Chapter 9: -bulsugung (2)

Chapter 9 – The Trouble Maker (2)

“Welcome! This is the 75th Floor of Tartara. The Ebony Garden, a laboratory where new knowledge and advanced technology sprout through darkness!”

‘Her energy is good. Could she be an elf?’

Seril, her green eyes sparkling, introduced the place to the arriving Elena with a high-pitched voice and exaggerated mannerisms.

Its scale was smaller than the 88th floor, which was the magic extraction chamber.

It was less than half that size.

However, it was a very alien space, quite tall, with moss and grass growing on the floor, and trees with unknown black bark.

In the very center of it, a large chair was placed.

The chair, which could freely adjust its angle like a hospital bed, was ready to firmly restrain Elena with heinous chains, belts, and hooks that paid no mind to the occupant’s comfort.

Elena was indeed dragged to the middle of the laboratory and thoroughly tied to that chair.

Elena, restrained more severely than when her magic was extracted, every inch of her including her fingers and toes, could only move her eyelids freely.

“And the technologist here is me, Doctor Seril Idrian. Subject, do you know anything about me?”

Seril tilted the chair, removed Elena’s mask, and brought her face right up to Elena’s.

Then it became even clearer to Elena’s eyes.

Seril’s severed ear, that is.

“This ear, you made it like this, didn’t you?”

“Oh? That’s strange. I’ve never laid a hand on a half-elf.”

“Of course, Her Illustrious Majesty wouldn’t dirty her hands directly.”

Noticing Elena’s gaze on her ear, Seril twisted the corner of her mouth.

“I’m from Bellsauss University. I was there more than 50 years before you became emperor.”

‘Bellsauss… I think I know where that is.’

Seril revealed her past.

And the moment she heard that story.

Elena easily recalled a name from her memory.

“Your Majesty, we have caught the tail of a faction attempting to conspire with the Ruperion Kingdom to steal the Empire’s magic technology and advanced alchemy.”

“…Is that so?”

In the past, Elena had received a secret report from Saruel, the leader of the Black Shadow Corps.

It was a report that they had found an insidious group attempting to steal research results and technology.

Stealing important technology is punished as a crime equivalent to treason, regardless of the country.

From Elena’s perspective, she couldn’t help but punish them.

‘Bellsauss University.’

However, at that time, Elena had one more goal.

That was to steadily grow the protagonist’s party and prevent various problems that would confront the world.

At that time, Elena believed that with her position as the final boss and the power of the fully awakened protagonist’s party, everything could be resolved.

So there was something she had to do.

It was to sweep away all the faculty members of Bellsauss University suspected of being involved in the incident, according to the flow of the original story.

In fact, Elena knew who the real culprit was, and that the Bellsauss University faculty, including Seril, only had weak suspicions against them, and it wasn’t intentional.

However, to control the flow of the original story, Elena carried out the purge.

At her single command to punish them, the accused were subjected to brutal torture and executed, or they fell into the s*ave class, which in this era consisted only of branded punishers.

“We were clearly innocent. We didn’t do anything! It wasn’t as if there was no evidence. Not until the Empress’s single word of ‘summary execution’ overturned everything!”

Seril gritted her teeth and glared at Elena, who was tied in front of her, with blazing eyes.

With all the innocence and injustice she had screamed herself hoarse about in the torture chamber where she was tormented to confess, and on the path where she was dragged away as a s*ave, having lost all honor and mocked before the crowd, and with the suppressed rage and sorrow she had held until rescued by Equitas.

“Now our positions are reversed. So, do you want to pay back everything you suffered then, exactly the same to me?”

“Haha, you’re just a brat who’s lived a little over 20 years. I’m not a tyrant like you. Why would I, when I’ve gotten my hands on such a precious and valuable subject?”

Seril, who had started laughing again at Elena’s question, slowly traced her finger from Elena’s face down to her stomach.

“I wonder if I have about 100 years left of my life. Even if I become an old hag who can barely walk due to aging at the end of my lifespan, you’ll be mine until my last breath.”

The revenge she desired was not simple violence, but something achieved through the research and experiments she had dedicated her entire life to.

Seril, her eyes sparkling, pulled out a small vial from her pocket.

****

“The name of this drug is Lumensid. It’s something I made, a potential cure for the incurable disease, Mana Vein Sclerosis.”

“Mana Vein Sclerosis is an incurable disease that causes extreme pain and ultimately death through rampage when mana twists or collides within the mana veins, preventing proper circulation. Is that truly possible?”

When Seril explained the drug, the management office personnel, including Lunara, were even more surprised.

Unlike Elena, who, as the ruler of magic, had no reason to worry about Mana Vein Sclerosis, it was the worst disease that all magic users feared and were wary of.

“Theoretically. The principle is simple. The moment Lumensid is introduced into the body, it artificially causes the mana veins to rampage. It’s a principle of twisting the already twisted veins one more time to untangle them.”

Seril nodded.

If Lumensid were officially released to the market, it would cause considerable commotion.

However, Lumensid had one major problem: due to its principle, it required continuous modifications through multiple experiments.

To test it, experimentation was ultimately essential… and it was hard to predict how many people would die in the process.

That was precisely why Seril had created Lumensid and kept it sealed until now.

Because even if one were insane, repeatedly performing human experiments on a healthy person was something only a black magician would do.

“But here’s a test subject who doesn’t seem to die no matter how much Lumensid I pour into her, and I don’t feel any guilt either?”

Seril glanced at Elena, who was quietly leaning back in the chair and looking at her, then burst into laughter.

“You’d better open your mouth quietly. Unless you want to be shamefully gagged and have it forced down your throat. I made it for oral administration because needles don’t work on you.”

Seril, wearing gloves and a mask, carefully held the opened, unfinished drug towards Elena.

Anyone could guess.

That eating that, which was emitting steam from the bottle, would cause pain as if all the blood vessels in the body were being torn and ripped apart.

“Hurry and drink it. Suffer with that filthy body and atone, even if only a little, for the countless sins you’ve committed.”

Seril thrust the vial right in front of Elena’s nose.

Inwardly, she was full of the desire for Elena to refuse it, so she could forcibly open her mouth and shove the potion into her shamefully crumpled face.

“Huh…?”

But Elena chuckled, took the potion in one gulp, and swallowed it.

And… nothing happened.

“I… impossible. Why?!”

Seril, flustered, checked Elena’s condition.

Opening her mouth, checking her eyes, observing changes with a mana detector, and so on.

“Well, why indeed?”

Elena, meanwhile, leaned her head back in the chair with a serene expression and laughed as if amused by Seril’s reaction.

In fact, Lumensid was a substance that couldn’t affect Elena.

Elena, fused with the Devil’s Heart, was the ruler of magic.

Lumensid, which aimed to forcibly rampage mana to untangle twisted mana veins, dared not defy the devil’s power and was instantly digested the moment it entered her body.

Of course, it did resist weakly.

Because it was akin to an aggregate mixed with the resentment and hatred Seril held for Elena.

However, Lumensid, which had entered so confidently, despite putting up a desperate resistance, was suppressed by the thick, dark demonic mana, surrendered, and lost its will to fight.

‘Cute.’

That faint reaction and Seril’s flustered appearance only made Elena feel a slight interest and amusement.

“Hmm, it seems to help with digestion. How about making it into a digestive aid?”

In the midst of that, an unexpected benefit was discovered.

That Lumensid, in the process of resisting and perishing, stimulated stomach movement and helped Elena, who had just finished eating, with her digestion?

Naturally, Seril’s face hardened as she heard those words, and she became enraged.

“This can’t be happening! I’ll increase the concentration and…”

“Seril! Stop it!”

This was the second time.

Lunara, who had already somewhat anticipated this, reacted more quickly and accurately.

Before the enraged Seril could rampage, she instantly pulled her back and calmed her down.

“Seril, what’s most important is the research. Is your desire to help citizens suffering from illness greater than your personal desire for revenge?”

“That…”

“The witch is an unpredictable being. We don’t know when or what variables might arise.”

Lunara, holding Seril’s shoulders, simultaneously calmed Seril and glanced at Elena.

At the beautiful face smiling faintly at her, Lunara bit her lip.

“But if Lumensid doesn’t work on that woman, the experiment is meaningless. That witch is the only being capable of Lumensid experimentation.”

“That might not be true. I… I’ll step forward.”

Lunara rose from her seat and approached Elena.

As if a trick of fate, it unfolded exactly as Elena had said when she mentioned a second negotiation during their meal.

Lunara’s face, as she naturally approached Elena, was very solemn.

“You’re here?”

“State what you want.”

The two, whose eyes met, did not speak at length.

Elena looked up from below, and Lunara, standing, looked down from above, but the difference in composure reflected in their golden and red eyes was immense.

At Lunara’s words, her voice lowered as if humiliated, Elena gave a fatal eye-smile.

“Didn’t I just say? It’s inconvenient for dining. A dining table and a side table. Since you’re getting them anyway, make them from high-quality wood sourced from the Bergen region.”

“Ugh!”

Finally, Lunara, defeated, lowered her head.

Her eyes were tightly shut, and her clenched fists trembled.

She wanted to quit and leave right away.

But the responsibility that grew heavier day by day, and the fear that Elena might retaliate if she fled, prevented her from doing even that.