– Initiating fusion reaction.
The core, filled to one hundred percent with mana.
When Iska manipulated the device further, thin thread-like filants of light began to burst from the core, weaving themselves around it.
“How on earth did you manage it?”
I answered Iska’s question.
“I have my ways.”
“…Either way, you have my thanks. It can be finished safely now.”
Iska’s expression looked sohow detached, and yet unburdened at the sa ti.
“You should hurry and get out. It will detonate in exactly eight minutes. The guards will be swarming this place any mont.”
I checked the tir on the Warp Device.
[7:36]
So if I stayed hidden for seven minutes and then warped out, that ant success?
I asked Iska.
“Couldn’t people still show up and stop the explosion?”
“The reaction inside the core has already begun. Tampering with the device now won’t stop it. Don’t worry.”
“…And what about you?”
“I will stay here and watch.”
“Why? Is this the only Warp Device?”
Iska shook his head.
From the very start, it seed, he’d had no intention of fleeing anywhere.
“There’s no reason for you to concern yourself with . I, too, am a Workshop researcher who has run countless experints and killed countless people. Be on your way. Thank you.”
Iska pressed a button and opened the laboratory door.
I started to step out, then turned back to look at him.
The clear was probably over either way, but I was still curious about his reason.
“So in the end, what’s the reason you’re doing all this? It’s the last chance. Indulge .”
Iska glanced at , then turned his eyes back to the core and spoke.
“Have you ever raised a dog?”
“…? No.”
“Neither have I.”
The hell is he talking about.
“I have devoted my entire life to Mana Core research. In the process, I conducted many experints, and many people died.”
“…”
“The reactions of the test subjects brought here are generally the sa. At first, fear or hostility. But as the experints repeat, their emotions wear down and they beco like dolls. And once they have outlived their usefulness, they are disposed of.”
Iska continued in a flat, dry voice.
“One day, another subject was brought in. A small child, a war orphan from what are now the ruined southern lands. When they were first brought in, they were trembling, but once I showed them a little kindness, they started smiling brightly. I only did it because the experints we were about to run required the subject’s cooperation.
The experints went on for quite so ti. The research progressed smoothly, and during that ti the child grew rather attached to . When they behaved, I would pat them on the head, give them a reward… I imagine raising a dog must feel sothing like that. Yes. Just like keeping a pet dog.
But as the experints neared their end, that child too was slated for disposal. That’s what happens to every subject once they’ve served their purpose. I petitioned my superiors for different treatnt, citing various reasons. But my petition was not accepted.
In the end, the child was disposed of, and the research continued afterward to yield brilliant results. Those achievents made senior researcher, and much ti passed until, at last, I created this core.
I’ve been promised a count’s title personally sanctioned by the Emperor, and every manner of wealth and honor. If I wished, I could even found my own Workshop. But one day, I simply grew tired of all of it.”
Iska turned his gaze and looked at .
“That is all. There is no other reason.”
After hearing out the rather absurd ending of his story, I asked,
“So basically… you’re taking revenge on the Workshop because a test subject you were close to died?”
“Perhaps. Perhaps not. Even now, having co this far, I still don’t quite know.”
Iska trailed off, murmured, then spoke again.
“Does it sound absurd? Doing all this over a single dog.”
I shook my head.
Iska kept going on about dogs, and it suddenly brought a certain movie to mind.
“Soone I know of wiped out his entire organization over a single dog. A killer… an assassin.”
Iska let out a short, dry laugh.
“…An assassin? A bigger madman than , then.”
“Yeah. Though it wasn’t just any dog. It was one his late wife had given him. To that assassin, the dog was basically family.”
“…”
“Maybe it was the sa for you. And why do you keep using a dog as the comparison? You could just say the kid mattered to you.”
Iska’s eyes widened.
[2:37]
I checked the ti left on the Warp Device and headed for the door.
“I’ll be on my way, then.”
Iska’s voice ca from behind .
“Make it out safely.”
When I looked back, his expression seed a little more at peace than it had a mont ago.
I nodded and stepped out of the laboratory.
The mont I was out, Iska closed the laboratory door behind .
Two of the Golems that had erged earlier were standing at the laboratory entrance like sentries on guard.
I could feel footsteps closing in, so I activated Concealnt.
Soon the guard squad appeared at the far end of the corridor.
I pressed myself to the corridor wall so I wouldn’t collide with them as they ca sprinting past.
[1:16]
About a minute left.
Stay hidden until then, warp outside the Workshop, and I’m done.
Co to think of it, what was the 4F reward going to be?
Don’t tell it’s this Warp Device?
The guards began clashing with the Golems at the laboratory door, and the corridor grew chaotic.
Paying it no mind, I pressed on down the long, long corridor. Scattered fragnts of smashed Golems lay strewn here and there.
But then…
‘…!’
The instant I spotted soone else rushing toward from the opposite direction, I stopped ti.
A woman in a platinum-colored suit. The Workshop Master’s bodyguard.
…Ma’am, what are you doing here? Where did you pawn off the Workshop Master?
Did she co because of the ergency?
‘Ah, shit, of all the…’
She was dangerous.
If I entered her range, she’d pick up on my Concealnt for sure.
The problem was that this was a narrow, straight corridor.
Thinking back to when I was near the Workshop Master earlier… the range at which the bodyguard would detect my Concealnt was about twenty ters?
Not a distance I could avoid just by stepping to the side.
Sideways or up, there was no way to open a twenty-ter gap.
Turning back wasn’t an option either. The laboratory was a dead end, and the guards were right behind fighting the Golems.
A little over a minute until the Warp Device activated.
‘I just have to hold out for a minute, but the timing…’
I shouldn’t have wasted ti talking to Iska. I should have gotten out of here earlier.
I deeply regretted it, but there was no undoing what was already done.
…Should I try to jump past her as fast as I possibly can?
If it’s only for a split second, maybe she won’t notice.
Or she might just be uncertain and let it pass.
‘Alright.’
There was no other option anyway.
I released ti.
The bodyguard closed in and I ran toward her to et her.
Timing it carefully, I sprang up.
Tracing an arc so high my head almost brushed the ceiling, I leaped over the bodyguard’s head.
…Did she catch ? Did she not?
The bodyguard is still running forward.
Thinking I’d gotten away with it, I was just about to land, when,
Sixth Sense’s alarm.
I whipped around. And stopped ti.
Sohow the bodyguard had already drawn her sword, and a blue Sword Aura was hurtling toward at terrifying speed.
Ah, fuck… she caught .
My body was still in the air.
If I waited for my feet to hit the floor before dodging, I’d be far too late. There was only one option.
I finished ntal Concentration and Teleported to the maximum diagonal distance backward.
Kwaaaaa!
An enormous Sword Aura sliced right through the middle of the corridor.
I’d dodged the Sword Aura, but using the skill had broken my Concealnt. Not that it mattered, she’d already seen through it.
I imdiately stopped ti again.
Finished ntal Concentration, cast Fla Strike.
The instant a fireball blood in midair, I stopped ti again, concentrated, and cast Fairy Light Bullet.
And like that I unloaded everything I had, Fla Strike, Fairy Light Bullet, Frost Shot, every spell in my arsenal, all at once, straight at the bodyguard.
Kwaaaaang!
A cramped corridor.
With no space on either side, her escape options were limited.
The bodyguard’s body shot high into the air out of the smoke. And that was exactly what I was aiming for.
So you attack people while they’re in the air? Rude.
Now it’s your turn.
At the airborne bodyguard, I unleashed a fully charged 729x Destruction Ray.
No matter how strong she was, there was no way she could eat this and live.
A pitch-black beam engulfed her and tore right through the ceiling.
“…”
Well, I guess if it misses, it misses.
The bodyguard landed on the floor.
One of her arms was gone. Blood poured from the severed stump in thick rivulets.
Here’s what had happened. The instant the Destruction Ray shot toward her, she planted her foot on empty air and twisted her body.
She couldn’t dodge it completely, so she’d lost an arm, but she’d avoided a direct hit.
Seriously… pulling out Air Walk is just cheating.
The fact that she reacted in ti to dodge an instant-fire beam was proof enough that she was a monster.
Even reduced to one arm, her expression didn’t change one bit. The blood dripping from her stump soon stopped as well.
“…You are human, right?”
She was so calm I asked, just in case.
The joke didn’t land.
I instantly activated Skin Hardening, unfurled a Scorching Zone across the corridor, turned my back, and ran.
I was hoping she’d give up on and head for Iska’s laboratory instead.
Kwaaaaa!
Maybe that was too much to hope for, after I’d already chopped her arm off.
I threw myself aside just barely in ti to dodge another incoming Sword Aura.
Wrapped in so magnetic-field-like barrier, the bodyguard tore straight through the Scorching Zone and ca after like a woman possessed.
She was unnervingly fast.
In desperation, I pulled out an Ice Dagger and used it.
A wave of frost blanketed the straight passage.
It apparently held her up for a mont; her pursuit stopped.
I used Leap to clear the long staircase in a single bound and hurled myself at the door.
Once I’d burst out onto the ground floor, I did a roll across the floor and looked behind .
The instant I turned, I stopped ti.
Because sohow the bodyguard was already right in front of . Her sword mid-swing, trailing a vivid blue Sword Aura.
The gap in physical ability was overwhelming.
Fighting her up close would be insane.
I’d activated Skin Hardening, but it didn’t feel like it would stop a single attack from this monster.
[0:31]
The Warp Device in my hand had about thirty seconds left.
Teleportation was still on cooldown, and I couldn’t summon Plli either.
Could I really dodge her attacks and hold out that long?
I wasn’t exactly confident.
If my life was truly in danger, I could always trigger Ergency Exit, but…
‘Ah!’
It suddenly hit , the Shop.
Points held: 500P
Five hundred points, left over after the 5-pull.
That was enough to use Force Field ten tis.
But could Force Field even be used here?
Only one way to find out.
[‘Force Field (50P)’ has been purchased.]
The mont I released ti, I deployed a Force Field between and the charging bodyguard.
“…!”
The bodyguard slamd into the Force Field that had appeared out of nowhere.
I didn’t waste the split second it bought , and bolted.
‘It works!’
Maybe I could actually hold out thirty seconds with this.
The description said slow and stop effects only applied to Golems, so those wouldn’t work on her.
But the Force Field alone was enough.
I fired Fairy Light Bullets backward again and sprinted, planning to open up more than twenty ters so I could go back into Concealnt.
I smashed through a corridor window and escaped outside.
The bodyguard caught up in no ti, and I used Force Field again.
This ti the bodyguard swung her sword.
A Sword Aura cleaved the Force Field in two and ca flying at .
I used Leap to hurl my body out of the way.
Stalling the bodyguard’s movents in brief flashes with Force Field, I ran for my life.
The bodyguard was damnably persistent.
All I needed was to open the gap and get back into Concealnt, but she kept forcing her way after , refusing to give up.
The instant Fla Strike ca off cooldown, I scattered them in every direction.
I hit the bodyguard with another Force Field as she burst out of the smoke, then sprinted toward the outer edge of the Workshop.
[0:05]
The sky-floating Workshop ended in a sheer cliff.
I leaped out into the empty air.
Then I cast Force Field, used it as a foothold, and leaped one more ti with the Leap skill.
An enormous Sword Aura ca chasing after .
But Teleportation had already co off cooldown, and I flicked out of the way.
[0:05]
Only five seconds left.
With Concealnt active again, I plumted downward.
Whew. That was close, but it’s my win.
All I had to do was keep falling until the warp activated.
When I twisted around to look at the bodyguard standing at the cliff’s edge…
“…Oh.”
She was preparing yet another attack.
The bodyguard was stabbing her sword out in rapid succession, her arm moving so fast it blurred into nothing.
Sharp Sword Auras rained down on as I fell, like machine-gun fire.
I stopped ti.
With Concealnt up, even the bodyguard couldn’t pinpoint my exact location, so the attacks were coming down indiscriminately.
But with rotten luck, one of those Sword Auras was flying on a direct course for .
…What do I do?
I couldn’t dodge it completely.
If I twisted my body, maybe I could get away with just losing an arm.
Fine. I’ll give up an arm.
Any injuries would be fully healed once the clear was complete anyway. And I even had Rapid Regeneration.
Might as well take this chance and test whether Rapid Regeneration could regrow a severed limb.
I’d used the 27x-amplified version before, but I didn’t actually know what the baseline effect was like.
After fully restoring my spent Willpower, I released ti and twisted my body.
Chwaaak!
“…!”
Skin Hardening was, predictably, useless against that monster’s attack.
My left arm flew off right before my eyes.
Blood sprayed everywhere and a wave of agony crashed into .
It hurts! It fucking hurts, but…
I can still take it!
Compared to the pain of my whole body being seared in flas, this was a walk in the park. Guess experience really does count for sothing.
Clenching my teeth, I imdiately used Rapid Regeneration.
And I checked the Warp Device’s remaining ti.
[0:01]
When ti ran out, the space in front of warped and twisted.
When the distortion snapped back to normal, I was suddenly on the ground.
“Ngh.”
I pushed myself up from where I’d fallen and looked down at my arm.
My severed left arm was surging back rapidly, bubbling up as if boiling.
Soon I was flexing a fully regrown left hand, opening and closing it a few tis.
“Regenerates just fine.”
Rapid Regeneration can regrow severed limbs. New knowledge acquired.
Kuuuuuuuuu…!
Just then, a distant explosion rumbled through the air.
When I looked toward the far horizon, a massive blast was unfolding in the sky.
I realized that had been the Workshop I’d been in only monts ago.
Whew… that was rough.
As I stood there gazing blankly at the explosion, a ssage appeared.
[Nightmare difficulty Floor 4 hidden clear successful.]
[Absorbing the Power of the Floor completely.]
[Your level has risen.]
[Your level has risen.]
[Your level has risen.]
[Your level has risen.]
[Your level has risen.]
[Moving to the Reward Room.]
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