Chapter 300: Uncomfortable Companionship (1)
In the center of the underground facility was a large hollow and a massive structure occupied more than half of the vast space.
The roots of a dead World Tree.
The base of the tree clung to the ceiling, sending out ivory-colored roots in all directions. The roots had pierced through the walls of the hollow and extended throughout the entire underground facility.
The base was attached to the ceiling, so the tree was quite a bit above the ground in the hollow.
Naturally, a do-shaped space ford beneath the roots. The hollow space was filled with all manner of magical tools and devices.
It had long been a research facility for warlocks of the Biotech school.
The warlocks were bustling around, still working diligently on their research.
“How’s the progress?”
An elderly man approached and asked.
The man in charge of the bustling warlocks, a grizzled-looking man in his mid-thirties, approached him and bowed his head. His skin was pale, as if he hadn’t seen sunlight in a long ti, and his eyes were hollow, as if he were looking at a living corpse.
The warlock spoke in a very cautious tone.
“Yes, Master. The energy you’ve drawn can be applied to the second stage without any problems. We’re well on our way to stage three, too, and if we can get past that, the final stage seems possible.”
Andrei Semov, one of the most influential figures in the field of biotechnology, the wizard responsible for so of the greatest dical advances in modern human history but his thirst for knowledge beca uncontrollable, and he dabbled in taboo human experintation.
Eventually, he was forced to flee into the darkness, losing everything he had but he had been secretly building a secret pipeline to the underground, building a new faction and creating a school of warlocks that would allow him to conduct the experints he wanted without being recognized.
Andrei was the one who discovered the roots of the now-dead World Tree. More precisely, he was exploring the unknown power contained within it.
“Are you saying you haven’t finished the third stage yet?”
Andrei frowned, and his apprentice, a man in his thirties, ducked his head in surprise.
“Yes. Apparently, it’s a power that we can’t easily handle yet…….”
“You said it was demonic power.”
“Yes. It’s a power greater than mankind’s, one that is now only a legend.”
“Stupid. There is no power greater than humanity.”
The apprentice flinched at Andrei’s rebuke.
Andrei ignored the apprentice and stared at a large incubation facility off to one side of the common room. Inside were people subrged in a green liquid.
“Look at those test subjects. Once upon a ti, humanity rejected demonic power, refusing to understand it at all, but now we harness it. Why do you think that is?”
“It’s all because of your brilliance, Master.”
“Forget the flattery, what has changed since then is the advancent of knowledge. Study, analyze, explore. All fear cos from ignorance and the unknown. If you know, it is no longer a force to be feared.”
To the ignorant, demonic power is a taboo that must never be touched but if you can harness it, it is the greatest weapon of all.
“I’m lucky to have a facility like this underground in the capital, let alone a dead World Tree and the demonic power it contains.”
Thanks to this, Andrei was able to make a quantum leap in his life’s work.
He now had free access to a World Tree and demonic power, two samples that would take a lifeti to obtain.
He didn’t know why the dead World Tree was in the capital underground with only its base left and the sa goes for the demonic power sealed within. There must be a reason, but Andrei didn’t care, he saw it all as an opportunity.
“With this, I can get revenge on everyone who has ever made fun of , and I can even surpass that madman, Victor, who annoys every ti.”
To do that, he needed to continue his research.
Progress had been slower than he’d originally planned, but it was still within the realm of possibility. If there was a problem, it would be the unwelco visitors to this underground facility.
“What happened to the intruders?”
“We’ve sent in so unfinished Seconds, but it looks like their skills aren’t up to par, and they’re having trouble.”
“Hmm. I see.”
The Seconds were liberators who had volunteered to be guinea pigs, infused with demonic power and chira cells, then revived with necromancy.
As the warlocks divided their experints into stages, they nad their experints First, Second, and Third.
The Firsts were the chiras created by mixing beast factors with the life force of the World Tree.
The Seconds were Liberation Army agents who were infused with the cells of such chiras and demonic powers combined with black magic.
The Second’s experints alone were so powerful that they were able to overpower even the strongest knights. So the Second’s loss now ant that their enemies were not ordinary.
“If they’ve been defeated, then the invaders must be skilled.”
“Judging by their lack of numbers, they must have co as a small elite force.”
“I suppose. Excellent choice, because in a place like this, no matter how many they try to shove in, they’ll only end up with more casualties.”
“So, Master, what do you suggest we do?”
“Send in all the Seconds. Sa goes for the Firsts. We can’t kill them, but we can stall them. And we need to make sure the Phase Three experint goes perfectly. What’s his status now?
“So far, he’s experiencing a force backlash, but he’s still in the stabilization zone. If we keep this up, he’ll open his eyes within the allotted ti.”
The words brought a smile to Andrei’s lips.
“Heh. I kind of like that. Hopefully I’ll get to watch Third wipe them all out.”
Andrei’s gaze drifted to the center of the hollow. Inside a much larger incubator than the others, a man was hunched over, subrged in red liquid.
“That’s a lot of desire for an officer in the Liberation Army, to participate in an experint where we can’t guarantee his life.”
“I suppose that’s what they an by power hunger.”
“Yes. And since we’re working together, I’ll give him the best of both worlds. When the Third is complete, I will send him to…….”
Andrei’s head snapped up as he spoke. There, in his line of sight, was a group of chiras in formation.
Andrei squinted and glared at them.
“Master?”
“……The rat’s gone into hiding.”
With that, Andrei muttered and reached out toward the chiras. As soon as magic flared at his fingertips, the head of one of the chiras burst open.
“Master, why are you suddenly…….”
“An enemy. It seems there’s soone over there with a keen eye for biology.”
“What? What’s that…….?”
“They’ve been spying on us, taking control of our chiras. Apparently, your thods have been discovered. Did you not know that?”
“If so…….”
“Speed up your research on Third. It’s a race against ti from here on out.”
With that, Andrei stepped away.
Hans, whose link had been broken by the chira’s death, lifted his bowed head.
“……Crazy. He noticed this?”
He thought the chira he used would never be seen through by the enemies, but he was wrong.
Andrei, the leader of the biotech faction noticed their presence and dismissed the surveillance chira.
Hans’s face grew grave and he imdiately began to write down the information he had seen.
“Sedina.”
“Yes.”
Sedina, who had been standing by, answered the call and Hans handed her a paper.
“There’s nothing more I can do here. It’s your turn.”
“Yes……!”
* * *
Rudger and Chris imdiately converged on Second’s corpse to analyze it.
“The corpse’s necrosis is very rapid. Is it the effect of necromancy?”
“That’s one thing, but it’s probably from being forced to use powers that don’t fit. It seems like they’ve gained ridiculous physical abilities, but their ti of actual activity is short.”
“Yeah. Based on the rate of necrosis, they probably won’t last more than fifteen minutes. They fight by burning through all their life force at once.”
“But unless we know what they’re doing inside, we’re not going to have fifteen minutes to waste.”
Nodding, Chris suddenly looked back at Belaruna.
“Even more surprising than that. How on earth did Lady Belaruna know he was going to make a move?”
“What? , ?”
Belaruna asked, confused, as if she hadn’t seen the arrow coming at her. She was the one who had moved before anyone else before the Second test subject was revived.
“Well, the postmortem stiffening that was supposed to happen didn’t happen…… so I was just wondering, warlocks also work with corpses.”
“I see, you’re pretty quick on your feet considering that.”
“…….”
Rudger stared at Chris in disbelief. Now he wasn’t even going to ask where the elf had seen a post-mortem stiffening corpse.
‘Later, when I get ho, I’m going to clap my hands and say it’s great that Belaruna did human experintation.’
As he thought this, Rudger had a mont of unease. Surely she hadn’t already started experinting on humans?
‘Not yet, judging by what she’s doing to Hans.’
It was only an attempt, but she wouldn’t hesitate to do it if she had the chance.
‘I thought Seridan was the biggest ticking ti bomb, but it turns out she’s the bigger problem.’
Rudger shook his head. What mattered now was this test subject in the hands of the enemy.
“I guess we’ll just have to stay on our toes, because they’re not going to stop here.”
“I’m sure they won’t.”
Chris nodded, agreeing with Rudger.
“I didn’t an to make light of this, but it’s a lot worse than I thought.”
“What’s even scarier is that they’ve got sothing even worse in store.”
“I thought I was just going to analyze the World Tree, but sohow I ended up here.”
“Do you regret it?”
“No. I don’t regret it. I’ve made so good connections since I’ve been here.”
“You don’t even think about hiding……anymore.”
“What?”
“We’ve co this far and since we can’t back out I’m going to blast through this as fast as I can. Are you ready?”
“Hmm. You didn’t have to ask.”
“That’s good to know.”
Chris and Rudger readied themselves for battle.
In the distance, they could see the Liberators coming toward them and Chris imdiately drew his wand from behind his back.
Usually, he didn’t care about his magic wand, but after Belaruna praised him, he started using it from the beginning.
He didn’t stop there, but rather looked at Rudger and asked.
“You won’t use your wand?”
“No, I won’t, and I don’t need to.”
This was an unusual case, and he was afraid of being discovered if he made a mistake so Rudger had to refrain from using magic that would give him away.
“Arrogant.”
Chris understood Rudger’s words to an that he was so confident in his abilities that he didn’t need to use a magic wand.
“Sothing like that.”
Rudger didn’t bother to correct the misunderstanding, so he simply replied and activated his magic.
* * *
Trina Ryanhowl drew the swords at her waist.
Holding a sharp blade in each hand, she sliced through the First and Second Test Subjects in a flash of light.
The chiras were no match for Trina. Although they could be quite intimidating to ordinary soldiers, but to a master who transcended humanity, even a few of them could be easily wiped out.
What was troubleso was the Second test subjects who could take them by surprise.
“Trina, behind you!”
“I know.”
A sharp blade stabbed toward the back of her head but Trina tilted her head lightly to the side, dodging the attack, and then spun her body.
The centrifugal force of the blade swung in a half-moon as the dodge and counterattack were almost simultaneous.
Trina’s blade skimd lightly over the Second’s chin, it was a blow that even the Second, whose reaction ti was beyond perception, could not dodge. Its head was severed and clattered to the floor.
Without a second glance at the corpse, Trina swung her sword again. The spikes from the distant chiras were cut off by the blade and fell helplessly to the ground.
Throughout the attack, which barely gave her a chance to breathe, Trina never faltered.
She was not disadvantaged by the enemy numbers, such was the strength of a master.
“Trina!”
“Okay.”
Casey gave her the signal, and Trina imdiately stepped away. At the sa ti, countless droplets of moisture in the air coalesced into sharp spikes that swept through the First and Second Test subjects.
“Looks like it’s settled.”
“It’s not over yet, it’s only a matter of ti before another wave cos, and besides, Trina, you can feel it, can’t you?”
“Yeah. The chiras don’t matter, but the Liberation Army experints……are getting stronger and stronger.”
The first Seconds to appear had been killed and then resurrected with powers beyond human comprehension.
Trina and Casey were surprised by it, but were able to defeat them without difficulty. However, each subsequent Second was stronger than the last.
They were able to complete their physical transformation without dying, and they retained so degree of rationality, so they didn’t just attack blindly.
“Gradually, the test subjects are becoming more sophisticated.”
“That’s right. And if it continues like this, there will probably be one that we can’t deal with.”
“You an we need to break through quickly before that happens?”
“That’s not possible, because as soon as they see an opening, they change the terrain.”
“Constantly changing terrain and using increasingly stronger experints to attack us it’s a blatant stalling tactic, but we can’t do anything about it.”
As soone who doesn’t even know the geography of this place, it’s pretty annoying.
If they trace back the roots of the World Tree, they’ll find the enemy ho base, but they keep changing the terrain, looking for gaps.
It was then that Trina stirred and fixed her gaze to one side. Casey was about to ask what was wrong, but then she felt sothing, too, and shut up.
[Boom!]
Trina and Casey readied themselves for battle but their enthusiasm quickly faded as the dust settled.
“Hmm?”
Their opponent had spotted them, too, and stared at them blankly.
It was Rudger Chelici, who ca here as an analyst.
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