LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 925
925 – Titosso’s Test (6)
Titosso, having dug her own grave, found herself back in Professor Buzhaar’s Research Lab.
It had been several days since her communication had ceased.
Jiang felt an overwhelming sense of unease.
‘Did I really push my friend into a dangerous situation?’
There had been multiple times when Titosso suddenly went radio silent. Like that time she lost the light stands to the silk moths and cried hiiing hiiing. Or when she was kidnapped in Professor Weird’s lab and was being bullied by fairies, following Dobi’s footsteps.
‘This time, it’s 100% my fault!’
Jiang felt a heavy sense of responsibility.
Sometimes it was a hassle, and while he didn’t always appreciate playing the “protective mom” role, it wasn’t all bad either.
-Thank you!
-It’s so reassuring to have you around, Jiang!
-Oknodie? Hmm… Oknodie seems like a mean older sister! Always getting into trouble.
-Jiang is… um, heh heh, honestly like a mom.
-What? You want me to call you mom? No way! That’s embarrassing!
Still, she was a kid who liked him without the prejudice of labeling him as an assassin. The life-threatening weekly events and her excessive piling of school work and assignments did lead to moments where she unwittingly put Titosso in danger. However, once he cleared away the piled-up work, guilt hit him even harder.
“Jezel. Gather information about Professor Buzhaar.”
“Professor Buzhaar? According to the Academy’s internal risk classification system, he’s currently the only SSS-ranked professor.”
“SSS-ranked?”
“Just so you know, the only rank above that is the EX-ranked principal.”
“Is that like the highest on earth?”
“If you can believe it, he’s even more dangerous than Vice-Principal ESDIE, who wiped out 98% of students right after taking office, because he can just revive them!”
“Wait, is there really a professor who’s more dangerous than a 2% survival rate? That professor probably can’t even revive them.”
Honestly, it was terrifying to encounter an entity so inexplicably awful. How could such a thing be human? It felt like a being that pushed the malice of professors to their limits. Surpassing ESDIE without the revival function. That meant during the ‘events’ initiated by Professor Buzhaar, 99% of students actually died.
“To explain Professor Buzhaar, we first need to describe his identity. He’s a monster studies professor and master of all monsters. He can conduct artificial monsterification or chimera creation using chimera research and artificial interpretation.”
“That’s… essentially creating a new school of thought using magical biotechnology.”
“That’s why he’s referred to as the true peak of the Production Department. Although Professor Plato is known as the strongest in the current era, that’s because Buzhaar had secluded himself for such a long period that he obtained that title.”
“Why would someone like that start being active now?”
“It’s Oknodie.”
“…!”
“Upon confirmation, it appears that Professor Buzhaar has shown significant curiosity towards Oknodie.”
Jiang couldn’t tell whether to feel relieved or tensed about that information.
“Well, then dragging Titosso into this might be…”
“Yes. He probably either has real interest in Titosso or is using her as bait to lure in Oknodie.”
“…I have to save Titosso. And do it as quickly as possible!”
Jezel stood up.
As she manipulated the hidden panel on the wall, a mechanical noise echoed as a hidden workshop revealed itself.
Researchers who were busy crafting doping potions or unlicensed products turned their heads to glance at Jezel or bowed their heads in greeting.
“What is this place? It looks like a weird evil scientist’s secret facility.”
“Most of the fourth years were recruited for the joint graduation project, but current Production Department’s main students, the ‘Graduate Assistants’ or ‘Third Years,’ are in high demand and hard to gather. So, we’ve begun producing rare items ourselves.”
“Well, then you’ve got something we can use to break into Professor Buzhaar’s lab.”
Jezel stood in front of a researcher’s experiment booth.
“This is [Limited Explosion] technology being researched by Third-Year Senior Exproscion. They’re developing a unique [Protective Potion] that can precisely explode only the desired elements that infiltrate the body, protecting it.”
Inside the booth was a beast-monster with a swelled arm.
“Currently, that monster has been injected with 23 types of poison and 11 types of parasites. And when the protective potion is injected…”
No sooner had the injection been made than small explosions erupted from the monster’s body. Gory substances poured out from the opened wounds and sores, but astonishingly, the swollen arm rapidly returned to its original form.
All the blood and parasites had been cleared out from the preceding explosions.
“23 kinds of poison and 11 kinds of parasites have been completely removed. With this, we might be able to eliminate any ‘monster cells’ that might have been injected into Titosso.”
“Monster cells? What a chilling name.”
“As mentioned earlier, Professor Buzhaar is a monster studies professor. He limits his research to only those who can study or experiment with monsterification within his lab. Calling Titosso a ‘researcher’ would be a stretch.”
Using a second-year student as an experimental subject? It’s a notion that only a true madman would execute.
“That bastard’s mortality rate is 99%, right?”
“Exactly. So, we need to hurry. Professor Buzhaar will likely start with safe experiments to siphon all possible data first.”
“Shouldn’t we ask Vice-Principal ESDIE for help?”
“Because of the large-scale revival ritual, Vice-Principal ESDIE’s revival will be on a cooldown for the time being. This is confidential information obtained through Oknodie.”
The longer Jiang understood how perilous the research facility Titosso had ventured into, the more he regretted it. To think, in a moment of laziness, he had tossed a kid who saw him as a mom into such peril.
“Here you go. The protective potion we just demonstrated.”
“…Thanks. I had no idea she could be in that much danger.”
“No need to say thanks. Titosso’s the lighthouse keeper who saved countless students during last Death World’s weekly event. Anyone who learns about how many enemies she has killed and lives she has saved while acting as a lighthouse would do the same.”
Jiang felt genuinely moved. Titosso was a kid full of quirks. Despite her frequent troublemaking, her pretty appearance was matched by a kind heart. There’s a reason she was revered as the Saintess of the Revolutionary Army.
He believed that her ability to master the function of shining so quickly was, without a doubt, because her heart shone the brightest.
“I heard you’re going to save Titosso, right?”
“You are…”
Emerging from Jezel’s lab, unexpected people were waiting for Jiang.
“Who are they?”
“…Bigston from Professor Bronze’s lecture. Specializing in alchemy and potion-making, he’s a third-year senior. While not as good as Exproscion, he’ll be a help.”
“I’m Lizna, this idiot’s girlfriend. I’m the heir of the Lizna Guild, which has a cooperation contract with Jezel’s Dark Trading Company.”
“Moss. Combat specialist.”
They were the retaking trio of seniors who had taken Bronze Professor’s insight-enhancing class alongside him since last year. Would these seniors, who were a year below, really be of any assistance?
Moss, noticing Jiang’s skeptical expression, equipped his gauntlet and entered the training ground.
[Observing virtual training.]
[Challenge Difficulty – 7th rank Chimera, Type Scorpion]
[Observed Risk Factors – Large, Venomous, Cutting, Sand, Ground, Breath, Iron Shield]
An overwhelmingly large, armored creature with sharp claws and a venomous tail, scorpion could burrow through sand and emerge beneath the surface or spout sand from its mouth while unleashing a deadly venom breath.
In a fierce encounter, Moss rushed in without hesitation.
As light flickered from Moss’ feet, increasing his speed, Lizna said,
“It’s enhancement magic. It can drastically increase combat power and survival rate before the operation.”
Dodging the enormous claws descending from above in quick succession, Moss brought his gauntlet in place.
[Railgun]
An immense energy surged forth, and the gauntlet split open as a beam shot out.
The scorpion, shrieking in distress, dug itself into the sand pile to hide.
[Night Vision Goggles]
As Moss put on the goggles resting on his forehead, he tracked the scorpion’s position, which was hiding underground.
“As you can see, its usefulness in actual combat is guaranteed.”
Moss easily sidestepped the scorpion that burst from the sand mound and struck its venomous tail with his gauntlet.
A small magical circle emerged above the gauntlet, revealing a dispel magic circle that neutralized the venom.
However, the subsequent venom breath was too much for the small magic circle to handle.
Pong!
From his potion belt at his waist, Moss quickly drew the antidote and healing potions and emptied their contents.
Just when it looked like he might be melting away, Moss swiftly overpowered the venom and overcame the injuries.
Using the intricate combat magic stored within the gauntlet, Moss successfully wrapped up the fight.
“How was that?”
“Those potions were made by you, right?”
“Yep! It’s said that spending money enhances the effects of alchemy. Lizna and Jezel both have plenty of money, so alchemists’ combat power increases with connections!”
Contrary to Jiang’s initial doubts, the third-year trio proved themselves quite useful.
“Thanks for helping.”
“No worries. We owe Titosso too. Because of her, we managed to hide the task in a safe spot and bought ourselves time to disappear.”
“Even when the dormitory got wrecked?”
“We made a run for it while Titosso kept things held up.”
“…In a different way, that’s impressive.”
If cowardly seniors like these were joining in, it felt rather reassuring.
At the very least, there was no fear of death, and Jiang could see a path to successfully executing the rescue mission, so he set out with the third-year trio to finally launch the rescue for Titosso.