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.'

was still not in the clear, I decided to run into

***

quickly arrived at the entrance

—WHIIIII! —WHIIIII!

blaring sound of the alarms ringing from

—Clank!

the members of the 19th unit paused

in the

guards standing at the entrance have

one

me that the surveillance and communication have been cut

"What about professor Joseph?"

as time passed. Listening to the live reporters coming from the other squad units downstairs, they couldn't

the members of the 19th

Furthermore, unit 15 has

"What!?"

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

looking at the scene,

anything about

"Yes."

"Continue."

to be one of the test subjects that Joseph was working

could they have escaped? And isn't there a chip installed in their head? How

had gone downstairs, would they have also been killed like the other two squads? Just the thought sent

"What now, captain?"

reason. Despite the situation, he was able to quickly recollect himself. Looking at his squad members,

the upper floor, the captain continued. "From the

"Understood."

quickly informed the other units and moved out of the facility. Stepping out of the laboratory, all of the members looked at their

should we

captain quickly looked towards a certain area and motioned for his members to follow. Being a captain, he had a lot of experience under his belt. Surveilling

"Over here."

his

***

"Haaa...Haaa..."

mustering every last bit of strength inside of my body, I continued to

—Gulp! —Gulp!

mana recovering potion and one stamina recovering potion

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

—Fwa!

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

not wrong, I should be running in the right

that I had

was to infiltrate

was the only

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

Thibaut's watch on my wrist, I could gain access to 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

'There's only one problem...'

needed to infiltrate the actual Monolith. Without a doubt, this was going to be harder than

—Rustle!

"Huek!"

down, by a hair breath, I

"I've finally caught up."