Chapter 1166: Aged Children

We turned to face a mountain several kilometers away from the battlefield.

A large structure had been built into the side of the mountain. Considering the barrier that once concealed it, this must be one important facility.

「Phew… There it is!」

Maleficent finally ended h.e.l.l’s activation. He stumbled for a moment before flying straight into the discovered facility.

I saw no hesitation in his actions. It was as if he found exactly what he was searching for.

What now? Should we try following Maleficent? But what if that ends up p.i.s.sing him off…?

（Master! Let’s chase!）

『Eh? You really want to?』

（Nn!）

Fran dashed off without waiting for my reply. It seems she’s worried about Persona. Urus.h.i.+ joined us, and we hurried toward the mysterious facility.

A part of the wall had been destroyed by the black beam of light, allowing us free entry. Maleficent probably pa.s.sed through here as well.

Upon entering, we immediately encountered the corpses of soldiers who were foaming at the mouth. All of them had apparently been killed by poison.

Fran rushed through the fort in pursuit of Maleficent’s presence, and we caught up to him in a slightly open area.

There, we found ten elderly individuals pointing their weapons at the masked man. They appeared to be human, but parts of their arms, legs, and faces were covered in scales or fur.

Beastmen? No, they seemed different somehow…

All of them exuded a sort of fanatical aura, but they didn’t seem completely mad. Doesn’t look like there’s any room for communication though.

Someone was lying on the ground in front of Maleficent. Probably one of the facility’s researchers? He was a young man in a white coat.

Maleficent muttered in irritation.

「…I destroyed it thoroughly the last time I was here, yet it’s fully operational again.」

Like I thought, he knew about this place from the beginning.

「I’ll end your suffering.」

「Uoohhhh!」

「Die!」

The several elderly individuals leaped at Maleficent with roars, but all collapsed before ever reaching arm’s length.

Maleficent’s poison was already lingering in the air. I layered some additional barriers on Fran to ensure she was unaffected.

Both Maleficent and Persona seemed very sad for some reason.

「…Such pitiful children.」

「…」

Children? But those guys were clearly pretty old, right?

The meaning of Maleficent’s words became clear once I appraised the elderly individuals. Every single one was younger than 18.

「Why…?」

「Woof?」

「According to the memories I absorbed from this man, these are the results of Raydoss’s failed experiments.」

Referring to a person as a “failed experiment” makes me sick to the stomach. There’s no way proper research was ever conducted here.

「The experiments involved implanting monster factors into humans to gain their powers. However, it seems this resulted in rapid aging when these factors underwent some sort of unexpected reaction. In addition, their brainwas.h.i.+ng has prevented them from realizing anything about the situation they were placed in.」

「…」

Turned into guinea pigs, treated as failures due to their accelerated aging, and ultimately brainwashed into becoming slaves.

Indescribable emotions welled up within me: pity, sadness, rage, and a fierce hatred for Raydoss. We watched Maleficent kill the elderly individuals one by one, and all we could do was pray silently for them to rest in peace.

Our anger pulsed greater with each innocent slaughtered.

Yet we had no choice but to remain silent, for the man in front of us was even angrier than us.

「…Trying to escape? Hmph. I won’t let any of you go free.」

We s.h.i.+vered in the face of Maleficent’s intense killing intent, even if it wasn’t directed at us. Urus.h.i.+ gave Maleficent a clearly frightened stare, as even Fran held her breath.

「Kuhn.」

「…」

If it weren’t for Persona, we would have surely fled as soon as we took one look at him.

「Summon Genocide Servants!」

The spell Maleficent used to summon wasps of poison, which he had used previously on the battlefield. This time, however, he summoned even more of them. He probably sacrificed the individual power of each to focus on numbers.

「Go! Kill every last one of them!」

It seems he intends to slaughter everyone in the facility. The researchers I can understand, but he made no attempt to save the experimental subjects.

「…」

「It’s okay now, Persona. I was just recalling a bad memory from the past.」

「…」

「Hahaha. It’s been a very long time since I was one of the experiments here.」

Maleficent was an experimental subject here?! That must be one complicated past. His anger and sorrow run much deeper than I thought, and understandably so.

We proceeded through the facility together. Maleficent ignored us completely, but Persona gave us the occasional glance and nod. Perhaps she was signaling that everything’s okay.

Occasionally, Maleficent placed his hand on the heads of fallen researchers and did something. Apparently, he possessed a skill for extracting memories from corpses.

Come to think of it, we still don’t fully understand what abilities Maleficent has.

「…Is Persona a lorelei?」

「…So what if she is?」

「…I know a lorelei searching for a man who uses poisons.」

「Oh? That must be me then, since I destroyed their country after all. So? What are you trying to say?」

「…I don’t know. Seliadot helped me out, but Persona is a friend too.」

「…!」

「Persona… I know. I will refrain from antagonizing the Black Lightning Princess as much as possible.」

Maleficent smiled after getting his arm smacked by Persona. It seems he truly listens to her.

However, his eyes reflected a different emotion.

If Maleficent ever deems someone a threat to Persona, he will not hesitate to do everything in his power to erase them.