Chapter 431: Interlude – Harvey's Adventure
Chapter 431: Interlude – Harvey's Adventure
Thoom.
The sound that had been echoing incessantly rumbled loudly overhead once more.
Tsk.
I clicked my tongue and immediately deployed my magic.
Perhaps because I had accumulated so many bones, a Bone Shield formed above my head with only a minimal expenditure of mana.
I waited for a few seconds, prepared for the ceiling to collapse.
However, not a single speck of dust fell from above. I waved my hand, returning the shield to its skeletal form.
"What a mess."
I had no idea what was happening up there.
I’d received word through my terminal that they were deploying neutron bombs, engaging in a war of attrition, and doing all sorts of things, but wasn't this taking a bit too long?
Even the terminal had gone silent; I must have ventured too deep, as it no longer even emitted a warning beep.
I wanted to quit.
Why did a perfectly ordinary guy like me have to do this?
I only came to this city and answered the call because of our history as a team, and because Brantley and Edward—who are on my current team—said they were going, but still…
Ah, the bones are coming.
I waved my hand and manifested a Magic Circle.
Pop.
The sound of something exploding echoed from a distance. Soon after, nothing but perfectly stripped bones flew toward me from the direction of the noise.
Normally, I would have explored the history and aesthetic value contained within these bones.
But since these were undoubtedly mass-produced junk turned out by a machine, devoid of any investigative value, I quietly tucked them into my material storage.
As I continued walking, I soon came across chunks of flesh scattered across the hallway.
They seemed to have been torn apart because they couldn't resist my Bone-stripping Magic, but even in that state, they hadn't died yet. The flesh continued to squirm, refusing to dissolve into liquid.
"Ugh, disgusting."
This was a sight far too much for someone with a delicate heart like mine to bear.
I’d grown somewhat accustomed to the internal scenery of humans from stripping the bones of villains for my art, but I could never get used to the inner workings of these things.
They were just lumps of meat with random bits of flesh slapped together.
The skin was decent enough, probably because it was the visible part, but the inside was truly horrific.
Nipples sprouting inside the flesh, keratinous growths that could be either fingernails or toenails clustered together… I nearly fainted when I saw layers of facial skin bunched up inside.
It was as if they had melted human flesh and poured it into a mold; the insides were an unspeakable disaster.
I’d seen this sight countless times since arriving in this city, so I felt like I should be used to it by now, but they managed to showcase a new level of revulsion every time.
“…At least the magic works well on them.”
That was perhaps their only redeeming quality.
No matter how skilled one was at bone-stripping or bone manipulation magic, affecting another person required a massive amount of mana and time, and even then, the success rate was low. For some reason, these things had no resistance at all. They just popped and burst the moment I cast a spell.
Was it because they weren't natural organisms?
I scratched my head at the thought. I calmed my stomach, which was churning from the disgusting sight, by thinking about bones, and ventured deeper into the facility.
Thud.
The ceiling rattled again. I repeated the process of deploying a Magic Circle to create a Bone Shield.
My teammates would probably say I was overreacting if they saw this, but to be honest, they were the weird ones.
Unlike them, I was just a normal person. I didn't have the reflexes to instinctively swat away falling rocks, and if a stone hit me in the head, I’d be dead on the spot.
Thud.
As if to prove me right, a stone the size of a 170cm adult male’s hip bone crashed onto the shield.
If I hadn't put up the shield, I would have been crushed right there.
With the mindset that if a stone fell once, it could fall twice, I waited a bit longer.
When there was no further reaction after about thirty seconds, I retracted the shield and started walking again.
I walked through the tedious, disgusting, and mentally taxing hallway.
It was a white, clean corridor, much like a hospital.
Aside from the dim lighting—likely to save electricity—and the occasional Flesh Monster jumping out, it was a place that could pass for an ordinary hospital or research lab.
This was likely The Enemy’s headquarters.
I wanted to report this location to the Management Bureau or my old captain somehow, but all communication methods were dead.
So, I was wandering around like this, hoping to find an exit or a way to communicate.
…Truly revolting.
The further I walked, the more I felt like vomiting.
The exterior was clean, but a scent of death that couldn't be hidden wafted through the air.
To be more precise, I could sense the presence of bones.
The presence of countless bones was detectable throughout this entire facility.
I wouldn't feel this many even if I toured a Public Cemetery or a battlefield.
It wasn't as if the bones were buried like in a grave or piled up in one place as waste.
They had come up with a truly creative way to dispose of them.
“So thrifty. You disgusting bastards.”
Muttering to myself, I ran my hand along The Wall, feeling the familiar texture.
The white walls, that is.
At first, I wondered what was going on because I felt the presence of bones everywhere.
Even in a place that looked like a swimming pool, I couldn't find anything that looked like a bone, yet my bone-detection ability was going haywire.
I questioned it and brushed it off several times before finally arriving at the answer.
…Did they use bones as construction material?
After reaching that shocking conclusion, I carefully examined the white structures.
I knew I had found the right answer.
After stripping the flesh from human bodies, they had processed the remaining bones—using some unknown technology—to make them durable enough to use as building materials.
It seemed they could even melt bones into a liquid, leaving no trace of their original form.
“Disgusting.”
Feeling the texture of bone through my palm—a sensation I only recognized after realizing the truth.
“Truly disgusting.”
I muttered as I continued to move forward.
However, it wasn't that I hadn't found any normal bones in this place.
I had discovered bones in several locations where mountains of corpses were piled up.
And through them, I was able to learn many things.
People who don't know better might ask what you can learn from looking at a bone.
But you can discover so much through the color, shape, density, the presence of holes, invisible Harris lines, deformations, patterns, and even bubbles.
Through the information those bones provided, I understood the pain they had endured and shuddered at The Enemy’s evil.
And I took the time to give those bones a proper burial.
Though, due to the lack of time, it was just a simple prayer for their souls before burying them in the nearby ground.
Someone might ask: why not use those bones?
I would answer that it goes against my convictions.
A bone isn't everything a person was, but it is a masterpiece that carves their life into its very frame.
In other words, a bone is like a history book of the soul left behind by that person.
That is why, unless it is a truly dire situation, I do not use the bones of the innocent.
What I use are my own bones and the bones of villains.
Stories of artworks that must atone, keeping a contradictory and twisted beauty within them, with sin etched inside.
However, there was the problem that the bones I’d acquired since coming here were clearly mass-produced items made from processing the bones of the innocent.
Even I agonized over this for about half a day.
Is it even right to call this a bone?
A hodgepodge where nothing is written and nothing is passed down to posterity.
My magic seemed to recognize it as bone for now, but that didn't mean it was the same as the bones I believed in.
After agonizing, and agonizing, and agonizing some more.
I reached a conclusion.
I would use their bones.
It went against my convictions, but the world was in a dangerous spot, in its own way.
And shouldn't they also get a chance to strike back at those who caused them such suffering?
The two entities that created this atrocity.
I intended to drive a Bone Spear, imbued with all my strength, into them.
Since these bones were made through your torment, you shall pay the price for your sins.
I’d even thought of a title for the work in advance.
make no bones.
Considering its meaning as an idiom, it would be an appropriate title.
How many tens of minutes had passed as I trudged through this miserable space, holding onto that goal?
"What is this place?"
I immediately found a special area that prompted such a thought.
Every room I’d found so far was overflowing with machinery, corpses, or both, but this room was different.
There was no scent of death, nor was there the usual scattered flesh.
All that existed in this room were countless papers, a whiteboard covered in scribbles, and a few computers with flickering screens.
There was definitely something here.
With that thought, I searched the room.
However, most of the documents were just strings of meaningless sentences.
‘Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. John 6:56’
Being born in England, I naturally knew this verse.
But why was it written here?
At least that one had a discernible meaning.
‘Intelligence is power, and the faith of the many can become a result. This is the blessing the Otherworld has given us.’
‘Procedure for Proof of Existence.’
‘33° 31' 48" N, 38° 04' 47.5" W.’
‘Noosphere and the point of consensus.’
‘The River of Humanity flowing underground.’
‘Take the Persona and the Shadow. Anima and Animus are unnecessary. Exclude the Mirror as well.’
‘Stars in a violet sky. These can be substituted within thought.’
‘Originally, theory is woven atop reality; however, now reality is woven atop theory.’
‘We shall find the answer in the most fundamental knowledge held by the greatest number of people.’
What on earth did all this mean?
The phrases were grammatically sound, yet their meanings were incomprehensible, scrawled across numerous sheets of paper.
And all of it was likely intended to prove what was drawn on the whiteboard, which showed signs of having been erased many times.
Countless papers were plastered all over both sides of the whiteboard.
However, the content on the whiteboard was just as indecipherable as the stacks of paper.
A long, cylindrical object was drawn, surrounded by various formulas and phrases, but since an eraser had passed over it once, I couldn't tell exactly what it meant.
However, I did find one sentence carved largely at the very bottom.
Pr□ject B….
The letters after that were erased, making it impossible to know what it meant.
It looked like a word, but it was information I couldn't deduce.
So, after scanning as much as I could with my terminal, I sat down in front of a computer.
A screen saver was active, and the repeating patterns it generated were quite interesting to watch.
But knowing this wasn't the time for that, I quickly moved the mouse to wake the screen.
I was met with a completely empty desktop.
…There really is nothing left.
I’d expected as much.
In fact, I would have been more surprised if there had been a windfall.
I’d sat down at the computer for a different purpose anyway.
With that thought, I connected my terminal to the computer.
Praying that this computer was connected to the outside world.
Blink. Blink.
The screen of the terminal connected to the computer flickered.
Since all direct communications had failed, notification text quickly scrolled across the screen, indicating it was attempting to communicate through the connected device.
After the screen flickered several times.
Ding. Ding. Ding. Beep—! Danger Warning Issued. Incoming messages… Emergency call… Data pending transmission…
A staggering number of alerts flooded in.
I smiled and moved my fingers.
I could deal with the information later.
The important thing was to send out the information I had gathered.
So, I moved my hands to transmit all the data I’d collected.
Only then did I let out a sigh and look up at the ceiling.
I felt like I’d done a lot of work for someone like me.
Normally, I would have tucked myself away in a corner, decided there was nothing to be gained here, and focused on my art.
But still, if you love something, you have to pay it back when that thing is insulted.
Thud.
A stone falls.
A stone the size of a single cervical vertebra from a 165cm female.
"Ah, dammit."