The room I entered was a server room.
A narrow and dark space, cluttered with numerous cables and servers.
As soon as I entered, I used a clone to overturn any nearby furniture or drawers to block the way.
That bought me a very brief moment of respite.
After retrieving the clone to conserve magic, I immediately took out two remaining doses of the recovery serum and injected them into Kalia.
Kalia’s condition looked extremely dire.
She survived that blow only because she’s a main character.
A normal person would’ve died.
When the medicine took effect, she regained consciousness after a few seconds.
“I injected you with the serum. You’ll be fine now. This is their server room…”
“…Ah, that’s why there are so many cables.”
Beyond the door, I could hear the sounds of several people moving.
I had bought only a brief moment of peace.
But I had one solution.
“What’s the plan now?”
“I’ve got a little idea.”
I pointed to the ventilation duct cover on one side of the server room.
“No way… Is there any place you haven’t been?”
“For now, let’s crawl through there.”
Kalia staggered as she stood up.
The serum’s effects were surprisingly quick.
The bald director, who had been quietly observing, started laughing to himself.
“You think this will let you escape? It’s all over! You’ll never get out of here!”
“Bald men don’t have speaking privileges!”
I grabbed and yanked at the director’s side hair.
“Ahhh! You ungrateful wench! It’s all over anyway!”
“Shut up!”
“You thankless wretch! Do you know how much I’ve suffered for you? Begging those shady admission brokers to get you into the Academy! Diverting the lab’s budget to create opportunities for you! And now you cause a riot? If the lab gets this chaotic, the higher-ups will definitely be informed! Gaaah! Stop pulling!”
The bald man, seeming to have nothing left to lose, began rambling nonsense.
The kind of trash whose conscience matches the number of hair follicles on his head!
“I didn’t even report this to HQ! If I had, I’d be living the good life right now, waiting to reveal you all to the world! But it’s all ruined! Do you know how thoroughly I kept this secret… My career…! My life! You two wrecked everything—both a lab rat and a street urchin!”
“Be quiet!”
I couldn’t stand to hear any more, so I struck his forehead with the alloy hammer.
The pain shut him up.
“Kalia! Any more calls?”
I referenced the smartphone I had handed her earlier in the sealed room.
Kalia shook her head.
“There was one text. They said they’d arrive in about 20 minutes.”
“Wow. So, we just need to run around for 20 minutes! Maybe that ogre… the big security team leader guy could be taken down if those people join forces?”
She shook her head.
“…That’s unlikely.”
“Why?”
Kalia’s expression darkened.
“You remember how I said I was caught here while searching for my uncle, the leader of our brotherhood?”
I nodded.
“Well, the one who defeated me… was that security team leader. That giant guy.”
“What? You lost to him?”
“Yes. I was ambushed, but even so, he’s no pushover. If we had fought head-on, I don’t think I would’ve lost.”
She looked down at her bare hands as if they were empty and powerless.
“But without any weapons like this…”
Thinking back, Kalia’s primary weapon in the game was a one-handed sword.
It was strange for her to rely solely on hand-to-hand combat like now.
“…So, you’ve realized your place. Anyway, surrender! Surrender now, and I’ll be lenient, even with you, 10-6-8! I don’t know how you fooled the researchers by pretending to be a fool, but you’re the culmination of our project, so your punishment won’t be severe.”
The bald man started flapping his lips again.
“Ridiculous! Why should I listen to you? You were planning to sell me out anyway!”
“Even if others can’t, I was going to get you into an Academy! That’s not something you take lightly! You’re the surprise gift this lab created! If the higher-ups saw you… I’d be back at HQ… I could dream of promotions…!”
Listening to the middle-aged bald man’s pathetic rambling during his midlife crisis was unbearable.
I raised the alloy hammer again, but Kalia, scanning the surroundings, casually threw out a remark.
“Violet and that experiment of hers… It’s supposed to be a secret? HQ doesn’t know?”
“Oh, do you think your friend wasn’t being tracked? Foolish wench. Unfortunately, this riot changes everything. HQ will find out. Even if you escape, you’ll be hunted for the rest of your lives. Give up.”
Kalia’s expression twisted in frustration.
The bald man smirked even more at her reaction.
The noise beyond the door was growing louder.
A question mark popped up in my mind.
“So, where do you store the data related to this project?”
“Why do you want to know?”
-Whack! Whack! Whack!
“Ah! Fine! I’ll talk! It’s all in the lab’s internal cloud! Everything’s on the servers!”
“Not on computers?”
“Ugh! For security reasons, all critical data must be stored on internal servers! It’s HQ’s rule!”
“That server? Is it here?”
-Whack! Whack!
“Damn it! Of course, the server room has the servers! Agh!”
A spark of inspiration struck me.
I looked at Kalia. She met my gaze and nodded.
“All right, one last question: how do we bypass the emergency lockdown and get through the elevator?”
I held the alloy hammer close to his face.
“…Vein authentication.”
“What?”
“It’s palm vein authentication! Only I and the security team leader are registered! You’ll never get out…”
Oh, is that so?
I pulled out the wire saw I had stashed away.
“…What? What’s that for?!”
“Kalia, could you give me a hand here?”
“Got it. This feels a bit gross, though… Ugh.”
The saw ignited with unyielding flames.
“Wait! Don’t! Don’t do it! Aaaaah!”
With just a few cuts, the man’s wrist was severed.
Kalia cauterized it with flames. I picked up the wrist and placed it in a bag.
“Aaah! Somebody save me! Guards, get in here now!”
The noise outside grew louder, accompanied by heavy footsteps approaching.
Kalia clasped flames in both hands.
She quickly spread fire throughout the server room.
In an instant, the servers were ablaze.
The bald man, clutching his severed wrist, let out a horrified scream.
“Ahhh! That’s why you asked?! No! The servers! The data! My promotion! Noooo!”
“Kalia, this won’t be perfect, but it’ll block Laplaxia’s tracking for a while…”
Now, all that was left was to escape through the ventilation duct.
I had already torn off the cover using a clone.
But Kalia didn’t move toward the duct.
“Kalia? Why aren’t you coming? We’re in a hurry!”
She walked through the smoke toward the door.
“Wait! Kalia! Where are you going…?”
She glanced back at me for a moment, shrugging her shoulders.
“Sorry, Violet. I don’t think I can crawl through that duct.”
“What? What are you talking about? Just come in!”
“When you meet someone from the brotherhood, tell them Blaze sent you. They’ll take care of you for a while.”
She gave me a wistful look.
Bang!
The door burst open.
It was the ogre’s doing.
“You idiot! Get in, quick!”
“Wait…!”
She braced herself to charge.
I screamed as I reached out of the ventilation duct.
-Crash!
Suddenly, the building shook.
“What the…?”
I wasn’t the only one surprised.
Kalia turned to look at me again and shouted.
“Violet! Get inside for now…!”
Outside the door, the guards were suddenly in an uproar.
“What’s going on? Did the test subjects detonate a bomb?”
“Damn it, could it be a terrorist attack?”
“Everyone, get down!”
-Boom!
I screamed and crawled into the ventilation shaft.
Abruptly, the explosions stopped, replaced by a strange, loud noise.
Through the metal ducts of the vent, an unfamiliar yet oddly recognizable sound echoed.
The sound of something being struck repeatedly. No, it was the sound of something spinning rapidly.
-Bang!
The building shook again.
“Aah… Ahhhhh!”
Suddenly, the vent creaked, and a weak section of the floor gave way.
I tumbled down.
“Ughhh!”
Falling from a high ceiling hurt badly, but that loud noise from earlier continued to reverberate.
‘What on earth is happening?’
I could see it now.
A section of the research facility’s windowless wall had been punched through, as if something had struck it.
Through the opening, I could see the dawn sky, clouds, and the city skyline.
The source of the noise became immediately clear.
‘Helicopters?’
Several helicopters hovered near the building.
-Thud!
Startled, I quickly hid myself.
Several black figures leaped through the hole in the wall, landing inside and assuming defensive positions.
More of the dark-clad figures kept jumping through the breach.
Upon closer inspection, they were far better armed than the guards here.
Large rifles covered with various attachments, and exoskeletal equipment extending from their backs to their arms and legs.
Those without firearms carried large swords or various melee weapons strapped to their backs.
Awakened individuals.
‘Each of them feels stronger than that ogre from before!’
Who were these intruders?
Their shoulder patches bore a symbol of several crimson rectangles.
‘No way…’
To my knowledge, there was only one group in this world that used such a symbol.
The Obsidian Legion.
A terrorist organization from the Deep Crimson Academia’s world.
These lunatics flaunted their emblem wherever they went, despite being terrorists.
“But why the hell are they suddenly barging in here?”
This felt like being struck by lightning out of nowhere.
Why now, of all times?
Did someone tip them off to attack this place?
The intruders moved swiftly, as though gliding, deeper into the research facility.
Their movements were highly professional.
I quickly hid behind a trash bin.
It was terrifying.
Soon, loud explosions and gunfire filled the facility.
‘Oh no! Kalia!’
Once the intruders disappeared, I hurried back toward the server room.
‘The floor… it’s blown apart!’
It wasn’t just a small hole—it looked like something had exploded, leaving a massive breach.
I could see the first floor below.
Could Kalia be down there?
Nearby, I spotted the bodies of guards, either killed by the terrorists or caught in the blast.
“I’d better take this with me.”
<ITEM STAT>
[P-15 Automatic Rifle ☆]
A standard automatic weapon used by military and police.
Capable of easily killing low-level monsters.
Its high modularity, affordability, and durability are its greatest strengths.
…
I picked up an intact rifle.
It looked similar to the ones I had used during my military days.
I removed the magazine to check for bullets and pulled the charging handle to inspect the chamber.
I also fiddled with what looked like a selector switch.
After tinkering with it for a while, I got a sense of how to use it.
‘It’s heavy…’
The rifle felt heavy in my small, girlish hands.
Then, I noticed a fairly long sword strapped to one of the guards.
<ITEM STAT>
[Mass-Produced One-Handed Sword ☆]
A metal one-handed sword crafted in an outer district workshop.
Aside from its low price, it lacks any exceptional qualities.
Once popular among those who dreamed of becoming hunters, it’s often worn for show.
…
‘It may not be as good as Kalia’s custom weapon, but it could be useful.’
I descended to the first floor with my clones.
‘If only I had more time to scout the area.’
This was my first time on the first floor.
From beyond the corridor, I heard a sudden crash.
‘Could that be Kalia?’
I sprinted toward the source of the noise.
There, I found Kalia fighting an ogre.
She staggered to her feet from the floor.
“Kalia! I’m here!!”
I dashed forward to save my friend.