WeTried Translations
Translator: Coughing Baby
Editor: Coughing Baby
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 114: Let's Earn Our Keep
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The researcher panted heavily, then raised his head to look at Orban and the agents.
“D-did you come to rescue us?”
“What was that just now?”
Kyle asked while looking at the mutant walking away in the distance.
“The mutants here... imitate the personalities they had before they mutated.”
The researcher spoke between ragged breaths.
“We don't have the strength to subdue them... and they don't go berserk as long as we treat them like researchers, so that's how we've been dealing with them.”
So that conversation earlier had not been to protect a colleague who had mutated. They had only been playing along to keep the mutant from going berserk.
“P-please. Save us.”
Still seated on the floor, the researcher clasped his hands and pleaded. The face visible beyond the protective suit had sunken eyes, while the researcher's cracked lips were crusted with dried blood.
“Let's verify your identity first.”
An agent carrying a wand stepped forward. Taking out the device from earlier, the agent compared the face on its screen to the face before them.
“State your name and position.”
“G-Gordon Ryan. Member of the Materials Analysis Department in the Third Research Building. I've worked here for four years.”
“Your direct superior's name?”
“Hansen Cliff, head of the Materials Analysis Department.”
“Where is Department Head Hansen now?”
“H-he...”
Gordon's face twisted.
“Hansen Cliff mutated on the second day. The mutation is estimated to be B-3 rank, and Hansen is currently on the third floor of the Materials Analysis Building... The department head still believes the position is unchanged and grabs every researcher who passes by to force them to write reports. The report format is becoming more and more of a mess, though...”
The agent checked the screen and asked another question.
“Are you certain that you aren't a mutant?”
“I-I'm certain. My body hasn't changed at all, and my memories are intact.”
“Why do you believe you did not mutate?”
“When the Black Cube went berserk, I was putting on a protective suit for my shift.”
Gordon answered in a trembling voice.
“Luke, who passed by just now, was the person I was replacing and was taking off a protective suit. Department Head Hansen was resting in his office as well...”
“Did everyone who was not wearing a protective suit mutate?”
“The researchers in the Central Laboratory, where the Black Cube was located... probably mutated.”
“Probably?”
“I couldn't confirm it. The shutters came down and isolated every route leading to the Central Laboratory...”
“How did you survive for forty-three days?”
“I endured by eating the emergency rations stored in the warehouse...”
A trembling hand opened the pocket at the side of the protective suit. Gordon held up a plastic pack made from the same material as the suit and pleaded.
“F-food and water were all consumed through the tubes in the protective suit. I was never exposed to mana. Please believe me...”
“How many survivors are there at present?”
“E-excluding the five researchers who worked in the Central Laboratory and the employees assigned there... nine researchers have survived. One from the Chemical Research Department, two from the Materials Analysis Department including myself, two from the Magitech Department... two from Product Development. And two members of the Special Research Team under the direct command of the Armaments Bureau Director have survived.”
There had been twenty-one researchers in the Third Research Building forty-three days ago. Excluding the five who had been in the Central Laboratory, it was still an impressive result that nine had survived without mutating.
“There are also eleven more survivors wearing protective suits, apart from the researchers.”
There had been seventy-five employees besides the researchers.
“Only eleven?”
“There were more at first... but over the past forty-three days, they made mistakes when talking to the mutants and were killed.”
“How many mutants are there?”
“A lot.”
Gordon swallowed.
“A great many. More than the number of people who originally worked in the Third Research Building. They divided and multiplied over the forty-three days. There should be more than a hundred in the areas that aren't isolated. E-even Luke from earlier currently has three copies...”
“Heeeey!”
A door at the back of the corridor flew open, and a Venus flytrap snapped out. It had the same shape as Luke, who had left saying he was going to rest, but its leaves were a different color. This Luke's flytrap was orange.
“Gordon! Gooordon! Are you trying to suck up to them so you can get the bonus all to yourself?”
The trap leaves opened and shut. Gordon glanced at the orange Luke staggering toward them, then quickly spat out his words.
“T-the copies do not encounter each other. They don't share memories, either. So you need to be careful when speaking with them...”
“Do we really need to do that? Wouldn't it be better to kill them all and head for the Black Cube?”
Orban considered Kyle's question for a moment before shaking his head.
“Let's avoid fighting for now. Since we've entered this place, we should be cautious.”
Orban had a point. This was not a Secret Realm or one of the Cultivation Floors, but a space mutated by dark magic. It could be compared to the stomach of a living creature called dark magic. Nothing was happening because they had entered as invited guests, but if they were recognized as enemies in here, matters could become more troublesome.
[There would be no problem if this one cut them all down!]
Baal grumbled. Ignoring the voice, Kyle focused on the senses of his Spirit Root. Perhaps because of the equipment he wore, he could not sense the mana in the research building.
[Who made this protective equipment?]
[This and the protective suits were both made by the Armaments Bureau Director.]
It seemed the director was indeed talented enough to warrant a ten-billion-Cell bounty. Gordon spoke with orange Luke for a while, then orange Luke raised both hands and waved at them.
“Bonus! Thank you!”
Thud.
Orange Luke went back into the room. Gordon staggered back and let out a deep sigh.
“Could we... perhaps go outside first?”
“Where is the Armaments Bureau Director?”
Orban asked.
“The Armaments Bureau Director... is trapped in the underground bunker with the Special Research Team under the director's command.”
“Trapped?”
“Yes. The employees who could not enter the bunker mutated and are blocking the way.”
Gordon's body shook violently.
“Some survivors wearing protective suits tried to enter the bunker, but all of them were killed. Those mutants... mutated because they could not enter the bunker, so they are obsessed with the desire to get inside.”
Through his experiences so far, Kyle had gained a rough understanding of the traits of mana mutants. Mutants that retained their personality, or imitated remnants of one, clung to the emotions and desires they had before mutation.
‘Buried in them, or consumed by them.’
In some ways, they resembled elves. Just as elves could not understand anything apart from the fate that consumed them, mutants followed the emotions and desires they had before mutation. Those who had mutated before the bunker, unable to enter it, wanted only one thing, to get inside.
“The mutants underground are extremely aggressive. They believe the survivors who come down are trying to steal the place they are supposed to enter...”
“Can't we lure them with bonuses?”
“I haven't tried, but...”
Gordon hesitated and glanced at Orban. More precisely, he glanced toward the entrance to the research building behind Orban. He seemed eager to leave the building at once.
“You may go outside.”
Orban spoke.
“We killed the mutants wandering outside. We only killed the ones we could see, though. There may still be mutants out there that we did not find.”
Gordon's shoulders trembled at those words. Before he could say anything, Orban continued.
“Our primary goal is to retrieve or destroy the Black Cube. If we accomplish that, this space will no longer be affected by mana. The mutants might even collapse on their own.”
“W-what should I do...?”
“Follow us, or wait.”
Orban's voice was dry. Gordon, a mere four-year member of the Materials Analysis Department, was not a resource that the cold businessman Orban felt he absolutely had to save and protect at all costs.
“If you follow us, it will be dangerous. As I said, we are going where the Black Cube is. We don't know what will happen, so I cannot promise that we will protect you. We may not even have the leisure to do so.”
“...”
“I recommend waiting. Just as you survived for forty-three days. It probably won't take very long.”
“A-all right...”
Gordon had no choice but to lower his eyes and answer. He had not left the research building in forty-three days. He was afraid of the mutants outside. Rather than stepping out into a place where he had no idea what else might be waiting, he judged it safer to stay in the research building and continue acting with the mutants until the situation was resolved.
“We're changing the plan. We will retrieve the Black Cube first instead of going underground.”
“Understood.”
The agents nodded. They did not know whether conversation would be possible with the underground mutants. If it was not, there would be a battle, and that would make it more likely for the mutated research building to recognize them as enemies.
So they would retrieve the Black Cube first. As he followed the agents leading the way with tense faces, Kyle sent Orban a telepathic message.
[Suppose we destroy it by cutting it with Baal. How do you intend to retrieve it? If it is a mass of dark magic radiating this much influence, retrieving it will not be easy either.]
[I have an Out-of-Place Artifact.]
Orban replied.
[It does not belong to the company, but to me personally. No matter how powerful the Black Cube is, this Out-of-Place Artifact should be able to seal it.]
[Why did you not use something so useful before?]
[If I seal it, we cannot research it. I never expected it to go berserk like this...]
Kyle surveyed the surroundings as they walked down the corridor. White tiles covered the floor and walls, but a closer look revealed their surfaces squirming faintly. As he stared at the grotesque sight, Baal began to whine.
[Master, this entire space is alive. It is horribly disgusting. We must cut it all down!]
‘Wait.’
To be honest, Kyle wanted to do exactly that. Rather than moving carefully as though testing each stepping stone before crossing a river, cutting down every enemy in his path was more to his taste.
Still, the current situation was strange enough to make him restrain that preference. Kyle had experienced many things in his previous life, but he had never encountered dark magic this dense and this deep. Besides, there were as many as thirty-one survivors in this research building.
Orban might not care if every survivor except the Armaments Bureau Director died, but Kyle was not that coldhearted. Strictly speaking, the people trapped in the research building were innocent victims, and the Black Cube's rampage might have been caused by Kyle.
‘If all you do is swing your sword and cut things down without thinking, are you a swordsman? No, you're a madman. A great swordsman knows when to draw his blade.’
[Master, do not speak such nonsense! The path of domination of this Baal is to cut down everything before us!]
If he had met Baal in his previous life, they might have gotten along better. Kyle thought with a snort.
After turning the corner at the end of the long corridor, several mutants came into view at once. A woman whose neck had twisted halfway around backward staggered toward them.
“W-who are you?”
A man sprang out from behind the woman's back. Fingers drooped like tentacles, and tiny eyeballs all turned toward them at once.
“Do you not recognize the Central Branch Head?”
Orban stepped forward, cold sweat running down his face.
“You should have already received the notice. I am conducting an inspection to discuss the bonuses to be paid to employees of the Third Research Building.”
“Ah, ahh, ahhh.”
“T-this way is dangerous.”
The man's fingers stretched toward Orban. Layla swallowed and tried to step forward, but Orban held up a hand behind his back to stop her.
“Dangerous? Why is it dangerous?”
“T-the area ahead is isolated. There was a small problem during an experiment.”
“If you are working despite the danger, then an inspection is all the more necessary. We should determine hazard pay separately from the bonus.”
Perhaps he had gotten used to it, because Orban continued smoothly. At those words, the mutants' bodies trembled.
“Hazard pay...”
“C-can we receive it too?”
“Of course you can. After the inspection is complete.”
Orban emphasized the word “inspection.” The tentacles and eyes that had approached right in front of his face slowly withdrew.
“Th-thank you.”
“C-can we also file for industrial accident compensation?”
Crack, crackle.
The woman whose head had bent one hundred eighty degrees, showing her back, turned around. Kyle swallowed the curse that almost burst from his mouth at what he saw next.
Her abdomen was split wide open. At the center of that black darkness, crimson flowers with teeth protruded and swayed.
“I injured my abdomen.”
“Of course... you can.”
Orban answered in a trembling voice. He was also desperately holding back a scream. At his answer, the flowers inside her stomach clicked their teeth together as they laughed.
“Thank you!”
“We will guide you. The path ahead is closed.”
The woman twisted her neck backward again and began staggering ahead with the man. Kyle supported Orban, who looked as if his legs had given out.
“Whew...”
Orban let out a long breath and wiped away his cold sweat.
“In case you misunderstand, we are not an exploitative company. The pay is good, and so are the benefits.”
“Then why is everyone so obsessed with money?”
“How should I know? I feel wronged too, honestly.”
It was not a lie. Orban looked genuinely wronged.
They encountered more mutants while traveling with the two, but Orban did not need to speak with them. The mutants who volunteered to guide them spoke about the inspection first.
The small problem was that the mutants who moved aside at that explanation did not leave to return to their work. Before they knew it, dozens of mutants had begun following them, forming a procession.
“Damn it.”
One of the agents cursed under his breath. Cold sweat streamed down the agent's face as the agent looked back at the mutants pressing close behind. The smiling mutants came in all shapes, but every one of them repeated the same words.
“Twenty percent.”
“Twenty percent.”
Their various whispers formed a strange echo, and as though responding to it, the corridor swayed faintly.
“I will raise the shutter.”
The mutant with eyeballs and tentacles on its fingers approached the shutter. Like the main entrance to the research building, a huge crow was engraved at the center of it. When the mutant extended a finger, the shutter slid upward.
Clank, clank, clank.
As the first shutter rose, the shutters in the corridor ahead all rose at once. Hearing the sound, Orban swallowed nervously. The central corridor had been isolated by the shutters. He was tense, wondering if the tightly sealed mana would come pouring out.
Unexpectedly, no wave of mana came rushing toward them. The mutant at the front staggered onward again, and everyone followed behind it.
There was no wave of mana, but the isolated corridor was far more grotesque than the places they had passed through before. The mutants ahead did not retain even the slightest human feature.
Melted flesh had gathered and writhed like slime, while bones clinging to the walls had bloomed into white flowers. This was the end suffered by the humans directly struck by the mana wave released when the Black Cube went berserk.
“The existing mutants are no longer mutating.”
One of the agents spoke. The agent looked around with a tense face and whispered.
“It seems the Black Cube's mana waves have stabilized for now.”
“That is a relief.”
Orban spoke with a sigh.
The corridor was uneven. Rather than the sensation of stepping on a floor, it felt unpleasantly soft, like stepping on mud. No, on lumps of flesh.
Beep.
That sound suddenly rang out as they passed through the corridor. The ceiling and walls split wide open, and transparent liquid sprayed out without warning.
Whoooooosh!
“Argh?!”
The agents cried out in alarm. Layla immediately pulled Orban toward her. Gunfire rang out through the powerful spray, so fierce that they could barely see ahead.
Rat-a-tat-tat!
The startled agents began firing at the walls and ceiling.
“Disinfection! Disinfection! Disinfection!”
Mouths opened wide all over the walls, shouting the same word.
“When entering! The Central Laboratory! Disinfection! Is mandatory!”
“Disinfection! Disinfection! Disinfection!”
“You must wear! Protective suits! To enter!”
The mouths on the wall shrieked. The mutants struck by the spraying disinfectant and bullets screamed.
“We're wearing protective suits!”
“We're wearing them!”
Rumble!
The walls shook violently. Avoiding bullets flying in every direction, Kyle pressed close to Layla and Orban. The liquid spraying from the walls was fortunately disinfectant, but the mutants denied entry had also been struck by bullets and began to rage.
“Why, why are you shooting?”
“It hurts, it hurts!”
“Industrial accident compensation! Compensation!”
“Cease fire!”
Orban shouted. Only then did the agents stop shooting. The disinfectant spray and the mutants' frenzy did not stop.
“Leave! Leave! Leave!”
“Contamination, contamination!”
“C-contamination?”
At the walls' screams, the mutants twisted their bodies. The word contamination stirred something in their memories and the personalities they imitated.
“Contamination... contaminated...”
“Disinfection? So what? Because we are contaminated?”
“Ah, ahhh, ahhhhh!”
The personalities they had imitated began to collapse. By the Crows' standards, they had risen from C-2 to C-1. The mutants that had lost their reason shrieked and charged.
“Fuck, open fire!”
Orban shouted with a twisted expression. The agents immediately began firing at the mutants surging from behind. Amid the deafening gunfire, Kyle drew Baal.
There were already dozens of mutants that had followed them, lured by the bonuses, and the threat was not only behind them. The holes in the walls no longer sprayed disinfectant. Instead, a massive mutant with a white lab coat carelessly draped over its head dropped from within.
Boom!
The mutant, large enough to fill the corridor, moved dozens of arms like insect legs as it crawled forward. An employee identification card hung from its head, which had split in two. It read, Chemical Research Department Head Donovan Alon.
“Disinfection! Disinfection! Disinfection! Disinfect yourselves before coming in!”
The mutant that had once been the Chemical Research Department head screamed. Layla, who had been shielding Orban, took a small sphere from her clothing with a twisted expression. With a click, the sphere, which had been no larger than a fingernail, expanded to the size of a fist.
Whoosh!
Layla threw the sphere. The high-speed projectile reached the mutant's head, and the mana packed inside it exploded.
Boom!
The mutant's head burst apart with a deafening blast.
‘So she really is from the dark frontier.’
Layla was clearly stronger than the agents who had supposedly been artificially elevated to the Boundary Realm.
“Dis-infection!”
The spot where the head had burst apart squirmed, and the flesh began to tangle together and regenerate. Thud, thud, crack... The flesh making up the walls covered the mutant's head, accelerating its regeneration. Layla's face twisted even further at the sight.
“Regeneration...!”
“B-B-2! It is a B-2 mutant!”
The agents, who had concentrated their fire on the mutants pressing in from behind, screamed.
“Branch Head! Permission to use our abilities...”
The agents began shouting something, and Layla was about to take out another sphere when Kyle stepped forward.
He had agreed to be paid with something other than money, but this had originally been a request worth one hundred fifteen billion. In a request promising such a vast sum, all Kyle had done so far was cut through the darkness that covered the research building grounds.
What the Central Branch wanted to borrow from Kyle was Baal's power, the power to cut down enemies that did not die easily.
‘Let's earn our keep.’
Kyle had been a mercenary in his previous life. A good mercenary did work worth the payment received.
[Ahahahahaha!]
Baal burst into laughter.
Thump!
Kyle kicked off the soft ground and rushed forward.
He gripped Baal with both hands and drew the sword back behind his left hip.
The swordsmanship of Demon King Astaros, altered to suit Kyle's own tastes. A bold sword made for Baal and specialized for Baal, one that cut through everything in a single strike.
Crash!
The sword he swung while charging slammed horizontally into the mutant's torso. Baal was too sharp. That sharpness could even cut through a soul.
Once the blade bit into something, nothing could stop it. Baal's edge moved forward at the same speed Kyle ran. The torso of the insect-like crawling mutant split in two.
“Tsk.”
After cutting the mutant straight through from front to rear, Kyle smacked his lips and looked back.
“This sword cuts too well.”
It was his first time swinging Baal at a living opponent, yet he was not fully satisfied.
He had wanted to split the body cleanly in half in a straight line.
Instead, he thought he had cut it a little unevenly.
Footnotes:
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