Episode 64 – Collapse (1)

Collapse (1)

[15 : 43 : 15]

I descended to the lobby on the first floor. As I approached the front desk, a voice came from behind the curtain.

—Welcome. This is the Holents Hotel.

I swiped my finger across the opaque glass window of the desk. It was similar to the material of a vending machine, but with a slightly higher magical density.

I summoned Perion to the axe of the blacksmith. Just enough force to shatter this glass window.

“Hello.”

I greeted, gripping the handle of the axe.

—A single room costs 20 coins per day, a double room is 50 coins per day, and a suite is 200 coins per day.

“Oh, I see.”

I swung the axe as it was.

——!

The first strike was dull. The glass window didn’t break, it just dented in.

I swung it again.

Boom——!

Part of the window was punctured. I wedged the axe into that crack.

Crack──!

I shook it and ripped off the entire glass window.

—20 coins for a single room, 50 coins for a double room.

Inside the desk was a doll with only an upper body. I struck its essence with my axe.

Crash─!

From the split head, parts like mechanical components spurted out like brains.

I crossed over the desk. I smashed everything, including the card reader, intercom, and surveillance cameras. I wreaked havoc like a gangster.

“—What are you doing. Who are you?”

While I was relieving stress, a voice clearly targeting me.

“What kind of person does such a shabby thing.”

It was Soliette.

She saw the axe in my hand and chuckled. Then she gathered magic in her palm and fired it.

──!

A fireball flew like a baseball and knocked off my gas mask. My bare face was exposed in an instant.

Soliette’s eyes widened slightly.

“It was you?”

“……Yeah.”

I scratched my head. She fired a mix of contempt and question at me.

“You only need to endure for 15 hours, what are you doing?”

“It’s not about enduring, it’s about surviving longer. It’s a relative evaluation anyway? I also don’t like this hotel itself.”

She made a face as if she couldn’t understand. She was about to curse, but.

“……Wait. You don’t like the hotel itself?”

She looked at me seriously as if she remembered something.

“Do you know something about this hotel?”

It seemed like Soliette knew something too when she asked that.

“Shush.”

I came out of the desk and approached her.

It wouldn’t be revealed by just this much conversation, but I couldn’t risk being exposed. After all, the right to force return was on their side.

Then Soliette also whispered quietly.

……There was a hotel our family invested in a long time ago. I even went there to play when I was young. This place somehow resembles there.

For me, it was quite a surprising coincidence. It was also fortunate.

After all, it was a bit burdensome to do everything alone.

……Cadillac Casino Hotel. Right.

……!

Soliette made a face as if to ask how I knew. Her eyes sparkled like light bulbs.

……You know. But that hotel had an unsavory-”

“I know.”

I pressed my lips to her ear. We were close enough for our breaths to intertwine, but Soliette stood still. It was an indifferent numbness.

…Listen carefully.

I explained to her all my thoughts and plans.

About this artificial magic space and the identity of the ‘Mana Nucleus’ that constitutes it.

About the plan to destroy it and liberate the phantoms.

As I continued to speak, her expression became serious.

“…That’s all.”

I asked her from a few steps away.

“What do you think?”

“…”

Then she stretched, pulling at her neck and shoulders. As always, action came before words.

“I will cooperate.”

“Let’s start by putting on gas masks.”

During the restriction hours, gas descends. It’s a gas that makes all entities outside of the recognized area appear as monsters.

Simply put, it’s okay to be exposed to the gas when we’re together, but if we’re apart, we see each other as monsters.

I smashed a nearby vending machine and handed her a gas mask. Soliette, who put it on, said,

“There are desks on the 10th and 20th floors as well.”

“Then we should go destroy them.”

Swish- I tucked the hand axe into my waistband.

______________________________________________________________________

Meanwhile, Kielli, who is considered a promising talent of Endex, is resting in [Room 1005]. He has caught a fair share of monsters and gathered clues, so his wallet is relatively comfortable.

“Wow~ So Kielli, you’re going back to the kingdom as soon as you graduate?”

“That’s the plan.”

He’s managed to snag one. A Sudme magic high spoon named ‘Shelly’.

Unfortunately, he’s in the middle of a mission, so even though he’s booked a hotel room, he can’t do anything. But here, you just need to get the number and do it later. It’s a perfect relationship to meet a few times and then discard.

“But I might stay in Edsilla. My home country keeps trying to put me in the Edsilla Council Knights.”

“Wow~ If you’re in the Council Knights, that’s the pinnacle of a knight’s career!”

As Kielli was promoting himself and Shelly was falling for him, a very good atmosphere was brewing.

“It’s not the pinnacle. I aim higher-”

Thud——!

“Higher-”

Thud——!

“Ah, what the hell is that noise.”

Kielli deliberately showed his right face and frowned.

Thud——!

Shelly crossed her arms too.

“…Exactly. Who’s making such a racket.”

Thud——!

“Let’s see.”

Kielli rose from the bed.

It’s a bit scary, but it’s not a restricted time. Even if a monster jumps out, he’s confident he can beat it.

As long as it’s not a guy who beats monsters with his bare hands, it doesn’t matter.

“I’ll be back.”

“Eh? Just stay here……”

Shelly cautiously grabbed the hem of his clothes. It was a gesture that unnecessarily aroused protective instincts. Kielli gave a professional smile and spoke softly.

“Wait. I’ll check who this rude friend is, and I’ll be back.”

Bang-!

He flung open the door. There was some guy near the desk on the 10th floor.

“Hey, buddy! What are you-”

Kielli almost instinctively stopped speaking. The guy’s outfit was a bit strange. Windbreaker, gas mask, hood, hand axe……

“…What the hell is that guy?”

He muttered.

Just then, the guy swung his axe at the desk.

Crash——!

The glass window shattered. Kielli’s shoulders jolted. The bastard even lodged his axe right into the head of the desk clerk.

Squawk——!

The sound of flesh splitting resonated vividly.

“…….”

Kielli gaped in shock. Almost simultaneously, the guy’s head tilted slightly. The face inside the gas mask was looking at him.

Short blond hair. Sharply cut eyes.

That’s all he could see, but Kielli knew who he was. He was too vividly engraved in his memory, like a nightmare from Fog Mountain.

Shion Ascal.

Thump!

Kielli hastily closed the door.

“We’re screwed.”

He muttered, looking around the room.

“Huh?”

Shelly, sitting on the bed, tilted her head.

“Is there someone outside?”

“……Huh? Ah~ No, nothing. Just… some noise between floors~?”

He gave a vague answer while checking the window. He needed to see if it could be opened. He might have to jump out.

That’s when it happened.

Crash——!

An axe was lodged in the room door.

“Ahhhhhhhhhh!”

Shelly screamed. The axe had split the room door in half, and the gas-masked monster appeared beyond it.

“Ki, Kielli! Save me!”

“Okay, okay, just a sec!”

Shelly reached out desperately. Kielli desperately, no, frantically, lifted the window. Fortunately, it opened.

“Kielliiii!”

“Wait for 3 minutes!”

He would fight if he could, but that guy was out of his league. He was a madman who beat monsters with his bare fists.

“I’ll be right back!”

Kielli jumped out the window. He wove threads of magic into a parachute as he free fell, but…

“Ah, what the hell! It’s cold, damn it, why is it so cold!”

Cold! Cold! Ah, cold! Cold!

He kept repeating “cold” until he hit the surrender button on his watch.

______________________________________________________________________

──Monitoring Room.

“……What kind of crazy things does that guy keep doing?”

Shelton was slightly taken aback by the rampaging variable.

Smashing a vending machine is one thing. But why did he break not only the lobby’s front desk but also the desk on the 10th floor?

“The psychological prediction model is still not very accurate, but there was a low probability choice. It was a 0.3% chance. Not joining forces to break through, not hiding to ensure personal safety, but choosing to annihilate everyone including himself-”

“No, why is the desk broken in the first place?”

“There were orders to keep all variables, and to reduce costs.”

“Ah, shit… I was supposed to cut costs.”

Shelton clicked his tongue.

“How about it. Let’s leave it. We lobbied the college board to test such extreme variables in the first place.”

There’s a need to loosen up today. If we unnecessarily restrict the seniors’ actions and end up getting audited by the university association, it would be like scratching an itch.

“It’s all about making money quickly.”

The possibilities of what can be done with the mana nucleus currently being tested here are endless.

The spirits trapped in the mana nucleus are merely phantoms for now, but with proper training and the implantation of a thought circuit, they can develop into almost perfect artificial intelligence.

Shelton and the magic tower’s ultimate goal is to construct a theme park using this.

If successful, all character dolls, sales staff, guides, NPCs in the magic space for experience, NPCs in the metaverse, etc., can be replaced with spirit artificial intelligence, and can be used for free without cost.

In this age where labor costs are increasing day by day, think about being able to use thousands of workers for nearly 200 years for free, without even a second of rest.

Those who consider morality and ethics in the face of such enormous economic value are idiots. What rights do those who have already lost have?

“Yes. However, there is the worst outcome with a 0.0001095% possibility-”

“Goodness, you.”

Shelton put his hand on the middle manager’s shoulder.

“If you consider all the low probabilities, you won’t make money. It’s all about money.”

Even with that lunatic senior causing such variables, it operates without problems, and the college board also ends safely?

Rather, we might have to be grateful to him.

Thanks to that data, commercialization will be advanced by 2-3 years.

“Success is not perfect from the beginning. It’s how you respond to variables. That’s what makes or breaks the money.”

Shelton leisurely muttered and sat in the massage chair.

“Keep monitoring.”