Andrei Semov gathered mana in his chest and shot it out like a pillar. It was a [Mana Release] attack that didn't even contain an attribute. However, the enormous amount of mana turned into an immense force on its own, threatening to engulf Veronica.
Veronica swung the sword in her hand from top to bottom towards the incoming energy.
The frosty aura at the tip of her sword sliced the bubble in half as white frost formed on the ground along the trajectory of Veronica's sword.
Andrei's eyes lit up with interest.
"You have an unusual aura. I've read that some knights can imbue their aura with attributes of their own, depending on their constitution."
"……."
Veronica didn't even bother to reply. The difference between her demeanor and that of her foe was dramatic.
Instead, Veronica intensified the cold aura that emanated from her sword.
It wasn't worth engaging in conversation. Andrei was just asking, not really expecting an answer. Still, he was an annoyance.
The blow earlier hadn't been at Veronica's level of power, but for a moment, the temperature in the room seemed to drop.
No, it wasn't an illusion. Andrei deliberately exhaled through his mouth as pure white water vapor formed in the air and dissipated like smoke.
The corners of his wrinkled eyes curved into crescents of amusement.
"Interesting, you don't just create cold."
This was no mere cold. The aura particles that flowed from Veronica's sword carried an intense coldness.
Even now, the scattering aura particles continued to encroach on the space, taking over the surroundings.
For the opponent, the more time passed, the more the cold numbed his body, gnawing away at both physical and mental strength. It's a technique that draws out extreme efficiency in hand-to-hand combat.
'But even so, I don't think she could survive this cold.'
Andrei's doubts were dispelled by the look in Veronica's eyes.
"Yeah. I wasn't staying in the coldest part of the world for nothing."
Veronica joined the Cold Steel Knights to operate in a cold environment. It was all to endure the double-edged sword of her aura.
'It must have been easy for her to fight against a test subject like the Second.'
Andrei laughed self-deprecatingly and pulled a test tube from his bosom but Veronica didn't stand still.
At her signal, the wizard who had been waiting behind her moved.
The robed wizard stretched out his arms and a gust of wind, carrying Veronica's aura particles with it, rushed toward Andrei.
"Hmph."
Andrei snorted and unfurled a barrier to block the attack. However, the scattering aura particles froze the area around him, pressuring him further.
Frost began to form on the hem of Andrei's robes.
"Definitely a troublesome technique."
But even the chill didn't stop Andrei from pulling the test tube completely out and mixing the reagents.
Inside the test tube were tiny balls of flesh, like beans, three of them.
Andrei unscrewed the lid and poured it out onto the ground, where it squirmed and inflated like a balloon.
In no time at all, the lump of flesh grew into a human form about the size of an adult male. It had a shaved head, no eyes, and ivory skin.
The sight of it gave Veronica an eerie feeling and her knight senses told her that the creature was anything but ordinary.
'Now, when they aren't fully prepared.'
Veronica leaped high in the air, falling toward Andrei.
Her sword was filled with a different kind of densely packed aura than before. It was ready to slice Andrei in half even if he used defensive magic.
However, Veronica's sword was blocked by an experimental object that suddenly began to move.
The creature's outstretched forearm collided with Veronica's sword, making a strange sound.
Veronica's eyes widened.
'An attack containing this much aura was blocked with a bare arm?'
Veronica gasped as she realized that her blow hadn't even cut the test subject's forearm.
The test subject's forearm was now a razor-sharp carapace protruding like a blade. Of course, there was nothing it could do about the coldness of the sword itself, and its entire forearm was covered in white frost.
Veronica immediately stumbled backwards. A few moments before, another attack had come where she had been.
The one that blocked Veronica's sword pushed its frozen forearm. The ice on its surface fell to the ground. At the same time, the purple, necrotic forearm, like a bruise, quickly returned to its ivory color.
His frostbitten and necrotic body had been restored in an instant. It was an incredible regenerative ability.
Andrei spoke with a hint of pride in his voice.
"How about this? My proudest experimental masterpiece, something I would have never dreamed of creating before, but thanks to the life force of the World Tree, I was able to. They're not mass-produced, but they'll do the job……."
Before he could even finish his sentence the wizard that was with Veronica shot a fireball at the excremental subject. If the cold didn't work, he would use the opposite element to burn them to death.
Waves of flame rolled in like a tidal wave. It was then that one of the three test subjects stepped forward and held out its arm that bulged, and then it transformed into a large shield that covered its entire body.
Immediately, flames hit the shield. The heat was intense, with bright red embers scattering in all directions. Slowly, the flames subsided, revealing the test subject standing upright.
It slowly lowered its charred shield. The charred skin peeled away like a molt, and the ivory flesh inside quickly sprouted.
Andrei clicked his tongue and shook his head.
"Such a simplistic idea. These creatures are designed to withstand any attack. That's the right metric for life to evolve."
Andrei gazed at his test subjects with satisfaction.
"The greatness of life it's the direction of evolution, the direction we humans should be headed. They don't burn or freeze and can regenerate any wound."
Andrei muttered in a low voice.
"And can overcome even incurable diseases……."
Andrei shook his head and stared at Veronica with a determined look on his face.
"What do you think, do you want to keep fighting?"
"……."
Andrei shook his head as he watched Veronica sheath her sword once more.
How is it that in the face of such a perfect result, she cannot admire it, but only harbor hostility?
Andrei raised his hand to command his subjects. It was then that his expression sank, and he looked up with half-open eyes.
A golden-haired knight was falling vertically, towering over him but by the time he realized it, it was too late.
It was the perfect ambush, impossible to block or dodge and the sword pierced right through Andrei's brow.
Immediately afterward, Passius kicked Andrei in the shoulder and back-tumbled away as the blade of the test subject's sword narrowly missed him.
Passius checked Andrei's body. He was still standing, his brow pierced, still looking up at the sky.
At the sight of him, Passius immediately stepped back further and his judgment was correct.
"Amazing."
The dead Andrei's mouth moved and his bloodshot eyes rolled as he turned to face Passius.
"I would have caught you off guard, but you're quick. For a master, your senses are sharp."
Of course, he hadn't expected this master to be an assassin.
The corners of Passius's mouth twitched in disbelief.
"I didn't think you'd survive a stab through the head. Maybe I should have stabbed you through the heart."
"It would have been useless. My body is far beyond human."
Andrei raised his head, then lowered it again as the scar across his head healed quickly.
"That's a bit cowardly."
Passius muttered to himself.
"So is a Swordmaster's ambush. A pragmatic battle with no sense of honor. The old me would have been killed in a heartbeat."
"That's an undeserved compliment."
"Honestly, I'm surprised. I wasn't planning on revealing this trick right away."
Andrei stared at Passius and stretched his arm in the other direction. His hand lengthened to an uncanny length, and then he slapped hard at the air.
Immediately afterward, there was an 'ugh' sound, and the man who had been cloaking himself in thin air was sent flying backwards, landing on the ground.
Iron Mask Rotheron stared at Andrei in disbelief.
"It was a clever way to distort your appearance by manipulating the density of the air in the atmosphere, but that doesn't change the flow of air."
Andrei's words meant that the touch of his skin was sensitive enough to pick up even the subtlest of atmospheric currents.
The newcomers, Passius and Rotheron, stood at Veronica's side and steadied themselves.
The sight of them made Andrei sigh inwardly, despite his outwardly relaxed demeanor.
A sixth-rank wizard, a masterful Royal Guard, the vice-captain of the Cold Steel Knights, and another sixth rank wizard of the imperial family, it was quite the lineup.
If this was before he discovered the World Tree, he would have died many times over.
'I guess I can't let my guard down.'
He quickly drew a new tool from his holster. It was a syringe filled with a black liquid.
Under the protection of the test subject, Andrei plunged the syringe into his chest.
The black liquid flowed through his veins, reaching his heart.
The heart, already beyond human endurance, began to beat with terrifying force as black veins rose and fell over Andrei's skin.
"Ooooh."
Andrei's mouth fell open as he gasped at the pain that shot through his body, followed by the immense exhilaration that followed.
His eyes went completely black, and then a fiery yellow pupil emerged from the center.
The entire group tensed up at the sight as the energy emanating from Andrei had changed. If he had been tricky to deal with before, he now had the air of an invincible being.
"I see. With that kind of power, I can do anything."
The refined demonic power was obtained by diluting the power extracted from the World Tree until it stabilized.
Andrei had injected it into his own body, using the power he'd created by mass-producing the Second Test Subjects.
Even if it was successful, a normal person would be torn apart and killed by a single drop in their veins but this was possible because Andrei was no ordinary man.
He had already modified his body with biotechnology, and he could accept any amount of demonic power.
Black mana began to surge around Andrei's body.
"Here we go. Let's fight to the best of our abilities."
Immediately afterward, black mana shot out in a fan-shaped pattern.
* * *
[Boom!!!]
A massive vibration shook the entire underground facility, and for a moment, Rudger group froze in place, thinking that the broken machinery had been restarted.
But then they realized that the vibration was much larger, and that the impact echoed from some distance away.
"This."
A gust of wind blew in from the end of the dimly lit passageway and swept past the group. It was the shockwave from a massive explosion of some sort.
Trina frowned at the ominous aura the shockwave seemed to carry.
Her Swordmaster's senses reacted violently to the alien and unpleasant aura.
"Looks like the people who arrived before us started fighting."
Everyone nodded at Rudger's words.
They hadn't stopped moving, but the experiments' intensive sabotage had slowed them down considerably.
Besides it was clear that the warlocks had done something with the demonic powers to create such a large shockwave.
"This is getting annoying."
Rudger squinted his eyes as a faint sign of magic prickled his skin. He looked away and saw a paper frog on the ground.
He realized it was the information from Sedina and Hans, and immediately picked up the paper frog without anyone noticing.
His sneaky behavior went unnoticed as everyone else was distracted by the distant force.
Rudger quickly scanned the contents of the unfolded paper.
[Unable to pass on further information due to the discovery of the chimera under our control. One particularly dangerous looking experiment is currently being prepared in the central hollow. Andrei of the Biotech School is stalling for time.]
After checking the contents, Rudger crumpled it up and stuffed it into his pocket.
"We'd better get moving, too."