**#196. What You Lose When You Become an Adult (4)**
—
The boy couldn’t help but be a little surprised at the scene that revealed itself beyond the door.
A pure white cubic space.
Black lines zigzagging across the walls like lightning bolts.
‘A cube?’
It was the same interior as the Ignis Cube he had seen in No. 37.
Not identical, though.
This space was larger, with complex mechanical devices and panels lining the walls, and most importantly—at the center of it all was *that*.
A glass sphere resting atop a small pedestal.
Inside it floated a yellow object glowing with a radiant light.
Its identity was obvious.
The powerful resonance from the yellow gem within his body was causing his whole being to throb like a heartbeat.
The next moment—
*Whoosh—!*
Without the slightest hesitation, Ray rolled forward.
*Crunch!*
The wolf’s snapping jaws tore into the spot where Ray had just stood.
Rolling across the floor and springing back to his feet, Ray kept the pedestal and glass orb at his back while his eyes stayed locked on the wolf at the power room’s entrance.
‘Its force is growing stronger.’
The black mana that made up the wolf’s physical form was thicker and more deeply colored than it had been on the deck.
In contrast, the yellow flames clinging to it had significantly weakened.
It looked like a light that was losing its place in the face of overwhelming darkness.
…A stronger light was needed.
Ray reached a hand behind him and felt along the glass orb.
*Vmm—*
He tried sending mana through it to apply a subtle impact, but the orb didn’t budge.
It was expected.
This wasn’t ordinary glass; it was designed to protect something important.
‘Using the Element of Destruction would be difficult.’
He couldn’t afford to shift his full focus to crafting it with the wolf in front of him.
‘If we fought now, the odds of winning are low.’
The wolf’s overwhelming malice far surpassed what he had anticipated.
‘I can’t predict its movements either.’
He couldn’t tell whether the creature was fully consumed by instinct or if its reason was still intact.
At that moment, something tiny, no bigger than a fingernail, flew through the air and landed on the edge of Ray’s ear.
A mechanical bee.
Isra’s voice buzzed in his ear.
—To disable the lock, you’ll need the security key held by the elders. I’ll bring it down to you, so just hold on a little long—
“No, there’s no need.”
Ray muttered softly.
Reflected in his eyes was the image of the wolf preparing to lunge.
Everything around him belonged to the realm of uncertainty and impossibility.
But that didn’t matter.
Not once had his life ever been free from danger or hardship.
*GRRAAAHH!*
With an ear-splitting roar, the wolf kicked off the ground.
Its body flickered and twisted into the form of a massive spinning drill.
Ray didn’t take his eyes off the surging malice, nor did he move.
Life had always been a series of turbulence.
And every time, it was intuition—not logic—that had helped him break through and expand the core of his existence.
That’s why, now, he surrendered to his instincts rather than rational calculations.
The distance between them closed in real time.
Just as the giant drill-shaped beast was about to bore through his face—
───!
Ray, who hadn’t moved a muscle until then, suddenly ducked with lightning speed.
The drill grazed over his back, leaving behind a burning pain.
A sharp sound of shattering glass rang out behind him, and as he turned, he saw shards of glass soaring high through the air.
At the center of them—
The yellow gem, radiating tremendous light.
Without hesitation, Ray lunged for the gem.
On the opposite side, the wolf—now back in its original form—also leaped toward the same target.
The gem fell from midair.
In Ray’s outstretched hand was the other half of the gem, and between the two pieces that once were one, a dazzling beam of light formed.
In that moment, time felt as if it had stopped.
Ray’s body floated through the air, and the beam of light grew shorter and shorter.
The wolf’s gaping jaws, grotesquely open, crept closer and closer to the gem.
And finally—
*Snap!*
By a hair’s breadth, Ray’s hand closed around the gem first.
The wolf’s fangs pierced into the back of his hand.
Ray moved his lips.
“This is your defeat.”
From his clenched fist, a blinding yellow light burst out, flooding the entire power room.
In the world of pure light that spread in stillness, the darkness thrashed wildly, trembled, surged, scattered, and reformed again and again.
Then, his vision slowly returned.
The scene came into focus.
A boy stood upright and unscathed, and before him lay another boy, collapsed on the ground.
“Cough…! So that’s the item Father mentioned…!”
The fallen enemy gasped as he raised his head with effort, eyes locked on the fully restored gem in Ray’s hand.
His right arm was gone, and neither light nor darkness clung to his body anymore.
The black mana of the circle was completely washed away, leaving behind nothing more than an ordinary-looking boy.
“Now I understand…! Cough…! Why Father was so wary of you…!”
“……”
Ray looked down at him with dry eyes.
There were three remaining officers in Murcred.
Obsess, Ragey, and Vicious.
According to Curiosa’s childhood memories, Obsess was a woman.
Ragey was bigger than most kids his age but lazy and dull.
Vicious was a mysterious boy who used to kill small animals and insects.
That had been roughly twenty years ago.
Why they hadn’t aged since then was unknown, but if he had to pick the most likely candidate…
“Vicious.”
Vicious flinched but then let out a chuckle.
“Oh? So you know my name…? That traitor Curiosa must’ve squealed, huh…? That little coward who always hid in the wardrobe.”
Vicious’s malice and vigor hadn’t faded one bit.
But his ragged breathing and the severe bleeding from his arm made it clear he didn’t have much time left to talk.
“Vicious, what’s the doctor’s goal?”
“The doctor? You mean Father? I don’t know…! That stuff…! He planned everything, and I’m just a good little boy who listens.”
“How did you know I’d head to the ruins? Why destroy the tower’s records?”
“I know it all, of course! Cough…! Father is omniscient, you see…! It’s only natural he’d know what a thorn in his side is up to…!”
Vicious’s pupils began to lose focus, his speech becoming more slurred.
It looked like his mind was breaking down. Like a broken machine, he responded erratically to the questions.
Still, Ray remained composed and calmly continued questioning.
And then—
“According to Curiosa, you were adopted by the doctor twenty years ago. Have you simply not aged since then?”
At that, Vicious’s gaze suddenly sharpened.
A low voice came from the corner of his twisted mouth.
“Well, that’s simple. Once your mind hardens, you can’t imagine anymore.”
Then came a bout of maniacal laughter that filled the space.
Vicious’s body shook violently.
Determining that further conversation was impossible, Ray used the gem’s mana to create a sword.
*Vmm—*
The radiant blade shone down on Vicious.
“You’re going to kill me! Yeah, you have to kill me! But remember this! I die—but I don’t die—!”
The sword fell without hesitation.
*Thwack!*
Vicious’s movements ceased.
The radiant sword dissolved into mana and disappeared, responding to Ray’s will.
Ray took a slow look around with a slightly dazed mind.
“……”
The long battle was over.
The piercing lighting of the power room and the quiet hum of the machines caused a slight dizziness and fatigue.
As his gaze slowly turned, it fell to his hand.
The yellow gem, rejoined from two fragments, was now whole.
The mana it gave off was pure and serene, and it stirred a familiar emotion inside him.
It was déjà vu.
—
*
*
*
“How many casualties in total?”
“Twelve dead, thirty-five seriously injured, seventy-two with minor injuries—one hundred and nineteen in total.”
“What about the destroyed facilities?”
“Internally, three extractors in the central power room were damaged. Externally, eight mana condensers were broken.”
Compared to the intruder’s level of force, the damage was miraculously minor.
Even so, the expression on Parun’s face as he received the report in the meeting room was far from bright.
The other elders, who had gathered in the conference room after receiving only the bare minimum of treatment, also wore grim expressions.
Lingering pain in their chests?
Wounds inflicted by the intruder?
Those weren’t the real issue.
The real problem was the fact that their pride had been utterly shattered.
Rael Row, the impregnable fortress they had taken such pride in, had been ravaged by a single intruder.
And had it not been for the human mage who happened to be visiting, the damage might have been beyond repair.
“…Understood. You may go now.”
“Yes, Elder Parun.”
The reporter gave a bow and exited the meeting room.
“……”
“……”
A heavy silence followed.
The elders, overwhelmed by complex and turbulent emotions, were left speechless.
Just then, the door opened, and Ray and Isra entered.
Ray sat down with his characteristic indifference, while Isra hesitantly followed and sat beside him.
Parun was the first to speak, looking at Ray.
“Are you all right?”
“I’m fine.”
“It would’ve been better if you’d taken our advice and gone to the intensive care unit for treatment.”
“I wasn’t hurt that badly.”
That was indeed the truth.
Though he had pushed his body to the limit, the only actual injury he sustained was a gash on the back of his hand from the wolf’s fangs.
Even that wasn’t a deep wound and had already been completely healed with magic.
After a long, awkward silence, Parun finally opened his mouth again.
“First, I want to thank you.”
The other elders nodded in agreement and added their words.
“We admit our complacency.”
“If it hadn’t been for you, the damage would’ve been far more severe.”
“Truly, thank you.”
Isra widened his eyes as all the elders bowed their heads at once.
He hadn’t expected these usually stiff-necked elders to lower themselves this much.
But there was one thing Isra failed to notice.
Their humble attitude stemmed, in part, from fear of Ray.
The very one who had single-handedly repelled such a powerful intruder.
There was no way to deny which side currently held the superior power.
“Once again, thank you.”
“I didn’t really intend to prot─”
─ect Rael Row.
Ray cut himself off.
Murcred was someone he would’ve had to confront sooner or later.
While it appeared he’d protected Rael Row, in truth, this battle had mostly been fought for his own benefit.
…But was there any need to clarify that?
Philip had said that making others feel indebted to you was never a bad thing.
So Ray said,
“I did. I gritted my teeth and fought with nothing but the determination to protect the dwarves. That’s why my body is in tatters now.”
“Thank you…! But earlier, you said you weren’t hurt that badly…”
“No, now that I think about it, I was hurt a lot.”
“But you look fine…”
“Ow, this really hurts. I feel like my right leg will ache whenever it rains from now on.”
Six elders with a combined age of over a thousand years floundering in front of a sixteen-year-old was quite the spectacle.
At that moment, Parun, wiping cold sweat from his brow, operated the table panel.
*Whirrr—*
Parun pulled something out from a drawer that extended from the wall and placed it on the table.
“It may be far from enough compared to the help we received, but I’d like you to accept this as a token of our gratitude.”
“Parun, that item…!”
“That wasn’t something we agreed upon…!”
The other elders expressed visible alarm, but Parun’s stance remained resolute.
Ray quietly looked down at the item Parun had placed on the table.
