Chapter 142: Facing The Mad Professor Willheim, Uncovering The Horrors Of Claymore Labs!

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While Riven carefully examined the massive Mana Reactor, he noticed a figure standing uncomfortably close to it. The man looked like some kind of scientist or professor — an old man with long black-and-gray hair and thick glasses. He was tall and skinny, with a mildly handsome face despite his advanced age. And more than anything else, he looked absolutely insane.

Riven knew him immediately. He was Professor Willheim.

The old man chuckled with a vicious smile and spread his arms wide. "Ah, so you already know my name. Well, that will make things easier. I hate having to introduce myself."

Riven knew this bastard from the future. Willheim had been one of the leading scientists working under "Claymore Labs" and was perhaps the most notorious figure when it came to bioengineering research and technology. He was a complete madman who viewed every living being as nothing more than a potential test subject for his own twisted experiments.

The thing behind the professor slowly revealed itself. Inside a massive, reinforced tube connected directly to the Mana Reactor, a creature was constantly feeding on the reactor’s energy and rapidly growing stronger.

"What is that thing?!"

Riven was visibly shaken. The creature was not only grotesque, but it carried a strange and deeply unsettling presence. With his augmented supernatural senses he could already feel the truth of what it contained.

Hundreds of screaming, innocent souls were trapped within that mass. It was a gigantic, monstrous amalgamation of flesh, bone, and hard scales, crowned by a large head that resembled a blackened skull, with a huge single eyeball embedded in its chest.

"This? Oh, this is one of her children," Willheim said casually. "Lately, back at the facility where I usually work, things have become rather... restrictive. So I allowed myself to take a little "side job" and continue my experiments without interference."

"..." Label slowly peered out from behind the walls further down the corridor. She immediately recognized the old man speaking to Riven as the situation unfolded.

"Have you ever wondered why monsters are so uniquely superior compared to ordinary humans?" Willheim asked with growing excitement. "Monsters emerge as powerful beings straight from the womb. They possess hard exoskeletons, deadly claws, potent venom, powerful muscles, and some of them even possess intellect equal to — or greater than — our own! While we humans struggle to survive in this harsh world using only tools and technology, these intelligent monsters already possess both immense physical strength and sharp minds. They are SUPERIOR in every way possible and imaginable!"

"...?"

Willheim walked closer to the giant test tube and gently patted its surface. The monster inside twitched in response. It was still fully sentient, glaring at Riven with a pure predatory and bloodthirsty aura.

"I believe that instead of striving to become stronger through levels, classes, or the pieces of equipment we put over our fragile bodies, humanity should strive toward a completely different type of evolution!" he declared with a wide, manic smile. "We must take everything that makes these beings so powerful and incredible and make that power our own!"

Riven possessed almost that exact same dream through his Class, which only made the confrontation between the two of them feel even more bitterly ironic.

"And would you believe it? There once existed, in the distant past, even greater lifeforms than the ones we know today! Ancient Beings that might have even originated from the Stars themselves..." Willheim continued passionately.

Riven already knew exactly who the professor was talking about.

"Project Genesis...?"

"Ah! So you know of it!" Willheim laughed loudly. "Exactly! Genesis — oh, my beloved Genesis! She is an ultimate lifeform unlike anything I have ever encountered before! The more we researched her DNA, the more profound mysteries we unraveled. For example... almost every single monster we have ever found through the Gates shares fragments of her DNA! As if they are all her distant descendants!"

"...?!"

"Young man, do you even realize what this truly means?" Willheim asked, his eyes gleaming. "What this discovery actually signifies?! What we found at the center of a gigantic ancient meteor crater in Africa when the Apocalypse first arrived — when Mana flooded back into the world and reopened its oldest wounds...! Genesis woke up as well. She is a Precursor, an Ancient Being who once guided humanity and its earliest civilization!"

Riven shook his head firmly. "You’re wrong. Genesis is no such benevolent being!"

He remembered the future all too clearly — the day Genesis went completely out of control, destroyed the facility where she had been contained, and began feeding on multiple Mana Reactors while growing to an enormous, city-threatening size.

In the end Claymore Labs had been forced to send their strongest hunters to stop her. Many of them died in the process, and they only succeeded in sealing her back inside the same crater where she had originally fallen from the stars.

"That thing is a Predator from the Stars," Riven explained coldly. "It contains the DNA of so many different lifeforms simply because it eats them and assimilates their genetic material." He paused. "Like... Huh?"

His eyes widened as he looked down at his own hands and body.

"Like... me...?" he whispered under his breath.

No.

It had to be nothing more than a coincidence.

Genesis, that ancient alien lifeform, could surely have no true relation to him... right?

"Hmmm?" the professor wondered aloud, taking a step closer. "What did you just say, son?"

"Nothing..." Riven sighed and forced his expression back to neutral. "Give up and surrender now. I would prefer to keep you alive so you can answer for your many crimes. Plus, I intend to extract a great deal of information from you."

"Hah!" Willheim laughed mockingly. "You think you can actually catch me? Who do you think I am? Well, whatever the case may be... Genesis has been reborn anew through her offspring. This is Genesis-5. This child right here... it took me quite a while to create him. But oh, the data I’ve gained from his inception has been wonderful. The way Genesis Cells appear to be compatible with almost everything... even that special serum so many people take these days. We were able to produce that serum using her cells!"

"What?!" Riven panicked as the full implications hit him. "Label took that serum...!" He spun around to look at her. "Label?!"

"..."

Label remained completely silent, her expression unreadable.

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