---

It seemed like the kids were still dazed from the sudden events, holding onto their seats as if they might fly away, but we were in a race against time where even the slightest gap could not be tolerated.

“Do NOT use your abilities, and keep your masks on! The moment you take them off, I can’t guarantee what’ll happen!”

“But if I can’t use my abilities, then why am I…?”

“Even if they figure out who you are, you’re in a position they can’t just touch! Not the others! If you’re found out, you better scream that you’re dead before the day ends!”

Lapiz replied, sounding a bit aggrieved, but it was true. No matter how evil the society was, no one would dare poke the walking earthquake.

But what about us?

We had nothing like that. The moment we got caught, it was over, and everything around us would get sucked in too. So, we needed to stay hidden as best as we could.

…By now, it was pretty clear what might happen. But that wouldn’t necessarily give us certainty.

As if sensing the abnormality, every bug inside the building came rushing at us, but they were all busy spewing vx gas that seemed strong enough to wipe them out, so not a single one could attack us.

“Gross…!”

Only the bodies of the roaches fell on us like snow.

I swatted away the bugs without discrimination, while I recycled their bodies through the slime.

It felt like this was the best way to get out safely.

At least until Lapiz made the sphere that would shield us, I had to keep outputting, so I broke down everything I could and recombined it.

The organization members or employees trying to stop us inhaled the gas and fell over, lying there, never to move again or fell right in front of us, creating red splotches.

I debated whether I should brainwash Lapiz into seeing those things as something other than humans, but looking at her expression, she didn’t seem to have any guilt or remorse for killing people, so I dropped it.

Thinking back, Lapiz had become ruthless against villains. I shouldn’t have worried.

After slaughtering everything that got in our way, be it walls, humans, or bugs, Lapiz finally seemed to gather enough fragments and shouted to us that she would start reconfiguration.

“Hurry up!”

Up until now, we were moving with some spider legs attached to our seats, but those legs twisted upwards, forming a skeleton.

Lapiz filled in the gaps with the fragments, and only then could we finally stop spewing the toxic gas.

While taking in the poison gas to let the kids breathe properly, she released oxygen and nitrogen to create a more suitable environment for us.

Doing both tasks at once wasn’t easy, but I could manage to pull it off somehow.

Under normal circumstances, I would have felt happy about it, but now I had no time for that, so I quickly gathered the slimes stuck on the kids and told them we could breathe again.

“Why the heck is that thing here?!”

As soon as Minho’s gas mask came off, he asked me, but I had no clue either, so I could only vent my frustrations by saying I wanted to ask the same question.

“Hold on to something! It’s about to get really shaky!”

But Lapiz didn’t even give us a chance to chat and immediately started rolling the giant sphere around us.

“Wait—”

I had no clue who shouted “wait,” but whatever it was, it turned out to be alright. It started spinning wildly to the point that no one could talk properly.

Of course, since it was a hastily made object, the outer sphere spun while our seats had no luxury of rolling along.

As the sphere revolved, the seats spun along with it, madly.

“I think I’m gonna puke…!”

That probably came from Ageha, but there was nothing we could do.

We needed to somehow hold on so we wouldn’t faint from the blood rushing to our feet, and it was too chaotic to think of helping anyone.

“Hang in there…!”

Minho’s words sounded like he was encouraging Ageha, but instead of reassuring, it felt like he was squeezing the last bit of his energy.

At least we were fortunate that there was no external interference. There were moments when something seemed to try to block us, but after a sudden shake, we quickly resumed movement.

Whether the abilities user was trying to stop us or if something solid like steel was blocking our way, I couldn’t tell.

But as long as we kept moving in the right direction, there shouldn’t be any major issues.

I plotted our escape route to mostly avoid encounters with steel and such, so the building wouldn’t collapse.

…Or at least, that was the plan. Even if it did collapse, a few capable people could handle it somehow.

In the past, I poured my heart into planning, but at some point, it shifted to a reckless approach of “whatever will be will be.”

Just as I was lamenting this, Lapiz told us we were almost there and urged the kids to pull themselves together.

“We’re almost there, we’re about to drop outside, so Minho, Ageha, Seolhwa, everyone get ready!”

It was a relief that the horrible washing machine-like spinning was coming to an end, but the issue was the kids’ conditions.

They all looked dizzy and disoriented, like they had just been thrown into a washing machine, and I wondered if they could even use their abilities properly.

“Just… leave it to me…”

“Where are we going, up?”

“Why does everything I do end up like this…”

That last line was probably Minho. I told him to quit whining and focus on getting us out of there.

“Alright, let’s do this! One, two… threeee…? Huh?”

Before I could even ask what was wrong, the sphere we were in slowly began to be pulled back.

Lapiz was surprised for a moment but quickly split the sphere in half and launched our side out before we could panic.

“What the heck is that?!”

“It’s a bug, what else could it be?!”

Only when the outer side split, revealing what was outside, did we figure out what had been pulling us in.

It was a Super Giant Centipede, the prized possession of the bug abilities user, who was in charge of this place.

This thing wasn’t just big; it was strong enough to smash through concrete walls and was a modified heavy-duty threat.

The countermeasures I had originally set up were meant for that thing.

After all, in the original story, that giant centipede had ruthlessly chased the protagonist’s group. No matter what they did, they couldn’t even scratch it, and they barely managed to escape in the plot.

But since it was a living being, it couldn’t be my match.

The centipede charged at us like it was ready to throw us out, but I formed my hand like a gun and shot slime from my fingers, injecting it into its body.

I didn’t mean to take control of it. If it came down to command power, it had the upper hand.

However, that didn’t mean the slime that went inside would fall under its control.

I forcefully maneuvered the slime that had infiltrated the centipede, dismantling it from within.

No matter how tough a bug reinforced to break through concrete walls might be, it wasn’t fortified inside, so as the insides were shredded, it died helplessly.

Fortunately, Seolhwa and Ageha combined their powers to create an ice floor beneath us and a gust of wind to reduce our falling speed.

On top of that, Lapiz pulled in sand from a nearby playground and laid it down as a landing zone for us to land softly.

“Ugh… blarg…!”

That must have been Ageha’s limit; as soon as we hit the ground, she leaned over and emptied the contents of her stomach.

Seolhwa fainted with her head tilted back, while Minho was struggling to catch his breath, shivering.

“…A-are we all okay?!”

“It seems… so…”

Alice, who was in better shape, gave a thumbs-up, but couldn’t take more than a few steps before collapsing onto the ground.

“Don’t push yourself… I’m feeling dizzy to the point of dying too…”

Even though Lapiz was born strong due to her dragon blood, being here had exhausted even her, so how were the rest of us still standing?

“Hah, haha… thought I was gonna die…”

A forced laugh escaped me, soon turning into a deep sigh.

Even now, it didn’t feel like we had truly escaped that hell.

“…Blanca, why does everything I do turn out like this…”

Minho seemed to be engulfed in self-doubt, mumbling as he buried his face in his hands.

“I think I said it earlier, but I’m the one who wants to ask that…”

Why was everything such a mess? I was supposed to gather intel but suddenly found myself face to face with the final boss! I thought it would end normally, but now I’ve run into Wang Tai-lun!

“For now… let’s just get out of here… it’s not helping us sticking around, and we’ll just be a burden if we get caught…”

Just getting out without being a drag on the active heroes was enough for us to fulfill our role.

From here on out, we could just watch the battle between the Heros Company and the Evil Society unfold.

I texted Justitia that we absolutely couldn’t get caught by the big guy, adding a note to get out safely if things got dangerous before I collapsed back.

I had overused my elemental and magical powers.

I was still clumsy with external manipulation. It wasn’t something I could do for long.

But at least everyone here was safe… um, that should be good enough.

“I think I’ll just close my eyes for a bit… could you move me…?”

Leaving a final word for Minho, I closed my heavy eyelids that felt like they were dragging me down.

 

---