Chapter 17: Black Water Institute
“Wh—what is this…….”
A flustered look spread across the dark elf’s face.
“Director, Director!”
The wastewater spirits that had overflowed from the tanks soon began to take shape.
They slithered across the laboratory floor like snakes and started slaughtering the surrounding researchers.
“What kind of idiots would cram wastewater spirits into such a cramped space…….”
The director immediately turned around and tried to leave the laboratory.
“The door, the door is locked!”
“…….”
At the same time, a rattling sound came from behind.
Dozens of rounds spewed from Alfred Park’s submachine gun, all flying straight toward the back of Siena’s head.
But not a single bullet hit.
That was because the high-density liquid floating around her swallowed every bullet whole.
“So it was you. You rat-like bastards.”
‘Hm……. So you can handle spirits like that.’
Lead bullets, having lost all momentum, floated within the liquid that had been altered to the point where it was awkward to even call it a spirit anymore.
Siena’s efficient operation of spirits was quite astonishing.
A tool that changed form at will whenever needed.
That seemed to be Siena’s definition of a spirit as a caster.
[With ordinary rounds like those, you don’t stand a chance.]
Jason slung his shield at his waist and leapt down from a height of three stories.
Then, muttering something under his breath, he raised both hands to the sky.
A chopping blade with two bluish edges appeared in his hands.
The twin chopping blades were so massive that a burly orc would need both hands to lift them.
“You fools. Do you even know what you’re doing right now?”
“Doing? Ha! This is a noble deed called ‘Spirit Liberation’!”
Dragging the chopping blades along the ground, Jason charged at Siena.
At the same time, dozens of aquatic rounds fired from Alfred Park’s rifle sliced through the air.
“Spirit Liberation?”
This time, the liquid extending from the dark elf’s hand swirled into a conical shape.
Caught in that high-pressure torrent, the bullets lost direction and bounced away in all directions.
“Hng……!”
Next, the orc raised the chopping blades high into the air.
Crackle—yellow lightning struck down onto the bluish blades, imbuing them with the power of miracles.
“You fools……!”
At the spirit mage’s gesture, pure white spray formed a circular ring in front of her.
That raging current became a round shield and lightly deflected the direction of the chopping blades as they crashed down menacingly.
Kwa-bang! A meaningless explosion erupted from the blades embedded in the ground.
“You don’t even understand what you’re doing right now!”
With her shout, the current that had just served as a shield transformed into sharp spikes and burst outward.
“This is bad……!”
Jason threw away the chopping blades and hastily retreated backward, and liquid spikes flew in and embedded themselves right where he had been standing.
If he had been even a step slower, his entire body would have been torn to shreds.
‘So this is what a level 4 spirit mage is like.’
Diesel stepped back and watched the battle with interest.
Attack methods that seemed reasonably effective were rendered useless in an instant by a single judgment call.
That was the combat of an expert known as level 4.
Level wasn’t simply the sum of skill power.
The spirit mage named Siena was proving that firsthand.
In real combat, quick situational judgment and timely application like that were far more important than raw strength.
‘There are a few things I could use myself.’
As I muttered that, the wastewater spirits that had been roaming the laboratory indiscriminately, carrying out slaughter, began to merge together.
Siena frowned as she watched.
“Look. Now you’ll realize what mistake you’ve made.”
“A mistake? No, it’s a plan……!”
Jason shouted, his voice trembling slightly at the end.
A plan.
One thing was certain: this wasn’t part of the original plan for this operation.
Diesel felt the emotions emitted by the contaminated spirits gather together and transform into a deep resentment.
A ‘grudge’ several times stronger than the emotions spirits normally gave off.
According to the plan, what should have been there were not wastewater spirits, but free water spirits.
Water spirits filled with rage toward the humans of this research facility.
The Ghostcatchers intended to use those spirits to wipe this place out entirely.
But wastewater spirits couldn’t be handled like that.
Contaminated spirits consumed by negative emotions couldn’t distinguish friend from foe and became hostile toward all visible life.
Soon, the mass of wastewater spirits let out a boiling sound and raised its body.
“Ugh, you damn bastards…….”
Siena faced it as it towered well over three stories tall.
The resentment emanating from the spirit was so intense that even the normally unfeeling dark elf let out a faint groan.
‘This looks far more dangerous than I expected…….’
The final objective of the operation was to eliminate the lab director, Siena, but Diesel was already calculating what came after.
That mass was a spirit so powerful it made the level 4 spirit mage standing before it look pitiful.
The shape of a pitch-black giant roared and wildly swung its thick, liquid arms.
[Evade!]
The laboratory shook from the destructive attack.
At the same time, concrete collapsed, and the entire building began to crumble.
“No…… my facility……!”
Siena looked around in a daze.
The corpses of researchers strewn across the floor, collapsing concrete pillars, and water spirits that had broken free of their bindings and gained freedom.
What she did next might not have been entirely her own will.
When driven into such a corner, there weren’t many choices left.
“You…… you dog-like bastards……. Don’t think you’ll leave this place alive.”
Declaring that in a chilling voice, she stabbed her own heart with her sharp claws.
“Khk…….”
At the same time, all the water spirits under Siena’s control turned into spray and wrapped around her like a cocoon.
‘What is she doing?’
The pure white currents swirling around the spirit mage became mixed with vivid crimson blood.
It was the final struggle of a spirit mage, a technique that could be used only once by sacrificing one’s life.
A secret art that summoned all contracted spirits into one’s body, instantly raising one’s rank by a whole level.
‘The Caster’s Spiritization.’
Soon, the red cocoon burst, spraying blood in all directions, and from within it, a new life was born.
“Pathetic bastards.”
〈Pathetic bastards.〉
A voice echoed that was neither that of a spirit, nor that of a dark elf.
Perhaps sensing her threat, the mass of wastewater spirits hurled a fist toward Siena.
But Siena snorted derisively and swung her arm, which had transformed into a blade, cleaving the mass in a wide arc.
As the blade formed of water pressure sliced through its arm, a large chunk of the wastewater spirit’s body was severed and torn away.
[We must launch a joint attack while that mass is still alive!]
Jason raised his shield again and tried to move toward Siena.
[No.]
Diesel stepped in and blocked his path.
[W-what are you doing……?]
[Please stay back.]
[Back?]
The reason he had silently observed until now was because he wanted to see more of a level 4 spirit mage’s magic.
There was so much to learn from Siena’s magic formulas.
The quality of magic he had grasped from just a few exchanges moments ago was incomparably better than all the information he had obtained from the Electrosphere over the past few months.
‘I was planning to suck her dry down to the marrow…….’
But continuing to just stand by and watch any longer would be far too dangerous.
With that thought, Diesel stepped forward.
Drawing up the newly acquired cold-based mana.
Following Diesel’s footsteps, the pooled water on the floor began to freeze black.
By coincidence, the two targets before his eyes possessed attributes perfectly suited for testing his new power.
‘So I finally get to use it.’
Thus, Diesel advanced into the space between the gigantic wastewater spirit and Siena, who had transformed into a spirit.
“What is it? Have you lost your mind?”
[Everyone, fall back further.]
At Diesel’s warning, the orc and the half android obediently complied.
“You insect bastard!”
Siena erupted in fury and spewed blood-tinged water.
At the same time, the wastewater spirit beside her slammed a massive fist down toward Diesel.
But—
‘Black Ice Zone.’
A black wave surged outward from Diesel, and extreme cold spread in all directions.
The liquids coating the floor began to freeze with cracking sounds, turning the same color as the wave.
“W-what is this……!”
A high-grade spell that spread mana imbued with the image of chills across a wide area.
An absolute-zero zone that ordinary cold-type mana could never even dream of achieving spread between the two spirits.
It was a realm made possible only because he had obtained the attribute awakening ‘Black Ice,’ which drastically lowered the minimum cold point of mana.
In that frigid cold, the contaminated spirit that had lost its intellect froze without even understanding what had happened.
The other spirit, which belatedly sensed danger and tried to hurriedly withdraw its hand—
took far too long to realize that it was making a futile attempt.
“No……! You dog-like bastard! I’ll make sure I kill you at least……!”
Sharp words burst out until pitch-black cold sealed her mouth shut.
Along with them, several threatening jets of water shot toward Diesel only to make the ice statue assume a slightly more dynamic pose.
“Hm…….”
Diesel analyzed the aftermath of the spell he had unleashed.
There was no doubt it was a powerful spell.
But such power was also thanks to the extreme elemental compatibility between water and cold.
“Good heavens…….”
“So the rumors were true…….”
Jason and Alfred Park appeared behind him, wearing faces full of disbelief.
“To finish off those two monsters so easily……. You really are…….”
“You truly live up to the skill Alfred Han spoke of. No, perhaps you exceed it.”
Thus, the Ghostcatchers spent some time voicing their impressions.
Until a certain ‘presence’ suddenly burst forth.
“Hm? What was that just now?”
Diesel’s and Jason’s heads turned almost simultaneously.
It was the same presence they had felt earlier in the courtyard outside the facility.
This time, it was strong enough that even Jason could react.
And with instinctive certainty, Diesel felt it.
‘Something’s wrong.’
As he scanned his surroundings—
“Why is everyone acti…….”
The head of Alfred Park, who had been looking at him with confusion was cleanly severed.
‘……?’
Diesel noticed something.
Amid the fountain-like spray of bright blue blood from the android his heart began to pound like mad.
A pure terror he had never once felt in his life ran down his spine.
Before an abyssal hostility whose limits he could not even dare to measure.
Goosebumps rose as if spikes were being driven into his entire body.
Was that the source of the negative presence that had erupted moments ago?
Perhaps the reason the level 4 spirit mage had so easily thrown away her life was because she had predicted this being’s appearance.
Without a shred of hesitation, he ground his molars together.
At that moment, the artifact installed in his teeth, Kantara’s sixth molar, activated, and his consciousness entered an awakened state.
Instantly, he felt as though space were expanding infinitely, and fell into the illusion that time around him was flowing slowly.
Alfred Park’s body, now completely inert, slowly collapsed to the floor.
However, there was no time to watch it.
Because the monster that had severed the half android’s head moved again.
It was the terror that had once driven the entire world to the brink of annihilation.
The prime culprit that gave birth to the new professional group known as the Ghostcatchers.
And because it appeared suddenly and vanished just as suddenly, it bore the epithet ‘the nightmare the entirety of humanity dreamed at the same time’…….
It was an existence called a ‘Ghost.’
‘To think it was such a horrific being…….’
“————!”
A large mouth packed tightly with fangs emitted a grotesque noise.
The four claws planted on the ground were razor-sharp, as if made solely to tear things apart.
And two talons identical to those claws, but attached to the front of its body instead were already closing in right before Diesel’s nose, just as they had severed Alfred Park’s head.
How do I avoid this?
The answer came from his body before his mind.
After pouring enhancement magic over his entire body, he barely evaded the attack.
Even though his senses had been expanded and the flow of time slowed thanks to the artifact, the Ghost’s movements did not feel slow at all.
What next?
Should I run right now?
No, with that monster’s speed, escape was impossible.
Then…….
Among many possibilities, he chose one answer.
He injected all the liquid mana contained in the mana injector into his circulatory system.
It was a dose that vastly exceeded even a week’s recommended amount, but it didn’t matter.
With the mana thus filled to the brim, he began engraving a magic formula.
What he engraved this time was something he was attempting for the first time but it was also nearly the only method capable of dealing with the enemy before him.
And just as the artifact’s effect was about to end.
Diesel placed a period in the empty air.
Then, a certain presence began to wriggle.
The presence that had filled this entire space until just moments ago.
The presence of water spirits.