fact, Selena hadn't even started reprimanding him for being reckless before Noelle arrived at their place.

Nathan and Selena were shocked after finding out what had happened. However, it wasn't like they could abandon their mission without confirming its existence.

In the end, Nathan asked Selena to clean up the area, including getting all their cores. They still needed those cores to get stronger after all.

Meanwhile, Nathan and Noelle went to the alien nest. It appeared Flora had the same idea as Nathan.

Even though they had suspected it, they couldn't easily abandon their mission. Hence, Flora was the only one coming to the tunnel.

Alavenya was a bit disappointed, but she still fulfilled her role and planned to finish the mission as soon as possible. Fortunately, they had killed most of the mature class aliens, so she should finish by tomorrow.

On the other hand, Flora ordered Noelle to become their messenger for the same reason as Asmodeus sent her.

If Flora was the one giving that reason, Noelle wouldn't think much about it and consider it to be the princess' order.

However, after getting told by Asmodeus, she couldn't help but see that she had been covering her ears this whole time.

Sadly, Nathan didn't notice her feelings, as he had to focus on the most important matter.

As soon as he landed in the area, he asked, "What's going on? Where's Flora?"

"She is inside. She must still be inspecting the tunnel."

"Alright. I will enter as well. You two take care of this position for the time being." Nathan waved his hand and rushed inside, leaving Sera and Noelle alone.

Sera rubbed her cheek, feeling awkward. Meanwhile, Noelle looked down, falling into deep thought. She started thinking about it now that there was nothing they needed to do.

Inside the tunnel, Nathan found Flora at the end of the tunnel with her earth spirit.

"Flora."

"Nathan. You're here?" Flora's expression turned grim.

"Yes. How is it?"

Flora confirmed it with a nod.

"I see." Nathan pinched the bridge of his nose.

"There is indeed a tunnel on the other side. My earth spirit roughly scans the area, and it appears that the tunnel on the other side is not connected yet. In other words, they're really digging the tunnel from both sides.

"Judging from their speed, we only have two weeks at most. There are at least seven tunnels in the area, but we have to assume that every single tunnel that is visible on the hill is leading to the front line. Hence, the number might be much higher.

"If they're working, we should expect at least a hundred aliens per minute, not counting the big one. They can easily wreak havoc or even threaten the central government."

Nathan crossed his arms. "Suppose they're working at the same speed. How long does it take to dig this tunnel?"

"Hmm?" Flora raised her eyebrows, not expecting this question. She first glanced at the earth spirit.

"I'm not sure. There are a lot of harder layers, so their speed will be uneven," explained the earth spirit.

"On average."

The earth spirit thought for a moment and pointed at the tunnel they were currently in. "This tunnel alone should take about a year."

"A year?" Nathan widened his eyes in shock.

"Have the aliens prepared all this for a year? And we haven't noticed it this whole time?" Flora's body shook. "How in the world…"

"No. It might be the work of some aliens since most of the aliens came after the volcanic eruption, so a year is understandable. No. It should take longer than that. The aliens must have been planning this for a much longer time than we imagine."

"What do you mean?" Flora frowned.

"I need a map of this area, the one with all the details. Does this place have hills originally?"

"I don't understand what you're trying to imply."

"If the hills are not originally here, it means that all the materials they have dug up are thrown to create those hills. And all those hills have been covered with grass and trees. This means the project itself started a few years ago…

"Even if they can fool us by bringing the already mature tree to the hill, they can't hide the weeds. The time for them to grow… at least, one and a half years should have passed. I need a more accurate answer from your plant spirit, though.

"In addition, we need to know where these tunnels are going. No matter what, we should bury this tunnel once this is all over, but to do that, we have to wait until they finish the tunnel and secure the exit of this tunnel before filling them up from the exit.

"This might be a bit of a stretch, but the tremor from the supervolcano shouldn't be big all of a sudden. It must have been a normal occurrence for the people on the other continent. As a result, the aliens also know about this and start preparing this tunnel.

"This is the only possible reason I can think of right now. Nevertheless, our mission doesn't change.

"We need to first inform the marquis and have him dispatch people here, monitoring the situation. After that, we need to get the war council involved to discuss the raid of this tunnel and find out the exit. There's a high chance an elite class alien is the one thinking about this, so we have to be extra careful.

"Still, they expect this plan to succeed, so if we strike back right before they succeed, they won't realize it until it's too late.

"Flora. You should go back to the royal palace to inform them personally. Me and Noelle will persuade the marquis to dispatch more people. Even though we have time, we need as much time as possible to gather the possible manpower."

Flora nodded furiously. "Right! Let's go."