READ NOVEL ONLINE Chapter 177
The World Enemy, covering the entire building, was indeed a formidable presence, but that alone was not enough. After all, the World Enemy was just prey that could easily be taken down by heroes, villains, or magical girls.
It was the same inside this building. This was the Evil Organization, a place where most members were barely above normal—if not worse—but not everyone was like that.
“Huh—suddenly a blackout, and now monsters?”
There were beastmen whose physical abilities far surpassed even the average superhuman, ability users who could withstand a nuclear explosion right in front of them, and even a transcendent magician from another world.
If only the World Enemy were their target, they could easily solve this situation; it was just a matter of time. Yes, if the enemy were merely monsters and they were given enough time.
However, their enemies were not just monsters, and time was not on their side.
“What the heck is this? What’s with all the splashing?”
A monster that didn’t respond to physical attacks was swallowing a muscle-bound idiot whole.
“Ugh—!? Wait, is this a big problem…?”
The owner of a defensive shield that could withstand even a nuclear explosion overwhelmed them with sheer numbers.
“Oh dear—I’ve been caught.”
The transcendent magician, crossing the laws of physics, executed traps that one must inevitably fall for the first time they encounter them.
After dealing with all the executives of the Evil Organization, Ayle turned her gaze back to the scientist and bit her lip. Beyond the darkness, deep within the building, Snowa and Eight were holding hands tightly.
“That damned b*tch…!”
Ayle bit down hard enough to crack a tooth, recalling the executives of the Evil Organization she just captured and the citizens she held outside, grinning mischievously.
Yes, she thought of a great way to separate those two—and even better, make them fight.
“Let’s see how righteous you can get!”
Ayle’s magic enveloped the entire building once again.
* * *
“Professor? I think it’s almost done.”
“Hmm, really?”
Snowa naturally extended her hand. The tattoo blooming on her wrist now had only one petal left. Seeing that, I sprayed it with alcohol to erase her tattoo.
It must have been quite refreshing for Snowa, seeing what was clearly a magical phenomenon being erased by a simple spray from the bottle she held, even though she had seen it several times before.
“What the heck is this? A tattoo that I couldn’t remove with my magic, getting erased so easily…?”
“Just a very basic tool.”
“Basic? Really…?”
Just as Snowa scoffed, a monster revealed itself from the shadows. The beast lunged at us on all fours, ready to pounce. Snowa reacted quickly, but being held by my hand slowed her down a bit.
Nothing to be done. I sprayed disinfectant alcohol at the floating monster. Sizzle! The beast, hit by the spray, began to scream like an animal touched by poison.
─Kriiiick, kyyyaaah, keeeeh!?
Whether the alcohol actually acted like a poison on monsters or not, its face slowly began to melt away. Not long after, the completely melted monster was being swallowed by the darkness.
Snowa, holding her staff awkwardly, looked at me with disbelief.
“What on earth is that alcohol…?”
“Even if it’s just disinfectant alcohol.”
“No, more than that—were you really able to catch the monster with just that? Then we could have done it without wasting my magic…?”
“That’s all there is. We can’t have a situation where we don’t have it in critical moments, can we?”
“But my magic isn’t infinite either.”
“Hmm—want to give this a try?”
I said, pulling a fatigue recovery drink from my pocket. When Snowa saw the bottle packed like something one would buy at a convenience store, she looked at me in disbelief, but after a second round of persuasion, reluctantly put it in her mouth.
Moments later, Snowa began giggling.
“My magic….”
“Evilus’s fatigue recovery drink works well.”
Of course, what I just handed her was not for sale. It was a magic recovery potion made from the knowledge gained from researching several magical girls. Naturally, we didn’t have any active magical girls in our organization, so it sat unused.
“What the heck… No, more importantly, Professor, just how much is in that pocket of yours?”
“It’s a Fourth-Dimensional Pocket.”
“Fourth dimension…?”
As I left the otherworldly person who didn’t understand Earth’s jokes behind, I began to slowly figure out the pattern of this maze-like hallway. I also understood how Ayle was protecting herself.
‘Just a game-like corridor.’
In old-school JRPGs, the protagonist’s journey through a hallway is often considered only in terms of how many ‘turns’ they’ve used. They advance, face enemies, and only when a certain number of encounters have occurred does a trigger work. The Evilus Building was the same.
Every time we encountered a new monster and defeated it, the surrounding environment changed just a little bit. Given that nothing had changed even after walking several hundred meters before, it seemed likely that we could meet Ayle simply by facing a few more enemies.
This was a not-so-challenging strategy to tackle these abilities. Since the intruders were placing ‘constraints’ on themselves, they must certainly carry a penalty that required them to meet the enemy.
“If we take down about ten more monsters, we should run into Ayle.”
“Huh? How do you know that?”
“Calculations?”
“Calculations? What do you…?”
“You wouldn’t know such things.”
As I gave Snowa, who didn’t understand the rules, a little homework as a professor, we began to walk forward together. Even if we stayed still, enemies would come, but walking would likely create even more events on purpose.
Did that estimation hold? Before long, another jet-black humanoid monster reappeared.
“Alright. Let’s go. Huhhh-!”
“─Wait.”
“Kyaaaaah-!?”
I poked Snowa in the side to stop her from using magic.
Ignoring her glare as if she were questioning why I was holding her back, I cautiously observed the newly appeared monster. It was a form I recognized far too well.
This height, this build, this face were all familiar to me.
‘……Vira?’
To my shock, the monster closely resembled Vira. From head to toe, if you stripped Vira and poured black dye all over her, that’s what it would look like.
Just as I was briefly stunned by the sudden appearance of Vira, about five more monsters revealed themselves behind us. Like before, they looked like humans covered in black dye.
“We’re surrounded! Professor!”
“Surrounded? Doesn’t seem like that.”
“What do you mean!? Quickly, alcohol—.”
“No, look closely.”
I pointed to the suddenly revealed monsters. While they were indeed surrounding us, unlike the previous ones, they didn’t show any aggression.
Compared to the other monsters that rushed us at the sight of us or swung their tentacles, it was quite strange.
“……You’re right. They’re not attacking us.”
“What kind of event is this…?”
“Can’t you calculate that with that well-known brain of yours?”
“Even I can’t figure it out just by looking at them.”
While I was bickering with Snowa, who seemed to be holding onto the previous incident, suddenly the shadow monsters’ faces began to break apart. As light returned to the darkened monsters, they transformed back into humans, albeit limited to their faces.
“Uh, uh—?”
“What is this….”
“P-please save us—!”
Behind them were five civilians crying out for help.
“Eight? What are you doing there—.”
In front of us was the cold-headed executive of the Evil Organization, urgently assessing the situation.
Voices began to rise up from both the front and back. While the ones in the back were busy pleading to be saved, Vira calmly explained what she had experienced.
“I was caught fighting monsters. After that, I have no memory. And now, this is our situation.”
“Okay. Got it, Ms. Vira. Just stay put. I’ll rescue you later.”
“Later? How unfair—can’t you get me out quicker?”
Just as I tossed around some light jokes, a piercing scream erupted from the civilians. Turning my head, I could see one of them slowly disappearing.
“P-please help me! My, my arm! My leg!”
“Aaaah! Me too!”
“What’s happening!? What’s going on!?”
As Snowa panicked, unable to figure out what to do, Vira, who remained composed, quietly spoke up.
“……Eight? Something’s off with my body.”
“Ah—don’t tell me.”
I, with a quick and sharp mind, soon grasped the situation. In front of me was the executive of the Evil Organization.
Behind me were five civilians.
……And at the same time, their bodies began to fade away.
Having gotten this far, I could immediately understand the nature of the situation. It was something I had often told Ayle before.
The Trolley Dilemma.
Ayle was now forcing me to make a choice. Colleagues or civilians. I had to choose whom I wanted to save.
* * *
“Pff, pffffft-!”
Ayle, watching Eight from the darkness, burst into laughter. Just look at that panicked face. If you’re hanging out with some b*tch, you can’t help but end up like that.
No matter what choice he made, he was bound to lose Snowa. Snowa, being a magical girl, would surely choose the civilians, and Ayle knew well that Eight was the type to save only someone he knew rather than a bystander.
‘Now, fight it out. Let the insurmountable pit deepen far more—.’
Even if they didn’t fight here, it didn’t matter. There were still plenty of sacrifices left. Many more problems awaited to trouble Eight.
However.
─You’ve crossed the line, Ayle.
Eight suddenly spoke up. At that, Ayle tilted her head in confusion, yet continued to watch him closely.
─You thought I would give up one of the two simply by putting me in a situation like this?
What she didn’t realize was that Eight was not the sort to do that. He would seek a way to save everyone until the very end, even if it meant sacrificing himself—he wouldn’t simply accept the answer laid out for him.
In that moment, something he pulled from his pocket activated.
Ayle stared at him with eyes wide in disbelief.
The hostages who had just been in front of him disappeared in an instant.
─I’m going to have to smack your butt a bit when we meet again.
“Ugh-!”
With that one sentence, Ayle felt her heart racing like crazy. Even though it shouldn’t be like this, she almost chose to secretly let him into her room….