Chapter 89 – Revived Past

The white corridor was filled with red. It seemed to be spreading to the whole facility as the alarms went on.

Even so, the guards wouldn't be able to arrive to where I had intruded on time. No, more than that, I had this bad feeling that made my skin crawl.

It ambushed me right after I cut open the room where Mimir was. Right, it wasn't a human, and not a normal monster either....it's those mutated goblins.

It was mutated due to the repeated closure to the experiment that I had witnessed earlier.

There were more than 50 of those ugly things in the aisle. Perhaps, that why there was nobody coming up despite that there was an intruder. They never meant to capture the intruders alive.

Using the blood and meat as the bait, any normal intruder would be reduced to nothing. The alarm itself was likely meant for the researchers to evacuate the facility.

Standing before them here, I noticed that their eye colors were strange. Normal goblins had black eyes. But these fellows, their eyes are glowing vivid red like the color of blood.

When I got starved, my eyes would also turn red due to the Gluttony skill. Although these goblins were different case, it didn't stop me from feeling uneasy.

Although they shouldn't be much of a threat to me, I still used "Appraisal"to check on them.

[Eh…..]

Cannot be appraised!? Does this goblins have some kind of concealment skill? No, that won't be the case. Concealment will only hide their skills but not with their stats.

What's the meaning of this....it's almost the same like when I tried to appraise Myne.

The enemies won't wait until that mystery is solved, however. Jagged teeth….those beasts started to jump on me while showing off their unnatural fangs.

[Chi]

I slashed at those who were trying to bite me. Then, as always, the inorganic voice inside my head will announce that the gluttony skill has been activated.... But it failed to tell me about the thing that I have eaten.

Ku.... I felt like my body was torn apart. It's different from when the gluttony skill was starving. More like, as if I had ingested a poison.

Then, I promptly puked out blood.

[What is this feeling…..I feel sick.]

The blood that accidentally splattered on the black sword quickly evaporated. Greed who saw all these spoke to me through"Mind Reading"

『Fate, you mustn't kill those things. I thought it couldn't be it...but after seeing Fate's condition, there is no mistaking it. Those are, Night walkers』

[Night walker!? So those are not Goblins]

If I kill it, instead of absorbing its stats and skills, I would only feel a suffering akin to that of poison. I could only strike them with the flat part of my sword and keep my distance.

[Why does the Gluttony skill not triggering normally?]

『That thing has already died a long time ago. It keeps moving because it still has small residue of its soul. When Gluttony skill eats degraded soul like that, you'll only end up taking damage. So by all means, you have to avoid killing Night walker. If you do then, you might even ended up dying.』

What a strange enemy. To not be able to kill it while still having to fight it, that thing had a really bad compatibility with me in the first place.

[An enemy I mustn't kill, huh….]

What was more disconcerting about this Nightwalker, is their regenerative ability. The part on its belly where I struck with the side of my sword had already repaired itself.

『Fate, there is one more important thing. Don't get bitten, for its bite will inflict a curse that can breakthrough Area E protection. You'll get yourself eaten by them instead.』

[What!? Those thing can do that!?]

Behind the goblin night walkers, were the staff that I threw down to the goblin pit earlier. They too, sported mutated fangs and red eyes, glaring at me.

Apparently still holding grudges to me for letting them die, they showed more hostility toward me rather than toward the goblin night walkers.

[Good grief, this is such a pain. But…..]

The amount of the night walkers still continue to increase. Perhaps, there were other pits aside from the one I saw before. It's easy to see that all of them have been let loose.

I changed the sword into shield form, and used it to block them aside. I proceed by keeping to do so.

Then, by chance I came across a dark room. I looked around the room with"Night Vision", and found that there is no night walker inside. At last we are save, for the time being.

Hefting Mimir's body inside, I got in to the room by rolling over.

『Fate, close the entrance by cutting the ceiling.』

[No need to tell me that]

Before the night walkers could follow us, I cut down the ceiling. The passage was blocked off by the rubbles and debrises falling from above.

My ears caught the noises of the night walker trying to make their way across by scratching the debrises. In this situation, I don't think I want to be on the other side of the rubbles.

I laid Mimir on the floor, then gave the room another look.

It seemed to be made to keep the night walkers. However, I don't think that it has been used recently. There is no sign of the goblin night walkers rampaging on the wall and floor, and there is no smell of blood.

While the sirene is still ringing, I started to think up a way to get out. Looking up, I asked Greed.

[It's only through there after all.]

『The ventilation shaft?』

[Yeah, that's the better way to get Mimir safely outside.]

I made sure to hold the conveniently still sleeping Mimir properly, and when I'm about to start making my escape, I noticed that a light is leaking through the wall.

I wonder... I've been looking at this kind of building for a while now, and realized that it's made so that outsider wouldn't know what is happening inside. But to think a light could made its way inside?

While wondering about that, I approached it. Greed spoke to me at that point.

『It's a hidden room. It was tinkered in a way that light from outside could leak in.Fate, what will you do?』

Originally, I came here to find out what the Burixes were up to. The key to all of this, Mimir, is still sleeping.

Then, speaking of hidden room, then there should be something here that need to be concealed.

[Let's enter.]

『I knew you'd say that』

I carved an entrance on the wall with the black sword and went inside. Once again, I was faced with something I've never seen before.

There were large transparent glass containers inside it were various kind of animal and even monsters, submerged in a clear red liquid. Lots of them.

[Are they experimenting on something?]

『Perhaps it's an experiment related to the nightwalker. Those clear red liquid is probably the diluted blood of the original night walker.』

[Original?]

『It's one of Gallia's bioweapon. Perhaps, the Burixes stumbled upon it somewhere. Moreover, I believe that it's not something they could handle. Thinking that they could control it, is futile.』

[The infection power seems stronger and any infectious diseases I knew of. The curse the Night walker bring will spread, and their number will only keep increasing if they escaped this place. Eventually overwhelming the kingdom itself.]

『That's how it is』

Perhaps, that 'original' that Greed spoke of is also here. Thinking about it, I marched on.

However, contrary to my expectation, there was someone I knew inside one of the container.

[No way…..Hado Burix!?]

Holy Knight Hado Burix died the day I left the Kingdom for Gallia. Moreover, I had cut off both of his arms and legs. And yet, here he was, as good as new.

While I was still gauging the situation, Hado's eyes suddenly opened wide. His red eyes soon darted on to me, then the container started to crack.

I was careless. I thought all the living creature inside the container won't wake up, just like Mimir.

I jumped backward while keeping Mimir from falling.

At the same time, the glass container broke, spilling the clear red solution to the floor.

From the emerging Hado, I didn't sense any ability of reasoning in him, just like any other Night Walker. But his hatred to me was genuine.

Hado kept staring at me, his mouth moved clumsily as he shouted.

[Fa.....te, Faa…te, Faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaattteee!!]