Chapter 2108: Closing Down the Labs

"It was just that the elementalists there have been monitored from birth, you know? In the end, we moved to a town nearby; it also had some elementalists, but their people are easier to bribe."

The lower the territory tier, the more the elementalists are revered. They were much rarer after all, so all they needed to do was tap on people’s desire to become one of them.

Many city lords were elementalists themselves or had many relatives with such abilities, so they were more likely going to be appalled by the idea of experimenting on elementalists.

Many territories felt that it was a blasphemy, so the group took a year to subtly study which towns and villages would be convenient and safe to put the labs in.

After the first few years, the number of failed experiments was massive, and there had been no success at all.

It wasn’t until someone had the bright idea to use half-orcs instead that people saw progress. Half-orcs had the makeup of a human, with some potential to be elementalist, but were far sturdier than them.

It was just that for a long time, while the half-orcs survived the transfer, they were unable to use the powers with efficiency. Not to mention the number of failures for each batch of experiments.

One had to remember that in this venture, failed experiments could mean death.

Whenever they thought about all the wasted cores throughout the years, they felt their stomach rumbling in acid.

It was one of the reasons why this group would eventually begin experimenting on orcs, too. It wasn’t just to gain their physicalities, but also to learn some ways to strengthen the human body enough so it could withstand the core transfers.

At the time, Lady Ulia, one of the former Lord’s children, had married to Warrior City—specifically, to the Lord’s Uncle, Vairoz. From there, they became privy to the so-called orc territories.

Quo Town was one of the places associated with Warrior City that had some human touch, so they simply had to go there as mercenaries on missions and investigate, soon figuring out if there was a potential mole in the form of a weasel.

They partnered with Plai. He helped them build up a hidden laboratory and even sent them elementalist slaves who had become disabled through wars or fights.

"Now, we have succeeded and not only extracting but transferring, and in the past few months, we have got three new half-orcs using it! With you, we will add another. Be honoured."

But instead of fear and shock, all they saw from her was....coldness.

They didn’t know when it happened, but they, too, felt their limbs weakening.

"What—"

They didn’t know when the vines popped up, surrounding them and covering their mouths. They watched as the female slave took out her sword.

She raised her sword, looking at the so-called ’victims’ with an apathetic expression on her face.

Slash!

For those who were sturdy, her C-Class dagger just had to imbue a few skills or she just had to slash a few times. It was quite morbid, but who told them to have high levels and therefore sturdy bodies?

And then they died, just like that.

....

Knock knock

Althea knocked on the door. A few moments later, it opened up, revealing two of the guards. They were puzzled when they didn’t see the scientists immediately. Meanwhile, Althea was partially behind the door, making her look invisible.

Without further ado, Althea dropped the corpses of the scientists along with another sleeping potion—one of her last remaining stocks—to immobilize the enemy, even if just for a bit.

She had to use more than one, too, since one of the enemies was an orc.

She took a deep breath and looked around her. Like in Tarron Village, everyone was unconscious, not knowing they could’ve been kidnapped or sold or simply lost internal organs.

...

Meanwhile, in the laboratory with orcs, there was much less finesse into the fights.

BANG!

As mentioned, violence wasn’t prohibited in this territory. It had too many orcs, and had too many secrets. The costs of specifying specific individuals as exemptions were too high and rarely worth it, especially since the rules were useless in wars anyway.

This time, after Plai helped them enter the laboratory, Garan and Virion immediately went all out. They hit the enemy powerhouses before they could react to their arrival.

BANG!

BOOM!

Above ground, battles between level 30s could clear out acres of area, let alone a place underground.

BANG!

BOOM!

It was like there was an earthquake, and the walls of the tunnels slowly showed cracks.

There were a lot more orc subjects this time, and at least two dozen orc subjects of different ’species’ were lying down. There were the big ones like tiger and bear orcs, but there were also vegetarians like deer and rabbits and omnivores like pigs and monkeys.

Most of them were thin, only skin (or fur/scales) and bones, and had obviously been in the state of suspended animation for a long time, possibly even years.

They realized that even if the victims were sturdy orcs, they might not be able to handle a full-blown fight, especially in their current states.

Hence, Virion and Garan just had to attack the scientists and then lure the level 30s out of the laboratory to handle them.

The powerhouses also placed importance on their facilities and followed them. Anyway, the scientists were still alive, even if they were half-dead from the unexpected attacks.

BANG!!

BOOM!

They caused damage from the entrance of the lab outwards, with Virion and Garan pushing them out of the territory so everyone could do their best.

When they saw the unconscious orcs, everyone gaped. The simple-minded orcs were even more shocked, many unable to comprehend what had actually happened here.

"There! Really there!"

"HUSBAND!"

"SON!"

Those who had recognized people immediately jumped down to see and take a closer look. The face was almost unrecognizable.

It was the humans and the half-orcs around who seemed to realize what the place was, and their blood turned cold. Afraid that the orcs would target them, however, they did not say much, but they did attack the scientists there to neutralize them.

Virion was fighting against a strong level 37 elementalist powerhouse at this time. He was definitely the leading force in this town.

This time, unexpectedly, the style was something he didn’t associate with Warrior City.

Instead, it was the characteristic style of those in the desert! It was characterized by short strikes instead of large swings, minimal jumps, and the footwork used small steps.

Excessive movement in the desert could become deadly itself because some might become so dehydrated so quickly that they couldn’t be treated on time.

Virion was a well-travelled man, and it so happened that Warrior City’s teleportation array was connected to Crystal City as one of the three slots available for it, so he had naturally been there.

And as a classic warfreak orcblood, he had challenged many people there as well.

"Are you from Crystal City!?" he asked, surprising the man a bit. However, the enemy had no plans to reminisce and just retaliated with several attacks, taking advantage of the young man’s distraction.

Virion landed a heavy punch on the other’s gut. The man’s equipment was decent, so even if the hit hurt, it didn’t cause much damage. Instead, it gave the man the time to send a counterattack in the form of a flamethrower.

Virion nimbly avoided it, jumping up as he extended his arms to create a gun shape, shooting laser beams at his enemy. There were a lot of hits, causing serious burn damage, but there were also many misses, courtesy of the top brass players.

Virion rotated as he landed, his center of gravity keeping him stable. As soon as his feet touched the ground, he dashed forward and appeared behind the enemy, shooting lasers at him at close range.

Pew! Pew! Pew!

"AH! Damnit!" the powerhouse screamed as he felt another hole in his body.

The enemy caught his bearings and began to attack relentlessly, and Virion was never one to hold back, either. This time, he had finally managed to capture his pacing.

At the same time, Virion could feel the ambient temperature near them was getting colder. He could tell that the other battle hundreds of meters away had entered the climax.

Virion was competitive and although his enemy had a higher level than Garan’s, he still wanted to finish his fight off faster than the other.

There was no such luck, however.

BANG!

BOOM!

A quarter of an hour later, when a few acres of land had been decimated, the battle between four powerhouses had finally reached its conclusion.

Garan beat his enemy first, crippling him. People already had an idea of what she could do. After all, she was a public figure now, and it was inevitable to study the past without permission.

It seemed like he had the same mindset—winning before the other. At least that was what Virion told himself.

When in reality, the man and woman just wanted to go away already.