Chapter 190: The Lab

  Wherever they were, there were no lights. Jinae lit up an orb of light to lead the way, revealing multiple dead lamps and strange devices that looked like they were meant to provide some visibility.

  Worse than that, though, there were stains of… well, they weren’t quite sure. Some of the streaks looked like blood, but there were smears of other colours, ones John couldn’t quite identify.

  The group moved slowly, making sure to check every last corner, every single room, searching for any possible clues, even the slightest scrap of a hint. Still, for a while, there was really nothing. For the time being, they were in a single corridor, wide enough to fit maybe five or six people, lined with doors. They pushed into room after room, but for the time being, they could find nothing of interest. Most of the places they found were bedrooms, living quarters, washrooms, kitchens, just things you might expect to find in a home.

  Eventually, John began to let his guard down.

  “Say, I don’t think I ever asked you, but why are you here? Like, what are you here for, specifically?” he said casually as they pushed through another door.

  “Like I said, there was something familiar to you in this town,” Jinae explained, looking around. She shook her head before continuing. “Since you had left, I decided to see if I could investigate you myself. I apologize, but you must understand-”

  “No, no, that’s valid. Fair game. I don’t really care if you find out the truth or whatever. I just personally think you shouldn’t, for your own sake. But it’s not like it harms me if you find out,” John shrugged, also scanning his surroundings.

  They seemed to be in another bedroom, the same as any other room. Things were getting somewhat boring.

  “I see,” Jinae nodded slowly. “Regardless, I believed I would find something of interest here. Otherwise… I do not know what it is I am searching for. And yourself?”

  “Me?” John said, pointing to himself in surprise. “Well… I think you know.”

  “You believe there to be memories here. According to what the Elder of the Ninetails clan told you,” Jinae said, rubbing her chin.

  She shuffled out of the room, the ball of light guiding the way.

  “Yeah. But… to be completely honest, this could be a dud. And…”

  He glanced at Prota, who was oblivious to their conversation. She was too busy looking around, although she seemed a little scared. Of what, John wasn’t sure, but he probably didn’t need to comfort her.

  “To be honest, I don’t know what to expect here,” John said quietly.

  This place seemed like a stereotypical “dark place full of secrets” kind of location, what with the stains of blood and what was presumably flesh. Monsters comparable to the chimeras Doctor had made were likely present, and horrors like those they saw in Doctor’s labs were also bound to be found.

  The problem was that this was all normal [Story] stuff. If this was truly a location unique to his existence, shouldn’t it be a little different?

  “I see,” Jinae said, seemingly satisfied with the room they were in. “Then I suppose we are similar in that regard.”

  For a moment, there was silence.

  “Hey,” John said. “Out of curiosity… why do you think you did it?”

  He looked around, making sure they were out of earshot of Prota.

  “...what do you mean?”

  “You sacrificed yourself for Prota in a previous life. I wasn’t there myself, so I don’t really know what happened, but… well, do you want to know?”

  Jinae seemed genuinely interested, her eyes wide in anticipation.

  “Of course.”

  “You… you two were apparently under investigation by the church. Something about the Wyntons calling the paladins on you? Apparently, you got caught or something. Prota doesn’t know what happened, but they showed her your head… death by beheading, I guess.”

  “And that’s all you know?”

  “Yeah.”

  “If the church were involved…” Jinae rubbed her chin in thought. “I suppose I would have surrendered, yes. As I said, I don’t mind passing on a legacy. You weren’t around, you say?”

  “Yeah, I was a little busy being dead.”

  Jinae nodded as if that were a perfectly normal thing to say.

  “I see. Then, seeing as you were my closest lead… perhaps I thought of Prota as your successor, and then, in a sense, my own.”

  “Successor?”

  “She was close to you, even back then. If you were dead, then I would have lost my only lead on my life’s purpose. And, given that Prota showed me Soul Steal back then, she wouldn’t have been a bad ideal to bet on.”

  “I see…” John said slowly, nodding.

  It made sense, to a degree.

  “Additionally, I do not enjoy fighting the church of Celeste,” Jinae sighed. “They are a strong bunch, and quite righteous. Defeating some of their number would mean they would not stop chasing me, even with my ties to our organization. We are not officially recognized in any regard. The only weight we hold is our reputation.”

  “Hm… but then why would you have been captured in the first place?” John frowned.

  Jinae nodded. “As I had been masquerading as a cultist, I suppose I was recognized. Then, if I were to be captured, resisting would imply I had something to hide. I do not mind fighting the church to save my own life, but if Prota’s life were also on the line… well, perhaps I thought my time was up.”

  “You’d really sacrifice your life for a child you’d just met?”

  Jinae smiled. “Things happen, you know. The human mind is not so rigid as you might think. We can change. Adapt. It seems you, too, have changed as a result of meeting that girl. Is it really so odd?”

  John flinched. “I-”

  Suddenly, there was a roar that emanated from outside the room. Everyone shot a quick glance at the door before looking at each other, nodding grimly.

  If there was some kind of beast, whatever it was they were looking for, it was definitely here.

  “Fight?” John asked quietly.

  Prota nodded. Jinae hesitated for a moment, but then she, too, nodded.

  “You’ll tell me if we need to be cautious, yes?” Jinae said, gripping her staff a little tighter.

  “Obviously.”

  “Then let us depart without haste.”

  The party burst out of the room, the roar ringing out once more, this time a little louder. They didn’t quite run, but their movements were hurried as they walked toward the noise.

  “John,” Prota said quietly, tugging on his scarf. “...strange energy.”

  “Well, yeah,” John said, not looking back. “That’s to be expected.”

  “No. Not you. Um… strange mana.”

  “Strange… mana?” Jinae frowned, suddenly stopping.

  She began to scan the surroundings, her frown deepening

  “The mana,” she muttered. “It’s murky. Almost like it’s being mucked up, but… by what? I’ve never seen mana like this. It’s almost as if it’s something else, something alien-”

  “Move!” John yelled.

  [Infinity] immediately activated to its limits as he shoved Jinae out of the way, a slimy, black tendril shooting out of the darkness. Sickening wet thumps could be heard growing closer, and once again, a roar rang out, this time incredibly close.

  “I- I couldn’t sense it,” Jinae gasped, quickly recomposing herself. “There was no mana signature. That- that’s not mana.”

  “John,” Prota said, this time a lot more urgently. “...I don’t know.”

  “Yeah. Don’t worry,” John muttered, looking at the creature, a grimace of disgust forming on his face. “I do.”

  It was pretty apparent what those things were.

  Of course, John could be wrong. But his theories were typically correct, and this time, there were so many more hints to utilize.

  First, this was Doctor’s old lab. This was the man who’d both experimented with John’s abilities, as well as someone who was vastly interested in Soul Steal. If Prota couldn’t tell what the energy was, it was likely either his power or an amalgamation of his power and mana. The second was more likely, since Jinae had described the surroundings as mucked-up mana, meaning she could still tell what it was.

  Second, tendrils. This was a bit of a stretch, but it was a stretch John was willing to gamble on.

  These were failed experiments. Creatures who were supposed to wield Soul Steal, but couldn’t.

  Well, there were plenty of other options. These could just be failed chimeras, monsters intentionally made to be like this, or just abominations of nature. Hell, these could even be demons or something of the sort.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  However, John knew better. Those would be fair assumptions if Destiny were meant to come here. But this village was never meant to be a place the hero would find.

  No. It had been created because of John, and subsequently, Prota as well.

  This was a place to give Prota closure. It had to be. Everything was building up to it. The entirety of Scholaris had reached a climax, with Prota at the center. In every regard of this [Story], somehow, somewhere, Prota had been involved. Never directly. Never the problem, nor the solution, just associated in the strangest ways possible.

  The [Author] hadn’t needed to involve her. But they had.

  “Do you know what that is?” Jinae said, staring intently at the monster.

  “No,” John said, shaking his head. “Sorry.”

  “No worries. I suppose I’ll do my job, then.”

  There was a flash of light, illuminating the corridor for a moment before a giant arrow of flame streaked through the air, piercing the black goop blocking their path. For a moment, John believed that would be it.

  Unfortunately, the spell fizzled out as soon as it made contact.

  “Shit,” John cursed. “That’s…”

  If there was any indication that these things used [Deus Ex Machina] energy, this was it.

  “I can try something stronger-” Jinae started.

  “Don’t bother.” John clenched his teeth, staring at the enemy. “I don’t think any spells are gonna work on that thing.”

  “Then what can I do?”

  “Support. Prota!” John yelled.

  She immediately understood his intentions, preparing two Blossoms, dropping the temperature of the room by a few degrees.

  The two spells were flung forward as John charged in, his swords materializing in his hands. With a roar, the monster struck once more, but John was ready, blades out and ready to defend. This time, the attack worked. The tendrils were sliced up, stopping them from reaching the small party they’d tried to kill. No longer attached to their host, they fell to the ground, turning into black blobs of some kind of strange goo.

  The Blossoms flew past John, making contact, but while they seemed to freeze the beast for a moment, they weren’t enough. It didn’t seem like a matter of damage, though. It was more like they simply couldn’t touch the monster.

  Suddenly, it shot out again, this time grabbing John by the arms.

  “What the-”

  Instead of piercing through his body, they began to pull back as if trying to absorb John into the main body. He struggled to break free, but the enemy was simply too strong.

  “John!” Prota yelled.

  A set of icicles flew forward, not quite slicing the tendrils, but loosening them enough that John managed to break free, slicing the tendrils off before they could do anything else.

  “I understand it now,” John grunted, falling back. “Jinae, can you put up a barrier?”

  “Yes, but-”

  “Just do it!”

  In a few seconds, an incredible dense barrier of earth rose up from the ground. It shook as the monster roared once more, and dust rained down as the beast tried to break through, but Jinae was a good mage.

  “Think, John, think,” he muttered, pacing back and forth. “[Deus Ex Machina] energy works. Prota… it barely works. How can I… Zero, can I give Jinae my memories or something?”

  “Zero?” Jinae frowned.

  John didn’t bother to respond, but the answer was clearly negative, because he cursed while hitting the barrier with his fist.

  “...oh. You’re right,” he said quietly.

  Still, this plan was risky. Very risky. It would involve taking him out entirely, but… well, he’d done riskier things in the past.

  “Alright. Jinae, you’re going to need to keep me alive,” he said, putting his hand on the old woman’s shoulder.

  “Keep you alive? What are you saying, John?” Jinae said, understandably confused.

  “You’ll see. I’m going to pass out for a bit. You can’t hit that monster, but you can defend. Clearly,” John said, looking at the still trembling barrier. “Prota will have the means to kill that thing. So you just need to keep me alive until she does.”

  “John?” Prota said, her eyebrows curved ever so slightly.

  She wasn’t a huge fan of what she was hearing.

  “Ok, Prota. Quick lesson. That creature only takes damage from [Deus Ex Machina] energy. Not using the energy itself, but- ah, whatever. It’s probably one of Doctor’s creations, so this kinda makes sense. Probably a failed experiment- I’m saying useless things. The point is, do you remember what you did when we fought Sofya?”

  For a second, Prota didn’t know what John was talking about, but soon, she realized there was only one thing he could be referencing.

  Back at Scholaris, she’d absorbed John’s power. Not mana, but his power.

  “Ok. You’re going to do that again, ok?”

  “I… I don’t know how,” Prota admitted.

  “Well, you’re smart. Unfortunately, you’re going to have to figure it out soon, because I don’t have the means to kill that thing on my own,” John said with a grimace.

  “But-”

  “No. Did you see how fast that thing was moving? I can’t do shit here! Prota. It has to be you. You’re the only one who can kill that thing. Do you understand?”

  Prota hated it. She didn’t want to use a solution that involved putting John in danger. But… she trusted Jinae.

  And if John was saying there was no other solution, then there was none she could think of, either.

  “Nn.”

  Closing her eyes, she tried to ignore the shaking walls, focusing on John instead. Like always, there was no mana core, but…

  Wait. There was something else. She’d never been able to sense it before, but deep in his core, there was something faint, just a flicker of power. It was familiar. Warm. Pulsing with strength, with something so alien yet so comforting at the same time.

  Reaching out, trembling, a single tendril pierced through, but before she could even control herself, unexplainable energy burst into her body, filling her with power.

  When she opened her eyes, her body was glowing ever so slightly, but instead of a red hue, it was a pale blue. Her eyes shone with a cold intensity, lighting up the little barrier Jinae had created.

  John was unconscious, as predicted, but he didn’t look injured in any way.

  “I’m not sure what’s going on, but… go, child,” Jinae said with a warm smile. “I will ensure no harm comes to your brother. Do you what you must.”

  Prota nodded, and the barrier fell.

  She didn’t feel all that much stronger. The initial burst of energy she’d received had already faded, and this was nowhere near the amount of power she had when fighting Sofya. Well, John hadn’t said anything about her being too weak.

  This had everything to do with the creature’s nature.

  Time slowed down as the air turned cold, Snowstorm on the cusp of activating. Four Frozen Bullets began to form, the mana in the air bunching together into blue ice, wind swirling around them in an intense vortex.

  They shot forward, piercing through the monster, its roar shaking the corridor they were fighting in.

  Damage had been dealt.

  For a moment, she glanced back, and she saw Jinae deflecting multiple tendrils with ease. John was floating in a strange, crystalline bubble nearby, but he seemed to be perfectly safe.

  Good.

  The power inside Prota flared up for a moment. She wasn’t sure what had activated it, but there was a new power flowing inside of her. The usual fatigue that built up while fighting wasn’t there anymore.

  Turning back to the creature, she began to dash forward, dodging and weaving through dozens of attacks, dancing with death at every attack. She could feel the wind blow by her as the tendrils shot past, the sliminess of the things coating her hands as she grabbed them, swinging past to cover even more distance.

  Her attacks had barely done any damage. Yes, they’d hit the enemy, but all that had done was reduce the volume of the creature. She needed something else.

  Something more powerful.

  The domain. She could use the domain.

  The air turned cold as snow began to whirl around, Snowstorm activating for real this time, slowing down the monster’s movements. Prota formed a few Blossoms, throwing them forward, and the icicles spread like blossoming flowers as they made contact.

  It just wasn’t enough.

  What? What could she do?

  “Prota!” Jinae yelled, still doing her best to protect John. “I believe that creature is in a semi-liquid state! If you can freeze it…”

  Freeze it. There was a spell perfect for that.

  Absolute Zero.

  But the base spell likely wasn’t enough.

  More. She needed more.

  Time slowed down once more. She needed the time to think. The attacks around her came to a standstill, and she could feel a pressure building on her head, like her skull was shrinking down to squish her brain. She ignored it.

  Think. She had to think.

  The concept of the Tenth Seda. The ability to compound mana. Snowstorm was a domain and a spell, the ability to turn the surrounding mana into that of ice while implementing a literal snowstorm that disrupted the enemy.

  Then, if she could simply fold that onto itself… if she could turn the air so cold that mana and air could be confused for each other…

  “Han. Tool. Set.”

  The mana began to compound, folding once. Twice. Thrice. The cold grew more intense. The particles of mana gathered, growing thicker and thicker until it could no longer be called a simple affinity.

  It was almost as if the space itself was made of ice-based mana.

  With a flash, the air turned white. Time shot back to normal, and the spell was cast instantaneously. For a moment, Prota was stunned, dazzled by the brilliance and beauty of what she’d just created.

  The walls, ceiling and floor were all coated with blue ice. There wasn’t a single imperfection, giving a mirror-like appearance to their entire surroundings. Even with the little light that was there, the ice seemed to amplify that light, creating an almost blinding setting.

  At the very least, the monster seemed disoriented. For a moment, its tendrils flailed around aimlessly, not aiming for any target in particular.

  “Oh, my.”

  Prota turned around to see Jinae covering her mouth in surprise, eyes sparkling as she looked around.

  “I’ve never seen a domain quite like this. This goes beyond just a practical domain. You’ve… you’ve created something beautiful. It’s almost like a palace of ice.”

  Prota felt a shiver of excitement run through her body. Something beautiful.

  Something new.

  The fight wasn’t over, though. She turned back to the monster, raising her hands. A spell came to mind, one she’d planned on using before casting the domain.

  “Absolute Zero.”

  Instead of slowly freezing the space, though, the mana instantly gathered, immediately dropping the temperature of the area to a lethal level. The beast roared for just a moment, but was quickly frozen solid. There was no cast time. No activation. Just a thought, and an ice based attack was created instantly.

  “Frozen Cannon.”

  This time, Prota didn’t even need to compound her magic. The Blossom immediately shrank into a bullet, the vortex of wind building up immediately. With a boom, the spell shot forward, smashing through the frozen monster and blowing it to bits, shards of black ice scattering everywhere.

  Slowly, the ice vanished, not quite melting, but vanishing before Prota’s eyes.

  Before she realized it, though, she’d collapsed, falling to her knees. Her legs had given out. There was no strength left in them. She would have fallen over had Jinae not rushed over to catch her.

  “You did incredibly, child,” she said quietly, pulling out a potion from somewhere unseen. “Drink.”

  Prota was so tired that she couldn’t even move away from Jinae, despite the fact that the old woman was making physical contact with her. All she could do was try and sip at the red liquid being poured into her mouth.

  “Ah… good job, Prota,” she heard.

  John shuffled over, an annoyed expression on his face.

  “I didn’t think… it would be like that. I feel like shit. But… it looks like you fucked that thing up. New spell, I assume?”

  “Nn.”

  “Nice. Zero told me about it. Pretty neat. You should call it… hm… palace of ice or something? I don’t know. I suck at naming things.”

  Soon, Prota was back on her feet. Still, there was no need to push into the unknown when they now knew that there were enemies of this calibur ahead.

  “John,” Jinae said, sitting down. “What… what was that?”

  “That? I don’t know,” John shrugged, pulling a bottle of water out of his pocket.

  “What? Then how did you know what to do?”

  “Intuition. Don’t ask, it’s only going to make things more confusing. The best explanation I can give is that this thing had conceptual power. The guy who created this was obsessed with control, and he had the ability to take control of whatever situation he was in. So… these creatures likely have some kind of similar power.”

  “Control?”

  “No. I don’t think… I don’t think those things have a lot of control over the situation,” John said with a grim chuckle. “But it’s some kind of concept. And unfortunately, the only thing that can beat that-”

  “Conceptual energy. I suppose that makes sense,” Jinae nodded. “How fascinating.”

  “Yeah. I wish I could explain it better, but… to be honest, I can’t. Thankfully, I doubt we’ll run into many more. One or two more at most.”

  “What makes you say that?”

  “You don’t want to know.”

  Jinae smiled. “Try me.”

  John just sighed. “Sure. Essentially, it’s because of tension. This was a strong enemy. However, using a strong enemy over and over results in a loss of tension, because it becomes clear we can beat that enemy. Therefore, a correct balance is a strong enemy to start, leading into a set of lower-tier monsters that only mildly hinder our path.”

  “Hold on, how do you-”

  “After that, likely another mid-tier boss, possibly one or two more of these things. Then, at the end of all this, there’s gonna be one more of these things, but it’s gonna be super powered up and all that.”

  “...I see,” Jinae said, nodding her head slowly.

  “Really? Do you?”

  “I do not jest. Yes, it is quite impossible to deduce you how know this, but… it is not unreasonable. The existence of conceptual energy implies much, and that involves an entirely separate line of logic alien to my own. Then, it is entirely possible that your knowledge results in your explanation making sense.”

  “...smart people like you are boring,” John muttered.

  There was a moment of silence. Prota was almost fully recovered, and John seemed to be picking himself back up as well. They all stared at the black goop on the floor, still frozen solid, but still equally unknown. It wasn’t quite right to say they were afraid, but there was definitely an element of uncertainty that hadn’t been there before.

  “If we run into another one of those things, we’re gonna have to go through all that again,” John sighed. “You guys good with that?”

  Jinae nodded, and then so did Prota, albeit quite reluctantly.

  “Great,” John grunted. “Let’s keep moving.”