Drip. Drip. Drip.
Guided by Eve's intelligence, Oliver and Yareli surreptitiously penetrated the laboratory situated on the outskirts of Lake Village.
Officially termed a collaborative research facility for the Life School and Life Alchemy, its actual purpose concealed a sinister truth – a facility for incarcerating abducted wizards, victims of the recent raid.
In line with the insights gleaned from Eve's comprehensive surveillance of Lake Village, this was merely one of four such grim warehouses scattered across different locations.
"Where should we go?"
Drawing closer to a crossroads along their path, Yareli, who was accompanying Oliver, inquired.
Oliver's gaze darted back and forth between the right and left corridors. Then, he placed his hand upon an entirely different passageway. Infusing it with mana, he activated the pre-installed spell, causing the entrance to ripple open like a small hole.
"Down here," Oliver instructed, stepping into the opening.
As he disappeared from view, a concealed pathway unveiled itself beneath.
The previous two forks they had encountered were covert routes already mapped out by the Life School faction. According to Eve's briefing, despite their extensive preparations for the large-scale event, there was an underlying lack of trust between the Life School and Life Alchemy factions.
These hidden paths served as evidence of this mistrust – built either to perpetuate suspicion or to feign ignorance while maintaining surveillance.
‘But regardless of that, their level of preparedness is impressive,' Oliver mused, surveying the meticulously crafted secret passageway.
His mind wandered, contemplating whether the purpose behind all of this was to utilize the numerous kidnapped wizards as ingredients…
Although amassing such a substantial and high-quality collection of ingredients was no easy feat, something felt amiss.
Was there a crucial element missing?
Just as contemplation enshrouded Oliver, the sound of Yareli's distress reached his ears.
"…Shall I help you?"Oliver inquired courteously, noticing Yareli's predicament at the entrance.
Though the offer was well-intentioned, Yareli blushed in response, grappling to free herself before gently landing on the floor.
"……."
Yareli stared at Oliver intently, her silence speaking volumes.
"What did I do wrong?"Oliver questioned.
"No," Yareli fibbed, her cheeks still flushed.
Evidently, Oliver had managed to stumble upon some sort of misstep.
He had extended a helping hand to a distressed woman, much as he had been taught during his time in the Angels House.
‘Was it my hand gesture?' he wondered.
Observing Oliver's contemplative expression, Yareli interjected, "It's really fine, don't worry about it."
"Ah… okay. Shall we continue?"
Oliver gestured ahead, seeking Yareli's input, and she responded with a nod.
Her initial motivation, rooted in her desire to aid her grandmother, had evidently evolved into a heightened sense of purpose.
"I'm sorry."
"What for?"
"I told you that the students here had been captured, so you came here, right?"
Yareli's reply didn't come immediately; it was as if Oliver's words had struck a chord.
Initially, her intention had been to rescue her grandmother, who was entangled in conflict with Theodore. But, due to Oliver's involvement, she now found herself in this situation.
Of course, there had been the option to disregard Derick, Felix, and the other kidnapped members of the Life School faction. However, Kevin and Terence had believed it to be an unavoidable task, leading them to dispatch Yareli and Oliver.
"No… it's fine."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. Anyway, if it's a battle between Theodore, Philip, and my grandmother, neither you nor I would have much to do. It's better to rescue others here."
Yareli's disappointment was palpable, yet her words held no falsehood.
"Is that so?"
"Yes. It's the right thing to do as a Magic Tower student."
Yareli's unwavering commitment and determination were undeniable. It was akin to armor shielding her while also restraining her. She appeared somewhat fatigued, yet her determination remained unshaken. Her endurance was genuinely remarkable.
"May I ask a question, Zenon?"
"Yes? Me?"
"Yes. What is your real identity?"
Yareli's inquiry, delivered through her thick glasses, caught Oliver off guard.
"Um… do I still look suspicious?"
"Sorry. I don't mean anything bad. I just want to be sure. Given the situation."
It was a reasonable request.
The abrupt betrayal of the Life School faction against the Magic Tower, coupled with their alliance with external forces for the assault, justified a cautious approach to anything and anyone.
Moreover, Yareli's skepticism and wariness toward Oliver didn't seem hostile in nature.
To elucidate her perspective, she added further context.
"Personally, I want to thank you. You were able to find out the situation through the World Tree, and even used the Fog Barrier to move us here. But that also makes me feel uneasy. I've never seen anyone with your level of skills, even among the Masters."
"Ms. Yareli."
As Yareli spoke, Oliver abruptly halted their progress. Her expression tightened with anticipation as she regarded him.
"We need to enter this ventilation duct now."
Oliver indicated the cramped entrance resembling a narrow corridor leading into the ventilation system.
Without receiving a direct answer to her earlier query, Yareli entered the basement ventilation shaft.
Though she had inquired twice, a proper response remained elusive.
It was undeniably disconcerting, but Yareli swiftly realized that it mattered little, as the unfolding scene became visible through the gaps in the ventilation duct.
"……!"
A humanoid figure with the head of a bull was meticulously slicing open a person's abdomen, much like a butcher at a meat shop skillfully preparing cuts of meat. The scene left Yareli deeply unsettled.
"……What is that?"
"That's the worker version of the enhanced humans the professor mentioned. They were engineered by the Life School faction."
Yareli gazed at Oliver, her expression inquiring how he knew, but Oliver's focus remained fixated on the enhanced humans, causing him to miss her questioning look.
"Um…… Still, it's a relief."
"……What is?"
"Based on what we found out from the World Tree, there are fewer wizards in this lab because they're busy upstairs."
While scrutinizing the efforts of the clumsily-operating enhanced human C03, Oliver speculated aloud.
If they had enough manpower, they wouldn't entrust such intricate tasks to these creations – that was only logical.
Despite transforming villagers into chimeras and forging an alliance with the Life Alchemy department, the Life School faction had fewer overall members, making it challenging to allocate significant forces to these warehouses.
Consequently, the captured wizards had a better chance at escaping.
Oliver urged Yareli to hasten their progress.
She acknowledged his words with a nod, though a hint of displeasure lingered in her expression.
"Zenon… You seem to be familiar with this kind of things?"
"Ms. Yareli, you seem to be less familiar with this kind of things?"
In response to Yareli's query, Oliver counterposed with one of his own.
Although this could be misconstrued as sarcasm, Oliver's intention was genuinely inquisitive. He had assumed that wizards were desensitized to such scenes, considering Kevin's involvement in dissections.
However, Yareli seemed mildly offended by his question.
"Not all wizards are familiar with dissection. That's a discriminatory assumption by those who don't know much about magic tower. It's rude."
"Oh, is that so?"
"Yes. Not every wizard is a warlock, you know."
"Even warlocks don't necessarily do dissections, Ms. Yareli. It depends on the faction."
Indeed, this was accurate. Only the Manipulation faction, specializing in corpse manipulation, the Disease faction, conducting clinical research, and the Creation faction, which required anatomical knowledge for their creations, performed dissections.
This left the Firepower faction as the sole exception, abstaining from such practices.
‘…Oh, black magic is close to dissection.'
Oliver was about to correct his earlier statement when Yareli posed another question.
"You seem to know quite a bit about black magic?"
"……I learned about it while helping Professor Kevin."
Oliver took a brief moment to contemplate, then shifted the blame to Kevin. The challenging task assigned to him was accompanied by the discretion to act as he saw fit.
Although his lie was seamlessly woven, Yareli appeared skeptical, casting a suspicious glance at Oliver.
Fortunately, her attention was soon diverted.
"Here it is."
Oliver pointed toward the entrance of the ventilation shaft.
Yareli's suspicion lingered, but she followed Oliver's direction and peered into the shaft. Within, she spotted Derick, Felix, and other students, all securely bound.
Twelve individuals in total, each confined to a chair through tightly strapped belts.
These belts were imbued with mana, interrupting the captives' ability to wield mana themselves.
‘They're all asleep. This is strange. Drugs, maybe?'
Observing their subtle emotional states, Life-force, and mana, Oliver wondered if their slumber had been induced through some form of substance.
Oliver and Yareli exchanged a glance, a silent agreement passing between them. With the focused application of their mana, they forcefully dismantled the iron bars of the ventilation shaft and entered the space beyond.
"Oh, my God……"
Yareli's horrified whisper resonated through the chamber once they were inside and able to survey their surroundings.
While the interior was impeccably clean, the individuals here were treated more like commodities than human beings.
The scene before Yareli evoked a cacophony of emotions – horror, revulsion, anger, and a touch of fear mingled within her.
"Hey, Derick. Are you okay?"
Yareli attempted to rouse Derick, but he remained unresponsive. Hastily, she set about undoing the belt that held him restrained.
Amidst this, a gnawing intuition gripped Oliver – something wasn't right.
"Ms. Yareli, wait—"
Bang!
Before Oliver's words could fully materialize, the belt snapped, and Derick's form inflated like a balloon before violently rupturing.
Chunks of flesh and torrents of blood sprayed in every direction.
Others within the room met similar fates, their bodies exploding like burst water balloons.
The space quickly transformed into a grisly tableau, bathed in a nauseating crimson deluge.
A chill reminiscent of the one he had felt at Mountain Pace seized Oliver. Reflexively, he acted, seizing the panicking Yareli by the shoulder and pulling her away. Concurrently, he released the pent-up mana within him.
The pool of blood spread across the floor but halted precisely at the area where Oliver stood.
Fate played its hand – Oliver's anticipation proved accurate. The disintegrated remains of flesh descended into the pool, sinking and vanishing from sight.
Witnessing this, Yareli inquired, trembling, "What, what is this?"
"Blood puddle. It's one of the blood magics."
Oliver, having once fallen prey to this sorcery, offered an explanatory response.
"There's no such thing in blood magic…"
"It exists in the blood magic of a warlock. By the way, don't worry about Mr. Derick and Mr. Felix. It doesn't seem like they're the ones who burst."
Having stated this, Oliver took hold of Yareli, swept her to his side, and surged forward, shattering through the doorway.
Escaping the chamber teeming with blood became an urgent priority.
With a surge of magic-infused power, Oliver's kick obliterated the sturdy iron door, granting the blood-soaked pair access to the corridor.
"…What do you mean Derick and Felix are okay? I just saw them explode before my eyes."
Yareli's voice quavered as she questioned. Despite her bespattered appearance and slightly shaken demeanor, her remarkable resilience preserved her sanity.
"The exterior was well crafted, but it probably wasn't them."
"Then…?"
"Blood balloons."
"Blood balloons?"
"Yes. It's quite different from the blood balloons I know, but essentially it should be the same."
[Indeed, you're correct.]
A strange, alien voice suddenly interjected.
Turning their attention towards the source of the utterance, Oliver and Yareli directed their gaze toward the blood-filled room. There, the pooled blood on the floor had coalesced into a human-like shape, standing upright.
[Pleased to make your acquaintance.]
Drip. Drip. Drip.
Guided by Eve's intelligence, Oliver and Yareli surreptitiously penetrated the laboratory situated on the outskirts of Lake Village.
Officially termed a collaborative research facility for the Life School and Life Alchemy, its actual purpose concealed a sinister truth – a facility for incarcerating abducted wizards, victims of the recent raid.
In line with the insights gleaned from Eve's comprehensive surveillance of Lake Village, this was merely one of four such grim warehouses scattered across different locations.
"Where should we go?"
Drawing closer to a crossroads along their path, Yareli, who was accompanying Oliver, inquired.
Oliver's gaze darted back and forth between the right and left corridors. Then, he placed his hand upon an entirely different passageway. Infusing it with mana, he activated the pre-installed spell, causing the entrance to ripple open like a small hole.
"Down here," Oliver instructed, stepping into the opening.
As he disappeared from view, a concealed pathway unveiled itself beneath.
The previous two forks they had encountered were covert routes already mapped out by the Life School faction. According to Eve's briefing, despite their extensive preparations for the large-scale event, there was an underlying lack of trust between the Life School and Life Alchemy factions.
These hidden paths served as evidence of this mistrust – built either to perpetuate suspicion or to feign ignorance while maintaining surveillance.
‘But regardless of that, their level of preparedness is impressive,' Oliver mused, surveying the meticulously crafted secret passageway.
His mind wandered, contemplating whether the purpose behind all of this was to utilize the numerous kidnapped wizards as ingredients…
Although amassing such a substantial and high-quality collection of ingredients was no easy feat, something felt amiss.
Was there a crucial element missing?
Just as contemplation enshrouded Oliver, the sound of Yareli's distress reached his ears.
"…Shall I help you?"Oliver inquired courteously, noticing Yareli's predicament at the entrance.
Though the offer was well-intentioned, Yareli blushed in response, grappling to free herself before gently landing on the floor.
"……."
Yareli stared at Oliver intently, her silence speaking volumes.
"What did I do wrong?"Oliver questioned.
"No," Yareli fibbed, her cheeks still flushed.
Evidently, Oliver had managed to stumble upon some sort of misstep.
He had extended a helping hand to a distressed woman, much as he had been taught during his time in the Angels House.
‘Was it my hand gesture?' he wondered.
Observing Oliver's contemplative expression, Yareli interjected, "It's really fine, don't worry about it."
"Ah… okay. Shall we continue?"
Oliver gestured ahead, seeking Yareli's input, and she responded with a nod.
Her initial motivation, rooted in her desire to aid her grandmother, had evidently evolved into a heightened sense of purpose.
"I'm sorry."
"What for?"
"I told you that the students here had been captured, so you came here, right?"
Yareli's reply didn't come immediately; it was as if Oliver's words had struck a chord.
Initially, her intention had been to rescue her grandmother, who was entangled in conflict with Theodore. But, due to Oliver's involvement, she now found herself in this situation.
Of course, there had been the option to disregard Derick, Felix, and the other kidnapped members of the Life School faction. However, Kevin and Terence had believed it to be an unavoidable task, leading them to dispatch Yareli and Oliver.
"No… it's fine."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. Anyway, if it's a battle between Theodore, Philip, and my grandmother, neither you nor I would have much to do. It's better to rescue others here."
Yareli's disappointment was palpable, yet her words held no falsehood.
"Is that so?"
"Yes. It's the right thing to do as a Magic Tower student."
Yareli's unwavering commitment and determination were undeniable. It was akin to armor shielding her while also restraining her. She appeared somewhat fatigued, yet her determination remained unshaken. Her endurance was genuinely remarkable.
"May I ask a question, Zenon?"
"Yes? Me?"
"Yes. What is your real identity?"
Yareli's inquiry, delivered through her thick glasses, caught Oliver off guard.
"Um… do I still look suspicious?"
"Sorry. I don't mean anything bad. I just want to be sure. Given the situation."
It was a reasonable request.
The abrupt betrayal of the Life School faction against the Magic Tower, coupled with their alliance with external forces for the assault, justified a cautious approach to anything and anyone.
Moreover, Yareli's skepticism and wariness toward Oliver didn't seem hostile in nature.
To elucidate her perspective, she added further context.
"Personally, I want to thank you. You were able to find out the situation through the World Tree, and even used the Fog Barrier to move us here. But that also makes me feel uneasy. I've never seen anyone with your level of skills, even among the Masters."
"Ms. Yareli."
As Yareli spoke, Oliver abruptly halted their progress. Her expression tightened with anticipation as she regarded him.
"We need to enter this ventilation duct now."
Oliver indicated the cramped entrance resembling a narrow corridor leading into the ventilation system.
Without receiving a direct answer to her earlier query, Yareli entered the basement ventilation shaft.
Though she had inquired twice, a proper response remained elusive.
It was undeniably disconcerting, but Yareli swiftly realized that it mattered little, as the unfolding scene became visible through the gaps in the ventilation duct.
"……!"
A humanoid figure with the head of a bull was meticulously slicing open a person's abdomen, much like a butcher at a meat shop skillfully preparing cuts of meat. The scene left Yareli deeply unsettled.
"……What is that?"
"That's the worker version of the enhanced humans the professor mentioned. They were engineered by the Life School faction."
Yareli gazed at Oliver, her expression inquiring how he knew, but Oliver's focus remained fixated on the enhanced humans, causing him to miss her questioning look.
"Um…… Still, it's a relief."
"……What is?"
"Based on what we found out from the World Tree, there are fewer wizards in this lab because they're busy upstairs."
While scrutinizing the efforts of the clumsily-operating enhanced human C03, Oliver speculated aloud.
If they had enough manpower, they wouldn't entrust such intricate tasks to these creations – that was only logical.
Despite transforming villagers into chimeras and forging an alliance with the Life Alchemy department, the Life School faction had fewer overall members, making it challenging to allocate significant forces to these warehouses.
Consequently, the captured wizards had a better chance at escaping.
Oliver urged Yareli to hasten their progress.
She acknowledged his words with a nod, though a hint of displeasure lingered in her expression.
"Zenon… You seem to be familiar with this kind of things?"
"Ms. Yareli, you seem to be less familiar with this kind of things?"
In response to Yareli's query, Oliver counterposed with one of his own.
Although this could be misconstrued as sarcasm, Oliver's intention was genuinely inquisitive. He had assumed that wizards were desensitized to such scenes, considering Kevin's involvement in dissections.
However, Yareli seemed mildly offended by his question.
"Not all wizards are familiar with dissection. That's a discriminatory assumption by those who don't know much about magic tower. It's rude."
"Oh, is that so?"
"Yes. Not every wizard is a warlock, you know."
"Even warlocks don't necessarily do dissections, Ms. Yareli. It depends on the faction."
Indeed, this was accurate. Only the Manipulation faction, specializing in corpse manipulation, the Disease faction, conducting clinical research, and the Creation faction, which required anatomical knowledge for their creations, performed dissections.
This left the Firepower faction as the sole exception, abstaining from such practices.
‘…Oh, black magic is close to dissection.'
Oliver was about to correct his earlier statement when Yareli posed another question.
"You seem to know quite a bit about black magic?"
"……I learned about it while helping Professor Kevin."
Oliver took a brief moment to contemplate, then shifted the blame to Kevin. The challenging task assigned to him was accompanied by the discretion to act as he saw fit.
Although his lie was seamlessly woven, Yareli appeared skeptical, casting a suspicious glance at Oliver.
Fortunately, her attention was soon diverted.
"Here it is."
Oliver pointed toward the entrance of the ventilation shaft.
Yareli's suspicion lingered, but she followed Oliver's direction and peered into the shaft. Within, she spotted Derick, Felix, and other students, all securely bound.
Twelve individuals in total, each confined to a chair through tightly strapped belts.
These belts were imbued with mana, interrupting the captives' ability to wield mana themselves.
‘They're all asleep. This is strange. Drugs, maybe?'
Observing their subtle emotional states, Life-force, and mana, Oliver wondered if their slumber had been induced through some form of substance.
Oliver and Yareli exchanged a glance, a silent agreement passing between them. With the focused application of their mana, they forcefully dismantled the iron bars of the ventilation shaft and entered the space beyond.
"Oh, my God……"
Yareli's horrified whisper resonated through the chamber once they were inside and able to survey their surroundings.
While the interior was impeccably clean, the individuals here were treated more like commodities than human beings.
The scene before Yareli evoked a cacophony of emotions – horror, revulsion, anger, and a touch of fear mingled within her.
"Hey, Derick. Are you okay?"
Yareli attempted to rouse Derick, but he remained unresponsive. Hastily, she set about undoing the belt that held him restrained.
Amidst this, a gnawing intuition gripped Oliver – something wasn't right.
"Ms. Yareli, wait—"
Bang!
Before Oliver's words could fully materialize, the belt snapped, and Derick's form inflated like a balloon before violently rupturing.
Chunks of flesh and torrents of blood sprayed in every direction.
Others within the room met similar fates, their bodies exploding like burst water balloons.
The space quickly transformed into a grisly tableau, bathed in a nauseating crimson deluge.
A chill reminiscent of the one he had felt at Mountain Pace seized Oliver. Reflexively, he acted, seizing the panicking Yareli by the shoulder and pulling her away. Concurrently, he released the pent-up mana within him.
The pool of blood spread across the floor but halted precisely at the area where Oliver stood.
Fate played its hand – Oliver's anticipation proved accurate. The disintegrated remains of flesh descended into the pool, sinking and vanishing from sight.
Witnessing this, Yareli inquired, trembling, "What, what is this?"
"Blood puddle. It's one of the blood magics."
Oliver, having once fallen prey to this sorcery, offered an explanatory response.
"There's no such thing in blood magic…"
"It exists in the blood magic of a warlock. By the way, don't worry about Mr. Derick and Mr. Felix. It doesn't seem like they're the ones who burst."
Having stated this, Oliver took hold of Yareli, swept her to his side, and surged forward, shattering through the doorway.
Escaping the chamber teeming with blood became an urgent priority.
With a surge of magic-infused power, Oliver's kick obliterated the sturdy iron door, granting the blood-soaked pair access to the corridor.
"…What do you mean Derick and Felix are okay? I just saw them explode before my eyes."
Yareli's voice quavered as she questioned. Despite her bespattered appearance and slightly shaken demeanor, her remarkable resilience preserved her sanity.
"The exterior was well crafted, but it probably wasn't them."
"Then…?"
"Blood balloons."
"Blood balloons?"
"Yes. It's quite different from the blood balloons I know, but essentially it should be the same."
[Indeed, you're correct.]
A strange, alien voice suddenly interjected.
Turning their attention towards the source of the utterance, Oliver and Yareli directed their gaze toward the blood-filled room. There, the pooled blood on the floor had coalesced into a human-like shape, standing upright.
[Pleased to make your acquaintance.]
