Ch.4646. Howling Darkness

“What do we do, what do we do about our Amon!”

On the day he arrived at the hospital after scorching the soles of his feet while dealing with the cleaners.

Sonia’s wailing echoed throughout the private room after she received the call.

Seeing his lover sobbing, the actual patient’s own cries retreated back down his throat.

Regaining his composure thanks to his crying girlfriend, Amon comforted her and said:

“I’m really fine. This time it’s not as dangerous as before.”

“But the doctor said! That you might never walk again!”

“That’s just something they say to avoid responsibility if problems develop later. It won’t happen, so don’t worry.”

“But… but…”

Her reaction was somewhat different from when he had burned his side before.

That made sense, since back then he had tried to handle it secretly without telling Sonia, which led to that mess, but this time he was injured while working, so naturally it felt different.

‘You already knew that mercenary work comes with a high risk of injury.’

Of course, he would never say this out loud.

It wasn’t exactly an appropriate thing to say to a worried lover.

While Sonia’s tears soaked his hospital gown, all Amon could do was share his body heat to let her know he was still alive.

He felt her soft hair and left it to time.

As time passed and she began to calm down, Amon finally explained what had happened in the dungeon.

Finding the cleaners, how they attacked first, and how he had pushed himself a bit too hard to finish off those who were trying to escape.

“Did you really have to do that?”

Sonia interrupted.

Of course, she understood rationally.

This world is harsh, grudges are complicated, and fewer threats are always better.

In a world where safety can’t be guaranteed until one of two enemies is in the grave, Amon’s actions weren’t completely wrong.

From a rational perspective, suffering an injury that could be healed while ensuring a definitive conclusion was actually a wise choice.

But that was in the realm of reason.

Since emotions can’t be understood rationally, Amon could only respond with a bitter smile.

Amon comforted Sonia again and continued his story.

“I think I’ve gotten mixed up in something nasty.”

“Again?”

“Again.”

Sonia’s eyes narrowed.

Realizing what that look meant, Amon raised both hands and said:

“That’s why I’m telling you about it this time.”

“You won’t go alone, right?”

“I’ll tell you when I need to. Until then, it’s not certain, so focus on your studies.”

“If that’s the case.”

With those words, Sonia drew the curtain.

After creating a silence barrier with a flick of her finger, she asked:

“So. What have you gotten involved in this time?”

“I don’t know.”

By the time Amon tried to secure evidence, most of it had already burned.

It would be very difficult to find out who hired those cleaners or what information had been left at that location.

“But our mage turned out to be quite capable. He created information from fragmented words.”

When Amon added a bit of his past-life knowledge as a primer to the restoration abilities of the white mage, information began flowing.

Thanks to this, they derived information that, while possibly conjecture, had a high probability of being accurate.

“It’s related to the creation of the dungeon we were in.”

“Um… Wordum, was it?”

“That’s right.”

<Howling Darkness>

Shortened to Wordum.

The story of Wordum’s creation was fairly well-known.

Before becoming a dungeon, the company was a mega-corporation that sold magic engravings and magical tools.

The research that became the catalyst for their downfall was about magic engravings.

The content of that research was very famous.

Even Sonia knew about the magic engraving research that destroyed the company.

“I remember they got greedy trying to create an undead army with magic engravings and failed.”

“Yes. As you said, they embedded spyware in seemingly normal magic engravings that would turn the recipient into an undead loyal to the company upon death.”

“And then the chairman and research director backstabbed each other and both perished.”

This much was common knowledge.

It had been clearly recorded by the CCTV in the basement of the company.

But the problem was what happened afterward.

Sonia spoke in a whisper, as if afraid someone might hear despite the silence barrier:

“You mean you’re involved with how the lich was created?”

“Yes.”

The reason for the company’s downfall was already public knowledge.

However, there was no information about why a lich suddenly appeared in the company or why the company became a dungeon.

People speculated that the chairman or research director might have been resurrected by their own engravings, but without evidence, they couldn’t be certain.

The information the white mage had discovered was about how that lich came to be.

“The lich… was the result of sabotage.”

When a company collapses, hyenas swarm the abandoned company.

Unfortunately, if the company doesn’t become a dungeon, it’s not covered by the Special Dungeon Law.

The technology and information of a company that collapses “normally” gets auctioned off and purchased by other companies.

The problem is that all of this costs money.

So the corporation behind this incident devised a method.

“They used the undead technology to turn someone into an undead, transforming that company into a dungeon. That way, they could take the technology for free under the Special Dungeon Law.”

“Then isn’t the culprit the company that took and is using that technology?”

Sonia’s reasoning was sound.

But of course Amon had already thought of this.

“The thing is… there are too many companies.”

“Ah.”

Since the company had been quite substantial before its collapse, it had many magical technologies to exploit.

Some technologies were sold to environmental companies, while others were being used by military corporations.

Because explorers had ransacked the company and sold technologies everywhere, there were 137 suspect companies.

“What about the possibility that the first company to use the technology is the culprit?”

“If I were a corporate chairman, I would deliberately introduce a time delay before starting to use the technology.”

“That makes sense.”

Amon’s explanation was complete.

Now all the puzzle pieces fit together.

No wonder the cleaners were on edge.

Taking technology from a company that turned into a dungeon versus taking it from one that simply self-destructed are very different matters.

Depending on the circumstances, they could face legal repercussions severe enough to threaten a company’s existence.

“If this gets out, rival companies would pounce on the opportunity to tear them apart.”

In a world where laws might seem ineffective, that’s only from a commoner’s perspective.

From a corporate standpoint, the law is both a shield to legally block opponents and a sword to strike with.

At least in corporate battles, the law functions properly.

Therefore, whoever was behind this incident, if this information got out, competing companies would eagerly file lawsuits.

Depending on the outcome of the litigation, they could lose exclusive technologies or face fines heavy enough to make the company falter.

That’s why they needed to eliminate evidence at all costs.

“I understand.”

Sonia tapped her finger on Amon’s bed.

“Why do you always get mixed up in these things?”

“Always? It’s only been twice so far.”

“Normal people don’t get involved in troubles like this even once, let alone twice, especially when it involves mega-corporations.”

“…”

Amon kept his mouth shut.

Strictly speaking, many people get involved once.

They just don’t experience a second time because they disappear without a trace after the first.

Amon was special enough to enjoy the “privilege” of experiencing a second time.

However, that meant he wasn’t normal, so Sonia’s point was valid.

Amon’s shoulders flinched at Sonia’s sigh.

“So, this time you really won’t go alone, right?”

“Yes. I promise. This time I’ll definitely call you if I need to.”

“That’s all I needed to hear.”

Compromise wasn’t an option.

As they had already experienced with the Higgjen Group, corporations are persistent entities.

If it’s not cost-effective, corporations might hush up and overlook damage caused by individuals, but the incident Amon and Sonia were involved in couldn’t be settled with a calculator.

Either the individual dies, or the corporation perishes—one of the two.

Having no intention of sitting around waiting to die, and no reason to do so, the two immediately began planning their next move.

“So you have a plan? Like last time?”

“Well… it’s hardly a plan. First, since we don’t have information, we need to find some. Before they come to attack us.”

“What about going public with this information and attacking them first?”

“If we go public without proper focus, we might turn all companies against us.”

As mentioned earlier, Wordum’s technology had spread to various companies in this case.

If they went public without identifying a specific individual?

They could be attacked by all companies using that technology.

“We need to make it look like one company’s responsibility. That way, other companies will side with us.”

If they focused on one target, other companies could claim ignorance.

In fact, if the culprit company was held responsible and destroyed, other companies could play the role of innocent victims and might actively help.

Sonia nodded.

“I understand. So as you said, finding out who’s behind this is the key. How do you plan to get that information?”

“I’m going to ask.”

“Who?”

“Who else?”

Amon showed her a wiki document about Wordum’s boss, the lich, on his phone and said:

“Isn’t it most certain to ask the person directly involved?”

***

A few days later, having recovered, Amon returned to his party.

The party members welcomed their leader’s recovery.

“Sorry. I heard you didn’t enter the dungeon while I was gone? There was no need for that.”

“We couldn’t do that. What if we encountered cleaners like those without you?”

Amon smiled at the buffalo tank’s response.

The members of this party all had experience being wronged, so safety was their top priority.

Barbaric mercenaries or explorers might call them cowards, but Amon called it wisdom.

“Still, you couldn’t earn money while I was gone.”

[Don’t worry about that.]

The mute sniper, now seemingly accustomed to it, spoke through the tank’s telepathy.

[We’ve been taking on light requests among ourselves.]

“Thanks to that, our coordination has become smoother. We even created a combo move, which I’ll show you later.”

The white mage chattered beside the sniper.

The ogre silently gave a thumbs up from the side.

Amon unconsciously smiled at the heartwarming scene.

Kathy approached from behind Amon and put her arm around his shoulder.

“So, leader. What’s our objective? You said there’s a way to avoid getting our throats cut by those ‘culprits’?”

Amon looked around at the party members.

No one had run away.

Respecting their resolve, he skipped offering them a chance to escape and went straight to explaining the plan.

Though it wasn’t much of a plan.

“Before they discover our existence and kill us, we’re going to raid the dungeon first.”

The party members had various reactions to Amon’s words.

“Whew. A company at our backs and a lich in front.”

[Perfect. An honorable death or a life in the mud.]

“Vox! I’m going to live honorably!”

“They say a living dog is more honorable than a dead lion. So according to Vox, surviving would be the honorable thing, right?”

No one was afraid.

They were already full of confidence.

Finally, Kathy, with her arm still around Amon’s shoulder, said:

“My life has become too turbulent since meeting you.”

“Are you calling me a plague god?”

“A plague god?”

“It’s an Eastern expression.”

“Japanese?”

“Joseon. No, maybe Japan has it too?”

Exchanging such trivial banter, the party began checking their equipment.

Howling Darkness speedrun.

Amon’s heart began racing at the emergence of this new content.