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HELHEIM SCANS
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Chapter 162: Saint Hill (5)
A thick cloud of dust instantly contaminated the once-spotless operating room.
"Cough, cough! What is this dust…!"
"That's why I told you to cover your mouth and nose."
"I didn’t expect it to be this bad!"
Emerging from the dust, arguing as they walked, were Oscar and Veronica.
A man, who had been staring at them in a daze, suddenly flinched and backed away.
"H-How are you still alive...? No, more importantly, did you just break through the ceiling...?"
His instinctive gaze lifted toward the gaping hole in the ceiling.
"The floor was made of solid steel, three meters thick… And they broke through it? With nothing but wind?"
As countless questions filled his mind, struggling to make sense of what had just happened—
"Cough, cough! O-Oscar! Veronica!"
A voice, filled with emotion, called out from the operating table.
Fran, covered in dust, shouted with a trembling voice.
"You came to rescue me!"
"Where’s Killian?"
"I don’t know. But that guy seemed to know something."
"Perfect."
Oscar nodded and turned his gaze toward the shackles binding Fran.
"Veronica, free him first. Be careful—it’s Oblisium."
"...All of this is made of Oblisium? No way. We have to take it with us when we leave."
As Veronica’s eyes sparkled with excitement, Oscar approached the man lying on the floor.
"D-Don’t come any closer!"
The man raised a syringe as if it were a weapon.
Oscar observed him with an odd expression before speaking.
"Tell me where Killian is, and I’ll make sure you don’t suffer."
"Th-That…! I’ll talk if you promise to let me live!"
"Hmm. Interesting."
Oscar tilted his head slightly and murmured.
"You’re not one of the Salvation Cult, are you?"
The high-ranking priest they had encountered earlier had been unfazed by the threat of death.
That was to be expected.
To them, death was merely a gateway to salvation.
But the man in front of him was clearly afraid of dying.
Which meant he truly wasn’t one of them.
"Now I’m even more curious. Who exactly are you, conducting human experiments in the Salvation Cult’s basement?"
"I-I am…"
As the man hesitated, Fran warned from behind.
"Oscar, that bastard is a total scumbag. He’s been injecting people with that syringe and turning them into those things."
He motioned toward a holographic screen.
Inside, figures were seen staggering as they walked.
Oscar’s gaze darkened as he asked,
"…What is that?"
"If you forcibly inject someone with demonic energy, they lose their sanity and become nothing but violent monsters. And if they bite someone, that person ends up the same way."
Behind him, Veronica muttered under her breath,
"…Insane."
Oscar continued staring at the screen, his expression unreadable.
‘Forcing demonic energy into people?’
He had encountered something similar before—at the Red Citadel on the western front.
‘The outcome is a little different, but the process is eerily similar to what Commander Theodore Bale experienced.’
Back then, it wasn’t syringes, but something called the Seed of Corruption.
‘But Lloyd mentioned something, didn’t he? That the Seed of Corruption was just the official term given by the imperial family… Some groups called it the Philosopher’s Stone instead.’
A gut feeling told him that that group was linked to this experiment.
As Oscar’s thoughts reached that conclusion, he turned around.
"Fran, Veronica. Step outside for a moment."
"Huh? Oh… okay."
"Call us no matter what happens."
Neither of them questioned his request.
They trusted that he had his reasons.
Once the two had left, leaving only the two of them in the room, the man swallowed nervously.
"W-What are you planning to do?"
"What else?"
Oscar smirked and snapped his fingers.
A violent gust of wind sent the man flying.
"Gahh!"
He crashed into the wall before slumping onto the floor.
Oscar slowly approached him, placing his foot on the man’s chest and leaning in.
"That syringe… It looks a lot like the Philosopher’s Stone from our side. So, who the hell are you?"
"Ph-Philosopher’s Stone? From your side?"
Despite his pain, the man’s eyes widened at the words.
"How do you know about that…? W-Wait, are you affiliated with the Black Fingers?"
The moment the words left his mouth, the air in the room subtly distorted.
Oscar narrowed his eyes, his voice dropping to a menacing growl.
"You still don’t get it, do you? You’re in no position to test me."
"I-I’m sorry! I just… security is everything in my line of work…!"
"You won’t get a second warning."
Under the weight of the chilling threat, the man began speaking hesitantly.
"F-First of all… Yes, the Philosopher’s Stone and our company’s elixirs share the same base. Our job is to dilute the Philosopher’s Stone and make it usable for ordinary people."
Oscar recalled that the Black Fingers referred to turning into a Demonic human as a "blessing."
"And what’s the point of bestowing blessings upon worthless ordinary people?"
At that moment, the man’s eyes noticeably relaxed.
It must have been because he had uttered the word blessing, which only those involved with the Black Fingers would know.
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He spoke again, his tone more stable than before.
"It’s research to determine whether, when administered to ordinary people, it can elevate them to at least the level of mid-tier knights or mages. Everything is in preparation for the day that is soon to come. The greater the chaos, the better."
That day?
Chaos?
He wanted to ask more about that, but something instinctively told him he shouldn’t.
He spoke as if anyone who was an ally would naturally know what that day referred to.
"……Alright. Then, my next question. Why is someone who serves the Fourth Finger here?"
"Because we recruited the Salvation Church to conduct human experiments. After all, when it comes to gathering homeless people and orphans, nothing beats a cult."
"How did you recruit them?"
"We granted the church leader a blessing."
Glancing around, the man lowered his voice and added,
"At this point, the Salvation Church is practically just an arm of our corporation."
A corporation, huh?
And if it’s a company producing a potion like this…
A pharmaceutical company.
At that thought, a name struck his mind like lightning.
To confirm his theory, Oscar removed his foot from the man’s chest.
Then, Oscar offered him a hand and helped him up.
"You’ve been through a lot. I apologize for the misunderstanding."
"Not at all. These kinds of mistakes happen when we’re unaware of each other’s existence. I almost killed you too, after all."
"I appreciate you thinking that way."
Dusting off the man’s robe, he asked,
"How is Executive Director Neil Brion doing these days?"
"Oh, you know the Executive Director?"
"To some extent. He hasn’t been responding to my calls lately."
"He’s probably quite busy right now. As you can see, the potion is nearly complete, so he’s out laying the groundwork."
I smirked as if that was exactly what I had wanted to hear.
"I see. Ah, by the way, do you know where Killian is? At least on the surface, he’s my comrade, so I need to rescue him."
"He was sent to the lab upstairs. It’s in the room right next to the staircase."
"Is that so? Thanks. And one last thing—do you happen to know who the Fingers are?"
"Unfortunately, I don’t…"
The man trailed off and tilted his head as if something seemed off.
"Wait a moment. Questions regarding the identities of the Fingers are strictly forbidden… Are you really part of the Black Fingers?"
"Tsk."
Thunk!
A bullet hole appeared in the middle of his forehead.
As Oscar summoned water to clean his hand from their earlier handshake, he looked at the hologram screen in front of him.
So, in short, these people have also become demons.
Just like Commander Theodore Bale.
That meant there had to be a way to turn them back.
If he had created such a cure once before, he could do it again.
But before that…
Saving Killian was the priority.
Looking up at the gaping hole in the ceiling, he called out to the two people waiting outside.
Veronica glanced at the corpse on the ground before asking,
"What took you so long?"
"We had an interesting conversation."
"…Interesting conversation?"
"Yeah. I’ll tell you when the time is right."
It was likely that he’d have to share this information soon anyway.
Since the royal family was deeply entangled with the Black Fingers, they couldn’t afford to keep this secret forever.
"Killian is in the lab next to the staircase upstairs."
"The staircase? We barely managed to sneak past that, and now we have to go back?"
"Why? What’s waiting at the staircase?"
Hearing this, Fran, who had been listening to the conversation, chimed in.
"That area is packed with fanatics. We had to torture a few of their patrols to find out where you were, but if we had made even a little noise before finding you, we’d have been done for."
"We had no choice but to quietly break through the floor and drop down."
But now that they had found Fran and their group had grown to three, there was no longer any need for stealth.
All they needed to do was retrieve Killian.
He turned to Fran and asked,
"By the way, I saw signs of a fight in the bathroom where you and Killian were. Who did you fight?"
"Ah."
At that, Fran's face darkened as he recalled why he had lost consciousness.
"Some monster-like guy that none of our attacks could land on. To be honest, I don’t think we could beat him even if we fought again."
"Your attacks didn’t work?"
"Yeah. Not only was his physical prowess ridiculous, but the biggest problem was his shield."
"Shield?"
"Right. The shield he deployed was so tough that neither I nor Killian could break through it. It was absurdly sturdy."
So, in short, he was an opponent with high defense.
He replied indifferently,
"Oh, that’s all? Then it’s not a problem."
"You’re taking this way too lightly. I’m telling you, my whip didn’t do a thing to him."
"Then there’s even less reason to worry."
Veronica smirked and pointed at the neatly sliced steel floor.
"After all, we have a monster of our own."
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HELHEIM SCANS
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