115 – Run away! He’s a comedy resident!
The laboratory was entirely made of glass. Only the pristine white bed indicated that it was a living space.
“Damn it..”
A man with dusty blue hair, as if he had rolled in the dirt, was thrown into the middle of the room, tied up with thick ropes.
He twisted his body to look at the room next to him. Like exhibits in a museum, young children were crouched in each transparent glass room.
The man sighed deeply and tried to release the ropes by summoning his magic, but his magic dispersed as if it was hindered by something.
Tap, tap.
At that moment, the sound of boots echoed from the long corridor beyond the glass rooms.
“Is that the intruder?”
“He looks quite sturdy, doesn’t he? We needed a human test subject, so this worked out well.”
The person who approached the glass room where he was lying was two individuals. One was an intelligent monster in the form of a lizard, and the other was a demon with horns growing on one side of his head. Judging from their sloppy appearances, they were probably low-ranking demons.
The man lay still, absorbing the chattering information in his head.
“They want to experiment on my body?”
His gaze shifted to the next room. A little fairy with sky-blue skin crouched without making a sound.
‘You needed human test subjects? Then why did you capture spirits?’
As far as he knew, this laboratory had gathered spirits to the point of their seed withering. Only spirits were collected with relentless determination, not a single human was included.
But suddenly they needed human test subjects?
‘What on earth are they researching?’
He had two purposes for infiltrating this place. The first was to release the imprisoned spirits, and the second was to find out what the Demon Army-affiliated laboratory was researching.
Perhaps because it was a Demon Army-affiliated laboratory, the security was far more extensive and formidable than a typical laboratory.
Thanks to thorough preparation, the man was able to reach the place where the spirit children were held captive, but he fell into a trap and was caught.
Thunk.
Using a very thin piece of metal that was sewn into the sleeve of his clothes, the man slowly cut the rope, his eyes flashing.
‘Escape when the opportunity arises. Until then, gather as much information as possible.’
The moment he neatly organized the task he had to do in his mind.
[ Uuugh! It hurts! It hurts! Mom! Mommy! ]
“…!”
The screams of the spirit child echoed from a glass room quite far away. The child’s face was grotesquely swollen. Other children in the rooms looked up and stared at the screaming child.
Mischievous yet valuing their friends, that’s what spirits are like. Despite knowing well what would happen next, the children who loved their kind approached the room where the screaming child was.
Worried gazes and tears fell, beyond the transparent glass wall.
[ Mother… ]
[ Mom, Mom, Ani is in pain. ]
[ … ]
The voice of the spirit, like a song, sadly echoed, but no miracle occurred.
[Thud, thud!]
The child with a face bigger than their body suddenly couldn’t speak properly. The man, as if he would shed tears of blood, engraved the cruel scene into his eyes.
[M…om…]
With those words, the child…
Bang!
Exploded. Blue liquid, different from human blood, flowed down the glass wall. The spirits couldn’t hide their sadness, even though they knew that even if they died, they would return to nature and be born again someday.
“Collect every drop of liquid that fell in the room! The byproducts of spirits are all useful items.”
When the demon spoke louder, the assistants waiting there put on protective suits and entered the glass room. The spirit children could only watch as their friends were transferred into glass bottles, crouching down.
The only thing the young children could do was to search for their own mothers, who were trapped somewhere, crying sadly.
Sigh.
The man engraved the horrific scene in his head over and over again, so as not to forget.
“Melon was in charge of this experiment, right? Let them know that this experiment subject has been disposed of and assign a new one, and tell them to reduce the dosage.”
Everyone here naturally accepted the horrifying words that treated the spirits as disposable items. This was the land of the Demon King.
***
Lily, who led the foremost group among the ten groups, murmured as she looked at the organized path.
“I never thought there would be a path in a place like this.”
“Yeah, you’re right.”
Lily’s secretary, Monica, nodded as if agreeing.
“How do you think Rian oppa knew that there was a path like this?”
“Maybe he came here himself? Or maybe he got the information from somewhere…”
“If it’s information that can be obtained from Cardisian, there’s no way I wouldn’t know…”
The two exchanged casual conversation, urging each other to pick up the pace. If they slowed down, the crowd behind them would have to stop as well.
But they didn’t move recklessly. Being at the forefront and walking meant being the first to perceive the threat.
Carefully scanning their surroundings, the two who were walking ahead suddenly discovered something and came to a halt.
Lily raised her hand to the 8 members of the organization following behind her, signaling them to stop. Then she hid in the bushes and observed the suspicious scene.
“Clearly, Lian oppa said there was only ruins…”
At the end of the two’s gaze was a man with a sword at his waist, standing in what seemed to be the entrance, serving as a guard.
“That doesn’t look like ruins no matter how you look at it, right?”
“Yes, it looks like a facility someone is using.”
Lily quietly stepped back and picked up her communication device. Then she immediately told Noah about the scene she had just witnessed.
“It wasn’t ruins?”
Lian shouted in surprise, then quickly fell into a serious expression, lost in thought.
‘In the original, it was described as ruins…’
He knew very well that he could hardly rely on the original for help, as it had changed the fate of many people, including Noah.
But that only meant that he couldn’t expect much help in terms of the incident, not that he didn’t think it would have any effect on the terrain and buildings.
“For now, finding a different path is a top priority.”
Lian immediately took out a map from his bag and started examining it.
“The building may not be ruins, but the path should still be the same as the original. There must be the same side road that appeared in the original. Let’s go around that way.”
It didn’t take long for Lian to estimate the location of the side road described in the original.
“Noah, let’s change our plans and go through the new path-“
Before Lian could finish speaking,
[ Kyaaah! ]
[ No! Stop! ]
Crack!
Lily’s scream echoed through the communication device, followed by a sudden cutoff. Noah and Lian’s faces hardened. Noah immediately contacted Nero, who was leading the second group from the front.
[ Got it! I’ll go right away! ]
Nero replied in a firm voice and immediately ended the communication. Noah and Lian exchanged glances.
“Let’s get to the front as quickly as possible!”
“Yeah, we should hurry.”
All the members in the group nodded heavily without any complaints. They all had expressions that showed they were ready to run with all their might. However, they would be much slower than Lian or Noah, at best just slowing them down. But they couldn’t leave them behind either.
Lian quickly realized this and spoke to Noah, who seemed ready to run at any moment.
“Noah, you go ahead first. I’ll take care of the people and catch up.”
“Are you sure about that?”
“Of course.”
As Lian smiled, Noah’s face, which had been tense, softened slightly.
“Then I’ll leave the back to you!”
“Yeah.”
Lian immediately started walking a little faster with the members of the group. It didn’t take long for them to spot another group waiting.
According to what they heard, Noah had swiftly run ahead and ordered them to wait for a moment before rushing forward. Lian explained the situation and joined the group.
“Noah and Lily should be fine. I’ll gather the members and focus on taking a detour towards the side streets.”
Lian hurriedly moved his feet and joined the five teams that were leading the way. He began to feel uneasy when there were about three teams left to join.
“It’s gone.”
Considering that they were walking at a certain distance from each other, the next group should have been visible by now, but they couldn’t see them.
“Something’s wrong.”
From Noble mtl dot com
Lian, with a stern face, led the group he had gathered so far towards the side street.
“First, let’s move the people we’ve gathered so far to a safe place-“
Just as he was continuing his thoughts.
Boom!
“…!”
“Ugh!”
“Enemies…!”
“Mom…”
A new magic circle appeared in front of them, and something began to summon above the magic circle.
[Crack, aaah!]
A creature that looked like it had melted, as if it were a monster or a human, fell heavily to the ground.
“What, what is that!?”
“It’s horrifying…”
“Everyone, step back!”
Everyone screamed in horror, their faces pale, as they stepped back. In contrast, Lian summoned his dark sword without any change in expression.
“Hmm…”
Lian looked at the figure in front of him with a perplexed expression.
“How hideous must one look to be mosaic-ed like that?”
[ Mosaic? Is that what they call it? I can’t even tell what it looks like because it’s so blurry. ]
“Oh? You see it that way too?”
Perhaps it was because Lian had lost too much blood, but the Dark Sword was using the comedy filter halfway. Of course, it was an ability that would disappear once he was separated from Lian.
In other words, it meant that there were two users of the comedy filter, which was horrifying.
[ Kieak! ]
The monster roared as it slowly crawled forward.
Chiiik.
The liquid that flowed from its body began to melt the ground. It was quite threatening, but Lian wasn’t particularly scared. It didn’t mean he felt good either.
“Ugh… I feel sick…!”
As the mosaic-treated something made strange sounds and crawled closer, Lian threw the Dark Sword with a terrified expression.
[ What?! W-What happens if you suddenly… Ahhh! ]
As if it didn’t want to fall down like a thrown rock, the Dark Sword quickly spun in the air and elegantly landed right in the middle of the monster.
[ Kieeak! ]
Chwaahhh!
A black liquid, presumably blood, spurted out from the monster. And then the Dark Sword screamed.
[ Ew! It tastes awful and it’s horrifying! I feel sick! Partner, save me! ]
The Dark Sword trembled and writhed, crying out in distress. If it had been a transition, Lian would have wanted to punch it once with his fist, but because the image of the cute girl Dark Sword remained in his mind, he approached it obediently and rescued it.
[ It’s been dirtied… ]
Lian was always curious about where he learned such words.
