Until we reached our destination, the noisy racket never once let up.
"Art ought to bloom elegantly in silence..."
"There's always some unlucky bastard stirring things up in every team."
"Agreed. Did they come here to carry out the request, or to sightsee...? They lose their nerve at the drop of a hat..."
Ah, come on. Can't we just handle the request in peace? Way to make the guy who was happily chatting earlier look awkward.
"But at least there won't be any [Abnormality]s here. A blessing in disguise, I suppose."
""
"Honestly, when I first saw those [Abnormality]s, I was shocked over and over again.
How very hybrid, if I may say so. Developing new energy by using the human unconscious—an idea I could never have imagined."
"
...That guy has no intention of listening, does he.
"Now then, the ordinary, common sort of thing... what was it again? Ah, I think the age of humanity is drawing to a close. This is the age of the most superior brain, after all. There aren't many who have truly realized that in their hearts yet."
""
"So you can't imagine how happy I was that you all joined us."
""
"...Vergilius is surprisingly willing to answer if it's a 'reasonable statement,' you know?"
There just aren't that many things that count as reasonable statements, that's all. When I visited him privately before, he had participated in the Q&A more diligently than I expected.
Maybe because I'd asked him about work during off-hours, which he wasn't exactly thrilled about.
Then Dongrang spoke up quietly.
"Shh, I hear footsteps."
...You're the one who should be saying that?
The source of the footsteps was the slaughter machine from the Technology Liberation Alliance that had terrorized K Corp.
The kind with a huge sphere mounted on its head as it came crashing down, and the machines that had replaced the sphere with chainsaws and ground people to pulp.
Clang!
"Tch..."
So it really is the difference in mass. Pure force won't do it. For now, evasion is the best option...
Whoooosh—! Boom!
"Hah...!"
Whew... that was close. If I'd been a little slower, I might've been hit.
"Yaaah!!"
Boom!!Zzzzt...
"Haha, how's that?"
Since the enemy's attacks were so monotonous, even the human who'd been charging in with brute force started to shine.
Smashing a machine with a bat like that—was he really one of the same prisoners as me...?
For a moment, I felt a pang of doubt about my own physical abilities.
Ah, wait.
Boom!!
"...Damn it."
Mr. Heathcliff was sent flying into a wall after getting clipped by the sphere that had been swept sideways.
He doesn't seem dead... right? Doesn't look like he's broken anything either.
Then I should take a moment to regroup...
Whiiiiir──!
Dammit. They won't even let me breathe.
I slipped inside the machine's body, dodging the viciously flying chainsaw.
Then, straight for the joint... strike!
Boom!
"...Good."
Once I confirmed it had landed properly, I hurled myself sideways at once.
Boom, grgrgrgrk...!
At the edge of my vision, I saw the chainsaw slam down where I'd been a moment ago.
"...Yeah, this kind of fighting really isn't good for the heart."
A hair's breadth from death if you miss one step.
Considering my abilities, it's a pretty efficient method... but it's not exactly good for mental health.
That said, changing tactics now would be awkward, so I'd just have to grin and bear it.
Swoosh!
The saw blade I'd just dodged was lifted skyward again, then came at me once more.
If I put in a little extra force and swing wide...
Kaaang──!!
The robot was knocked off balance, its posture collapsing under the force.
The instant I noticed that, I pulled the spear as far back into my body as I could.
And then... I thrust.
"Hup!"
KWAANG!!
I drove it straight into the connecting joint around the robot's waist and cleanly pierced the target.
If this had been the old me, I never would've imagined it... a truly remarkable improvement.
Zzt, zzzzt...
I casually yanked the spear back out of the machine, which was now only emitting noise.
Then that leaves the remaining enemies...
None.
So they were already all dealt with.
"I don't see the terrorists anywhere."
"Relax. We brought plenty of regeneration ampoules, so it's fine even if the slaughter machines go wild."
Once the machines had mostly been dealt with, the researchers huddled near Dante spoke up.
...There's no way those regeneration ampoules are ever getting injected into us.
Zz, zzzzt...
...Hm?
"Now then, everyone... can you hear me? I'm sending this over voice because I'm pissed off that you might think we ran away scared. Listen carefully, because I'm about to say something important."
From the machine that had stopped functioning, the voice of the female terrorist from the scene suddenly rang out.
So, something important, huh...
"......"
"......"
""
Dante let out a clock noise as if dumbfounded.
...What is that guy?
"The truth is... you're all worthless worms."
...?
"Yes, exactly. You're nothing but worms!"
What, what did she say?
"How underwhelming. I was actually focusing for once."
Gregor muttered under his breath, scratched the back of his head, and walked up to the speaker.
Oh... and right on cue, I saw the possibility of that thing exploding. What an impressive timing.
""
"The machine's temperature is rising abnormally, causing the parts to expand."
"Oh my, yes. A classic precursor to a pressure explosion."
"Exactly, and that means..."
Faust, the man named Nico from the Rose Spanner Workshop, and Dongrang all looked absurdly unconcerned.
I'd only moved quietly in front of Dante myself, but still.
"Ah, shit! Get away from that insane machine right now!"
Heathcliff, irritated by the researchers' calm exchange, kicked Gregor away.
Fast.
"Hmm... they must have even set a trap, despite having so little time.
Impressive. At this point, I'd almost like to see the designer's face."
""
"It's fate."
Faust said it with obvious pride, which somehow... really got on my nerves.
...But among the high-ranking people in Wings, I don't think I've ever seen a normal one. Maybe it's just a problem with the talented.
Even back when I worked for a Wing... well, there weren't exactly any normal people there either.
Of course there wouldn't be. A normal person couldn't possibly work for a Wing.
With that fresh little realization behind us, we pressed deeper into K Corp's Lobotomy Corporation branch.
Zzt, zzzzt...
"Could this machine... explode like the last one if it stops working?"
Sinclair asked, looking at the machines we'd just smashed to pieces.
Explode...? Probably. There are more reasons for it to explode than not.
Sure enough, an ominous sound soon came from the machine that had stopped operating.
"[So you're the ones who killed my machine for the second time. Right?]"
Mm-hm, that's right.
"[Let's see...]"
Hm?
"[You're cockroaches who can't do anything except crawl along the floor.]"
"It's okay, it's okay. Don't get worked up over something like this, Greg..."
"...I wasn't thinking anything."
"That's right. Even if Gregor is a cockroach, he's not someone who can only crawl along the floor, is he?"
"...I'm not a cockroach in the first place!"
Heh, teasing Gregor is fun.
His reactions are always so good that I end up provoking him without thinking.
"So... just keep crawling around like that, scuttling and scuttling.
If you're only going to crawl along the floor, then you don't even need to look up at the sky."
"I've got it. When the machine stops, an automatically recorded voice is played, then it explodes within a few seconds.
The purpose behind its design is unknown, but all the machines are built on the same mechanism."
"It was prerecorded...? I didn't see that coming..."
"Ha, what a laughingstock, bug man."
"...The whole world's ganging up on me just to make fun of me, and now I'm completely thrown off..."
"What, that reaction's no fun... Hm? What, what is it? Why are you like that?"
There's a bit of technique involved in teasing Gregor. You can't just poke him and expect him to bite!
But... Ishmael...?
"Ugh..."
""
"Yes... I just feel a little nauseous... You don't need to worry too much. I'm fine now."
I quietly moved back and stayed by Ishmael's side.
She said she was fine, but... I couldn't just leave her alone when I was this uneasy.
"Um, by the way, what kind of organization is the Technology Liberation Alliance...?"
"Why are you curious about that sort of thing? It's just a terrorist group with a fancy name. I don't think we need to know their ideology too."
"Haha. It might still be useful to know, Otis."
"I don't know much either. I did hear that one of the people from K Corp's research labs is one of the main members here. That was before I joined, so I don't know the details.
That person was also a researcher who received the Best Employee Award, just like Dongrang is now."
"What? How do you know that?"
"I saw the name in the Best Employee trophy room. I thought you were supposed to know all the names there, of course."
"Why do you keep looking in there...?"
Shurenne looked at Samjo with a somewhat exhausted expression.
Hmm... a terrorist from K Corp's Best Employee alumni, and Samjo too—neither of them is normal. Is K Corp just like that?
"...Why would someone who was once a Best Employee join a terrorist organization..."
"......"
...But Shurenne's reaction to that former Best Employee has been a little suspicious since earlier... no, surely not.
"Didn't you catch a glimpse of them earlier? The one who was busily wrecking our lab.
Back when Shurenne and I first joined, they were something of a company celebrity.
From what I heard secondhand, they said they wanted to test the limits of K Corp's technology.
Then one day, there were rumors that they had suddenly... quit the research lab.
Along with talk that this was where they had ended up."
What... is that supposed to mean?
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