Book 16 Chapter 38
Science VS Supernatural Powers,
Ain's Technology is the Best in the World (6)
“These junk heaps, there's no end to them! Let's split into teams now!” Frede shouted as he faced the Seraphins.
“The adult team in charge of firepower! Me, Kies, and Link!”
“Link, Link, Link!”
“While the adult team draws attention, the kiddie team will infiltrate deep into the facility and return Rista to normal! Rista, Rin, and Link!”
Rin and Nils almost simultaneously pointed the coordinates of lightning magic and the muzzle of the X-Blast Plasma Cannon at Frede.
“I'm not a kid, I'm [the Strongest Mage]? I demand an immediate correction.”
“By Ain standards, I'm already an adult among adults. Can I consider that a discriminatory remark against my race and judge you for it now?”
“Ugh! I just roughly divided based on body size because we're in a hurry! We're in an emergency, do you really have time for this kind of farce?”
And so, the teams were divided.
Certainly, the adult team, which included Link, from their physique and size, seemed suitable for taking on all of the Seraphins' surveillance and control.
The kiddie team, with Rista using her Dragon Eyes, detected the unidentified wavelengths spread like spiderwebs throughout the facility, and was able to cleverly evade the Seraphins' gaze and advance.
“Hmm, the door is closed.”
However, their advance was blocked in front of a bulkhead with the letters [R-1F] prominently written on it.
“Move aside. I'll try to break it.”
“No! Rin, your power is too flashy, and there's a high chance enemies will come here.”
“Then what do we do?”
Nils shrugged his X-Blast Plasma Cannon and smiled knowingly.
“Alright, how about you pour a lot of *that* into *this* again?”
Rin's eyes widened, then she smiled back and traced under her nose.
“Oh, that much, I can do even without being asked.”
Rista alone, her face flushed red, stammered with her lips.
“What, what is it?! Why is the atmosphere suddenly getting weird? What are you two talking about right now?”
Rin and Nils, on the contrary, opened their tiny eyes as if Rista was the strange one.
“You, why are you like that?”
“We were just talking about injecting Rin's magic into this X-Blast Plasma Cannon, what's wrong? What on earth are you imagining?”
“No, then you should have just said that from the beginning!”
The next moment, Rista's expression changed completely. Instantly, she forged a long stream of magic above her kitchen knife and swung it over Nils' and Rin's heads.
“Gah, this is crazy!”
“The hero has gone mad!”
“No! Look up!”
However, that blade of magic scattered fierce and wild sparks and bounced back. Some object was floating translucently above them.
[^$%@!#$…… Language…… Synchronization…… #####…… Successful extraction of consonants and vowels from ongoing dialogue, language assembly complete…….]
What Nils had defined as ‘optical camouflage’ faded… and soon, a lump of iron revealed itself.
It was a square lump of iron, with an appearance distinct from what was called 'Seraphin'.
Although it was a machine, it was clear that it had no hostility towards them, so the three people observed the situation for a moment. The machine spoke again.
[Master, you must execute emergency response directive Z-33. In a situation where 19,925 days have passed since the 'Guardian' left its post, an entity that has acquired Guardian authority has occupied this facility. This entity could not be identified in the archives.]
What was strange was that a square luminescent object, embedded like an eyeball in the center of the machine, was pointing directly at Rin.
“?”
Rista and Nils stared blankly, alternating between Rin and the machine, and Rin also, not knowing why, merely pointed to herself with her index finger.
[As you yourself set, this facility had been conducting an experiment for 398,772 days, analyzing the decay of the Abyss at a molecular level to find a decryption method, but this too was halted when Guardian authority was seized. If these experimental Abyss entities escape, a catastrophe unbearable by the civilization level of this facility's area is anticipated.]
Why it was calling her "Master," and what it was talking about, she couldn't understand at all, but suddenly she felt like she had a subordinate, and that wasn't bad.
‘The [Strongest Mage] with an unknown subordinate, this is good?’
Rin decided to make good use of the situation.
“Shut up and open the door.”
Then the machine turned its luminescent object towards the bulkhead and shot a beam of light. The engravings on the bulkhead filled with light, and with the sound of thousands of gears rotating, it began to open!
[Executing received command. You have chosen to resolve the situation directly instead of directive Z-33.]
Nils poked Rin's side and mouthed,
“Map, ask for a map if it has one.”
“Hey, give me the map. Unless you want to die.”
Ziiing… This time, when the machine shot a beam of light into the air, the blueprints of the facility were projected three-dimensionally!
“Huh, it's a three-story structure.”
“Given that there are separate spaces between the floors, it could also be considered a five-story building.”
“The red light source on the very bottom floor… What does this mean?”
If Frede had been there, he would have been able to read the string of characters displayed below that light source.
[These are the coordinates of the entity currently holding Guardian authority.]
“Besides this, isn't there something with an incredibly high concentration of Abyss? Should I explain it as the Abyss being extremely concentrated within it…?”
[Searching for the corresponding object.]
What Nils was referring to were the coordinates of a "Deep Explosion." Soon, over 10 points flickered blue at the edge of the 3D map of the third basement floor.
“Damn it, those are on the third basement floor too.” It was at that moment, as Nils let out a sigh.
[Danger alert, experimental Abyss entities approaching.]
From beyond the fully opened bulkhead, some tentacles flew out, snatched the machine, and dragged it into the darkness.
“It's them! Get ready to fight!” Nils hurriedly raised the muzzle of his X-Blast Plasma Cannon and shouted.
“Who are 'them'?”
“It's the Chimera Unit! The failures of the ‘Demon Slayer’ training project!”
Rista frantically turned her head here and there, and the next moment, she grabbed Rin and Nils by the scruffs of their necks and leaped to an opening in the ceiling… a place clearly used as a ventilation shaft.
“Grrrraaaaaah……”
“Uooohhhhhhh……”
Soon, hideously grotesque… synthetic lifeforms passed through the corridor in countless numbers.
They were beings with the forms of monsters or beasts horribly mixed with human shapes. For example, beings with combined features of snakes and humans were also seen.
Do things that exist in this world originally become so monstrous if they deviate from the order of creation?
“What on earth is happening here…?” Rista murmured with eyes full of sorrow.
“Two things.” Nils replied, biting his lip.
“One is the Demon Slayer experiment. An experiment to stitch together human and monster bodies using the Abyss like an adhesive.”
“!”
“And the other is… what we saw earlier. Extracting only human brains and spinal cords to create 'substitute offerings'.”
At that very moment, a pale blue light emerged in the middle of the corridor. It was the same light as when the machine had projected the 3D map earlier.
[Nils, the loss incurred to the civilized world due to your escape of Subject 2641 can be considered a setback in world history.] It seemed like something wearing a machine shell, rather than a human…
[How many test subjects had to be discarded to recreate a masterpiece…….]
That was the first encounter.
With Greta Weiser, owner of the Adamantite Emblem, the symbol of the strongest mercenary, and who received the title of Ain's top engineer, 'Meister'.
[However, an assistant as brilliant as you could not be found anywhere. In the process of pursuing progress alone, I had to face not a few stagnations. If you choose to walk the same path as me again, I will overlook all past events.]