As Osian was pushed back by the cold, the lead researcher let out a laugh of joy.
“Hahahaha! Look, it finally worked! I finally made it! With this, I can kill that monstrous intruder!”
He jumped for joy.
Three out of the last ten of his rampaging experiments had survived.
He was hoping for just one, but there were three surviving members of the Sapphire Project.
That's more than enough, and they followed his orders quite well.
He wondered if they'd try to kill him by going berserk, like the wizards before them, but that proved to be a needless worry.
'All those clinical trials on wizards have helped!’
Now all that's left is to freeze that cocky knight alive.
The head researcher excitedly grabbed the microphone and shouted.“Hey. Intruder. Can you hear me?”
Osian didn’t respond.
“You're pretty strong to have made it this far, but I'm afraid that's all you've got left. Well, don't feel bad for yourself. It's too bad I can't kill you as you are.”
At first, he had only feared Osian, but now that the roles had been reversed, a new desire had sprouted in him.
It was too much to kill him as he was. He wanted to analyze the nature of his power, and he wanted to create new experiments with his strong body.
Perhaps Osian could use all of the Ooze in there and still be fine.
“What do you say, if you surrender now, I can pardon you at my discretion?”
Osian's lips twitched inside his helm as he heard the words spoken over the speaker, faceless and unseen.
“Now you're just a loudmouth.”
I felt like a mosquito chirping at me when I already had a lot on my mind.
‘They're the first ones.’
Osian ignored the researcher's words and focused on the test subjects in front of him.
Compared to the rags before them, they were definitely stronger, not only because of their drug-induced physical enhancement, but also because of their use of magic.
'The previous rampage was a preparation for creating them.’
Even with the same amount of power, a mage would be far more useful than a regular gang member.
‘If it's not that, then maybe mutants or other non-human beings could be involved... But for now, it’s clear that mages are behind it.’
I wonder if it's because they have the power of [Moonlight] but the magic they used was specialized in ice.
Their power was far superior to ice magic, and even as an Osian, it wasn't easy to approach them.
A mere two-star magic is enough to cause frost to form on the Holy Light Armor.
If they used more than that, he had to be prepared to suffer damage as well but Osian didn't come here without any such resolve in the first place.
However, he was surprised.
Even though they had injected the power of the [Moonlight] into the mages, he didn't expect them to be able to handle it.
A mage and a wandering knight are two very different professions.
They could never wield both powers at the same time since they were never meant to be but now it was different.
A wizard has mastered the power of [Moonlight], even if it's not the result of hard work.
It was the same now.
The magic power rising around the mage soon turned into a crystallized form.
[Pure Magic]
One of the more orthodox forms of magic that gives mass and form to the magic itself and uses it to wield immense physical power.
A pure white chill formed around the crystal bullet.
It is a magic that does not exist in the existing elemental elements but the Pure Magic itself contained the power of the Moonlight.
However, its power was quite intimidating.
-Tdddddddd!
Osian blocked all the frost bullets with his Starlight Sword.
There was no way to dodge it in the narrow passage, so he had to block them.
The shattered frost bullets scattered fine crystalline particles around and Osian swung the Nebula Silk and sent the particles flying.
‘Just breathing in would have stuck to my respiratory system.’
With the Moonlight power, it would have frozen the lungs themselves.
Just because the power came from himself didn't mean it was safe.
Rather, because it was the power he used that made it more dangerous.
Still, when I faced the Reaper, I was able to do something about it, but that was possible because it was a 1 on 1 battle.
On the other hand, I was outnumbered by three.
They’re not as powerful as the Reaper, but their magic has created an unintended synergy.
Even now, the Sapphire test subjects continued to fire frost bullets.
Osian stopped deflecting them and wrapped his nebula silk around himself like an egg to defend himself.
-Thud, thud, thud!
The bullets pounded against the Nebula Silk's shell like a downpour.
He might be able to hold out for now, but if this continued, the Nebula Silk would shatter.
'They don't seem to have any intention of letting up.’
They stopped firing bullets and prepared another spell.
They were preparing something big, something to wipe him out before he could defend himself…and that's what Osian was waiting for.
Harnessing the power of the Moonlight? Yes, I'll grant you that.
It was annoying to have to deal with mages using my own power, but it was even more annoying that they could do something I couldn't, but it didn't matter.
'The fatal chasm that every mage has. The more powerful the magic you use, the more time you need to prepare.’
It was for this very moment that he had crouched down, purposely at a disadvantage.
The Nebula Silk that had wrapped around his body like an egg unfurled like a flower in full bloom, returning to the form of a cloak.
The cloak parted at the shoulders, scattering beautiful stardust behind it.
......!
I can feel their eyes widen. They've come this far, they've guessed what I’m going to do.
“But it's too late.”
They've already gained enough momentum, and they've even turned up the power and in this narrow passage I can't avoid it?
“Look.”
It proved the opposite, that they had no room to dodge either.
“Knight's charge.”
Osian stamped his foot and sprinted.
The sight of him sprinting in a straight line, with a streak of pure white light behind him, was horrifying to behold.
They tried to use magic to restrain him, but he knew it, and instead of a sword, he reached for the shield on his left arm.
The power of the Starlight surrounded the storm shield, and the shield itself was consumed by a pure white flame.
No matter how much power they had, there was no way that the magic they had created in such a hurry would work properly.
A wall of ice formed in front of Osian's eyes.
The wall of ice that blocked the entire passage was over fifty centimeters thick and nearly ten layers thick but that wasn't enough to stop the knight's charge.
-Boom!
The first ice wall shattered as easily as glass along with the second and third.
The shield imbued with the power of the Starlight continued to advance, shattering the solid frost walls as easily as Styrofoam.
Soon, all ten walls were shattered, revealing the creatures beyond.
“The end.”
Kaaaah!
*
The massive steel door to the central laboratory exploded.
The door splintered left and right, bouncing off into the distance.
“What the hell.......”
The lead researcher doubted his eyes.
A cold, icy mist rose through the shattered door, and a white knight stepped slowly out of it with the sound of clanking steel.
“Busted......even though I've had three test subjects......that barely succeeded?”
Whether he muttered or not, Osian glanced around the lab.
Their gaze met the inside of the helmet, and the researchers cringed in contemplation, or squirmed in their seats.
Osian ignored them, though, and soon spotted the massive cylinder in the center of the room.
Crouching down, Osian leaped to his feet.
-Thud.
A heavy armored figure flew high into the air and landed right next to the cylinder.
The lead researcher's legs gave out and he fell to the ground as Osian landed directly in front of him.
Osian paid no attention to him and pulled the glass barrel out with all his might.
“You, what are you going to do with it?”
The lead researcher couldn't help but ask, even though he was afraid.
“That's the last of the “original liquid”. How much time and effort had been spent to refine that mass of pure power into such a liquid.
“You can't have that! I can't let you take that much!”
“That's ridiculous, why should I listen to you.......”
Osian pointed his sword at the head researcher's throat.
It was a pure sword, untarnished by starlight or moonlight, but its sharp edge glowed with its elven origin.
One more thrust and it would pierce his throat but even in the face of death, the chief researcher refused to bend his will.
It was partly because of his dedication to the ooze in Osian's hand, but also because he feared that losing it would bring something worse than death.
“You're afraid of something else.”
“......!”
The stoic chief researcher shuddered.
“Yeah. To run an experiment of this magnitude in the 45th District, away from the prying eyes of everyone, you couldn't have done it with a bunch of halfwits. You're in charge of this place, but I don't think you're the one who orchestrated all of this.”
There must be something bigger behind this.
“Answer me. Who is it?”
“Who, who?”
“Who set this up? You're in charge of this place, you should know something.”
“I can't tell you.”
“You can't tell me?”
Osian moved the blade and stabbed the lead researcher in the thigh.
“Ow! My, my leg!”
“If you're so articulate, I don't understand why you say you can't speak. If not, should I help you speak?”
“I, I'm.......”
“I guess I’ll have to give you a little push.”
Osian stabbed him in the other thigh while avoiding the pressure points, but choosing in the areas that feel the most pain.
The researcher screamed and burst into tears. How many times had he felt this pain in his life?
“You're good at inflicting pain on your test subjects, but you can't handle your own.”
To make way for the three who stood in his way, seven others had died, unable to withstand the force.
“Speak.”
“Hic......! Oh, okay, I'll tell you, I'll tell you, I'll tell you!”
The chief researcher blurted out through sniffles of tears.
“I, I'm from the [White House].”
“The White House?”
Osian had never heard of it before.
“From the way you're working with these subjects, I assume your goal is to create enhanced humans like the Prometheus Consortium?”
“Pfft, Prometheus? Kkkkk. You're comparing us to those bastards?”
The question touched a nerve and the chief researcher narrowed his eyes.
“They're nothing compared to us, and neither is [Bleeding Edge], their equal. We are the best in the world, and we are everywhere. Even this thing I'm in charge of right now is a tiny fraction of the whole!”
“Right. Enough with the smugness, let's move on to the next question. So......where is your organization located, and who was the one who planned this?”
“Well, that's.......”
“Apparently, there was a lack of pain.”
“Oh, no, that's not it!”
Just as the lead researcher was about to shout in disbelief, his head exploded with a bang.
Red blood sprayed everywhere and the sight was so unearthly that even Osian couldn't react for a moment.
The starlight of the Starlight Armor State blazed out, burning away the blood clinging to Osian's body.
Osian looked down at the headless corpse of the chief researcher.
“......It turns out there was another rat.”
Osian's gaze shifted to the researcher shivering in the corner.
He had cowered in fear when he first made eye contact with Osian but his face was as expressionless as ever, and he was pointing his hand at the chief researcher.
‘It wasn't a gun or any kind of weapon, but it blew his head off.’
Whatever it was, it was clear that he had killed the lead researcher.
“Did you think you could just shut this guy’s mouth? If that was the case, you shouldn't have let me know.”
The researcher who wasn't afraid of Osian's words, no......the one wearing the researcher's mask said.
"Hand it over while I'm asking nicely. That’s our legacy."
“Your legacy?”
Osian frowned, as if the words offended him.
“What if I don't want to?”
“Then we'll just take it back by force.”
“Really? I wonder about that.”
Osian removed his starlight armor and the sight of his bare face stunned the crowd.
They realized he was younger and more handsome than he looked but what happened next was even more surprising.
Osian lifted the jug and drank the entirety of its contents.
His throat cleared with a gulp, and it didn't take long for all of the blue ooze to disappear.
-Thump.
The empty flask fell to the floor.
“Hmm. Not as tasty as I thought.”
“You......!”