Chapter 134: 548
[Chapter 148]
[New Humanity Project (6)]
『Belphegor is deviating further from human specifications day by day.
His body repeats degeneration and evolution with each new heart transplant, ultimately evolving to a better state.
(Omitted)
After the 77th heart transplant surgery,
Belphegor's body showed no more changes.
As if saying that was the form existing at the end of human evolution.
Belphegor stopped growing from the appearance of a 10-year-old boy.
Come to think of it, isn't <Index> also a case where growth stopped in childhood? Perhaps it's not so surprising.
However, his physical abilities were at their peak.
We once cut off his arm with a knife then brought it to the severed area.
Surprisingly, a phenomenon occurred that our minds couldn't comprehend at all and the arm reattached.
It far surpassed an Ein's recovery ability.
Besides that, his mana reaction speed, control, efficiency, etc. are truly amazing.
(Omitted)
"─He's transcended the human realm."
When the 85th transplant surgery ended,
He examined Belphegor's condition and said.
He's not human.
I have finally created new humanity.
But the joy was short-lived.
However, he says he still hasn't reached a level that can be called new humanity.
Of course, Belphegor still had lacking aspects.
(Omitted)
...Belphegor is still desperately trying to escape from the research institute.
I don't know how many researchers have died by his hands already.
Now we're worried whether we'll be attacked by Belphegor every time we try to perform surgery.
He's gradually escaping our control.
(Omitted)
"─Just kill me instead! I don't want this anymore!"
It was words suddenly shouted by one of Belphegor's selves.
He went berserk.
"─If you don't want to live that badly, just sleep forever."
The situation was settled when another of Belphegor's selves found control of the body.
13 people including researchers and Players died.
(Omitted)
...phegor had been hiding his power all this time.
When Belphegor attempted his 20th-something escape,
He made people around him fall asleep in an instant.
Even Players with high mana resistance couldn't respond to that phenomenon.
The research institute was nearly annihilated.
His existence was almost revealed to the world.
The situation was resolved by him.
Meanwhile, the condition of people affected by Belphegor's magic was severe.
People only started waking up one by one after a week passed.
(Omitted)
...researcher's mind collapsed.
We asked a researcher whose mind was still intact what happened while sleeping.
He said trembling in fear,
That he had to feel his soul being gnawed away while having nightmares for a whole week.
(Omitted)
Belphegor's ability was revealed.
He learned how to use the Gift <Connection> without me and the researchers knowing.
Thus he connected his imaginary world with other people's through dreams.
(Omitted)
Dreams, the imaginary world is his domain.
He can interfere with our consciousness through dreams.
How terrifying is that.
The thought that the creature I created might rather rule over me.
Now I and the researchers decided to be more cautious of Belphegor than before.
(Omitted)
Belphegor's ability is too powerful.
Just sleeping near him drags you into the imaginary world.
Fortunately, for now you can escape the imaginary world if someone wakes you up in reality.
But if his power becomes even stronger than now at this rate,
No, if he truly becomes reborn as new humanity,
We will become slaves to the dreams he creates.
(Omitted)
I and the researchers had a meeting.
As a result, we decided to put Belphegor into eternal sleep except when performing surgery.
We decided to take measures so he can't come out of his own dream.
He agreed as well.
(Omitted)
We have subdued the demon.
Let no one wake him.
─ From Dr. Deus' research journal』
☆
"Damn it..."
Dr. Deus became a vegetable.
Someone installed some device in the foundation of his psyche.
For example, activating when someone tries to touch his psyche and collapsing his mind.
Just who did this?
Eunha irritably let go of his hand holding Dr. Deus.
He had a guess who took such measures with Dr. Deus.
It's either the mastermind he's trying to find,
Or someone related to the mastermind.
An extremely meticulous person.
Seeing how they don't hesitate to discard Deus like this even though he'd be in a fairly high position on that side...
It feels like fighting an abyss with no bottom.
I can't grasp the enemy's identity.
I finally caught a clue but lost it like this.
Eunha gritted his teeth.
...No.
This isn't over yet.
Soon Eunha shook off negative thoughts.
The way to find out about the mastermind hadn't completely disappeared.
Though Dr. Deus' mind disappeared like this─
─There must be research-related data somewhere.
Data related to the New Humanity Project.
There might be traces connected to the mastermind among the data.
"─Guide me to Deus' research room."
""""...."""
Eunha ordered the Slayers.
Meanwhile, he ordered the now useless Slayers to restrain each other and faint somewhere.
He could have killed them, but it was better to make them go out and pay for their crimes of being involved in the New Humanity Project.
That way, the crime Yoo Do-jun has to pay for will be lighter.
"Is it here?"
Before he knew it,
Eunha found Dr. Deus' research room guided by the Slayers.
"Except for you, the rest tie up your hands and feet and sleep." """"...."""
Leaving one Slayer,
Eunha gave the same order to the Slayers who guided him to the research room.
They nodded.
Now Eunha looked around the research room, leaving them behind.
If I knew this would happen, I should have asked where the research data was earlier...
Clicking his tongue briefly,
Eunha thoroughly searched everything in sight.
The USB Yoo Do-jun prepared.
He also used a USB that automatically saves hardware information when plugged into a computer.
Of course, the computer was password protected.
But Yoo Do-jun's USB copied the entire computer.
"I hope it's in here..."
He used too much mana.
Eunha drank a potion and continued working.
Before the regression, he had infiltrated someone's company and stolen confidential information on Yoo Do-jun's orders several times.
So he had no difficulty finding hidden spaces.
"Whew..."
There was no time to read the data.
He just roughly stuffed things that looked suspicious into his bag.
Meanwhile, the USB also finished storing information.
Is that all I need to do here?
Removing the USB,
Eunha decided to leave the research room after gathering information to expose the New Humanity Project.
Now all that's left is─
"─Guide me to where Belphegor is."
Just finding and killing Belphegor.
☆
In the previous life,
Belphegor's danger level could be said to be the highest among the Demon Lords.
That guy had the ability to forcibly put people nearby into a sleep state and dominate their dreams.
And using that ability─
─He tried to neutralize the function of the Player Library.
No matter how high the mana resistance,
In the end, they were defeated by his ability and had nightmares.
Everyone who went to subjugate him was neutralized like that.
He infiltrated the Mana Management Bureau and accessed the dream of <Index> Yoon Sung-jin who was operating the Player Library.
'─Your era ends with this.'
The Demon Lords' goal wasn't just indiscriminate terrorism.
They were hiding several objectives and one of them was occupying the Player Library.
A world separate from reality, a global data network that accumulated various information including monsters and mana.
Belphegor tried to kill Yoon Sung-jin who managed Korea's Player Library, to start from there and dominate Player Libraries worldwide.
However─
'─This is ridiculous. You bothered me with just that level of skill?'
'H-how...'
'How annoying. Why should I care about what's happening outside? Please... don't bother me. As promised, I'll just do my job.'
<Index> Yoon Sung-jin.
Rather, he produced the result of subduing Belphegor.
Even Belphegor, the ruler of dreams, couldn't defeat Yoon Sung-jin who processed vast amounts of data.
If it was reality, Belphegor would have won.
Player Library.
In other words, a battle in a world that wasn't reality.
In that place with a similar nature to the dream world Belphegor governed, <Index> Yoon Sung-jin was invincible.
As a result, Belphegor who received a severe blow from Yoon Sung-jin in the Library world was subjugated by Players who woke from dreams as soon as he returned to reality.
Even so─
─A Demon Lord is a Demon Lord.
Belphegor's ability is extremely annoying. I have to kill him somehow when he's not in a complete state.
Eunha knew Belphegor's danger very well.
He had to be killed.
Before informing the world about the New Humanity Project and preventing public opinion from forming that Belphegor should be kept alive.
Thus he found the laboratory where the New Humanity Project was being conducted.
"─Here... is... it..." "Well done. I'll take it from here. You bang your head against the wall and faint. As soon as you wake up, bang your head again. Repeat the action. Got it?"
"..."
The Slayer nodding.
He bangs his head against the wall.
Eunha left him behind and opened the door to enter.
"..."
A dark space.
Sparse lighting.
Eunha looked around the vast space while moving his steps.
Snap
He snapped his fingers.
Fire Chicken reacted and created a flame, and Eunha peered through the faint darkness relying on the floating flame.
He goes down stairs.
...It's just like a sleep room.
Except for huge machine devices here and there.
It has the atmosphere of a sleep room.
Eunha thought so while advancing to the center.
What he eventually discovered was─
"─..."
"Papa..."
Human organs.
Huge glass tubes lined up in rows.
Inside the glass tubes filled with liquid were human organs.
[Pancreas (12 years old) Mana concentration 10%]
[Large intestine (14 years old) Mana recovery rate 7%]
Brief descriptions attached to the glass tubes. Besides that, photos and information of the organs' original owners were recorded on the glass tubes.
Also─
Thump thump
A sound like beating a drum was heard.
No, it was a familiar sound.
Eunha moved his steps following the sound.
There were glass tubes there too.
And inside them─
[13-year-old boy's heart]
[12-year-old girl's heart]
Whatever method they used,
The hearts were beating alone.
He was at a loss for words seeing the hearts in liquid beating as if alive.
"Crazy bastards..."
Such words naturally came out.
It went beyond limits.
Not only violating human dignity, but also mocking their deaths.
What's even more outrageous is─
"─..."
A boy with his stomach cut open.
The boy with tubes inserted in his mouth and nose was alive in the glass tube.
Though his soul was already dead.
His heart is beating.
Blood is circulating in his body.
So he looks alive.
"Pipi..."
Following the boy,
In a place where huge glass tubes large enough to connect floor and ceiling were arranged, there were people inside.
All of them were in bad shape.
Monitors installed here and there explicitly showed what kind of experiments the people in the glass tubes underwent.
They're all dead.
Though they look alive.
In reality, they're dead.
Living corpses.
Eunha frowned after checking their condition.
Eventually he reached the end of the laboratory.
"─Found it."
A case that looked particularly sturdy compared to other glass tube cases.
Inside the glass tube filled with light green liquid was a 10-year-old boy.
Bubble bubble
Belphegor.
The Mayin who will be called a Demon Lord in the future.
The boy had his eyes closed.
He's sleeping.
...He's different from the Belphegor I know.
Eunha examined Belphegor's condition.
There were some differences from the Belphegor he remembered.
The Belphegor before the regression had an appearance that somewhat evoked a demon.
As expected, he's not complete yet.
He's not complete yet.
If we had to say, Belphegor's state could be called a half-demon (半魔) between human and Mayin, not a Mayin.
Anyway─
─I have to kill him now.
Before he becomes a complete Mayin.
Eunha drew the coldly blooming Winter and coated the blade with mana.
The blade turned black.
He intended to kill him in one breath while he's sleeping.
─Violent Venom
To kill the child in the glass tube,
Eunha swung his sword with all his might.
Crash
The glass tube shatters.
Swoosh
The contents inside spill out.
Swish
The blackened blade cuts through the water and reaches the falling boy.
The blade is about to touch the boy's body─
"─...!!"
Just before the blade touches the boy's body.
A very fleeting moment.
He felt that moment was a very long time.
The moment the boy wakes from sleep and opens his eyes.
...Why am I so unlucky, damn it.
As the blade is blocked right in front,
Eunha cursed his own misfortune.
The ruler of nightmares has awakened.
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