Chapter 663: Karma (5)
Grumbling, Davi peeked out and looked around the elevator.
“[Should I try hacking the internal systems again?]”
“……Hold on.”
Lennok, who had been carefully examining the control panel, brought his hammer to the keyhole located below the elevator buttons.
Tap.
The moment he lightly tapped the keyhole with the hammer, its form reassembled, transforming into a key.
“This was it.”
He inserted the key and unlocked it. A new button, hidden behind the control panel, was revealed.
A single button, with no numbers or names inscribed.
The moment Lennok pressed it, the elevator began to move again.
Whirrr!!
The elevator door opened at a specific altitude, revealing a passageway wide enough for a person to enter and exit.
The entire passage was lined with solid alloy, designed to withstand external impact.
That’s why it had preserved its original form even during Lennok’s battle with the Mechanized Troops.
Inside the enormous room at the end of the passage, a large glass display case was placed.
Inside the display case was a model blueprint. It looked messy and disorganized, as if it hadn’t been properly tidied.
“This is…”
Lennok, contemplating the model, took out Kaiser’s research journal from his pocket.
Comparing the blueprint drawn at the end of the journal with the room’s model, Lennok slowly opened the display case and began to touch the model.
“The specific proportions differ from the blueprint, but there’s a certain pattern. If I organize the compatible patterns and align the model, perhaps…”
Rumble!!
At that moment, the form of the room Lennok stood in began to transform, mirroring the model’s appearance.
From all sides, mechanical parts assembled and rose, changing their forms, and the room transformed into a smooth, metallic void.
The blueprint left in Kaiser’s research journal wasn’t meant to guide him to find such a place.
On the contrary, it was a message to use the blueprint as a key to assemble the room into this very form.
And then, slowly rising from beyond the vanished model stand, assembled according to the blueprint, a deep silver-metallic object appeared.
A metallic object, shaped like a door frame, silently floated up in the center of the room.
“[What is this?]”
Davi tilted her head, seemingly unable to comprehend it even after seeing it directly.
“[For something left by an organic being named Kaiser… it’s not very intuitive…]”
“Here, there’s a message.”
Beneath it, a few lines of a hastily scrawled message were written.
“[An object refined from the failed ‘Mirage’ after persuading the Furnace General. One of the project’s testbed candidates.]”
“[I secured his cooperation through several deals, but he seems to have no attachment to life. It’s unlikely we’ll meet again.]”
“[As future adjustments are predicted to be difficult, any project personnel who acquire this object should only secure the Heart of the Dragon-wyrm and then discard it.]”
So, what was hidden here was indeed a provision for establishing a new testbed for the project.
Kaiser Bajour, with the help of the Furnace General during his lifetime, created this object and hid it here.
But at that point, did he predict the Furnace General wouldn’t live long and leave this message for the project personnel?
That sharp intuition and judgment, transcending time, was precisely what Lennok knew of Kaiser.
However, there was one lingering question-
“The Heart of the Dragon-wyrm, huh…”
The Old World knowledge that a Sidesquad agent, during the Narcissa Solmer assassination attempt, wanted to acquire in exchange for the Furnace General’s hammer.
He had dismissed it as trivial, but could it be that it was also related to the Black Consumer Project?
If so, how did the Sidesquad know about it and try to acquire it?
The Sidesquad. Or perhaps there was a project insider within Ex Machina.
It was even possible that such an insider was among the committee members Lennok had taken hostage and exploited.
“……”
Should he go back and turn Ex Machina upside down again, interrogating them one by one?
But as soon as Lennok thought of the idea, he concluded it was unlikely to be feasible.
Even without that, he was already under surveillance throughout Machina; causing a ruckus against Ex Machina would be difficult to handle later.
Moreover, attempting anything rash now, with his condition not fully recovered, would likely only result in losses.
For now, it was best to put it aside and investigate the circumstances further during a future visit to Machina.
“For now, is simply acquiring this frame the end of it…?”
“[Master, have you figured out what this frame is?]”
As Lennok reached out and pulled down the floating silver frame, it split into four pieces and folded powerlessly into his hands.
Lennok folded them neatly as he replied,
“I confirmed previously that the Heart of the Dragon-wyrm was an Old World artifact. But Kaiser said to acquire it through this frame.”
“[……Is that so?]”
“Considering that the Furnace General created this frame, the reason Kaiser requested cooperation, and the indication that it was a new testbed candidate, there’s only one possibility.”
Lennok, having thoroughly erased the remaining message, lifted his gaze.
“This is a new Mini Ascension Gate itself, created by miniaturizing the Ascension Gate’s capabilities to their absolute limit.”
Lennok’s eyes, staring at the vast metallic void, deepened.
“Decades ago, Kaiser predicted the failure of the Ascension Gate project and intended to miniaturize its capabilities to use it as a testbed for the project.”
This was different from the Mini Ascension Gate Lennok had forcibly opened using his Domain.
This was the foundation of a gate created by miniaturizing the very principle of the Ascension Gate in reality.
Kaiser had persuaded the Furnace General, who had built the foundation of the Ascension Gate, to create a miniaturized artifact capable of containing the gate’s power.
Perhaps his intention was to apply the gate’s capabilities to the project, using the Old World’s void as a testbed to endlessly rewind failures.
“That’s why he left a message saying the Heart of the Dragon-wyrm could be secured within it. However, there’s one key difference…”
Lennok chuckled.
“I possess both the Ascension Gate’s opening code and its core system structure.”
Unlike other project personnel, Lennok could open the Old World’s void with the power of the Mini Ascension Gate himself, without needing the Furnace General’s help.
Even if it wasn’t possible immediately, all the necessary preparations were complete.
If Kaiser and the Furnace General’s joint work was properly constructed, then reproducing it was only a matter of time.
“Let’s go back. Everything we needed to see here is done.”
Lennok confidently exited the room, boarded the elevator, pressed a button, and nodded.
“I’ll return to Vulcan, research and construct the Mini Ascension Gate, and then investigate the Heart of the Dragon-wyrm within it. The traces of Kaiser’s project lead in that direction.”
Machina Special Detention Facility, Main Control Room.
Hundreds of screens rapidly switched, circuits connected everywhere, and announcement sounds echoed.
Yet, none of the people standing in the control room dared to speak.
CRASH!!
The door burst open violently, and the soldiers standing guard flinched significantly.
The Enforcers, who had been pacing for a long time, also turned to look at the door with rigid expressions.
“Ms. Narcissa, sir…”
Narcissa, in her wheelchair, entered with a murderous expression.
One difference was that unlike when she came alone, this time she was leading dozens of private soldiers.
Looking around with a sharp glare, she asked,
“Adamant Thunder?”
“He was last presumed sighted near the Furnace General’s Workshop Tower.”
“Presumed?”
Everyone fell silent at Narcissa’s chilling retort.
“You couldn’t even properly contain a single wizard who was injured, exhausted, and collapsed. And now it’s ‘presumed’ rather than ‘tracked’ or ‘captured’?”
“……He tampered with the security system. He reverse-interfered with the medical equipment’s database that was brought in for research, corrupting our authority.”
The doctors, too, said nothing, profusely sweating.
It was an undeniable fact that their demands and blunders had contributed to Van’s escape.
“If he had broken the handcuffs or used magic, we could have easily tracked his location, but…”
“There should be a tracker in the patient’s gown, shouldn’t there?”
“……It seems to be non-functional.”
“Right. I understand.”
Narcissa turned to the soldiers with an impassive face.
“So, he escaped the detention facility wearing magic-blocking metal handcuffs, a patient’s gown, and without using a single spell?”
“…….”
“Are you all truly in your right minds? Didn’t you understand what would happen if this situation led to additional casualties?”
“We apologize.”
“Haa…”
Sighing, Narcissa composed herself quickly and asked,
“You presumed he was sighted near the Workshop Tower. Knowing that, why haven’t you pinpointed his location yet?”
“The ability of Aoshu Spero, the psychic who cooperated to resolve this situation, went berserk, making it difficult to approach.”
“……Spero? Are you referring to that Spero whom I know?”
A middle-aged man who appeared to be the oldest among the Enforcers nodded gravely.
“Since high-level superhumans collided, it was difficult to specifically confirm the battle situation.”
“Even so, you requested cooperation from a renegade who went over to the Gearsides?”
“There were strong demands from the Steel Heart Faction committee members.”
Though the Gearsides’ leader had died in a foreign land, severing their lineage, they were still one of Machina’s most dangerous researchers who had defied the city.
Even with the organization disbanded, their remnants had formed their own powers and wielded influence from the shadows.
Aoshu Spero, an 8-level mental psychic known as the Mastermind, was one such monster of the shadows.
“Haa…”
With Hermes’s suicide, the city was in disarray, and control was dispersed and wavering.
Even as Narcissa tried to bring the situation under control, other Ex Machina committee members were also moving according to their own standards to manage the situation.
Massaging her temples, as if in a headache, Narcissa looked at the detention facility screen and began to speak.
“First, contact the committee member who gave the orders on site, and summon all relevant personnel here. From now until Adamant Thunder’s location is pinpointed, no one-”
Narcissa, who had been quickly checking the screen, suddenly stopped speaking.
“……Ms. Solmer? Is something wrong…?”
Other Enforcers and agents, who turned their heads to follow her gaze, were also left speechless.
Room 6, the innermost part of the Special Detention Facility, which had been empty the moment Adamant Thunder escaped.
The camera displaying that screen now showed the figure of a young man in a patient’s gown and handcuffs.
Lennok, sitting casually on the bed, waving nonchalantly at the camera.
As if the current chaos were a lie, he looked utterly at ease, as if he had been there all along.
At the sight of the escapee, who had turned the entire city upside down and then returned to the detention facility as if nothing had happened, no one in the control room could easily speak.