Black Iron Magician

Obe’s maze-like laboratory, his prized works of art, and the many scattered traps――even after overcoming all of these, the girl that’s standing in front of him is unscathed. She even seemed to have the time to forcibly make a shortcut, and she isn’t even out of breath. In response to these multiple unbelievable facts, Obe estimated the extent of the enemy’s strength.

「Level 8, no, even General Zool wouldn’t be able to break through my laboratory like this. Then, you’ve reached level 9…!」

Obe excitedly said so his with his eyes opened wide.

「Eeh!? Ah, it’s a secret!」

Since there is no merit for her to reveal her own level, Haruna cheerfully responded so. However, the way she reacted was obvious.

「Hey, I heard someone taking, but is he the emperor? Wait, he doesn’t look like one. He’s so skinny.」

「We’re not in the deepest part yet, you know? We have to go deeper.」

From the hole in the ceiling where Haruna appeared, Touko, Chinatsu, and the restrained Kira descended.

「O-Ooooh! So they are the invaders from Carmine! To think that there are four level 9 people, I’m so lucky! C-Can I touch your arm for a second? It’s fine, isn’t it? It’s not like you’re going to lose it after all!」

For some reason, Obe is very excited. He’s trying to get closer to Haruna and the others while trembling. Frankly speaking, he looks insane.

「Hah? What the hell are you talking about? Is your head bugged or something?」

「Bugged? Hihihi, it’s impossible to not get excited when there’s such beautiful, strong, and fresh materials! I’m completely sane! That’s why I’m going to win!」

Obe took something out of his pocket and thrust it into his neck. Then, he pressed a button on the console with his other hand.

『Warning, the experimental sample 『D-Wolf』 will be released. This floor will be completely sealed off. Evacuation won’t be possible in time. I repeat. Evacuation won’t――』

The emergency lights were flashing busily, and a new warning voice began to play. At the same time, the entrance to the huge cage behind Obe was opening slowly.

「D-Wolf?」

「Does that mean there’s a wolf in that cage? Hee, that sounds interesting. So, what is it that you’re holding against your neck?」

――Crash.

As the cage was about to open, something fell from Obe’s hand onto the floor of the lab, making the sound of breaking glass. The three glanced at the shards of glass scattered on the floor. Then, they immediately understood what it originally was.

「An empty syringe, huh?」

「Wow, you know what a syringe is? Carmine’s level of civilization is not to be underestimated, huh~. But you don’t know what was in that syringe, right? Hihihi.」

Obe was injecting some kind of liquid into his own body with a syringe. Perhaps due to the influence of the injected mysterious liquid, his unhealthy skin-colored body began to gradually turn green.

「…… I know. It was a bad drug, right?」

「Hihihihihi, you don’t know at all~. Inside it was my masterpiece, which could be called a crystallization of wisdom, or a medicine of wisdom. Not only it will increase my status, but it also will reduce all kinds of attacks by half. But that’s just a bonus. The greatest thing that it brings is… o-ooh, here it comes, here it comeeees!」

Then, a change occurred in Obe’s body. His flesh swelled and began to physically become gigantic. His arms and legs are regrown as tentacles, and the number of tentacles is increasing. He is no longer in human form and has become a monster.

(Rather than strong――)

(――He looks very disgusting…!)

(I think Nell-san would want him as a sandbag.)

Each of them had such impressions.

「Hihi, hihihihihihihi. My body will keep increasing and regenerating infinitely~. Also, I hate pain, so my sense of pain is cut off~. Did you get it? You can’t defeat me no matter how much you attack me, you know~? I will swallow you along with the laboratory and play with you in my flesh~」

The rate of growth of the green flesh is increasing. As a test, Haruna tried cutting off a tentacle and a part of the flesh with her Doggan Staff, but as Obe said, the section was immediately repaired, and in fact, the growth rate of that part was further increased. Simple slashes and blows have little effect, and on the contrary, it seems to have the effect of stimulating the recovery power.

「It’s useless, you know~? That kind of attack won’t work on me~. As you can see, I’ve become the closest to immortality~. But well, it seems that I’m not fast enough to catch you. So, I will leave it to D-Wolf!」

The entrance to the huge cage behind Obe had been completely opened.

「I will block your escape route by swallowing the lab, and D-Wolf will chase after you~. It’s exactly the best combination between the strongest shield and spear!」

「I don’t care about that. Can I attack you now? I purposely waited until you’re ready, you know? If I wanted to, I could have taken the syringe from you before you use it.」

「Hihihi, don’t be a sore loser. You’re ruining my fun!」

In the meantime, the poison gas was entering through the hole in the ceiling. It took a while for the gas to fill the large floor, but it was beginning to have an effect on the other monsters trapped in the rows of cages.

「Gi…」

「Grr…」

「Hohou? Is this the rumored poison? It’s wonderfully potent and fast-acting. But unfortunately, you can’t expect this poison to work on me like~. I’m not like those guinea pigs~. I’m Obe, the 『Poison Medicine General』. No matter how powerful the poison may be, my body has a resistance that surpasses it even before I took the medicine of wisdom~. It also won’t work on D-Wolf――」

「――Don’t call me by that name.」

「Huh?」

It all happened in an instant. From the entrance of the cage behind Obe, something huge suddenly jumped out and cut Obe’s deformed body in two. It was so fast that even the girls could barely see it, so it was impossible for Obe to recognize it.

「W-W-What are you doing…!? N-No, more importantly, the wound… the wound is…!? Hooooot!? It huuuurts!?」

Obe was split in two right in the middle from top to bottom. It seems that he’s still alive, but the cross section was burnt black. No matter how long he waited, the his body didn’t regenerate at all. Moreover, the sense of pain, which was supposed to be cut off, seems to be working normally.

「My attack brings back fear from the depths of your cells. It is not possible to live without pain. You can only regenerate and increase your flesh, but you sure talked big. Your ability doesn’t even reach that of Rimudo or Maria.」

「D-Wolf…!?」

「Are you stupid? I told you not to call me by that name.」

「A-AAAAAAAAH!?」

Obe’s lump of meat was cut into small pieces and burned until everything was charred. The white wolf was moving so fast that even the girls couldn’t keep up with it. The only thing they knew was that not a single cell of Obe remained in the world.

「…… I can smell something nostalgic.」