The researchers were appalled by Osian's behavior.
So were the agents of the White House, who had gone into hiding to dispose of any possible traitors and witnesses.
“Are you out of your mind?”
If the astonishment on his face before was just an act, now it was pure sincerity.
What Osian had done was far beyond common sense.
“You knew what it was and ate it all!”
“Of course I know what it is. How could I have eaten it without knowing what it was?”
“That's......!”
Does that even make sense?
The agent barely held back the words from escaping his mouth.Excitement is a poison that eats away at reason. He had to think as calmly as possible to avoid getting caught up in the situation.
‘That substance is something that can create a test subject with incredible coldness.’
I took a deep breath and rolled my eyes, and it felt like coldness was poured over my overheated brain.
My brain ran smoothly, and my thinking picked up speed.
'A single drop of the original drug sent a second-level wizard into a rage. The seven dead bodies over there were third-level. They couldn't withstand a single dose either.’
That much power and yet, Osian just gulped all of it down.
It wouldn't be surprising if his body exploded and he died but Osian was fine.
‘Wait. He's fine?'
Something was wrong. A single drop should have caused an immediate reaction, but Osian hadn't felt anything for quite some time.
I wondered if he was slow to react, but that couldn't be it. Even if you try not to show it, the forces raging inside your body won't allow it.
And yet he held on.
A lightning thought flashed through the agent's mind.
“Whoa. So that's what it was.”
“Now you realize.”
Osian nodded in understanding.
“This is my original power.......”
“I never thought I'd see you here, with a body best suited to the original.”
“.......”
Osian's head tilted slightly to the side.
What was that bastard saying now?
“So this is my original power.......”
“We’re lucky. Rather than a mediocre test subject, we have someone who can control the original power. Is this a blessing in disguise? I thought we should scrap the 45th District Project, but it turned out to be a better result.”
“.......”
An agent was muttering something, and the researchers and scientists were nodding their heads in agreement with what he said.
Their gazes at Osian had shifted from something terrifying to something extremely rare.
Osian felt a slight headache coming on.
Not only did they use other people's powers as they pleased, but the original owner got his power back and now they treat him as the best test subject?
It was annoying enough that they had infused mages bodies with the power of the Moonlight and made them attack him.
It was ridiculous that they didn't even listen to him anymore, just talking their own minds.
More than angry, he was just plain bewildered.
“Whatever it is, getting you out of here alive has become my number one goal.”
As the agent continued to rant and rave, Osian gave up trying to convince him otherwise.
Not only would they not believe him, but he felt like a fool for trying to convince them in the first place.
“I don’t know about anything else, but I’ll crush that face of yours that says you’ll capture me.”
If the agent speaks with such confidence, there must be some belief in it.
Indeed, given his sudden assassination of the lead researcher, the agent must have some tricks up his sleeve. Quite a few.
But not enough to fight Osian head-on, because if he had, he would have tried to kill him, not the head researcher, when Osian charged in.
The agent's head was spinning.
Through the door Osian had smashed open, a shivering shadow walked in.
“Is he alive?”
The agent's eyes widened.
It was the test subject sent to stop Osian.
Two had returned, of course, and one of them was badly wounded.
But the fact that two of them were still alive under the circumstances was enough to make the agent cheer.
‘We can use that one to put pressure on him.’
The agent reached into the inside pocket of his white lab coat.
All he had to do was stick the anesthesia syringe at his fingertips into Osian's body.
Ready or not, Osian stared at the two surviving test subjects in disbelief.
“I thought you were dead, but you're brave.”
They had been caught in the crossfire of the shielded knight's charge in that narrow passage.
There was no way they could have survived with their limbs intact, much less two of them.
Osian could see why from the frost on their bodies.
“I see. Since you use ice magic, it's easy for you to protect yourself.”
Most mages are called glass cannons because their bodies are as weak as a sheet of paper, despite their tremendous offensive power.
There were defensive spells, but they didn't guarantee absolute safety.
However, mages who wielded the element of ice were different.
‘Their invulnerability.’
Like the three-second invulnerability that paladins could use, mages had a similar skill.
'Emergency freezing', which covered their bodies in solid ice, protecting them from fatal damage.
It had a similar effect and reduces external damage by over 90% for 2-3 seconds.
It's not invulnerable, but they’re practically invulnerable.
Unlike the Paladin, they couldn't move while invulnerable, but on the other hand, you had to be a high level Paladin to use invulnerability, while mages needed to reach 3-stars to use that.
'This is why ice is so annoying.’
If nothing else, ice mages, who manipulated cold, were on the tricky side of PVP.
It would be better to have other attributes that focus on attacking, but ice wizards have their own invincibility, but they also have annoying effects like freezing or slowing the opponent.
That's probably why those two survived.
In other words, even with 90% damage mitigation, one died and one was seriously injured.
Whatever survived glared at Osian, their frosty energies radiating around them.
Osian smirked at the sight.
“I see. Let me show you what I've become.”
Osian removed his Starlight Armor. The cloak fluttered away, revealing a simple robe.
For a moment, the agents and others around him wondered what the hell he was doing.
Osian's sword glowed blue.
An aura reminiscent of the cold moonlight in the middle of the night enveloped it, and it split in two, becoming a double blade but the changes didn't stop there.
Osian's entire body was bathed in blue moonlight.
A blue cloth covered his face from head to toe, and a helmet jutted out like a bird's beak or a wolf's snout.
A blue robe was draped down the body like a coat, and silver armor was added at the shoulders, waist, knees, and gaiters.
Bone-chilling frost poked out from the back of his helm, rising and falling like a tail feather.
Something more like a cape than a cloak draped down his shoulders.
Toward the end of the cape, it became transparent, its edges fading into thin air, giving the illusion of dissolving into nothingness.
If the Starlight has a [Starlight Armor], then the Moonlight has the [Full Moon Armor].
The agents and test subjects were taken aback by the appearance of the unmanned man holding the Moonlight Sword.
To them, Osian's sudden change was astonishing.
“Could that be the original power manifesting?”
The agent speculated and they were right.
Osian's current appearance was only possible because he had regained his Moonlight.
The hem of the cape that had been draped over his shoulders shifted and wrapped around him.
Osian's form vanished. The test subjects rolled their eyes in bewilderment as the figure dissolved into thin air, like a mirage.
It was the same with the agent.
‘Where is he? I don't see him.’
His eyes don't just see in the realm of normal visible light. He could detect the other's heat with his eyes, but Osian was invisible even with that vision.
In the midst of his panic, one of his test subjects died.
“What.......?”
The agent thought he had seen something wrong.
The wounded creature, unaware that it was dead, had slumped to the ground.
It looked as if it had reached the end of its natural lifespan, and the Grim Reaper had taken its life.
Only later did it realize that its body was frozen solid.
“What was that?”
There was no sign of Osian.
The last surviving test subject. The most powerful one had decided enough was enough, and used the cold to surround himself.
Beyond the impenetrable shield of ice, Osian loomed like a phantom.
The test subject's eyes widened in relief, realizing that he'd barely survived.
Ossian took a step forward, and his body slid through the ice barrier with ease.
It should have been hard and dense ice, but it didn't offer any resistance, as if it were water.
In a panic, the creature reached out for him.
The moment his hand pierced Osian's head, he realized that it was an illusion without substance.
So where is the real thing?
Just as the test subject was about to look around, he fell to his knees and bowed his head deeply.
The researchers watching doubted their own eyes.
The test subject, who had been crouching and protecting his surroundings with ice magic like a turtle hiding in its shell, suddenly died.
There was no sign of Osian wielding a sword or anything like that but the agent was able to see the moment of its death.
There was a blur of Osian's form behind him, just before he died.
His instincts warned him that this is dangerous and that he should get the hell out of here.
It was far beyond his ability to make a judgment call between life and death.
The agent was quick on his feet and chose to run but not through the wide open front door.
There was a fire escape here for just such an occasion, and he was crouching near the entrance so he could make a quick getaway.
He pulls a camouflaged lever and the wall behind him opens like a door.
About to throw himself through, the agent realized his legs wouldn't move.
Looking down, he realized that white frost had covered his ankles and crawled up his thighs.
“When the hell did......!”
He couldn't feel his legs since they were frozen to the bone.
His body shuddered and his exhaled breath steamed as the cold was creeping through his body at breakneck speed.
‘Oh, no!’
The words couldn't even come out of his mouth anymore as his lips were parched and his skin was pale.
As he rolled his eyes, he saw a blurry image of Osian swinging his twin swords at him.
He looked like a grim reaper harvesting human life and the severed head of the agent fell to the ground.
Osian, who had reappeared, stomped on the frozen head with his foot and crushed it.
-Kwatching!
The human head shattered into pieces like an ice sculpture and scattered like powder.
The researchers froze at the sight, unable to move.
Ossian swept his eyes over them and wondered if any of them were still putting on an act, but they were not.
There was no longer any hiding in sight.
‘I thought about asking him for information on where he came from.’
Ossian shook his head as if to clear his mind.
He killed the lead researcher and wanted to destroy the evidence. This agent too, had been subjected to some kind of experiment beyond humanity.
Even if he were to capture and torture him, he would not tell him what he knew, and surely measures were taken to keep sensitive information secret.
“The White House.”
If he asked the researchers here, he'd only get the surface but it didn't matter.
Osian's purpose in the first place was to eliminate the source of the power surge.
“That's it.”
With that, Osian muttered and disappeared like a mirage.
The researchers were just preparing to make a hasty escape when they realized they had been spared.
BANG!
A shot rang out, and a chemical bomb hit the shoulder of the first researcher to flee.
His skin rotted and his muscles swelled and melted as the toxin seeped into his body.
The researchers froze amid the tearing screams.
From beyond the gaping doorway, Camilla raised her gun, spitting green smoke from her mouth.
“You think you can get away with this, right? You're going to pay for what you did here.”