Chapter 262: Blade Against Lab
———Lerim———
<12: 04 pm>
“<Look. All I’m saying is that just because I got it all set up nicely for you doesn’t mean it’s going to guarantee to go smoothly, got it?>” Idea said as I sat down on a bench and stared into the distance. “<I see you got the device I gave you attached to your coat. Make sure to not smash any electronics before I could hack into them, okay? Be a bit more considerate of those poor things. Give them some time before letting them meet their maker.>”
“I hear ya.” I said, raring to go so I can go back home and chill. No idea why they gave more sympathy to the machines than the humans, but I don’t want to try figuring that out.
I stood up and walked forward and followed the path Idea set up for me. The base is obviously hiding in plain sight, which means that my current path doesn’t look out of the ordinary to anyone at the moment. Now there are multiple entry ways that are connected to the hideout, and the location Idea marked for me should set me straight towards the important parts of the base. I don’t even know where they got the schematics of the whole area, but I’m not going to complain. Anything to make this delicate mission go easier will work for me.
As for the means of entry. Even if Idea figured out how to decipher and enter the underground laboratory, it would have alerted all of them before I could even start attacking if I were to go that route.
Alright, in the alleyway and the point of the attack is here… My condolences for anyone living in this area. It’s just how it is.
*Strike* *Pierce*
I pulled out my sword and quickly ram through the thick surface and quickly dig down into the giant base of operation below.
*Crash*
“Intruder!” Someone yelled out in fear as I finally reached the underground area that looks very sleek and well-maintained. It’s like I’ve suddenly stepped into the future with the aesthetic at hand.
Alright then, I landed right inside a room with some computers lying around, so Idea should be able to start hacking quickly.
“<We’re off to the a good start.>” They remarked as the device on my chest suddenly opened up with a small drone flying out and started hacking the devices in this area. “<That thing will keep extracting data. You can go ahead and subdue those humans before they could escape. Make sure to keep a few of them alive. Also don’t smash stuff randomly, if this place caved in the whole town is going to collapse.>”
“Heard all that.” I said before I started my pursuit.
*Dash* *Smack* *Slam* *Strike*
I ran around quickly subduing any fleeing scientists and other members trying to escape. They all seem rather ordinary so hopefully each strike from me doesn’t instantly kill them.
*Bang* *Bang* *Bang*
The security team quickly came in and started shooting at me with their rather paltry firearms. Those things aren’t even anywhere close to scratching me.
*Slash* *Slice*
I quickly cut them all down since these brutes probably don’t have any good info on them to interrogate anyway, and I don’t want them shooting wildly and accidentally destroying any evidence I could gather.
*Dash* *Strike* *Slam* *Smash*
I resume my earlier gameplan of just going around subduing everyone before they could try to escape while Idea goes around in that little drone hacking and gathering data.
Hmm… A few guys with more traditional weaponry and mana reading on them. Seems like this is their more elite force.
*Swing* *Block* *Slice* *Slash*
All of them came at me with a barrage of attacks that are easy for me to avoid or block, and I quickly cut them all down. The gap in strength is too large for them to do anything substantial other than a tiny speedbump.
“<Oh? I’m seeing something interesting deep in the hideout. I want you to go take a look.>” Idea suddenly spoke up. “<From where you’re at, go right until you hit a wall, then turn. Don’t worry about people escaping now, I’ve already hijacked the escape routes.>”
“Alright then. You’re the boss.” I replied in acknowledgement before I went down the path they set up for me. “...What am I looking at?”
“<Let’s see here. From the notes I collected, they seem to be trying to integrate monsters into humans to boost them up. Genetic freaks, if you will.>” Oh that- That sounds terrible. That’ll explain why all of these guys look so terrible with monster parts attached to them. Though considering that a good deal of monsters look like animals it’s hard to tell at a glance. It’s mostly just an arm being replaced, they haven’t gone quite that far yet, it seems, or maybe… “<They all seem to be in a state of agony and don’t even perceive you. I suggest you go further in.>”
“Oh it.” Looks like something way worse is indeed hiding further in.
The further I go in the less bright the area is, and there is a metal door at the end acting as a clear warning sign about going inside.
*Push* *Clank*
I forcibly pushed the door open and looked inside to see what the secret was.
“...Ew.” I can’t help but say that after my eyes met that thing.
“<A monster amalgamation is something I suspected they were doing based on previous incidents surrounding the numbers of monsters locked up in other locations. I didn’t expect them to make something like this so soon.>” Idea casually remarked.
“Why is it not moving?” It sure looks like it could still move, and yet it seems to squirm around helplessly.
“<From what I have learned from hacking into the mainframe just now, they also shoved someone inside to act as as its pilot. The reason it can’t seem to move is because the main brain doesn’t know how to move its current form.>” Okay, I wasn’t expecting things to get this gruesome. Just what in the world were those people thinking!
“So this thing is passive, right?” I asked as I stood around not doing anything. I don’t want to accidentally do something to compromise whatever Idea is planning. They are the brain of the operation here, I shouldn’t act out of line.
“<Yeah. Technically it could probably start casting magic randomly and cause this whole place to collapse. I’m surprised that hasn’t happened yet. Probably best to kill it or bring it somewhere very secure.>” And where in the world am I supposed to keep this giant blob secured!?
“Hrugh… mrufhgh…” Oh great. It starts making noises. I don’t think I can stand looking at that thing for even a little bit longer. Let’s just kill it and be done with it.
“Halt! Put your arms up!” Before I could swing my sword down on this monster chained up and squirming miserably, it looked like the other parts of this place’s security team caught up to me, standing outside the doorway and cutting my only means of escape. Those weapons look way more fancy than what I have. Same with the armor.
*Slash* *Slice* *Dice* *Creak* *Crash*
I cut the wall separating us a few times and caused all of them to retreat a few steps back, cutting all four sides of the wall causing it to come crashing down and creating a bit more room for me to work with.
“<Was that really necessary?>” Idea snarked at me despite my impressive display. Are they even done extracting everything?
*Dash* *Parry* *Block* *Slash*
All of them have way higher strength than I thought. All of them are running at me and try their hardest to hit me. I easily parry and block their attacks before retaliating, but their strikes do have some weight to them.
*Slice* *Dice*
“Augh!” One of them cried out before his demise. If they weren’t involved in some extremely heinous stuff I might’ve felt a little bit bad there.
“<Take those weapons with you. I want to see if it’s any different than the stuff from the other lab.>” Idea said and I do as told.
“By the way, don’t you have someone to do this kind of thing for you anyway?” I asked before walking back towards the chimera blob. “I’d imagine that person being better than me, right?”
“<They’re pretty busy with other stuff. Besides, do you wanna steal the credit or actually do it yourself?>” They snarked back.
“Whatever. I guess I’ll put this thing out of its misery and get this done and over with.” I said before raising my sword and-
“<Actually. I want to try fixing it myself. I considered myself more of an engineer than a medic wizard, but how about you leave it alone for now? I’ll come pick it up later.>” They said before I could do the deed.
“...Okay.” I’m not an expert on this anyway. So I guess I should go… “What about the other experimented humans?”
“<Fixing them shouldn’t be hard. I have already disabled the chip on them as I do with all the others in the base. Just go subdue the rest and keep some alive. I’ll make sure to keep the recording of the interrogation.>” I do still wonder if that’ll even hold water. Isn’t threatening a confession considered invalid evidence? I guess we do have other info to go off on, at least.
Alright, time to quickly clean this place up so I can go back home and relax.
*Dash* *Slash* *Strike* *Smack*
I quickly went around and subdued any human beings I found on my way. Clearing out everything as quickly as possible and making sure to not accidentally hit anything that Idea might’ve not hacked into yet. Anyone that looks like a scientist I’ll try to be somewhat gentle, but many might have too many broken bones to even be functional.
“<You’re speedrunning this!>” They remarked with a rather enthusiastic tone as if they’re simply enjoying a show. We’re on a mission here and yet they seem much more casual than I do despite having a more important role.
“Hm?” I mumbled to myself as I noticed a humanoid robot standing there. It reminded me of those faceless dolls I fought a few months back.
“<Want me to EMP that thing for you?>” Idea asked. Being quite considerate, I see.
“No. I’ll be fine taking them on.” They’re no threat to me as I am now anyway. Let’s end this quickly.
*Dash* *Slash* *Smash*
I quickly ran through them and smashed them all into bits before they could even start shooting at me. Nothing more than pieces of junk.
Now then. Time to continue.
———Karra———
<12: 28 pm>
“That’s just crazy.” I said while looking at the photos taken of the hole being dug straight into the ground. You don’t get this kind of story nowadays, especially one as odd as this.
“Hmm… It’s only a few states northeast from here.” Kenni remarked. No way she’s going there right now.
“Don’t even think about it.” Jeyst chimed in to stop any funny thought she might get in that head of hers.
“Why is it always guilty until proven innocent with me?” Kenni complained. You know full well why that’s the case… “Also, can’t I just go check the Mission Room if something about it pops up, at least?”
“I already checked, there’s nothing about it listed.” Emmie suddenly spoke up. Is there seriously nothing? That room updated things by the minute, no way it missed that.
“That’s very suspicious…” Gregori stated the obvious. The fact that it was omitted should mean either the individuals involved were too powerful for any of us to handle, or maybe it was an operation done by someone in cahoots with the school… Perhaps there’s just nothing to worry about as well, but that seems very unlikely.
“I guess there’s no way of quickly taking a peek then. That’s a shame.” Kenni remarked. That is one thing they can do with the Mission Room, ain’t it…
From what Wiina said to me not too long ago they aren’t too bothered about the exploit of using the missions as a way to travel to vastly different places and stay there for a while. I guess the type of people who discover and use the Mission Room before there has been any public announcement on it would be the type to be quite bold and try to see what they can do within the limitations.
Can’t say I don’t get it though. I just don’t have the need to do it with someone like Wiina around.
“I thought you’d be making excuses for not making yourself rusty or something.” Jeyst said.
“We got tomorrow to get all worked up anyway. That excuse won’t fly.” Kenni bluntly answered. That’s Thursday, so…