Chapter 140

Chapter 140

Chapter 140

The intense smell woke me up. As soon as I opened my eyes, the first thing I noticed was the sharp scent of chemical agents. It was so strong that it irritated the apparatus beneath my chin.

‘Where am I?’

Upon opening my eyes, I saw numerous tubes resembling ancient catacombs in a dark communal space. Green glass tubes, hundreds, if not thousands of them, were laid out inside, resembling some kind of ancient burial ground rather than a research facility.

‘Why am I here?’

When I transcended into the astral state, and then from astral to transcendent, I experienced visions. The former involved a meeting with Amorph, while the latter was a fantasy involving memories from my childhood. Both were different kinds of illusions, but they were based on elements I had seen or stored in my memory. However, this place was a completely unfamiliar space, not encountered in reality or any game.

‘Moreover, there were no such occurrences during transcendence.’

Is the second stage of transcendence different from the first? Does displaying hallucinations during evolution mean that it enhances one’s growth?

‘...It might be an unfamiliar place in my memory but could be an important clue.’

After all, there’s plenty of time until transcendence is complete. I approached one of the nearby glass tubes.

Inside, it was filled with a viscous green chemical substance. The liquid was so opaque that it was impossible to see what was inside, but the apparatus’s assessment was different.

There’s something inside that liquid.

I brought my face close to the experiment tube. As the slender apparatus was about to touch the surface of the tube, the communal space I stood in changed to a white space in an instant. The glass tube in front shattered, disappearing in the blink of an eye.

Instead of the harsh chemical scent, a familiar antiseptic smell permeated, and the sound of life support devices measuring a patient’s vital signs echoed. I knew where this was. But what caught my attention more than anything was what I had seen a moment ago.

‘What was that just now?’

Before the experiment tube disappeared, the object inside was briefly exposed. It was the offspring of some creature, strangely familiar but unidentifiable.

“If you hadn’t taken them that day, this wouldn’t have happened!”

A sudden scream, as if trying to erase my thoughts.

Two adults with unseen faces argued in the corridor in front of the hospital room.

“Are you blaming me for that? Do you know who’s paying the expensive medical bills?”

“Huh. Medical bills? You don’t even care about the kid.”

“What?”

“All that cuteness for the camera or for our lovely child is just an act. Have you ever hugged our child at home?”

Their conversation was filled with the same arguments I had heard since childhood. They always fought with the same repertoire.

But now, there’s something more important than that.

The experimental subject I saw earlier, it was undoubtedly similar to Amorph’s hatchling.

‘Not entirely the same, though.’

The number of arms and the absence of auxiliary devices were quite different from the Amorph I knew. The creature’s arms were less developed than Amorph’s hatchling, and there were no auxiliary devices under its chin.

As I contemplated the creature, the half-open door of the hospital room in front of me revealed a child. The child had their face tightly wrapped in bandages. Seeing that sight, a memory suddenly flashed.

‘Ah, was it back then?’

The hallucination I was witnessing was one of the pivotal moments in my life. Recalling that fact, I could no longer continue thinking about the experimental creature.

It was the day I realized that what was once a precious gift in my household had become a burden.

Whether the nurse saw the child or not, the child closed the door as I unconsciously reached for the doorknob. The moment my fingers touched the doorknob, my consciousness once again plunged into darkness.

In a forest in the Seintopia 02 continent, despite being daytime, it was quite dark due to the giant redwoods that rivaled high-rise buildings. The dense branches and leaves obscured the light.

In the midst of this dark forest, there was a group of individuals. A total of 10 people, all wearing reinforced suits that covered their entire bodies, adorned with special symbols on top.

The symbol, a purple diamond within an ivory triangle, was the emblem of the ‘Warriors,’ the military force of the Cult race.Fịndd new updates at novelhall.com

True to their name, they carried various types of weapons, from melee weapons like axes, knives, and spears to long-range firearms like bows, rifles, and net guns. They also had alloy shields, shield activation devices, medical kits, and other defense and support equipment.

The Cult Warriors always prepared thoroughly to handle any enemy they might encounter. Therefore, they were excessively armed to easily deal with any adversary they might face.

“Here’s Warrior Chief Lice. What about your side?”

[This is Edrin. The village has been completely razed. There are no survivors.]

“Again? What in the world is happening? How about the other villages?”

[This is Orlai. I checked the memory site, but nothing came up.]

This Warrior group, affiliated with the Imperial flagship ‘Damos 08’s Adjudicator,’ had come down in advance under the captain’s confidential orders before the purification operation commenced.

The order was to capture and bring back the native Wolves before the purification operation began. However, despite having arrived on the continent where the Wolves reside hours ago, not a single Wolf was found.

Upon hearing the command, the warriors quickly opened their medical kits and took out syringes from them. Lice, like his subordinates, retrieved a syringe and injected it into his thigh.

“What was that just now?”

“...I don’t know. Vice-Commander Isabel. Confirm the abnormal signs of the warriors.”

“Yes, Warrior Chief.”

They waited in that spot for about five minutes. Some warriors had blood coming out of their eyes and ears, but other than that, there were no specific injuries.

“We don’t know when the enemy might appear. Be meticulous and check even the small things so that nothing is overlooked.”

“Understood!”

The warriors, now more tense than before, assumed a cautious posture and proceeded through the forest with careful movements.

About five minutes into their renewed journey, Lice suddenly felt something odd.

“...It’s too quiet.”

Until the noise incident occurred, occasional sounds of Wood Devils attacking or birds chirping were heard. But now, there was nothing at all. It was as if the entire forest had died.

The only sounds were the footsteps and breaths of the warrior group present here.

Lice wasn’t the only one having such thoughts. The discomfort mixed with the breath sounds of the other warriors.

As an unknown anxiety began to creep over the warrior group, suddenly, one warrior started shooting with the purple spray gun he was holding.

Since their vision was shared through Soul Link, Lice could know what the subordinate was shooting at. The target was a tree about several dozen meters away from them.

And there was nothing on the tree.

“T..the e..eyes..the.eyes...hiiik!”

“What eyes? What eyes are you talking about?”

“The pink one, it’s still... Hiik?!”

Despite Lice’s repeated questions, the warrior only kept uttering the words ‘eyes’ and ‘pink.’

Unable to get more information, Lice reluctantly took a sedative from his kit and administered it forcefully.

The sedative developed by the cult was highly effective in calming soldiers who fell into panic states during war. The vision of a warrior who received the sedative became blurry, and the trembling of the body stopped. However, despite the strong sedative effect, shadows still lingered on his face.

“Feeling calmer now?”

“...Yes.”

“What did you see a moment ago?”

The warrior shivered again in response to his question, but this time, he didn’t fall completely into a panic state. Despite trembling with fear, he tried hard to convey information.

“I-I know it’s hard to believe, but there was a monster that looked like a balloon.”

“A balloon?”

“At first, I thought I saw it wrong, but suddenly, numerous eyes grew on its body, and it stared at me.”

A monster resembling a balloon. Lice recalled what he had seen before the deafening noise erupted.

“No way.”

“I’ll check the vision! The rest of you, don’t let your guard down... Huh?”

While checking the vision of the warriors once again through Soul Link, Lice realized that one of them was missing.

There were supposed to be 10 people present, including him, but currently, only 8 visions were confirmed.

“Koshei? Where’s Koshei?”

“Uh, behind me... huh? He was behind me just a moment ago.”

The warrior guarding the rear suddenly realized that his colleague, who should have been behind him, had disappeared.

Amidst the confusion caused by the subordinate’s strange mental state, it became apparent that one person was missing.

“Isabel, contact the battleship.”

“Yes?”

“Our squad is under attack.”

“U..understood!”

Lice’s words were accurate.

Somewhere in the forest, unidentified beasts lurked. Their assault had already begun.