Chapter 102
The Frozen Mountain Range.
After entering the facility secretly constructed inside the largest mountain among the many mountain ranges, Mist set about determining its overall scale.
'About half the size of a mountain.'
It was probably a secret base built by [Organization].
It seemed excessive for a single organization to use such a vast facility, especially one lined with countless magic circles.
Well, that was only about half the reason. The other half was closer to an inference based on the distinctive traits of the countless people she had passed while infiltrating the facility.
"This month's mana patterns and spectrum are far too irregular. Could you show me the exact figures?"
A magic engineer was checking countless documents while investigating something within the facility.
"It must be because it's summer this time of year."
"Ah, right. I've been doing nothing but experiments here, so I even forgot what date it is."
If this was a secret base created by [Organization], then those magic engineers were probably members of [Infinity], the subordinate organization Lord Abel had told her about.
Besides them, alchemists, various beastfolk, elves, and other distinctive races also appeared to be researching something within the facility.
"..."
Mist had been observing those countless enemies while hanging upside down from the ceiling, but she now descended gracefully to the floor.
Before long, Mist began lowering her presence as much as possible.
At first, it was merely the presence of an ordinary person.
Eventually, after confirming that she had reached an extremely faint presence approaching that of an animal, then an insect, and finally a plant, Mist began moving across the facility's enormous corridors.
'Certainly...'
Lord Abel had ordered her to determine whether this place was [Rainas], the organization hostile to him.
He had not told her to reduce this place to rubble.
In the first place, Mist judged that although the facility's detection range was not as vast as Nella's, it contained powerful individuals who had been caught by her senses and would by no means be easy to deal with.
'Then, first of all.'
Avoid combat.
And then.
'The approximate time limit is probably...'
The two members of [Organization] whom Mist had dealt with upon entering the facility.
Of course, she had taken care of the aftermath thoroughly.
She had already poured chemicals over them that would leave not even their corpses behind once enough time had passed.
However, the absence of those two people itself was a problem.
The size of the facility and the number of people she had just determined.
Combining the movements of the people she had identified through the detection she had discreetly spread, and drawing on her experience from infiltrating countless facilities, she estimated that she had.
'Thirty minutes.'
Only thirty minutes remained.
That was the time it would take for the person in charge of the facility to sense something strange, realize that an intrusion or something equivalent had occurred, and declare an emergency.
Click.
Then she had to move quickly.
However, if she used mana, she would certainly be caught immediately by the mana detectors installed throughout the facility.
In other words, she was in a situation where she had to investigate the facility using nothing but her physical abilities, without using mana at all.
Even in such circumstances, Mist's heart was utterly calm.
'First, I'll check the suspicious areas I've identified.'
There were five suspicious areas in total.
They were carefully selected locations with either an abnormally high flow of people or unusually strong defenses despite no one passing through them.
Of the areas Mist had arbitrarily divided from the fifth floor down to the deepest first floor, she moved to the one closest to her.
...
The suspicious area on the fifth floor. It was a room that appeared to be an archive. However, the room was a decoy.
People came and went frequently, but it contained no truly important documents at all—a trap meant to lure intruders.
...
The fourth floor likewise contained no room with any information worth obtaining.
The third and second floors were the same, presumably.
They were merely traps designed to lure intruders, or decoy rooms containing no information whatsoever.
Then she arrived at the first floor, which appeared to be the deepest level.
It was a room with little foot traffic but a surprisingly large number of defensive magic circles.
Tap.
Mist placed her hand on the door of that room and quietly closed her eyes to concentrate.
Slowly. There was absolutely no need to hurry.
'Five defensive magic circles in total. And fifty-five magic circles supporting them?'
All the magic circles were arranged like atoms, with the auxiliary magic circles resonating and rotating around the main magic circle.
The security was astonishingly sophisticated.
"..."
However, from Mist's perspective, it was not security she could not overcome.
She quietly inserted a small amount of mana—small enough not to be detected—into one of the auxiliary magic circles resonating with the others.
Disrupting the process itself was extremely easy.
Click.
After confirming that the magic circles had been disarmed, Mist tried to quietly enter the room, but stopped in her tracks.
'A decoy.'
Yes, it was a decoy.
A perfect darkness in which nothing at all could be seen.
But Mist's eyes could see the trap concealed near the floor of that room.
It appeared to be a room prepared to ensnare someone who had broken through the security and made it this far.
'Hmm...'
Mist stared at the open doorway for a moment, then quietly began calculating the time.
It had taken exactly twenty-nine minutes and thirty seconds to move from the first floor to the deepest part of the fifth floor and check the suspicious areas.
And about twenty seconds had passed since then.
'Ten... Nine... Eight...'
As she calculated the time, Mist began slowly releasing the mana she had been suppressing until then.
She could see it.
The paths taken by the living creatures moving throughout this enormous facility.
After confirming those paths, which appeared somewhat hurried, Mist quietly smiled.
Static.
[Emergency!]
A man's voice suddenly rang throughout the facility.
Hearing it, Mist instinctively knew that the person in charge of the facility had noticed the absence of the two people she had killed.
[An unidentified intruder is currently believed to have entered Tartarus!]
[An emergency is hereby declared. All personnel in this facility are to assume a state of alert!]
Mist knew very well that humans, or any intelligent beings possessing reason, instinctively became conscious of the most important place during an emergency.
She sensed and observed the people's reactions through the detection she had spread as sharply as possible.
Based on those reactions, the place inferred to be the most important in the facility was none other than.
'The fourth floor.'
The area had been identified.
[From now on.]
Then there was only one thing she needed to do.
[Tartarus will be temporarily sealed off!]
Investigate the fourth floor more thoroughly.
[The intruder's location has been confirmed!]
As she was thinking that, had they detected the mana she had discreetly released despite its being caught by their sensors?
[The intruder's location is the deepest level!]
Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud.
The moment the announcement ended, countless footsteps began echoing near Mist.
'Phew...'
Rumble.
"Aaaah!!"
"What the hell?! It's a trap, a trap!"
Hearing the traps she had secretly installed before coming here activate, Mist slowly began checking her equipment.
Boom!!
Kragagagagaboom!
[Get out of the deepest level first! Disable the traps, then enter!]
She checked the dagger hidden in the garter belt around her thigh.
Shing.
It was a dagger made exclusively for her, boasting a sharpness comparable to a scalpel used for medical procedures.
Its edge was so sharp that it would break immediately if given the wrong direction or amount of force, making it extremely fragile despite its keen edge.
"It's been a while."
She had not drawn this weapon...
Perhaps because she had not carried out assassinations or infiltrations while assisting Lord Abel, this was the first time she had taken out the dagger since using it in the Imperial capital several months ago.
"There!!"
As Mist was inspecting the dagger, a man's voice reached her ears.
Only a brief time had passed, but it appeared that someone had smashed through the traps she had set and reached this location.
'As expected.'
Now she understood why Lord Velias had been unable to immediately catch the intruder's trail.
They were simple traps, but she had not expected anyone to break through them at once and reach this place.
Thinking that, Mist slowly walked toward the man.
. . .
Cadan was a member of one of [Organization]'s subordinate organizations, a group made up of puppeteers.
With the intruder standing before him, he was swept up in euphoria.
'If things go well, I might be recognized for this achievement.'
The thought of losing?
He had never even entertained it.
Tartarus was a place where only powerful individuals recognized by most of the organization gathered.
What powerful person could lack confidence in his own strength?
Click.
However, Cadan did not let his guard down.
The intruder was clearly a skilled assassin or intelligence agent capable of infiltrating Tartarus, so naturally, he had to remain wary.
Click.
His preparations were complete. The defensive magic covering his entire body was already active.
All he had to do now was take out his puppets, which lay dormant in his subspace...
'Wait a moment...'
Come to think of it.
Where had the intruder in the maid uniform who had been standing before his eyes gone?
Click.
Then he heard the sound of a woman's heels behind him.
'When?!'
The instant he realized it, Cadan turned around and tried to move to confront the intruder.
Clunk.
Huh?
Why?
Why wouldn't his body move?
Move, move, move!
Even his mana would not move. His body, which had always obeyed his thoughts, would not move according to his will.
Huh?
Come to think of it.
'The ground.'
Had it always been this close?
Thud.
With the medulla oblongata—the most vital part of the human body and the highest center of the autonomic nervous system—severed, Cadan collapsed where he stood and died instantly.
. . .
"This..."
While investigating the fourth floor, Mist discovered a secret room.
It was so well hidden that she never would have found it if the emergency had not caused people passing through the area to display unusual reactions.
After entering, Mist read the facility's confidential report in her hand and slightly furrowed her brow.
Rustle.
Why Tartarus had been built.
Rustle.
And the stark reason behind the strange weather occurring outside Tartarus, in the Frozen Mountain Range, was also written there.
Footsteps.
And then.
“This…”
As Mist was engrossed in the confidential report, she heard the footsteps of a man approaching the room.
They were remarkably leisurely compared to the hurried footsteps of the others running around in search of the intruder, which made them stand out even more.
'...'
There were still things she needed to see...
When she turned her head, the countless reports piled up in every direction caught her eye, but Mist left the spot without delay.
If she lingered and her trail was caught, there was a risk that the information she had painstakingly obtained would become useless.
...
Not long after Mist disappeared from the secret room.
Whirr.
"As I thought, it's here?"
The man looked into the room containing the confidential reports, which had been thrown into complete disarray, and gave a hollow laugh as he inspected it.
'They haven't been gone long.'
They had fled before checking any truly confidential information.
What had been confirmed was.
'Only the reason Tartarus was built and the cause of the snowstorm outside?'
"What?"
The report containing what he considered the most important core technology, located at the very back, had not been touched?
Thank goodness.
These secrets were minor enough that it did not matter whether they were stolen or not.
They were technologies created by literally grinding people down for the advancement of magical engineering. As long as the reports detailing them had not been stolen, then...
"Still, they could at least have cleaned up before leaving."
He was an executive of [Infinity], one of the subordinate organizations made up of magic engineers.
Robert began picking up and organizing the countless papers containing confidential information, which had been left in disarray.