I Became a Mad Scientist for the Foundation

Episode 241. The Monster That Devours Magic (4)

The light of the Holy Sword shone behind the monster. It seems the hero successfully landed a technique. The monster soon collapsed, and the area was covered in blood.

[This is Gold-2. Monster eliminated.]

I reloaded the recoilless rifle and aimed it at the monster again. An explosion sound rang out, and this time, even the monster’s tentacles stopped moving.

A moment later. After completing the reload, the soldier who had been holding the flamethrower rushed forward. Soon, flames engulfed the monster’s corpse.

We really went through hell to catch this thing. It was like prehistoric humans hunting mammoths, driving it into a corner.

“This is Gold-1. Super-large entity eliminated.”

[Field command. Confirmed.]

“Proceeding forward.”

We soon arrived at the transmission tower guarded by the Special Forces. The barbed wire surrounding the tower was littered with the corpses of monsters.

“This is Gold-1. Kunai, report.”

“Kunai-1. Approach confirmed. Providing cover. You may now enter the building.”

Fortunately, it didn’t seem like any monsters were left in the forest. They probably all chased after the hero or me. And now, they’re all dead.

We entered the building under the transmission tower.

The tower looked like it had been abandoned for at least a few years, and a Special Forces member stood atop it, holding what appeared to be a sniper rifle.

From a distance, I couldn’t tell, but the structure under the transmission tower was much larger than it seemed. Big enough for several people to comfortably enter.

The soldiers who came with me took positions inside the building and began guarding the outside again. I looked around the interior. There had to be something.

Something emerged from the darkness. A soldier in dark gray military uniform. Upon seeing the Special Forces member, she saluted me, knelt on one knee, and bowed her head.

“Kunai-1. Greetings, Administrator.”

I recognized her.

She was the team leader of Special Forces Kunai. Last time, she had infiltrated the Garden to kill the Owner of the Garden. When the tide turned, she surrendered to me.

The entire Special Forces ‘Kunai’ were witches. Specifically, female mediums who hosted gods or spirits. Think of them as shamans.

The Kunai team leader looked a bit scared.

Well, she had every reason to be.

“Greetings.”

“Yes. Report the situation.”

I extended my robot arm and leaned against the wall. The Special Forces team leader looked up at me while sitting.

“Yes. We moved to the stronghold around the facility to lure and eliminate those crab-like monsters. But the plan went awry when the monsters managed to infiltrate the facility.”

“Understood.”

“We did our best as ordered. It’s just that the Osaka Branch’s command center severely misjudged the situation.”

I patted the Kunai team leader’s head with my robot arm. She flinched.

“Let’s do well.”

“Ah, yes.”

Even though we succeeded in killing all the monsters, there was still work to be done. We had to clean up the area. We needed to check if any threats remained and determine the cause of this incident.

“This is Gold-1. Let’s begin cleaning up the operation area. Track and eliminate all remaining threats in the vicinity.”

I checked the ‘Magic-Seeking Compass’ Dr. Chae had lent me. The compass was spinning wildly. There must be too much around here.

What is art?

Anything that moves the human heart and changes emotions is called art. A painting, a novel, a piece of music.

Then, what moves human emotions the most? Of course, it’s love.

What is love? It’s the process of creating new life. Of course, it includes having children, but it also extends to friends or lovers coming together to build a new life.

Then, is the best art art that contains love? No. Just as eating sugar doesn’t make it a great dish.

You need ingredients.

You need contrast.

Art cannot exist without its components. How can you contrast and emphasize love and life? What’s the opposite of life?

It’s death.

Many works of supernatural artists deal with death as their theme and material. They believe it’s the greatest art.

In that sense. A supernatural artist was watching today’s events with interest. Let’s call him the ‘Sculptor.’

“Successful. It seems the Foundation Headquarters is deploying personnel. An aircraft carrier is heading towards Osaka.”

Another supernatural artist.

Let’s call this one the ‘Screenwriter.’ It doesn’t matter what we call them. What matters is the work they’ve created.

“Today’s script is my work. Isn’t it ironic? A group that devours supernatural phenomena and absorbs their power is defeated by monsters that do the same.”

“True.”

“After the death of Project Blue Rose’s experimental subject, Paint, there wasn’t much to look forward to. But we’ve finally achieved a victory against the Foundation.”

The Screenwriter looked around. The forest’s greenery almost completely concealed them.

“They are the Foundation itself. Relying only on numbers and firepower, they have no awareness or intelligence about what they’re destroying or consuming.”

“But. There’s nothing around, right?”

The Sculptor looked around, sensing something off, but nothing was visible. The Foundation must be busy cleaning up the mess.

The chances of the Foundation’s soldiers chasing the supernatural artists were slim. They probably hadn’t even identified the artists as the cause.

Still, it was unsettling.

The supernatural artists looked around. The hideout seemed safe. The camouflage net nearby was intact, and there were no signs of movement.

The concealment magic around the hideout was still active. Nothing had changed.

The Screenwriter scratched his head.

“Isn’t this the most beautiful art? If the Osaka Branch is destroyed, the problem will grow. More people will die.”

“Could be.”

“Well, the objective is achieved. Let’s retreat.”

No response came.

The Screenwriter looked at his companion.

“Hey?”

Only the sound of flowing water could be heard.

Why was there suddenly the sound of flowing water?

It took the Screenwriter a few seconds to understand the situation. The Sculptor had collapsed to the ground. His body, as if sliced by a knife, slid apart into two halves.

You’d expect a lot of blood, but there wasn’t. From the split corpse, more fluids other than blood flowed.

The human body contains dozens of liters of water, and blood is only a few liters of that.

The corpse twitched. Organs spilled out from both halves, along with blood.

The Screenwriter tried to scream and run, but failed. His legs gave out. He couldn’t feel his legs.

It felt warm.

Why is it warm?

A lukewarm liquid was soaking his clothes. The Screenwriter looked down at his legs. Gravity won over inertia, and both his legs and one arm fell to the ground.

The remaining arm also lost sensation.

This is strange.

The weapon used was a monomolecular katana. The first person I cut bled, but the second one didn’t.

Is it because they’re a humanoid supernatural phenomenon?

I kicked the torso of the humanoid supernatural phenomenon on the ground. The sound of ribs breaking and a short scream followed. I didn’t feel sorry.

You said people dying is art.

You die first.

“You’re a Foundation executive, huh?”

“Hmm…”

“If you’re thinking of asking me something, you’ll need to keep me alive. So first—”

“Not interested.”

I didn’t spare him to ask questions. I just thought the Osaka Branch might be interested in the entity that turned their branch into a wasteland.

“Typical. The Foundation, understanding nothing, unaware of what they’re destroying or containing. We’re just—”

I stabbed the monomolecular blade into where his lungs should be. If there’s a hole in the lungs, air escapes, making it hard to speak.

For now, suppression successful.

“This is Gold-1. Command center. I’ve subdued the humanoid supernatural phenomenon that caused this incident. If you’re interested, come quickly to retrieve it.”

[This is the command center. We’re on our way.]

I looked down at the half-dead humanoid supernatural phenomenon. I couldn’t tell if he was dead, but he wasn’t looking at me. His eyes were closed.

To summarize the situation.

The supernatural artists must have released these bugs into the Osaka Branch through some method. For the sake of artistic irony.

If this wasn’t a natural occurrence but a situation artificially induced by the supernatural artists, there must be a method they used to cause it.

I have no idea what it is.

The next step is to figure out how they caused this incident. There’s still a missing piece of the puzzle.

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