Genius Engineer in the Labyrinth - Chapter 82
Only Noblemtl
Alan observed Novak closely. His shoulders and chest were shaking rapidly, his bloodshot eyes were bloodshot, and his magicware emitted light whose intensity kept changing due to the unstable output.
‘It’s okay.’
The taunt that Taylor gave me was successful. In fact, I was so focused on the power suit at the time that I didn’t hear it properly, so I just blurted out what came to mind, but it still seemed to be effective.
‘They say provocation is also a great weapon.’
They also said that they exchanged words frequently, as if they were everyday language, such as asking how they were doing or saying that the weather was nice.
Alan thought about what to say next and then stopped. He couldn’t think of any words because he lacked the aptitude for provocation, and more than anything, Novak was running towards him.
Behind the smokescreen, screams and explosions could be heard from time to time, as if a battle was in full swing. So, Novak had to block it alone.
‘No.’
There were leopards and boxes. With those kids, unlike before, even well-armed Nobak would be able to deal with them.
The old man, whose jaw muscles were prominent due to his teeth clenching so hard, crossed his arms and blocked the front. It was his intention to block the box that was firing the bullets while also pushing in.
The electric attack from earlier didn’t seem to have much of an impact, and Alan had expected it to some extent.
‘It must have been painted with magic resistance.’
In that case, all you have to do is knock it countless times to break the shield.
First, Alan asked calmly amidst the bull-like charging and earth-shaking vibrations.
“Why do you want eyes?”
“···.”
As with Alan, there was no answer back. Still, the intended purpose was achieved. While Novak’s attention was momentarily drawn to Alan, the panther, who had been hiding, attacked his flank.
[Reinforcement], [Strong], [Acceleration]. The leopard, which was wearing a set of three buffs, was as fast as a cheetah despite having the size of a tiger.
A man who had been forcibly enlarged into a golem body clashed with a metal beast. The leopard swung its forelegs to the side, and Novak used the back of his hand to ward them off.
Kwajik!
It sounded like two cars colliding. The leopard’s metallic muscles and joints worked to their limits, increasing the speed of its forelegs.
Boom, bang, bang!
The prosthetic hand of Nobak’s golem began to dent a little. It didn’t look like much damage, but it was still good enough. If the outer armor was misaligned, it would be difficult to take out the weapon hidden inside.
Knowing this well, Novak pushed forward stubbornly. He pushed forward with his left arm, which had been spread out to the sides and turned into a shield, and struck the leopard’s chest hard.
At the same time, he swung his right hand down and grabbed the leopard’s hind leg. If he had been even a little bit later, his left arm would have been turned into a rag by the blue-light-emitting Manaclaw.
“Huh.”
As the breathing-stopping Nobak pulled his right arm, the leopard’s posture with its hind legs caught collapsed. If the posture is ruined, the center of gravity also becomes messed up, making it difficult to resist.
The leopard’s body rose. A heavy creature in the air would naturally fall, and Novak’s shoulders helped in that phenomenon.
Nobak’s arm swung down. Naturally, the leopard’s body, which was held like a weapon, fell to the ground.
Before the thud had even died down, he grabbed him with both hands and struck him again. Even as he did so, Novak kept rolling his eyes to check on Allen.
The box was the same. It caught the bullet fired to save its poor comrade, swung the leopard towards it, and collided with the bullet.
“You are doing something meaningless.”
The box continued to fire bullets, and each time the leopard turned into a bat and struck the bullets.
Novak glanced at Alan again. He was wearing a thick arm, looking this way.
‘Are you planning to fire magic shells like the first time?’
Novak, who thought that this was enough, changed the direction in which he was swinging the leopard. He intended to throw it straight at Alan.
Jiyik!
A thin line of heat swept across my neck. I couldn’t react because the continuous flames blocked the flash. Luckily, the iron plate on my neck was only slightly scorched.
As planned, Novak threw the leopard away and followed it closely as it flew. I don’t know what Alan’s plan was, but it seemed like he was planning to use the leopard as a shield to approach.
The attempt was excellent, if only the leopard had been an automaton just captured from the labyrinth.
The leopard, enhanced and given additional performance by Allen’s modifications, twisted in the air. Novak’s gaze was momentarily drawn to its flexible, cat-like appearance.
Of course, that was only for a moment. With experience, he regained his senses and pushed the leopard’s body hard with his palm. If it was as he had originally planned, it would have come true.
“Ugh!”
Novak’s body swayed. The cause was the metal claws digging into his legs and the wires connected to them. The wires were connected to the inside of Alan’s wrist.
Novak, whose balance was off to one side from running and pushing the leopard away, stumbled. Even so, he followed Alan’s figure with his eyes.
‘Fuck.’
He felt angry at the thought of being beaten by Alan, who couldn’t even control his body, even though he was still staggering while shooting the wire.
Alan focused on manipulating the wire. Because of Novak’s weight and the nature of his body, his balance was off, but it wasn’t a big problem.
He even fired a wire from his left arm to block Novak’s other leg. Then he pulled hard as if he was fishing.
The wire made of twisted metal and monster tendons became taut. The old man at the end of it had difficulty getting up.
‘Get on.’
At Alan’s signal, the leopard leapt onto Novak. The internal circuitry was damaged, and more than half of the mana had lost its light, but the sharpness of the metal was enough.
Sparks flew wherever his claws scratched, and oil and coolant leaked out through the torn gloves.
Judging by the fact that there was no blood even though the claws were dug in quite deeply, you could tell how much Nobak had modified it.
Anyway, an opportunity is an opportunity. Alan tried hacking from a distance, just in case he had hidden a secret plan.
‘The firewall is definitely thick.’
Even when he sent the spider he had used to hack the DT-10 before, Novak desperately tried to avoid a direct connection by crushing the spider somehow.
Taylor and Shiva’s vital signs are normal, and the screams heard through the smoke are all those of cartel members.
Since there was plenty of time, Alan attempted remote hacking. The leopard would take on the physical attacks, while Alan would take on the mental attacks.
When the body is in pain, the mind also becomes worn out. As the mind wavers, the mana also fluctuates, and a large gap appears in the magic resistance.
‘Okay.’
Alan’s mind was touched by Novak’s artificial mana heart. I don’t know if he changed it to an artificial mana heart because he was hit by it, or if it was like this from the beginning.
As Alan slowly touched the star characters in the soul stone, the output that Novak was emitting became much more unstable. As a magic engineer, Novak could not have been unaware of what was happening.
Novak pushed the leopard away, but still glared at Alan. His face looked determined.
Push!
Suddenly, steam started to pour out from Nobak’s entire body. It wasn’t as thick as smoke, but it did blur things a bit.
Bang!
There was a crashing sound, and the leopard’s body rolled backwards. At the same time, Novak’s body shot up. Something shot out from the palms and soles of his feet, similar to a rocket’s propulsion system.
The behavior was similar. At one point, Novak’s limbs fell off one after another as if a rocket had detached. Novak, who had been raised high, flew into the smoke screen spread over the factory.
Below the path he flew, there were remnants of the golem’s body scattered here and there.
‘A lizard’s tail?’
Slowly the smoke began to clear. Taylor, Shiva, and the cartel members scattered around became clearly visible.
Taylor, full of soot and blood, looked at Alan.
“Did you do as I told you?”
“He got mad when I just told him he was ugly.”
“It’s a personal attack, but it’s a bit boring.”
Taylor thought about what Novak’s face looked like.
“It might have worked… But didn’t you ever swear at your friends when you were living in Lanka?”
“Because I like books···.”
“That means you didn’t have any friends.”
“No, I did. I was home a lot because of my health, so I was mostly alone.”
Actually, I didn’t have many memories with people my age. Maybe Taylor was right.
As they approached the factory, Shiva, who had been listening to their conversation, expressed his doubts.
“Wait a minute. Brother Taylor, didn’t you say last time that you would only tell Brother Allen good things? But you’re provoking him? Low-level words will remain in your heart.”
“Provocation is also a great weapon. When the opponent gets angry, their magical power becomes unstable, and their output control becomes unstable, causing their magical power to be consumed more quickly. It also makes judgment difficult.”
Taylor and Shiva had different ideas, but they couldn’t continue the argument. They were now in the middle of a battle.
I went inside the building, avoiding the members of the organization who were scattered across the factory grounds where the smoke had completely cleared. The commotion inside could be felt even outside.
Taylor, wrapped in Shiva’s [Embrace of Loving Kindness], entered first. This was because he trusted the white barrier and his own physical abilities.
To their dismay, the attack did not take place. The gang had already taken up prime positions inside the factory, and Kaka and Novak were looking down from their second-floor office.
Kaka, half of his pointed nose missing, looked down and growled.
“Do you know who the original owner of those eyes is?”
“Why would someone who is losing everything talk about something like that?”
As Taylor tried to raise his weapon, Alan stopped him.
“Let me just listen.”
“Should I satisfy my curiosity first?”
Alan shrugged. There was that reason, and the spiders needed time to hide. Since it was quiet here, Kaka continued talking.
“It’s Sandra. I thought you left it in Aromaa because you thought it wouldn’t be disturbed, but you never thought it would be taken away by the livestock you were raising…”
Kaka glared at Novak. He had already replaced his normal arms and legs, but his face looked ten years older.
Taylor shouted.
“Is this the Sandra I know?”
“of course!”
Sandra is a pure-blooded elf barely hanging on. The life expectancy of a half-blooded elf is 120 years, while a pure-blooded elf lives just over 200 years.
What happens when an elf devotes himself to magic for a long time? Naturally, he becomes a wizard who rivals humans.
When something goes well, everyone praises it, but there is a bad example, namely, Sandra the ‘tailor’.
The new continent where the Soldos Federation was located was so large that it extended across the northern and southern hemispheres. If you continue east from Aromah, where Alan lived, you will come across a huge jungle, and Sandra was a witch who was ensconced there.
He was also an international criminal of a similar caliber to the Collector.
Alan was suspicious. If it was really Sandra’s stuff, they wouldn’t have sent only cartel members.
Or maybe they are still hiding the fact that it was stolen, or maybe it is related to Sandra but of a lower level, so it is her disciple’s belonging.
Alan listened to Kaka’s words for a moment. There was no reason to hesitate in giving him the information, even if it was mixed with deception.
“Those eyes are nothing short of Catan···.”
Alan opened his eyes wide. His facial muscles had been moving the most recently.
When talking about the decipherer of the star script and the greatest magic engineer, Katan is always at the forefront. When Alan heard that name, his heart raced for the first time in a long time. Was such an amazing thing his own eye?
“···made by the disciple of the disciple of···.”
My heart calmed down again. Still, I held onto the hope that the techniques I had learned from Katan would be applied.
‘It wasn’t an Oparts?’
At the same time, I had doubts. If you look at the fact that he absorbed the Ooparts soul stone, then he must have created an Ooparts. Of course, you couldn’t just believe the enemy’s words.
“This is your last chance. Just show me your eyes and I will step down. Or face Lady Sandra’s wrath.”
Now it was time to answer Kaka’s question. Before sending down the explosive spiders, Alan tried the hacking he had been doing earlier again.
Novak, whose mind was so distracted that he threw away his limbs and ran away, was unable to defend himself against Allen’s hacking.
pop!
There was a small sound of something bursting, and Nobak fell backwards, blood spurting out of his mouth. He couldn’t see it because it was on the second floor of the office, but he could guess what happened just by looking at Kaka’s reaction next to him.
“This is my answer.”
End