Dr. Faustus

“Prometheus Genetics Guild, huh.”
“You’ve surely heard the name.”

At Solomon’s words, the man with a smile like a wax mask replied.

“In this city, Guild City, it is the most prestigious pinnacle of bioengineering…… the very mega guild that inherits the will of Prometheus.”
“I see.”

An absurdly grand name. To be honest, he had never heard of it. Even in Guild City, no matter how famous the mega guilds of Megacorp Street in Downtown District 1 were, it was not as if he knew every single company name in detail.

“I’ve heard the name, at least.”
“Oh, as expected!”

[Deception Success!]

Even so, Solomon acted as though he knew enough and continued the conversation.

“So what exactly does that prestigious guild want?”
“Ah, as for that point…….”

At that, the suited man rose with a meaningful smile.

“It seems there are rather too many listening ears here, so let’s move somewhere else and continue talking.”
“Fine.”

It was nothing worth being surprised about. For Solomon, who had just obtained , or rather, for someone who already knew through the Black Bird Spirit Bracelet just how many eyes and ears filled this city, it was even more so.
Solomon followed the man from the Prometheus Genetics Guild, Dr. Alaric Faustus. Moving as if he was familiar with the place, the doctor crossed the lobby and headed for the hotel’s 「Door Room」.

The room of one-way portals connected to various parts of Guild City, especially throughout Downtown.
“This way, please.”

Saying that, Dr. Faustus strode forward. As he stepped beyond the lone freestanding door, his figure was already melting into the scenery on the other side. So Solomon followed after him as well.

From the interior of the hotel standing alone in Ghosttown, the gray zone between life and death─to a city street now drenched in broad daylight.

‘This isn’t District 1.’

And yet the place the two of them emerged into was not Megacorp Street, the sanctuary of the mega guilds that Downtown boasted. Rather, in a sense, it was the place farthest removed from Megacorp Street.

Downtown District 20, 「End Street」…… as its name suggested, the district marking the very end of Downtown District 20.
That place existed to ‘throw away’ all the city’s garbage and waste, in other words, everything the city no longer needed, out beyond the sea.
In other words, the entire district itself was a vast waste disposal site.

“Weren’t we going to the headquarters?”
“Oh, my apologies.”

At that question, the suited man answered with a shake of his head.

“To be honest, it really was quite a surprising development.”
“What was?”

As they crossed the streets of District 20 itself, leaving behind the stench of garbage drifting everywhere and the faint smell of sea wind mixed into it.

“That the chairman of Wallachia Co., one of the handful of colossal corporations even in District 1…… that the chairman of Wallachia Co. himself personally named ‘Mr. Solomon’ and sent such an unprecedentedly high appraisal.”
“Was that really so surprising?”
“Haha, you could never imagine it, Mr. Solomon.”
“What could I never imagine?”
“That it was that monster of all people who gave such an appraisal.”

The suited man, Dr. Faustus, said with a shrug as if it were absurd.

“So it was fairly unusual, then.”
“Unusual, you say.”

The head of Wallachia Co., the monster of the Black Museum. The fact that Vlad Țepeș himself had directly given someone the highest appraisal carried a significance far deeper and greater than Solomon had originally imagined.
And so did the danger and risk that act would bring.

“To be honest, it wasn’t something that could be described with a word like unusual.”

Dr. Faustus burst into laughter as if he found it ridiculous. The word unusual was not enough.

“It was, quite literally, enough to make one faint from shock.”
“……You’re being awfully dramatic.”

Faint from shock. At those words, Solomon shrugged. At this rate, it was hard to tell who was the one making a fuss.

“Do you truly think so?”
“I do.”
“Hmm, I see.”

At that, the man from the Prometheus Genetics Guild shrugged and spoke.

“In other words, apart from ‘the appraisal of Wallachia Co.’s chairman,’ there is still room to verify Mr. Solomon’s abilities. May I understand it that way?”
“……What exactly are you trying to say?”
“Exactly what it sounds like.”

By then, Solomon too was finally able to grasp the other man’s intent.

“A verification.”
“Verification, you say.”
“Your qualifications as a ‘cleaner’ worthy of carrying out commissions for the mega guilds of Megacorp Street, the pinnacle of Guild City…… that very Megacorp. Ah, of course, we are not trying to doubt you, Mr. Solomon. It is merely something like a formal procedure.”
“So you brought me all the way out here to test that?”
“That’s right.”

Solomon silently looked around. Before he knew it, all sides were blocked off by walls. They were not ordinary walls.
Strictly speaking, District 20 was not even part of Guild City.

A place that existed to gather, dump, and process all the city’s waste. The walls surrounding them on all sides were not, strictly speaking, walls. They were ‘fortresses of trash,’ made by compressing the city’s filth, discarded goods, and every sort of refuse as densely as possible and piling it up.
Those very trash cubes were stacked irregularly to heights of dozens of meters, blocking this place like a maze, along with shadows so deep that even the sunlight overhead could not reach them despite the broad daylight.

Thud, thud!
Along with the sound of distant compactors crushing waste and building new fortresses.

“This city is truly vast.”
“Vast?”

Dr. Faustus, the man from that guild, said with a smile.

“And because of that, it is perfectly suited as a ‘laboratory’ where we can investigate all sorts of things, such as the performance of our guild’s chimeras.”

At those words, Solomon recalled the man’s title from the business card.
Dr. Alaric Faustus of Prometheus Genetics, Chimera Division.

“And while you’re at it, my verification too.”
“Oh, exactly.”

[Insight Success!]

Kooong!
At the same moment those words were spoken, one of the trash cubes lined up behind Dr. Faustus shattered. No sooner had it broken than a gigantic figure appeared from behind it.

‘A gorilla? No…….’

It looked like a gorilla, but the muscles and veins all over its body were exposed and grotesquely swollen. Across its blood-red form, its flesh was twisted in places and out of proportion to a degree that the word ‘grotesque’ hardly even covered. Its right hand, moreover, had a chillingly gleaming blade jutting out like a sharp hook.

Kwachik!

“!”

The blood-red gorilla’s bladed hand pierced Dr. Alaric Faustus from behind. The instant it did, its other hand, the one without a blade, grabbed his head and slammed it into the ground.

Thud, thud, thud!
His skull caved in and his body was smashed until it was so horrific that its shape could scarcely be recognized.

─ Flesh is raw material. Thought is architecture…….

At that moment, a voice was heard. It was the voice of Dr. Alaric Faustus, quite literally crushed into a mangled lump of blood. It was not a physical voice coming from his throat or vocal cords, but something more like a whisper spoken directly into Solomon’s consciousness.
At the same time, his mangled, crushed body began to slide like a writhing, organic blob of slime, slipping beneath the blood-red gorilla’s feet as if melting into the gaps in the trash wall.

‘As expected of an executive from a giant guild, he’s wasn’t just some ordinary doctor.’

The whole display was a kind of show of force. They had probably prepared this elaborate performance to reveal and make known who they were and what sort of power they possessed.
That changed nothing. Solomon’s verification was not over yet.

“Kraaaaaah!”

The gigantic blood-red gorilla looked to be several meters tall at the least. As if the exposed muscles and veins were not enough, its right hand, a hooked blade, gleamed with a chilling edge.
Though only one hand bore the hook, the other hand too could probably crush a person’s skull with its grip without any trouble.

‘Perfect.’

For Solomon, who was under Cinderella’s Magic, it was the perfect opponent.

Clack-clack!
The instant he moved his hand toward the Quick Loader Belt at his waist, the stored Nightfall automatic crossbow snapped into Solomon’s hand as if reading his mind. Snapping to it as though drawn by a magnet.

「Versatile」 Quick Loader Belt.

Clack, clack!
In the process, the gears, drive assembly, and frame of the automatic crossbow locked into place and completed their firing preparation.

Thanks to the modifications from the workshop of that stubborn dwarf master, the Deadlock Guild, the Nightfall automatic crossbow could no longer load ordinary bolt cartridges. That did not mean, however, that it could no longer function as a crossbow.

‘.’

Because by consuming one Level 1 spell slot, he could now load up to ten shadow bolts.

─ A target you hit will gain a 「Shadow Mark」.
─ When you land additional attacks on a marked target, you’ll deal greater damage through the power of shadow magic. Just like when you attack inside 「Veil of Darkness」.

Along with the enervating sensation of magical power draining out from his chest, the Nightfall automatic crossbow began to ripple with black, dark mana. Ten shadow bolts. Solomon pulled the trigger without hesitation.

‘Fast!’

A silent shot. And it was fast. A shot of such speed, paired with accuracy beyond compare to before, that even Solomon could not fully trace its path.

Kwachik!
The shadow bolt pierced the blood-red gorilla, and at the same time, an unidentified shadow began to ripple around it as though coiling itself about the creature. Though the power of the bolt itself seemed insufficient to deal meaningful damage to that monstrous gorilla, Solomon didn’t care.

‘So that’s the 「Shadow Mark」.’

In other words, melee attacks made in this state would be treated as basic sneak attack, the same as attacking inside . It might not be the highest-grade sneak attack, but it was enough. Besides, who knew whether it might later grant something like an 「Advanced Shadow Mark」?

‘Dr. Faustus said this was a verification.’

And there was no proof that the verification would end with just the blood-red gorilla in front of him. If the fight dragged on, pouring out spell slots now would be little different from suicide.
Even so, when it was time to act, he had to act decisively.
Saving cards he could and should use out of a desire to preserve his strength would be the same kind of suicide.

‘, .’

Silently, he adjusted his grip on the 「Hungry」 Ghost Whale Bone Blade. His new weapon, reborn through the synergy of two combined spells into a third spell, .

───
「Darkblood Sword」
Tags - Level 1 spell, Level 3 spell, shadow, blood magic attribute, combination spell, weapon enhancement
: Tempers the blade with blood and shadow magic to further sharpen it, and adds 4 damage on attack
: Double damage on sneak attack
: Double damage to bleeding enemies
───

‘.’

In that state, Solomon kicked off the ground. Within the motion of his accelerating bloodflow, faster than ever before.
The darkblood blade swung.