NOVEL WEB Chapter 57
Chapter 57. Late Regret
“Will Yanagi be alright?”
Even though I trust his abilities, I can’t help but feel that leaving him to handle the mission alone was a mistake.
“Well, it’s too late now.”
The die has already been cast.
All I can do is pray for his safety.
Right now, I’m infiltrating a certain facility.
For this mission, Yanagi took the front, while I attacked from behind to crush the enemy.
The more I dug, the more enemies kept coming out. It was exhausting, but that’s done now. This facility is the final battleground.
“Still, it’s so dark here.”
Walking down the hallway, not a single light is on.
It’s eerily dim and cold.
“This feeling reminds me of that labyrinth from before.”
Could that labyrinth have been the work of the one who controls this facility?
The list of things I need to confront them about keeps growing.
Ten minutes into the infiltration, I arrive at the innermost part of the facility.
I was on high alert, but there were no traps or resistance along the way.
“…This is way too lax. A trap?”
Remaining cautious, I destroy the imposing door at the end with a barrier and step inside.
“Well, well. If it isn’t Kongo from the Special Ability Unit.”
As I scan the room, I notice strange machinery everywhere and large test tubes containing grotesque creatures.
The sight of dozens of monsters floating in green liquid is enough to make anyone nauseous.
At the center of the room stands a man in a white coat with round glasses, looking at me with a sinister grin.
“I never thought you’d walk right into my hands. A new guinea pig—what a delightful surprise!”
Guinea pig… huh.
In any case, this is the jackpot.
“I was wondering how information about Takamiya Runa leaked out, but now it’s clear. Isn’t that right, Hisaya Nishida, former exclusive researcher for the Takamiya family two years ago?”
“Oh, so you know about me?”
While investigating the information leak regarding the Takamiya family, one particular incident stood out.
Two years ago, there was an accident at the research wing of the Takamiya household.
In that accident, Nishida Hisaya was reported dead—no longer among the living.
But…
“It was exhausting, tracking down a traitor from scratch. But it was worth it. When I had an acquaintance with special abilities examine your ‘corpse,’ it turned out to be someone else entirely.”
One of the oddities of that accident was the disappearance of certain equipment.
The missing device was primarily used for researching multi-powered individuals.
After the failure of multi-power experiments years ago, such equipment had been abandoned in storage.
However, one researcher continued obsessively studying multi-powers—Hisaya Nishida.
My intuition told me to investigate further, so I asked a trusted acquaintance to check Nishida’s body.
The results were shocking: the corpse was someone else, meaning Nishida was still alive.
“Hahaha, the Takamiya household was so stifling for me. Though their facilities were excellent, I eventually reached my limit.”
Nishida says, trembling with excitement.
“Ah! Have you ever heard the screams of a human in despair? How amusing it is to watch them cry out with hopeless expressions! Now, whether human or not, I dissect them, study them inside and out, and use them as fodder to create my ultimate life form!”
“You’re insane!”
What does he think people are?!
No one is born to be your toy!
“I had planned to capture you and extract information, but I’ve changed my mind… I’ll kill you here.”
I understand now.
There’s no benefit to keeping someone like him alive.
Even if I tried to interrogate him, he’d just evade the questions.
“You’ll kill me? If you’re serious, that’s laughable.”
Nishida grins eerily and shakes his head.
He must have a backup plan.
I should’ve brought Kajo or Kirasaka with me.
“No matter how monstrous your power is, ranked 15th in the world, you’ll never defeat these creatures. Struggle as much as you want to keep your body intact.”
Nishida spreads his arms wide and shouts.
“Come forth! Alpha! Beta!”
(What’s coming?)
I brace myself, ready to counter any threat from any direction.
Three seconds pass. Five seconds. Eight seconds.
“Wh-why aren’t they coming?! Could it be that the transfer failed?!”
Nishida panics and rushes to a monitor.
(An irregularity? Or are his trump cards stationed somewhere inaccessible without teleportation? Don’t tell me…)
“The ones you were trying to summon—are they attacking the Takamiya household to abduct Runa right now?”
“That’s right! By now, the Takamiya guards and their escorts should all be slaughtered—”
“Ha… hahaha!”
“W-what’s so funny…?”
I can’t help but laugh.
Because, well, isn’t it obvious?
Our ace is stationed there.
Which means those creatures you’re so proud of are already…
“What’s so amusing?!”
Angered by my laughter, Nishida furiously operates the monitor at high speed.
“Look! This is your—huh?!”
Nishida freezes, speechless, at the scene on the monitor.
Displayed is a battlefield littered with the mangled corpses of four monsters.
Standing amidst the wreckage is Yanagi, unscathed.
The surrounding buildings are reduced to rubble, with parts of the ground scorched.
“What… impossible…! Shuten Doji and Nurarihyon, along with my greatest creations, Alpha and Beta…! There’s no way [Probability Manipulation] could have been broken!”
Nishida shouts incoherently, his voice trembling.
But then his eyes meet Yanagi’s through the monitor.
“Ah?!”
With a soundless scream, Nishida watches as the monitor is cleaved in two in the blink of an eye.
“Eek?!”
Overwhelmed by fear, Nishida falls to the floor, wetting himself.
His teeth chatter, his face pale as a sheet.
(What a reliable guy. To think he even had such a hidden ace up his sleeve.)
I’ll likely have a lot to answer for later, but for now, I’ll do what I can to help.
But first…
“So, do you have any tricks left?”
“A…”
I approach the madman on the ground, cold murder in my eyes.
Grabbing his collar with my left hand, I lift him into the air.
“S-stop…!”
“You have no right to beg for your life.”
I press barriers on either side of his floating body and imbue them with [Disintegration].
“Gyaaaahhh!!!”
His screams echo, his body slowly breaking apart.
The pain must be unimaginable.
For several minutes, his agonized cries fill the air.
Bit by bit, his body disintegrates, until finally, he breathes his last in a pathetic state.
Leaving the facility, I erect a massive barrier above it and crush it entirely.
All materials related to multi-power research are obliterated.
“No more tragedies like hers…”
To ensure there are no more victims like her…
To make sure her death wasn’t in vain.