Chapter 103
After that.
We smashed through the maze-like corridors one after another, advancing with unstoppable momentum.
With Caitlyn at the front, we managed to deal with everything without suffering much damage.
‘I suppose I should call it fortunate. At least nothing like that failed prototype showed up again···.’
Crackle-!
Fierce currents burned the chimeras alive.
Leaving that slaughter behind, I glanced down at the sparkling Balloon Sword.
‘It’s beyond my expectations.’
Caitlyn’s strength, which had bottomed out, had recovered to more than half.
It had resolved all sorts of complex problems—stamina, mana, fatigue, and more—in one go.
Considering that its skill grade was still B, and that it was slated to continue growing, it was unquestionably a top-tier item.
‘If I raise it all the way to its eventual peak, nothing among support items will be able to compare, will it?’
At this rate, I wondered if it might truly become the Absolute Balloon Sword.
After those pointless thoughts, we crossed the vast space.
We ran like that for about an hour.
Suddenly, the maze-like corridor came to an end.
A huge door, firmly shut, blocked our path.
“This is···.”
Had we arrived? At last.
As I muttered in front of the door, the other members also looked up at the massive gate.
“Victor, could this be···?”
“Yes. I believe this is the path we have been searching for.”
An escape route—or the boss room.
A tense air flowed among the children.
Amidst that, a shrill breathing sound could be heard. It came from none other than Alice.
“Ugh···.”
“Sir Victor! Miss Alice’s condition···!”
The girl who had been complaining of motion sickness all along.
She was now staggering so badly that Ranne had to support her.
Perhaps something engraved in her instincts was reacting; cold sweat poured down her snow-white forehead like rain.
“We should hurry!”
“······.”
“Sir Victor?”
“······.”
“Sir Victor!”
“······Yes, let’s move.”
Seeing her like that was pitiful.
Was I perhaps doing something terrible to Alice?
The thought crossed my mind for a moment, but I soon clenched my fist and shook off the distracting thoughts.
‘In the end··· the key lies with Alice.’
I was not the one who provided answers.
If I had to put it another way, I was closer to someone who posed questions.
What awaited us beyond this door.
That was my question.
At the same time, it was up to the children to write down the answer.
‘We can’t turn back now.’
Boom-.
I brought my hand to the thick door.
Despite its heavy appearance, the gate was easily pushed open with only a slight application of force.
Rumbleeeee-!
As though it had been waiting for us to arrive.
Leading the hesitant members, I advanced into the darkness beyond.
““······.””
It was a space as deep and vast as the deep sea.
The corridor we had walked through moments ago had been quite large as well, but compared to this place, it felt like a drop in the ocean.
The space was dark as though night had fallen, and cold as if deep-sea water covered the floor.
People wrapped in black robes stood lined up around us.
Hundreds of silhouettes stood arranged in a broad circle, without showing the slightest movement.
“They are all dark mages. Everyone, stay alert.”
““······!””
The members flinched, their shoulders jerking at my words.
They drew up their strength, preparing to fight at any moment.
Thud, thud-.
We walked among those cultist members.
It was a pitch-black space, but there was one point where light shone.
‘Found it.’
That spot was like the sole spotlight shining down on an otherwise unlit stage.
Inside that small pool of light was a single table.
And someone was seated at it.
“······.”
He was a man wearing a white coat, as though he were a doctor.
He sat with his face buried deep in a medical chart.
We stopped in front of the desk.
“······Ah.”
Freeze-.
Upon seeing the man, Alice froze on the spot.
Unable to move forward or turn around and flee, she remained frozen.
An expression visible even through her mask.
Surely, her face had gone deathly pale.
<So you have come.>
Thud-.
At that moment, the man at the table set down his chart.
He rose from his seat, accompanied by a grotesque voice.
As his body turned around, the shabby gown fluttered slightly.
<I never imagined you would make it all the way here.>
The man had no face.
He had no eyes, no nose, no mouth, and no ears.
No—it looked less like a face than an utterly empty void.
He was not human.
A human who had once been human.
And so, a human who had abandoned his humanity.
““······.””
An unpleasant air crawled down our spines.
Perhaps oppressed by the atmosphere, the children found it difficult to open their mouths.
Just as the fishy silence began to churn their stomachs, the man faced us and stood there, his body undulating.
<Ah··· uninvited guests. My dear lumps of meat.>
<My name is Oz (OZ). I am a mage who governs life.>
<At the same time, I am also the master of this deep sea.>
The man bowed according to proper etiquette.
That perfect etiquette only deepened the uncanny valley.
<There are so very many things I would like to ask you. How you discovered this space, how you entered and exited it, what organization you masked people belong to, how you broke through the corridor teeming with chimeras, how you traversed this maze-like path by the shortest route without encountering a single obstruction···.>
“······.”
<There are so very many things I am curious about.>
He was laughing.
Though he clearly had no such thing as a face, he was unmistakably smiling broadly.
<But before that, if there is one person I would most like to greet first···.>
The man’s head turned.
His head turned past me, toward the little girl being supported by Ranne.
<Alice.>
“Ah, ah···.”
<It has been a long time. I never imagined you would come here of your own accord.>
Alice could not give much of a response.
She merely trembled and clung tightly to Ranne, who was supporting her.
As if wanting to hide even a little, Alice concealed herself behind Ranne’s golden hair.
<Alice. Alice. The child who should never have been born.>
<And yet the child who was ultimately born from my hands.>
Regardless, the man who had introduced himself as Oz continued speaking.
Delight spread around his mouth, as though he were genuinely pleased.
<My lost creation··· a vessel and stepping stone for receiving the great soul of the Black Queen.>
Nonsensical words.
Perhaps sensing that something was seriously wrong, the members closed ranks around Alice.
“Miss Alice, I think it would be best if you stayed right behind me.”
“What the fuck? You know that bastard? Why’s he acting like he knows you so well···!”
“What an unbelievably foul stench. It smells as though the soul has rotted and flies have gathered; it’s enough to make me vomit at any moment.”
Just as the children stepped forward, each adding a word of their own.
Suddenly, Alice’s strangled mutter brought everyone’s thoughts to a halt.
“F-Father···.”
Father.
“······What?”
“Father···? Don’t tell me you just called that thing that?”
“Miss Alice! I do not know what that thing is, but you must not let yourself be easily deceived!”
The children were flustered, but Alice merely lowered her head deeply.
Saena mocked the situation as though observing it from afar.
<Ah··· so you escaped to that other world.>
<You mingled among such ordinary humans and pretended to be an ordinary human yourself.>
Cackle cackle cackle cackle cackle cackle cackle cackle cackle cackle cackle-.
Laughter that seemed to tear the ears apart.
<To think you were enjoying such childish make-believe in the body that became the root of nightmares···.>
<Even after killing your beloved older sister with your own hands.>
<Miss Alice? Don’t you think that’s shameless?>
Scorch marks.
Pitch-black scorch marks remained in the girl’s eyes.
Only white ashes glistened like tears inside the shattered briquette.
<Even though you aren’t human.>
“I don’t want to···.”
<Miss Alice··· no, should I call you as I did before?>
<Alice-02.>
The truth about her.
The man casually stamped out the girl’s last ember.
<An experimental subject born during the Chimera Project.>
<Neither human nor even a doll.>
<And yet for you to appear among ordinary humans like this··· how very laughable.>
At last, the bomb went off.
The members surrounding Alice could not help but hesitate.
“······What did that thing just say?”
<Judging by this, I suppose you had hidden it thoroughly from the other humans?>
Malice seethed.
Alice staggered as though she were suffocating beneath it.
Behind the stunned members, I silently watched the girl.
‘Alice.’
Her real name was Project Alice-02.
A biological weapon the cult had been developing for the apocalypse.
‘And the second Alice.’
That was the girl’s true identity.