The moment it became certain that the intruder had smashed through the hangar floor,
Not a single person in the control room could speak.
“……What kind of brute-force madness is that…?”
Only the low murmur of the man called the chief filled the air.
Then, once again—
Rumble, rumble…
Another tremor rippled faintly through the structure.
“The intruder! He’s destroying the Basement Level 1 floor as well!”
“Damn it! Deploy barriers across all sections immediately!!!”
After a brief silence, they regained their senses and began frantically manipulating their controls.
“All combat personnel withdraw and prepare for engagement! Damn it. Of all times for this to happen!”
It was a swift and appropriate command. At the man’s order, roughly half of the control room staff hurried out.
Barrier. A spell activated through magic circles installed throughout the space to block intruders.
As if reflecting an obsessive refusal to let the experiments conducted here leak outside, it was a thick and formidable defensive measure, and at the same time—
Fssshhh…
“All floors! Shielding barriers fully activated! All magic tools and magic circles are functioning normally!”
—also a means of suppressing intruders, assisted by various specialized magical devices.
“…The barrier strength…”
Someone muttered while watching.
On the footage captured by the magical surveillance device, the intruder had paused and started scanning his surroundings.
Though difficult to see clearly in the dark interior, his build was unusual. Nearly two meters tall.
“Brief me on the active barriers.”
“Yes. They were personally created and reinforced by Lady Maria. The list includes ‘Blackout’, ‘Hexa-Pentagram’, ‘Horizon of Sorcery’—”
“Spare me the list. What matters is how much stopping power they can exert right now.”
“According to Lady Maria’s notes, any swordsman below Sword Saint level would not even survive. And if the opponent is a mage, the barrier is composed of a magical structure that can never be dispelled!”
At that, the man smiled darkly.
“She installed something far nastier than I expected. Then we have nothing to worry about. Capture that muscle-brained fool and turn him into a test subject! Hahahahaha!”
***
My vision flashed chaotically. Everything around me was drenched in red.
“……”
In the distance, figures rounded the corridor and sprinted toward me.
Each of them radiated waves of mana. Mages.
They must be the interception team sent to deal with me. Their response was faster than I expected.
And that wasn’t all.
At every visible section, strange ripples settled into place.
“Barrier magic.”
An odd sensation was beginning to invade my mind. As if something were scrambling my thoughts.
When I moved my arm, it felt like my leg was moving instead. A warped sensation wrapped around my body.
“…I feel like I’m going to throw up.”
Adel Bliss’s monstrous sensitivity, that was sharp enough to clearly perceive even the “woman with the wide-brimmed hat”, was now recognizing the situation in perfect detail.
It was the lower spectrum of the waves, normally imperceptible, that seeped in along the walls.
And at the very edge of the barrier, precisely at the limit of its effective range, they appeared.
Figures in pure white robes.
Faces I knew all too well.
“Drop your weapons!! Intruder!”
“…Yeah. So it was you. About time you showed yourselves.”
“I said drop your weapons!”
Slowly, I raised both hands.
“I don’t have any weapons.”
“Discard everything at your waist! Hands up and turn around! Make one wrong move and we’ll kill you!!”
“Right. Come to think of it, no matter how capable the head of House Harunsdel is, there’s no way he could’ve grown a merchant guild that fast on his own.”
Now that I knew who they were, I could roughly piece together what had happened.
Harunsdel hadn’t risen to become one of the Empire’s two great merchant guilds through sheer competence. They had simply made a deal with demons.
“Shut up and disarm yourself!!”
Silently, I placed each magic tool on the floor. The underground space filled with the sharp clatter of metal.
When I complied so obediently, they seemed almost taken aback.
“…Doesn’t look like much. Good. Remove the paper covering your face too.”
“Sure.”
With a shrug, I untied the strap from my forehead. The sheet of paper slipped free and fluttered through the air.
“““!!!!”””
Perhaps it was the sight of it, but a sudden tension swept through them. The presence hidden beneath their robes shifted into confusion.
“…Horns… a demon…?”
“Th-That can’t be.”
A strange murmur spread among them.
I couldn’t help but laugh.
After all, the ones standing there in shock were men of Rabid Van.
Rabid Van
An organization that could well be described as standing in opposition to the White Ship.
Among the countless demon worshippers, they were the largest and the most active.
The reason their organization had grown so large was simple.
They possessed an exceptional kind of faith.
And that faith itself was the fuel that drove Rabid Van.
The humans before me believed the demonization of mankind to be salvation.
In the most literal sense, demon worshippers.
“Why?”
I couldn’t lower the corners of my mouth.
Was it because my head was in chaos? It even felt as though some heat deep within my chest was setting my entire body ablaze.
“Surprised that I’m a demon?”
◆ Warning! Demonic factor awakening!
[Adel Bliss] ↔ [Mad□□ Adel]
“Because I’m the ‘intelligent demon’ you’ve been trying so hard to create?”
There was no immediate response.
Silence.
Someone gulped.
“──Impossible!! Everyone, begin casting!!”
◆ [Total Magical Structure Analysis] activated.
The branching streams of incoming spells came into view.
The applied principle of individuality I had learned earlier from Austin, the mechanics of “Magic Parrying”, etched themselves clearly into my mind.
◆ Analyzing……
◆ Fourth-Circle Spell [Crimson Flame]
◆ Fourth-Circle Spell [Flame Amplification]
◆ Fifth-Circle Spell [Wind Wheel]
.
.
.
◆ Analysis complete.
◆ [Total Magical Structure Analysis] has identified vulnerabilities in each spell.
◆ User Skill – [Magic Parrying] has improved.
In that instant,
All of the high-rank spells that had been radiating overwhelming force simply evaporated.
“……?”
“……What just happened?”
All of Rabid Van’s battle mages were thrown into confusion.
And understandably so. The moment their spells touched the opponent’s body, they vanished as if they had never existed.
There was no warning. No way to infer the principle. Even after witnessing the result, they could not accept it.
The waves of mana that had embroidered the empty air were simply sucked away.
In other words, it was a mage’s nightmare.
“Die.”
The only thing they managed to perceive was the searing warmth as their own throats were slit.
***
Deep beneath the laboratory, on the lowest level where magical experiments were conducted.
Pitch-black metal cubes were piled up like a mountain.
They were iron containers identical to those found in the hangar on the first floor above ground.
“Exposure level 6. Risk index is 78.”
Wooooong──
A strange resonant hum filled the cavern packed with cubes.
“Stabilized for 15 seconds. Maintaining level 6.”
“……Sir Quinoron. Forgive me, but at this rate the risk is too high. In the past year, it has never exceeded 70……!”
Robed figures stood before the metal cubes, speaking in urgent tones.
All of them were mages and researchers affiliated with Rabid Van.
“That level is acceptable. Sacrifices are inevitable.”
“……Maintaining level 6. Five seconds until exposure level 7. 4……3……2……1! Entering exposure level 7. Injecting demonic factor and anesthetic.”
Chiiiiik──
In the chamber they were observing, dozens of cubes were flooded with magical solution amid a sound like something melting away. Circuits running across the jet-black metal glowed a vivid red.
Unintelligible words continued to pass between them.
Innovation Cube.
That was the name of the metal objects filling the room.
Its origin lay in a product once developed by the Magic Tower, called the “Mystic Pet Creation Kit”.
It had been designed to confine animals inside small cubes and induce mutations through continuous drug injections and exposure to mana waves.
Of course, the “Mystic Pet Creation Kit” was never released as a product. Naturally so. Even animals with only the intelligence of a dog would typically go mad after being confined in such a small space for days.
In other words, it was an object of madness born from the Magic Tower’s peculiar, desk-bound view of the world.
But was it not said that human imagination knows no limits?
Rabid Van had managed to find another way to apply this discarded product.
“Stabilization at exposure level 7 complete. Current risk index is 82. It’s still rising.”
“We will stabilize for 30 seconds. Proceeding to level 8.”
“30-second stabilization. 30……29……28…… Pressure inside the cubes is increasing. Sir Quinoron, at this rate most of the test subjects will not endure it. 24 seconds!”
– What if we put a human inside?
What if we placed a human within and continuously exposed them to the demonic factor?
That was the method.
They felt no concern whatsoever about the cruelty of cramming a human into a metal box designed for small animals.
Quinoron smiled amiably as he spoke.
“Failure was always within our calculations. Let’s see this through to the end, everyone.”
“14 seconds! The pressure inside the cubes is rising without limit! At this rate, they’ll explode!”
It was at that moment someone shouted.
────!!!!
A scream pierced through the thick metal box and spilled out.
“……How very noisy.”
Not a flicker of agitation, not a trace of hesitation could be found on his face.
Even as screams rang out, screams that might precede an imminent explosion, they remained perfectly composed, as though this were nothing more than a trivial experiment.
“5…… 4…… 3…… 2…… 1. Attempting entry into level 8! There’s a faint demonic transformation response from Unit 102!”
“Oh ho. It seems we’ll salvage at least one.”
That was when it happened.
Rumble……
A subtle vibration carried down to the lowest underground level where they stood.
“……Another tremor? I thought it might be an earthquake… but that doesn’t seem to be the case.”
Quinoron pondered briefly.
“We can’t stop now…….”
And then—
Booooom──!!!
A thunderous blast shook the underground cavern.
“Cube 104 has exploded! The rest of the 100-series control group are exploding in succession!”
The metal cubes burst apart, shattering into fragments that tore everything inside them to pieces.
Boom! Booom-booom-boom-boom-boom!!!
───!!!
Screams.
Boooooom!!!
Chunks of flesh splattered across the cubes filling the cavern.
Booom!!
Red liquid spattered against the translucent shield spread before the mages, staining it.
“……Disgusting. Restart the magical tool later. What’s the risk index?”
“Currently 92…… 93…… The 90-series are about to explode as well!”
Even in the face of that horrific scene, Quinoron merely frowned as if discussing unpleasant weather.
It was an avant-garde spectacle.
“My, my. It seems they’re all going to burst…… I’ll step out for a moment.”
Still wearing a faint smile, Quinoron boarded the elevator.
He intended to find the source of the tremors that had been echoing one after another.
“Understood!!!”
Rumbleeee……
He had barely disappeared when the entire building began to shake.
The vibration was far greater than before, as if to declare that this was no natural occurrence.
“……Who was in command of the battle again?”
“I believe it was Hudson…… Well, he’s done for. There’s been no report, and Sir Quinoron has moved personally…….”
“Let’s at least pray for his soul.”
It was around the time they briefly turned their attention away from the Innovation Cubes.
At the corner of Cube 102—
Crack—!
Suddenly, a blood-soaked hand burst out.
Leave a Reply