Genius Engineer in the Labyrinth - Chapter 124
Only Noblemtl
The appearance of the automatons that Alan had hastily revived was a mess. The proper repair equipment was on the ground, and this was the result of using them in a short period of time.
But machines are different from living things. Even if they look like scrap metal, they function properly as long as their core components are intact.
As instructed by Alan, we took up positions at the forefront of the temporary defense line, gradually opening up an opening for the explorers to attack.
“Coming!”
As red things burst out from between the collapsed buildings, the explorer with the large lens mounted on the front of his helmet screamed.
The lens condensed the light and emitted a powerful flash. The amount of light that would blind even those watching from behind stabbed the eyes of the red demons running towards them on all fours.
Now was the opportunity, as the red ghosts, who had temporarily lost their sight, clashed with each other.
“Take them one by one, starting from the beginning!”
“Don’t waste your firepower and just shoot where you’re pointed!”
Each explorer commanded a number of students, whose bracelets, necklaces, and headbands created magic in the air.
Ebi was an essential piece of equipment for a labyrinth student. Even if you were to walk the path of a researcher, you had to have at least a minimum amount of strength to protect yourself, because you never know what might happen in the labyrinth.
The raised earth caught the enemy, blades of wind tore through his muscles, and fireballs flew to burn his flesh. The sentry gun he brought also rained down a hail of bullets.
Kieeeee!
The Red Ghost ran again, his voice expressing his pain. Although it had the characteristics of a living being, as it was a bio-armor, it quickly overcame light, as expected from a being designed for battle.
Even if you fire the flash again, not many of them will roll away.
“Brace yourself for shock!”
“Beware of infection!”
Infection occurred only in one case: when the flesh-containing nuclei covered the entire body. If infection had occurred through a bite or scratch, the situation would have been much more dire.
Just before the collision, Alan signaled to the children. The automatons lowered their posture and leaned in.
Kuung!
There was a sound like a giant beating a drum. The small stones around it trembled.
The automaton and the red ghost were entangled and rolled around. In this way, the red ghost was not an unmanageable being.
‘If you judge it coldly, it’s cave-level.’
So Oros left, leaving his students in the care of the explorers.
Alan’s eyes caught sight of a box clanking its claws. The guy intervened when the blast shield was about to collapse. He had undergone several modifications, so even though he was in charge of transport, his fighting prowess was outstanding.
beep-
Every time the box beeped, the automatons moved in unison.
Alan watched the entire defense line carefully, observing Lecter. He actively used Evie and Magicware, and moved freely between the enemy demons.
As his body became blurry, a red ghost would inevitably rise into the air, and as it emitted the blue light characteristic of magical power, a rock spear would pierce its torso.
It was a movement that reminded him of a wizard he had fought before, but Alan noticed something else.
‘Why did you insist on coming forward?’
Even though I only knew Lecter for a short time, he didn’t seem like the type of person who would act rashly. However, after coming down to the labyrinth, I started to feel something fishy.
‘When did it start? After entering the labyrinth? After entering the ruins?’
It could have been Alan’s mistake. Lecter was busy fighting the Red Ghost right now.
Kkeeek!
The loud roar of the enemy was heard from above. The buffalo automaton took advantage of the attack by raising its horns upwards and rose high above the defensive line.
The expected landing point of the enemy flying in a parabolic arc is.
‘2 seconds later.’
It was right in front of Alan. He naturally spread his legs, lowered his center of gravity, and relaxed his upper body so that he could move it somehow.
Several lines were drawn on the visor. Various methods to deal with the enemy guided Alan.
There were two methods that were ultimately compressed. One was Zion’s method of dodging and stabbing with the sword, and the other was Taylor’s method of trusting his body and clashing with force.
The calculations for the enemy’s landing point and the shape it will take when it steps on the ground have already been completed in my head.
Alan, who chose Taylor, stepped forward and swung his right arm to the side. It was only a light movement, but the red ghost, who had even received his strength back, perceived it differently.
Ugh!
The inside of the elbow hit the neck hard. The red ghost fell to the ground on his back without even being able to make a single sound.
‘The location of the nucleus is the left shoulder.’
Even now, the nucleus was moving slightly. So the shoulder was where the nucleus would be when Alan’s foot touched it.
Alan felt something vibrate beneath his feet. At the same time, the muscles of the red ear relaxed and became limp, like a sea urchin left in the desert.
There was no particular reason why I chose Taylor’s method. It was simply because I had the strength. The power suit compensated for the parts of my body that were lacking.
Alan looked at the place where Professor Oros had disappeared. As he said, if you have a strong body, you have more options and you don’t have to think too much.
‘As expected, he is an actor.’
After completing the confirmation kill, I slowly walked around the battlefield and dealt with the enemy ghosts trying to break through the defense line like before.
A thought suddenly occurred to me as I was dealing with enemies using only the power of the power suit, not the magic bullet or runes.
‘Have you unconsciously set limits for yourself all this time? You’ve become more relaxed thanks to the power suit and the blood-salting flower?’
I expected to be dragged around by the power suit’s movements, but my body moved better than I expected. At least it seemed like I wouldn’t miss something if someone threw it at me.
The battle was thus ended. The explorers gathered all the rotten muscles in one place and burned them all to prevent any possible resurrection.
Lecter also took some to observe how fire-resistant they were before they were turned to ash.
‘At times like that, he seems like a student with a passion for learning…’
He turned his gaze away because he had something to take care of before he could see the sights. The box had the children carry the broken automaton to its owner.
While I was making repairs in preparation for the next attack, I heard a familiar voice.
“He used to be like a black marketeer, but now he’s a full-fledged engineer.”
“Get some rest.”
Alan took the drink offered by Carlson. He opened the visor and tilted the can, and the energy drink containing essential nutrients filled his empty stomach.
“Rest. Is there anything I can do?”
“Then let’s talk about something.”
“Yeah. You’ve been hanging out with the teaching assistant all this time, so you haven’t had a chance to do that.”
Seeing other students lying around in disarray, having squeezed out some magic, the lively Carlson was a natural fit for this field.
“Where did you get the power suit? It doesn’t have a brand on it, so it must be a private workshop product.”
“yes.”
“Oh, where?”
Alan pointed at himself.
“Really? I would believe it even if a company said it was made···.”
“I worked on the magic circuits and powertrain, and custom-made the outer armor and frame.”
“You probably made the soulstone too. Then it’s basically done. You can probably get the shell from an online shopping mall.”
Alan brought up the story as Lecter disappeared into the corner.
“Is Assistant Lecter that busy even on Earth?”
“Assistant? On the ground… It’s a bit difficult to talk to you, but you’re always like that. Now that I look at you, you’re exactly like that.”
Carlson always said that he was his assistant. Alan nodded, thinking that the cold feeling might be his own illusion. He had been watching Carlson for much longer, so his eyes would be more accurate.
‘It wasn’t like that at first, but it felt a bit excessive after entering the ruins…’
I put aside my doubts for a moment and focused on the repairs. From afar, I could faintly hear the roars of the enemy demons.
After that, they continued to attack without fail. People complained of fatigue from the continuous attacks, but they were able to endure because they felt a change.
That’s their number. At first there were about 20 of them, then 15, then 12, 8… The size of the group shrank, and their muscles became flabby like inflated balloons.
About 36 hours after Oros left, a high-pitched scream was heard that shook the entire ruins.
“uh···?”
One of the explorers who was dealing with the Red Ghost let out a dumbfounded sound. As he was about to throw away his broken sword and pull back due to fatigue, the guy collapsed first.
To be exact, she bowed her head like a doll with its strings cut.
People instinctively knew what this meant.
“The professor did it!”
It meant that Oros had crushed the enemy’s ruling entity or mother body. However, he kept his guard up and dealt with the enemy, as letting his guard down could lead to the worst outcome.
Soon after, there was a thumping sound of footsteps, and Oros, with his skin dyed red, returned. As soon as he returned, he asked Alan.
“Is everyone okay?”
“Except that one student broke his arm.”
“Excellent. Thank you for your hard work, Alan.”
It was only after Alan freed himself from the hand patting his shoulder that he realized his title had changed from explorer to soldier. It sent a chill down his spine.
The explorers who had sent out reconnaissance also brought good news: the secret passage that had disappeared was now open, and they could return at any time.
“Originally, I wanted to show the students what research collaboration looks like···.”
“Ugh.”
As the students all chanted zombie sounds in unison, Oros smiled faintly.
“Okay. We’re planning to send personnel from Breaker tomorrow, so we’ll make arrangements for them to return then.”
While Alan was listening to Oros, Lecter appeared quietly. His face was brighter than before.
‘Are you worried because the secret passage was closed? When you experience an extreme situation, your emotions can fluctuate greatly···.’
I came to my own conclusion and asked.
“You’re coming from Breaker?”
“Oh, didn’t I tell you?”
“yes.”
“This time, they provided research funds. So cooperation is a natural procedure.”
The rest of the day was as usual. I retrieved the automaton’s soul stone and studied the red ghost that had lost its power.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that the Red Ghost was made of muscle. The way it transformed its shape whenever necessary or gathered strength into areas that needed it inspired Allen.
‘If applied to the artificial muscles of the power suit, its power will increase significantly.’
As Alan lay in bed, gathering his thoughts, time passed quickly. He was about to check his watch and go to sleep when he heard someone getting up next to him.
He had the feeling that Lecter was checking to see if he was sleeping.
However, Alan went through a lot of trial and error to fool Taylor into going to bed on time. It didn’t work on Taylor yet, but it was enough to fool Lecter.
Alan called the box only after the noise had faded away. The guy with the camera eye that looked like a crab’s eye was stopped from stepping out of the tent.
“Get the spider out, not you.”
beep···
The sagging guy took out the spider, and Alan remote-controlled it. The vision was much blurrier than when he had been in the magic mine. It seemed like the signal jamming was a feature of this ruin.
If he had just gone out, Alan wouldn’t have followed him. But Lecter noticed that he was sleeping soundly, and he became curious about the reason.
Alan moved the spider towards the vault, but paused for a moment. The explorer guarding the vault had unfocused eyes.
As we passed the explorer and went inside, we saw Lecter doing something with the disabled red ear on the operating table.
Moving slightly to look up, I saw that the Red Ghost’s power was being sucked up by a syringe-like Oparts that converted life force into magic power.
‘You figured out how to use it through experimentation. But why are you doing it secretly at dawn?’
If it were Oros, he would have praised him for discovering a new use for Oparts and told him to try anything.
Meanwhile, Lecter was putting the power contained within the Ooparts into some object. Alan remained still, as he had to move a lot to see the top of his palm.
The moment when Alan, unable to find any other suspicious items, tries to bring back the spider.
‘who···.’
He spotted someone in the tent. He moved like the wind before Alan could see the face.
Kwajik!
Lecter’s head was planted on the torso. The body with its bulging chest collapsed, and the Ooparts he was holding fell off and rolled around.
There was a spider in the place he rolled to. Before Alan could do anything, the spider floated up and was sucked into the man’s hand.
“Um… who are you?”
Only then was Alan able to see the man’s face.
Gray hair, a youthful-looking face despite being in his late 60s, and clothes similar to the uniform Zion always wears.
He was the president of the Breakers, Jake Marshall.
End