Chapter 170: Broken Gears (2)
Chapter 170: Broken Gears (2)
"Child?"
Without any hostility, I asked the Librarian behind me out of pure curiosity.
It wasn't that I suspected the Librarian of betrayal.
While I assumed there were traitors among humanity, I didn't think it would be this kind of betrayal. More importantly, whether that broadcast was true or false, I believed that comrades who fought together wouldn't betray each other—at least not in the heat of battle.
To be blunt, even if that broadcast were true, what would be the problem?
At most, it would just mean the Librarian, whom I thought was a pure human with some machinery mixed in, was actually a machine with some Otherworlder blood.
If I could trust even The Society, there was no reason not to trust the Librarian.
Having finished that train of thought, I turned my head to hear the Librarian’s answer.
There, I saw an expression on the Librarian’s face that I hadn't expected.
His face was contorted, looking as if he had just chewed on a bug.
What I felt from him was a clear, visceral loathing for the broadcast.
"Hey. You okay? Your face is a mess."
Seeing his gaze fixed on the speaker, it seemed he hadn't even heard my question, so I asked again.
"Ah, my apologies. What did you say?"
Only then did the Librarian relax his expression and lower his head to meet my eyes.
Just as I thought.
Did he hate that broadcast so much that he couldn't even hear me?
"I asked what it meant when that thing called you its child."
"Ah, that? It’s not like there’s some profound relationship between us."
He spread his hands and shrugged. After that exaggerated display of body language, the Librarian spoke.
"It simply means he considers anyone he’s modified to be his child. I have no idea what goes on in his head. I have my own parents, after all."
A voice thick with disgust flowed from his lips.
—I stripped away the fragile flesh and forged an indomitable body. In that case, would it not be appropriate to call you my child?
As if to refute his claim, the speaker emitted that bizarre voice once again.
"I have received absolutely nothing from you."
Following the Librarian’s furious response—
—If that is what you believe, then why have you come to this island? To our paradise. You should have just left us alone to rust and break.
The moment the speaker spat out those words—
—Drrrrrrk. Zzzzzzt. Creeeeeak.
The voice from the speaker turned into pure noise.
Zap. Crackle.
Along with the sound of sparks—
Pop.
The speaker exploded.
"How noisy."
"That’s the first time I’ve seen you react so emotionally, man."
To think the guy who usually dealt with even the shittiest opponents with total apathy would get this angry.
I suppose he really did harbor a deep resentment toward the one who ruined his life.
"Even I have people I truly despise. The owner of that voice is at the top of the list."
Hmm. Is that so?
"But we're about to go meet him. You going to be okay?"
"What do you mean, 'okay'?"
Hm? Had he not noticed?
"Steam is whistling out of the gaps in your armor right now. I'm asking if you're physically okay."
Just like when he uses Reality Manipulation.
I wasn't sure why, but it seemed that just talking to that thing had caused him that much of an overload. Whether it was that mysterious entity's ability or if the Librarian had just gotten that worked up from hearing the voice, I couldn't say.
"...I see. It seems I am more agitated than I imagined."
Acknowledging my point, the Librarian took a deep breath and calmed his body, which had been venting heat.
"If it's too much, we can head back. It's not like we have to see him right this second, right?"
He did say he came here because he felt like he had to.
Of course, if we left, I might not get the Reality Anchor, and it would be a massive waste of time.
But compared to losing a friend because the Librarian got defeated or broken, such a loss was trivial. So, I continued to press the suggestion.
"This is basically the final chapter, isn't it? It's not like my story where things just crashed down on me. You have the initiative here. I think it would be better to compose yourself and pick another day to come back."
Uncharacteristically, I used exaggerated body language and poured out a lot of words.
"Ah, of course, I'll accompany you then, too. So don't worry about—"
I kept talking, but—
"Hahahaha."
My suggestion was cut short by the Librarian’s laughter.
"What?"
Was there something funny in what I said?
Why are you suddenly laughing your head off?
With that thought, I asked him with a straight face, but the Librarian’s laughter didn't stop for quite a while.
"Haha. Ah, well. How should I put this?"
After some time, the Librarian finally stopped laughing and spoke.
"It’s just that Lee Ha-ram, you seemed more flustered than I was. Thanks to that, I’ve calmed down."
Flustered? Me?
What kind of nonsense is that?
"Hey, when was I flustered? Give me a time and date! The exact second! Huh?"
"Yes, yes, I understand. I've calmed down, so let's go."
Having said that, the Librarian ignored me and started walking toward the entrance.
Without even answering my question.
"Hey! When did I ever say I was worried about you? Stop talking crap, you punk!"
"If you don't hurry up, I'm going alone."
Why, that damn brat.
Fine, I'm coming because I'm annoyed. Happy?
* * *
Creeak.
A mechanical sound echoed from the other end of the hallway.
I glanced toward the source of the sound and spoke.
"Unknown weapon at one o'clock."
"I am already aware."
Zap.
Bang.
No sooner had I finished speaking than something resembling a gun popped out from between the walls and met a glorious end in a shower of sparks.
A fixed turret neutralized by a single gesture from the Librarian before it could even fire.
It had been quite a while since we entered the base, and most of the combat had gone like this.
We'd open a door to find a mass of mechanical soldiers, only for them to be neutralized by one wave of the Librarian’s hand.
The walls of a hallway would suddenly open to reveal a battery of flamethrowers, but they'd retract back into The Wall the moment the Librarian glared at them.
Of course, there were weapons the Librarian occasionally missed.
Those didn't make it past my surveillance and were promptly destroyed.
According to the Librarian:
'You can just leave them be.'
But honestly, does it make sense to just stand there and watch things fly right at your face?
What if he suddenly died from a stray bullet and I was left to suffer the guilt? Was he going to take responsibility for that?
Well, whatever.
At first, I was on edge because of the wide variety of mechanical soldiers and traps.
But now, this was the state of things.
Tap. Tap. Tap. Thump. Tap.
Hm? That footstep sounded weird.
"Hey, I think there's something on the floor there."
"Ah, it's a trap. I'll disarm it."
Two men just walking along the path without a single sense of crisis.
Since we didn't know exactly where to go, we were just wandering.
This was all because the Librarian’s hacking skills were total garbage.
"Still haven't managed to rip the map?"
"I think about 10% more should do it."
I'm pretty sure he said "5% more" about two hours ago.
Why did it increase?
"Didn't you say 5% earlier?"
"I have no such memory."
That damn convenient perfect memory of his.
No matter how much I tend to forget things, I don't forget memories from two hours ago, okay?
...Probably.
But what was the point of complaining?
It wasn't like me nagging would make the map appear.
I knew my limits.
Thanks to the expanded space and fixed spatial axes, this Underground Base was incredibly sturdy, but I could still smash it with my hammer and bury it in the ground.
However, finding the way to meet the final boss of a story was outside my area of expertise.
There are things in this world that can't be solved with power.
So, let's not blame the Librarian.
Mm-hmm. Indeed.
With my heart as wide as the ocean...
"Ah, there's a flamethrower there—"
Whoosh.
Along with those ominous words, the side of my cheek felt warm.
Specifically, the cheek that had turned "blue rare" after getting hit by plasma earlier.
By now, it was probably cooked to a nice "rare."
"...."
"My apologies. The signaling systems are so fragmented that I missed the weapon signal while focusing on the map..."
I heard the Librarian making some excuse.
I didn't really care.
More than that, shouldn't I be worried about why my cheek smelled so good?
It's a phantom smell, right? It's just a minor burn; there's no way it smells like cooked meat, right?
A catastrophe where I end up tearing off and eating my own cheek won't happen, right?
...I can't take this anymore. Dammit.
"Hey! You bastard! What's the point if you can't even do your own specialty? What? You can't break the security? So you don't know where the traps are, and you can't find the map?"
"This is my enemy's base, so it's only natural. The security must be this robust for him to be worthy of being my enemy—"
Oh, is that so?
Hasn't it been over ten years since he was sealed?
You probably just slacked off for ten years and couldn't keep up with the technological gap.
"No, let's just break everything and go. Spatial collapse or whatever, if he doesn't want his base destroyed, he'll stabilize it himself."
Everything gets solved if you just smash through in a straight line.
Whether it's bedrock or a vital enemy facility.
Whether an enemy accidentally gets crushed by a hammer through a wall, causing a disaster.
It all works out in the end.
"Didn't I tell you that won't work! This isn't a spatial distortion with safety as the top priority like ours—"
Yeah, yeah. I don't understand your science-y explanations.
Hammer’s coming out. The demolition crew is moving in.
With that intent, I summoned my hammer and took a wide stance.
To blow away The Wall in front of me for starters.
From the corner of my eye, I saw the Librarian running toward me with a panicked expression, but it was too late.
My stance was already set.
Thump.
With one step forward, The Hammer began its swing.
Thump.
And just before the Librarian reached me, The Hammer connected with The Wall.
The handle of The Hammer bent slightly, unable to withstand the force.
An unimaginable burden was placed on my hands as well, but—
Creeeeeeak.
Along with the sound of metal twisting.
Ping. Ping-ping-ping.
Rivets flew in every direction.
Boom!
The steel wall was blown away satisfyingly.
Ah. How refreshing.
As I thought, breaking things is much easier.
"...."
I felt the Librarian glaring at me as I stood there acting all cool after doing something so grand, but what did it matter?
It was already done.
Whether the space got distorted or not, we'd deal with it when it happened.
"Don't glare at me like that. It's open now, so let's go in."
"...Sigh. Fine."
Unlike my energetic voice, the Librarian’s voice was a low-pressure drone that had sunk to the bottom of hell.
In the end, he followed me into the room obediently.
"Hm? It's wider than I thought."
From the outside, the room was dark, so I thought it was just a random empty cavity or another hallway, but once we entered, it was surprisingly spacious.
Since the floor was also made of metal, it clearly wasn't a natural formation like a cave.
Perhaps finding this peculiar place interesting, the Librarian turned his head to scan the surroundings before speaking.
"Something is glowing over there."
"Let's go see."
I could see it too—something was glowing over there.
A strange, weakly flickering light source.
We thought it was a large room, but it was only because we had been traveling through narrow hallways.
In reality, the room was about the size of a single training hall. We crossed it and reached the light source.
Upon discovering what it was, I slapped the Librarian on the back and spoke.
"What did I tell you! I said things work out if you just go for it!"
"...No way. Surely, it can't be."
Flustered, the Librarian reached out toward the flickering light.
A flickering terminal.
To be precise, a computer equipped with an old-fashioned CRT monitor.
About twenty seconds after the Librarian interfaced with the terminal—
"...How... could this be..."
The Librarian let out a groan.
"What is it? Did something go wrong?"
"I found it."
"Found what?"
"The map. I found it. Hahaha..."
The Librarian’s sorrowful laughter filled the room.