Chapter 264: Escape (4)   The moment I stepped out of the elevator and tried to get out of the laboratory, my mana which was depleting at an alarming rate, finally ran out. The mask fell off of my face, and the effects of Monarch's indifference ran out.

"Hey!"

"Sh*t!"

The moment my face was revealed, and I regained control of my body, the first thing I saw was three guards glaring in my direction.

Standing in the opposite hall to me and taking out their weapons, they all rushed towards me.

"We've found the suspect, I repeat, we've found the suspect. We're currently engaging him at the entrance of the laboratory."

They of course didn't forget to alert the other units.

Without wasting time, taking out another bomb from my dimensional space, I pressed on a small button at the top of the bomb.

—Click!

'1…2…3…4…'

Re-entering the elevator, and hiding by the side, I closed my eyes and silently counted inside of my mind. The moment my count was about to reach five, turning around, I threw the bomb towards the guards.

Without looking, I hid by the side of the elevator.

—BOOOOM!

"Huaaa!"

"Ahhh!"

Two seconds after throwing the bomb, a massive explosion ensued and the blood-curling screams of the guards rang out throughout the whole upper floor. Standing behind the elevator, I could feel the heat from the explosion brush past me.

—WHIIIII! —WHIIIII!

Shortly after the explosion rang, smoke-filled my vision, and the alarms rang.

Covering my nose with the sleeve of my shirt, squinting, I moved out. The moment I turned around and looked at the aftermath of the explosion, the first thing I saw was the corpses of the guards on the floor.

With blood and limbs splattered everywhere, the scene looked extremely gory. Even so, firming myself and moving through the broken glass, and pieces of flesh on the floor I quickly made my way towards the exit of the facility.

—Clank!

"Haaa…"

Opening the doors and exiting the laboratory, I involuntarily squinted my eyes and covered them with my arm. The side of my eyes teared up slightly.

'The sun.'

After eight months of being locked up inside of the facility, I was finally able to see the sun.

Never in my life would've I have expected myself to miss the sun so much. For a brief moment, I just dazedly stood at the front of the laboratory. My emotions were a bit erratic, but I was able to quickly snap myself out of it.

"Now's not the time to get emotions…" Turning around, I wondered. 'Where am I?'

Looking around, I noticed that I was currently in the middle of a forest. Behind me was the laboratory. The laboratory was hidden inside of a forest, and although it was still within the Monolith, for the obvious reason it had to be moved a bit further from the actual headquarters.

'I can't waste time standing here.'

Realizing that I was still not in the clear, I decided to run into the forest.

***

Unit 19 quickly arrived at the entrance of the laboratory.

—WHIIIII! —WHIIIII!

Standing outside of the laboratory, they could hear the blaring sound of the alarms ringing from inside of the facility.

—Clank!

Opening the door and entering the laboratory, the members of the 19th unit paused at the scene presented before them.

"What in the world happened here?"

"The guards standing at the entrance have been killed?"

"Who's the one responsible for this?"

"What? You're telling me that the surveillance and communication have been cut off?"

"What about professor Joseph?"

Many of them couldn't contain themselves and asked different questions. Their confusions only grew as time passed. Listening to the live reporters coming from the other squad units downstairs, they couldn't help but gasp in surprise.

Walking up to his captain, of the members of the 19th unit reported.

"Captain, Unit 7 who are downstairs have reported Joseph as dead. Furthermore, unit 15 has been annihilated, and two members from Unit 2 have been reported missing."

"What!?"

All of the guards let out a breath of cold air. Cold sweat ran down their back. Was this all done by one person? But how was that possible?

Solemnly looking at the scene, the captain spoke.

"Has anyone said anything about the identity of the target?"

"Yes."

"Continue."

"According to reports, the target seems to be one of the test subjects that Joseph was working on…from reports, he seems to be called subject 876"

"876?" The captain's brows knit, "Weren't they under the effects of the serum? How could they have escaped? And isn't there a chip installed in their head? How is this possible?"

The more questions the captain asked, the more he realized how serious the situation was; If they were the ones who had gone downstairs, would they have also been killed like the other two squads? Just the thought sent chills down his back.

"What now, captain?"

The captain wasn't a captain for no reason. Despite the situation, he was able to quickly recollect himself. Looking at his squad members, he ordered.

"Calm down. Don't panic. From the looks of things, there only seems to be one target, and he is armed with explosives." Looking at the state of the upper floor, the captain continued. "From the looks of things, the target seems to have already escaped into the forest…I want you all to notify the other units of the situation. Tell them to be on their toes."

"Understood."

Exchanging glances, the unit members did as their captain ordered. Taking out their communication devices, they quickly informed the other units and moved out of the facility. Stepping out of the laboratory, all of the members looked at their captain.

"Captain, where should we go?"

Squinting and looking around, the captain quickly looked towards a certain area and motioned for his members to follow. Being a captain, he had a lot of experience under his belt. Surveilling the forest and noticing a small irregularity in one of the bushes in the distance, he was able to quickly infer the location of where the target had run off too.

"Over here."

Dashing forward, he along with his team members disappeared into the wilderness.

***

"Haaa…Haaa…"

Breathing heavily, sweat trickled down the side of my cheeks. Even so, mustering every last bit of strength inside of my body, I continued to run. Now that the security had been alarmed about my whereabouts, I needed to distance myself as much as possible from them.

—Gulp! —Gulp!

As I was running, taking one mana recovering potion and one stamina recovering potion from my dimensional space, I quickly downed them.

After that, taking out the watch that I had gotten from Thibaut a year ago, I quickly put it on my wrist. Tapping on the screen of the watch and loading it up, I fiddled with it for a couple of seconds.

—Fwa!

A holographic map quickly appeared in front of me. Staring at the map, unknowingly my running speed slowed down significantly…

'If I'm not wrong, I should be running in the right direction.'

The Monolith was extremely large, and for obvious reasons, the laboratory that I had just come out from was located a bit off of the Monolith.

My current goal right now was to infiltrate the actual headquarters of the Monolith.

It was the only way I could escape.

After contemplating for the past eight months, I realized that this was the only way I could get out of this place. Not knowing exactly where the Monolith was located on the world map, I knew that the only way I could get out was through the portals inside of the Monolith.

Fortunately, with Thibaut's watch on my wrist, I could gain access to the portal. Every portal use cost around 500 merit points, and with me having over 2000 of them, I knew that as long as I could get to the portals, I would be able to make it safely back home.

'There's only one problem…'

I needed to infiltrate the actual Monolith. Without a doubt, this was going to be harder than actually escaping the lab.

—Rustle!

"Huek!"

Snapping me out of my thoughts was a small rustling sound in the distance. Turning around, I noticed a silver streak of light quickly headed towards my direction. Ducking down, by a hair breath, I was able to dodge the incoming attack. Rolling on the ground, I lifted my head and glared in the direction of where the attack came from.

"I've finally caught up."

Coming from out of the bushes, wearing a black uniform, was a tall, bald, tanned individual. On the right side of his uniform was a small band as well as a large '19'. Holding onto a large metal axe, he solemly looked in my direction.

"…You must be 876"

Similarly staring back at him, my eyes squinted.

'Unit 19 squad captain.'

The moment I realized the identity of the individual who had attacked me, my wariness increased.

Each unit had a team captain, and apart from their obvious large amount of experience, what set them apart from their squad members was their individual strength. Each squad captain had the strength equivalent to rank.

Above them were commanders whose strength ranged from rank to rank.

"Huuuup!"

Seizing me up for a couple of seconds, without wasting any time, the 19th unit captain raised his axe and quickly slashed towards my direction.

The moment the 19th unit captain raised his axe, I knew that I needed to act fast. Tensing my calves, instead of moving backward, I dashed forward. Against opponents that required large motions, the best way to defeat them was through close combat confrontations.

…and I knew that.

With the chip inside of my head processing everything, taking a step to the right, and opening the palm of my right hand, I twisted my torso slightly and slapped towards my right. Right in the direction of where the axe was moving.

"Khhh…"

Touching the side of the axe, a small groan escaped from my lips as I was pushed back by a couple of steps. Fortunately, the moment my hand connected with the head of the axe, I was able to alter its course.

—Bam!

The ground trembled.

"What th——!"

Realizing that his attack had missed, the captain opened his eyes widely. But it was already too late.

'Now!'

Taking advantage of his distraction, I took a step forward. Grabbing onto the arm that was holding onto the axe, shifting my right foot, and turning around, I lifted the captain up and threw him on the ground.

—Bam!

Back first, the captain hit the ground.

"huaaak!"

A pained groan escaped from the captain's mouth as spit flew in my face.

Without giving the captain time to realize what had happened, I pierced his throat with my hand. Blood splattered on my face.

"Haaa…haaa…"

Wiping my face which was stained in blood, I took deep breaths. For the next few minutes, without moving, I blankly stared at the sky.

The fight ended much faster than I had originally anticipated.

Excluding the fact that I was a bit stronger than my opponent, with the extreme training I endured for the past few months, I knew exactly how to handle my opponent. As of right now, I was on a different level compared to before.

Such opponents weren't something that I couldn't handle.

—Rustle! —Rustle!

Before long, I could hear multiple rustling sounds coming from behind me.

With my eyes closed, and remaining still, I patiently waited for them to surround me. This fight was necessary for my escape.