NOVEL WEB Chapter 128 - False Power
“…Rider System?”
Upon hearing Ouja’s answer, Grey Shadow immediately searched its memory for any relevant information—but came up empty.
Could this so-called “Rider System”… have been created by Ouja himself?
But based on the analysis results from earlier… he shouldn’t have the ability to craft this kind of metallic “technological” equipment.
What exactly is going on…
Noticing Grey Shadow’s silence, Ouja chuckled. He crouched down, grabbed its neck, and abruptly lifted it into the air.
Then, he said:
“I can see you still have a lot of questions~ So… let me explain it to you.”
“But before that… if you can’t even speak, wouldn’t that be way too boring?”
As he spoke, a dark red glow surged from Ouja’s hand, invading Grey Shadow’s puppet and fully restoring its speech module.
With that done, Ouja stomped his foot, flicked his wrist, and tossed Grey Shadow onto a stone chair he had just created. Then, he stepped to its side and gestured toward the darkened screens in front of them.
He snapped his fingers.
Snap!
The screens instantly flickered back to life, playing a recording—
A series of negative beasts, one after another, being stuffed into “bottles” by Ouja, compressed in an instant, and transformed into humanoid armored creatures.
Once they had taken human form… they unleashed power far beyond their previous state, moving at speeds faster than ever before.
In a brief flash, the footage even showed multiple humanoid negative beasts merging together inside a bottle before being deployed.
“……”
Watching the screen, Grey Shadow began to grasp something. But it remained silent—and so did Ouja.
Only when the video had played to its end did Ouja’s teasing voice ring out again:
“It’s just a hastily made ‘Rider System’… but it’ll do just fine~”
“After all… from that footage, you should already understand, shouldn’t you, Grey Shadow?”
Ouja suddenly leaned in, peering into Grey Shadow’s green eyes.
“This is a compression-fusion technology far more advanced than anything you lot have.”
“Now… you should see just how ‘sincere’ I am, right?”
“After all, whether it’s you or the others… haven’t you all been searching for this very technology? The ultimate method to compress and fuse negative beasts—boosting power and speed to their absolute limit…”
“……”
“What are you trying to do?”
Instead of responding immediately, Grey Shadow turned to look at Ouja’s masked face, let out a cold scoff, and said:
“I highly doubt someone as… ambiguous as you would just hand over this technology so easily. You do realize what this means.”
“Oh, that? Didn’t I already say what I wanted to do from the very start?”
“I’m simply here to make a friendly proposal—to offer you a way to defeat that monster~”
“After all, it’s been quite the headache for you, hasn’t it?”
“Enough with the roundabout nonsense, Ouja! What’s your real goal?! What’s the price for obtaining this power?! What exactly do you want?!” Grey Shadow suddenly cut him off, voice sharp with impatience.
“You think I wouldn’t see that you’re trying to use me? If you don’t give me a proper explanation… I won’t hesitate to end you right here and now!”
“Oh dear~ have we already reached the ‘threatening to kill me’ stage? I think you should cool your head a little.”
Hearing Grey Shadow’s words, Ouja sighed, realizing it was about to pull the “self-destruct” card. With an exaggerated shrug, he withdrew his hand, his tone laced with feigned regret.
“As much as the truth can hurt… I suppose there’s no helping it now~”
“Because—you’re right. I am using you, Grey Shadow.”
“I’m using you… to test this power.”
“And… if possible, I’d like you to kill that man~”
“……”
“The price?”
After a moment of silence, Grey Shadow asked.
“If this power had no price or risk… you wouldn’t be offering it to me.”
“The price, huh…”
Ouja pondered for a moment before breaking into a smirk.
“Help me test this new power—experience, firsthand, the thrill it brings~”
“That, is the price.”
“…”
“So—are you still hesitating, Grey Shadow?”
As Grey Shadow fell silent once more, Ouja let out a sigh.
“All those things you did today… haah~ the commotion was a bit too big, you know? I saw everything.”
“You were trying to create a mechanical-type negative beast to fight that monster, weren’t you?”
“But without compression technology… as long as the negative beast isn’t large enough, even if you do create one, it’ll just end up the same as before—getting precisely sliced apart by that thing.”
“So… after making it, you kept it sealed inside an ‘egg,’ hoping to shrink it down into a humanoid form as much as possible.”
“But since that wasn’t feasible~ you aimlessly searched for another way to defeat it~”
“And now that I’m offering you a chance… are you really going to turn it down?”
“……”
“How can I be sure you’re telling the truth?”
“The truth?”
Ouja blinked, then chuckled to himself.
“Oh~ I see, I see… ‘If it’s free, then it must be the most expensive thing of all,’ right? Hmm, even though I already stated the price, I suppose it doesn’t sound convincing enough to you…”
“In that case—”
“?! What are you doing?!”
The moment Ouja finished speaking, he suddenly reached out. Before Grey Shadow could react, Ouja had already detached its arm—the one containing its mobile database.
“Hmm~ not bad.”
Examining the mechanical arm, Ouja nodded in satisfaction before storing it away. Then, with a casual flick of his hand, he tossed ten “bottles” onto the ground in front of Grey Shadow.
“Well, though the process was a little disappointing… I’d say this ‘deal’ is now officially settled.”
As he spoke, Ouja slowly raised the gun in his hand.
“Now then… I hope you’ll enjoy the power that turns monsters into ‘Riders.’ Ciao~”
With that, a burst of smoke shot from the gun, and Ouja vanished from sight.
“Tch! That bastard…!!”
Glaring at the spot where Ouja had disappeared, Grey Shadow seethed for a long while.
But in the end, it could only force itself to calm down.
Then, eyes falling onto the bottles scattered across the ground—
It stood in silence for a moment before slowly picking them up.