Chapter 110
[The blood does not match.]
[The blood does not match.]
[The blood does not match.]
...
“Why?! Why is it not here?!” Adolf shouted as he stared at the monitor, slamming his fist on the table.
The battle had been going on for several hours, but none of the blood samples matched the one he sought.
“Are they not in here? No, that’s impossible. They must be among the ones who have yet to be injured! Yes, they have to be!” he shouted anxiously.
He stared intently at the monitor—to be more exact, at three people far stronger than the rest: a man swinging a greatsword, a man with six pairs of wings, and a woman controlling mannequins. One of them had to be the owner of the blood.
“Yes, there’s no way someone with such perfect genes would be weak. It has to be one of them. In that case,” Adolf said as he put on a white gown and turned on the speaker phone button. “Release all the upper-number test subjects! I will head there as well!”
His face contorted intensely, and grey Chaos Mana surged from his eyes, nose, and mouth.
“It’s been a while... since I’ve gone out!”
Adolf, the boss of the dungeon, Research in Progress, the assistant director of Weishaupt Research Institute, and a Hispar-rank Chaos, made his move.
***
Leo, Sonya, Frank, and Seong-Hwi headed to the director’s room, where the Elixirs were stored. They assumed a 2-2 quadrangular formation with Leo, the tank, and Frank, the melee attacker, at the front, and with Sonya, the magic attacker, and Seong-Hwi, who could also deal ranged damage, at the back.
“Frank!”
“Haaah!”
Leo stopped the enemies’ charge with his D Weapon, Rhodes, and Frank diced them with his sword. Sonya and Seong-Hwi also eliminated the remaining Chaos with their ranged skills.
[Activating Unique Skill: Wind Blade Storm.]
[Activating Unique Skill: Symbol Embodiment.]
[Chasing Bow, one of the symbols of No.3 The Hunter.]
“Haha! The four of us make a great team, too!” Frank said.
Seong-Hwi replied, “There’s that too, but there are only a few enemies. Their base is empty because they’ve all gone to attack the main party.”
“Robbing... an empty house,” Sonya mumbled.
Almost all of Weishaupt Research Institute’s forces were currently focused on the mass incubation room, allowing Seong-Hwi’s party to rob the empty base.
“If that’s the case, I’m worried about the support team, though they have one more person,” Frank remarked.
“That’s understandable since there are far more enemies where they’re heading, but there should be nothing to worry about once they regroup with Onie Yuki. She’s a High Ranker, after all.”
Leo, observing their conversation in silence, asked, “Seong-Hwi. I’m only asking because he’s not here now, but do you dislike Nakivarro?”
“I do,” Seong-Hwi answered.
“You do? Why? Is it because he killed innocent people in the Rwandan massacre you mentioned?”
Seong-Hwi smirked and replied, “It’s true that he’s a son of a bitch, but I don’t care about what he did on Earth. What matters is what people do in the Mirror World.”
“Then why?”
Seong-Hwi turned to Frank and said, “Frank, I told you before that I would tell you once I’m sure, right?”
“Huh? Yeah, you did, but what about?” Frank asked.
“The identities of the traitors. No, they never had the same intentions as us, so I suppose you’d call them spies.”
Frank, Leo, and Sonya suddenly frowned.
“What? Spies? What do you mean?!” Frank asked.
Seong-Hwi answered, “Kabuka has planted his people in our team.”
“Are you talking about me?” Leo asked, pointing at himself.
Seong-Hwi shook his head. “Everyone knows you’re Kabuka’s keeper. There were three more besides you.”
“And Nakivarro is one of them?”
“Yes.”
Sonya asked, “Planting spies in the team... What for?”
“Hah, I see! He was planning on backstabbing us this whole time! Dammit! Why did I never think of that?” Frank shouted, his face red with rage. “The Elixir is the most precious item in the Mirror World. The less people know about who has it, the better!”
“No way... Sir Kabuka...” Leo trailed off, his eyes mixed with distrust and rage.
“Exactly. If we obtained the Elixir, the three of them, including Nakivarro, would have backstabbed us. Deaths are common in the Mirror World; no one would doubt them.” Seong-Hwi continued, “I’d bet the former stopper, Victor, was also one of Kabuka’s spies. Once I defeated him, Kabuka added you to our team, Leo.”
“That means—”
“Yes, if push came to shove, they would’ve had you join them to backstab us while we were exhausted. However, they noticed you were wavering once I told you about Kabuka’s hidden side, and refrained from recruiting you.”
“He was planning on... making me betray the team?”
Leo gritted his teeth and trembled. As a proud Maasai warrior, he considered any betrayal taboo. If Kabuka truly had added him to the team for that purpose, it meant Kabuka had trampled on his pride.
“So... who are... the other two?” Sonya asked, her cheeks slightly reddened with rage.
Seong-Hwi answered, “They’re...”
***
“Enrique! Are you sure this is the way?”
“Yeah. According to Seong-Hwi’s information, the mass incubation room’s shutter door is likely closed. The only other way we can get in is through the vents.”
Enrique guided his teammates using the signal he was tracking through his D Weapon, Spy Drone Controller, with the simple map Seong-Hwi drew for him.
Dammit! I thought about the possibility, but... he said inwardly as he stared at the map to the vents.
A few words were written under it.
Nakivarro, Gardner, and Khanh Huyen are Kabuka’s spies. Find the right opportunity to separate from them with Yuri. Avoid confrontation and minimize harm.
Enrique sneakily peeked at the three who were written in the note.
I never expected these three to be spies! Nakivarro, I get, but even Gardner and Khanh Huyen?
It was hard to believe, but a few questionable moments popped into his head.
First, Nakivarro vehemently opposed Onie Yuki’s decision to appoint Seong-Hwi as the second commander. Once Enrique and Frank agreed, Nakivarro instinctively turned to Gardner and Khanh as if imploring them to take his side.
And to avoid suspicion, Gardner and Khanh agreed that Seong-Hwi should be the second commander.
There was another instance. When Yuki discussed dividing the team between remnant disposal and Elixir search, Gardner and Khanh were the first to voice their opinions.
“I want to enter the Elixir search team.”
“Me too.”
Enrique thought it was natural because he also felt the same way, but it was likely because they wanted to secure the Elixir before the other teammates.
Their best-case scenario was to obtain it without the others knowing, and if that was impossible, eliminate all witnesses! Has Cheon Seong-Hwi been gradually collecting all these clues this whole time? Yeah, his behavior was too harsh at times. He was constantly picking fights with his teammates. So, it was to pick out the spies!
Seong-Hwi had doubted his teammates, instigated conflict, and searched and discovered evidence to change suspicion to certainty. Distrust was a skill one must never forget about in the Mirror World. While everyone, Enrique included, had been anxious about entering an S-rank dungeon and pressured by the need to find the Elixir, Seong-Hwi had stuck to the basics perfectly.
Seong-Hwi had picked out all the enemies on the inside, arguably more terrifying than the ones on the outside, before it was too late. Enrique was thankful but also resentful.
Son of a bitch! He pushed all the poison on me and went to find the Elixir? Talk about unloading all the responsibility onto someone else!
Now that it had come to this, he somehow needed to send only the three of them to the mass incubation room.
“Over here,” Enrique said as he stopped before a massive vent, hiding his true feelings.
Nakivarro unsheathed his machete and destroyed the vent grill, exposing a giant cave-like tunnel.
“Whoa! It’s huge enough for all five of us to enter,” Nakivarro said.
“Then let’s go. Keep your guards up,” Yuri remarked.
As they were chatting, Enrique executed the plan he had thought of on their way here.
Now!
Enrique did something with his Spy Drone Controller, and bullet fire echoed in the distance.
“What was that?” Gardner said.
“Behind us!” Khanh shouted.
They focused their attention on the rear.
Enrique, pretending to be flustered, shouted, “Chaos approaching from the rear! The shooting drone isn’t enough to handle them!”
“What?”
“Yuri and I will stop them! The three of you go ahead of us and support Onie Yuki!”
Nakivarro, Gardner, and Khanh glanced at one another, their eyes flashing.
“Are you sure you’ll be fine without us?” Nakivarro asked.
Enrique nodded and said, “The two of us will be fine. We’ll dispose of them and be right behind you. Make sure it’s safe for us when we get there!”
“Alright. Gardner, Khanh, let’s go.”
“I suppose it can’t be helped since I’m this team’s only healer.”
“You’d better be right behind us!”
The three of them entered the vent first and ran off.
Enrique stared at them from behind and mumbled, “They separated from us the first chance they got. That settles it.”
“Hm? What are you talking about? Hurry up and prepare for battle,” Yuri said as he summoned the Black Dog of Grievance.
Just then, Enrique’s shooting drone appeared from around the corridor corner.
“What the hell? Where are the Chaos?” Yuri asked.
“Huuu... There are no Chaos.”
“What?”
“I made it up. It wasn’t a bad plan, considering I made it up on the spot. This is why I love being a manipulator.”
“The hell? What are you trying to pull?” Yuri asked in confusion.
Enrique explained, “I sent the three of them off first. They’re Kabuka’s loyal dogs, completely different from a real dog like you.”
***
Yuki panted heavily as she looked around the battlefield.
“I WILL TAKE ALL YOUR BLOOD!”
“Gahah! Ahahahaha!”
“Do you have the Elixir that the almighty God of Heaven desires?”
[Adolf Hixler of the race Chaos, discovered.]
[Assistant Director of Weishaupt Research Institute.]
[The boss draws power from the Chaos Nuclear Reactor, the energy source of the research institute.]
A white-haired old man in a white gown waved his hand, distorting the space before him with a giant explosion. However, Krypta, who was laughing as if he had already lost his mind, and Seriel could easily move amidst the explosions.
“Ahahahaha!”
“Answer me! Do you have the Elixir or not?”
They’re... monsters! Yuki said inwardly as she stared at her mannequin army.
She used to have over three hundred, but only four remained. Everything was on fire with a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood. The white-haired man, who seemed to be the dungeon boss, brought an elite force of Chaos that killed most of the Gliders' birdfolk and the Honor Knights’ undead.
The only ones alive besides the angel and undead were the owl birdfolk, Saurix, the captain of the Golden Cross Knights, Charles Borromeo, and Onie Yuki.
“Hoot! Krypta! Cough! Where in the world did he obtain such power?”
“Huff! Kurgh! So, this is why Sir Lazarus... didn’t participate in the excavation! Hurgh! This is hell itself!”
Of course, Saurix and Borromeo were beyond exhausted.
[You are exposed to Chaos radiation.]
[Current Chaos radiation level: 55 Sv/h.]
[Absorbing Xenon-133.]
[Absorbing Iodine-131.]
[Absorbing Cesium-137.]
[Absorbing Strontium-90.]
...
[Destroying cells due to chronic radiation exposure.]
“Urgh! Cough! Cough!”
Yuki was not in normal condition either. The bonds between her atoms were rapidly breaking.
I need... a healer!
She had mannequins with healing skills, but they were all destroyed. At this rate, her death was guaranteed. Just then, she heard familiar voices.
“Cough! Dammit, what the hell is this place?!”
“There she is!”
“Commander! We’re here!”
She turned around and saw Nakivarro, Gardner, and Khanh Huyen.
“Gardner? I’m... saved,” she said in relief once she saw their party’s only healer.
I don’t know why only those three are here, but it doesn’t matter. The most important one is—
Nakivarro ran to her first and stabbed her flank with his machete.
“Kurgh!” Yuki’s eyes widened. “You—Cough!”
“Heh! Sorry about this, Onie Yuki. This was our plan all along.”
Her blood poured on the floor.