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 decided to run into

***

19 quickly arrived at the

—WHIIIII! —WHIIIII!

could hear the blaring sound

—Clank!

members of the 19th

in the world

at the entrance have

one

that the surveillance and communication have

"What about professor Joseph?"

time passed. Listening to the live reporters coming from the other squad units

of the members of the 19th

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

"What!?"

ran down their back. Was this all done by one

looking at the

anything about

"Yes."

"Continue."

of the test subjects that Joseph was working on...from reports, he seems

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

the situation was; If they were the ones who had gone downstairs, would they

"What now, captain?"

captain wasn't a captain for no reason. Despite the situation, he was able to

continued. "From the looks of things, the target seems to have already escaped into

"Understood."

as their captain ordered. Taking out their communication devices, they quickly informed the other units and moved

should we

to follow. Being a captain, he had 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 members disappeared into

***

"Haaa...Haaa..."

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 alarmed about my whereabouts, I needed to distance myself

—Gulp! —Gulp!

recovering potion and one stamina recovering

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 with it for a

—Fwa!

me. Staring at the map, unknowingly my running speed

not wrong, I should be running in

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

now was to infiltrate the actual headquarters of the

only

this was the only way I could get out of this place. Not knowing exactly where the Monolith was located on the world map, I knew that the only way I could get out was through the portals

the portal. Every portal use cost around 500 merit points, and with me having over 2000 of them, I knew that as long as I could get to the portals, I would be able to make it safely

'There's only one problem...'

actual Monolith. Without a doubt, this was going to be harder

—Rustle!

"Huek!"

towards my direction. Ducking down, by a hair breath, I was able to dodge the incoming attack. Rolling on the ground,

"I've finally caught up."