Even in a situation like this, I didn't lose my composure.
"Sir, you go up first."
"A-All right."
The old man began climbing the ladder.
I'd wanted to go up first in case something unexpected happened above, but.
'There are too many Watchers.'
If I climbed up first, Berry and the old man could be in danger.
"I-I'm almost up!"
"Once you're up, Berry, you climb right away."
"Y-Yes!"
Clack—.
Berry started climbing the ladder.
Now I had to handle all four of them by myself.
Without even having time to blink.
What if another one appeared behind me in a situation like this?
Gulp—.
Instinctive fear surged through me.
This wasn't a game but brutal reality, so I could feel it with my entire body.
GRRRT—.
I could almost hear the creature's footsteps like an auditory hallucination.
No.
It wasn't a hallucination.
WHOOSH—!
I whipped my head around with a movement closer to instinct than conscious thought.
A Watcher had crept right up behind me and was raising its fist, ready to smash my head apart.
'Damn it!'
Its movement froze under my gaze.
The instant I dodged its fist and slipped behind it, the other four rushed in while my head was turned.
GRRRT—.
Fortunately, I turned my gaze back just in time, and they all stopped at once.
"M-Mister! Are you okay?!"
"I'm fine! Hurry up!"
Once someone left the sewer, staring at a Watcher no longer stopped its movement.
In other words, I had to keep all five of them under my gaze.
'This sure is thrilling.'
Cold sweat ran down my forehead.
Then some of it got into my eye.
Flinch—.
I nearly closed my eyes on reflex.
At the same time, a vicious stinging pain surged through them.
"Mister! Climb up!"
"Okay!"
With my eyes bloodshot red, I kept staring at them to the very end as I slowly climbed the ladder.
The creatures gathered in a circle around the ladder as though hoping I'd fall.
'You think I'm going to fall?'
I raised my middle finger and waved it at them.
"I'm heading out first."
For a moment, it almost looked as though the faceless creatures' expressions twisted.
So what?
***
'I'm seriously exhausted.'
Dragging my worn-out body along, I leaned against the wall.
"That aside, where are we?"
The old man surveyed our surroundings with sharp eyes.
"Machines like these do not exist in Paradise."
A brief silence passed before he continued.
"What did you know before coming here?"
The suspicious question came flying at me.
Of course he'd be suspicious.
I knew the traits of monsters like those.
I even knew the location of a sewer connected to a laboratory like this.
I knew all of it.
"I know you did not bring us here intending to kill us."
Because I'd been the one who stayed behind in the most dangerous position.
"But that does not erase all of my suspicions."
"......."
I remained silent for a moment, then opened my mouth.
"I am."
Ah, what excuse should I make?
Screw it. I don't know.
"A member of ARK, a special unit directly under Paradise."
Well, my last character had belonged to them.
So it wasn't entirely a lie.
Besides, there was no way this old man would know the unit.
In other words, it was a bluff.
"......And you expect me to believe that lie?"
The old man's eyes sharpened further.
I saw his right hand, hidden behind his back, tense.
Was he hiding a weapon?
"Paradise Law, Article 13, Clause 4."
"......."
"Anyone impersonating a special unit of Paradise is to be executed immediately."
SWISH—.
I rose to my feet and continued.
"Please believe me."
"Did you think I would be afraid if you revealed that you were part of a special unit?"
"No."
The old man took one step back.
"I'm just showing you that I'm sincere."
"......."
A complicated look entered his eyes.
At that moment, Berry stepped out from behind him and grabbed both our hands.
"You two are grown adults. Don't fight!"
"......You saw something shameful. I'm sorry, Berry."
The old man picked Berry up and spoke.
"I'll trust you this once."
"Thank you."
"......I'm sorry for doubting you."
"No. I'm sorry I couldn't tell you."
I bowed my head in apology.
'That actually worked?'
Does this old man know something?
The weapon he'd hidden earlier, and those eyes.
Neither was ordinary.
There had been killing intent in them.
"Let's rest for a while."
"Okay."
"Aren't you going to shake hands and make up?"
Unable to resist Berry's sparkling eyes, the old man held out his hand.
GRIP—.
I took it.
'Ha, this old man has a mechanical arm?'
And one so finely finished that an ordinary person would never notice.
It was a specially customized modification.
Which meant he wasn't some ordinary former Miner.
You can't fool a veteran like me.
***
We took a short break.
The sun was still high overhead, so we could afford to rest for a while.
"What about Berry?"
"She's dozing for a bit."
"......."
I kept my words to a minimum and remained silent.
The old man spoke in a subdued voice.
"Was it an order from the Central Government?"
"Sorry."
I cut him off with a firm answer.
It wasn't a question I had any reason to answer.
"Phew...... is an age of turmoil coming again......?"
The old man let out a deep sigh.
"Answer me just one thing."
"Go ahead."
"Did you approach me deliberately?"
This guy.
Isn't this guy a little too full of himself?
"......."
I stayed silent, and a subtle sadness colored the old man's expression.
"Then you must know what organization I belonged to as well."
'I don't.'
The instant I thought that.
"Yaaawn......."
Berry happened to wake up.
"Berry's awake, so shall we get moving?"
"Let's."
Together, we entered deeper into the laboratory.
Aside from the dust covering everything, the interior was clean.
There were no traces of monsters or people whatsoever.
'It'd still be difficult to break in through the normal route.'
Normally, getting into this laboratory required an extremely complicated process.
You had to find the route underground from the laboratory building, then find an Access Card that could be who-knew-where.
Then break through layer after layer of security.
And once you did.
'Yep, there's more.'
Anyway, it was an incredibly complicated place.
But if you came through the sewer.
None of that mattered.
'Who would've thought there was a route like this?'
The laboratory's upper management had created an evacuation route in case of emergency and kept it classified.
That route was the sewer.
No matter how sophisticated the security was, there still had to be some way to get out.
I grinned as I walked through the laboratory.
Then Berry's eyes, as she walked beside me, began sparkling.
"Wow! A robot!"
Berry bounced around excitedly.
"Do not run! You'll fall!"
The old man fidgeted anxiously as he watched her.
I wasn't sure how long we spent in that peaceful mood.
Before long, we finally reached my objective—the very reason this laboratory existed.
A Hidden Piece.
The laboratory containing the Nanomachine.
'All right, let's try out this broken item.'
Rubbing my hands together, I stood before the laboratory door.
Now this was exciting.
***
Nanomachine.
To be honest, it was a Relic with ridiculously overpowered performance.
But even this had its pros and cons.
There were advantages.
There were disadvantages.
First, there were countless advantages.
'It strengthens the body and grants special abilities.'
Listing all of them would be exhausting.
But its biggest drawback was that, even though this wasn't ExXdia, you had to collect five of them.
The moment you collected all five, you could steamroll everything by yourself.
But with only one or two, you were worse off than if you hadn't used the Nanomachine at all.
'Even after all my years playing, I only ever managed to get four.'
I'd used every exploit I knew, but there was one laboratory where none of them worked, so even I'd never managed to collect the full set.
Anyway, that was the first drawback.
The second was that you could no longer undergo Compression.
'That was the biggest downside.'
It meant you couldn't become stronger by consuming the special stat called Humanity.
In other words, the only way left to become stronger was through gear.
'And last, there's that damn Assimilation Rate.'
I had no idea what determined it, but every character had a different Assimilation Rate with the Nanomachine.
If your Assimilation Rate was low, its performance dropped sharply.
There were other drawbacks too, but I stopped thinking about them.
This wasn't the time.
"Th-That didn't just move, did it?"
Berry pointed at something.
There was a turret.
GLANCE—.
I felt the old man's gaze on me.
It seemed to say I should explain something.
"It probably won't move for now."
"'For now' means......."
"But we're safe at the moment."
The instant the Nanomachine disappeared.
All the power would turn on.
But there was still a way around that.
As long as we had three people.
"We'll split up here."
"What do you mean?"
The old man answered immediately.
"Not like that. We each have something to do."
I looked at Berry.
"Berry, first go to the power room and pull down the red lever."
Then I turned toward the old man.
"Sir, go to the security room and reboot the turrets."
The turrets wouldn't attack while they were rebooting.
That would give me enough time to retrieve the Nanomachine safely.
"And you?"
"I'm going inside to get the item."
"What exactly is there to obtain here? Is that classified too?"
"No. What I'm going to retrieve is a Relic."
I tilted my head slightly and continued.
"I'm going to retrieve the Nanomachine, a technology lost to Paradise."
"That's...... in a place like this?"
The old man looked as though he couldn't believe it.
Which made sense.
It was hard to believe such ancient ultra-high technology existed so close to Paradise.
"Phew...... you are...... never mind."
The old man started to say something, then closed his mouth.
"That's all?"
"Yeah. Neither the security room nor the power room is dangerous, so you'll be fine."
"Okay!"
Berry nodded and clenched both fists.
I glanced at the old man.
"......I'm worried about Berry, so I'll go to the power room first, then head straight to the security room. Is that acceptable?"
"Yeah, that's fine."
The old man narrowed his eyes at me, then disappeared toward the power room with Berry.
It was probably his unspoken way of telling me he still hadn't stopped doubting me.
'I'll deal with that later.'
For now, it was time to focus only on the Nanomachine.
It was an incredible item, one important enough that whether I obtained it or not would completely change the direction of everything from here on.
'Don't get nervous.'
I steadied my breathing and entered the laboratory.
HUM.......
Dozens of turrets lining the corridor detected movement and briefly powered on, but with no electricity, they shut down again.
Once the Nanomachine disappeared, they'd run on self-generated power.
But for now, I was safe.
"Wow......."
The interior I entered was incredible.
Countless unidentifiable machines were packed tightly together.
And in the center stood a gigantic refrigerator.
The instant I grabbed the handle.
FLASH—!
A complicated holographic puzzle appeared across the refrigerator's front.
It was the kind of gimmick complicated enough to terrify anyone else.
But.
"For me, this is basically 'I'm not a robot.'"
Recalling the laboratory guide I'd written, I solved the gimmick in an instant.
DING—.
With a cheerful notification sound, the hologram vanished.
'If the refrigerator's security was still active, that means nobody managed to open it.'
Filled with anticipation, I threw open the refrigerator.
Under the bright interior light.
A single test tube and an injector came into view.
"Just as expected!"
I happily took out the injector and test tube.
Though calling it an injector was a little misleading.
It looked more like a gun.
CLICK—!
I took the test tube and inserted it into the injector.
It locked into place perfectly.
"Phew......."
I pressed it against my neck.
Then I placed my finger over the part shaped like a trigger.
'This is kind of scary.'
In the game, I'd used it without a second thought.
But now that the cold metal was actually touching my neck, it was strangely frightening.
Still, all of this was for the sake of my survival.
STAB—!
I pulled the trigger.
A needle shot out and pierced my neck.
[Relic 'Nanomachine 1/5' has been injected.]
Dizzy—.
My vision blurred slightly.
Then I heard something speaking beside my ear.
[Warning! Unauthorized access.]
[You are not the correct user.]
[The Nanomachine is scanning you.]
A sharp wave of pain struck me as a cold sensation wrapped around my body.
At the same time, I felt my blood vessels swell.
Stagger—.
I nearly collapsed, but barely caught my balance and leaned against a nearby table.
[The Nanomachine has acquired your data.]
[Registering you as a user.]
"Ugh......."
My vision inverted for an instant, then quickly returned to normal.
"Did it work?"
I looked over my body, but nothing seemed different.
Even when I checked my reflection in a nearby metal panel, I couldn't find anything unusual.
'I should get out of here first.'
The turrets, having detected an anomaly in the laboratory, were slowly regaining power.
TAP, TAP, TAP—!
I hurriedly dashed out of the laboratory.
HUM—.
All the turrets lining the long corridor turned toward me at once.
"Well, it worked."
[Warning! Unauthorized intruder detected.]
[Security System activated.]
[Power System recovering.......]
The power was coming back.