novelraw Chapter 114
Chapter 114
Chapter 114
Araya was dead.
But the enormous spark he left behind was now headed straight for Trinity Academy. More precisely, it was coming for my garden.
There was no way I could just sit back and watch. I immediately contacted Maria and gave her instructions. At this point, I had no time to worry about the Student Council or anything else.
“It’s me, Maria. Gather every available force you can right now and deploy them to the Academy—”
“It must not be done!”
Evangeline, who had been listening to my call from the side, suddenly stopped me. When I turned to her in confusion, she spoke with a pale face.
“Did you not say before? That the enemy had once attacked you all through illusion magic.”
“So what if I did?”
“I think I now understand what he was trying to summon back then! He was gathering all the negative emotions you felt at the time to call forth ‘the thing beneath’!”
“The thing beneath….”
It was a phrase I remembered from the original story.
In this world, people even gave that being a grand name: “Outer God.”
“If the ‘River’ is the furnace from which Mystics are born, then ‘that thing’ is the being stuck to the very bottom of the furnace! It’s formed where distortion upon distortion endlessly overlaps in the deepest depths of the River! To pull it up—”
“Negative emotions are required, is that it.”
“Correct. But that alone is not enough. By the rules of the world, it should be impossible for it to leak into this side. Yet somehow, he has found a way….”
“That’s enough explanation.”
I didn’t need to hear the rest.
In the original work, it was a monster that only the protagonist could face in the very final stage.
Necromancing itself was a new form of sorcery, born from the fusion of ‘magic’ and ‘hacking techniques.’
When the power inflation in the story went completely mad, the protagonist, a Necromancer, gained the ability to hack into and reshape the very ‘Law’ that governed the world.
And with that power, he summoned the Outer God.
A creature from another dimension that should never exist in this world.
‘No ordinary Adaptee could deal with it.’
Only the strongest cards held by corporations like mine, or the top-tier problem solvers officially sanctioned by city governments, could handle such monsters. Lesser Adaptees would only get in the way.
Which meant—
‘I’ll have to take the field myself.’
Damn you, Araya, you bastard.
Leaving behind such a fatally disastrous troll move. It’s enough to bring tears to my eyes from gratitude.
-“A Corpse Golem!? Why is that thing here!?”
-“As if these tin cans weren’t already enough of a headache, now this shows up too!?”
A foul stench began to spread across the entire Cyber Park.
Some students vomited just from smelling it. Others lost all will to fight at the sight of its grotesque form. Raina, standing beside Iri, was one of them, and Silence quickly took care of her panic-stricken state.
“……!”
Iri herself was shocked, of course, but she had enough resistance to endure.
In the back alleys of Sector E or in the Fallen Sector, corpses were a common sight.
Over there, funerals were often handled by simply dumping chemicals to dissolve bodies because no one could afford proper burials. Compared to that, even a Corpse Golem looked almost cute.
That was why she could look at the Corpse Golem more directly than the others. And she noticed that this one was slightly different from the usual descriptions.
‘There are non-human parts mixed in…!’
Corpse Golems were supposed to be formed from clumps of human and animal corpses mashed together, but the one before them had a different composition.
Android arms and legs, a human torso, and an unidentified mass of black tar.
‘That’s….’
Iri realized that the black lump was the same type of growth as the black tumors that had driven the androids berserk earlier.
But she had no time to analyze further.
She couldn’t just stand there and watch.
“Everyone, open fire and blow it away!”
At her command, the students who had been waiting with weapons ready all pulled their triggers at once.
Iri, Silence, and Raina, who were closest to the Corpse Golem, also fired from their spots.
Ratatatatatatatatatatatatat—!
Countless rounds ripped into the Corpse Golem’s body, tearing it apart.
Against overwhelming firepower like this, it wouldn’t be able to advance easily. At least not until the magazines ran dry.
And then—
[Iri! Can you hear me!?]
“Ciel? What is it?”
[No time to explain! Look at this!]
Ciel, who was still locked in combat within Cyberspace, suddenly contacted her and sent a live feed. It was a video of a building outside the Academy.
And in that footage was something unbelievable.
“W-what the hell is that!?”
[I don’t know either…!]
A colossal plant-like thing was growing outside the Academy. At first glance, it looked like a plant, but only because of its shape. In truth, it was a massive tentacle.
“Ugh…!”
[What’s wrong, Iri!?]
Just looking at the shape gave her the sensation of a needle stabbing into her brain. It was a symptom of mental contamination.
“I-I’m fine…!”
The fact that mere observation through video caused this much corruption was terrifying.
Even when she had faced a Titan directly, all she had suffered was mild panic. Just how dangerous was this monster?
“Th-this is really happening, isn’t it?”
[It’s real.]
The tentacle was nearly as tall as the 250-story Academy building.
The scene was so surreal it was hard to accept.
The tentacle was so massive that even a Titan seemed small beside it, and next to it stood the Academy building—with them inside.
It had rooted itself underground and now twisted upward at terrifying speed, wrapping itself gently around the Academy tower.
The sudden vibration knocked many students off their feet. It was probably from the tentacle brushing against the building.
The shock of reality finally sank in.
Then, in the video, the tentacle suddenly sprouted spikes. Its smooth body transformed in an instant into something like a hedgehog.
And at that exact moment—
KWAaaaaaaAANG—!
Something pierced through the walls of the 150th Floor Cyber Park. The shockwave swept countless students away, and screams filled the air.
-“What the hell!? What’s happening!?”
-“Fuck! My leg! Somebody—!”
What broke through the outer wall was unmistakably one of the tentacle’s spikes. It might have looked like a small sharp thorn in the video, but in reality, each one was thicker and larger than an industrial pipe.
And that wasn’t all.
The students were still in chaos from the sudden situation when the tip of the spike opened up, disgorging something that slithered out.
It was a black slime.
The slime, made of what looked like tar, oozed out from the spike and began creeping toward the students.
Though confused, the students immediately responded to the enemy.
But—
-“Fuck! What the hell is this now!?”
-“Why the hell aren’t bullets working!?”
To be precise, they did work.
Whenever the slime was struck by bullets, it twitched as if in pain. But compared to the slime’s massive body, the bullets were far too small to matter.
‘W-wait, that thing….’
I had seen that form before. The slime looked almost identical to the tumor-like masses attached to the androids earlier—except this one was absurdly large.
Which meant—
‘They were all connected…!’
The virus that had taken control of the Academy’s system, the tumor masses clinging to the androids, the sudden appearance of the Corpse Golems—they were all connected.
Which meant—
“Ciel! How much longer!?”
Just like in Colony V7, the massive tentacle and these slimes were being controlled by a ‘program’ in Cyberspace. If it could be destroyed, then maybe this whole disaster could be stopped….
Perhaps my thoughts reached her, because Ciel answered urgently.
[Just hold on a little longer! I’ll find a way somehow!]
Since victory was impossible in reality, the only hope lay in Ciel’s success.
But to buy that time, several problems had to be solved.
First was the situation here on the 150th floor.
The sudden appearance of monsters had completely shattered the front lines. Fewer and fewer students were maintaining their combat strength, while the majority were panicking and unable to fight properly.
Some even began abandoning the battle entirely, running off in desperation to save their own lives.
Unless this chaos was contained and everyone united to resist, the damage would be catastrophic even if Ciel succeeded.
The second issue was….
“Senpai, Raina! You two head to the 249th floor!”
“‘You mean Miyu and Ciel? Got it!’”
Although there were some Adaptees stationed on the 249th floor shelter, judging by the state of things here, it wasn’t likely to be safe there either.
Miyu and Ciel needed protection before they were swept up in the chaos.
“Both of you, move now!”
“Iri, what about you?”
“I’ll stay and hold the line!”
I couldn’t just watch people die before my eyes. The only way to survive was to calm the chaos, unite everyone, and fight together.
The two of them hesitated at my words.
“I’ll be fine, now hurry!”
At my sharp command, the two had no choice but to dash off.
Why was this happening to me?
Where did it all go wrong?
Up until entering the Academy, my future had seemed to shine within reach. How had it come to this?
‘Why the hell did it come to this…!’
I was the son of a high-ranking officer in Militech’s Security Division.
From birth, I possessed exceptional physical abilities and natural compatibility with nanomachines. With just a single injection, without needing multiple treatments, I became an Adaptee—and showed high compatibility with most modules.
My life was supposed to be a straight road to success.
But ever since entering the Academy, that shining road had begun to crumble.
After losing the [Showcase] against a girl from the Fallen, I felt my parents’ interest in me quickly fade away.
Though my Militech scholarship contract wasn’t revoked, Chairman Vladimir no longer seemed to expect much from me.
I thought I had redeemed myself with decent grades after the midterms, but now this happened.
Runaway androids, monstrous invaders of unknown origin.
Caught in an unprecedented crisis, Donovan fell into panic.
‘I don’t want to die! I don’t want to die!’
Ratatatatatata—!
Surrounded with nowhere to run, he fired his gun wildly. Someone grabbed his shoulder, warning him he might hit allies, but his ears heard nothing.
When his bullets ran out, he activated his trump card, the [Incinerator Cannon] module.
Panels opened on his wrist, and a powerful energy beam swept through the enemies in front of him.
He might have hit some humans as well, but what did it matter? He didn’t care.
He kept firing his Incinerator Cannon without pause. The reckless overuse pushed his overload rate to the limit. His body temperature spiked, blistering his skin, but he had no time to cool down as he drove his module past its limits.
Yet the monsters kept coming, until finally his [Incinerator Cannon] broke down, leaving him cornered.
‘I don’t want to die! I don’t want to die!’
Just then, someone nearby shouted.
-“Over here! Please, help us here!”
Turning toward the voice, he saw another group of students breaking through the monster’s encirclement, trying to escape outside the Cyber Park. Donovan and the others cried out desperately for them.
“Please, wait!”
“W-wait! Where are you going!?”
But those students used Donovan’s group as bait and fled. He cursed their backs, but it was useless.
The group that had once gathered to fight together had scattered again, each scrambling for their own survival.
If only they had all stayed clear-headed, the outcome might have been different. But one selfish decision shattered the balance.
When one ran, others followed. Firepower weakened, monsters advanced, fear spread, more fled.
A vicious cycle.
Now the battle was completely lost.
Many students were still fighting, but even more were running. How many would actually stay their ground after seeing that?
‘I should’ve run too!’
As Donovan was consumed by regret—
-“Look over there.”
Someone pointed.
He followed their gaze, and saw a figure all too familiar.
Iri Elisbell.
That damned Fallen-born girl who enjoyed the Crown Prince’s favor. She was fighting amidst the monsters.
And around her, something astonishing was happening.