The Author's POV

The moment I stepped out of the elevator and tried to get out of the laboratory, my mana which was depleting at an alarming rate, finally ran out. The mask fell off of my face, and the effects of Monarch's indifference ran out.

"Hey!"

"Shit!"

The moment my face was revealed, and I regained control of my body, the first thing I saw was three guards glaring in my direction.

Standing in the opposite hall to me and taking out their weapons, they all rushed towards me.

"We've found the suspect, I repeat, we've found the suspect. We're currently engaging him at the entrance of the laboratory."

They of course didn't forget to alert the other units.

Without wasting time, taking out another bomb from my dimensional space, I pressed on a small button at the top of the bomb.

—Click!

'1...2...3...4...'

Re-entering the elevator, and hiding by the side, I closed my eyes and silently counted inside of my mind. The moment my count was about to reach five, turning around, I threw the bomb towards the guards.

Without looking, I hid by the side of the elevator.

—BOOOOM!

"Huaaa!"

"Ahhh!"

Two seconds after throwing the bomb, a massive explosion ensued and the blood-curling screams of the guards rang out throughout the whole upper floor. Standing behind the elevator, I could feel the heat from the explosion brush past me.

—WHIIIII! —WHIIIII!

Shortly after the explosion rang, smoke-filled my vision, and the alarms rang.

Covering my nose with the sleeve of my shirt, squinting, I moved out. The moment I turned around and looked at the aftermath of the explosion, the first thing I saw was the corpses of the guards on the floor.

With blood and limbs splattered everywhere, the scene looked extremely gory. Even so, firming myself and moving through the broken glass, and pieces of flesh on the floor I quickly made my way towards the exit of the facility.

—Clank!

"Haaa..."

Opening the doors and exiting the laboratory, I involuntarily squinted my eyes and covered them with my arm. The side of my eyes teared up slightly.

'The sun.'

After eight months of being locked up inside of the facility, I was finally able to see the sun.

Never in my life would've I have expected myself to miss the sun so much. For a brief moment, I just dazedly stood at the front of the laboratory. My emotions were a bit erratic, but I was able to quickly snap myself out of it.

"Now's not the time to get emotions..." Turning around, I wondered. 'Where am I?'

Looking around, I noticed that I was currently in the middle of a forest. Behind me was the laboratory. The laboratory was hidden inside of a forest, and although it was still within the Monolith, for the obvious reason it had to be moved a bit further from the actual headquarters.

'I can't waste time standing here.'

the clear, I

***

quickly arrived at the

—WHIIIII! —WHIIIII!

hear the blaring sound of the alarms

—Clank!

the members of the 19th unit paused

the world happened

guards standing at the

the one responsible

surveillance

"What about professor Joseph?"

time passed. Listening to the live reporters coming from the other squad units downstairs, they couldn't help but gasp in

the members of the

dead. Furthermore, unit 15 has been annihilated, and two members from

"What!?"

air. Cold sweat ran down

at the scene,

about the

"Yes."

"Continue."

target seems to be one of the test subjects that Joseph was working on...from reports, he seems to

effects of the serum? How could they have escaped? And isn't there

more he realized how serious the situation was; If they were the ones who had gone downstairs, would they have also been killed like the other two squads? Just the thought

"What now, captain?"

reason. Despite the situation, he was able

only seems to be one target, and he is armed with explosives." Looking at the state of the upper floor, the captain continued. "From the looks of things, the target

"Understood."

as their captain ordered. Taking out their communication devices, they quickly informed the other units and moved out of the facility. Stepping out of the laboratory, all of the members looked at their

where should

of experience under his belt. Surveilling the forest and noticing a small irregularity in one of the bushes in the distance, he was able to quickly infer the location of where the target had run

"Over here."

with his team members disappeared into the

***

"Haaa...Haaa..."

of my cheeks. Even so, mustering every last bit of strength inside of my body, I continued to run. Now that

—Gulp! —Gulp!

recovering potion and one stamina

the watch that I had gotten from Thibaut a year ago, I quickly put it on my wrist. Tapping on the screen of

—Fwa!

map quickly appeared in front of me. Staring at the map, unknowingly my running speed slowed down significantly.

should

Monolith was extremely large, and for obvious reasons, the laboratory that I had just come out from was located a bit off of

right now was to infiltrate the actual headquarters

the only way I

this place. Not knowing exactly where the Monolith was located on the world map, I knew that the only way

could gain access to the portal. Every portal use cost around 500 merit points, and with me having over 2000 of them,

'There's only one problem...'

a doubt, this was going to be harder than actually

—Rustle!

"Huek!"

of light quickly headed towards my direction. Ducking down, by a hair breath, I was able to dodge the incoming attack. Rolling on the ground, I lifted my head and glared in

"I've finally caught up."