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,

***

at the entrance of

—WHIIIII! —WHIIIII!

of the laboratory, they could hear the blaring sound of the alarms

—Clank!

laboratory, the members of the 19th unit paused

the

the

the one responsible

telling me that the surveillance and communication have been cut

"What about professor Joseph?"

couldn't contain themselves and asked different questions. Their confusions only grew as time passed. Listening to the live reporters coming from

the members of the

7 who are downstairs have reported Joseph as dead. Furthermore, unit 15 has been annihilated, and

"What!?"

guards let out a breath of cold air. Cold sweat ran down their back. Was this all done by one person? But how

at the scene, the captain

anything about the

"Yes."

"Continue."

reports, the target seems to be one of the test subjects that Joseph was

under the effects of the serum? How could they have escaped?

realized how serious the situation was; If they were the ones who had gone downstairs, would they have also been killed like the

"What now, captain?"

the situation, he was able to quickly recollect

the captain continued. "From the looks of

"Understood."

their communication devices, they quickly informed the other units and moved out of the facility. Stepping out of the laboratory, all

where should

a lot 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

"Over here."

he along with his team

***

"Haaa...Haaa..."

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

—Gulp! —Gulp!

and one stamina recovering potion from my dimensional

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

—Fwa!

of me. Staring at the map, unknowingly my running speed

not wrong, I should be

reasons, the laboratory that I had just come out from was located a

goal right now was to infiltrate the actual headquarters

the only way I could

where the Monolith was located on the

gain access to the portal. Every portal use cost around 500 merit points, and with me having

'There's only one problem...'

a doubt, this was going to be harder than

—Rustle!

"Huek!"

Ducking down, by

"I've finally caught up."