The Return of The Mythical Archmage [EN]: Chapter 245

The Rebirth of the Mythical Archmage-246

After that, I went straight to the instructors’ office and lied that I wasn’t feeling well.

“I’m sorry. I tried my best, but I don’t think I can do it. I’m so ashamed that I couldn’t even manage my condition properly.”

If I just slipped away without saying anything, there was a high chance that it would cause a bigger problem.

In that case, there was a high probability that the Doctor’s class observation itself would be canceled.

That couldn’t happen.

My goal was to raid the lab, which would be empty while the Doctor was away.

The possibility of the Doctor returning had to be blocked in advance.

If I took a sick leave, even if it was a lie, the probability of problems with the class observation would approach 0%.

“Your body… so that’s why you were late for work this morning.”

Whether it was fortunate or not, the fact that I almost was late this morning was adding credibility to my lie.

“If you’re not feeling well, there’s nothing we can do.”

“You’ve certainly been working too hard lately. I’ll take care of the report for you, so go back and rest quickly.”

Also, there was my past behavior.

No one doubted my words.

“Yes. Then, I’ll ask for your help.”

I acted as if I was enduring the pain and slowly left the instructors’ office.

And as soon as I left the instructors’ office, I started running quickly.

My destination was the secret passage in the shopping district.

‘Steal Ignis’s medium secretly and quickly.’

Now is the perfect time, while the executive, the Doctor, is distracted.

‘If there’s time left, I’ll try to get the research data too.’

As soon as I left the school gate, I ran with all my might.

* * *

“This is the first-year classroom.”

In front of the first-year classroom.

The chairman was walking inside the first-year classroom with the Doctor.

“It’s a bit more compact compared to the second and third-year classrooms.”

“…Haha. It’s because it was the first classroom built.”

“So, the old building is used by the freshmen, and the new building is used by the third-year students.”

“That’s right.”

“That’s a reasonable distribution. After all, it’s the classroom they’ll be using later, so there’s no room for complaints.”

The Doctor responded as if he was quite interested.

Of course, he was just pretending.

He didn’t care about such useless talk about the school’s classroom distribution.

‘Unless Stella Vinoche is here, there’s nothing more to see in this school.’

He wanted to go back right now, but unfortunately, he couldn’t.

After making a sudden visit and requesting a sudden class observation, if he went back after only an hour, the image of ‘Professor’ that he had carefully crafted would collapse.

How much effort had he put in to create this image over the past three years?

He couldn’t let the image of a benevolent donor be ruined.

‘The identity of the Professor must be used even after this project is over. I can’t let it be tarnished like this.’

That’s why he was pretending to be interested in this boring conversation.

“This year’s freshmen are remarkable. There are three geniuses…”

Anyway, this chairman.

He was too noisy.

‘I want to tear that mouth apart.’

He was already annoyed to death, and the chairman’s constant chatter was making it worse.

He wanted to kill him right here and now.

‘…Tsk.’

Of course, he was just thinking about it.

As long as he couldn’t abandon the identity of the Professor, it was impossible to kill the chairman in this place.

The Doctor calmed himself down.

‘Anyway, the intruder has been confirmed. There’s no need to be impatient.’

He swallowed his annoyance while controlling his mind.

Currently, the Doctor was convinced that the intruder in the lab was Stella Vinoche.

The reason for his conviction was Stella Vinoche’s sick leave.

‘The blue light of the reagent was mixed with green light. That means the intruder’s position overlapped with Ignis’s flames for a moment.’

The intruder was likely injured because they couldn’t react to Ignis’s sudden explosion.

In short, Stella Vinoche’s sick leave was highly likely due to the damage she received from Ignis.

‘How should I deal with that rat?’

He wanted to deal with her right now, but unfortunately, it was difficult.

Even if it was someone else, stepping into the territory where Sein Vinoche, that monster of a woman, was located was a bad idea.

‘I can’t beat Sein Vinoche with my power.’

Perhaps the Doctor’s overall combat power was higher.

But their compatibility was terrible.

To deal with Stella Vinoche, he had no choice but to wait for her to leave the Vinoche family.

‘If Stella Vinoche told Sein Vinoche about the lab, things would be a bit different…’

But for now, it seems she hasn’t told her.

The fact that Sein Vinoche was quiet was proof of that.

If it was Sein Vinoche’s personality, she would have taken action immediately after hearing about the mysterious lab in the basement.

‘I don’t know why, but since she didn’t tell her right away, I can assume there’s some leeway.’

Since she held back once, the probability of her bringing it up again today or tomorrow wasn’t very high.

Now was the time to wait patiently without being impatient.

‘And well… even if she did tell her, it doesn’t matter.’

He could just ask for support from other executives then.

He hated being indebted to other executives, but if the situation called for it, he had no choice.

It was a hundred or a thousand times better to be indebted than to cause a bigger disaster by trying to handle it alone.

‘Ah, right. I should give a heads-up to the French government’s trash.’

There was a chance that this incident could escalate and the existence of the underground lab could become public.

To prevent that, he needed to move the puppets he had prepared in advance.

“Excuse me for a moment. I have an important report.”

“Yes. Take your time.”

The Doctor slightly distanced himself from the chairman and took out his phone to send a message to his subordinate.

[Tell the watchdogs. In the event of an emergency, focus on concealing the lab.]

And he added this at the end.

[One more thing. If you’ve disposed of the guard’s corpse that was used as a test subject, call the guards back and deploy them.]

The Doctor had deployed all the other guards far away to use one of the guards as a test subject.

This was the reason why there wasn’t a single guard when Shin Hayul infiltrated the lab before.

[If they ask why the guard died…]

Originally, he had prepared another excuse, but in this situation, there was no need to use that excuse.

[Just say it was because of the intruder. They’re stupid, so they’ll believe it easily.]

The Doctor smiled wickedly from an angle where the chairman couldn’t see.

* * *

After entering the shopping district and running through the passage with all my might for about 10 minutes.

Perhaps because I had been running with all my might, I arrived at the lab much faster than before.

The entrance to the lab was wide open.

Due to Ignis’s rampage this morning, the flames had spread to the passage.

There was no way the lab door would be intact.

‘This makes it even easier.’

I strode into the wide-open entrance.

Of course, I was still maintaining my stealth magic.

Since I was moving somewhat boldly, the probability of being detected was incomparably higher than before.

But according to the investigation I did this morning, there was no one in this lab who could handle mana except for the Doctor.

Unless the Doctor was here, there was no one who could see through my stealth.

That’s why I could move so confidently.

Of course, I was moving more quietly compared to when I was running through the passage.

Even if I moved that much, it was obvious that even ordinary people would notice.

I moved towards the center as fast as possible.

About 1 minute and 30 seconds passed.

I arrived at the center of the lab.

‘As expected, the security around the center where Ignis is stored is completely destroyed.’

The first thing that caught my eye was the completely tattered and melted door, CCTV, and security system.

After that, I saw the researchers who were cleaning up the traces of destruction.

‘All the researchers are gathered here.’

All nine researchers that Miho had identified with her soul detection were gathered here.

As expected, they didn’t seem to feel my presence at all.

This made things even faster.

I quietly moved and entered among the researchers.

And then, I headed straight into the storage room.

“Stop.”

But at that moment.

Thud!

Suddenly, a small dagger fell and stuck in my path.

A dagger that was more than half buried in the floor.

A strangely bent dagger. Was it a kukri dagger [a curved Nepalese knife] ?

“While we were away for a moment, a precious guest has arrived.”

And then, a man appeared in front of me.

He pulled the kukri dagger that was stuck in the floor and put it back on his waist.

He crossed his arms and stared at me intently.

“Reveal yourself. Intruder.”

Muscular build and short-cropped hair.

A military-like outfit that seemed to scream, ‘I’m a mercenary.’

The man scattered mana with a fierce expression.

“You’re a persistent one.”

I could tell just by the amount of mana the man was emitting.

This man was strong.

He was at least a 7-circle mage [a high-level mage].

‘Where did this guy come from…’

There wasn’t anyone like this even this morning.

“If you don’t reveal yourself, then there’s no choice. I’ll…”

Before the man could finish his sentence, I released my stealth.

Since I was caught anyway, there was no reason to waste my mental power.

“Hmm. A face I’ve never seen before. Where did you come from?”

“Do you think I’ll answer?”

“Heh heh. I see.”

The man grinned.

“Is that so? Researcher. Should we capture this intruder alive?”

Then, he asked one of the researchers who was standing next to him, looking dazed.

“Can’t you hear me? Answer the captain’s question. Should we capture him alive?”

At that moment, one of the guys who had been quietly hiding behind appeared next to the researcher.

He glared at the dazed researcher with a forceful expression.

“Hic… Yes, yes.”

As the man with the fierce expression glared at her, she seemed to be terrified.

The female researcher screamed and nodded desperately.

That woman.

She was the woman I had passed by in the passage before.

She was definitely the trash who enjoyed dissecting people to organize her thoughts.

“That’s what she said, Captain.”

“Hmm. So, we have to capture him alive.”

The man called Captain stroked his chin.

“It won’t be easy… but since it’s my employer’s order, I’ll do my best. But don’t blame me if I accidentally kill him.”

It was the same fierce-looking man who reacted to the Captain’s words.

“If the Captain says that, then… he must be quite something?”

“Yes. Be careful. If you’re careless, your body and torso will be separated.”

The Captain took a stance first.

“You guys, evacuate the researchers first. I’ll take care of this guy in the meantime.”

“Yes.”

At the Captain’s words, the mercenaries who had been hiding their presence revealed themselves.

Nine in total.

Including the Captain, there were ten.

They were all wearing similar outfits to the Captain.

“You. Come here.”

The fierce-looking man grabbed the terrified female researcher by the arm and forcefully pulled her.

“Ah, it hurts. Gently…”

“Wait a moment.”

The Captain stopped the man.

“Leave that researcher for a moment. There’s something I need to ask her.”

The Captain focused his gaze on me and asked the woman.

“Where is Carly?”

Carly.

Of course, it was the first time I had heard that name.

The woman was momentarily flustered and stammered.

“She, she died.”

“Carly died?”

The atmosphere of the Captain and the surrounding mercenaries suddenly turned cold.

“…Explain properly. Why and how did Carly die?”

The female researcher turned her gaze to me and pointed her index finger.

“That, that intruder killed her!”

Then, she started to put the blame on me with a ridiculous accusation.

“There are no traces around here that he killed her. And didn’t you guys not even notice the existence of this intruder in the first place?”

“This isn’t the first time that intruder has infiltrated. He infiltrated this morning too… Carly, who noticed the intruder’s presence at that time, responded and then…”

I couldn’t help but laugh at the absurd answer.

Looking at the flow of the conversation, it seemed that the person named Carly was one of the man’s subordinates.

And he was currently dead.

That meant.

‘The guard that the female researcher mentioned this morning as a test subject was that Carly.’

That’s what it meant.

‘I roughly understand. Why there wasn’t a single guard inside.’

I could roughly see the situation.

The people in this lab had deployed the other mercenaries far away to use one of the guards as a test subject.

After that, they must have used Carly, who was left alone, as a test subject.

And now they were blaming me.

‘Interesting.’

It was a situation that made me laugh.

“Is that true?”

“Yes. It’s true. The reason why the lab director isn’t here is because he went out to chase the intruder’s traces.”

“I was wondering why that guy wasn’t here. So, he was absent. I understand.”

What was even more interesting was that the mercenary captain believed that absurd story.

“That’s a lie. The one who killed Carly wasn’t me, but…”

I couldn’t just listen anymore, so I was about to correct them.

Whoooosh-!

The kukri dagger that had flown at me earlier flew at my forehead again.

“Shut up. Intruder.”

The Captain took a stance and pulled out seven different daggers from his waist, placing them between his fingers.

“I won’t listen to any excuses. If you want to make excuses…”

The man slowly trailed off, lowering his stance.

And right after that.

“Do it in front of the King of Hell!”

The man was swinging his daggers right in front of my face.