Bjorn Yandel the Barbarian - Chapter 616
Episode 616 Homunculus (3)
A device that turns monsters into magic stones.
What would happen if a human entered the device?
I don’t have that data yet.
But….
Tadat-!
As soon as he saw Raven, he kicked the ground and shot out.
The mere fact that the kidnapped Raven was standing on that rail was proof to some extent. The fact that that device doesn’t just turn monsters into magic stones.
Jiiiing –
Fortunately, pulling Raven down from the moving rail wasn’t that difficult.
Because there was no restraint device in the first place.
All I had to do was grab Raven who was on top by her waist, lift her up and lower her down…
“Raven! Raven! “Come to your senses!”
Even if I grab Armman’s shoulder and shake him, he just stares into space with a blank expression and doesn’t wake up at all.
Tap tap.
The same goes for hitting the cheek with a thick hand rather than shaking it.
“Tsk…”
What’s going on?
After seeing that he was moaning as if he was talking in his sleep, I slapped his cheek with more force.
Slap slap.
“Ugh….”
Puck! puck-!
“That’s enough…”
Raven’s condition seems to have improved and she finally spits out the complete word.
Perhaps the condition for waking up from that state of fascination is a certain amount of damage.
With that thought in mind, I spurred on even more.
“Raven! Raven! “Get up!”
puck-! puck-!
“Stop that….”
Puck! Wow!
“Stop it… do it… go…!”
“…You’re awake!”
As if my efforts had paid off, the intelligence that Raven had in her pupils slowly began to return.
“Are you okay? What about your body? Can you move? What’s strange? Where are the other colleagues? “Would you like some water?”
“…water.”
“Oh, here it is. “I’ll pour it for you, so drink it slowly.”
Soon, Raven came to her senses as soon as she brought the water bottle to her mouth and gave it water as if she were giving a bottle to a child.
“…thank you. “For saving me.”
“Thank you. “Of course it has to be done.”
“My jaw is sore, though. “I feel refreshed.”
“Isn’t there a saying that a hawk is medicine?”
“It’s a bit of a bitter pill, though.”
Okay, I feel like I’ve become completely fine enough to joke like this…
“So what happened?”
“…I think it’s something along the lines of mind control. “Not long after Mr. Yandel got in there, we all suddenly lost consciousness.”
“So you’re saying you don’t remember anything?”
“no. It’s not like that. “I didn’t lose my mind at all…”
Raven slowly began to explain, saying that she vaguely remembers the events of the past as if she had dreamed them.
“I felt like my body was being controlled by something else while I was drinking a lot.”
When I touched a strange rock and lost consciousness.
Raven and her colleagues, who were also unconscious, just stood there in a daze along with the other members, sobbing.
Then, at one point, flying objects flew from the sky and were dragged across the river to the temple.
“From then on, it felt like I was constantly waiting for something. While they were gathered in one place, one by one, they were taken somewhere. And it happened to be my turn this time…”
“One by one.”
“…yes?”
“They said they were taken away one by one first…?”
My heart sinks.
However, Raven didn’t seem to know why my expression changed so seriously.
“Hehe… it would be quicker to see it in person.”
Soon I was heading towards the rail that Raven was riding on.
So, I headed to a place where there was a device that turned monsters into magic stones.
Flash-!
Monsters that transform into fist-sized magic stones as light shoots out.
“What is this…”
Raven’s expression turns white as she realizes that if I had been just a little bit late, she would have passed by there.
Did he also realize the cause of my stiff expression?
“No way, then all the people who were taken away first…”
Raven couldn’t continue her sentence for fear that she might end up saying nothing.
It was time for me to make up my mind and check.
“Raven, how many people have been taken away so far?”
“I’m not sure… but there are well over ten.”
“Who was it…?”
Raven, frowning as if trying to force out memories, called out each person’s name one by one.
And at some point, I suddenly lost my words.
Exciting-!
My heart fluttered loudly at that action.
My unconscious mind, which had experienced countless misfortunes, had already noticed.
Why was Raven speechless?
“…Tell me. “Who was it?”
Soon, Raven’s small lips parted and her ominous premonition came true.
“Emily Raines…”
Dammit.
***
My heart is beating fast.
Exciting-!
Obviously, the heart is an organ that supplies blood evenly to the body, but for some reason, it feels like all the blood in the body is concentrated in the head.
“It was the turn right in front of me…”
To put it simply, it’s already too late.
However, I tried my best to keep my cool and confirmed what I needed to confirm.
That’s right, because it’s not yet clear that Amelia is wrong.
“The remaining people… where are they?”
“I do not know. “I don’t remember everything… except that it was a large space with a rectangular structure…”
It was decided that the remaining people should be rescued first, but unfortunately, Raven did not know the way to get there.
‘In the end, you have to search the entire building to find it…’
The problem was this rail.
If the rails are still running, there will be casualties while I’m still running around looking for them.
Okay, so….
Quaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
Hit the hammer on the rail.
Crackling, crackling, crackling!
The rail, which was shattered by physical impact, made a creaking sound and then stopped working.
And at the same time.
Bleep-! Bleep-! Bleep-!
An alarm sound sounds and the drones head in this direction.
I wondered if they would stop treating me like an invisible barbarian and be hostile to me, but for some reason, the drones just passed me by and settled in front of the damaged rail.
“It looks like you’re trying to… repair something?”
“….”
“What are you going to do?”
“I’ll leave it alone for now.”
For some reason, I expected that destroying those drones would be a waste of time.
It seems like they’re going to fly in from somewhere and try to fix it.
‘It would be better to find out for sure how long it will take to repair.’
“Raven, follow me for a moment.”
“Where are you going?”
“First, I need to know what kind of place this is.”
Afterwards, I led Raven and moved along the stopped rail for a while.
Before long, another rail appeared that was operating normally, and that rail was transporting a box full of magic stones somewhere.
“But… if I kept waiting here without having to destroy the rails, wouldn’t other people have come too?”
“…Well, that’s also a method.”
“Ah… you didn’t think.”
No matter how hard you try to be cool, it’s not easy.
Disgust exists in everyone.
“Okay, take a good look around you. “Maybe there’s a way to save the people who passed by first.”
“Yes…”
As I followed the rail that carried the boxes, I came to a point where the magic stone boxes were gathered.
There were three unknown mechanical devices, and a hook, often seen in claw machines, was connected to the ceiling and was inserting magic stones into the mechanical devices.
Tuk degurrr.
As the magic stone rolled into the slot, something on the ceiling emitted light, and when the light faded, something was created beyond the transparent glass plate in the center.
“….”
It was a monster.
Has characteristics of goblins, orcs, and ghouls.
A monster with such a terrible appearance that I have never seen it in the labyrinth.
“What the hell is it? That…”
“If you follow it, you’ll find out something.”
The monster created by the mechanical device moved somewhere on the rail that started working again, and we carefully followed behind.
And I completely realized the structure of this factory.
Flash-!
The created monster rides the rail and enters the device, turning into a magic stone again.
For some reason, there were three magic stones instead of one.
Flash-!
Additionally, the magic stone that was divided into three went through the mechanical device once more and went through the process of being reborn as a goblin orc ghoul…
‘What kind of bullshit is this?’
After completing all the procedures, the monsters went up to the upper floor of the building under the control of the drones again and were imprisoned.
“Could it be that this is happening over and over again?”
“…I guess so.”
I’m more confused than if I didn’t know anything about this space.
What on earth is this space?
For what purpose are we repeating such meaningless actions?
But I still felt a little relieved.
“In a situation like this… I guess everyone can be safe?”
“…I hope so.”
“Anyway, I think the repairs are almost done.”
When we went underground again, the heavily damaged rails had been restored to some extent to their original state.
So, I thought about breaking it again, but…
“Why don’t you do as I say? “You don’t even know where other people are trapped.”
On Raven’s advice, we held off on destroying the rails.
“I will stay here and rescue people. Mr. Yandel, go around and look for him. “Isn’t that more reasonable?”
Considering what happened later, it was definitely safer this way.
Even if you can’t find where they are trapped, you will be able to rescue more of your colleagues.
Well, it’s not like I’m uneasy.
“It seems okay now, but if I’m gone, something dangerous could happen.”
“That’s true, but…”
“We’ll stay together. “After I wake up about ten more people, it will be okay without me.”
“Ah… that might be better.”
After that conclusion, we sat down in front of the rail and waited for our colleagues to show up.
One hour, two hours, three hours….
As the indefinite wait continued, we continued to exchange opinions.
“You mean Mr. Yandel lost consciousness the moment he grabbed that rock?”
“okay. But when I woke up, the stone had disappeared from nowhere and ten days had passed.”
“Is there anything wrong with your body?”
“till now.”
Raven’s expression became serious when she heard what had happened to me, but she couldn’t give me much advice.
“Do you know what that rock is?”
“no. I don’t know either. But…”
“But?”
Raven took a moment to reply to my question.
“Do you know what a homunculus is?”
“I know. “Isn’t it a level 8 monster?”
For reference, its representative habitat is the 3rd floor Witch’s Forest, and even if it isn’t there, it sometimes pops up out of nowhere in various places, so I caught it often.
However, Raven shook her head at my answer.
“What I was trying to say was about homunculi in alchemy.”
“I don’t know anything about that.”
“Homunculus in alchemy originally refers to artificial life forms… or, more accurately, artificially created ‘humans.’”
“Of course… the homunculus I met in the Witch’s Forest also had a human-like appearance.”
“If you just look at the shape, yes. “With skin shedding off every time you walk, doesn’t that make you genetically closer to a slime than a human?”
“Anyway, what do you want to say?”
“It’s nothing special, but I suddenly started having doubts about the ‘magic stone’ itself. “You saw a monster turn into a magic stone, and then a magic stone turn into a monster again, right?”
“But what does that mean?”
“It just suddenly occurred to me. If the ‘Philosopher’s Stone’ from the legend is real, it might actually have very similar properties to the magic stone…” I
thought about it and realized it was just a wizard’s fantasy.
Isn’t it a bit much to just dismiss it as a fantasy?
‘It’s a magic stone…’
That was when I had that tickling feeling that feathers were fluttering in my head and I felt like I couldn’t catch them.
“uh…?”
Raven opens her eyes wide and stares at one place.
I wanted to know something, so I quickly checked the direction and saw a colleague coming in on the rails.
A loyal knight who accompanied the Ice Rock expedition.
“It’s Sir Meland Kaislan!”
As soon as I saw him, I quickly approached him and got off the rail.
And the car was in a hurry to hit me in the face.
“Wait!”
Raven stopped me and took out an object from subspace.
So, that’s the name…
“Wreath of Agony?”
“Yes. I think if I put this on, I might come back to my senses.”
Well, there is certainly a possibility…
“But isn’t there a proven method?”
“That’s right, but I can still taste blood in my mouth right now?”
“Ah…”
For some reason, my cheeks were swollen than usual.
When I nodded to tell her to take care of it, Raven carefully put the wreath on.
And how long has it been?
“Ugh….”
Kaislan regained consciousness.