episode_0046

The next morning, after waking up from a good sleep, I reviewed the plan that Number 1 had mentioned.

-I have no idea what research those guys are doing, but it’s extremely suspicious.-

-That’s right. After reviewing the recorded voices, it seems they intentionally caused that chaos at the entrance ceremony. And those guys built a huge facility underground at the school?-

These guys must undoubtedly be the main culprits who created the school ruins seen in the main story five years later.

-Could they be trying to summon a demon?-

-Idiot. There are no demons in Crimson Academy.-

-What about the top-tier magic beasts or high-ranking rulers from other dimensions? They’re similar, aren’t they?-

-They can’t cross over here due to ether concentration issues. Not because there are no human souls!-

The genre of this game is fantasy mixed with some sci-fi concepts. Since there was no occult atmosphere, there must be a more scientific and plausible reason.

That reason was what we were looking for.

-Let’s sneak a paper. Or a computer…-

-Rejected. If something perfectly fine goes missing, they’ll suspect an internal intruder. Security will be tightened.

And there’s a crucial problem. Does anyone here know the science or academics of this world? Can we interpret the data if we see it? We only know the ‘settings.’ Don’t misunderstand.-

Number 2’s point was valid.

Let’s assume that baking lead and copper together produces an extraordinary metal. Knowing that knowledge was different from actually trying to create it concretely. Even if we mobilized collective intelligence to understand the paper, we couldn’t grasp the entire specific process of what the project intended to do.

-Catching someone and finding out what they’re doing is definitely the surest method. It’s fast and efficient.-

And the human brain was the best storage device, and since it had soft and vulnerable parts, it was optimal for targeting.

-Then who should we kidnap?-

-First, absolutely not that ‘Doctor’ person.-

Everyone agreed on this point. Anyone could see he was a key figure from his demeanor and how he met privately with the chairman. Harming such a person could lead to the intervention of the board of directors, or in the worst case, the four great clans connected to the chairman.

Then it would all be over. There’d be no worry about dying, but we’d have to give up a comfortable life. We might even have to buy airship tickets to leave Rustroom.

It would be like trying to assassinate Oppenheimer to sabotage the Manhattan Project. It’s also questionable if this would even stop that unknown plan.

-Can’t we just burn down the lab? We have enough oil drums ready.-

-You want to just destroy it when we don’t even know what it is?-

-It’s an underground facility. If we set fire to it, everyone inside would suffocate.-

-Rejected. There might be other ventilation or fire suppression systems inside that we don’t know about. And what if they’re innocent people? They could just be graduate students working as they’re told.-

-Hmm, you’re right.-

Eventually, the discussion returned to the idea of kidnapping.

No matter how much I thought about it, there was no need to painstakingly pick the complex lock in front of us. It was faster to wait for someone to open it and then coerce them.

-Let’s capture someone easy.-

-If a regular employee suddenly goes missing, they’ll think something’s strange.-

-Don’t worry. The Academy City’s public security isn’t good. As long as our presence isn’t revealed, they’ll assume it’s a robbery or a gang attack. Even in the worst case, there’s an organization we can blame…-

In our minds, the soldiers in black combat suits we’d seen at the lab came to mind.

-The Obsidian Legion?-

-Impersonating those guys is a bit risky. If we’re unlucky, other clans or the Academy City authorities might get involved.-

-Right. Let’s just pose as robbers or gang members.-

At the end of the discussion, an agreement was reached.

-Now all that’s left is finding a suitable target. Field personnel, please put in some effort. Capture someone as easy as possible.-

-Understood. Instead, get us some balaclavas, handcuffs, and tasers. Sleeping pills would be good too.-

-Wait, let’s say we catch a researcher. Where will we put them?-

-There are many unused abandoned buildings nearby, aren’t there? Or we could buy a beast cage and keep them there.-

-That’s a good idea!-

Everyone clapped their hands at the satisfactory conclusion.

The discussion concluded smoothly. Everyone got up and headed to their respective spots to do their work. Finally, Number 1 relieved Number 2 and went to sleep.

Only the clones on duty remained in the temporary command center.

-How’s the dungeon situation?-

-It’s going smoothly. Casualties have definitely decreased to an astonishing level. Infusing arrows with magic isn’t that easy, but for now, it’s enough to pierce through their hides.-

Saying that, Number 67 turned its head. Directly in front, a mountain of stacked Scrax corpses and Violets working among them could be seen.

It was the result of the crossbow fire poured by the Violets, protected by the defensive formation, in the recent engagement.

-There’s really a disgusting amount of them. These things reproduce asexually, right?-

-No matter how many we kill, they just keep crawling out.-

The more I look, the more amazing it is. Not only us, but hundreds of hunters enter Novastia every day, shoving these creatures into grinders to make Aetherium raw material.

Yet, those magic beasts keep pouring out as if churned out from a factory. The dungeon size was comparable to an average city, but nothing edible was visible in this desolate landscape.

The Violets in the dungeon pulled out the crossbow bolts deeply embedded in the corpses’ flesh, looking annoyed.

Due to the nature of the replication ability, objects disappear the moment they are more than 4-5m away from the clone. Therefore, consumables like arrows had to be recycled as much as possible or bought in large quantities and stored in the inventory.

-Still, the power is definite.-

After much time and effort, we found something usable on a corner shelf of a used weapons store. It had a mechanism where a bolt was loaded from a magazine mounted on the body every time the lever was pulled to draw the string.

Perhaps because it was old, there were many inconveniences.

-We really need to get projectile weapons of 3-stars or higher soon.-

-Stop chatting and properly collect the bolts! You all know these are expensive.-

Interestingly, swords and simple self-defense firearms could be obtained as long as one had money, but large-caliber firearms, high-performance ammunition, or special arrows capable of piercing the ether defenses of magic beasts or Awakened ones required complex procedures.

Thanks to the student ID, it was somewhat streamlined, but there were still many documents to fill out, and it cost an insane amount of money.

For now, we’ll only be dealing with such trivial low-level magic beasts, so this much weaponry is enough.

I examined the weapon for a moment.

[Unnamed Hunter’s Worn W&W Repeating Crossbow ☆☆]

A product of W&W, a renowned company in bow and crossbow manufacturing.

A 10-shot repeating crossbow with a simple lever-action reloading mechanism.

Used for a long time, the string-drawing mechanism is stiff.

No one would know how this weapon, stained with the blood and sweat of an unknown man, ended up in a secondhand shop on the outskirts. …

Reading the short story displayed in the status window, I unconsciously frowned slightly. It was obvious what had happened to the original owner.

While I was working, a strange movement was detected by the eyes of a Violet on patrol at the outskirts. The clone quickly sent a warning.

-Magic beast! Prepare for combat!-

Each of us took out a weapon and aimed it at the creature. Something human-sized, swaying loosely, walked towards us.

It was a bit big for a Scrax, and not a Pellenut. A Growler? It was smaller than that. It was a magic beast I’d never seen before.

“Ughhh…”

Its identity was immediately clear.

Eyes full only of whites, a body covered in large and small wounds, skin so pale it had turned bluish-green — it was a ghoul.

The creature spotted us and staggered, running towards us.

-Should we shoot?-

-It’s just a mob. Arrows are precious.-

A Violet holding a spear walked towards the creature. One strike to the thigh, one to the belly, one to the chest.

The creature fell without a chance to resist. Dark blood stained the ground.

“Oh, how pitiful. Which clan was he from?”

We carefully examined the corpse.

“Looking at his attire, I don’t see any markings or patches indicating clan affiliation… Was he alone? He must have been careless, thinking there were only low-level magic beasts.”

“His equipment seems to be just a knife and a water bottle. Oh, and a chocolate bar wrapper in his pocket. This guy must be a rookie.”

People who enter dungeons with such poor equipment are usually either rookies or penniless.

Besides the wounds we inflicted, large and small injuries concentrated on his neck, back, and head were visible.

The cause of death was conjectured.

He probably killed one or two easy Scrax, went deep inside, and then was surrounded by a horde that swarmed him from an alley, helpless. It was a pattern we had also struggled with.

“Seeing that he mutated into a ghoul, it seems he didn’t die completely. He must have somehow escaped.”

“And ended up like this. Bad luck.”

Ether distorts the laws of physics. Naturally, the power of ether also applies to living beings.

The larger the size and the higher the intelligence displayed, the level and scope of mutation are beyond imagination.

The result of positive mutation is an Awakened one.

There are several negative examples, and one of them is the human magic beast, a ghoul.

If one dies in a dungeon with a dense ether concentration, they usually become a corpse, but there was also a not-insignificant possibility of becoming a mutated magic beast without dying, especially if the brain was damaged.

I don’t know the principle. I only know it because that’s how it’s set up.

“Number 45, go to the entrance first. If you show the body to the dungeon management staff, they’ll take care of it.”

Number 45, who came out of the dungeon, handed the corpse of the unknown hunter to the nearby staff.

A moment later, a call came informing that the identity had been confirmed through checkpoint records. The staff member explained that a car would arrive shortly to pick him up.

“There are often such reckless people. Thanks to the student, the body was found.”

“It seems many people aren’t found.”

The staff member shrugged.

“That’s right. Just here, it’s not like I’ve only seen people hiring others to search the dungeon to find their children or parents for a day or two…”

The hunter’s corpse was seen being placed into a body bag. The staff members carried the body bag and placed it on the ground under a tent, cordoned off by square barriers. Two other bags were already there. It was a familiar sight.

So far, while exploring this dungeon, the times I’d seen that tent empty were few and far between.

-Whoever it was, they had bad luck.-

-Is this the time for us to worry about others, Number 45? Come back now.-

Thinking about it, I’m lucky. Things like that won’t happen to me. That’s how I survived yesterday and today.

I’ll survive tomorrow too.