Returnee's S-Rank Management Guide

Chapter 119 : The Heart of Prometheus (1)

The Heart of Prometheus (1)

Her head rang.

The gigantic hand that attacked Minerva, and the shock that engulfed my whole body.

In that situation, Yeon-ji sensed Eugene dashing in the direction where she felt someone's presence, and reflexively fired her chains.

'That was lucky.'

Half of it was pure luck.

If Eugene had a different intention from her own, she herself would not have made it out unharmed either.

'He really is a monster.'

Yeon-ji slowly got up and looked around.

Fortunately, the train she was in was safe.

Probably, the train car with the hostages also suffered little damage.

Just before the giant hand crushed the train, Eugene had first severed the train's connections and sent them flying, and Yeon-ji used her black chains to anchor the tail of the running train, barely managing to stop it right before it crashed.

'That monster's goal is only that object, the so-called Heart of Prometheus.'

Eugene had used it as bait to save the train.

The train had derailed and overturned, but this was nothing serious in the circumstances.

"As expected, you're amazing, Eugene."

At that moment, the sound of a short applause was heard.

Turning her head toward the source, she saw Eugene pointing his sword and Victor standing across from him.

The two, who had clearly been near Yeon-ji, were now conversing in a car a little distance away.

"To think you'd manage to save people in that situation. And who's that little kid? I never imagined there'd be such magic."

Victor was completely unharmed, without a scratch.

Eugene, on the other hand, was not.

One of his legs had suffered a bad wound and was bleeding.

She didn't know if the bone was broken, but moving properly looked difficult.

That was the price he paid for pushing himself to save people.

「GRAAAAHHH!!」

Just then, a tremendous roar erupted.

Looking quickly out the shattered train window, she saw the giant titan slowly emerging from underground.

In the hand that had just slammed down toward Minerva, she saw pieces of the destroyed train and something glowing.

'What on earth is that.......'

Was it because she was half-demon?

Or perhaps because she was a mage, sensitive to magic power?

Whatever the case, when Yeon-ji saw what was in the monster's hand, a chill ran through her entire body.

It was an object so dangerous, she could instantly understand why the monster had appeared here.

She immediately realized that this was the item under the protection of the S-rank Hunter Eugene Garland.

"The Heart of Prometheus."

Victor spoke toward Eugene.

"How much do you know about that?"

"I know enough."

"Then you must also know what's about to happen."

The giant, the Titan, slowly brought the 'Heart of Prometheus' clutched in its hand to its mouth.

Watching the scene, Eugene spoke to Victor.

"Why did the master you work for orchestrate this? If he knows what that is, he must be aware that it would cause a catastrophic disaster."

"That's none of my concern. I just do the job I was paid to do."

He said this as he slowly raised both hands.

"By the way, fighting isn't included in the job, so there's no need to glare at me like that."

Even if he was injured, Eugene Garland was still one of the top-ranked powerhouses in America.

He had no interest in taking the trouble to fight.

'And there's that mysterious girl, too.'

He had seen the black chains that stopped the train just now with his own eyes.

Victor had lived as an Awakener for a long time, but he had never seen a technique like that.

He could only assume it was magic, because it was nothing short of a miracle.

"So let's just watch that thing as spectators."

Victor lifted his hand, watching for any changes in the Titan's body as it swallowed the Heart of Prometheus. When he first received the commission, he thought it was just an exaggeration, but seeing 'that' right before his eyes, he felt almost moved.

"We might be witnessing the birth of a god."

The product of human science, and the pinnacle of magic-engineering.

Now consumed by the king of the Demonic Zone.

Perhaps the only being that could stop it would be a god.

***

Originally, I didn't know much about the existence called a 'Saintess'.

I'd never really been interested, and she'd never explained in detail.

A being that held miracles.

That's all I'd ever thought it was.

"...... You're asking what I'm going to do next?"

It was the night before the final battle.

I asked her that question, almost absentmindedly.

Once she killed the Demon King, she'd be freed from her obligations as a Saintess.

She'd told me this the first time we met.

So I was curious.

After everything was over, what would a woman who'd lived solely for this moment do with the rest of her life?

"I've never really thought about it."

She sat beside me, bowing her head to her knees and murmuring.

That reply, if anything, left me dumbfounded.

Of course, I would return to my original world, but she would have to live in this world going forward.

She needed to give some thought to her new life.

"A new life......"

She muttered and looked at me.

"Well, there is one thing I'd like to try."

At her reply, I just smiled.

It was such a characteristic thing for her to say.

And so, I never truly understood the meaning behind those words until the very end.

***

"So, why are we going back to the lab?"

Alencia, wearing a flustered expression, tugged at my collar.

She obviously didn't like the idea of going to the Polaris Research Institute.

"Because there's a legacy left there that can save us from this situation."

"...... A legacy that can save us from this situation?"

Alencia looked like she didn't understand what I meant.

"I'll explain when we arrive."

The monster rampage.

The king of the Demonic Zone had suddenly appeared, assaulting Minerva.

They had probably targeted the 'certain item' that Eugene had been guarding at Minerva.

And I could roughly guess what that item was.

'The missing core from that facility.'

In the equipment left behind at the Polaris Research Institute, there were traces as though the operating module had been removed.

"Alencia?!"

After hailing a cab and arriving at the Polaris Research Institute in a hurry, I saw several trucks standing outside.

With the king of the Demonic Zone showing up about 600 km from Denver, they were probably scrambling to move important equipment.

"Why did you come back here!"

Leon, who had been directing other researchers and workers, spotted us and strode over quickly.

He glanced at Alencia, then glared fiercely at me.

"Park Jung-woo, I'm sure I conveyed Sarah's wishes to you?"

"If those were truly Sarah Walker's wishes, I would have followed them."

"...... What did you say?"

"You edited the video, didn't you?"

From the video Leon had shown me, it certainly seemed those were Sarah's intentions.

But something about Sarah's demeanor was off.

She looked like she wanted to say more.

"A parent would never say something like that to their own daughter."

"That's right!!"

Alencia echoed my words forcefully.

"I saw it—what Mom really wanted to tell me. Leon, you saw it too! So why did you do that?!"

"...... Alencia."

With a pained expression, he avoided Alencia's gaze.

I could guess why he made such a decision.

As a scientist, fantasy beings like 'Saints' probably meant little to him.

His real concern was Alencia's power.

The ability to freely manipulate electricity.

What would happen if the world found out about it?

"I wanted you to live an ordinary life."

That's why he tried to persuade her, even to the point of manipulating Sarah Walker's last words.

That showed just how precious Alencia was to him.

"Dr. Baldwin, this is not your decision to make."

I said quietly to him.

"Alencia is neither as young nor as foolish as you think. She knows exactly what she stands to lose by the choice she's made."

If she'd been going to give up easily, she had plenty of chances already.

Yet she had stubbornly persisted.

"...... I'm sure Alencia will come to regret her choice."

"No."

I shook my head.

"I will never let that happen."

Regret usually comes from loss.

So I would make sure Alencia lost nothing.

"That's why I've come all the way here."

"......"

Leon seemed at a loss for words in the face of my resolute response.

Maybe it was because Alencia echoed my determination as well.

"So, please allow us entry to the Polaris Research Institute."

"The institute? Why? Surely you've seen all there is to see in there already."

"There's a legacy Sarah Walker left for Alencia inside."

At those words, Leon's pupils widened.

He must have immediately understood what I meant.

"No way... That can't be. Are you saying it was made for Alencia? That is only supposed to be..."

"A military weapon, right?"

I recalled the lab where I'd met Leon before.

That tower-like machine installed at its center.

"As far as I know, the Polaris Research Institute studies energy—specifically, converting magic power into electricity."

"...... That's right."

"But that machine, to my eye, was the complete opposite."

I am ignorant about modern science.

But when it comes to 'magic-engineering', that's another story.

The technique applied to that device exhibited a nature 'completely opposite' to what's commonly known.

"A device that steals electrical energy using magic power. It probably produced effects beyond even an EMP. It didn't just damage or shut down devices—it sucked up their electricity."

If you could drain all the electricity your opponent was using, immobilizing them was simple.

Unlike an EMP, there was no need to cause severe damage to enemy facilities, either.

"So that means you could temporarily collect all the electricity in the vicinity, huh?"

Absently listening, Alencia muttered to herself.

But Leon slowly shook his head at Alencia's words.

"That was the goal, but in practice, it was meaningless. Activating it required an excessive amount of magic power, and there was nowhere to store the electricity it absorbed."

And to completely incapacitate an enemy by draining their electricity, you needed to do so over a long period.

But that was impossible, and with Sarah Walker gone—the one person with the knowledge to improve the device—the research had to stop.

"If you need a place to store it, we have one right here."

"What...?"

Leon was about to scoff, but when I pointed at Alencia, his eyes widened.

"W-wait, hold on. Are you seriously saying Sarah built that machine just for this purpose?"

"Yes."

I put a hand on Alencia's shoulder.

"Leon, that's what you kept telling me was Sarah Walker's wish."

"...... But why?"

"You already know."

I smiled at him.

"Because she believed her beloved daughter would surely become an amazing person."

"......"

He stared blankly at me and Alencia in turn.

After gazing up at the sky in deep thought, he opened his mouth slowly.

"Even so... It's impossible."

"Leon!!"

"I don't mean that I refuse, Alencia. It's just that the device can't be used anymore."

Leon spoke in a stifled voice, as if in pain.

"The Heart of Prometheus. That's the core needed to activate that device. To make the core, we needed a budget in the tens of billions, a one-of-a-kind dragon's heart from anywhere on earth, a team of scientists, and Sarah's own knowledge."

But none of those things existed here anymore.

"And you must also know where that core is now."

I recalled what I'd seen on the news.

The king of the Demonic Zone, the Titan, swallowing something.

That must have been the 'Heart of Prometheus.'

"That doesn't matter."

"...... What do you mean, it doesn't matter? Without the Heart of Prometheus, you can't activate the device. Do you not understand what you're saying?"

"In other words, if we have something with a similar output to the Heart of Prometheus, we can activate the device, correct?"

Then the answer was simple.

Because right now, we had something even more powerful here.

"I'll take that role."

-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=

【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】