Chapter 6
Chapter 6
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 6
Chapter Title: Perfectly Flawless! Utterly Heinous! Duke Awik!
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Mad Scientist Letor's laboratory was a sort of massive city and fortress all in one.
Countless research buildings dotted the city enclosed by walls, and Letor was the master of it all.
The old man insisted on calling himself a scholar and demanded the city be referred to as a 'laboratory,' but in truth, he was also the mayor and a dictator.
Rex and Duke had only been imprisoned in one of those research buildings.
The two who had escaped from Building S didn't head straight for Letor. Instead, they made for another research building.
[There are probably others locked up like us elsewhere. Let's free them.]
Rex's ability specialized in command.
Because of that, he'd grow exponentially stronger the more troops he secured, not just Duke but everyone else too.
In other words, Rex wanted to free people in similar predicaments to himself and Duke and fight together.
Duke pondered at those words.
'Hmm... Is it because their combat power is unreliable?'
Duke was confident he could escape the laboratory on his own, even alone.
'Escape? I could turn the whole place into rubble and just stroll out.'
But after some thought, Duke decided to follow Rex's lead without complaint.
There was no real reason not to.
It was far easier to fight in a group than solo anyway.
And besides...
'In the end, things are flowing just like the original story.'
He also wanted to stick as closely as possible to the original plot's flow.
'In the original, Rex escaped without me.'
The original Rex hadn't needed Duke.
He'd built connections with various test subjects while running errands all over the research buildings, and once those bonds were strong enough, he'd sparked a full-scale revolt across the entire laboratory.
The test subjects who followed him were the ones commonly called 'failures,' but thanks to Rex's overwhelming command ability, they'd managed to take down the 'successes.'
It was a prime example of Rex's munchkin-like prowess, covering the massive individual combat power gap through command alone.
[If you tell them I sent you, they'll follow.]
Rex, who had been preparing for this very moment even before Duke's rampage today, urged him that there wouldn't be any issues.
Duke gladly volunteered as Rex's envoy and headed to the other holding areas.
[They should be just beyond this iron gate.]
The place they arrived at was Building C, which held the most test subjects.
It was also where Rex had frequently delivered meals.
Duke nodded silently and gave the iron gate a light push.
As expected, it didn't budge an inch.
[It's no use. It's built to withstand riots. But I scouted some siege bombs in the D Building warehouse, so...]
Before Rex could finish typing, Duke raised his hand in a chopping motion.
As Rex watched in disbelief, Duke brought his hand down in a powerful strike.
Boom!
The massive iron gate, sturdy enough to withstand siege weapons, split clean in two.
Rex's jaw dropped wide open, just like the gate.
'Heh. How's that.'
Duke tried to hide his smug satisfaction and feigned nonchalance.
Rex was speechless at Duke's enthusiastic self-promotion toward his future boss.
'He's not even trying to hide his power level anymore.'
At least if he was masking it at 3rd rank, it might look like effort.
Duke hiding his power level made no sense otherwise.
'What kind of past does this guy have?'
His curiosity about Duke's background kept growing, but Rex suppressed it and moved on to the next objective.
[Now let's gather our comrades.]
*
It wasn't long before the entire laboratory was in chaos after Rex and Duke stormed Building C.
Rex proposed temporary contracts to various test subjects through Duke, forming an army of just over 300 failures.
The average rank of these failures was 2nd to 3rd.
They were plenty strong compared to ordinary citizens, but in this city where even goblins could reach 4th rank, they were failures through and through.
'Hmm... No heroes in sight.'
Rex felt a pang of regret as he surveyed his army of over a hundred.
There were no 'heroes'—special units—among the contracted failures.
Think of them like 4- or 5-star characters in a mobile game.
Heroes weren't just about raw strength or rank; it was a matter of talent and potential, so the criteria were vague.
If pressed, it was whether they could be the protagonist of some story—that was the benchmark for a hero.
'Well, heroes can be made, too.'
Many awakened postnatally by fulfilling certain quests or conditions, so he didn't mind too much.
Besides, having hired an endgame hero like Duke, asking for more luck would be too greedy.
Rex issued orders to the blue dots and the golden one stamped with Duke's face.
[Charge straight for Building A!]
And so the group began their charge with a roar.
'Normally, I'd have to be more cautious, but...'
With a monster unit like Duke, there was no need to overcomplicate things.
Strategy and tactics had their proper places.
A frontal charge might seem brutish at first glance, but when your breakthrough power was overwhelming, it was the most efficient approach.
Especially with a spearhead like Duke; centering the charge on him would actually minimize casualties.
Soon, the doctor's success army clashed with Duke's failure army.
The result was...
'This is Duke. He'll win the battle.'
In Rex's mind, Duke had long since become that cheat-code hero handed out in tutorials to explain controls.
The kind that wins no matter how hard you try to lose.
(And then gets snatched away like a ghost once the tutorial ends.)
Rex shared views of battlefields across multiple screens.
On Duke's screen, a massive red bipedal lizard blocked his path.
A dice appeared in the corner of that screen.
'It's a duel!'
When hero-grade units clashed, a one-on-one event triggered.
Victory or defeat here swayed battlefield morale, making it crucial.
'The lizard's rank was... 5th, I think.'
Rex relied on memory since he couldn't inspect enemies through the screen.
After calculating, he ordered Duke to take it down.
'65? Maybe even higher.'
At Rex's command, Duke—who'd fought barehanded until now—borrowed a soldier's spare iron sword.
Then, on Rex's screen, a 24-sided die began to roll.
Against the lizard, he needed 20 or higher for a successful attack roll.
'Unlike the game, time doesn't freeze.'
As Rex mulled that over, the result appeared.
2.
Failure.
But Rex didn't despair right away.
The hero's ability modifiers plus the dice roll mattered.
'Duke's modifier is...'
+40
"Huh?"
As Rex blurted out dumbly, Duke's iron sword cleaved the lizard's neck.
Duke's rampage continued unchecked.
Magic check: Critical success. Modified troll squad heads exploded in unison.
Swordsmanship check: Critical success. The mithril golem was diced into neat cubes.
Command check: Critical success. Soldiers facing an eldritch horror and frozen in fear turned into berserkers after Duke's speech.
- "For our liege!!"
Rex, focused on another screen, missed that final shout.
Something felt off in the middle, but he dismissed it as his imagination and nodded.
'Ah, this is convenient.'
The past month plotting sabotage routes and guerrilla paths while running errands felt wasted now, but this outcome was stress-free.
'Frontal assaults beat twisting yourself into knots any day.'
Grateful for meeting a cheat hero like Duke, Rex stepped into the breached research building.
We followed Rex's orders deeper into the research building.
The test subjects, experiencing Rex's ability for the first time, were bewildered at first but soon grew accustomed and began praising him one after another.
"Isn't Lord Rex like a messenger from the gods?"
"He's an iron man. An iron man."
"The epitome of a superhuman... no, an Übermensch."
"Hoo... An army bound by contracts... Fascinating."
As the test subjects shared their impressions, I glanced at the corner of my vision.
'What we're seeing seems totally different.'
To me, Rex's directives and abilities appeared like quest windows, minimaps, and UI from a standard FPS game.
Targets to destroy had red outlines, ones to protect green, paths to take had arrows.
Like that.
But from what the other soldiers said, they felt like fireflies guiding the way, with Rex's voice echoing in their heads.
'Must be because I'm a regressor.'
To avoid any risk of my status as a regressor slipping out due to this difference, I made a mental note of it whenever possible.
Even as I cataloged the discrepancies, Rex's orders kept coming.
I carried them all out flawlessly, marveling at his command prowess.
'No way I could use a power like that effectively, even if they gave it to me.'
At a glance, Rex's ability seemed overpowered, but it was more that the pilot named Rex was the real cheat.
Reality wasn't turn-based.
Enemies didn't wait for his judgments or hit pause.
Not only movement and attack orders, but responses to abilities, weaknesses marked and directed—it ramped up the difficulty exponentially.
In short, this overwhelming command was purely Rex's talent.
Thus immersed in awe, sweeping through the building, we soon reached the bunker where Letor had fled—nothing left but that.
I and the soldiers surrounded the doctor's bunker, awaiting Rex.
Soon, Rex arrived at the bunker entrance.
Nod.
With his approval, I ripped out the bunker's wall as casually as unwrapping a package.
'Showtime~'
With that silly thought, I came face-to-face with the trembling doctor inside.
Next to the doctor stood his disciples—and a familiar face.
The head of the slave trading guild.
Apparently, they'd been renewing their trade contract when the revolt hit, forcing them to flee here.
'Wow. Speak of the devil.'
I'd planned to track him down later for a reckoning, but this saved me the trip.
The guild master, apparently not spotting me amid the rebels, berated the doctor.
"Professor! Do something!"
"It's Doctor, not Professor!"
What was that? A guy expelled from the Magic Tower with no degree.
Still not resigned, the guild master drew a musket pistol and aimed at the rebels.
Idiot? Or reason paralyzed by fear?
Did he think a pistol would do anything against enemies tearing through bunker walls?
Letting him pull the trigger and face reality in despair wouldn't be bad, but...
'Can't have stray bullets hitting innocents.'
I snatched the pistol with telekinesis.
"Huh?!"
The guild master pitifully reached for the departing gun.
He gasped in horror upon seeing it land in my hand.
"Du... Duke!"
The doctor beside him gasped too.
Seems reports hadn't reached them about me leading the rebel vanguard.
'Well, I killed every last one without exception.'
Communication magic jammed and neutralized, no messengers allowed to flee.
Finally grasping reality, the doctor and his group fell silent.
Rex and the test subjects glared at them with burning hatred.
"Because of you, my little sister...!"
"Even my death wasn't safe from your desecration, Doctor."
"I never wanted to grow strong like this!"
They recounted their ordeals as test subjects, hurling accusations at him.
But the doctor's attitude was utterly defiant.
"I fed you worthless lot and opened possibilities for you. Where is the sin in my grand cause?!"
The test subjects grew furious at his brazenness.
The doctor, fully aware of his fate, showered Rex and the soldiers with mocking curses to provoke them.
Some soldiers' hands trembled on their swords.
Yet they held back from striking—not out of mercy, but respect for the supreme commanders, Rex and Duke.
Only they had the authority to execute him here, so the soldiers suppressed their rage.
That's when I enacted the action I'd planned before entering the bunker.
Crack.
"Aaaagh!!"
The doctor's right wrist, stuffed in his pocket, twisted around.
A magic device tumbled from his pocket to the floor.
A red-switch transmitter-receiver type.
"That's..."
"I sensed strange energy from the leyline beneath the city. So this was your trick."
At my words, earth mages among the soldiers probed below.
And then...
- "It's real!"
- "What?"
- "Hard to feel unless you focus, but it's faint. If Duke hadn't mentioned it, I wouldn't have noticed."
- "For real?"
- "I was a geologist back home."
I eavesdropped on the soldiers while fighting a grin.
Truth be told, I wasn't sure either.
I had detection skills, but this wasn't my specialty.
I'd only noticed because that scene in the original story had shocked me so much, it stuck in my memory.
'In the original, the revolt succeeds, and they subdue the doctor.'
Rex, after months of sabotage and guerrilla warfare, cornered the doctor.
But the doctor activated a self-destruct spell on the leyline, vowing to take the test subjects with him...
'Every test subject dies except Rex.'
The ones who saw Rex as their true savior perished shielding his escape.
Thus, Rex's first commanded unit met the worst possible end: total annihilation.
'No need to give the kid paranoia on top of everything.'
That event saddled Rex with paranoia as a mental affliction afterward.
Of course, I had no intention of letting it happen.
I was an extreme happy-ending pursuer...
'Full survival for this laboratory arc is the goal.'
That's why I smashed the doctor's self-destruct button.
I made it dramatic on purpose.
Sure enough, admiring gazes pierced my back as intended.
'Oh, so charismatic.'
Feigning sternness, I refocused on the doctor, his aides, and the guild master.
Then, the trembling slave guild master spoke up.
"I didn't do anything! Really! I just did what this guy told me!"
"How rude! It's Doctor!"
I ignored Letor raging at the wrong thing and glanced at Rex.
- "What should we do?"
- "Huh???"
Damn. Our bond wasn't deep enough for silent communication yet.
"Lord Rex. Can we handle their disposal?"
I figured immature Rex mentally would want to hand it off to us.
My guess was spot on.
[Disposal is yours.]
The order came down.
I heartlessly kicked away the doctor clutching my pant leg.
Then addressed the burly test subjects nearby.
"Dispose of the guild master and aides yourselves."
Permission granted, the soldiers gleefully dragged them off.
Watching his colleagues led to slaughter like livestock to the abattoir, the doctor's face paled.
I called his name to draw his attention.
"Doctor."
"Duke... no, Lord Awik...!"
The doctor begged me.
"Please spare me. Let me prove my worth. Mercy, I beg...!"
He still mistakenly thought I, not Rex, was leading these people.
But his fate was sealed.
I sheathed my sword.
Decapitation was quick, but for these victims here, a flashier execution was needed.
"Urk..."
I gently strangled the doctor with telekinesis, levitating him.
As his legs flailed futilely in the air, I recited the line I'd prepared since last night.
"Even now, you beg mercy from me. Then did you show mercy to those who begged it from you?"
The doctor, dangling midair, frantically listed his good deeds.
"I... gave jobs to children, and last week I held free lectures in the city..."
True to his twisted goal of elevating all humanity's ranks, he'd done sporadic charity.
Turning promising kids into knights, rejuvenating the elderly, etc.
He'd even shared some experiment results with lords and cities, not hoarding them selfishly.
That's why other cities and domains kept accommodating him; some lives had surely been saved by his hand.
But not the words to say in front of these people.
Not when his 'greater good' demanded tens of thousands sacrificed for ten.
And I'd anticipated this answer.
So I posed the question that would doom him unjustly.
"One more thing. In the past half year, have you ever shown me even a cup of water's mercy?"
"That's—"
The doctor opened his mouth.
His rank let me predict his retort.
- "I did! But you starved for months and squatted in that room!!!"
Snap!
Before he could finish,
I snapped his neck.
The doctor's body went limp.
Dangling like a hanged man in the air.
The soldiers cheered.
I'd told them en route about the experiments I'd endured, lending full justification to my act.
(For the record, I volunteered for those experiments, but they still happened.)
To others, it looked like I'd deemed him unworthy of a hearing and executed him.
'Dead men tell no tales.'
Perfect crime complete.
To prevent any necromancy revival—which would spell big trouble—I meticulously exorcised and wiped the brain's data.
'Anyway, our meeting was pure coincidence.'
History is written by the victors.
And snapping his neck mercilessly even netted me a cold-blooded image.
'Perfect.'
One step closer to being the perfectly flawless, utterly heinous second-in-command.