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'

more apparent to me just how big the Monolith domain was. Just the distance between the lab and the actual headquarters was 20

did they cover? And how did they manage to keep it hidden for

to

take twenty more minutes to arrive, I opted to wait till my mana recovered

act late was because of

where the other cars were, I knew that things were not as easy

just had a

***

same time, in a

noticing a small smirk at

"Commander, is something wrong?"

and flashed his teeth. "Oh, I just

"Something funny?"

noticed that each of them had a confused look

"...hur hur."

and looking at 'subject 876' who was passed out on

weird behavior, Isaac involuntarily

are you

of answering, Commander Luther continued to

side of his

to give him scars? Is there a mask...or was he someone that he had he killed long ago and stored in his dimensional space...no

Pointing at the scarred man on the ground, he frustratedly

"Yes."

commander nodded

once did they doubt the identity of the scarred man before them. If not for their

took

the scarred man, Isaac

is the

the 19th unit captain,

bit of hesitation in

say.

7th unit captain by the side of

"Did he though?"

"Yes!"

Issac. Though they only met briefly,

fooled me. I've met Jerome a couple of times in the

the commander's point, Isaac's brows

he did look a lot more skinny

This was a given. All of the squads worked with

a tanned muscular man with a bald head. That was how everyone knew him

not too long ago, a shocked looked appeared on Isaac's face as he

how is it possible for him to have the same face as

a mask identical to that of Jerome in that short period

that's what I'm wondering as well," Luther replied with a solemn look. "The only thing that comes to mind is that this is the work of an artifact or that someone is

"An artifact?!"

"Yes."

one that

look of greed flashed past his

an artifact, I really want to get my hands

to not have heard the commander's last words, Isaac hesitatingly asked. "...sir,

"Impossible."

Luther firmly replied.

makes

I wasn't," Luther raised his finger. "...but right before entering the vehicle, I asked him what happened to his

"...and?"

really was someone dead in the

Taken aback, Isaac asked.

what made you think that he was an

about the fact that the man before them wasn't a

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

"What!?"