Chapter 661: Karma (3)
“W-what…?! Get back to your cell, now!!”
Two soldiers surrounding Lennok shouted in harsh voices, their guns aimed.
“Damn it, why is the comms unit dead at a time like this…!!”
Not only could they not contact the outside, but the tightly sealed barriers showed no sign of opening.
At this rate, they weren’t monitoring the wizard; they were trapped in solitary confinement with an extremely dangerous one.
The two soldiers, beads of cold sweat pouring down their faces, tensed their entire bodies as if they would pull the trigger on Lennok at any moment.
“D-don’t come any closer…!!”
“Move even an inch and I’ll shoot!!”
“Don’t be like that. Let’s talk for a moment.”
Lennok, handcuffed and leaning against the cold corridor wall, chuckled.
“I’m bored sitting here alone, you see. I want to go outside, but there’s no one to relay the message.”
“Alone…? Surely the doctors were in the cell with…”
The soldier trailed off, seeing the doctors collapsed behind Lennok.
“They must have been tired. Perhaps they’ll wake up soon?”
“…”
What idiot would readily believe that in this situation?
The soldiers now refused further conversation, their eyes fixed on Lennok with extreme vigilance.
Lennok looked at the two of them, tilting his head slightly as if troubled.
‘I want to refrain from excessive mana usage… was I a bit hasty?’
Thanks to the doctors’ diligent care, supposedly for research, his condition had indeed improved more than expected.
But that didn’t mean he was well enough to engage in combat.
He had far exceeded his output limits while partially overlaying an Ascendant’s Mind Imprint to confront Hermes Orokhnier.
With less than three days since the incident concluded, he should have been in a complete rest period for at least half a month.
His departure from the cell, disregarding his recovery, was solely to find traces of Kaiser.
‘What I can use without strain are Davi’s hacking abilities and simple common magic. I could recover my condition with more rest, but…’
Lennok, having mentally outlined his available methods and strategies, nodded lightly as he looked at the soldiers.
‘This kind of opening won’t appear again. I’ll push through now.’
The lax security, with only two soldiers guarding right outside the cell, was not the result of coincidence or incompetence.
It was a brief window that occurred because Narcissa Solmer and the Enforcers had been visiting the cell in turns, disrupting the internal personnel assignments.
Originally, Lennok might have had to face dozens of soldiers simultaneously the moment he opened the cell.
Lennok knew that, for this reason, now was the most opportune time, even if his condition hadn’t fully recovered.
If he needed to refrain from using mana, he would have to rely on his other abilities to navigate the situation.
Fortunately, several methods came to mind.
“Your guns are quite clean. They’re military issue, yet there’s hardly any wear on the magazines.”
Lennok observed the soldiers’ appearances and the guns aimed at him before speaking.
“Your fingernails are excessively short, and you maintain your skin meticulously. Your body hair is deliberately trimmed short… you’re very attentive to hygiene.”
At Lennok’s calm words, the neck of the soldier aiming his gun from the right twitched.
“N-nonsense…”
“I thought it might be mysophobia, but given that the laces on both your shoes are tied to different lengths, it’s not an obsession. Cleanliness for others, not yourself…”
Lennok paused in thought, observing the soldier’s face intently before nodding.
“You have a child, don’t you?”
“…!!!”
“Karuso, snap out of it!!”
The other soldier roared, seeing the gun in Karuso’s hand tremble, but Lennok’s words didn’t stop.
“It’s not an issue of mental state or dietary habits. Skin? Right. The good care taken of parts you touch with your hands suggests a high probability of a skin condition.”
Lennok nodded, quickly finding the answer by dropping keywords one by one.
“The regular care you give has become a habit in your daily life. It’s very old. A pre-existing condition you’ve had since birth.”
“…I heard you also worked as a skilled craftsman in Machina. Can a high-level wizard just see such secrets without effort?”
“Karuso, what are you doing?!”
As Karuso readily answered Lennok’s words, the other soldier turned his gun, but Karuso paid him no mind.
He merely opened his mouth, his complexion having aged a dozen years in that brief moment.
“I even heard you consulted beyond just crafting. Do you happen to know anything about my child’s skin disease? Is there a way to cure it?”
“This crazy bastard, he’s…!!”
Just as the other soldier, unable to endure it, was about to strike Karuso’s head, Lennok spoke to him as well.
“There’s a bar you’ve been frequenting lately, isn’t there?”
“…!!”
“You seem to have invested some money in a business recommended by the bartender there. You’d best pull it out immediately. It’s a pyramid scheme.”
“D-don’t talk nonsense.”
The other soldier stammered, desperately denying Lennok’s words.
“That can’t be. There’s no way you’d know that…!!”
“But that investment… isn’t it illicit funds you embezzled from somewhere else, not your own money?”
The soldier gritted his teeth, unable to reply.
Lennok pointed to the soldier’s pocket and said,
“The very fact that you’re carrying a phone, violating the detention facility’s internal regulations, is proof that you need to receive real-time communications. That’s a characteristic often seen in people involved in finance.”
In truth, it was merely Davi’s ability to hack the phone and skim through the accounts, but the soldier couldn’t refute anything Lennok said.
His secret, that he had embezzled illicit funds from another agency and invested them on his own, was undeniably true.
“There’s only one thing I ask of you.”
Lennok said, offering unspoken persuasion and threats to the two men as if it were nothing.
“There are several two-person patrol teams operating in this detention facility, aren’t there? When you meet other teams, ask to switch shifts and change your posts.”
“…”
“It shouldn’t be difficult now, with the work system disrupted by Narcissa Solmer’s visit.”
Beep-beep-beep!!
At that moment, the dead comms unit reconnected, and another soldier’s voice echoed from the other end.
- Lieutenant Karuso. The medical equipment in the cell has stopped working. Is there a problem?
“…”
- If there’s anything unusual, report it immediately. Also, confirm the safety of the doctors.
Karuso picked up the comms unit, glanced nervously, and Lennok smiled silently, nodding.
Karuso closed his eyes tightly, pressed the comms button, and replied.
“No… there’s nothing unusual. It seems they’re just taking a rest period to improve their condition.”
- I see. The surveillance feed shows no particular issues, but I opened the communication network just in case. Everything alright?
“…Of course.”
He hadn’t thought of it in his sudden escape, but the facility was filled with surveillance devices monitoring Lennok.
Even though the wizard was undoubtedly outside his cell, no one outside had noticed anything amiss?
A chill ran down Karuso’s spine, and he looked back at Lennok with a hint of fear.
“You can deceive the entire Machina Special Detention Facility, so why bother with us…?”
“Spreading a crack is easy, but I have to create the first opening myself.”
Lennok smiled.
“It’s a bothersome but necessary task to adjust the direction.”
He had used Davi’s hacking ability to deceive the surveillance equipment, but that was only temporary.
Considering Machina’s excellent security system, which constantly changes encryption patterns and reconstructs the system in real-time, the deception wouldn’t last long.
Of course, if Lennok remained here to assist Davi, he could continue to fool the surveillance equipment, but that wasn’t what he needed to do right now.
“Your son’s skin disease is likely a form of curse.”
“…A curse?”
“There’s a faint residue of mana that isn’t yours. It feels quite twisted and tingling.”
“…”
“Unless a child so young has already awakened such sinister mana, the cause is somewhat clear, isn’t it?”
“But Machina’s hospitals mentioned nothing about that…”
“If it’s a curse inflicted at birth, its effects tend to grow stronger over time, while its traces become fainter.”
“…”
“Machina’s researchers, for all their extensive knowledge in magic engineering, don’t seem interested in pure spellcraft knowledge.”
Lennok muttered casually.
“It would be best to seek out a shaman or a spirit mage. A curse sorcerer, ironically, wouldn’t be able to help with this problem.”
“…You have no intention of killing us.”
The soldier standing next to Karuso muttered.
“According to rumors, we should have been pulverized by now.”
“Why, do you wish to die?”
Lennok, his handcuffed hands raised, smiled.
“If you wish it, I’m not one to hesitate.”
“N-no…!! We’ll be going now!!”
The soldiers, realizing the import of his bluster, hurriedly opened the barrier and began to move away.
Lennok also stepped through the opened barrier and walked straight down the corridor.
Indeed, the movement of life signs within his sensory range was active, confirming they were using the shift change as an excuse to switch posts, just as Lennok had suggested.
If he had chosen the forceful approach, knocking out the soldiers from the start, he would have had to fight repeatedly, straining himself until he escaped the detention facility.
But by partially neutralizing the system and persuading the security personnel to create a small opening, his range of activity significantly widened.
“How convenient.”
All Lennok had to do was temporarily paralyze the surrounding surveillance devices and evade approaching presences to escape into another corridor.
However, Machina’s soldiers wouldn’t be fooled by this simple trick forever, so it was crucial to make the most of this window.
As if his prediction wasn’t wrong, the moment he evaded the incoming presences and turned into the right corridor,
All the lights in the corridor went out, and instead, red warning lights began to flash.
WHOOSH!!!
[A detainee has escaped from the Special Detention Facility. Code Red alert initiated.]
[All units are to return to the facility and form a containment perimeter.]
[Security system encryption pattern updated. All corridors and rooms are being isolated and secured.]
[Enforcement Agency called. Mechanized Troops Escort 9th Legion mobilizing!!]
A sharp voice boomed through the speakers in the corridor.
Only a short time had passed since Lennok left his cell, and the monitors had already noticed the anomaly.
Though the CCTV feeds and various surveillance devices showed no issues, perhaps they noticed the confusion escalating and the guards not being vigilant during the shift changes?
It was faster than he expected, but Lennok wasn’t surprised.
It was only natural that the security and judgment of the Special Detention Facility, where Machina’s worst criminals were held before trial, wouldn’t solely rely on surveillance equipment and systems.
CRASH!!
A loud roar and shouts could be heard from afar.
At the same time, clear mana signatures, palpable even to Lennok’s senses, began to appear everywhere.
“A wizard has escaped. Catch him!!”
“I don’t know what he did, but he fooled the surveillance devices. All the doctors are unconscious!!”
It seemed that as soon as they realized the soldiers guarding the detention facility had been subdued, they began to deploy a large number of high-level mana users.
“Without even removing his mana-blocking restraints, how could he…!!”
“There’s no sign of him changing clothes or removing his handcuffs. He can’t have gotten far!!”
Were they planning to completely isolate the facility with barriers and check each section one by one to find Lennok?
Their judgment that Lennok would be hampered given his unrecovered mana, and their extreme solution to track him down most certainly and quickly based on that assumption, were flawless.
Lennok thought so, nodding as he leaned against the corridor wall.
“Davi, ready?”
[Special Detention Facility three-dimensional blueprint 88% recreated. Control room location secured.]
The cybernetic spirit, perched on Lennok’s head, twitched its tail, gathering mana at that moment.
[Mini Ascension Gate database randomly parallel-connected. Security system overloaded by 15%…!!]
At that instant, the steel barriers, tightly closed on all sides, began to vibrate wildly and move roughly up and down.
RUMBLE!!!
Hundreds of layered barriers in the narrow, long corridor opened and closed frantically, raging in all directions.
At the end of it, the faces of Enforcers and soldiers flickered into view, then disappeared again—a bizarre sight.
“Adamant Thunder is there!!”
“Catch him!!”
The moment Lennok disappeared through an opening, the door slammed shut, and an Enforcer, not to be outdone, roughly struck the barrier.
CRASH!!
“Damn it…!!”
The Enforcer cursed harshly, looking at the barrier that had only bent halfway forward.
Even with a mana-infused strike, it was hard enough for most superhumans to break through easily.
After all, this detention facility itself was one of Machina’s finest magic engineering achievements, built to isolate high-level superhumans within its walls.
Therefore, the barrier control system going haywire was akin to a disaster.
WHIRRR!!
When the barrier opened again, he hurriedly entered, but Lennok had already disappeared through another door.
“Why is the detention facility’s internal security system in this state?!”
“W-we don’t know. We manage barrier operation permissions differently to avoid hacking or interference…!!”
- Information volume far exceeding the security system’s processing capacity is flowing backward through the database.
The operators, grasping the situation, quickly responded via comms.
“Information flowing backward through the database and causing the system to go haywire? Do you think that makes sense?”
- Upon checking the source, it appears to be from the medical equipment attached to Adamant Thunder’s body. It’s possible he tampered with the devices we attached to monitor his mana and vital signs.
“…”
The Enforcers, realizing the meaning of the operator’s words, fell silent.
Medical equipment that had been permitted entry to assess and research the mana and condition of a peak-level wizard.
Naturally, the readings recorded by the medical equipment were also being stored in the detention facility’s highest-grade security database.
The wizard had been feeding dummy data into the medical equipment measuring his body, causing the detention facility’s security system to go haywire.
If Lennok had attempted to escape using brute force from the beginning, it wouldn’t have been difficult to detect, track, and apprehend him.
Instead, he psychologically pressured the patrol shifts, throwing their rotations into disarray, and overloaded the system via medical equipment.
Ironically, the most dangerous wizard in this city was throwing the entire detention facility’s system into chaos without using a single proper spell.
“We thought wrong from the start. We should have kept our distance and given him no opening…!!”
“Snap out of it. We don’t have much time!!”
“From now on, we track Adamant Thunder and share his destination and direction of movement as much as possible.”
“Spread out wide, share information, and narrow down his direction!!”
The Enforcers quickly regained their composure and began to share their communications network with other soldiers.
They rapidly gathered information and tracked Lennok amidst the constantly opening and closing barriers.
With their characteristic sharp senses, the Enforcers immediately found a pattern in Lennok’s movements.
“He’s periodically gaining altitude. He rarely descends.”
“It seems Adamant Thunder is heading towards the Special Detention Facility’s top-floor rooftop.”
“What’s on the rooftop? There shouldn’t be an escape route there, to begin with?”
“A park facility for detainees, a convenience store, and…”
“And?”
Someone among the soldiers belatedly realized and muttered.
“A helipad.”
WHOOOOSH!!
The top floor rooftop of the Special Detention Facility, where strong winds raged.
A small helipad located in a corner of the rooftop, heavily enclosed by thick barbed wire.
Lennok, his hands bound by handcuffs, stood in a patient gown, silently gazing at the sky.
Click!
“D-don’t move!!”
A man slowly approached Lennok from behind, aiming a pistol at his back.
Lennok glanced back, identified the man’s appearance, and said,
“You’re the rooftop manager.”
“W-wizard… Stay still.”
The manager said, sweat pouring down his face.
“The Enforcers are coming up. Get back to your c-cell, quietly…”
“A pistol. You haven’t used it for over three years, have you?”
Lennok asked, smiling.
“You seem to clean your firearms regularly, but you should have consistently participated in simulated firing practice. No matter how well maintained, a weapon breaks if you don’t fire it.”
Lennok continued to walk calmly, even though he knew he was being aimed at.
The manager closed his eyes tightly and pulled the trigger toward the sky, but just as Lennok said, the gun didn’t fire.
With the sound of a spring breaking, the manager powerlessly lowered the gun that wouldn’t shoot, muttering,
“Where do you think you’re going to escape in those clothes… You’re crazy, completely crazy!!”
“I’m not escaping.”
At that moment, a powerful gust of wind swept down from the unseen sky.
It pressed down on the rooftop with a heavy wind pressure, as if a helicopter were landing, pushing everything around downwards.
“Gah!!”
The manager, too, was swept away by the wind and tumbled down.
At that very moment, Lennok, gripping something with his handcuffed hands, slowly floated up from the spot.
Simultaneously, the form of a jet-black Night Raven gnawed its way into existence from the empty air.
KWAA-OOOHHH!!!
“W-what in the world!!”
Lennok stably ascended onto the raven’s wing, looking down at the manager who was retreating in a panic.
“Davi, how’s the condition?”
[Much better than when we were in the deep-sea barrier!]
“Mouser must have taken good care of it.”
Before infiltrating the Workshop Tower and finishing everything, Lennok had asked Mouser to repair the damaged Night Raven.
Mouser had fulfilled the request to repair the Night Raven with Graya Ore excavated from the deep sea, even after the initial work was done.
Lennok had used Davi’s ability to reclaim control of the Night Raven, then used its stealth function to travel to the Special Detention Facility.
He was planning to breach the air defense network and escape at the same time as his breakout.
WHISTLE!!
As the Night Raven soared high into the sky, Enforcers appeared one after another from below.
They fired mana-infused bullets and sniped with sharply-honed attitudes, but the Night Raven smoothly ascended into the sky, evading them.
[The Special Detention Facility’s security system will normalize soon.]
Davi said.
[There’s only one chance to escape the air defense network before then. We should set the direction now, shouldn’t we?]
“Narcissa Solmer and the Ex Machina committee members are afraid because they don’t know what I know.”
Lennok answered, bowing his head slightly against the wind.
“It’s a fear based on my past actions, rather than just what I’ve experienced. Among the locations involved in this incident, there’s a secret Ex Machina wants to hide.”
Ex Machina itself didn’t know precisely what that secret was, or what exactly was hidden.
They only vaguely perceived that such a secret existed.
That’s why, even after apprehending Lennok, they had carefully cared for his condition instead of treating him roughly.
“The blueprints Kaiser left behind. There was only one candidate for a secret of that magnitude from the beginning.”
Lennok chuckled, gripping the Night Raven’s wing as he muttered.
“The Workshop Tower of the Furnace General. Let’s go to that ruin we personally destroyed.”
[They say criminals always return to the scene of the crime. Looking at Master, it seems that’s not wrong.]
“…”
Lennok silently raised his hand and pulled the unnecessarily sharp ear of the spirit.