Chapter 1936 – 1936. Dark Moon
“Eldona!! This bastard… to Eldona…!!!”
Enraged, the second brother pulls the trigger of his rifle. At the same time, I used Flash.
[Using Flash. Remaining stacks: 3]
I had used Flash frequently while coming up here, so now I had only 3 stacks left.
Three were more than enough. I had no intention of dragging out this fight.
In the slowed-down world, I calculated the spell and watched the bullets the second brother was firing. Each bullet was shining with a different color.
They were all magic bullets. And each one was a different type.
‘It seems they have money to burn, running a company.’
[Gravity]
I amplified gravity, slamming all the incoming magic bullets into the ground. Bang, bang, bang. The magic bullets exploded, flashing like fireworks.
Whoosh.
Flames erupted at my feet. It was the third brother’s magic.
‘A firewall, huh.’
His spell was crude. Since he was trying to create the magic directly beneath me, there was an opportunity to interfere with the spell. I tampered with the spell, twisting its direction. The flames that should have shot upwards from below instead stretched horizontally towards the third brother.
The third brother, terrified, hastily deployed a barrier to block the flames.
“Gasp! He interfered with the spell in that short moment?!”
Regardless, I used magic towards the ceiling.
[Air Strike]
Using telekinesis, I floated my body above the broken ceiling. I looked down at the ground while flying. The incoming bullets, sword strikes, and magic were all blocked by the layered barrier, unable to do anything.
‘A mage is most secure when they have a barrier.’
If that barrier doesn’t break even against the enemies’ attacks, the outcome of the battle is as good as decided.
‘The effect of the Golden Gift is better than I thought.’
If I didn’t have the Golden Gift, it would have been difficult to maintain the barrier. The 50% increase in all stats was so outstanding that I was addicted to it after experiencing it firsthand.
‘The Northern Compass is completely gone too. The only downside is that it’s a hard item to get.’
I looked at the sky.
The night sky was clear without a single cloud. When I lowered my gaze, I saw a building over 10 stories high. After a quick calculation, it seemed possible.
[Using Flash. Remaining stacks: 2]
In the slowed-down world, I calculated the spell and unfolded the magic circle.
Crack.
A crack appeared in the blue magic circle that was embroidered in the sky. There was a slight mistake in the spell. The balance was slightly off.
‘Did I put in too much power? I thought this was the maximum, but I can increase the output even more.’
[Using Flash. Remaining stacks: 1]
I corrected the magic circle. If I didn’t have Flash, the magic circle would have collapsed before I could fix it.
The magic circle began to rotate slowly, emitting light. Mana resonated at the center of the magic circle, distorting the laws of the world. Something impossible was about to happen.
“What are you trying to do?!”
Perhaps sensing something ominous, the first brother, Bergmann, shouted, his veins bulging in his neck. I ignored him and looked at the magic circle. It might look different to others, but to me, it looked perfect.
“This bastard!! Die! Just die!!!”
The second brother fired his gun. The magic bullets pounded against the barrier. When the barrier seemed about to break, I deployed a new one. Magic bullets alone couldn’t break through my current barrier.
“Unbelievable…. It’s a breathtakingly beautiful magic circle. I’ve only seen such a perfect magic circle in textbooks… I can’t believe I’m seeing it in person. As a mage, this is an honor.”
The third brother seemed to have given up on life, realizing the difference in skill. If he was wise, he was wise.
[Thunder Break]
A huge bolt of lightning struck down towards the building. The entire city flashed with lightning.
The building, designed to withstand several missile strikes, couldn’t withstand a single bolt of lightning and collapsed. It was obvious that everyone inside the building was killed.
Kwakwakwakwakwakwang!
The sight of the building collapsing with blue electricity still lingering was truly spectacular.
Feeling my energy drain away, I slowly descended to the ground.
‘Would it have been less tiring if I had done this from the start? No. I gained something, so I can’t complain.’
Above all, it was possible because I had consumed the Golden Gift. For me to use a 7th-grade Thunder Break in my current state, several conditions, including the environment, had to be met. Thanks to the Golden Gift, I could use Thunder Break without any conditions.
• • •
-Major Leon Schneider, Warden of Lumen Prison, Directly Confronts Traitor!
That was the headline on the front page of the newspaper.
It was a natural reaction, considering I had openly used a large-scale electric attack magic, Thunder Break, in the city.
Public opinion was in my favor.
It was thanks to the perception that Bergmann was a traitor. The recent ominous atmosphere in the Highst Empire was because of the traitors. Ordinary citizens were disgusted by traitors.
‘I openly caused trouble, but no one in the Imperial Army is saying anything to me. Is this the power of the 6th Corps Commander’s backing…?’
Anyway, the matter was settled.
Rules were also established in Lumen Prison. Even if I wasn’t deeply involved, problems wouldn’t arise.
I took out a potion with a clear orange liquid from my pocket and placed it on the desk.
Flash.
A memory restoration potion.
Now that the Bergmann matter was settled, it was time to use this. As originally planned, I would restore Paul’s memory and find out information about Alpha Tier Pharmaceuticals.
‘Before that, should I try a drop myself?’
My memories weren’t complete. I’m not talking about my current memories, but my memories from my past life. Except for the memories of the original game, other memories were practically non-existent.
The memories that seemed artificially cut off were sometimes very unpleasant. If possible, I wanted to find my memories.
‘Just a drop. And it’s from my past life, so it probably won’t be of much use.’
Still, if there was even a very slight reaction, it would be meaningful.
I put a drop of Flash in my mouth and swallowed it. It had a slightly bitter taste.
‘…Nothing happened. Even if it’s just a drop, there should be some kind of reaction.’
It was truly unresponsive.
Flash didn’t restore my memories from my past life.
‘Well, if it restored memories from a past life, it would have been an incredible item in a different sense.’
I didn’t have high expectations, so I wasn’t too disappointed.
• • •
I fed Flash to Paul, who was imprisoned underground. I didn’t feed him all of it. I left some for research purposes.
Still, the effect was sufficient.
Paul’s demeanor, whose memories were forcibly restored, changed instantly. Did a person change this much just from recalling memories? It must be because they weren’t ordinary memories.
“It seems the memory restoration was successful.”
“A memory restoration potion. Where did you get that?”
“Do I have to explain that to you?”
“Is it okay for you to be so prickly? I’m holding the information you want, you know?”
“It seems you like prison life. Do you want to be stuck here for the rest of your life?”
I scanned Paul’s body. His arms and legs were already cut off. Only his torso and head were intact. Touching his torso was a bit much, so I should probably tear off his ear or eye first.
‘I should tear off just one eye. If I tear off both, he might go crazy.’
Perhaps he read my thoughts. His momentum faltered. He sighed deeply and said,
“I’ll tell you what you want to know. But after you hear everything, kill me.”
“That’s unexpected. Don’t you want to live? You know that your severed limbs can be replaced with prosthetics.”
“I don’t think you’ll let me live, no matter what.”
That’s correct. If this guy leaves the prison alive, it will be troublesome for me. Even if he swears to live quietly from now on, I can’t trust him.
“I want a clean death. Even if I get out of prison now, I’ll be living under Alpha Tier’s surveillance. And if I keep my mouth shut, you won’t leave me alone… I’m sick of torture.”
“Isn’t the torture time less than an hour a day?”
“Being in a room with nothing, smelling of piss and shit with my limbs cut off, is torture in itself. That’s 10 hours. 100 hours. 1,000 hours, and I’m going crazy. There’s a limit to what I can imagine on my own… Eventually, I can only think about wanting to die.”
“I promise to kill you cleanly. So, tell me about Alpha Tier.”
“It’s hard to open my mouth when you tell me to speak so abruptly. What exactly are you curious about?”
“Stop the nonsense and tell me everything about Alpha Tier. Except for what’s already known to the public.”
“There’s so much that we’ll be up all night.”
Paul opened his mouth.
Most of the content was something that would terrify ordinary people. They were conducting human experiments as naturally as breathing. Experiments to turn humans into monsters, experiments to turn monsters into humans, experiments to isolate hundreds of people and stimulate their instincts, experiments to design and exploit a human’s life from beginning to end.
There were quite a few experiments whose purpose I couldn’t understand.
“A pharmaceutical company does those kinds of experiments? For what?”
“Alpha Tier believes that even mental illnesses can be cured with drugs. It’s actually possible. But from what I’ve seen, their real goal is to evolve and transcend from the human species. Isn’t it funny? To transcend humanity with drugs.”
“……”
Paul said it as if he was joking. He didn’t seem sure of his own words.
On the other hand, I thought it was possible.
Transcendence.
It was a keyword that was quite important in the original story.
Transcendence through magic, transcendence through physical training, transcendence through machines, and so on. There were many ways to transcend. It wouldn’t be strange if there was transcendence through drugs.
“The chairman of Alpha Tier once gave a speech in front of us. He said this: a new era of humanity will open, and Alpha Tier will be at the forefront. At the time, I thought it was just a bunch of fancy bullshit to boost the morale of the employees.”
“Is it different now?”
“Looking at what those guys are doing, it can’t be helped. They are genuinely trying to evolve and transcend humanity.”
