episode_0131

“Are you serious…? ?”

Shuri, a knight with the gift of healing, asked me with her eyes wide open.

“Yes.”

“Well, such nonsense is possible?”

“Yes. It is possible.”

The medical officers around me were also shaking as if they could not believe what I was saying.

“Still… . Even if that were possible… . Ethically problematic… .”

“The voluntary sacrifice of a few to save the many is a beautiful thing. No problem.”

“But… !”

“I won’t force you. However, if we leave it like this, the Knights will suffer great damage. Just 3 people. If you sacrifice just 3 people, the rest can survive.”

Trembling eyes. Eventually, the head is lowered. Two fists clenched.

“…I will do it. Instead, we will limit it to those who ‘volunteer’.”

Shuri made a difficult decision.

At this, the medical officers nodded their heads with difficulty.

I left the infirmary.

The outside was crowded with knights who were injured or taking a break from their shifts.

After finding a fairly high place and climbing up, I used a loudspeaker to attract their attention.

“Ah. Everyone, please focus.”

The knights focused their attention on me. There was anticipation in their eyes. It seems like they thought I had some sort of plan again.

It’s not an operation. It’s not something to look forward to, though.

“The situation is not good. The enemies are making a last-ditch effort, having sold out their future, and it is assumed that even if the Knights win, they will suffer great damage. But there’s no way a knight would be afraid of death. For my comrades, for the empire. I believe you are willing to sacrifice your life.”

The knights’ eyes changed. From expectation to disappointment. I wondered if there was some kind of good strategy going on, but they probably thought it was just a speech to boost morale.

“For the Empire!”

At this, an astute knight shouted.

“””For the Empire!”””

Then the other knights also shouted along.

Shouting slogans out loud is effective in its own way in boosting morale. But what I want is not that kind of mental theory.

“So, from now on, we will be recruiting 3 engineers. If you are willing to sacrifice your life for your comrades, please raise your hand.”

chuck-.

Without any hesitation, the knights raised their hands as if they were performing a military dance.

An attitude that does not hesitate no matter how dangerous the mission is. He is truly an example of a desirable knight.

“One thing to keep in mind is that the three people recruited will definitely die.”

But what I said afterwards changed the mood.

They may have thought that ‘a person who can sacrifice their life for their comrades’ meant a person who would be sent on a very dangerous mission with a very high chance of dying.

Missions where you are likely to die and missions where you will definitely die.

It may seem similar, but it requires a completely different mindset.

Still, the knights cannot put down their hands.

This is partly because of their noble spirit of sacrifice, but more than that, when everyone else is raising their hands, how can they be the only ones to lower their hands? He is a knight in name and character.

‘Actually, that’s why I said it late on purpose.’

The knights began to look at each other. I can’t let go because of my pride, but I don’t want to die either.

An uncomfortable air current flowed.

And if this atmosphere continues, someone is bound to step forward.

“Baby, what exactly does it mean to die?”

The knight stood up and asked.

The overall age of the knights stationed there is relatively young. However, that does not mean that there are no elderly knights, and Audrey, the middle-aged knight who is now standing, is one of them.

She keeps calling me baby, and I think she feels maternal love because of my charm. She’s about the same age as my mother, and she’s not the kind of person who cares much about titles or things like that, so I left her alone.

“It is literally. Those recruited face certain death that cannot be revived by any means. Instead, thanks to that, all the other knights are able to survive. To put it simply, we will sacrifice three people to prevent further losses.”

There was silence.

‘Everyone is worried.’

It’s great not to say you don’t know at all and to think about sacrificing yourself. I even said this in the first place, but no one even lowered their hands.

“Ha, bastards. I can hear the sound of the head rolling all the way from here.”

At this time, another middle-aged knight, Patsy, stood up.

Unlike Audrey, who looked to be in her fifties, she was younger than middle-aged, roughly in her late thirties.

“Hands down, children. Where are you little bitches trying to interfere?”

At Patsy’s loud-mouthed words, everyone looked at each other and lowered their hands one by one.

“Ouch Malsuk, why don’t you get up early?”

“Don’t call me Malsuk. What on earth should I do to make Marlene talk?”

Another middle-aged knight named Malsuk, or rather Marlene, stood up.

“You can’t entrust such an important task to people who don’t even have blood on their heads.”

Unlike Patsy, who had a loud mouth, she seemed quite gentle.

“Is it okay with the three of you like this?”

In response to my question, the three middle-aged knights stood up, nodded and came forward.

Audrey has a kind look and calls me baby.

Patsy has a loud mouth and an easy-going personality.

Mal-suk, no, Marlene, with a gentle look.

“Do you have any regrets?”

Patsy smiled brightly and answered my question, which I asked out of anger, to prevent her from running away later.

“I have so many regrets. Before I go crazy, I wanted to have some hot time with a handsome guy like you.”

The knights sitting at her joke began to chuckle softly.

“If you come back alive, I’ll think about it.”

When I accepted it, Patsy smiled mischievously.

“Kya, this is something I have to live with even if I die?”

“Ugh. Why is this bitch who can’t stand the sight of a man still an old maid?”

“Do you think it’s different? If you take it off, she will wet your crotch and run towards you.”

“Menopause has arrived, bitch.”

Marlene and Patsy bickered with each other and headed to the infirmary under Shuri’s guidance.

There is a significant age difference between the two, but seeing how they treat each other without fault, it seems like they have known each other for quite a long time.

Audrey stood in front of me afterwards.

She patted my shoulder and whispered.

“…Baby. We are fine.”

I think they comforted me because I felt responsible for putting them in harm’s way, but that emotional pain has long since disappeared from me.

Still, I couldn’t split the thread, so I used a facemaker to make a face that was painful but pretended not to be.

“Thank you.”

As I nodded lightly, Audrey smiled kindly.

Why are you worried about me when you sacrifice your own life?

*

If you really look at the strengthening drugs sold on the market, they are closer to supplements than strengthening. Arc supplement made by dissolving arc in a special solution so that it can be easily absorbed by the body.

Therefore, no matter how many times you take general strengthening drugs, there are no side effects other than arc poisoning.

However, the Oz series created by Olivia was fundamentally different from these general strengthening drugs.

Arc builds up in the heart. To be precise, it accumulates in the ventricle, an organ attached to the heart. For ordinary people, the size of the ventricle is small, so the amount of arc accumulated is small, but if developed through training, it is possible to accumulate an overwhelming amount of arc like knights.

The reason I can’t use Arc is because I don’t have the ventricle that only people in this world have.

Arc accumulated in the ventricle spreads throughout the body through blood vessels. Normally, it spreads through the blood like oxygen, but it is said that with training, the arc can be circulated independently of the blood. I don’t know exactly what the principle is.

In any case, knights accumulate a large amount of arc in their bodies and take it out and use it when necessary. At this time, if too much arc moves at once, the blood vessel bursts because it cannot withstand the pressure.

So, just as the heart has heart valves to regulate the amount of blood, the ventricle also has these valves. Without these, knights and all those who set foot in the realm of superhumans would have been left behind.

Coming back to the main topic, what is the difference between the Oz series and existing strengthening drugs?

The point is that the Oz series forces this valve open.

A large amount of arc dissolved in the drug pours into the ventricle, and quickly spreads throughout the body thanks to the valve being forcibly opened. Unlike existing strengthening drugs that only act as supplements, the Oz series actually makes you stronger.

Of course, the strain on the blood vessels and heart is beyond imagination, and undiluted Oz-6 is dangerous enough to cause death with just one dose.

Of course, Oz-7 (Oz-7), which has reduced the burden as much as possible through improvements, has become safe enough to be used continuously as long as you take adequate rest.

“So. Are you going to stick that needle in my back and rip out my heart? I didn’t expect it to be this hot.”

Patsy, seeing the needles being prepared by the medical officers, spoke in a slightly trembling voice.

For an adult who is afraid of injections, the long needle was too long, too long.

The procedure I am going to perform on them now is a so-called limit release procedure, which destroys the dorsal ventricular valve.

The opening and closing of the ventricular valve is determined by the amount of a special hormone secreted from the brain. The Oz series manipulates the secretion of this hormone to open the door.

However, it is impossible for me to create the Oz series, which is the essence of Olivia’s technical skills, on my own. There are no facilities, and even if there were facilities, they simply couldn’t be built.

Therefore, we have no choice but to choose the ignorant method of destroying the valve by directly touching it.

“ugh–….”

The long needle dug into Patsy’s back.

The medical officer sends an arc to the long needle. The long needle reacts and generates heat, which will destroy the valve of the ventricle.

It is impossible to restore a damaged valve. Therefore, unlike drugs that forcibly ‘open’ the body by manipulating hormones, those who undergo this procedure are certain to die.

In other words, Patsy has become terminally ill.

“Phew… . Phew… .”

Patsy began to breathe heavily. As the valve was destroyed, arc suddenly began to be supplied to the body, and the body organs that responded began to rapidly consume oxygen.

Patsy, who had crossed the irreversible river, seemed to be intoxicated by the exaltation of the rushing power rather than the fear of death.

“The duration is 3 minutes.”

“Ha! If I kill them all, these old women will have no chance, right?”

“That’s right.”

Wormwood–.

The two long needles that were stuck in his back were pulled out.

“Huuuu… .”

Patsy held up her sword and let out a long breath.

“Just wait. I will kill them all in one minute and burn the last one on the bed.”

After saying some last words that were too vulgar to be considered a will, Patsy left the infirmary.

Three minutes had already passed since the promised one minute, but she did not return.

We silently prepared for the next procedure.