<926 – Titosso’s Test (7)>
Professor Buzhaar’s Monster Studies Research Lab can be accessed through a door leading to a hidden special dimension underground.
In other words, it means that entry is not free and exists on the other side of a closed dimension.
“this is my first time in a lab situated in such an evil place.”
“Moss. Are you sure you won’t die if you go in there?”
Bigstone and Lizna, the couple, expressed their concerns.
Honestly, a lab this horrific was rare even among professors.
Unless there’s some impure purpose, there’d be no reason to leave the nice and mana-rich Gift Island for another dimension.
Unfortunately, Professor Buzhaar was suspected to have impure intentions.
Considering that Titosso has been skipping classes for days, only substituting attendance points, anyone would think it’s suspicious.
“I’ve been honing my skills while you two were off lovey-dovey. I won’t die just yet.”
“Come on, you should say it right. It’s not that you trained hard; you just couldn’t get a girlfriend, right?”
Moss silently crept up behind Bigstone, looking to deliver a thud to his head.
“Ow! Lizna, he hit me!”
“Well, you did ask for it. Give some consideration to poor Moss, who’s stuck between the two of you lovebirds. When are you going to grow up?”
“Ugh! I’m the one getting hit, why are you on his side! Whose girlfriend are you?!”
“Should I just make Moss my boyfriend, then?”
“You, you?!”
“Just be nice to each other.”
Defeated, Bigstone held his throbbing head and apologized.
“I’m sorry, Moss.”
“…Just knowing is enough.”
Jiang’s eyes narrowed at the scene before him.
This just seems like… a set-up, right?
Unlike Rosgini, Lizna-senpai was somewhat sly.
She kept giving chances even though she knew Moss-senpai liked her.
Both Bigstone and Moss-senpai were aware but said nothing.
Bigstone was scared of losing Lizna.
Moss-senpai was worried about the chance to gain Lizna.
“…”
“I’m sorry for showing such an ugly sight. Still, we’ve been working together for a long time. Since we’ve been together since enrollment, you know how coordinated our party is by now, right?”
“I know. I’ve been with Oknodie and Titosso all along.”
Originally, Oknodie handled information, Jiang rolled in and out of trouble, and Titosso cheered them on.
They understood that being together is what made them who they are now.
What if Titosso wasn’t around between Oknodie and Jiang?
“I probably would have done more assassinations.”
That would be fun in its own way, but surely quite different from now.
A much colder, more fatal kind of relationship that wouldn’t be ideal.
“Truly, we can’t do without Titosso.”
Jiang pictured Titosso’s face, who was probably sulking while looking for him and Oknodie, and a shady smile crept across his face.
He didn’t realize that his expression was quite similar to Lizna-senpai’s shady one.
But with the disaster that was about to follow, such slight shadiness wouldn’t matter at all.
“What the hell is this lab…?”
Professor Buzhaar’s special dimension [Monster World].
This dimension was not a normal one like the Foundation’s Special Class training.
It felt like a cruel world ruled by only a desire to kill humans.
Heavy…
He felt a gravity pressing down, squeezing his insides.
An ordinary living being wouldn’t even be able to breathe under the oppressive pressure.
After deploying his field and establishing his own territory, it became a bit easier to breathe, but that made it even more real.
Someone who couldn’t deploy a field…
Someone without strong physical abilities…
Someone without the massive amount of mana required to overcome lacking territory and physical prowess wouldn’t just struggle to survive here.
Would the third-year seniors be okay?
At a glance, the tough-looking Moss-senpai seemed fine.
Unexpectedly, it was Bigstone and Lizna-senpai who were holding up.
“How are you two managing?”
“Of course we’re holding up. Most high-grade magical production environments are hard for humans to endure. You have to protect your own space to survive.”
“That’s why I like Bigstone. He’s the kind of man who firmly protects his own space.”
…Great, a guy bragging away!
Jiang felt a fire flare up within him at the level of jealousy that was much different from when he faced the Sandkooker and Rosgini couple.
I have things that are way more awesome than having a boyfriend!
Shadow manipulation amidst the secrets of an assassin…
Title of Oknodie’s best friend.
And Titosso too!
With his mind filled with the things he liked, Jiang barely managed to quell his jealousy.
“Show a good face in front of the juniors, Bigstone. I’ll treat you to something nice when we get back.”
“What, what’s ‘something nice’?”
“Something super nice.”
…It wasn’t something that would quell the level of jealousy at all.
Finally breaking free from his jealous feelings after blocking his senses through his assassin’s skill, Jiang noticed the cold sweat trickling down Lizna’s forehead.
‘She was nervous.’
She simply didn’t want to show weakness in front of the juniors.
Her eyes kept glancing at Jiang, subtly trying to gauge his expression.
Jiang might have shown such a side if he hadn’t been wearing a mask in front of seniors he wasn’t close with.
“Don’t get scared and follow me. The seniors will just maintain their protective spaces. I can handle detection just fine.”
“What are you talking about? Just a second-year. We have detection magic tools too. The Production Department truly shines in non-combat areas. Just save your mana.”
That short temper is just like Rosgini’s.
Jiang began seeing the senior who used to be difficult and annoying gradually resemble tall Titosso.
It was his job to send these clueless seniors, who casually came to Professor’s lab without knowing how scary it was, back safely.
[Do you know how to use telepathy magic?]
[I know.]
[All life reactions were detected from ‘underground.’ There are entryways where detection magic was sensed this way.]
The Production Department was able to find a pathway with ease, which Jiang would have had to scour for using his energy and abilities to analyze the materials and spells in his territory.
During this process, there was no need to use up a lot of mental power to avoid being detected by the other side.
Thanks to the seniors, Jiang was able to conserve his strength entirely.
[I have the entry codes for everything. The observation system will be paralyzed for 30 minutes. We’ll support you from outside, so you two will go in with Moss.]
The two seniors tore down the panel connected to the underground facility and connected their equipment.
Pop, pop, pop.
The complex security system, filled with red, quickly turned green.
[Initial zone all green. Let’s enter!]
The underground felt stuffy, like an old bomb shelter.
The ground was lined with hearing-enhancing iron plates, but neither Jiang nor Moss would make a sound on such trivial traps.
A passage filled with laser turrets caught Moss’s attention.
[Lizna disabled it.]
[Convenient senior, alright. Almost too good for Bigstone-senpai.]
[…Stop the teasing.]
After the laser trap came a room with blades poised to sever ankles if you stepped in without turning them off.
Following that was a room that released powerful sleep gas in response to body temperature.
“Moss-senpai. Stop.”
“Why?”
“There are traps operating on self-power.”
“…You’re right.”
As a high-ranking assassin, Jiang spotted hidden traps that the seniors had missed. This was approaching the point where even the monsters inside would die rushing out of the research lab at the [Incineration Device], making him sigh silently behind his mask.
[Aside from the fire-element mana puzzle, any other energy detected will trigger an immediate activation.]
[Wait. There are property barriers, so I can guarantee 100% purity.]
[Whose work is that?]
[Lizna.]
[…I’m genuinely curious now. How on earth did such a competent senior end up liking Bigstone?]
[She said it’s fun to tease him.]
Just like Titosso, huh.
Jiang wildly understood.
[There are two unidentified lifeforms beyond this point. This is as far as Lizna’s pre-emptive scouting can go.]
“Oh.”
Jiang frowned upon seeing the mark written at the entrance of the room.
[Noticed something?]
[I’ve seen a similar thing in another place.]
[Where?]
[On the way to the library.]
[What did you notice?]
[This is the lockup room. It’s a trap room where a given number of people must be shackled to open the door.]
Jiang had witnessed the lockup room while participating in the Library Exploration Expedition.
In this lockup room, where a person with a lower number meant a more dangerous individual, lay the third-year student Tetraforce from the Production Department.
Though stomped flat by Senior Velvet, strength is relative.
‘With today’s skills, I can understand. Tetraforce-senpai’s strength back then matches my current self.’
Jiang discerned that Moss truly lived a straight-laced, well-behaved academic life by the expression on his face that screamed, “What’s with all these traps?”
Knowing he understood the Academy’s grim facilities better than the seniors felt bittersweet, so Jiang forced a smile.
[So if we enter, we’ll get locked up?]
[If we can overpower the locked-up individuals inside, we can just pass through. As soon as we enter, we’ll need to spring the shackles and fill ourselves with power.]
[So we just need to fight and win.]
The pair entered the lockup room.
And they found Tetraforce-senpai and Mosquito Master Yumi, who should have been imprisoned in the Great Prison.
“Can you promise that there’s an available space in the Great Prison? We want to go back to the Middle Realm…”
“We might die down here; the weekly event has also ended. Let us go! Let us go! It’s not like we killed anyone; being trapped here for over a week for filling up 30 liters of blood with a mosquito isn’t that bad!”
Jiang realized.
Wait, they’re prisoners who got tossed into Professor’s lab because everyone totally forgot about them amidst the Death World weekly event.
From the condition they appeared to be in, it was more like a makeshift jail rather than the professor’s lab.
What on earth lay inside the facility beyond the entrance keeping the prisoners?
Jiang felt a fear of Professor Buzhaar’s research dimension that was beyond his expectations.
