Chapter 108
This isn’t good. If only Sir Lazarus were here, thought a middle-aged man with slicked-back brown hair and golden full-plate armor.
He was Charles Borromeo, thirty-seventh in the human ranking, and the captain of the Golden Cross Knights, an affiliated clan of Clan Vatican led by Lazarus, the leader of the Union’s dependence faction. He managed to enter the dungeon, Research in Progress, thanks to Lazarus’s recommendation, as he had a connection with the angels.
Sir Lazarus was planning on participating personally, but suddenly changed his mind, saying it would be a great opportunity for me.
Borromeo looked around. Two large groups, the birdfolk and the undead, walked down a large corridor. They were at the tipping point of destroying each other at any moment.
Is that woman Onie Yuki? Borromeo wondered as he stared at the short-haired Asian woman following behind the undead.
Nine of her party members were walking behind her, all with the same expression and gait.
The undead side has two High Rankers. Not only that but Krypta is known to use any filthy means necessary to grow stronger.
Borromeo looked behind himself and saw nine of his party members wearing the same golden full-plate armor. Behind them was a beautiful man with blond hair and eyes, looking around as if he were on a stroll.
But we have the fourth-grade angel, Master Seriel, on our side!
Borromeo shook off his worries as he looked at Seriel. It was thanks to him and his phenomenal feats during the exploration that none of the Golden Cross Knights died. Just then, he heard mumbling from the front.
“What is this place?”
“Hah! This is insane. You can’t even use the word massive to describe it.”
They were welcomed by a vast space with endless lines of giant cylindrical tubes. Each tube was filled with a green liquid and contained one human, whether they be men, women, young, or old, with their eyes closed. The sign in the room was labeled Mass Incubation Room.
***
Seong-Hwi was in a daze. The warmth felt good. It was as if the environment around him was made for his comfort. Not even the pitch-black darkness around him felt unsettling.
Is this a lucid dream? he wondered.
However, it did not seem like a side effect of Borrowing Destiny. If that were the case, he wouldn’t feel so comfortable. He heard the bubbling of water.
Am I underwater?
He thought about where he could be and came up with an answer.
I must be in my mother’s belly, filled with amniotic fluid. Does that mean I’m a fetus who can’t even open my eyes?
Just then, he heard light pounding from outside his mother’s belly, and the voice of a man he had never heard before.
“Hurry up and come out, Cheon ■■. We have high hopes for you.”
Who is this? Could it be?
Seong-Hwi wondered who the man was from his voice. He was sure he had never heard it before but felt a longing for it as well as resentment.
Dad? Is this the voice of the man who abandoned me and Mom? Why is his voice appearing in my lucid dream?
Just then, the bubbling grew stronger, forcing his consciousness to rise to the surface.
***
“Hurgh! Gurgh!” Seong-Hwi grunted, clenching his head after regaining consciousness.
“Seong-Hwi’s awake!”
“Commander! Are you okay?”
He could hear Frank and Enrique’s voices, but he was in no condition to reply. Just then, several Akasha Messages appeared before him.
[An unknown power has removed all debuffs.]
[Gene of the race Demon absorbed.]
[The Wings of Evolution have evolved.]
[All stat calibers heightened.]
[Converting Five Wings to Six Wings.]
[Available Stats: Battle Force, Sorcery Force, Harmony Force, Draconic Mana, Demon Force.]
...
What the—Kurgh!
All debuffs were removed, and his body, which had been a mess, was fully healed.
What does it mean, I absorbed a demon gene? Six Wings? Demon Force? What the hell is it talking about?
The final Akasha Message appeared.
[Activating Delayed Skill: Memory Transfer.]
“KURGH! GAAAAAH!” Seong-Hwi screamed as he clenched his head.
Someone was forcibly imprinting memories inside his head. He was sure this was what it would feel like if someone sawed at his brain. Various information entered his brain with intense pain—the entire map of Weishaupt Research Institute, the location and acquisition method of the Elixir, and the identity of the male demon he met in the corridor.
Curiositas...? The Second Fiend?!
The Second Fiend, along with the Fourth Fiend, was veiled in secrecy among the Ten Lords and Fiends. All that anyone knew about him was that he was a demon with an insatiable curiosity and a strong pursuit of knowledge.
He could obliterate a city for his research on one day, and rescue an entire race by announcing his research results on another. The Demon God was even more chaotic than the Chaos.
That demon was... Curiositas? Then how am I still alive?
Seong-Hwi examined the Akasha Messages and the demon’s identity, coming up with an answer.
Was it... a whim?
If a demon’s gene was absorbed into him without sufficient preparation, unlike what Lina Ahn had done, it was likely Curiositas’s doing. After all, it would likely have been a piece of cake for him. Seong-Hwi was almost killed and then saved on the whim of one man.
Motherfucker!
He had no idea what Curiositas was doing in this dungeon. Seong-Hwi could never have imagined he was here. No one would ever think a man as powerful as the Second Fiend would be living in the dungeon they were exploring.
Curiositas was a natural disaster, and meeting him was like getting struck by lightning while on a stroll. However, as someone aiming for a position among the Ten Lords and Fiends, Seong-Hwi couldn’t feel more humiliated because he had felt the gap between himself and a World Ranker, of which he already had a rough estimate.
His overflowing confidence from his recent exponential growth had emptied, but rather than despairing over the immense gap, he used it as a driving force to move forward.
I swear to reach the Ten Lords and Fiends! I’m sick of my life or death being dictated on a whim. I will grasp my destiny, no matter what!
Whatever whim Curiositas indulged in, Seong-Hwi needed the information he had imprinted in his brain. He would use it as optimally as possible.
“Huuu,” Seong-Hwi took a deep breath and opened his eyes, witnessing an unexpected situation.
“You shall not pass,” Leo declared.
“Dammit! That’s enough, already! We’re not enemies!”
“You shall not pass.”
“What the hell are you doing, Leo?! Seong-Hwi is in pain! Why are you blocking a healer from doing his job?!”
“You shall not pass.”
Grrr!
Leo held his D Weapon, Rhodes, and stopped the teammates from approaching Seong-Hwi. Frank pounded his chest in frustration, and Gardner pointed his finger at Leo as he criticized him. However, none of their words stopped Leo, his eyes shining, from preventing anyone from approaching Seong-Hwi.
“It’s okay, Leo. I’m fine now,” Seong-Hwi said.
Leo turned around and locked eyes with him. He walked toward Seong-Hwi, stopped in front of him, and extended his right hand.
“I’ve seen you in a new light, Cheon Seong-Hwi. I see you are a warrior I can entrust my back to. I apologize for my rudeness in the past few days. If anything, blame my terrible eye for people.”
Seong-Hwi stared at Leo’s hand and slowly smiled. He had several objectives during the dungeon excavation, and one of them was even more important than securing the Elixir. It was his friendship with Leo. Although Leo was a hard man to become friends with, he became a dependable ally whom one would never doubt once he became a friend.
Seong-Hwi grabbed Leo’s hand and replied, “I was just repaying a debt.”
“What? If you’re talking about a debt, it’s me who owes you one. I lost consciousness, but... You chased that monster away. I will repay this debt one day, whatever it takes.”
Seong-Hwi shook his head. “No, you already have. Countless times... long ago.”
However, only he could understand it.
Leo expressed confusion as he stared at Seong-Hwi. “I’m not sure what you mean, but...” he trailed off as he came to a resolution. “My name is Le-Yeyo, but I will allow you to call me Leo.”
“Whoa, for real?”
“A Maasai man never goes back on his word.”
Seong-Hwi chuckled as he stared at Leo’s resolute expression.
***
Seong-Hwi asked Frank, “I was unconscious for two hours?”
“That’s what I’m saying! Forget that, what’s with him? Who does he think he is, stopping anyone from approaching you? Were you two always that close?” Frank asked exasperatedly.
Leo, petting Rhodes, remarked, “We decided to become close.”
“What? But you never listen to a single word Seong-Hwi says!”
“I decided to listen to them from now on.”
“What?!”
As Frank was left dumbfounded by Leo’s sudden shift in behavior, Sonya came out of Doctor S.G.’s Laboratory and said, “I didn’t find... anything special. Just a collection... of weird books.”
“Urgh... What was that aura?! I passed out in an instant,” Khanh said as she swept her hand down her arm as if she got goosebumps.
“Tsk, I didn’t get to see either. I only managed to stay conscious for a few seconds, but I’m sure those two saw,” Yuri remarked.
The team members stared at Leo and Seong-Hwi.
Seong-Hwi answered, “It was a demon.”
“What? A demon? Are you serious?” Enrique asked.
Leo nodded and affirmed, “It’s true. He was a demon, perhaps a demon Ranker.”
“I didn’t chase him away. He just went away on his own. We would’ve been slaughtered otherwise,” Seong-Hwi explained, keeping the fact that the demon was Curiositas to himself.
“A superior race’s Ranker? It’s a miracle we’re alive,” Gardner said as he shook his head, which everyone agreed with.
“So, what are we going to do now? I think we should regroup with Onie Yuki,” Nakivarro said.
He had been emphasizing the same opinion for a while, but no one opposed this time.
Why was the Second Fiend here, and why did the Night Stalker’s bullet fly here? There are so many questions left unanswered, but regardless, this place is a dud, Seong-Hwi said inwardly.
His brain held information about the location and acquisition method of the Elixir, the main objective of their dungeon exploration. Surprisingly, there were two Elixirs in this dungeon.
“Okay. Let’s regroup with Onie Yuki,” Seong-Hwi said as he scanned his teammates.
It’s time I picked them out.
***
Assistant Director Adolf stared intently at two syringes in the director’s room as the sound of machinery echoed. Each contained a pink fluid made from diluting Seong-Hwi’s blood.
“This is the last of it,” Adolf mumbled as he walked toward the tanks containing No.1,000 and No.1,002.
He pressed the upper part of the tank, and a hole for the syringe to enter appeared. He inserted the syringes in the tanks and simultaneously injected the fluid. The green fluid bubbled, reacting with the fluid. It was as if the two babies inside the tanks were wailing.
“I knew it! There is a response! Ahhh!” Adolf shouted ecstatically as he pulled on his white hair. However, his expression immediately shifted. “More... More! I need more! I need much more of that blood with the perfect genetic structure!”
He used the blood he acquired by chance as a sample to create substances with the same structure, but they all failed. Hence, there was only one method remaining.
He turned around and walked to the area filled with machinery, where a monitor separated into several displays was laid out. It was the security camera footage he could use to monitor the entire Weishaupt Research Institute.
“They’ve arrived,” Adolf mumbled as he stared at one of the displays.
It was the footage of the security camera monitoring the mass incubation room, where the travelers had entered. Adolf pressed a button without hesitation.
“W-what the hell?!”
“Dammit! I knew it was a trap!”
He could see the travelers panicking in the footage because the shutter door, the only way in or out of the mass incubation room, suddenly closed.
Adolf pressed another button. The countless test tubes in the room opened, and the test subjects inside them all opened their eyes.
“Kekek! Kill them all and bring me that mystical blood!” Adolf shouted as he stared at the display, his eyes filled with madness.
He was sure the blood belonged to one of the travelers. Capturing them was ideal, but if that was impossible, killing them to acquire their blood was the next best option.
No.1,000 and No.1,002 are the only ones left. I don’t need a lot! Adolf said inwardly.
“Ahhh! Help me!”
“Dammit! Spread your wings! Fly up!”
“Assume defensive formation! Here they come!”
Adolf smiled happily as the travelers’ screams echoed from the speakers.
“Soon... the Ark will rise!”