"Mission accomplished, sir."
Deep within a rebel camp hidden in the Hollow, a soldier stood before his commanding officer, delivering his report.
"Good work. Return to your unit. The next batch of the serum will be delivered soon — and there'll be a dose with your name on it."
"Thank you, sir!"
The soldier was thrilled. He hadn't expected such a simple task to earn him a reward like this.
The woman before him was from the Laudation Society. Ever since her arrival, she had brought the rebels a remarkable serum. The formula enhanced their physical conditioning and Ether Aptitude, and their superiors had declared it a secret weapon, administering it to soldiers in regular injections.
Supplies were limited, though. Not every soldier could receive their dose right away.
But this woman had promised him: complete her assigned task, and a spot in the next batch would be guaranteed.
An opportunity like that wasn't something he could afford to pass up — especially when the job itself was so easy. All he had to do was go to a designated location inside the Hollow and fire a single special round into the monument.
Simple as breathing.
So he had done exactly that — fired once at the monument, breaking the Sacrificial Wraith free ahead of schedule.
Then, just as Geno was about to finish the Sacrificial Wraith off, he had fired a second shot — and pulled it back from the brink.
Only once the creature was fully saved and had begun its transformation did the sniper finally withdraw.
Watching the soldier go, the corner of Sarah's lips curved upward in a faint, instinctive smile.
To achieve her goal, she needed more experimental data on Sacrificial Wraiths. This particular specimen — long abandoned — had originally been slated for recovery.
But Pioneer Square was now under Belobog Heavy Industries' control. Any direct approach would tip them off and blow her cover.
So Sarah had decided to run her experiment right there on the spot. And the group that had blundered into the Hollow chasing after Director Hols's prototype? They made perfect test subjects.
"By tonight, I should be able to go check on the results," she mused.
She glanced idly at her slender fingers, already impatient to see that day arrive sooner.
"May the Progenitor forge and temper me…"
Back at Pioneer Square, after the Sacrificial Wraith reclaimed the prototype, it went further — absorbing the tunneler, the pile driver, and the grabber, fusing them all into one titanic mass of steel.
Nearly ten meters tall, its body a fortress of iron, claws the size of boulders, four arms and six legs — it looked like an enormous metal crab. The Sacrificial Wraith's original form, no bigger than a grown man, was now buried deep within the machine's core, armored on all sides by the prototype's chassis.
Around the fused creature, Ether bled outward and crystallized into a ring of pitch-black walls, sealing Geno and everyone else in the area off from each other.
The Sacrificial Wraith had come to a realization: as long as Geno remained, its revenge would never run smooth. Frankly, it had been thoroughly sick of him for a while now.
Better to end him here, once and for all.
In the span of a single breath, the fused Sacrificial Wraith launched itself straight at Geno.
The speed was completely at odds with its massive frame — Geno barely had time to react before he was sent flying.
What the hell? It moves that fast?!
Geno twisted in midair and flash-stepped back toward the Sacrificial Wraith, swinging a probing slash at its core region, hoping to crack open the armor protecting it.
The blade rang out with a thunderous clang — and left nothing but a faint scratch. Not a single crack.
"The defense is THIS high?! Are you kidding me?!"
Fast, massive, near-impenetrable defense, and hits like a freight train — what was anyone supposed to do with that?!
"I want to file a complaint! What brain-dead designer came up with this garbage monster!"
Geno, who had once placed the final boss at the entrance to the tutorial village, found he had zero sympathy for his past self right now.
Facing the relentless assault of the fused Sacrificial Wraith, all Geno could do was exploit his smaller size and keep slipping out of reach, buying time while he watched for an opening.
Outside the crystal walls, the Belobog Heavy Industries group had been blasted off their feet by the shockwave from the Sacrificial Wraith's fusion.
When they came to their senses, all they could make out beyond those black walls — four or five stories high — were flickers of unknown light and the rhythmic crashing of heavy impacts.
"That monster!"
Manato bit down hard, cursing under his breath, then rubbed his arm and drove his fist into the wall with everything he had.
"Hss—"
The wall was far harder than he'd expected. He yanked his hand back and shook it out, wincing.
He turned to check on the others, who were also pulling themselves back together.
"How bad is it?"
The Belobog Heavy Industries crew recovered quickly and immediately moved to check on Grace and Koleda.
"Not good. The president was knocked unconscious. Grace is still alive, but she has severe internal bleeding in the abdominal cavity. If she doesn't get treatment soon…"
Ben put it as gently as he could, but everyone present understood exactly what he meant: every moment they delayed was a moment closer to losing Grace for good.
Eous ran the calculations in silence. Even by the shortest route she could project, it would take at least twenty minutes to exit the Hollow.
Twenty minutes. That was already well past the golden window for emergency intervention.
And right now, none of them had any way to administer effective emergency care to Grace. All they could do was watch her slip away, little by little.
"Damn it all! Is there really nothing we can do?!"
Manato's fury was beyond words. Being forced to watch a life fade out right in front of him, completely powerless — the rage burning inside him felt like it would consume him whole.
Beside him, Eous — who had already finished running every calculation — seemed to be weighing something. At last, she made up her mind.
"I might have a way to save Grace."
The moment the words left her mouth, every head snapped toward her.
Anton was so overwhelmed he actually scooped Eous up off the ground and started shaking her.
His whole face was contorted with emotion.
"Really?! Proxy! You can actually save Grace?!"
Anton had always been fiercely loyal — every member of Belobog Heavy Industries was family to him. Now that the Proxy was saying she could save Grace, of course he was beside himself.
Then a hand landed on his arm, firm and steady, forcing him to stop — saving Eous from being rattled into mush.
"Hey! Anton! Calm down! You're about to shake the Proxy unconscious!"
"Oh — sorry. That was completely out of line."
Catching himself, Anton set Eous down quickly and immediately apologized.
Eous took a moment to collect herself, then waved it off and continued.
"I happen to be carrying a serum. The problem is, it hasn't gone through any formal human trials yet — the evidence for its healing properties is purely theoretical at this point."
As she spoke, Eous reached into a concealed internal compartment in her body and produced a single syringe.
At the sight of the vial, faintly glowing with a soft green light, Belle's mind drifted back to the day it had been placed in her hands.
____
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