The Unleashed Leviathan
Scout “Leave the head.” “……What the hell are you talking about-.”
Mu thought Eight was spouting nonsense. Either that, or he was putting on a brave face and bluffing.
Usually, that kind of bravado vanished the moment someone saw the real thing. Mu jerked his chin at his subordinates. The beastmen, who had been waiting only for orders, immediately rushed Levitan and began carving into her body.
While sharp blades stabbed repeatedly into her flesh, Levitan clenched her teeth and endured the pain. She didn’t let out a single groan. It wasn’t because it didn’t hurt or because she had been trained to withstand it. She simply found the situation humiliating.
Betraying the colleague who had trusted her and leading him into a danger zone. Even if it hadn’t been her own will, it didn’t change anything.
Thud-!
The beastmen who had been stabbing Levitan let out surprised exclamations when they saw that she wasn’t screaming. They turned to Mu and asked,
“This bitch isn’t even screaming once? What should we do?” “……Why are you asking me that? Bunch of damn animals.”
After scolding his subordinate, Mu snatched the dagger the man was holding and drove it into Levitan’s eye socket. Apparently even she couldn’t endure that. Levitan let out a weak scream.
“Ugh, uuuugh……” “—Mr. Eight. You said to leave the head, right? What a shame. If you don’t come out, even the head’s going to disappear.”
Mu said this while twisting the handle round and round. Levitan’s faint screams gradually grew louder. Even Eight couldn’t help but frown at the sight. After all, people grimaced at gory scenes even when they knew it was just a movie.
How could anyone stay calm when a colleague was being tortured right in front of them?
“……Eight, don’t go out.” “I know. I’m not going. But……” “But what? What do you think you can do?”
Vira seemed to have read Eight’s thoughts. She grabbed his shoulders and stopped him. Of course, even if she hadn’t stopped him, Eight wouldn’t have broken free from her.
Still, how long were they supposed to stay like this? Was there any guarantee those guys wouldn’t just kill Levitan outright?
Look at Levitan suffering right now. It was clear her betrayal hadn’t been her own will. It meant she had been threatened or hypnotized and brainwashed……
In that case, the price for her betrayal shouldn’t be paid right now, but a little later. After they returned to headquarters and finished the full inquiry.
“Vira. How far is it from here to headquarters?” “At least several hundred kilometers…… Why?” “No. Anyway, that means we can’t even dream of support arriving anytime soon. Right?”
Vira nodded at his words. Then should they hope that the heroes in Z City would come to rescue them? He had been thinking that, but even that was impossible.
This Z City was a villain city. It was a slum where not even the police did their jobs, let alone heroes. They were deeply involved in the underworld and didn’t hesitate to do illegal things, so they probably had plenty of money, but it wasn’t a good place to live.
There was a reason why E City had so many beastmen who were casually discriminated against by race, while not a single human who discriminated against them could be seen here.
“Reinforcements won’t come, and there are no heroes…… Aren’t we in big trouble, Vira?” “That’s why I told you not to provoke them earlier……!” “You’re right. Maybe I shouldn’t have provoked them……?”
While Eight was regretting what he had said earlier, Levitan, who had been listening to their conversation, shouted even as she groaned from being stabbed.
“—Vira! Don’t release your ability no matter what-! Got it-?” “You bitch! You should be making those guys come this way instead!” “Kyahaang-!”
With a light groan, Levitan grinned. She was going to die now. More precisely, her body would live, but her mind and spirit would die.
After escaping from the research facility in Z City, the biological factors she had been suppressing all this time were slowly awakening. The power that had been sealed by Regalia’s royal decree.
—From now on, you can only use this power ‘for your comrades.’
She could never use it for herself, no matter what happened. But for her comrades, she could use it even for the smallest things. Of course, she had thought she would never have to use it……
‘Yeah. It’s better if you guys live rather than a traitor like me.’
Thinking this, Levitan released her rampaging biological factors. The unleashed biological factors greedily devoured her body and grew explosively, and the symptoms quickly became visible on the outside.
The chains binding her to the cross snapped one after another. Levitan’s body, which had been nothing more than an ordinary woman, became covered in muscles, and the swollen flesh even swallowed the cross itself.
“What the hell is that……”
Mu, who had been watching, swallowed a groan. The transformed Levitan looked very similar to something he knew. The L-Series. The failures of the Leviathan Project.
He had thought the research facility had been shut down and the research terminated because of the rampage of the failures, so how……?
“A success?”
It was impossible. But Mu wasn’t foolish enough to deny what had already happened. A rampaging Leviathan was not something that could be stopped. It was an uncontrollable bomb. A god of destruction that destroyed everything.
Mu pushed up his glasses and gave orders to his subordinates.
“—We’re retreating. Get out of here as fast as possible.” “Huh? Director. But……” “No one can survive in front of that monster anyway. Those two bitches will run away soon too. We just need to maintain the encirclement from a distance and catch them when they try to escape. Staying here is suicide.”
Mu and the beastmen began fleeing in an instant. When they unleashed their overwhelming physical abilities that surpassed humans, they truly disappeared in the blink of an eye.
After all the beastmen left, Levitan, who had finished transforming, looked at Eight and Vira who remained and drooled. The saliva that touched the desert began to melt and sizzle.
“……Vira? Can you hold out against that?” “Uh…… I’ll have to try to know. Probably won’t be able to……”
Boom! Levitan’s fist struck the barrier, and Vira’s barrier began to tremble violently. Seeing this, Vira broke into a cold sweat as she looked at Levitan.
Having lost her sanity, she had become a monster, drooling as she glared at them. It seemed better to abandon any hope that Levitan would regain her senses first and protect them.
“You can’t hold out?” “I can hold out…!” “Tell me the truth.” “……Maybe not more than thirty minutes?” “Got it.”
Hearing this, Eight slipped out of Vira’s arms and stepped out of the barrier. Startled, Vira tried to grab him again, but Eight gently pushed her away as if to say it was fine.
Once outside the barrier, Eight began fiddling with his smartphone.
‘Ah, finally getting a signal.’
The barrier had been blocking even invisible interference like radio waves, so he hadn’t been able to use his smartphone inside it. Confirming that his smartphone was finally working properly, Eight first sent a request for backup to headquarters and then activated a program he had prepared in advance.
Honestly, he had only learned the program as a liberal arts elective, so he wasn’t confident it would work properly…… but when there was a fire under his feet, he had to try something.
> Military Satellite Hacking in Progress……
> Complete
Hundreds, thousands of satellites floating above his head. Among them, a few military satellites happened to be passing overhead. He hacked into those passing satellites and used them.
‘Of course, I won’t be able to hide that I used them……’
Well, what could he do? He couldn’t throw away his life, could he? Thinking this, Eight pressed the button, and at the same time—
Levitan, who had discovered the defenseless human appearing before her, reached out her hand. Just before the monster’s hand grabbed Eight’s body, a pure white beam of light falling from the sky melted Levitan’s hand.
—Kuu, ooooooh-! “Ouch, that must hurt a lot.” —Kraaaang-! “It’s okay. I’ll fix it all for you.”
Ziiing-! Another beam of light came down and burned Levitan’s other hand. Having lost both arms in an instant, Levitan stomped her feet like crazy and screamed.
Even in the midst of the shaking that felt like an earthquake, Eight stared at Levitan without a single tremor.
“Just bear with it for now.”
A moment later, dozens of beams of light struck the ground.
“—Scientist!”
Hearing Eight’s request for backup, Aile came flying in on her Witchcraft and spotted Eight sitting in the ruined desert holding what looked like a rag, then ran toward him.
Seeing Aile flying in, Eight lightly waved his hand to greet her. With the Witchcraft she rode, they should be able to escape from here anytime.
“Hey, Aile. You got here fast.” “Of course when you call…… More importantly, what’s that?” “This? Levitan.” “……Huh? What did you say?” “I said it’s Levitan.”
Aile’s eyes widened in disbelief. How on earth did that rag look like Levitan? It would have been more convincing to say it was a butchered pig that had been beaten and trampled with a club.
But since there was nothing to gain from Eight making such a joke to her, Aile let it pass. Honestly, it was a bit much to keep looking at that lump of meat anyway.
“……Well, okay. Let’s hurry back to headquarters. The boss is still worried, you know?” “Yeah. Let’s go back. We have a lot to talk about when we get there.”
Eight returned straight to headquarters. As they escaped on the flying Witchcraft, the beastmen from Omega Industries who had been waiting for Eight to come out could only stare blankly like dogs chasing chickens.
Arriving safely at headquarters, Eight immediately took Levitan to his lab and headed to the chairman’s office. In the chairman’s office that he arrived at, Regalia was waiting, consumed by anger.
It was a young girl’s anger, but it wasn’t funny at all. Rather, the opposite. Eight realized for the first time that his boss had this side to her.
“—So. You were attacked by Omega’s guys.” “Yes. In the process, Levitan betrayed us…… but it seems it wasn’t her will. I’ll deal with that after I treat her.” “And after kidnapping you, they even tortured Levitan?” “I wasn’t the one in pain, though.” “Haha, right. That’s what you said.”
Watching Regalia burst into laughter, Eight wondered if her anger had already subsided, but it hadn’t. They said that when people were too angry, they became calm instead.
Regalia was exactly in that state.
She immediately picked up the receiver and began calling somewhere. After finishing her instructions to the person on the other end, Regalia hung up and muttered in a low voice.
“—I’ll make sure those who touch my subordinates and the villain organization understand exactly what that means. Scientist? Prioritize treating Levitan.” “Yes, I understand. Boss.” “Then go. Haha, hahaha- How dare those lowly beasts who squeeze out beast blood and tears touch me……?”
Leaving the chuckling boss behind, Eight returned to his lab. Levitan’s body, which had been soaked in medicine, was slowly regenerating bit by bit.
But he had no intention of just letting her regenerate like this. Remembering what she had done and what Mu had said, she was an experimental subject from some research facility, and unless she escaped from that experimental subject status, she would never be free from being a slave.
‘Gene-level treatment…… This might be a bit difficult.’
Still. This was all for his comrade too. Thinking this, Eight raised his scalpel.
* * *
“—You failed?” “I’m sorry, Boss.”
Omega, the president of Omega Industries and the ruler of Z City, frowned as he listened to Mu. Just how did someone fail at this?
The amount he had authorized for his subordinate wasn’t something a mere researcher could refuse. Even if scouting with that amount had failed, he had clearly ordered to bring that scientist by any means necessary.
But to fail his orders? This was impossible and tantamount to treason against the king.
However, after hearing what followed, Omega had no choice but to somewhat accept his failure.
“We succeeded in kidnapping him to Z City, but the L-Series success that we thought was a failure suddenly appeared……” “……An L-Series success?” “Yes, that’s right.” “I never thought that would succeed. Then it can’t be helped.”
Hearing that the L-Series had succeeded, Omega accepted Mu’s failure. The joy from the news that an L-Series success he thought had disappeared had appeared outweighed the anger from Mu’s failure.
After clearing his throat a few times, Omega sternly ordered him not to fail next time.
“Since you’ve already failed once, the security will be stronger than last time. Break through it somehow and bring that guy. Bring the L-Series success too if possible.” “Yes, I’ll make sure to do that.” “You may leave.”
After sending Mu out, Omega downed the wine his women poured for him. To think an L-Series success had appeared? If that plan had succeeded, it meant he could start re-research even now and increase his power.
It meant he could put not just this remote Z City, but all cities under his control…… The master of all cities. Emperor. Omega became drunk again and again on that sweet word.
Boom! —Kuaaaak-!
But that intoxication didn’t last long. Noise that offended Omega’s mood filled his ears. Before Omega could even signal his subordinate to check what was going on, the door to the room he was in was smashed open in one go and something flew in with a whoosh-!
Seeing this, Omega frowned and looked at the beastman who had kicked the door open. Then his expression hardened.
“……G-Galrm?” “It’s been a while. You lazy, fur-covered bastard.” “How did you…… I thought your body was beyond recovery-!”
While Omega shouted in surprise, Galrm shrugged his shoulders and answered.
“I recovered. Thanks to the boss.” “That’s impossible. Your body wasn’t injured or diseased, it was just rusted-! You can’t fix it unless you replace the parts!” “There was a way. A way to fix me without replacing anything.”
Galrm said this while looking around. The room filled with women, alcohol, and drugs was the sight Omega had hated most in the past.
“—Both you and I have had quite the eventful lives. Even after retiring, we can’t rest easy and have to see each other like this.” “Hah-! Are you comparing me to you who retired because you were too rusted to be useful? I didn’t retire because I became useless like you. I crawled out of there myself.” “Why? Was a gloomy place like this to your taste, you rat?” “Because staying there was putting shackles on me!”
Omega said this and tried to call his subordinates. But no matter how loudly he shouted, his subordinates didn’t come.
While he was momentarily stunned by the strangeness, Galrm grabbed a head from his waist and flung it. A familiar face. It was Mu’s head with his jaw torn off.
“—That turtle bastard. His shell was pretty tough. But not tough enough to block my claws.” “……Did you kill them all?” “Who knows- Our boss doesn’t really like killing people.” “Ha- You sure have a roundabout way of saying you’re a racist.” “She said that beasts who bite people first should be slaughtered.”
Galrm said this and brought up the reason he had come here.
“—Omega. You touched our villain organization. Pay the price properly. This is the boss’s message.” “When did I ever touch you……” “You don’t remember? It happened just today.”
Hearing Galrm’s words, Omega frowned and recalled the report he had heard from Mu earlier. The scientist from Evils and the L-Series success.
He had wondered why they failed…… so this was the reason.
Realizing that this was an unavoidable fight, Omega gritted his teeth and threw the wine glass he was holding.
“Ha, hahaha-! Yeah, Galrm! I’ve wanted to fight you since our active days!” “You should call me senior. You arrogant lazy bastard.” “Even if you’ve recovered your prime strength, do you think you can beat me alone!? I am the end and terminus of all living things! Omega!”
The moment Omega shouted this and tried to approach Galrm, a beam of light shot down from the sky. As Omega rolled on the floor, swept up in the intense energy wave, a magical girl lightly descended from the hole in the ceiling.
“—Sorry, but I never said I was alone.”
Galrm said this while clenching his fist. The villain magical girl covered Galrm’s back while carefully raising her staff.
“Galrm. Let’s finish this quickly. I don’t want to stay in this neighborhood even a second longer.” “Right. Here I come. You arrogant junior.”
“……Damn it.”
Omega, who had been rolling on the floor, looked at Galrm and the villain magical girl running toward him and sensed his future. As his consciousness faded, he realized exactly who he had touched.
It was a villain organization that should never have been touched.