Chapter 110 - 110- Between a Rock And a Hard Place (Part 2)

It was already a known fact to them that the generators weren't going to last that long even if the scientists worked as quickly as they could. What was even worse was the fact that even their abductor knew that.

Yet, for some reason, she didn't do anything to them in the past two days. In fact, after returning, she barely entered the room they were stuck in to give them some food and water. It dawned on them that she didn't seem like she was interested in killing them and that made them even more terrified.

After all, with what they saw, that woman didn't strike them as the type to spare a human's life even if they did nothing wrong.

Now, they were still sitting inside the lab, listening to all the rumbling, shaking, and destruction that was happening outside and yet they couldn't take a glimpse of that.

The tension was over the roof and no one could handle it as they kept shaking violently. They had no idea whether they were going to die or not.

"I... I can't anymore... This is too much!" Suddenly, one of them stood up. It was the female scientist. "I can't handle waiting here any longer!" She exclaimed.

"What? What are you even saying?"

The other two looked at her in confusion.

"Are we seriously going to sit here and wait for our deaths? How does that make any sense? That woman had her control over us for weeks and we couldn't do as much as raise our voices. I've had enough!"

"..." The other two scientists' expressions changed upon hearing that. It was indeed true what she said, this was their prison and they had been inside of it the entire time. They even forgot what the light of the sun looks like anymore.

"If we're going to die anyway, we might as well try to escape! It's better than not doing anything and waiting for her to come back and kill us!" She added with a shaky voice. Even she knew that what she was saying was a huge risk.

But, the question was: what do they want more? Their freedom or their lives? Depending on the answer, it was technically easy to decide what they wanted to do.

Looking at each other with complicated expressions, the scientists tried to find any courage within each other's eyes. Just a speck of approval or willingness would probably make them do it.

"She... has a point." One of them said in a low, hesitant tone. "We already lost everything, what would change if we lost our lives too?"

"..."

As if it wasn't already enough, hearing the sounds outside had given them a spark of hope that help could be waiting. After all, the entire past few weeks have been really quiet except for some occasional instances.

If they could just leave this building, then they could truly have a chance to survive.

"Are you with me?" The woman asked.

"..."

For a few seconds, neither of the two spoke as they contemplated everything and tried to find whether it was truly worth it or not. In the end, both of them had the same exact conclusion.

"... I'm in." One of them said.

"The monster core..." Hyun-Jae blinked in a daze.

Her idea worked. When everything started, Hyun-Jae had already realized that she was dealing with a living being rather than a forest. So, by that logic, Hyun-Jae assumed that the forest, like every other monster, had a monster core deep within it.

That was a huge gamble considering the lack of knowledge about this thing. However, to stop this, she had no other choice but to put all her bets on this possibility. With that, all she had to do was to find the core.

That was the easier part since she knew that most monsters have their cores in their chests with some rare cases where it was in the head like the Dimension Walkers for example.

So, with that in mind, she blindly decided to go for the most logical possibility which was that the core is located right in the middle of the forest. Everything was correct.

'Did I kill... it?' Hyun-Jae asked herself as she touched the core. It seemed to be still lively, but the forest wasn't moving at all so she assumed that it was simply a sign that it was heavily damaged at least.

'Maybe if I pull it out.'

Deciding on what to do, Hyun-Jae grabbed the core with both hands and used her strength to slowly pull it out. Luckily, it wasn't hard to do that.

A few seconds later, the core was taken out as Hyun-Jae threw it on the ground.

"Ugh..." Groaning lightly, she was immediately met with a notification.

[Ding!]

[You have killed a level 23 Iluthian Woods. +14 all stats.]

[Ding!]

[You have leveled up 4 times. +8 free points.]

A surge of immense strength filled her body out of nowhere like a tsunami. It was the first time in her life that Hyun-Jae had ever felt such a thing. It was as if every part of her body went through a drastic change in a split second and became better.

The world became way clearer than before and her senses jumped a few levels of sharpness. Her body felt lighter, stronger, and way more durable. Even her skin under the dirt, became far brighter and more beautiful.

'A level 23 monster... I killed a level 23 monster...' She thought to herself in disbelief.

Never in her life did Hyun-Jae expect to kill a monster this high-leveled at her current power level. The memory of that giant that Talon killed was still vivid in her head. That thing wasn't simply terrifying, it was a true death threat to her.

Yet, out of nowhere, she found herself killing something 6 levels above her in terms of power, and that pushed her by leaps and bounds.

But, in the end, it was really good news. More strength meant that she was slowly becoming a powerhouse of her own, just like Talon. Smiling slightly, Hyun-Jae was about to stand up. That's when she felt it... Something that ironically she just recalled.

A true feeling of near death. Something that could very much end her life effectively.

(A//N: Thanks to everyone who supports the book with power stones and golden tickets, you guys are the best:) )