MAEPG: Episode 50
Episode 50 Harley (1)
“Grrr, grrr…”
A monster with gray fur was breathing heavily.
The monster, barely supporting its body with its two massive arms reminiscent of a gorilla, was already stained red with blood pouring from wounds all over its body.
“Kraaaagh—!”
The monster let out a furious roar and straightened its back.
It didn’t know the identity of the ones who had suddenly attacked it, but it was a veteran who had established its territory in this area for a long time.
Even if this body was torn to shreds, it wouldn’t go down easily!
But the pursuers in the darkness weren’t in a position to consider the monster’s resolve.
[As much as possible… without damaging it. Be careful. You’ll get scolded again.]
Undead emerged from the shadows of the forest, surrounding the monster.
Leading them was Malcolm, the Death Wizard under Hans’s command.
[Abyssal Shackles.]
Sharp rocks surged from the ground, binding the monster’s limbs, and at the same time, the undead surrounding it charged at the monster all at once.
“Kwwaaagh!”
But the monster didn’t just stand there and take it.
Cracks appeared on the rock masses that bound its massive arms, which had suddenly swelled up with bulging muscles.
Crack—
After breaking the rocks clinging to its arms,
It slammed the ground and broke free from the restraints that bound its legs.
It was stabbed in various places by the charging undead, but it started to rampage, enduring with the monster’s tenacious life force.
And the fight was dragging on longer than expected.
[Careful. Careful! Don’t kill it. Don’t contaminate it. …This is difficult. Its resistance is no joke… Abyssal Shackles.]
It was all because of the master’s orders.
Capture it alive, uncontaminated, and as intact as possible.
If they could just bring back the corpse, Malcolm could have finished it long ago by himself.
If they could just capture it alive, they could have easily taken it down with a combination of dark magic and undead.
But they were undead.
They were born from death, and the foundation of their energy was dark magic power.
They were beings who emitted a fatal energy just by existing near the weak.
It was more difficult than expected for them, who breathed death and curses, to capture the opponent intact.
Malcolm was restricted in his use of dark magic, and the other undead had to suppress their energy as much as possible.
The fact that their target was a monster with tenacious life force, making it difficult to even knock it unconscious, made it even more problematic.
“Grrr…”
After all their efforts to use magic that minimized the influence of dark magic power and the undead sacrificing their bodies…
Malcolm’s group finally succeeded in subduing the monster so that it couldn’t resist.
The gorilla-like monster was pinned down under the undead, struggling with its limbs bound.
[Success… We’re returning now.]
But as always, incidents happened when you let your guard down.
“Kraaagh—!”
Crack!
[Ah.]
At that moment, when they momentarily relaxed, the monster, making a last-ditch effort, bit the ankle of the Skeleton Knight pinning it down.
Crunch! Crunch! Gulp—
And it put the bitten-off ankle in its mouth, chewed it thoroughly, and then swallowed it.
The undead, who rushed in immediately, subdued the monster once again, but there was nothing they could do about what it had already swallowed.
They couldn’t cut open its stomach when they had to capture it as intact as possible.
[Hmm…]
The damage the undead suffered could be easily repaired with dark magic, but that wasn’t the important thing.
Naturally, an undead’s body part wasn’t exactly a healthy food ingredient.
[Monsters are tough, so it might be okay…]
A monster’s diet was to eat anything, so an undead would be nothing to it.
Malcolm carried the neatly packaged monster to Hans’s lab with a glimmer of hope, but…
Thwack!
Of course, it wasn’t okay, so Malcolm, who was severely scolded by Hans, who had become sensitive from repeated experiments, had to go out hunting again.
While repairing his slightly worn-out back of the head with dark magic power from being hit too much.
“Grrr, grrr…”
A monster with gray fur was breathing heavily.
The monster, barely supporting its body with its two massive arms reminiscent of a gorilla, was already stained red with blood pouring from wounds all over its body.
“Kraaaagh—!”
The monster let out a furious roar and straightened its back.
It didn’t know the identity of the ones who had suddenly attacked it, but it was a veteran who had established its territory in this area for a long time.
Even if this body was torn to shreds, it wouldn’t go down easily!
But the pursuers in the darkness weren’t in a position to consider the monster’s resolve.
[As much as possible… without damaging it. Be careful. You’ll get scolded again.]
Undead emerged from the shadows of the forest, surrounding the monster.
Leading them was Malcolm, the Death Wizard under Hans’s command.
[Abyssal Shackles.]
Sharp rocks surged from the ground, binding the monster’s limbs, and at the same time, the undead surrounding it charged at the monster all at once.
“Kwwaaagh!”
But the monster didn’t just stand there and take it.
Cracks appeared on the rock masses that bound its massive arms, which had suddenly swelled up with bulging muscles.
Crack—
After breaking the rocks clinging to its arms,
It slammed the ground and broke free from the restraints that bound its legs.
It was stabbed in various places by the charging undead, but it started to rampage, enduring with the monster’s tenacious life force.
And the fight was dragging on longer than expected.
[Careful. Careful! Don’t kill it. Don’t contaminate it. …This is difficult. Its resistance is no joke… Abyssal Shackles.]
It was all because of the master’s orders.
Capture it alive, uncontaminated, and as intact as possible.
If they could just bring back the corpse, Malcolm could have finished it long ago by himself.
If they could just capture it alive, they could have easily taken it down with a combination of dark magic and undead.
But they were undead.
They were born from death, and the foundation of their energy was dark magic power.
They were beings who emitted a fatal energy just by existing near the weak.
It was more difficult than expected for them, who breathed death and curses, to capture the opponent intact.
Malcolm was restricted in his use of dark magic, and the other undead had to suppress their energy as much as possible.
The fact that their target was a monster with tenacious life force, making it difficult to even knock it unconscious, made it even more problematic.
“Grrr…”
After all their efforts to use magic that minimized the influence of dark magic power and the undead sacrificing their bodies…
Malcolm’s group finally succeeded in subduing the monster so that it couldn’t resist.
The gorilla-like monster was pinned down under the undead, struggling with its limbs bound.
[Success… We’re returning now.]
But as always, incidents happened when you let your guard down.
“Kraaagh—!”
Crack!
[Ah.]
At that moment, when they momentarily relaxed, the monster, making a last-ditch effort, bit the ankle of the Skeleton Knight pinning it down.
Crunch! Crunch! Gulp—
And it put the bitten-off ankle in its mouth, chewed it thoroughly, and then swallowed it.
The undead, who rushed in immediately, subdued the monster once again, but there was nothing they could do about what it had already swallowed.
They couldn’t cut open its stomach when they had to capture it as intact as possible.
[Hmm…]
The damage the undead suffered could be easily repaired with dark magic, but that wasn’t the important thing.
Naturally, an undead’s body part wasn’t exactly a healthy food ingredient.
[Monsters are tough, so it might be okay…]
A monster’s diet was to eat anything, so an undead would be nothing to it.
Malcolm carried the neatly packaged monster to Hans’s lab with a glimmer of hope, but…
Thwack!
Of course, it wasn’t okay, so Malcolm, who was severely scolded by Hans, who had become sensitive from repeated experiments, had to go out hunting again.
While repairing his slightly worn-out back of the head with dark magic power from being hit too much.
__________________
Hans was meditating with his eyes closed.
Of course, he couldn’t actually close his eyelids because he didn’t have any, but it was the same in that he was in a state where he couldn’t perceive the outside world, deeply immersed in his inner world.
<You Can Do It Too! Chimera Engineering 100-Day Completion>
He was examining the boundless knowledge contained in “Forbidden Knowledge” and trying to apply it.
He combined the bio-research data, including chimeras, with Heaven’s Turn Society’s experimental information and derived results by applying the results he had directly confirmed.
Hans, who finally returned his mind, looked down at Harley lying on the operating table and fell into thought.
[Hmm, it seems like the dragon blood has settled properly in his body.]
Now, nearly three months after the experiment began, the scenery of the cave had changed a lot.
Flasks filled with unidentified drugs, biological tissues preserved fresh with preservation magic, all sorts of grotesque experimental tools.
And grotesque magic circles and magic tools placed throughout the cave flickered with an eerie light, showing off their presence.
It was literally the laboratory of a mad scientist who had lost his humanity.
Considering that it was mixed with the occult, it could be considered even worse.
“It feels a little stiff? It seems like the adaptation isn’t complete yet. But it’s not to the point of death.”
[Let’s wait and see. His reaction is faster than expected. It seems like we’re not far from the results. As expected of me. Hehehe…]
The experiment was going smoothly.
A day passed.
“Ugh, I feel something bubbling inside…”
[Hmm, is it a side effect? I thought he could endure it with “Adaptation”. I should lower the intensity a bit.]
Three days later.
“Ugh— Cough! Ugh!”
[Hmm… Did it exceed the limit of “Super Recovery”? It’s a shame. If we could have gone a little further, we would have succeeded right away. Let’s adjust it a bit.]
A week passed.
“…”
[…I can’t connect with his consciousness. I can’t lose Harley now… Hmm, should I gamble? I think it’ll work if I use all the remaining dragon blood.]
A little over three months had passed since Hans and Harley began their joint research.
“Hmm?”
[We’re finally connected! I’m glad the gamble paid off. I used all the dragon blood, but it’s still inside Harley’s body, so we can continue the research. Hehehe…]
“…But something feels strange about my body…”
At that moment,
《The individual meets the conditions and grows. The skill “Adaptation” evolves into the special skill “Mutation”.》
《The individual meets the conditions and unlocks its potential. You have acquired the special skill “Physical Transformation”.》
《The individual’s recovery ability has exceeded its limit. The skill “Super Recovery” evolves into “Regeneration”.》
“Oh?”
[Oh?]
Both of them exclaimed at the same time at the messages that appeared in succession.
“If this happens…”
[The experiment is a success.]
It was a great achievement, achieved in about a hundred days in Auterica time, ten days in Earth time.
Of course, the results were quite different from what they had wanted, but they had achieved their goal.
“Mutation” was the characteristic of evolving oneself through external genes, so strictly speaking, it wasn’t that different.
‘It’s an unexpected gain that we got “Regeneration” in the process.’
It was probably because he had received blood transfusions from monsters with high regenerative abilities for the experiment.
It was the first fruit of obtaining “Mutation”.
But the good news didn’t end there.
《The unique skill grows and unlocks its potential. The number of avatars you can possess increases.》
He could now create one more avatar.
‘Hmm… I didn’t expect this at all.’
Until now, the number of avatars had only increased through enhancement in the Karma Shop.
This was the first time an avatar had increased through natural growth.
‘There have been a few minor growths so far. Did we cross some threshold by growing this time?’
Well, it was about time for some results to appear as the growth stats accumulated.
The fact that rapid enhancement was possible through the Karma Shop meant that he could eventually achieve the same results through natural growth.
‘The fifth avatar… I just made Harley usable.’
It was time to think about how to utilize the new avatar.
Of course, it was a happy worry, unlike before.
Hans was meditating with his eyes closed.
Of course, he couldn’t actually close his eyelids because he didn’t have any, but it was the same in that he was in a state where he couldn’t perceive the outside world, deeply immersed in his inner world.
<You Can Do It Too! Chimera Engineering 100-Day Completion>
He was examining the boundless knowledge contained in “Forbidden Knowledge” and trying to apply it.
He combined the bio-research data, including chimeras, with Heaven’s Turn Society’s experimental information and derived results by applying the results he had directly confirmed.
Hans, who finally returned his mind, looked down at Harley lying on the operating table and fell into thought.
[Hmm, it seems like the dragon blood has settled properly in his body.]
Now, nearly three months after the experiment began, the scenery of the cave had changed a lot.
Flasks filled with unidentified drugs, biological tissues preserved fresh with preservation magic, all sorts of grotesque experimental tools.
And grotesque magic circles and magic tools placed throughout the cave flickered with an eerie light, showing off their presence.
It was literally the laboratory of a mad scientist who had lost his humanity.
Considering that it was mixed with the occult, it could be considered even worse.
“It feels a little stiff? It seems like the adaptation isn’t complete yet. But it’s not to the point of death.”
[Let’s wait and see. His reaction is faster than expected. It seems like we’re not far from the results. As expected of me. Hehehe…]
The experiment was going smoothly.
A day passed.
“Ugh, I feel something bubbling inside…”
[Hmm, is it a side effect? I thought he could endure it with “Adaptation”. I should lower the intensity a bit.]
Three days later.
“Ugh— Cough! Ugh!”
[Hmm… Did it exceed the limit of “Super Recovery”? It’s a shame. If we could have gone a little further, we would have succeeded right away. Let’s adjust it a bit.]
A week passed.
“…”
[…I can’t connect with his consciousness. I can’t lose Harley now… Hmm, should I gamble? I think it’ll work if I use all the remaining dragon blood.]
A little over three months had passed since Hans and Harley began their joint research.
“Hmm?”
[We’re finally connected! I’m glad the gamble paid off. I used all the dragon blood, but it’s still inside Harley’s body, so we can continue the research. Hehehe…]
“…But something feels strange about my body…”
At that moment,
《The individual meets the conditions and grows. The skill “Adaptation” evolves into the special skill “Mutation”.》
《The individual meets the conditions and unlocks its potential. You have acquired the special skill “Physical Transformation”.》
《The individual’s recovery ability has exceeded its limit. The skill “Super Recovery” evolves into “Regeneration”.》
“Oh?”
[Oh?]
Both of them exclaimed at the same time at the messages that appeared in succession.
“If this happens…”
[The experiment is a success.]
It was a great achievement, achieved in about a hundred days in Auterica time, ten days in Earth time.
Of course, the results were quite different from what they had wanted, but they had achieved their goal.
“Mutation” was the characteristic of evolving oneself through external genes, so strictly speaking, it wasn’t that different.
‘It’s an unexpected gain that we got “Regeneration” in the process.’
It was probably because he had received blood transfusions from monsters with high regenerative abilities for the experiment.
It was the first fruit of obtaining “Mutation”.
But the good news didn’t end there.
《The unique skill grows and unlocks its potential. The number of avatars you can possess increases.》
He could now create one more avatar.
‘Hmm… I didn’t expect this at all.’
Until now, the number of avatars had only increased through enhancement in the Karma Shop.
This was the first time an avatar had increased through natural growth.
‘There have been a few minor growths so far. Did we cross some threshold by growing this time?’
Well, it was about time for some results to appear as the growth stats accumulated.
The fact that rapid enhancement was possible through the Karma Shop meant that he could eventually achieve the same results through natural growth.
‘The fifth avatar… I just made Harley usable.’
It was time to think about how to utilize the new avatar.
Of course, it was a happy worry, unlike before.
________________
Four months had passed since Heinrich became a holy knight.
His current workplace was the Radiance Guardian Holy Knight Order, which was in charge of guarding the interior of the Roselia Cathedral.
Only those with high holy power and proven faith among the holy knights could join this order, but he was able to join as a trainee thanks to the higher-ups who had their eye on his potential.
Heinrich’s holy power, which had been steadily growing, was now at the top level among high priests.
The one in charge of guiding him was Lady Lailyn, a blue-haired female holy knight who was a member of the Radiance Guardian.
“There’s nothing special about internal security. As you already know from working elsewhere, there are multiple layers of defenses from the outside. And this is where the Order Captains and Archbishops reside…”
And further inside were the Saintess, the Cardinals, and the Pope.
Of course, they wouldn’t intervene directly unless it was absolutely necessary.
‘Except for the Saintess who wanders around everywhere.’
“But security is still necessary. Especially the paths leading to important locations need to be blocked so that no one can enter, even by mistake.”
“…What kind of places are considered important locations?”
It would be places like the residences of high-ranking individuals or secret vaults, but he asked Lailyn, who was in charge of escorting him, just to be sure.
It was a casual question.
But she just looked at Heinrich with a troubled expression.
“Hmm… I think it would be okay with this level of holy power… But rules are rules. Come this way.”
Heinrich followed her as she led him to a secluded part of the cathedral.
A deserted place he had never been to before while on guard duty.
More precisely, it was a place that didn’t need to be guarded.
Knock, knock—
“We’re from the Radiance Guardian. We have a new recruit who needs to take an oath.”
The door slid open at the light knock.
A man came out from inside and quietly led them in.
‘Heresy Inquisitor.’
Black priestly robes, a pulled-down hood, and even a mask covering his mouth.
This was where the Heresy Inquisitors of the Main God Church worked.
He followed the silent man through a hallway with a strangely dark atmosphere and entered a windowless room.
“You can sit in front of him and read the document on the table.”
There was a document on the table in the room he was led to, and a Heresy Inquisitor was sitting on the chair opposite it.
He cautiously sat down and checked the contents of the document, which had ‘Radiance Guardian’ written at the top, and it was a security pledge, nothing special.
A written oath to keep silent about the information he learned while working.
As he was about to read it,
Swoosh—
The person sitting in front of him raised a hand and placed it on Heinrich’s forehead.
He flinched for a moment at the sudden action but tried to ignore it and nonchalantly recited the contents of the document.
“…Therefore, I swear to keep silent in all circumstances.”
After he finished reading the document,
Holy power erupted from the hand placed on his forehead.
“…”
“…?”
And the Heresy Inquisitor silently withdrew his hand without saying anything.
“It’s over. Let’s go.”
Until they left the room under Lailyn’s guidance, he couldn’t hear a single voice other than theirs.
“…Is it always this quiet there?”
“Well, it’s better if you never hear anything from there. If they speak, it means something bad is happening.”
There was no need to ask what that bad situation was.
“So what did they do? A restriction to prevent you from revealing secrets?”
“Haha… Restriction? It’s a blessing. The Blessing of Silence. The effect is that you can’t reveal certain information, whether voluntarily or involuntarily. Amazing, right?”
It was a restriction!
It was no different from other restrictions, except that it was based on holy power.
‘But since it’s a blessing, they wouldn’t do anything like blowing up my head, right?’
“Sigh… So what’s this important location that requires the ‘Blessing of Silence’?”
“Hmm, just wait a moment. I’m also under the Blessing of Silence, so I can only speak after following the procedure. It’ll only take a moment.”
The time he waited was definitely not a moment.
But the information he learned after going through the complicated procedure was enough to make him understand why they valued security so much.
“…The important ritual being performed can’t be interrupted. And the Saintess’s quarters…”
Information about the residences of high-ranking individuals or secret vaults was nothing compared to this.
“…Lastly, there’s something you need to know.”
In one of the inner sanctums of the Church,
“A place we have to protect with our lives in case of an emergency.”
‘That thing’.
“The last fragment of the Immortal King…”
Was sealed in this Roselia Cathedral.
Four months had passed since Heinrich became a holy knight.
His current workplace was the Radiance Guardian Holy Knight Order, which was in charge of guarding the interior of the Roselia Cathedral.
Only those with high holy power and proven faith among the holy knights could join this order, but he was able to join as a trainee thanks to the higher-ups who had their eye on his potential.
Heinrich’s holy power, which had been steadily growing, was now at the top level among high priests.
The one in charge of guiding him was Lady Lailyn, a blue-haired female holy knight who was a member of the Radiance Guardian.
“There’s nothing special about internal security. As you already know from working elsewhere, there are multiple layers of defenses from the outside. And this is where the Order Captains and Archbishops reside…”
And further inside were the Saintess, the Cardinals, and the Pope.
Of course, they wouldn’t intervene directly unless it was absolutely necessary.
‘Except for the Saintess who wanders around everywhere.’
“But security is still necessary. Especially the paths leading to important locations need to be blocked so that no one can enter, even by mistake.”
“…What kind of places are considered important locations?”
It would be places like the residences of high-ranking individuals or secret vaults, but he asked Lailyn, who was in charge of escorting him, just to be sure.
It was a casual question.
But she just looked at Heinrich with a troubled expression.
“Hmm… I think it would be okay with this level of holy power… But rules are rules. Come this way.”
Heinrich followed her as she led him to a secluded part of the cathedral.
A deserted place he had never been to before while on guard duty.
More precisely, it was a place that didn’t need to be guarded.
Knock, knock—
“We’re from the Radiance Guardian. We have a new recruit who needs to take an oath.”
The door slid open at the light knock.
A man came out from inside and quietly led them in.
‘Heresy Inquisitor.’
Black priestly robes, a pulled-down hood, and even a mask covering his mouth.
This was where the Heresy Inquisitors of the Main God Church worked.
He followed the silent man through a hallway with a strangely dark atmosphere and entered a windowless room.
“You can sit in front of him and read the document on the table.”
There was a document on the table in the room he was led to, and a Heresy Inquisitor was sitting on the chair opposite it.
He cautiously sat down and checked the contents of the document, which had ‘Radiance Guardian’ written at the top, and it was a security pledge, nothing special.
A written oath to keep silent about the information he learned while working.
As he was about to read it,
Swoosh—
The person sitting in front of him raised a hand and placed it on Heinrich’s forehead.
He flinched for a moment at the sudden action but tried to ignore it and nonchalantly recited the contents of the document.
“…Therefore, I swear to keep silent in all circumstances.”
After he finished reading the document,
Holy power erupted from the hand placed on his forehead.
“…”
“…?”
And the Heresy Inquisitor silently withdrew his hand without saying anything.
“It’s over. Let’s go.”
Until they left the room under Lailyn’s guidance, he couldn’t hear a single voice other than theirs.
“…Is it always this quiet there?”
“Well, it’s better if you never hear anything from there. If they speak, it means something bad is happening.”
There was no need to ask what that bad situation was.
“So what did they do? A restriction to prevent you from revealing secrets?”
“Haha… Restriction? It’s a blessing. The Blessing of Silence. The effect is that you can’t reveal certain information, whether voluntarily or involuntarily. Amazing, right?”
It was a restriction!
It was no different from other restrictions, except that it was based on holy power.
‘But since it’s a blessing, they wouldn’t do anything like blowing up my head, right?’
“Sigh… So what’s this important location that requires the ‘Blessing of Silence’?”
“Hmm, just wait a moment. I’m also under the Blessing of Silence, so I can only speak after following the procedure. It’ll only take a moment.”
The time he waited was definitely not a moment.
But the information he learned after going through the complicated procedure was enough to make him understand why they valued security so much.
“…The important ritual being performed can’t be interrupted. And the Saintess’s quarters…”
Information about the residences of high-ranking individuals or secret vaults was nothing compared to this.
“…Lastly, there’s something you need to know.”
In one of the inner sanctums of the Church,
“A place we have to protect with our lives in case of an emergency.”
‘That thing’.
“The last fragment of the Immortal King…”
Was sealed in this Roselia Cathedral.
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