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.'

not in the

***

at the entrance

—WHIIIII! —WHIIIII!

outside of the laboratory, they could hear the blaring sound of the alarms ringing from inside

—Clank!

members of the 19th unit paused at

in the

at the entrance have

one responsible

telling me that the surveillance and communication have

"What about professor Joseph?"

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

up to his captain, of the members

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

"What!?"

down their

at the scene, the captain

anyone said anything about the identity

"Yes."

"Continue."

subjects that Joseph was working on...from

"Weren't they under the effects of the serum? How could they have

the ones who had gone downstairs, would they have also been killed like the other two squads? Just the thought sent chills down his

"What now, captain?"

captain for no reason. Despite the situation, he was able to quickly recollect himself. Looking at his squad members,

upper floor, the captain continued. "From the looks

"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

where should we

a lot of experience under his belt. Surveilling the forest and noticing a small irregularity in one of the bushes in

"Over here."

forward, he along with his team members disappeared

***

"Haaa...Haaa..."

heavily, sweat trickled down 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 had been

—Gulp! —Gulp!

mana recovering potion and one stamina recovering potion from my dimensional space, I

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

—Fwa!

Staring at the map, unknowingly my running speed slowed

should be running in

extremely large, and for obvious reasons, the laboratory that I had just come

now was to

only way I could

months, I realized that this was the only way I could get out of this place. Not knowing exactly where the Monolith was located

me having over 2000 of them, I knew that as long as I could get to the portals, I would

'There's only one problem...'

doubt, this was going to be harder than actually

—Rustle!

"Huek!"

of my thoughts was a small rustling sound in the distance. Turning around, I noticed a silver streak 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

"I've finally caught up."