#055. The Experiments Are Too Kind (2)

#055. The Experiments Are Too Kind (2)

Ian found every moment awkward, novel.

This facility’s conquest wasn’t supposed to be this easy.

Inside, which could be grasped via the ＜Battlefield Vision＞ and ＜Remote Communication＞ perks provided to players, showed the internal situation.

Inside, encountering the experiments usually meant adventurers’ equipment being smashed to bits, or people being thrown like they’d been hit by a truck, colliding with walls or the ceiling and dying.

Despite that, all experiments are released since they are monsters that hate the whole world regardless of friend or foe.

The ＜Warehouse Closure Operation＞ is a mission where, while external support forces are blocked by the experiments, one must advance into the deepest parts of the facility and finish the mission with a single attempt.

“Spare me. I can do many things.”

The old man begging for his life was also called the ＜Apothecary＞.

If he isn’t eliminated in the Golem Subjugation, he emerges from this research facility, and if missed here, he resurfaces in even more troublesome places; he is a persistent villain.

The experiments are evolving from humans, turning into monsters.

Not *uhu feather*, the eclosion where a worm from the feather evolves into an adult, but *uhu foolishness*, the metamorphosis from a person into a monster, stemming from foolishness.

A seller of foolishness that will lead you to crash to the bottom, deeper than an alley, not feathers for flying toward a dream.

Again, he is called the Apothecary.

A person who has no value in being alive, a person who shouldn’t be spared, begged for his life.

“Shoah, that woman was also an assassin who took my drugs.”

“You know Shoah?”

“Of course. Before coming under Ronove, I worked under Gomorrah.”

Teresa and Shoah’s expressions hardened.

The Apothecary whispered with a cunning voice.

“You regret her power, don’t you? Useful when used, but doesn’t last long. From now on, there’s no need to be so frugal. If I’m here, I can raise any idiot into a monster worth a man’s share. Well, if they aren’t suited, they might degrade into ‘those things’.”

A researcher, screaming as he fled beyond the research wing, was torn to shreds by an experiment.

*Splat*.

Even after seeing the blood splattered on the translucent wall, the Apothecary didn’t even blink.

“On the other hand, if they are suited, they might become ‘this thing’.”

“Don’t call Shoah ‘this thing’.”

“Oh my. Did my persuasion backfire?”

Nobody seemed to have any intention of sparing the Apothecary.

The Apothecary approached from the opposite angle.

“Then how about this? If you cooperate with me, I’ll create a drug to restore Shoah’s body.”

“Restore…my body? Such a drug exists?”

“Where there’s poison, there’s an antidote. Doping potions are no different from poison in that they change the body. I can remove the doping ingredients and return you to a weak body, but I have a way to reliably extend your lifespan.”

“Give me the drug first.”

“Heh heh. Do you think I’d actually have such a drug on me? Naturally, I only have the knowledge. In this head of mine.”

The Apothecary’s intention was clear.

“Spare me. And escort me safely out of this facility, all the way to Sodom Town. If you equip a research facility and supply all the necessary materials, I’ll extend that woman’s lifespan by three months, every three months.”

If the offer is accepted, the apothecary cannot be killed.

The apothecary’s lifespan is now bound to Shoah’s.

“The heretic… must be eliminated.”

“That’s practically the same as killing Shoah.”

Nina’s words gave Maria pause.

Maria had encountered Shoah during a ‘special night’.

A lifetime’s worth of strength.

A pitiful woman living with only a single day’s memory.

Maria couldn’t bring herself to tell such a woman to die, not to her face.

Knowing what feelings she had given up for Maria, Maria simply couldn’t do it.

“Shoah.”

“Kill him.”

Conversely, Shoah didn’t hesitate.

“Even if the kind-hearted Teresa family wished for my life, if that life comes at the cost of helplessness, I don’t desire such a wretched existence. I’m here as a combatant of the Teresa Clan. And I’ll die maintaining who I am now.”

Even if the day came when her lifespan ran out, she harbored a selfish desire to be remembered as the strong version of herself, not a frail one.

The other adventurers understood this desire.

To die as a young and powerful adventurer, not retire as an old and decrepit one.

Weakening was simply unacceptable for adventurers who constantly strived to accumulate achievements and hone their skills.

Especially in an era where power equaled rights.

“Shoah.”

“Ian.”

“Everyone deserves to own their own life. I… I respect Shoah’s decision.”

The way she approached death, the size of her resolve, was vastly different now compared to when she’d been resigned to die.

Unlike the days of resignation, when nothing precious remained, Ian, who she desired but could never have, now existed for her.

Perhaps that hope, that unattainable existence, was driving Shoah to her death.

Once again, Ian loathed himself.

However, the one who should pay the price for this sin wasn’t him, but the apothecary before them.

“Please, Shoah. Don’t you want to live?”

“I want to live. If I could, even if it meant making a pact with the devil, there are things I wish to gain by living longer.”

“Then make a pact with me. I can become your devil. I am your lifespan, your strength!”

“Those who always take what they want will never understand. How some things become more precious because they cannot be possessed.”

“Gack!”

Shoah grabbed the apothecary’s neck with her left hand, staring straight into his eyes.

“You’re already finished.”

“Krrk…!”

Shoah didn’t listen to his words any further.

*Poof!*

The apothecary’s neck burst.

The disembodied head rolled across the floor.

Ian shielded Anna’s eyes from the ghastly sight.

“And the ears?”

“Anna’s covering them.”

Obedient little Anna pressed her hands over her ears.

Of course, this was after she’d heard all the terrible sounds, so what exactly it protected was anyone’s guess.

The entirety of Teresa Clan watched.

Anna hadn’t been able to escape the horrifying noise, but with her small hands, she melted the frozen hearts of everyone present.

“Shall we go? There’s still work to be done at the facility, is there not?”

Test subjects remained.

Remnants to be purged remained.

A flicker of impatience crossed Subrea’s eyes.

“This way.”

“You…you managed to escape from here.”

“I took advantage of the test subjects’ rampage. Thanks to the apothecary’s habit of pushing the existing subjects too hard because our rabbit-kin, as ‘sturdy specimens,’ were being delivered, the subjects often went berserk.”

The apothecary’s karmic debt had allowed Subrea to escape, and, in turn, summoned the one who would end him.

Truly, it was reaping what one sowed.

“Pinky-nim!”

“Rea?”

Rabbit-kin trapped in the cells.

Amongst the listless bodies of the kin sprawled in the communal cell, Pinky’s voice echoed.

“Where are you? I’ve come, Pinky-nim. I’ve come to rescue you!”

“No. Go back.”

“Captain?”

“It’s too late.”

“Captain-nim? Please, come out quickly. I’m here to save you. You can still escape!”

Raising the lantern towards Pinky, who remained hidden in the shadows.

The light banished the darkness, revealing not just indistinct silhouettes but clear forms.

“Good heavens.”

The rabbit-kin were sturdy.

Once, they had been the elite troops of a second-string hero party, dominating battlefields.

Therefore, the administered ＜Potion＞ was also stronger.

The rabbit-kin were listlessly sick and dying from the pain of the Potion, a pain that would have been almost bearable for the test subjects outside.

It was no surprise that Pinky, who had risen the highest amongst them, received an even more specialized potion.

“Good heavens.”

But Pinky’s appearance was excessively ravaged.

Ian, interpreting the English written on a nearby magic panel, manipulated the settings to confirm the details of the experiment performed on Pinky.

━━━

Body Disassembly and Reassembly Experiment (Hero Rank)

━━━

There is the concept of a chimera.

Within a single organism, cells of differing genetic makeups coexisted.

Just as the original Chimera, that beast of a lion’s head, goat’s body, and serpent’s tail, so too had Pinkie become a chimera.

Eight arachnid legs and two human arms, a head implanted with the sensory organs of various beasts.

A result born not of aesthetics, but from the ruthless violation of a person solely for the sake of performance.

When the crouching rabbit-kin raised himself and turned his head, this was the sight that met his gaze.

“I… I’m a monster now. Ronove himself said he’d ＜Recycle＞ me, even without mana… *sob*!”

Pinkie was an enemy.

Once, he even threatened our very lives.

But he did not deserve such a wretched end.

Subrea stood there, utterly stunned.

Teresa Clan couldn’t hide her horror.

Such reactions only plunged Pinkie deeper into despair, into that chasm of hopelessness.

Faced with this miserable fate, the Brainwasher contemplated.

Someday, Pinkie could overcome the despair he harbored for his transformed body, by his own will.

He could ignite that despair into a burning desire for revenge, joining the cause to overthrow Ronove, and fight alongside us.

But if he couldn’t.

If Pinkie wasn’t that strong.

If it would take too long for Pinkie to become strong.

The Brainwasher could steal that time.

Steal the free will of a being capable of growing stronger on their own.

Artificially force him to overcome his despair.

Even if it meant a horrifying future where Pinkie would one day realize he never truly conquered his despair,

That his feelings were false, and collapse forever.

‘I am a Brainwasher.’

A manipulator, a deceiver who twists and controls the minds of others.

Using this wicked power, Ian would…

[Brainwash Activation]

[Designated Target – Pinkie]

[Command – You are not a monster.]

Pinkie’s future, where he would conquer his despair through his own strength, was stolen.