Chapter 115 - Resolution (2)
“So... it’s around here.”
I stopped walking at the spot marked on the mana map according to the information I got from Leila.
Well, this guy was an extre paranoid who always changed his location among several residences. So, even if I knew all the locations of his residences, it was a bit tricky to know where he was ‘right now’.
Even Leila, who passed on the information, added, ‘Even if you go this far, it might be a bit tricky to et him...’
“Uh... There’s nothing here?”
Chang irin looked around and said in a bewildered voice.
It was understandable since the place looked like a barren plain.
A background that would be perfectly described as a wasteland.
“irin. My eyesight isn’t very good, but is there sothing like a cactus nearby?”
In fact, my poor eyesight was an excuse; more accurately, I was checking to see how far this person’s abilities had awakened.
The prelude to this person’s ‘awakening’ was the extre sensitization of their five senses.
“Pardon? Uh...”
Hearing my words, Chang irin started to look around with a frown.
Then, as if she had found sothing, she let out a short exclamation.
“There really is! It looks like it’s straight ahead if we walk that way!”
“Then shall we go?”
“Yes! But since it’s in view, it doesn’t seem that far!”
We walked for half a day.
“...”
“...”
Well.
It seed certain that Evangeline was training this person properly.
The sensitization of this person’s qi sense was a phenonon that only occurred when she tried to find sothing herself. That was probably an unconscious act just now.
Leaving Chang irin, who couldn’t understand what was wrong with her own eyes, I used the iron rod I had prepared to accurately divide the ground near the cactus, drawing lines.
“Um, Kim Gyu-sik? What are you doing?”
“I’m looking for the entrance.”
Saying that, I created tiles in a grid-like pattern with the cactus as the starting point. A total of nine.
“Uh... this is...?”
Leaving the confused-looking Chang irin as she was, I walked across the tiles in order. In a way that drew a certain shape.
So, it was that.
That thing you input to unlock the screen when you first turn on your phone. The pattern.
“...She’s a person who hides in a sowhat cutesy way, huh?”
That's true.
However, the things that unfolded inside weren’t particularly so.
“No, but. Why do you know soone else’s password so casually...?”
The details don't matter, so I’ll pass.
“...”
And as soon as I traced the pattern, the floor began to rumble and crack open.
The way the secret base below revealed itself was a bit... how should I put it.
Cutesy.
It had the atmosphere of sothing you'd see in an old children’s animation.
“That’s really true. I’ve seen sothing similar. You know, isn’t this the kind of feeling you get from a hideout decorated by soone whose sensibilities are very childlike compared to their intelligence? Like in old animations.”
“...”
“...Why is that actually true?”
My point exactly.
***
Originally, the world of Conqueror was full of settings that would make you say such things if you dug deep enough.
But among them, the guy Chang irin and I had co to find was a particularly peculiar one.
Crawford. Known in the ga as the ‘chanic’.
His na itself reeked of machine oil. And in a fantasy world where magic and spells flew around, a guy digging into this kind of thing was an eccentric, to put it mildly.
‘Well...’
Still, he wasn’t entirely useless; the technologies this guy was developing, holed up in this closet of a room, would be a good addition to the ‘body’ that Leila was currently completing at my request.
It would shine brightly in the Third Ordeal.
-...
-...!
Of course, to get that kind of output, I would have to break through the facility that was now revealing itself before my eyes.
A humming sound echoed from all over, and the lights turned on sequentially with a clicking sound.
Well now.
It was a reaction as if they had been waiting for to co. Even though he must have fainted when he saw solving the pattern from above.
As I mulled over such thoughts, a very flustered voice ca down from the speaker on the ceiling.
[Ha..hahah...ha! We-welco to my secret laboratory! Inva...]
“...He bit his tongue, didn’t he?”
“Yep. He bit it.”
[I didn’t bite it! O-ouch...]
Right.
I'll just pretend that’s the case.
I sighed and took out the Planet Eater’s heart from my pocket.
Although I had it sealed in a container that had undergone countless magical treatnts by nagging Lee Si-yeong, the black energy writhing ominously inside it still looked unusual.
“You know what this is, right? You must have seen it once before.”
[...]
A cara attached to a cable ca down from the ceiling and approached the container I was holding.
The cara, which had been circling and examining the container, jumped up as if it were alive, startled.
[I-I don't know! I haven’t touched anything like this since then! Get lost!]
“...Ah, um.”
You’re very bad at lying, aren't you? Chang irin’s eyes, which seed to say that, wandered over to for a mont.
“Well, the reason I ca to find you is also related to ‘that ti’.”
[What did you say?]
“I know you were blackmailed and had no choice but to create the curse. So I’m giving you a chance to atone.”
Considering this guy’s personality, he was a guy who didn't even have the guts to create a curse strong enough to ruin soone’s life.
But it was also certain that this guy was the one who created the curse currently on Han Si-yeon.
If you looked into the circumstances, it was highly likely that so guy, whom Seo Jin-seong had been grinding his teeth about while in hiding for 10 years, threatened to harm him if he didn’t make it.
“I’m going to resolve the curse on Han Si-yeon. I can’t do that without your help.”
[...]
Silence.
Then, silence.
The feeling of deep contemplation was painfully transmitted through the speaker.
However, I could guess the answer that would co out here.
Probably, for sure.
[...If I resolve that, I’ll beco a complete enemy of the ‘client’! I don’t have the confidence to handle that!]
“I'm sure you don't.”
Yawning, I put the container back into my pocket.
“Well, I didn’t think you’d listen to right away either.”
If there was a guy who was afraid because he couldn't stand up to soone’s coercion, the thod of persuasion was simple.
You just had to prove that you were an even bigger threat.
[...Hi, hihi. Good! If you’re that confident, then go ahead and try!]
With those words, an unusual atmosphere began to rise within the facility.
The owner of this secret laboratory was definitely a recluse with poor social skills, but he displayed a level of expertise in his field befitting of his single-mindedness.
And the fields this guy had been digging into were ‘chanization’ and ‘other-dinsional research’.
They seed like two fields that would never match, but if you really thought about it, there was a rational reason.
“What is that?”
“He wants to build a giant robot.”
In that regard, his sensibilities matched Leila's quite well.
Probably, the giant Golem with the lion crest on its chest from before was also a product born from outsourcing to this guy.
“...Pardon?”
“You don’t know what a giant robot is? You know, the bipedal robot that’s huge...”
“No, I know what it is... but what does that have to do with other-dinsional research?”
That’s because it’s a dream that is simply impossible to realize with the technology and materials available here.
A trick like using a ‘Golem’ like Leila was not even an option for that guy.
There were perverts in the world who were not satisfied unless it had the brilliance that cos from a heavy full-tal body.
“Ah, aha... Is there that much value in it...?”
“[Of course there is!]”
“...”
Seeing my voice overlap with Crawford’s, Chang irin shut her mouth with a slightly deflated expression.
[Ha, haha! You, you’re quite a guy with rich sensibilities! But I won’t go easy on you for that!]
Imdiately after those words, chanized obstacles, traps, and even small humanoids began to pop out from all over.
Ah, right.
A familiar sequence.
Breaking through this base was always in the top 10 when users of Conqueror were asked to pick their favorite dungeon compositions.
From the design that reeked of B-grade robot movie sensibilities, to the facilities full of homages to sentai and kaiju shows.
It was full of things that allowed you to feel the rich fragrance of those days. Anyone who had ever liked such things would jump at them without a second thought.
And all of that was the result of Crawford racking his brains and pouring his own passion and taste into it.
The fact that this guy really, really loved such things was layered throughout this entire research facility.
If you dug deep into the reasons, there was also the sad setting that the ‘only happy tis in this guy’s life’ were all related to that.
“...Kim Gyu-sik? Why do you have such a heartbroken expression?”
“No. I just feel a bit sorry.”
So, for the catastrophe that was about to happen, I would like to express my apologies to Crawford in advance.
[ Share (Stage 2) / Unclassifiable: Unclassifiable ]
[ Copies one of the skills held by a friendly target. The number of skills that can be copied increases with the level of trust with the target. ]
[ Synthesis: When used in combination with another Share skill, it can generate additional effects. The additional effect occurs randomly and has a 12-hour cooldown. ]
“...”
Right.
I also doubted my eyes when this first ca out.
Synthesis. This was ‘sothing’ that didn’t even exist in the ga system I knew. As if it weren't enough to be a bugged character with a bugged skill, it was now spitting out things I didn’t even know about.
So I experinted a few tis.
And one of the most heinous combinations that ca out as a result was this.
[ Synthesize the target ‘Chang irin’s’ Share skill ‘Source’ with another skill? Y/N ]
Of course, I synthesize it. The target for synthesis was Seo Hye-in’s ‘Netherworld's Grasp’, and its higher-tier target, ‘Beholder’.
“irin. Please charge .”
“...I’m not a portable battery, you know.”
Chang irin grumbled, denying her own raison d'être, but she still obediently followed my instructions and passed her qi to .
And, well.
This synthesis skill.
The effect was random, but.
[ Source-Beholder Synthesis Roll... ]
[ Skill: Lethal Gazer is produced.]
[ Eliminates all ‘power sources’ within line of sight. ]
Not even once.
Had it not been broken.
-!
-!!
-!!!
Every machine in my line of sight exploded like popcorn.
It said all moving ‘power sources’. That ant things like electricity dwelling in machines were no exception.
So, you see.
‘Beholder’, which was originally supposed to only erase mana, when combined with the Source skill, which greatly helps in handling ‘qi’.
It had transford into sothing like an instant-death skill that could stop everything in sight.
“...”
Yep.
No matter how I thought about it, it was broken.
[...Uh.]
Crawford, who saw the tragic scene, swallowed his words for a mont.
[N-no... Nooo-! My, my research results-!]
Right. I was sorry too.
As a fellow robot enthusiast, I couldn’t help but feel guilty about this...
“...Shouldn’t you try feeling guilty about sothing else too?”
irin.
I feel like you’ve been getting harsher with lately.
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