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'

me just how big the Monolith domain was. Just the distance between the lab

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

best to

more minutes to arrive, I opted

late was because of my mana,

eyes, and looking in the direction of where the other cars were, I knew that

just had a

***

same time,

noticing a small smirk at the edge of

"Commander, is something wrong?"

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

"Something funny?"

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

"...hur hur."

876' who was passed out on the ground, with an amused smile, Commander Luther traced his thick fingers

the commander's weird behavior, Isaac involuntarily raised

are you

to trace

side of his chin, he

had he killed long ago and stored in his dimensional space...no that wouldn't work since he's alive? There also doesn't seem to

widely. Pointing at the scarred man on the ground, he frustratedly asked. "A-re you suggesting that he isn't the one we are

"Yes."

nodded his

present in the room. Not once did they doubt the identity of the

thought took their breath

looking at the scarred man, Isaac

is

the 19th unit

without the slightest bit of

struggled to find the right words to say. "b-ut how is that possible? I saw him just moments

the 7th unit captain by

"Did he though?"

"Yes!"

Though they only met briefly, Isaac did not find anything strange about

A smirk appeared on Luther's face before he turned his attention back to 'subject 876'. "Though he may have fooled you guys, he couldn't have fooled me. I've met Jerome a couple

brows knit as he muttered out

mention it he did look a lot more skinny than the last time

of the squads worked with

man with a bald head. That

too long ago, a shocked looked appeared on Isaac's face as he lifted

possible for him to have the same

mask identical to that of Jerome in that short period of time made

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 helping him,

"An artifact?!"

"Yes."

now, the second possibility was the one that made more sense, but if it

greed flashed

really want

words, Isaac hesitatingly asked. "...sir, but what if there is

"Impossible."

Luther firmly replied.

makes you

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

"...and?"

There really was someone dead in the

Taken aback, Isaac asked.

made you think that he was

about the fact that the

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

"What!?"