Chapter : 65
The Enigma Pharmaceutical Factory stood isolated in the suburbs, surrounded on all four sides by steep slopes where human traffic had long since faded away.
After returning home once, Misty took up her beloved saber, Deep Sea Phantom. Swaying on a bus that left the city behind, she switched to traveling on foot after getting off at the final stop, eventually reaching the top of the hill.
The night wind sweeping across the high ground brushed through the thin grass.
Keeping herself low, she peered down from its cover at the building sinking into the darkness below.
“…This should be the place.”
Comparing it with the photograph, she confirmed it was her destination.
The factory was a two-story rectangle. Yet its sheer mass gave off a pressure comparable to that of a castle. The walls, constructed of gray-black metal, resembled a colossal boulder frozen to its very marrow. Seamless, they reflected a cold, unnatural sheen under the moonlight.
“This is nothing like the Kingdom’s architectural style. Even the materials are different.”
The murmur slipped from her lips. A faint unease stirred deep within her chest.
There were three entrances. Above each door blinked a rhythmic point of light. It was neither flame nor lightning, and she sensed no trace of magic. Yet each time it flashed, the twenty meters ahead were illuminated as brightly as day.
“I see… If I try to slip in, I might be spotted instantly.”
After several minutes of observation, she determined that the lights moved along a fixed trajectory. The blinking cycle was ten seconds, and the illuminated area was limited.
Infiltration was not impossible.
“So I just have to catch the timing. The problem is…”
Misty had two concerns. One was the intense beams of light; the other was the surveillance devices mounted on the ceilings and corners.
They rotated at regular intervals, methodically switching their fields of view.
“If I remember right, those record footage and display it somewhere…”
She recalled a device she had once seen in an electronics shop. Realizing how disadvantageous it would be in this situation, she frowned. But the moment she wondered how to get around it, her worries dissolved.
Several researchers in white coats approached the door on the left. When they held up the cards hanging from their chests to a terminal, it made a light sound and they disappeared inside.
Seeing that, inspiration struck, and a plan took shape.
She lay flat on the cold grass, taking deep breaths to steady her nerves.
“It can’t possibly be that easy… right?”
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“…It really was that easy.”
The words of impressed disbelief slipped from Misty’s lips barely twenty minutes after she had infiltrated the building.
Now she was wrapped in a white coat a size too large for her, wearing a white cap and glasses.
This disguise had been “borrowed” from a researcher she happened to encounter behind the building—more accurately, she had knocked him unconscious and taken it. Thanks to that, she had also obtained a pass card, and the unconscious man was now hidden in a nearby thicket.
“Phew… Continuing the investigation.”
Pushing up her slipping glasses, she cautiously proceeded down the corridor.
Surprisingly, there were no surveillance cameras or patrols inside; security was far sloppier than outside. About forty percent of the building was devoted to the manufacturing line. The entire left half consisted of office rooms.
“…Not here either.”
Unpackaged pharmaceuticals lined the conveyor belts, and thick stacks of reports sat on worktables. Though some equipment was coated in dust, overall it looked no different from a functioning factory.
And yet, a chill crept across her skin.
After wandering the pitch-dark office sector for nearly thirty minutes, a strange atmosphere began to permeate the entire factory.
“This is strange… it’s too quiet.”
The absence of any human presence—that was the source of the unease.
Even after checking every corner of the building, she was greeted only by a silence like dead ash. Unless she had imagined it, around eight people had definitely entered earlier.
“Did they disappear? Or are they ghosts…? No, that’s ridiculous.”
She shrugged lightly, dismissing the absurd thought.
Then only one possibility remained.
“There’s… a hidden sealed room in this facility.”
Even so, after three full sweeps of every floor, she found nothing.
Every corridor was the same. Knock or open whatever she could—the same dull sound answered back. No changes at all.
“Phew… where are you hiding it?”
She returned to the first floor and leaned against the wall beside the staircase, catching her breath. Wiping sweat from her brow, she tried to force herself calm.
—And that was when it happened.
“Huh… wind?”
A faint current of air brushed the back of her neck, and her senses reacted instantly.
In a completely sealed corridor, with no windows or vents, the tips of her hair stirred ever so slightly.
Slowly turning around, she noticed that one section of the metal wall ahead looked oddly smoother and unnaturally clean compared to the rest.
Lowering herself, she examined the base of the wall. There, a streak of dust abruptly ended, as if it had been sucked inward.
“I see. So that’s how it is.”
She approached the wall and ran her palm along it. Her fingertips traced a cold line—detecting a gap so fine it was nearly invisible.
“Heh… found you.”
A triumphant smile curved her lips as she pressed both hands against the wall.
The air trembled. Fine dust danced. Like something awakening from a long slumber, a mechanism began to move.
Clank.
The dry sound split the silence. The inorganic wall slowly parted to either side, and from the crack seeped a faint blue light.
A gust slipped through the opening and brushed her cheek. Taking half a step back, Misty watched as the hidden door revealed itself.
A staircase leading underground.
“…Looks pretty deep.”
She descended. She had no idea how long she walked, but eventually light appeared at the end of the dark passage. And the sight that greeted her stole her breath—no, it was far too vast to grasp at a glance.
The scale of this sealed chamber far exceeded the factory above.
According to the structural diagram posted beside the entrance, the site was an underground facility called the “Research Institute,” composed of four levels.
Each floor housed different departments, and figures in similar white coats moved about without pause.
“They’re all dressed almost the same… Finding the one who attacked Mio will be difficult… Ah!”
Her heart jolted immediately after her whispered thought.
Clack, clack—harsh footsteps echoed as a researcher and a man in a black uniform merged into the corridor where Misty stood moments earlier.
“Hey, have you seen Kasaka?”
“Probably out for a smoke. Smoking’s banned underground—anyone would hit their limit.”
“Tch. Call him when you find him. The third-stage experiment is starting.”
“Yeah, got it.”
After the brief exchange, the two men left in the opposite direction.
Misty, having caught every word, held her breath in hiding. Once their footsteps faded, she cautiously peeked out.
“…Looks like they’re gone. But what do they mean by an experiment? And at this hour?”
Suspicion clouded her eyes.
Slipping through a momentary gap in activity, she descended further. Soon, she reached the fourth underground level.
The room lights were off; only the indicator lamps of machines blinked like breathing. The instant she stepped in, a cold draft enveloped her whole body. The mixed scent of metal and chemical solutions stung her throat.
“It smells…”
Covering her nose and mouth, she darted into the nearest room. Yet beneath the discomfort in her senses, another anomaly stirred within her body.
Her magic was restless.
“I knew it… something’s wrong.”
What confirmed it was the beloved blade hidden beneath her cloak—Deep Sea Phantom.
The deep-sea magic ore embedded in the guard of the Western-style sword had begun to emit a faint glow the moment she descended underground. Now it shone even brighter.
“That means… there’s a magical reaction here.”
Using the sword’s glow as a guide, she surveyed the room.
It was small, but the air was clearly different from the rest. There were no flashy machines; it was as plain as a storage room.
In front of stacked crates stood five cylindrical glass containers. They were filled with transparent liquid, within which tangled tubes floated.
“What is this…?”
Directly ahead loomed a whiteboard covered entirely with papers. Drawing closer, she saw an array of technical schematics more complex than anything she had ever seen.
She could just barely make out a shape resembling an airship, but the rest was beyond her understanding.
“Huh?! What was that?!”
Suddenly, the sound of something falling echoed from outside, and Misty’s entire body tensed.
Instinctively she spun around, raising her sword. One step, then another—she suppressed her presence and advanced toward the source of the sound.
It lay at the very back of the fourth underground level. The lighting was sparse, and the air there was even colder.
Her heart thudded unpleasantly in her chest as she cautiously grasped the doorknob.
Creeeak…
Beyond the metallic groan of the opening door stood a single control console—and a massive glass window covering the entire wall.
Beyond it stretched endless darkness. Utter blackness, with nothing visible at all.
“…I didn’t imagine it. The sound definitely came from here—”
Trusting her intuition, she slowly leaned closer.
—And in that instant—
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!”
Misty’s scream rang out, and the space that had been ruled by deathly silence responded for the first time. A vivid crimson began to seep across the glass surface.
And then, as if to cover it in red, a blood-soaked hand slammed violently against the transparent barrier with manic force.
