Chapter 76 : Chapter 76

Chapter 76: And So It Shall Fall (2)

‘A person?’

The thought crossed my mind for a moment, but my expression immediately hardened.

A person dressed in neat clothes in a space littered with dried flesh and bone fragments.

‘That can’t be right.’

And just as I thought, the opponent began to emit an ominous glint in its eyes along with corrupted mana.

“Intrud…er.”

Kwaaaah!

The grotesque creature said so and in an instant, extended its fingernails to the length of daggers and charged.

I swung my sword nonchalantly, but the moment it made contact, I felt like my wrist would break and hurriedly retreated.

‘What kind of power is this?!’

The cause was mana.

A blow swung lightly was packed with enough corrupted mana to explode on contact.

Even a light attack contained such immense mana that, even after deflecting 80 percent of it, the remaining 20 percent was too much to handle.

It was a disadvantageous situation.

But I was used to this situation.

No, I had to be.

I had been tackling this game for a very long time.

Things like being unable to recover mana were just one of the common restrictions for me.

[Perfect Counter is activated!]

Crack!

“Kreeegh!”

Dodging the attacks with minimal movement, I found an opening and immediately used Perfect Counter to return the blow.

The alchemist, its neck pierced by its own fingernails, screamed.

‘Perfect Counter consumes little mana.’

That's why it was a skill I could use without burden even in this situation.

Slice! Kwa-gak!

Readjusting my stance, I swung my sword repeatedly before the effect of Perfect Counter ended.

Long gashes appeared on the opponent's chest and abdomen.

[Lv.28 Experiment 01 (Small)]

“What is this?”

Searching the fallen corpse, I discovered the number ‘01’ written on the inside of the alchemist's attire.

“What happened? I heard the sound of a sword.”

Tersion approached.

She looked back and forth between the fallen being and me.

“This… isn’t human, is it?”

“No. It attacked me while transforming its body.”

“This number… it was on that building too.”

“What?”

Tersion pointed to a part of the building.

Faintly, but visibly, the number ‘01’ was written with something like dye.

“It’s an artificial marking.”

“Right. It’s obvious now what the count was up to.”

Though her expression was hidden, it was easy to tell that Tersion was feeling disillusioned.

“He was experimenting with Hellmorphs. Just like that fool Codis Hol.”

Why were humans so desperate to study Hellmorphs?

I was dying to know, but no one here knew the answer.

“This is even worse. It looks like they threw humans to the Hellmorphs to be infected.”

“Those pieces of trash!”

Tersion drew her bowstring without hesitation.

I grabbed her shoulder.

“Let’s join up with the others first.”

Soon, the two of us joined Gerard, Jeina, and Collie.

When we told them what we had found out, the three of them grimaced and let out sighs of lament, one after another.

“Are they insane?!”

“It’s nauseating. Why would they do such a thing?”

“It could have started simply to learn more about the enemy, or they might have wanted to make that power their own. But that’s not what’s important.”

At Gerard’s words, Tersion, whose hand was trembling, tried to calm herself and asked.

“I think we need to destroy that structure right now. Just in case, does anyone object?”

“Hmm…”

Just as everyone was contemplating.

Collie quietly waved his front paw.

“That structure is saturated with corrupted mana.”

The structure, which was still absorbing a great deal of mana, was emitting a flow of mana so dense that it was difficult to even approach properly.

“The condensed mana will erupt in all directions and explode the moment the structure is destroyed. This place could collapse then.”

“Then we just destroy it and escape immediately. What’s the problem?”

“The problem is that this facility is right under the lord’s castle.”

Gerard said.

“If this place collapses, the lord’s castle on the surface might be affected. If things go wrong, the lord’s castle itself could collapse.”

“This is so annoying, really!”

“I agree.”

Just as Jeina and Tersion sighed in unison, I opened my mouth.

“Even if we destroy the structure, this area won’t be destroyed.”

“Why?”

“They refine the absorbed mana into a liquid form for storage. In that state, it won’t explode.”

My finger was pointing at the center of the structure.

“That can’t be possible. As far as I know, mana is a substance whose form doesn’t change no matter how much you condense it.”

“Corrupted mana can.”

Even I didn’t know the reason.

It was just described that way in the game.

I couldn’t very well explain to them that ‘it’s just how the setting is.’

“So even if we destroy the structure, the corrupted mana will just flow out. This area won’t be blown away.”

“Since you’re the one saying it, I have no choice but to believe you.”

“Well, it’s not like we have any other choice anyway.”

The party immediately raised their weapons.

As they poured all their remaining mana into their skills, the membrane was pierced and the bones were broken, and the structure began to writhe in agony.

Thwack!

Before long, the structure swelled up and then burst.

The surroundings were splattered with a purple liquid that was billowing corrupted mana.

“Disgusting! It feels like I just killed a living beast.”

“Making a fuss until the very end. Anyway, it’s over, right?”

“Yes. It’s completely dead.”

The tissues of the dead structure began to dry up and rot quickly.

In less than a few seconds, all of that large mass of flesh and bones turned to dust, leaving the wide space empty and beginning to exude a desolate atmosphere.

“The operation of the mana circuit has stopped as well. The output of the magic stone will probably return to normal.”

“Let’s go back now.”

“Let’s go quickly. I’m sick and tired of this corrupted mana.”

It seemed no one disagreed with Tersion’s words.

Everyone’s steps heading outside were twice as fast as usual.

***

When they returned to the power facility, the party found a soldier waiting for them with a beaming smile.

“You did it! The barrier is regenerating quickly! The number of monsters falling here has decreased!”

“Where is the chief researcher?”

I looked around and asked.

Something about the atmosphere was strange.

‘Why has it become so idle?’

When they had left this place, it was no different from a state of emergency.

Everyone was rushing around, manipulating magic circles or adjusting something.

But now, only two researchers were meaningfully moving about in the power facility, while the rest were all sitting down or drinking beverages and resting.

“Ah, as for Mr. Marco.”

The soldier flinched and then hesitated, unable to easily open his mouth.

“He is on the upper floor, but he said not to let anyone up until the work is finished…”

“Why is the atmosphere so messed up? Is the war over?”

Before the soldier could finish his words, Tersion strode forward.

“Monsters are falling from the sky, and the city is turning to ashes, you know?”

Her voice was thunderous.

The soldier froze like ice, and all the scholars’ gazes naturally focused on her.

“We’ve done all we can. We are scholars in charge of power. We’ve normalized the power and are restoring the barrier, so what’s the problem?”

“What’s the problem? The military equipment is ceasing to function outside, and in some areas, the trooper type effects are disappearing, that’s what.”

There was no need to hear it from me.

If you accessed any public communication channel nearby, the screams of soldiers and various reports were still flooding in.

“This is why I hate ignorant commoners…”

The scholar who had answered Tersion shook his head and muttered.

“That just means there’s a problem with the mana circuit in that area. It’s the same reason you went out. We can’t solve it from here. Do you understand?”

“So you’re telling us to go and solve it? While you guys rest on your laurels here?”

“That’s your role in the first place, isn’t it? We just can’t do anything from here.”

I felt Tersion’s arm tremble slightly.

It seemed she was about to shove an arrow down that scholar’s gob at any moment.

“This is a little different from what I know.”

Just then, Gerard approached with a hardened expression.

“What we can do is secure the mana circuit, not repair it. The problems happening inside the castle right now are something that experts like you should be doing.”

“So? You’re telling us to move through these monsters? It’s obvious we’ll die! We don’t sell our lives for money like you!”

As soon as the scholar shouted, the other scholars around them began to whisper as if they had been waiting.

“That’s what you get from guys who make a living off their lives.”

“They’re commoners. Can’t be helped since they’re uneducated.”

I couldn’t understand this situation at all.

If they couldn’t repair the mana circuits and restore the defenses, the castle was bound to fall.

Then, Hellmorphs that the soldiers here alone couldn’t possibly stop would swarm in.

But more than anything, I was feeling a sense of dissonance.

‘What is this? I’m sensing something I shouldn’t be.’

At first, I thought I was mistaken because I had just come out of the underground facility.

But the more I thought about it, the suspicion, far from being resolved, only grew stronger.

“What is Mr. Marco doing?”

“……”

“Answer me.”

I said, glaring at the soldier.

The soldier’s legs were trembling from the murderous aura being exuded.

“I-I can’t say…”

At the soldier’s words, I lifted my head.

There was a staircase blocked by an iron gate above the power facility.

As I was about to head there, a sharp wind blade grazed past me and left a gash on the wall.

“Hey, there’s a limit to how much we can overlook, even in wartime. If you disobey orders any further, I’ll kill you right here.”

I could feel mana bursting from the bodies of the scholars all around me in an instant.

“Ah, really?”

I replied just like that and glanced at the rest of the party.

“Even though corrupted mana is billowing out from that second floor in real time?”

“……Kill him!”

The moment fireballs were about to fly from all directions, Jeina immediately rolled on the ground and shouted at the top of her lungs.

“Uyaaaaaah!”

[Jeina uses a skill.]

Silent Roar (Lv.1): Lets out a loud shout, forcibly interrupting all spells being cast by hostile beings within a 15m radius. Beings whose spells are interrupted cannot cast magic for 5 seconds.

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