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There was the question of why the same model was here, but with this, it was confirmed that my hope had been crushed.

The Nemesis Code would not authenticate one of the same type.

Even if I devoured the test subject before me, it would merely be treated as “invalid,” and I would only lose consciousness.

At this outcome, I closed my eyes and smiled wryly.

Then Azure, standing beside me, compared the test subject sleeping in the cryosleep device with me and opened his mouth.

“What is the meaning of this?”

It was a remark made in clear certainty that I knew something.

Before him, as he took his distance and assumed a stance, I spread both hands to show that I had no intention of fighting.

“There are many things I know. But this was unexpected even to me.”

“You expect me to believe that?”

Well, of course.

Honestly, even if I said, “Believe me,” in this situation, even Number Six probably would not nod.

For now, this position was too close to the capsule and not good.

Facing Azure, I shifted sideways and took distance from the cryosleep device in order to move away.

I moved slowly so he would not become wary, but Azure kept his outstretched hand matched to my movements so that he could use magic at any time.

I had thought I would be fine if I took distance from the cryosleep device, but… my tail was caught on something.

I did not know what was there, but when I tried to avoid it for the moment and pull my tail back, it slid over something like a stand with countless protrusions, and then I ended up knocking something down.

Along with a clank, an indescribable atmosphere drifted through the room.

“…It was not on purpose.”

“Do you think I will believe that?”

When I checked behind me, I saw that I had knocked down a lever on what seemed to be a control terminal.

Then something like an incomprehensible voice echoed, clearly different from what should have been there.

Azure raised his guard at the mechanical sound that came from what seemed like a broken speaker.

I could tell that mana incomparable to mine was gathering in both of his hands.

Immediately afterward, the facility lights switched to red.

“—density—sense—emerg—judg—measure—”

A broken voice flowed through the room, which had turned red like an alarm.

I could make out a few fragmented words in pieces, but just like before, I could not understand what it was saying.

However, I clearly understood only the final words.

The voice had definitely said, “Awakening measures will now be performed”—and that meant nothing less than that the test subject before us would awaken.

There was a risk in taking my eyes off Azure, who was glaring at me in full combat readiness.

But I had to confirm it, so I looked away and turned my eyes to the cryosleep device.

Our eyes met.

The test subject had opened his eyes fully and was looking at me.

Azure, who looked suspicious at my stunned state, also seemed to infer where my gaze had gone. He slid sideways, looked into the device, and his expression filled with shock.

The silence that passed lasted only an instant.

The moment I thought the test subject inside the capsule had shifted his gaze to Azure—the lid of the cryosleep device blew off.

“Long-ears!”

Even though he had only just awakened, he leapt at Azure.

I judged from his voice that he was male, but if he was an Imperial soldier, it would not be strange for him to recognize an elf of the Republic as a wartime enemy.

I immediately slipped between them and first stopped him so that I could speak to him as a fellow Imperial and have him understand the current situation.

But he did not stop.

Once we grappled, I understood that his body was larger than mine, and I was clearly losing in power.

(If his entire body is black, does that mean his normal state is Assault Mode!? If so, then multiple types exist within the same model!?)

I tried to stop him with all my strength, but I was being pushed back with enough force that he nearly caught up to Azure, who was retreating behind me. The difference in strength, despite him having only just awakened, could not be explained by that alone.

(Did they strip out every unnecessary function and put everything into power!?)

Faced with a difference in strength that showed no sign of stopping—in fact, not even balancing for an instant—all I could do was desperately move my feet as they slid across the floor and cling to him.

“Hurry up and run!”

I shouted in Elven out of panic, but immediately afterward, I was punched away and slammed into the wall.

I had expected this giant body to be punched flying, but I had never imagined I would be blown away almost horizontally.

A fist mark had been clearly stamped into my chest, and my body coughed in search of oxygen after my breathing stopped.

As I crouched there, the pitch-black man standing before me reached out his hand.

He grabbed my neck, lifted me with one hand, and my head struck the ceiling.

I tried to pry his hand away with both of mine, but the arm gripping my neck did not move an inch.

(No! This guy isn’t the same model at all!)

Unable to breathe, my floating feet searched for the ground but could not reach it, so I tried kicking off the wall to escape from my predicament.

However, at the same time, the arm holding me moved, and I was slammed into the floor.

Fragments of the floor flew through the air, and I used that recoil to kick him in the side.

At the same time, I wrapped myself around the arm gripping my neck and twisted my body.

“If you won’t let go, I’ll take your arm,” I thought, using my entire body to try to break it, but the moment he let go, I was thrown away.

This allowed me to reset the situation, but the damage was greater than I had expected.

The difference in strength he had shown me in that brief exchange.

If this was the same model, then what on earth was I?

The words from that day resurfaced in my mind.

“This is a plan to create the strongest biological weapon, based on the Chimera Project and the Genetically Enhanced Soldier Project.”

The Ultimate Lifeform Project—that was the destination the Empire had aimed for after the Chimera Project and the Genetically Enhanced Soldier Project.

“I know there were three candidate types. One is, of course, the same ‘Goliath’ as you. Next was ‘Behemoth,’ which was even more specialized for combat ability than that… and what was the other one again?”

Remembering Lark’s words, I became certain.

The being before me was the strongest living weapon created with Type Goliath as its base—and if I thought of it that way, this hopeless difference in specifications made sense.

“You let a long-ear escape! You traitor!”

Even though I had realized what the opponent was, the situation did not change.

This opponent, with an overwhelming difference in combat power, was an Imperial soldier.

I had let an elf escape right in front of him, and for that, I likely could not avoid being denounced as a traitor.

At any rate, I had to make him understand that the era was different now, or he would kill me.

I had once decided to die, but if I died now, I would be abandoning this situation.

As long as I could not predict what outcome would result if I left this alone, I could not die here.

I gnashed my teeth at having found yet another reason not to die, but for now, I devoted myself to somehow making him listen.

“Would you hear me out?”

“You think I would? You fool!”

As he closed the distance with heavy steps, I took a defensive stance.

He was an unfavorable opponent to attack.

That said, going on the defensive would not solve anything either.

But the current situation was such that unless I bought time to speak, there was nothing I could do.

“Listen to me, right now—”

The blow he stepped in and unleashed as if cutting off my words pierced through my defense with both arms far too easily.

The black-dyed outer skin of my right arm shattered, and with an unpleasant sound, the sensation of bone breaking crawled up through me.

I had known I could not block it, but when such a decisive difference was shown to me, I swallowed the scream that nearly came out in a half-desperate realization that my earlier guess had been correct.

I let my right arm, now unable to move from the elbow down, hang limply and somehow dodged the next attack.

But because he also greatly surpassed me in speed, I could not keep dodging. A kick slammed into my wide-open side, and I rolled across the floor.

(This is no joke!)

I never thought the day would come when I would cough up blood in this form.

I had bled several times from slashes, but this was the first time I had taken this much damage from blunt force.

Enduring the unfamiliar pain, I stood while coughing, only to be met by a right straight punch closing in on my face.

Unable to guard or dodge, I took it squarely in the face and fell backward.

As my consciousness grew hazy, he looked down at me, likely coming to finish me off.

It was a nostalgic feeling.

Yes, the training not long after I was drafted had always ended with me collapsed like this.

If I didn’t stand up right away, the instructor would yell at me again—with such out-of-place thoughts in mind, I raised my body.

Perhaps he thought something when he saw me begin regulating my breathing while still seated.

His attack stopped, and when I noticed his gaze looking down at me, I lifted my face.

“Who are you?”

At that question, my hazy consciousness finally began to return.

“I am Trainee Yunos of Squad Seven, Quox Training Grounds.”

I slowly stood, gave a weak Imperial-style salute, and stated my affiliation.

The sadness of being a trainee was that I had no proper title to speak of.

But if he was willing to listen to me, then all I could do was make use of this chance.

“I volunteered to become a genetically enhanced soldier, awakened about half a year ago, and have been gathering information. May I disclose that information?”

At my words, he nodded silently.

I wanted to breathe a sigh of relief that I had somehow managed it, but instead, I began speaking calmly.

I told him that it was now two hundred years after he had gone to sleep.

That the Empire had already fallen.

That the former Imperial territory had become a vast forest region, and that the surrounding nations were currently moving to expand their territories.

“Assuming that is true, why have the various nations begun moving now, two hundred years later?”

“It is said that the Empire caused its final weapon to go out of control, and that this contaminated most of Imperial territory. Shortly before I awakened, the Republic asserted territorial ownership, so I believe the various nations judged that concern had weakened and began moving as well.”

As he showed signs of thinking, I continued telling him what I had investigated.

Then came the time to speak about the matter of the elves.

“I used the fact that I am recognized as a monster to make contact with members of the Republic’s Natural Harmony Committee. As an intelligent monster, I shared their ideals and succeeded in infiltrating an elven village.”

There was little I needed to say, but even so, the fact that my information on spirit weapons was too detailed for a mere trainee to know was fortunate, and he did not seem to think I was lying.

In particular, when it came to information about that old man who wielded the spirit sword, he showed enough interest to mutter, “I see, so he was still alive.”

After I had spoken within a range that posed no issue, I nodded as though to say that was everything.

While checking my recovering body, I watched for his reaction.

“…Forgive me. I nearly ruined your mission.”

Saying that, he embraced me.

It was only light contact, out of consideration for my injured state, and apparently, he had believed my explanation.

With this, I had somehow managed to get through it.

It helped that he seemed to believe I was disguising myself as a monster to conduct internal reconnaissance on the Republic.

I could not deny that I had gotten carried away and talked too much, but I had somehow succeeded in maintaining consistency.

This was surely thanks to the fact that I had continued monitoring the elves so thoroughly.

(But this is bad. Extremely bad.)

Apparently, he was a rigid military man.

And it seemed he had held quite a high position.

As for what that meant—it meant this.

“Due to the emergency situation, I hereby promote you from trainee to corporal. I am Major Glast Estorque. From now on, you are under my command. First, heal your wounds. Do not worry. With Type Goliath’s healing ability, a mere fracture will heal in three days.”

I saluted with my uninjured arm.