Genius Engineer in the Labyrinth - Chapter 112
Only Noblemtl
In a world filled with gray ash, where the green of the primeval forest had completely disappeared, a strong red light burst out. And a silence where not even the sound of insects could be heard covered the entire area.
The flame wall the wizard had spread out wide disappeared and the screaming stopped. Or maybe it was the other way around.
Taylor stood before Alan, his face black from having to fight through the fire.
“Are you okay?”
Shiva healed Alan’s body with his white hands that drew out divine power.
“Brother, can you hear me? If so, please blink. If that’s too hard, you can show some kind of reaction.”
Contrary to the two people’s worries, Alan spoke calmly.
“25···.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Numbers.”
““···?””
Taylor and Shiva looked at each other, trying to figure out what it meant, then turned their heads at the sound of something falling. The leopard’s mouth opened slightly, and the object that had been a magician fell to the ground.
As expected of a fire wizard, his ending was fiery. The entire area above his neck turned into a pile of ash, scattering along with the traces of the destruction he had created.
Taylor crossed his arms as he watched the scene.
“It’ll be hard to identify him since his head is completely blown off.”
“Brother, why don’t you take the body and ask for a genetic test?”
“What if I go through all the trouble to get it but I’m not a registered criminal?”
“Oh, I see.”
Since Maze City records genetic information and magical patterns only after a crime has been committed, if a wizard was a first-time offender, they might not know who they were.
“And since he’s a wizard, it’s easy to manipulate information like that. There are cases where he’s a really evil guy but has a clean criminal record. As you know, there are gangs running around on the surface. But the police arrest them just because they’re running around? No.”
“The secular world is truly a chaotic place. I must work harder to follow my mother’s wishes.”
“You’re still talking after the treatment is done? We need to fix Alan quickly.”
“I’m fine.”
The skin exposed through the holes in the power suit was tanned and blisters appeared, but Shiva’s treatment and the plant of the demon flower worked together to cause new skin to grow.
Alan said, dusting off the dead skin cells.
“I think I know the wizard’s true identity.”
“How did you know? Who are you?”
“I guess it’s someone from Essel Mattap. You said that Mr. Lorenzo handles blue flames? By the way, this guy also happens to be a fire wizard.”
“That alone is not enough evidence.”
Alan pointed his wand at the green chest. The box, which had been leaning nearby, backed away, its claws clinging to its body.
“As an insider, you would have been able to quickly obtain information about the Ooparts that were found at the Essel Tower.”
“Well… it would have been nearly impossible for those maggots who were defeated by just 10 people to break through the guard guarding the Oparts.”
“Since the Essel Matap mainly deals with light and fire, it would be somewhat fitting to say that it supports magical tools that are its opposite.”
“For something like that, the level of the magical tools they were holding was… Ah, they must have given it to me for a limited time or as a one-time use.”
“Yes, then it will be easier to deal with later.”
Taylor’s frown deepened. He had thought it was just a simple request to catch a thief, but it turned out he was caught up in the internal strife of Ethel Tower.
That’s assuming that Alan’s guess is correct, but his intuition, honed over decades, seems pretty credible.
“Then the reason Lorenzo stayed on the 25th floor was to stop someone from coming down?”
“Or maybe he just didn’t want to get his hands dirty. If you ask, he won’t give you a proper answer, so it’ll just remain a mystery.”
“It’s better not to know. Alan, you’ve heard the saying ignorance is bliss, right? The more you know, the more deeply you’ll be involved. It’s not a small organization, it’s Ethel Matap, oh my…”
Alan nodded and plucked the saffron flower from his shoulder. When he planted it on the emperor salamander’s back, it took several days for it to bear seeds, but in just a few minutes, the seeds were hanging.
Since the bloodsucking flower is a plant that grows using magical power as nutrients, it meant that it was a much better environment for Alan’s body to grow than a salamander.
As I grew up using my body as a field, there were many things to consider. I took care of it with the thought that it would be good to have it as a personalized medicine.
I put the seeds inside the box and woke up to find Shiva next to me.
“Is there anything else wrong with your body? If there is anything out of the ordinary, you should tell me right away.”
“Thanks to you, I’m feeling better.”
“But brother. I heard you were using something like magic earlier…”
Taylor, who had been looking around, also pricked up his ears as if curious.
“Since I can’t create a magical structure inside my body, I tried drawing runes using blood as a medium. It was my first attempt, so I wasn’t completely satisfied with it.”
“Brother, in my opinion, it was a wonderful magic.”
“It lacks a lot of things to be called magic. Unlike a wizard, it requires a medium, so it is much slower to activate.”
“Hey. That’s why you smart guys…. Do you think that just drawing runes will make you magical? You have to connect them organically and control the shape through thought. And you can’t do all that and then call it nothing special.”
Taylor shook his head. Then he lowered his voice.
“New technology is like an extra life, but you need to exercise self-restraint for the sake of your health.”
“We have to find another way besides blood.”
“Uh… yeah. That’s what I was going to say.”
“Then I’m busy.”
Alan approached the chest and examined the security spells. It seemed easier than he had thought, perhaps because he had just dealt with a wizard.
While Shiva was carefully dismantling the security spell so as not to damage the Oparts, she asked Taylor.
“Brother, how skilled is that wizard?”
“A little stronger than me in my prime?”
“Is it real?”
“Why are there so many doubts?”
“When you were at your prime, you had a depth of 4, but now you have a depth of 3. It’s only one number, but the difference is huge.”
As Shiva was smoothing his burnt beard with a gloomy face, Taylor lightly tapped him on the shoulder.
“It was probably closer to 5. Rather, you should be proud of yourself for defeating such an opponent. So, cheer up.”
“Brother Allen’s efforts were great, but···.”
“Don’t get me wrong. If it weren’t for us, Alan would have been…, um, uh….”
Taylor scratched his head, wiggling his face, then opening his mouth again.
“It must have been difficult.”
“You never said it was impossible.”
“If it were him, wouldn’t he have found a way? Of course, the path to get there would have been much more brutal. He could have given up an arm or even blown up the box.”
“I see. That’s true.”
A box was seen loitering next to its owner, oblivious to anything. And a leopard split in half.
“I’m glad the leopard is safe.”
“Automatons only need to keep their soulstones alive. They’re different from humans, who die when their hearts disappear or suffocate when their lungs fail.”
At that moment, a clicking sound caught the attention of both people.
Alan opened the box and took out an ivory cylinder. Just as Lorenzo had said, an engraved dragon was wrapped around the cylinder. When he tapped it with his finger, he felt its solid texture.
“The material isn’t metal.”
“It must be bones. Bones, fangs, scales, and other items made from their bodies sometimes appear. What was the last item I found? Oh, it was a comb made from scales. It was sold for a high price because just combing it made your hair look better and thicker.”
“The cylinder isn’t just a simple Ooparts. The ability to tame the creatures of the primeval forest would be a first discovery.”
“I don’t know about that.”
“If you want to test your abilities, you need a beast first…”
When Alan looked around, all he saw was gray dust. Any creature from the primeval forest would have sensed the commotion and approached, but the flames must have consumed them as well.
“The wild beasts nearby are probably almost gone, so it would be difficult to test them right now.”
“Let’s do that later. First, let’s just relax.”
“Let’s move as Brother Taylor said. A ruin filled with ashes is not a good environment for a person to recover.”
Alan made a makeshift sled out of tent and pipe and tied it to the back of the box. The leopard and the box went on top of it.
We left the gray land, crossed a land overgrown with grass and trees, and arrived at a valley with trickling water. Taylor tested the water quality first.
“There is no toxic substance at all. First, let’s wash off the ash from our bodies.”
As Taylor and Shiva entered the water, the area around them turned pitch black. Taylor, who was shaking out her exploration suit, called out to Alan.
“Why don’t you wash up too?”
“···.”
There was no answer from Alan, who was absorbed in the cylinder. Taylor, who had experienced this so often, was also focused on washing.
Alan swept the surface of the cylinder. The cylinder could be divided into three exact equal parts like a roll cake.
‘So the maggot leaders must have divided it up and kept it. What’s the significance of this?’
It was something I had to return to Lorenzo, but since I had it in my possession, I wanted to examine it as much as possible. It would be even better if I could find out some knowledge or secrets.
‘Should I get some blood on it?’
There was no change even when I removed the dried scab from the surface of the power suit and rubbed it against the cylinder.
‘Is it because it’s been so long?’
Alan was about to stab himself in the arm, but then he thought of Taylor and Shiva and stopped.
‘Let’s do that last.’
Of course, there was no choice not to do it.
Then I realized that I hadn’t done the most basic checks. When I found something suspicious, I would have to use the examination and fluoroscopy functions of the artificial eye to examine it.
It’s possible that the people of Essel Matap haven’t tried it, but just in case.
Alan scanned the cylinder with his left eye, focusing his magic power on it. It was a simple observation. Normally, there should be no feeling, but why did it feel refreshing?
‘It’s as if the steam on the mirror has disappeared in an instant…’
Alan put his finger to his left eye. The artificial eyeball was also a soul stone, so it brought up the star character input window as usual.
A galaxy larger than a leopard and a box combined unfolded, and Alan noticed a change.
‘Some of the bad sectors are gone.’
The black fog surrounding the Milky Way receded slightly, revealing new star formations. It was a structure I had never seen before, so it was difficult to understand.
‘Is this the original star character? Or is it newly engraved because of the cylinder?’
beep!!!
It was a high-pitched and sharp sound that even pulled Alan out of the deep sea, or rather the ocean of thoughts. When Alan came to his senses and looked to the side, he saw the box shaking.
“What’s going on… Ah.”
When he turned his head at the sound, he saw 20 maggots threatening Taylor and Shiva.
The leader of the Cliff Gang, with his messy hair and beard, stepped forward.
“I thought you were a good customer, but you turned out to be a thief.”
“Have you not seen the battlefield reduced to ashes?”
“I saw it. Normally, you would be a wizard who would hide even if you made eye contact.”
Where he was pointing, there was a body with nothing above the neck.
“You know we defeated that wizard, and you’re saying this? With a brain disorder, even with that force, you can easily defeat ten people.”
“But you guys aren’t normal either. Right?”
He was right. The empty Manahat was crying out for hunger, and its overworked body was on the verge of going on strike.
Even a detective alone would be helpless if surrounded by a pack of hyenas. That was the situation right now. It would be even worse if he was injured and exhausted.
A group of people with cruel smiles slowly formed a siege.
“Get on your knees.”
It would have been so if not for one voice being heard.
“What the hell. Are you the idiots who stop when we tell you to stop? Your dreams are really big. Don’t you all? Wait, what are you guys doing?”
The maggots, not the cliffhangers, chattered excitedly and then opened their eyes wide.
There were twenty maggots here now, and half of them were kneeling in an awkward position. It was the result of the signals from their brains clashing with Alan’s orders.
“Put down your weapons and raise your hands above your heads.”
The result was a rather comical spectacle of vicious criminals being punished like children.
As things turned out this way, the rest of them also started to think a lot. They had already been destroyed once, and now they had experienced the same thing twice in the same day.
Back then, we could at least use combat stimulants to remove fear, but now there’s no such thing.
“What about everyone else?”
Even though Alan asked that, the others remained silent.
beep!
The box, receiving the owner’s nod, stepped forward. It advanced, targeting the nearest maggot.
“What? Come at me!”
The maggot was wearing a headgear, as if it were an Ebi user. A blue glow swirled around it, and thorns sprouted from the ground around it, stabbing the box’s legs.
beep!
The box, which had activated a thin yet strong defensive barrier, moved forward, shattering its thorns as if it were ticklish. Unlike usual, its movements were also extremely fast.
The box slammed into the maggot preparing additional magic, then mercilessly struck its head with its pincers. Then it found its next target with its camera eye that resembled a crab’s eye, but all the remaining enemies had already fallen to their knees.
beep!
I shouted to report that the mission was completed, but the owner was in a daze.
Bang!
The pincer accidentally struck the maggot’s helmet.
End