Ch.304304. Experiment

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Through such a process, now.

—!!

“…”

I sigh as I look at the giant monster spewing lasers right in front of me.

To be honest, it does look cool.

“…I don’t feel any killing intent from it, do I?”

[That’s what I’m saying.]

To be honest, defeating this thing isn’t particularly difficult.

If it had really been designed with the sole purpose of killing me, there would have been hundreds or thousands of better designs than this.

“…Should take about 10 minutes to cut it down?”

[That’s being generous.]

Even Calivan Chrysanyx, who’s always critical of me, is making such an assessment.

The laser it spews from its mouth is powerful, but honestly, considering the opponents I’ve faced so far, I’d rather bite my tongue and commit suicide than get hit by something like that.

“…”

And to put it another way.

It means that this person called Boris Leitman deliberately held back when creating this.

A professor at the Demonic Spire can’t be an idiot, so he must know that something like this lacks practical combat effectiveness.

I glance toward the control room located at the upper level of this dome.

I heard that since magical energy isn’t just Mobius’s pet project at the Demonic Spire, other professors have also gathered for this experiment where its power is being demonstrated for the first time.

“…”

And I slightly furrow my brows at the situation I can vaguely see inside the distant control room.

Since I’m not in a life-or-death situation yet, I don’t have the enhanced vision to clearly observe what’s happening inside, but even without any special abilities, it’s not hard to read the atmosphere.

“It looks like he’s getting chewed out, doesn’t it?”

[…It does seem that way.]

Calivan sighs deeply, agreeing with my words.

Given how things look, there’s Astrid Campbell in her usual robot form, Boris looking around nervously, and Professor Mobius standing proudly beside them. I can occasionally see him opening his mouth to say something.

I don’t know what he’s saying, but every time Boris hears it, his complexion grows paler, which makes it pretty obvious.

“…”

Hmm.

That Boris person.

From our conversation, he didn’t seem like a bad person, but watching Mobius, who irritates me just by looking at him, berating him makes me twice as annoyed.

-W-we’ll begin the experiment… subject to position…

The announcement flows in a mumbling voice, much more dejected than usual, which wasn’t particularly confident to begin with.

Following those instructions, I slowly walk toward the robot dinosaur that’s emitting lasers and going berserk.

“…Well, I guess I need to relieve some stress.”

As I mutter that, a question comes from within the Soul Linker.

[How do you plan to do it?]

“They want magical energy, so I’ll show it to them.”

[…That’s it?]

“What else would there be?”

[No, you were talking about taking his head within five days or something, so I thought you might do something strange again.]

“If I made that obvious, my so-called mother’s life would be gone immediately.”

I must not forget my original purpose for doing this.

The goal is to destroy Mobius’s ‘authority’ that holds Astrid’s lifeline. Through that, I’ll throw that bastard into the abyss and save who needs to be saved.

I shouldn’t use extreme methods all at once.

So there are mainly two ways to undermine his authority.

First is to provide something to them that Professor Mobius cannot offer.

And second is to let everyone know that he’s not as great as he thinks he is.

I plan to do both.

Conveniently, all the other professors are present to serve as the audience.

Thinking this, I rub the corner of my mouth with my finger.

“Calivan.”

[Yes?]

“I’ve heard about the structure of the Demonic Spire, right?”

That is, the information I was given before the experiment began.

What’s located where, who invented what, and other trivial knowledge.

I only memorized one thing from all that.

Which parts Mobius was involved with.

[…]

And as I’m thinking about this, I hear Calivan snickering.

“Why are you laughing?”

[Nothing. I was just worried for nothing.]

“…What?”

[Since there are various restrictions this time to prevent you from going overboard, I was worried you might get frustrated by having to take things slowly.]

With a voice mixed with laughter, he continued.

[But looking at your expression, it’s clear you’re about to pull something again.]

I also let out a small laugh as I respond.

“And you don’t like that?”

[If that inhuman bastard is the target, I’m all for it.]

That’s right.

That’s why you’re my soul mate.

●

“…Looks like he’ll handle that easily again.”

“…Indeed.”

Alpha and Astrid simultaneously sighed as they watched the giant dinosaur being toyed with by Darwood Campbell’s brilliant movements.

To be honest, it was clear that this man wouldn’t struggle with a mere giant dinosaur at this point.

Just recalling the list of things he’s taken down makes that obvious.

And Astrid, who was watching the scene, spoke in a gloomy voice.

“Alpha.”

“Yes.”

“…Will Boris be okay?”

If the experiment results turn out like this, Mobius’s next move is predictable.

Alpha chuckled and responded.

“Are you worried now? Even though you knew from the beginning how this would turn out.”

“I know. Boris isn’t the type to create something that could actually kill someone anyway.”

That’s precisely why Boris was the first priority for ‘contact,’ isn’t it?

But, as expected.

It was clear that the situation was unfolding exactly as she had feared.

“Are you joking, Professor Boris?”

A voice sharp as a blade came from Professor Mobius, who was sitting some distance away from Astrid.

“I clearly told you this was your last chance to prove your achievements. Is this the best you can do?”

“…”

Astrid could see Boris’s lips trembling.

“I’ve told you many times before. Your research, even at its best, cannot escape the level of toys.”

“…T-that’s…”

“I trusted you until the very end, but the result is miserable as you can see. Would you like to make an excuse?”

“…”

After trembling in silence for a while, Boris finally managed to speak.

“N-no matter what, if I were to equip it with weapons that could actually kill a living person, t-they could really die—”

It’s a sensible statement.

Although this experiment itself is an abnormal situation, Boris’s claim is entirely reasonable. So reasonable that it would be stranger to explain it.

But.

The group she’s dealing with now is the ‘Demonic Spire.’

“I designed this dome where the experiment is taking place. I’ve equipped it with all kinds of safety measures so that even if Darwood Campbell’s life is in danger, he will absolutely not die. He may appear to die, but he absolutely won’t.”

“…B-but, how could you do such a thing in front of his mother—”

“Didn’t Professor Astrid herself say that the more extreme the struggle, the better the measurement of magical energy?”

“…”

That doesn’t seem to have meant showing a child dying in front of their mother.

As Astrid was grinding her teeth internally, Professor Mobius suddenly paused and lowered his voice.

“Or else.”

Not just lowering his voice.

It was a presence that almost felt like killing intent.

“Are you saying you cannot trust the results I’ve produced?”

Boris’s face turned pale.

Like all inventors, but especially Professor Mobius, touching his inventions is almost like touching a sore spot.

Just look at the atmosphere he’s creating without even saying anything.

“No, t-that’s not it—!”

“Then what’s with that attitude, Professor Boris?”

But berating someone like this when Boris’s face has already turned pale is almost in the realm of mental illness.

At this point, it just looks like bullying.

‘…This bastard has a sick hobby.’

If Darwood wins, Mobius will have a pretext to harm Boris, and if he loses, Darwood will suffer. It’s a win-win situation for him.

From the beginning, he set up a scenario where he would never lose, which is incredibly sinister.

Astrid slightly turned her head to look at the other professors who were ‘observing’ this experiment with her.

The reason Boris was always isolated in the Demonic Spire was partly due to his somewhat stubborn attitude, but more than that, the remaining individuals were… quite formidable.

Mostly in a bad way.

‘…Among these bastards, Boris is the only one who doesn’t regularly receive humans as experimental materials.’

He’s like the last professor maintaining some final shred of humanity.

And befitting such a person placed in the ‘Demonic Spire,’ the treatment he receives from others is predictable.

While Professor Mobius continues to pour out sharp words, everyone else just looks indifferent. Not a single person tries to intervene or mediate.

Even in this insane situation where human decency seems to have been thrown into the gutter, only Boris feels the abnormality and shows even a small resistance.

‘…Alpha.’

Astrid clenched her fist and looked at the cyborg standing next to her without any particular reaction.

Originally, she had anticipated that things would unfold this way.

However, it was this cyborg who strongly insisted that it wouldn’t matter.

That man would definitely be fine, he had assured her with a confidence that even she, as his mother, couldn’t muster.

“You don’t need to worry too much, Doctor.”

And as if he had precisely read her thoughts, Alpha, who had been silent until now, dropped those words.

“…What?”

“There’s one thing I’ve been firmly convinced of while observing that man.”

“Conviction?”

“Yes.”

While they were speaking.

Inside the dome, a strange phenomenon was occurring.

“…Wait, is that magical energy?”

“Yes. It looks violet. Is he finally bringing it out?”

The professors exchanged such sentences as they observed.

Indeed, as they said, violet energy was rising around Darwood, who wasn’t having much difficulty fighting the dinosaur.

But why specifically violet energy among all the types?

As far as Astrid knew, it was magical energy that had the function of extremely amplifying the energy of the contacted target.

There’s no need to bring out something like that against an opponent you’re fighting. Obviously, there’s no need to make the enemy’s energy stronger.

And seeing this, a smile-like expression flashed across Alpha’s face.

“That man. While he’s called trash in many ways, there’s one area where he excels.”

“…?”

“He’s absolutely merciless when it comes to making people who irritate him eat shit.”

Before she could ask what that meant.

Suddenly.

Darwood’s violet magical energy came into contact with the ‘laser’ that the dinosaur was intermittently spewing from its mouth.

And then.

-!!!

-!!!!!!!!!!!!

-!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

“W-waaaaaaah-!”

“I-insane-!”

Screams erupted from all directions.

The dinosaur’s laser bombardment, ‘amplified’ by Darwood, spread wildly around, almost ‘splitting’ and destroying the dome where the experiment was taking place.

Naturally, the control room observing from above couldn’t escape the effects, and explosions followed by vibrations occurred all around.

“…What…!”

“H-how could such power come from that piece of junk…!”

They didn’t expect such a result as soon as it came into contact with magical energy. That must be what they meant.

And the professors who uttered such words suddenly realized something and their expressions hardened.

“…”

“…U-um, Professor Mobius…?”

Until just now, the invention of the person who was insulting Professor Boris’s invention as being at the level of a toy.

Whether it was touched by magical energy or not, considering Professor Mobius’s sky-high pride, it was clearly going to be a severe mental blow.

But before such voices could continue.

“Ah.”

Suddenly.

Darwood, who had been calm after causing such destruction, slowly opened his mouth.

“I don’t know who made this dome, but they did a really shitty job.”

“…”

“They said they’d guarantee safety so I trusted them, but how could it be destroyed in one hit like this?”

“…”

As a vein rose on Professor Mobius’s face.

“Rather.”

A sentence mixed with laughter dropped from Darwood’s mouth again.

“The person who made this dinosaur seems like a much better scientist.”

“…”

“This was much harder to deal with.”

The grinding of Professor Mobius’s teeth was almost audible.

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