A back-to-basicsmonster evolution novel.
A new VRMMORPG, World of Yggdrasia, was recruiting beta testers from all over the world. Ten thousand testers began their journey of swords and sorcery in a new realm, one that was as large as Earth.
At the...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
After I finished Contracting and Threatening the President of this country — which I'd done just for the sake of it, really — I headed toward my original objective that had brought me to this compound: the mana collection facility.
It was where the dimensional-crossing equipment and the mana-gathering system were located. Once I destroyed them, I should still be able to buy myself quite some time even if they were reconstructed later.
To those creatures called humans, 'pain' was something very much forgettable. Intimidation was meaningless. The pain would pass from their memory in a blink of an eye, and history would repeat once more.
But if I could buy myself ten years' time, then I could use it to destroy only the Saplings while keeping Yggdrasia's environment as intact as possible. I would be able to grant new lives to all the ninety-nine secret alpha testers. The souls of my comrades would finally get their well-deserved peace...
And my power would surely have grown even further by then. Dealing with Earth could wait until it happened.
I left the command center and went further down the hallway. The AI-driven automatic self-defense system appeared from the walls and ceiling, apparently detecting noises. They couldn't see me, however, and stayed inactive in malfunctioning confusion. I tore them apart with claws.
As the security system broke down, bulkhead walls began to slam down to block the hallway.
I clicked my tongue and immediately dashed forward, sliding under the first and second walls, slipped through the third as mist, but didn't manage to pass through the fourth. They seemed to be airtight.
My ability to create cold mist could only take away heat, so it wasn't very suited to breaking metals. I could probably use more magic power to force my way through, but my magic was getting low from all those extravagant attacks I'd been doing, so I decided to just take my time breaking the wall.
Well, I said that, but really I only needed a crack so that I could slip through as mist. The walls only delayed me, at best.
"Is this the place?"
After spending about an hour breaking through the walls and further progressing down the hallway, I saw a door that looked even sturdier than the one leading to the command center.
"...also disconnected too, huh."
I couldn't open it through cyberattacks. While my Dimensional Manipulation might allow me to mess with living beings and probably kill AIs from afar, getting it to do what I wanted was still difficult.
No other choice, then. Just going to have to do it the old-fashioned way. As I rubbed my shoulders, loosening my right arm, the closed door slowly opened.
"Hmm?"
Outside of all my expectations, the door unlocked.
But it looked like the people wearing white coats inside the door also shared my surprise. The three, possibly researchers, displayed an expression of absolute shock. The moment they saw me, the middle-aged woman and the somewhat-younger man hastily took out their guns. I immediately took my straight sword out from its black sheath and cut through their necks.
