Genius Engineer in the Labyrinth - Chapter 44
Only Noblemtl
Cave (6)
The empty lot, about the size of two football fields, was filled with a foul smell. Only then did the noise of the battle completely die down.
Alan stopped powering his staff as he watched his crew tend to the wounded. The warlock was reduced to ashes, so the cremation was over.
I took a deep breath, and the fresh air from the plants in the mask filter filled my nose and lungs instead of the smell of cooking meat.
As Alan stood still, François suggested that he take a break.
“You must have used up a lot of magic power. Are you okay? If it’s hard, you can leave the training to someone else and sit down and rest.”
“It’s not like I need any rest.”
Alan said, calming down the overheated Manaheart. Although the magical circuits inside his body were screaming for help, it was not scary since it was a daily occurrence for the magical overloaded.
While François checked the life or death of the warlock, Alan calmed his breathing.
‘You shouldn’t overestimate your abilities because of this incident.’
Alan was not mistaken in thinking that he had defeated the warlock with his own skills. The moment he was about to set fire, the enemy was struck by Francois and turned into minced meat.
‘If the heat rays had been straight on, it wouldn’t have worked.’
But I wasn’t discouraged. I knew that if I worked hard every day, I would eventually reach the same height. There was a huge gap between when I first stepped into the labyrinth and now.
As I turned around, I heard a squeaking sound from my reinforced exoskeleton. Parts that had been slightly bent during the battle were rubbing against each other.
Alan took a pair of heating pliers from his tool belt and made emergency repairs while searching for Kiki, who had been launched from the cart.
He was lying on his back next to a hole-ridden underground room. He kept his mouth shut and still, looking like a broken goblin robot.
“I told you to either jump off first or hold on tight. Didn’t you hear me? Or is your hearing damaged?”
“Ugh… My colleague is lying injured and the first thing you say is an inquiry. Isn’t that too cold?”
“No joke. The water pipes, which were the most unstable, are fine, so the rest should be fine too.”
Kiki looked pitiful at Alan’s words. I thought it was artificial skin made by a small business, but it was quite elaborate.
“How can you know that just by looking at it? Wearing such expensive magicware is like walking around with a mansion in your eye socket. Are your eyes that expensive? Or are they a product of a large corporation?”
“That’s not it.”
As Alan shook his head, the bluish light in his left eye moved left and right, leaving a trail.
Kiki kept her mouth shut as she watched the scene. For some reason, she felt that the young man standing before her could do without the best products.
At first glance, he was no ordinary magic engineer. The reinforced exoskeleton was not intended for escape, but for combat, the panther he had made himself was strong, and the speed at which he could combine runes in real time was amazing. Sad to say, but the difference between him and himself was enormous.
The movements felt strangely awkward, but anyway, those shortcomings were overshadowed by the strengths and were not even noticeable.
Kiki tried to get up from her seat, but then she looked at the source of the stickiness she felt on her fingertips. Seeing the blood of the underground man she had killed, her confidence suddenly rose.
“Stop talking harshly and look at this. I’m a goblin who does it if I have to.”
“Yes, that’s great.”
“You think so too? So you can praise me a little more.”
“Stop wasting time and get up. We have another battlefield waiting for us even after the battle is over.”
“Let’s rest a bit. Ha···.”
Kiki met Alan’s eyes.
The dark shadows on his face from the fire burning behind him, the gas mask covering his nose and chin, and his indifferent eyes from the first time we met until now.
The combination of these characteristics was overwhelming. The confidence that had been intoxicated by the joy of victory was rapidly diminished.
“···I tried to do that, but it won’t work.”
It was a typical goblin trait. His thoughts were simple, so his emotions ran wild. His pride had also cooled down when he saw Allen.
Alan and Kiki approached the place where the crew members were gathered. It was a strange sight, the wounded treating the wounded. The battle was so intense that there was no one healthy, so there was nothing they could do.
Alan passed by the people giving him thumbs up. He held onto the back of Kiki’s neck as she walked deliberately slowly and enjoyed the compliments.
“Please take a look at the crew members’ equipment first.”
“you?”
“The cart was completely destroyed by the explosion of the Collector’s body, so we have no means of transporting the injured, so we have to make one.”
Kiki nodded and tapped the prosthetic arm. The bloody needle disappeared, and a magical engineering tool popped out.
Alan repaired the automaton first. This was still a labyrinth, and the crew had to focus on combat and security, not escort.
‘We don’t need combat ability, so let’s just leave movement.’
I took out the soul stone of the broken automaton that was still intact and quickly manipulated the star characters.
After collecting a few soul stones, Alan called the leopard.
“Open your mouth.”
As ordered, the spout opened and the iron plate was shoved inside.
“Ask.”
The leopard’s drill fangs rotated and bored holes in the metal plate. In this way, Allen created holes for screws, making a sled instead of a cart.
‘How do you get the wheel out of the labyrinth?’
The ride was terrible because the shock absorbers were a mess, but it was a hundred times better than marching. We laid down blankets to make them as soft as possible and laid the wounded on them.
He laid down four people, two on each sled. Alan pulled out the cable connecting the automaton’s power source and brought it over.
“Someone who has Manaheart···.”
Even though the movement was inconvenient, it was possible to supply magic power to the automaton. There were two out of four people who had the popular magic training method and elements of a labyrinth explorer.
Without hesitation, Alan put the cable he had brought into the hand of the crew member lying on the cart. Of course, the person in question was surprised.
“How did you know there was a Manaheart when you didn’t even answer?”
“I thought so. If you have the skills to aim for the cave, you should have Manaheart.”
“Really? That feels good.”
‘감’ was the appropriate word. The larger the manahat, the thicker the hazy fog that enveloped the person felt.
“The magic supply cable was made to increase efficiency, so you can take your hands off it if it gets difficult. The main power source is a small magic furnace or magic stone anyway.”
The crew members murmured as they watched Alan walk away again.
“It’s sturdy.”
“How much would it cost to have a punk like that hang out with you?”
“He’s with us? Arthur. If you have the skills, a magic engineer can take you even lower than the cave, so why would he want to party with us?”
“Well, maybe I could become a direct explorer.”
“Yeah, why would Breaker be giving lessons in the first place? The intention is to take promising prospects out into the wild, not to a regular training institution.”
“Look over there.”
“Is that what I said?”
As if in their whispers, François was approaching Allan.
“I finally have some time.”
“I’m a little busy right now.”
“You’re so honest···.”
Alan shrugged and turned the automaton over with Kiki. They dismantled the weak armor on the belly and took out the internal components.
“I just wanted to say thank you. Thanks to you, we were able to finish that guy off without any casualties.”
“It was a close call against the warlock, but didn’t you intervene at the perfect time? You cut through the path with a heat beam, rushed in on a cart, and hit Pavabak···”
As the excited Kiki shrugged her shoulders like a fox riding a tiger, François cut her off firmly.
“Close? I was overwhelming him. It was only a matter of time before I completely cut off his airway… I got too excited. Sorry.”
“it’s okay.”
Alan understood. Kiki’s words had strangely touched his pride, and the slyness of her voice added to the irritation.
François, catching his breath, opened his mouth again.
“Anyway, thanks to you, we were able to finish off the Collector’s slaves without any casualties.”
“Didn’t the black magician say he was your master earlier?”
“The Collector wouldn’t think so. What kind of master would plant a mind-controlling parasite in his disciple’s head? Even if he calls me his disciple, it’s proof that he doesn’t really mean it.”
“I understand. I’ve seen similar cases.”
Although Nobak cherished the most outstanding assistants and treated them like his disciples, such hypocritical actions were only intended to raise assistants to be used as sacrificial offerings.
“Then it’s easier to talk. Besides, it’s hard to know how many slaves the collector has. Since he has such a wide reach, there must be quite a few on the continent across the sea.”
As François finished speaking and turned away, Kiki whispered quietly.
“I thought you were giving me a gift as a thank you. How petty.”
“uh···.”
Could a powerful magic user like François not hear whispers? Of course not.
François, who had stopped walking, returned. Ignoring Kiki, who was frozen like a statue, he spoke to Alan.
“That’s right. My thinking was short. Is there anything you need or anything I can help you with?”
François, as we have seen so far, has a very high self-esteem. When Kiki makes a remark that disparages his skills, he quickly becomes angry. In any case, this type of person tries to repay a debt of gratitude.
Alan immediately thought of something. It was the magic training method. The best way to control magic power is to increase your own skills.
The magic potion from the fairy’s blood-salting flower or the magical therapy from the general hospital only temporarily suppressed the symptoms and did not solve the fundamental problem.
I was using the training method that Nobak had taught me, but there was no way he would have given anything good to his slaves.
After gathering his thoughts, Alan got to the point without a single rejection.
“You need a magic training method. Rather than increasing the size of your mana heart, something that focuses on control and brain power is better.”
François scratched his nose for a long time.
“If it’s difficult, just connecting the legs will be enough.”
“It’s hard to give you a definite answer right now, so I’ll think about it slowly. Don’t worry, I’m not trying to break my promise by putting it off day after day.”
“I didn’t think about that.”
Magic training methods are not something that can be obtained easily. The more valuable it is, and the better its performance, the harder it is to obtain.
It was more a question of influence and connections than money. And Alan didn’t have a fortune to paralyze the salesman’s thinking.
When Alan’s negotiation ended well, Kiki also looked at him with anticipation. However, the half-orc glared at her coldly and left.
Alan comforted Kiki, who had a look on her face like her life was over.
“If you need anything, I’ll help you.”
“okay?”
Kiki glanced at the leopard. She seemed to be secretly envious of the sturdy automaton. Of course, it would be a bit of a headache to pay for its upkeep.
After finishing the cleanup, Group 6 headed back to the surface. They killed the Collector’s slaves, but the situation was not over.
A single slave warlock can cause this much damage, so if they encounter me, the results will be dire.
Still, considering that the magic hadn’t worked yet, it was expected that he would have run into Chairman Marshall.
The scene where the existing rules were broken and interference was carried out across layers was shocking in many ways.
‘I don’t know if it requires a lot of preparation or not.’
The 10th floor was reached in that way. As he passed through the black fog on the uphill road, tinnitus from the labyrinth began to torment Allen again.
“Are you here?”
I turned my head at the familiar voice and saw Zion leaning against the wall. François stepped forward.
“Why are you alone? Your crew members?”
“I sent them all up. I’m still counting the personnel here. Gamal and Omar are up too. Group 6 is the last one.”
After finishing speaking, Zion turned around. Even though she had her eyes closed, she quickly disappeared into the darkness, as if she could still see her surroundings clearly.
“We will take a short break here and then go.”
François finished informing his crew. Alan, who was next to him, asked a question.
“Is walking around with your eyes closed a form of training?”
François’s eyes moved left and right. The only person around him was Alan.
“If you knew that I wasn’t blind, I guess you wouldn’t mind telling me….”
François clenched his fists. It seemed as if he was suppressing some emotion. His voice also became very low.
“They say there’s so much filth in the world that they cover it up on purpose. There are other reasons, but I think that’s the biggest one.”
“I heard it before, but I thought it was a joke. It was true.”
Alan nodded as he thought of Lanka, Novak Clinic, Roman Company, and even the Black Magician.
“I understand. I sympathize.”
“hmm···.”
François wrinkled his nose and looked at Alan and the fire-breathing wand. For a long time.
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