Chapter 30
Chapter 30
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 30
Chapter Title: Off to Steal Again Today
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Dry and cracked lips moved slowly beneath the shadow of a deep hood, revealing patches of pale skin that seemed almost translucent. An ominous black aura radiated from his entire being, marking him as the undisputed head of this secret laboratory and the master of the black mages gathered within. Regul extended a long, slender hand toward his disciples.
"Prepare the altar," he commanded, his voice a low rasp.
"Yes, Master," one of his subordinates replied, bowing deeply before swiftly taking the glowing green orb in his hands.
Before long, the green orb was placed carefully atop the central altar, and the subordinates hurriedly began the final preparations for the experiment. They busied themselves around a cleanly organized lab table, arranging various magical ingredients and reagents that had been procured in advance for this specific moment.
"Does the quantity of the reagents seem a bit lower than we recorded?" one mage whispered, a hint of concern in his voice.
"It must be your imagination," another replied dismissively. "The experiment is what matters now. Hurry up and move before the Master loses his patience."
A few minor suspicions arose about the missing items, but fortunately for the intruder hiding in the shadows, they had not yet fully realized the extent of the theft. They merely busied themselves with their tasks, occasionally stealing fearful glances at their silent master.
Just as the final preparations were nearly complete, the heavy sound of a door creaking open echoed through the chamber. "Save me! Please, I beg of you! I don't want to die!" a voice shrieked in terror as the subject for this session was dragged in, shackled and broken. It was a human, a resident of the slums clad in little more than rags, who was now being forcibly strapped to the cold surface of the lab table.
"We are resuming the experiment from yesterday," Regul declared. "Dylan, prepare the extraction."
The subordinate called Dylan infused his mana into the green orb, causing it to glimmer with a strange, pulsing glow. It began to vibrate faintly in response to the energy, and Dylan suddenly clenched his hand and yanked it back sharply, as if pulling a physical thread from the artifact. A single, vibrant green droplet burst forth from within the orb, shimmering with a malevolent light.
"Excellent," Regul noted. "Now, mix one drop into each of the prepared potions and begin the injection process."
Dylan moved toward the flasks, squeezing the green droplet until the liquid fell into each container, causing the potions to shift into a variety of volatile colors. The black mages rushed to the table, and despite the shackled man’s manic laughter and desperate screams, they injected the fluid into his arm.
Sizzle! The sound of reacting flesh filled the room as the resident thrashed about, his eyes turning a bloodshot red. His arm began to melt away bit by bit, dissolving into an unrecognizable mess in a matter of seconds. The mages, however, did not even care about his suffering, already debating whether the failure was due to the injection method or the purity of the ingredients. The subject was eventually gagged, forced to endure experiment after experiment in a state where he couldn't even find the relief of death.
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Meanwhile, Luke was secretly watching the gruesome scene from his vantage point on the stairs, feeling a sense of bewilderment. He had wondered what kind of grand, sophisticated experiment was being conducted here, only to find that it was nothing more than basic, brutal human experimentation. The only significant variable was that mysterious green orb.
'It seems to be some kind of concentrated poison or acid, judging by the way it melts living tissue,' Luke mused. However, when he looked at the status information floating above the subject, he saw something unexpected.
The subject was in a state of "Undeadifying," right on the verge of becoming a living corpse. Luke realized this wasn't just a simple execution; they were trying to forcibly create rare, poison-attribute undead variants like Poison Zombies or Golems. If they succeeded, it would allow them to birth a powerful and unique army of the dead.
'Anyway, that orb is the priority now,' Luke decided, his gaze shifting back to the altar. He realized that the item wasn't common, rare, or even epic in quality. It was a full-on Unique-grade item.
📦 Name:[Source of ?]
🏷️ Grade:Unique
📄 Description:Seems like you need to obtain it directly to check.
Thanks to his Thief Field effects, the item info was visible even from a distance. Luke knew that a Unique grade meant the item was literally one-of-a-kind in the entire game world. In a game with tens of millions of players, there were only a few thousand such items in existence. Even in his previous prime, he had only possessed a handful of them.
'My plans have changed,' he thought, settling in to wait for the right opportunity. 'I was going to loot the mages and leave, but now I'm going to take that orb. I'll steal it, and if I can't, I'll kill them all to claim it.'
Time dragged on as the experiments continued without satisfactory results. Eventually, Master Regul left the basement, leaving the orb on the altar. Some of the exhausted black mages followed him, leaving only six behind. Luke realized that while they were fixated on the artifact, they would notice any sudden noise or approach. He needed a distraction.
His eyes sharpened as he looked at the cages containing various monsters—wolves, kobolds, and goblins—along with a few captured slum dwellers. He decided to unleash the chaos. Luke's eyes flashed with a lethal determination as he prepared to strike.
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Creak! Creeeak! The sound of metal hinges echoed through the lab, causing the black mages to turn in surprise. "What was that noise? Damn it, who left the cages open?!" one shouted as the experiments began to burst from their confinement. The animals and monsters, fueled by fury at their captivity, glared at the mages while the terrified humans scrambled for the stairs.
The lab plunged into instant chaos. While the suppression wasn't inherently difficult for the mages—they were already hurling bone spears and black fireballs to subdue the weakened creatures—an anomaly suddenly struck their ranks.
[Braincleaver effect activated!]
[NPC Grendolin has been stunned! Unable to take any actions for a set duration!]
Luke emerged from behind a pillar, his blade plunging into the flesh of a mage named Grendolin, who collapsed unconscious. Mages traditionally possessed very low physical defense, and when stacked with Luke's Dagger Mastery, the lightning damage from his weapon, and his "Worst Criminal in History" achievement bonuses, the level gap was easily bridged.
"An intruder! We have an intruder!" a mage shrieked, only to have a throwing dagger embed itself in his face. Luke finished him with a clean kick to the head before turning his attention to the others. Two mages were still busy with the escaped monsters, while the remaining two pivoted to cast spells at him.
Luke slithered side to side like a venomous snake, his erratic and blistering movement allowing him to neatly dodge a Dark Ball spell. He closed the distance rapidly, using a flipped lab table as a shield against incoming ice crystals. He realized these basement dwellers had rarely fought real people; they were used to spamming spells at stationary targets.
He dove deep under a shield-caster’s guard, targeting the bottom of the magical barrier where the mana was thinnest. With his 100% human bonus damage, the shield shattered like glass. Luke seized the mage's wrist, yanked him in, and punched him squarely in the face before twisting his body to intercept a black fireball from another direction.
"Too bad," Luke grinned, shoving his "shield" into the path of his own ally's spell. The mage collapsed, badly burned, while Luke rolled nimbly aside. The final witnessing mage trembled with rage, concentrating his dark mana into homing tendrils known as the Tendrils of Darkness.
Luke calculated his escape path as the tendrils whipped through the air with lethal intent. He utilized his Parkour skills and the effects of his Ancient Hunter set to perform acrobatic dodges, even running along the pillars to maintain his distance. He led the pursuing magic on a lap around the laboratory, heading straight toward the mages who were still tangled up with the monster experiments.
"Beck! Stop the tendrils! Stop them now!" a mage yelled in desperation, but the spell could not be canceled mid-cast. Luke grinned from ear to ear as he slipped past them. "Black magic doesn't stop for red lights, boy," he taunted, just as the pursuing tendrils struck the pair of mages simultaneously, ending their interference for good.