The Author's POV

Exchanging glances with each other, two guards at the front of the car laughed out loud.

"Hahaha, who would've thought that you were the lucky bastard that got to catch the escapee, huh, Jerome?"

"Yeah, I'm fucking envious of you."

'So his name is Jerome.'

Listening to their conversation, I made a mental note to myself of every little detail. This was so that I could blend in better.

With my head still in between my legs, I responded.

"...mhm, you're absolutely right."

There were a total of ten people in the car, including 'my unit'. From the brief conversations, I was having with them, the name of the 19th unit captain was Jerome, he was 28 years old, and judging from how friendly they were being to me, I figured that he was someone popular.

The layout of the car was two seats at the front of the car, with five more seats leaning by the side of the vehicle.

Switching the conversation, one of the guards next to me spoke up.

"Man, who would've thought that the commander himself showed up."

"Yeah, just his aura alone almost made me piss my pants."

"Tell me about it...just imagine what Jerome must've gone through when questioned by him."

With my head still lowered, I made small talk as well. This was so that I didn't look too suspicious.

"Yeah, it was really nerve-wracking. I thought that I was in front of a tiger...just look at me, I'm so exhausted just from that exchange."

"Hahaha, You indeed look tired."

"Hahahahaha."

Laughter erupted in the car. I too laughed, but it was a fake one.

My mind was too preoccupied with other thoughts to care about whether it sounded genuine or not.

'...Six bombs, eight serum dosages, four health recovery potions, and eighteen mana recovery potions.'

If I had to count how many people I killed the past few hours or so, the headcount would be around the twenties.

Every time I killed someone, I would never forget to collect their dimensional space. In it, were many resources that could become extremely useful for me. Bombs and serum being prime examples.

Without them, I would've never have made it as far as I did.

'That aside, I'm still not in the clear though.'

A bitter smile appeared on my face.

My mana was currently at around 1/9 of what it should be.

Having depleted all of my mana from the stunt I pulled in order to escape the lab, I had a hard time recovering it to what it was before.

Despite the multiple mana recovery potions I chugged in, they were only the lowest grade, and thus I barely recovered anything. This was also the reason why I was only able to hold out for a couple of minutes when the commander came.

To make matters worse, with my mask now off, I had to be in this awkward position where I had my face in between my legs and arms. Fortunately, I was wearing a hat and thus they did not notice the fact that I wasn't bald like the 19th unit captain was.

Had I not thought of this beforehand, they would've realized that I wasn't him just because of the fact that I wasn't bald.

"Man, how long do we still have till we arrive?"

"20 more minutes. The road is a bit rough here so it'll take that much."

"Ahhh, I'm hungry."

'...20 minutes'

to the conversation the other guards were having, it became even more apparent to me just how big the Monolith domain was. Just the distance between the lab and the actual headquarters

they cover? And how did they manage to keep it hidden for so long, I wondered as

be best to act

I opted

act late was because of my

where the other cars were,

just had a

***

the same time, in a different

him and noticing a small smirk at the edge of his lips, the 7th unit

"Commander, is something wrong?"

his head, Commander Luther looked at Isaac and flashed his teeth. "Oh, I just thought

"Something funny?"

unit members in the vehicle, Isaac noticed that each of them had a confused

"...hur hur."

Lowering his head and looking at 'subject 876' who

commander's weird behavior, Isaac involuntarily raised his

are

of answering, Commander Luther continued to trace his finger

of his chin, he muttered

had he killed long ago and stored

man on the ground, he frustratedly

"Yes."

nodded his

doubt the identity of the scarred man before them.

thought took their

the scarred

is

19th unit captain,

slightest bit of hesitation in

at his unit members, Isaac struggled to find the right words to say. "b-ut how is that possible? I saw

by

"Did he though?"

"Yes!"

met briefly, Isaac did not find anything strange about

met Jerome a couple of times in the past, and I can tell you that it's not him. His face maybe, but..." Pausing and looking at everyone, Luther said. "His frame

Isaac's brows knit as he muttered out

a lot more skinny than the

a given. All of the squads worked with each other most of

muscular man with a bald head. That was

shocked looked appeared

possible for him to have the same face as

a face mask to be prepared. For subject 876 to actually have a mask identical to that of Jerome in that short period of time

that comes to mind is that this is the work of an artifact or that someone is helping him, but I'm not too

"An artifact?!"

"Yes."

second possibility was the one that made more sense,

of greed flashed

an artifact, I really want to

last words, Isaac hesitatingly asked. "...sir, but what if there is no artifact and

"Impossible."

Luther firmly replied.

what makes you

"...but right before entering the vehicle, I asked him what happened to his

"...and?"

out. There really

Taken aback, Isaac asked.

you think that he was an

him so sure about the fact that the man before them wasn't a

dead in the eyes. "his unit members. The moment Jerome turned his head,

"What!?"