episode_0080

I looked up at Krausen who stood up from his seat and made eye contact with him.

The tall, muscular man, who seemed to be at least 190 cm tall, seemed to have made up his mind for Elena.

“Just now, you said you would only cooperate until we get to the ground, but you will cooperate until Maxian is killed. And just like you said, I will be punished directly by Elena, who has become a Baron.”

“Good idea. Please take care of me.”

I boldly offered to shake hands, and Krausen seemed to hesitate, but when Lucybel slapped me on the back, she grabbed my hand and shook it.

Krausen’s hands were so large and heavy that I thought they would have been crushed if I hadn’t been wearing magic armor.

“There are 8 masked researchers and 12 SS members inside.”

“Really? There are fewer people than I thought.”

Since the map window did not show the inside of the lab at all, I had no choice but to rely on Krausen’s information.

Even without a blueprint, the approximate internal structure and the number of people inside were displayed in the map window, but beyond the futuristic-designed door in front of you was literally an unknown space.

Perhaps that door serves to block the map window’s abilities.

“Although we are short on people, we have magic armor, so I think we can fight at an advantage.”

“Lucibel is full of confidence.”

“It is common to experience difficulties like this due to lack of supplies when working as a mercenary. The regular customers of our store here are also veterans, so it will be useful.”

Lucibel said while winking at Krausen.

It’s not unusual for Changgwan’s regulars to have a personal relationship with the owner, but their relationship seems to be more than that.

Well, I’ll ask about that later, but for now, I’ll have to rush into the lab and figure out how to subdue the enemies.

“Krausen, how is the enemy armed?”

“Everyone only possesses magic pistols. Magic shotguns are, in principle, prohibited to be used inside the research institute because they cause a lot of collateral damage.”

“Then there will be a lot for me to be active in. When you open the door, Laura and I will block the view with smoke bombs and then we’ll all rush in together. After that, I can stand at the front, draw the enemy’s attention, and the rest can subdue the enemies.”

Everyone nodded at the strategy I proposed.

The enemy’s firepower was limited to the magic pistol, and since I was wearing lightweight magic armor that could block all magic bullets fired with it, no one raised any objections.

“Still, researchers think it is better to capture him alive as much as possible.”

“Of course. Since they won’t die anyway if you don’t destroy the artificial magic core, you can treat them roughly. Then let’s get started.”

“I understand.”

Krausen placed his palm on the plastic-like pad next to the door, and soon the automatic door opened smoothly.

The enemies, who were not paying any attention to our appearance, hurriedly took out their magic pistols and hid in various places when Laura and I fired smoke bombs.

As I entered the lab, the map window was updated, revealing the internal structure and locations of enemies.

It seems that the door we just passed was the cause of the problem.

“The researchers are all concentrated on the left, and the rest of the SS is spread out evenly across the front, taking cover. I will wipe out the SS first, so the rest of us should continue to fire suppressing fire in that direction to prevent the researchers from escaping.”

“I’m just saying this just in case, but there is absolutely no need to look after the SS. Even if they were loyal bodyguards for Elena last year, now they have all received Maxian’s gift and have become endlessly corrupted.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that. I have no hesitation in killing people who are worse than I think.”

“Good news. Leave the rest to us.”

Krausen tapped my shoulder and said, and I rushed forward, feeling a strange feeling.

Laura and her new colleagues did as I said and fired suppressing fire toward the researchers.

The enemies were holding their breath in the smoke, but they began to panic at my pounding presence.

It was clear that the very existence of the magic armor daunted the SS.

For the Knights! Oh, no. For me and my loves!

I imitated the knights’ shouts in my head, lightly throwing aside the desk where the nearest SS guard was hiding, and blowing his head off with a magic bullet.

Then, blood and flesh splattered everywhere, and maybe they used that as a signal, but magic pistol bullets rained down on me indiscriminately.

About half of the bullets flying through the slowly fading smoke screen hit my magic armor, but did not cause any damage.

There was no need to run, I just walked forward and fired a magic bullet into the chest of the SS member who had just bravely jumped out of cover, permanently separating his upper and lower body.

Then I kicked the nearby desk and pushed it into the wall along with the two guys hiding behind it, and then kicked the whole thing again, crushing it to death.

The two enemies, who saw their comrade die with all his ribs crushed and all kinds of contents spewing out of his mouth, shot me with no meaning as I approached them.

One guy died because his face was completely caved in by my fist, and the other guy’s upper body was split in half when I struck him with a small magic shield vertically.

The SS, who lost half of their troops in an instant in a cruel manner, shouted loudly at each other and moved faster.

Of the remaining guys, four moved to block my path, probably trying to buy time, while the other two rushed somewhere.

Perhaps the intention is to call for assistance from the outside or to bring out a weapon with high firepower.

I rushed towards the enemies who were making meaningless movements to waste time against me and hit them straight away.

One guy got hit by my shoulder armor and flew into the sky, then fell head first and broke his neck, and died. The other guy got hit right in the face of the magic armor, was pushed backwards, got hit on the back by my kick, and died because his back was shattered.

The other two continued shooting at me and then lunged at me with the intention of stabbing any gaps in my armor with their swords.

I crushed one guy to death by crashing him against the wall, and threw the other guy at the two other guys running hard in front of me.

Then he jumped towards the three tangled creatures and crushed them.

The one whose chest was stepped on by my foot had his heart burst and died instantly, but the one whose pelvis was stepped on had his bones completely crushed, and the one who was crushed to the bottom was barely alive after being crushed to death.

I carefully drove magic bullets into the heads of those who were unlucky enough to still be alive, blowing them up one by one.

‘It’s simple. After all, it’s magic armor.’

With a satisfied smile on my face, I left the cooling flesh behind and headed towards the maskers.

Researchers wearing plain black masks were taking cover and countering the fire of Laura and her colleagues, but when the smoke bombs cleared and they realized that they were more numerous, they came out of cover and began to move forward openly.

Since the Black Masks were not combat agents, they did not properly understand that I was dealing with the SS, and seemed to be courageous, trusting only in the performance of the equipment.

According to the information Dominic gave me, their magic shield can block all bullets coming from within sight, but it won’t be able to block if I shoot from behind.

Trusting the shooting experience and various combat skills I had accumulated so far, I quickly shot the magic pistol at the arms and thighs of the masked men.

Of the eight masked men, six fell down after being accurately hit by the bullets I shot.

And while I was reloading, the other two started running away.

I shot at them too, but I couldn’t do any damage because they both looked at me and moved backwards.

Since I couldn’t just let them go like this, I fired a smoke bomb behind them, blocking their view, and fired a magic bullet with the intention of killing them.

However, this time, the magic shield worked normally, and even if a smoke bomb was used to block the view, it appears that the shield would not be neutralized if there were no problems with the vision itself.

If so, let’s make it difficult to breathe by creating more smoke.

I reloaded 6 smoke bombs into my magic pistol and fired them wildly around the guys trying to run away.

And as soon as they stopped running and started to cough, they immediately approached them and grabbed their necks, making it impossible for them to breathe.

The maskers struggled and lost their weapons, and I threw them to the floor and crushed their shins with my foot.

When the smoke disappeared, masked people were strewn about, moaning in pain and bleeding.

“Thank you for your hard work, Rebecca.”

“Okay, are you hurt?”

“Thanks to Rebecca’s outstanding performance on her own, it ended without anyone getting hurt.”

“Thank goodness. But it’s a bit embarrassing to say it’s cool. Hehe.”

I smiled sheepishly, took off my helmet, and gave Laura a quick kiss.

And together with their colleagues, they threw the researchers into a corner.

I don’t know if their magic shield doesn’t work properly when they’re already suppressed, or if it doesn’t work for movements other than attacks.

The wounds of the maskers who were shot have begun to recover, but the maskers whose legs were crushed will likely take a long time to recover.

And considering the case of El Kahim, the researchers’ playback speed was very slow.

“From now on, if you answer my questions honestly, I will let you live.”

I tried to be generous, but the maskers had no answer.

They seemed surprised that I had discovered the weakness of the magic shield, but they seemed to think that I did not know their true weakness.

I had no choice but to show the other masked men how I pierced the solar plexus of the guys with crushed legs one by one, took out the artificial magic core, and destroyed it.

The maskers whose artificial magic cores were destroyed turned into mummies and died much faster than Dominic did.

“I’ll say it again. If you obey my questions, I can spare your life.”

This time, the maskers’ attitude clearly changed.

They didn’t say anything to each other, but they were obviously embarrassed, and it was clearly visible that they were trembling with the fear of death that they had felt for the first time in a long time.

“Oh, I will tell you everything to the best of my knowledge.”

“Okay, I finally like it now. First, take off your mask.”

The maskers followed my command and took off their black masks with trembling hands.

Unlike El Kudan, whose mask was stuck to his face, the researchers’ mask had no such problem.

There are various races, and they all look like people commonly seen around us.

“What is the name of your organization?”

“I want to tell you that, but there are restrictions…”

“If I kill you too, will the other guys’ answers change?”

“It’s true! Please believe me!”

The masked man who took off his mask after answering my question said without any hesitation.

I even felt uncomfortable with my posture being so servile.

“Okay, so can you tell me what you were doing here?”

“Together with Baron Maxian, we continued experiments to infect humans with demon parasites and achieved results. Tomorrow, we were planning to release the prototype into Rizerka’s water supply and conduct a practical test.”

Of course what Elena said was true, and the situation was more urgent than expected.

If I hadn’t come here just one day later, Lizerca would have been finished already.

Thinking like that gave me goosebumps all over my body.

Me, Laura, and Iris would have all died if we had not been careful.

I was so angry that I grabbed the masked man by the collar and continued asking questions.

“Then where is the prototype now? Tell me now!”

“Probably at his villa with the Baron.”

“If it’s a lie, you’ll regret being born.”

I forgot to turn on the magic armor and in a fit of anger, I threw the masker roughly, and he hit the wall and fell limp.

Oh no, it’s dead. I still have a lot to ask, so I’ll go into it more carefully.

“Hey, you! What exactly are the criteria for activating your magic shield?”

“It operates as far as the viewing angle while wearing the mask and with the body and mind intact. They only react to what they perceive as obvious attacks and have no disruption to their daily lives. And if you are injured or cannot open your eyes properly, like now, you will be incapacitated.”

“It’s a difficult condition. But your mask doesn’t have a gold pattern. Why is that?”

“It is only engraved on the masks of seekers. The larger the area of the pattern, the higher the status of the seeker.”

So, maskers with ‘El’ in their names, such as El Kahim or El Kudan, can be seen as senior-level organization members called seekers, while those who appear with ordinary names in the map window are low-level organization members.

“Seeker’s mask will perform better, right?”

“Yes, if it were them, even if they were Black Mask, a non-combatant, they would not have been subdued as easily as we were.”

“I see. So what is the purpose of your organization? Conquer the world? Or the destruction of the world?”

“We don’t have the right to say that, so even if we wanted to, we couldn’t.”

“It looks like your leader really doesn’t want to teach important things to others.”

I wanted to find out more, but I knew I couldn’t waste my time like this.

Even if there is still a day left, if news from here reaches Maxian’s ears, there is a high possibility that he will immediately take revenge, so we must hurry.

“Lucibel, can I leave this to you?”

“Our children will also be mobilized, so please leave it to us with confidence. To be honest, I didn’t do anything this time, so I guess I’ll have to take care of this cleanup.”

“I think it’s fortunate that it ended without anyone getting hurt, rather than anyone else’s performance.”

“Be kind too. It’s the perfect style to lose money somewhere. Still, I like it. Hehehe.”

Lucybel gave me a hug with a charming smile and then walked away, whistling before Laura’s eyes turned even more sinister.

“Krausen, you should come with us. I’m sure you know a lot about villas.”

“Of course. And if it’s for Elena, I’m willing to give up my life.”

“I really like your proactive attitude.”

I left a subtle glance at Krausen and took everyone out to the ground.

As per my request, Lucibel went down to the basement again with her subordinates, and I, accompanied by Laura and Krausen, went to Alicia’s mansion first.

Now that we have secured a place that will provide solid evidence to defeat Maxian, we will, with Alicia’s help, subdue Maxian’s villa and destroy his ambition and life at the same time.