【Siren's Cry】
Level Max
Active: An eerie and mysterious cry of Siren. Anyone who hears it will tremble in fear.
Effect: Enemies will be in Fear state for 3 seconds, and then Confused for 10 seconds.
Channeling duration: 3 seconds
Range: 20 meters

MP Cost: 500
Cool down: 30 minutes

'That's right. She is a Siren, isn't she?'

Her race was Ania and her hobby was Crystal Siren. It could be that Ania was relative to Siren. But what I didn't understand was her Hobby skills were way more dominant than her Job. What she knew about her Job only Astral Alchemy, though I never asked her to do it. Nonetheless, Mirage saved me again.

All Mecopteras around me were shaking and ran the opposite direction from Mirage. I didn't want to waste the opportunity. Three seconds had already been spent, so I had to move fast. Otherwise, they would surround me again. While they were in confused state, I ran back to the passage and killed some of them that I passed.

"Run!" I told Mirage.

However, she was staying still and shaking. Seeing her like that, I grabbed her hand and pulled her further back to the passage. After I thought we were far enough from the room entrance, I stopped. Then we sat down and leaned on the wall. I looked at her and thinking…

'This is becoming quite troublesome…'

If she acted this way again, I couldn't guarantee her safety. I needed to talk to her about it and made sure she wouldn't do it again.

"Why did you stay still?"

She looked down while holding her trembling hands.

"It doesn't matter if I die. Please run if things get worse." My gaze turned to the ground. "I will not forgive myself if I couldn't protect you until you regain your memories. I will not forgive myself…"

'If you die too…'

I continued my sentence inside my mind. I didn't have the mood to say it out loud. Silence ruled the passage for a brief moment. Then a tiny voice could be heard breaking the silence.

"I-I'm sorry…" She replied with cracking voice.

Her terrified figure made me pity her. I sighed and accepted her apologize.

"It's okay… I just don't want you put yourself in danger. And it was my fault to walk into their trap…" I paused for a moment. I looked at her and continued. "Also, thank you for saving me…"

She turned her gaze to me. I turned mine back to the ground.

"I would recklessly die multiple times if you weren't here…"

Right. My own words made me realize that knowing you could be revived many times was a big mistake. If this was a real life, I would be dead a long time ago. I would also put Mirage in danger if I died soon. However, it was really unfortunate that I got lured into their trap. I needed to think and read more about the situation during fighting.

"Isn't it still painful to die?"

My eyes became round for a second, then I narrowed them back and gazing to the ground.

She was right. Even though I could die and resurrected any time, dying was still painful. This game didn't even have a setting to turn off the pain. You would feel your blood gushing from your wound, or fire would burn your skin. I had Ignore Death skill which nullify those pains. However, after the effect worn off, every wound damaged my body would immediately be felt at the same time. And recalling that memory definitely made my face look like eating shit.

"You've done so much for me. So I don't want to be a burden to you… At least, I also want to help. I want to protect you too…"

Her expression was firm and sincere. The glassy eyes she had before were brighten. It could be that she was stubborn, but actually I was amazed by her strong personality. I unintentionally let out another sigh.

"Alright… But promise me that you will do as I say if something bad happen."

She lightly nodded and smiled.

"I promise…"

Somehow, her smile washed away my anxiety I just felt.

・・・

Our plan didn't change much from the last one. First, I lured the mecoptera one by one to the narrow passage. This time, I would know the mecoptera would run if its HP dropped low. Therefore, I killed them quickly before they could run. If the situation went dire like before, Mirage would use Siren's Cry. Thankfully, the plan was going smoothly.

We passed through several rooms. Eventually, we began to encounter Venomous Mecopteras. They were smaller than the regular ones. However, what frustrated me was their poison. They occasionally stung me in random pattern. It wasn't a strong poison debuff though, but it was annoying enough to keep my eyes on my HP bar. Mirage could purify my status any time, of course. But raising my skill was number one priority. So she cured me if my HP dropped too low and healed me right away. Thanks to that, my Low Poison Resistance leveled up really fast. Furthermore, their nimbleness also made my AGI and DEX went up by a few points.

We slowly managed to pass through their nests. After multiple dead ends, we found a steel door at the end of passage. We opened the door and finally arrived at our destination.

<Zoria Secret Laboratory>

We were inside a room with nothing but potted plants that placed on each corner, two of them had fallen. There were another two steel doors, one on the right and one on the left.

"There's a map." Mirage said and then pointed at it. "Over there."

I took a closer look at the map and folded my arms.

The lab was pretty big and divided by several areas. Area 1-3 and 6-8 were at the left wing. Area 4-5 and 9-10 were at the right wing. And it seemed we were at a room that separated the two wings, which was between area 4 and 8. Also, there was a legend at the bottom left of the map.

///////
Left Wing
- Area 1-3: Prison Cells
- Area 6: Security and Interrogation Room
- Area 7: Laboratory and Worker Office
- Area 8: Storage Room

Right Wing
- Area 4: Belgram's Office
- Area 5: Main Laboratory
- Area 9: Observation Rooms
- Area 10: Incubation Room
///////

'Prison?'

Of course I would expect that to exist. They were all being held captive and forced to do the kingdom's will after all. In the worst case, there might be torture room somewhere which wasn't written on the map.

I kept watching the map until I read what was written on area 8. I smiled and immediately walked to the left door, and then I pushed the door right away.

Hukkkk…

It didn't budge at all.

'Do I have to pull?'

I grabbed the handle and tried to pull.

Huukkk…

I put my other hand to the handle. I pulled it with all my strength.

Huuuuuaaaarrrrgghhh! Bang!

I smashed the door in frustration. Either it was locked or something blocked the door on the other side. I sighed.

'My loot…'

It was a shame though. The thought of what could possibly be found over there was filled my mind. But I couldn't do anything about it. And doing a key hunt inside this huge laboratory was annoying.

'I've played enough key hunt games and I'm done with them…'

Feeling disappointed, I went to the right door and of course it opened. We stepped into the right wing.

The door we opened was at the end of hallway. We walked the long hallway to the left, then it bent to the right afterwards. In the halfway, there were two doors which I believed the right door lead to Observation Rooms and the left one lead to Main Laboratory. I tried to open them, but they were locked. It seemed like it was already scripted that we had to go to Belgram's Office for some reason. Therefore, I didn't even bother to open another door again and we went straight to Belgram's Office right away.

Belgram's office was peculiarly astonishing. It was like someone was still living in this place yet no trace of them left behind. It was clean and there was no dust at all. Everything placed neatly and looked tidy. Office table and chair, several bookshelves, two potted plants, a pair of long sofas and a table between them, and some decorations which I had never seen before: Strange lamp, bizarre monster statues, weapons rack, etc.

After I was looking around for a while, I remembered I have to make progress for my quest. And a good place for that was, of course, the bookshelf. I took some documents and sat down on the sofa, then opened them one by one. A quire of paper were inside the document. 'Alkronia Confidential Report' was written on top of them. I smiled as if I found an amazing loot.

'This is it…'

The first document was about the lab history. Basically, the Secret Lab was once Zoria Underground Prison. The lab was built after the Dark Age had begun. Alkronia made it become a place for artisans to research their goal and desire. Of course, they made the prisoners become their subjects.

'As expected…'

These reports were definitely about what Alkronia Empire had done during the Dark Age. Curious, I continued reading them.