Chapter 143
Chapter 143
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 143
Chapter Title: Surviving in the Sky Garden (5)
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Around the time the peculiar trio—a pure-white beauty and two fairies—began their search for the bomber.
Somewhere in the Sky Garden, a suspicious shadow was staggering through the woods.
“Ugh… Gaaah…”
It was a man who appeared to be in terrible condition.
Just how bad was he? He could barely move forward, his face pale as he fought back nausea.
Why was he in such a state during a trial with no competitive element?
If any of the staff had been nearby, they would have immediately sensed something was wrong.
But whether by fortune or misfortune, the man was left completely undisturbed.
Step by agonizing step, he dragged his feet, stumbling onward.
Perhaps there was some noble purpose behind it.
Or maybe an unbreakable promise he had to keep?
A certain desperation was embedded in the man’s every step.
“What’s this? I felt something interesting was happening, but all I find is a half-dead human?”
“Grrr…”
After who knows how long wandering endlessly through the Sky Garden.
A fairy, drawn by her bracelet, appeared with a look of disbelief.
Murmur had told her a human had come to the garden.
He’d said to play along for a bit, and if she didn't like them, she could just run away.
But the one she found was in such a strange state that a proper conversation seemed impossible.
If she had known, she would have gone for a walk somewhere else.
The fairy shook her head and crouched down to meet the man’s eyes.
It was an act born of a fairy’s unique kindness, a gesture stemming from her gentle nature.
“Hey, are you really sick? Should I call another human for you?”
“Kugh, gaaaaahhh…!”
“What the! This guy’s weird! Hey, get a grip!”
But in that moment, something entirely unexpected happened.
The man, who had been groaning all this time, suddenly started screaming!
The fairy, who had leaned in close, was utterly bewildered.
Why is he suddenly screaming and making a scene? Is he seriously ill?
Just as her concern prompted her to go find another human.
The man raised his voice as if letting out a final cry.
“La… Lady Olvis…! I… I ammm…!”
“What…!”
*Splat.*
Suddenly, with a sickening sound like a watermelon cracking open, the man’s body exploded.
Blood and chunks of flesh scattered in all directions.
The sticky blood naturally drenched the nearby fairy.
It was a horrific scene, enough to make reality feel distant.
The fairy, her face a mask of horror, soon burst into tears, wailing uncontrollably.
A person’s body had suddenly swelled up like a balloon and burst.
It was a ghastly experience, difficult for even a human to endure, let alone a fairy.
“W-w-waaahhh! Noooo! I’m gonna tell Murmur everything! Humans are the worst… the wo… wor…”
But just as the fairy, crying and screaming, tried to flee.
The thick blood splattered on her body was suddenly absorbed into her skin.
Then, the fairy began to stutter as if someone were choking her, before finally foaming at the mouth and collapsing on the spot.
How much time passed after she fell?
The fairy silently pushed herself up, her face completely pale, and quietly opened her mouth.
“With the explosion… the Fixers… will take their eyes… off the fairies… I will use… that opening…”
*Crrrack, creak.*
The fairy forced herself to her feet, twisting her body as if she didn't know how to move.
She looked like a doll whose inner workings had been severely broken.
“Disabling… the magical barrier.”
Veins bulging all over her body, the fairy began to stagger forward.
Her steps were without hesitation, as if she knew her destination precisely.
Only a few steps remained before a despair that would lead all around her to ruin.
A certain woman, watching the scene through an eyeball rolling on the ground, scoffed as if it were only natural.
“Hmph, well, this is how it goes. No matter how excellent a fairy’s magic resistance is, they can’t possibly withstand a curse of this magnitude at point-blank range.”
“As expected of Lady Olvis!”
The woman in the white coat, addressed as Olvis by a muscular man with eyes full of reverence, was his superior.
She was characterized by her piercing, wide eyes and skin so pale it was almost corpse-like.
She was Olvis the Lamenter, one of the Seven Extremes of the Metahuman Liberation Army.
An Avian with wings on her back, she was a brilliant alchemist who continued her forbidden research of arbitrarily combining living creatures.
Was Olvis pleased by her subordinate’s fawning?
She sat in a coquettish pose on her chair, stroking his forearm with her toes as she asked.
“Mmm, yes… Tell me, what part did you like?”
“Yes! I was deeply moved by your brilliance in infiltrating a modified human who emits no magic to deceive the foolish Fixers, and then using even their final death as a tool!”
The muscular man answered without a hint of hesitation, his long sentence sounding as if it had been prepared in advance.
Fortunately, his response seemed to pass Olvis’s muster.
She sat up slightly, as if finding him cute, pulled his hand closer, and kissed his forearm.
“Hehehe, right? Those foolish humans. As long as you erase any trace of magic, they don't notice a thing. They would never have imagined a modified human, their body altered by alchemy, was hiding among the examinees, would they?”
A smirk twisted Olvis’s face into a wicked expression.
Her painstakingly crafted plan was proceeding smoothly, without a single hitch.
For someone who loved to scheme, there was nothing more satisfying than this.
Olvis’s—or rather, the Liberation Army’s, who had given her full authority—plan up to this point was as follows:
First, identify the test site through a pre-planted spy and insert a personally crafted modified human as an examinee.
Then, upon arriving at the destination, the Sky Garden, detonate a hidden explosive device.
This would inevitably put the Fixers on high alert for any potential contingencies.
“Indeed. On Earth, alchemy is a discipline that humans find difficult to counter. Those fools would never guess that an explosive device was hidden inside the modified human’s bones.”
“Hmph. And those idiots would never dream that a fairy could be controlled.”
Of course, just setting off an explosive would only give them time to prepare.
The core of the plan was to breach the magical barrier that enveloped the entire Sky Garden.
If they couldn't disable it, any struggle would be meaningless.
Thus, the next phase of the plan was as follows:
The tricky magical barrier would be deactivated by the hands of a fairy.
To achieve this, the modified human’s blood was laced with a potent curse.
Fairies were generally known to have a strong resistance to mental-type magic.
As beings who wielded unique magic from birth, their resistance was naturally exceptional.
But alchemy made it possible.
No matter how unique their magical system, a fairy was still a living creature.
Temporarily paralyzing their reason and making them obey was not outside the realm of possibility.
“This does it. I’ll be handsomely rewarded by the Supreme Commander, won’t I? Heeheehee!”
“Yes! He will surely praise your efforts, Lady Olvis!”
Olvis and her subordinate praised each other, laughing and gloating.
The plan was already more than seventy percent successful. The path forward seemed obvious.
But perhaps their display looked pathetic from the outside.
Suddenly, a figure emerged from the darkness, his presence palpable as he spoke.
“Fools. It’s not over until you’ve obtained our objective, the World Tree Seed. To be satisfied with merely opening the door… The height of foolishness.”
The one who delivered these scathing words was a man in a mask.
The oppressive aura emanating from the sword at his waist was incredibly impressive.
Was he a close enough acquaintance that his identity was known despite the mask?
Olvis shot to her feet, her face contorting in a snarl as she yelled at the man.
“Huh? What’s with you, showing up out of nowhere and starting a fight! You wanna die?! Do you have any idea how much time and money went into creating that modified human?! I’ll kill you!”
“I have no interest in that. What matters is that your giddy excitement, as if it’s all over when the main event hasn’t even begun, is unpleasant to watch. Is it because you're an Avian that you have a bird brain?”
“Lady Olvis! Leave this to me! Uwoooah!”
“Ah, you idiot! D-Don’t kill him!”
Unable to bear his superior being insulted.
The muscular man let out a roar and charged at the masked man.
The difference in their builds, including muscle mass, was nearly two to one.
Even with a difference in weaponry, a massive physique is a powerful weapon in itself.
Normally, one would expect the muscular man to win easily.
But the outcome was the opposite.
In an instant, the man found himself with a gash across his chest, tumbling to the floor before he even realized what had happened.
“Gah, hack…”
“No… Balak! Hey, you! I-I told you not to kill him! Are you mocking me right now?!”
“Hmph, why should I listen to someone weaker than me?”
While Olvis checked on her subordinate, who was lying on the floor bleeding and struggling to breathe.
The masked man slowly sheathed the sword he now held in one hand.
Olvis gritted her teeth and stomped her foot in frustration, but she couldn't refute his words.
It was strange. She held a high rank as one of the Liberation Army’s Seven Extremes.
So why couldn't she talk back to the masked man?
The reason was simple. The man who had suddenly appeared was also one of the Seven Extremes.
The masked man’s name was Edmont.
Unlike the other Seven Extremes, he commanded no troops, an exceptional swordsman who had risen to his position on his own strength alone.
This meant that Edmont’s power was equivalent to that of a Seven Extreme who led an entire unit.
Naturally, for Olvis, whose own combat abilities were not particularly noteworthy, he was a natural enemy.
As if well aware of this fact, Edmont added another comment to the raging Olvis in a light, almost joking tone.
“And I didn’t kill him. I merely calmed him down.”
“Don’t be ridiculous! Who calms someone down by slicing them open to the bone! Did you leave your brain outside?!”
“Guh, hack… L-Lady Olvis. I’m fine…”
“Shut your mouth! You’ll open your wound!”
“Gyaaaah!”
*Smack!*
Olvis slapped the shoulder of her subordinate, who was trying to speak.
Naturally, the man with the deep wound screamed in agony.
But Olvis, her head hot with anger at Edmont, paid it little mind.
Who was the one aggravating the injury now?
Edmont turned his gaze from the noisy Olvis and looked up at the ceiling, thinking.
‘That aside, taking this chance to slay a dragon… sounds rather amusing.’
He thought, a smirk forming under his mask.
For a swordsman, the title of Dragon Slayer was a great achievement, one that was impossible not to covet.
The thought that he would soon be able to seize it with his own hands…
Even for him, who was usually lethargic, it was enough to stir a sense of excitement.
And so, the two members of the Seven Extremes stood before the imposing Queen's Unholy Tiara.
It seemed little time remained before the great chaos to come.