The Thesis Thief Kiote, who was once a graduate and a disciple of Professor Weird, had fled with her thesis.
He committed the insane act of rebelling against Professor Weird, one of the Academy’s top three luminaries, claiming he could not accept the existence of a cruel thesis that did not adhere to ethical experimentation methods.
“Walk into the Wind-Up Girl’s room with your eyes closed and ears shut, using magic to take consistent steps in the designated direction and for the specified number of times. Once you stretch out to wind it up, just return in reverse.”
“What if I open my eyes or miscount my steps?”
“I wish for your soul to rest.”
“…Please let me into another room! Please! It’s so scary!!”
“No can do. To survive in this city, you must manage this level of taboo. Or shall you challenge the Wind-Up Girl, who’d smash the facility and make you her new ‘wind-up’ just because her wind-up was pulled?”
He himself was confused about which was the more insane act, what he had done or keeping the safety of this crazy city.
Yet an ungrateful human is lesser than a beast; they’re nothing but a monster like Professor Weird.
Kiote’s ethics forced the adventurers left in this harsh city to train as managers of the taboo city and cultivate their ability to survive.
“Mr. Kiote.”
“Sir Kiote.”
“Captain Kiote.”
The titles used to address him began to subtly hint at gratitude and respect.
True feelings do get conveyed.
The adventurers started to notice his efforts to save everyone.
“The management of this city can be handled just fine by the Golden Dancer Riske without your intervention. While your attempts to rehabilitate useless adventurers are commendable, wouldn’t it be more beneficial for the city’s development to hand them over as research subjects for my studies instead of keeping parasites alive?”
A servant of the ancient Great Evil, the Golden Merchant Avalon.
The Golden Dancer Riske outright denied the very necessity of adventurers.
Her role entailed creating a new body for her deceased master whenever he passed away.
For the maintenance of the facility, securing, isolating, and maintaining powers equipped to eliminate external threats were also included in Riske’s duties.
“If it weren’t for Captain Kiote, by now we might have had our limbs torn off and become food for that crazy dancer.”
“Or she might have experimented on us to turn us into new taboos.”
“Who knows? They might decide to just make us undead because humans break so easily. ”
Adventurers, unaware of the fact that there existed a Great Evil—Professor Sadako—who genuinely created undead for such reasons, gradually nurtured their gratitude towards Kiote daily.
When a madman infiltrated the heart of the taboo city and destroyed the facility with overwhelming magical reactions, their gratitude was why they ran towards Captain Kiote’s control room instead of dashing out into the open gilded barrier where explosions occurred.
“Captain!! Are you alive?!”
Grrk… I’m fine. But hurry with the re-capture of the escaped forbidden lifeforms and the emergency isolation procedure for the existing taboos.
“That’s an 8th-tier maniac. A monster not much different from a demigod is rampaging—does the taboo even matter?!”
Rationally judging, the fleeing adventurers’ concerns were correct.
The defense of the taboo city had been meticulously handled by Oknodie, with barriers also adjusted.
The intruder easily twisted and tore apart the barrier and defense facilities created using the vast resources and lost ancient spells of the ancient Great Evil.
There is nothing an adventurer can do here.
Right. It is indeed a threat you cannot handle. A monster that ranks among the highest of the taboo grades has walked right into the city.
“Then let’s hurry—”
Adventurers, leave. But the managers of this city must be responsible until the very end. I will buy you some time. Run from the North Gate UZ Gate 3 to Gate 11. I’ll buy you as much time as I can.
Until recently, they had been nothing to each other, yet he stayed behind, risking his life to open an escape route for the adventurers.
Kiote’s foolishly stubborn spirit of sacrifice brought tears to the adventurers’ eyes.
“You need to come with us! We came to escort you, Captain!”
“Do you want to die just to be used like this? What kind of a situation is that?!”
“Please, just come out with us. Okay? What about us, worrying about the Captain?!”
Kiote was struck on the head by debris pouring down with the vibrations shaking the city.
Despite such injuries, he rose on shaky legs once more and stood before the Mana Board in the central control room.
Oknodie may easily trample and ignore me, yet they stood up to the professors to protect me. Survive while repaying the kindness to the child who did not keep silent before the flames? I do not know such a way.
“Captain…”
Hurry. While it’s acceptable for the taboos to harm the intruder, we cannot allow a threat to be presented to the world outside the city!
The facility that contained the taboos was destroyed as the intruder wielded their power, and the automatic interception mechanisms exploded.
But no matter how many minor devices were destroyed, the most powerful guardian they all trusted remained intact.
Once feared by adventurers trapped in the city, the Giant Golden Colossus became the subject of hope.
Even as a round primitive golem, it’s a modified version with performance upgraded at least twice due to the fusion of ultra-ancient technology and Oknodie’s ultra-precise mana engravings. It will buy us time.
The modified Golden Colossus superbly met Kiote’s expectations.
Combined with Avalon’s ambitions to conquer the continent and Oknodie’s technological prowess, even against the might of the Man’s Representative enhanced by hundreds and thousands of sacred protections, it did not vanish in a single blow.
In other words, even with just one hit, the level of impact was significant enough to strike the colossus.
“That’s insane.”
“That crazy spec of a colossus is swaying!”
Even the Man’s Representative was likewise astonished.
“What a massive weapon, built by ignoring technological deficiencies with excessive output and colossal costs. Truly a weapon suitable for the Foundation’s secret base since the ancient times.”
But it was not only the Foundation that possessed ancient power.
The Man’s Representative signed contracts with several gods on the spot.
[Some god wants ownership of the gigantic weapon.]
[Some god wants to control the gigantic weapon.]
[Some god…]
“Sure. Take it.”
Feeling delighted, the gods penetrated towards the Golden Colossus.
The mighty energy and sacred magic of the Old Gods, along with their domains, ruthlessly shattered the controlling spells and security systems protecting the Golden Colossus and forcibly connected themselves with divine power.
The once-silent Golden Colossus soon transformed into another calamity, threatening to destroy the city.
[Taboo Phenomenon: Explosion Fog]
[Effect: The fog surrounding a specified range turns red with alarm sounds, then explodes in that area. The fog grows by consuming the mana of the exploded lifeforms.]
[Taboo Lifeform: Snip Doll]
[Effect: Approaches the being that makes the loudest noise and snips the source of the noise.]
With the output of the explosion fog, the facility designed with protective inner wall structures that could not be detonated remained intact.
A soundproof studio where sound was blocked.
Taboos protected by different isolation procedures surged out as the Golden Colossus broke through the walls.
[Snip Doll]
[Aiming: Golden Colossus]
[Explosion Fog]
[Aiming: Man’s Representative]
As the taboos swarmed towards the source of the loudest sound and mana, Kiote and the adventurers realized something astonishing.
Even if destruction occurred inside the city, the isolated locations exposed to the outermost would be filled with taboos likely to expel the intruder as a priority.
Oknodie had completed the design, considering both invasion and defense, right from the moment they contained the taboos.
[Some god calls for a bigger explosion.]
[Some god steals the magic scissors from the Snip Doll.]
But with those who handle taboos, they could erase them with power and neutralize the threats.
The gods showcased their overwhelming strength by detonating the explosion fog or snipping the Snip Doll as though it were nothing.
[Some god is pleased saying that a greater taboo would become a more capable tool.]
[Some god pushes you to run in first and die instead.]
As the Wind-Up Girl actively engaged, the winding mechanism continued to unravel.
The adventurer gritted their teeth, realizing that the rate at which the winding was being drained was faster than they could wind it in real-time.
‘I’m sorry, Captain Kiote. I will go first.’
It was at this moment, as the Wind-Up Girl felt death coming and was about to rampage, she was intent on destroying the heart’s power supply.
[Dragon’s Destruction Ray]
The destructive ray from Professor Mahabharata cleaved the body of the Golden Colossus in half.
The gods contained within the taboos evaporated in an instant, returning to Man’s Representative by the hundreds, following the trajectory of the ray.
“Reinforcements from the Foundation?!”
“Don’t say such impure things! If I add up the time wasted cleaning up after that guy’s Foundation, it’ll be over fifty years!”
Lasers shot up in every direction, punching holes through the city like cheese.
The attack that pierced past even the Golden Colossus and Man’s Representative unleashed all taboos previously contained in the depths of the facility.
“Wrong… The number of attackers has increased…!!”
Holding onto the crumpled Wind-Up Girl’s body, the adventurer screamed.
When counting the damage inflicted on the facilities and the number of freed taboos, the greatest damage was inflicted by Professor Mahabharata.
A disaster caused by a dragon’s guardian who forgot the cleanup due to a moment of rage!
“…Finally free, from this suffocating hell.”
The catastrophe caused by Mahabharata granted freedom to the Darknodi, who were under the most stringent isolation.
It was an utterly absurd emergence for both the Man’s Representative, who came to torment Oknodie, and Mahabharata.
“Dark Princess. Did you hide the mana within the isolation facilities expecting my invasion?!”
“Oknodie was right next to me… What the heck was the Oknodie I just came in with?!”
The Okjnoidi intended to make things difficult for Oknodie, but now that the matter had grown big, she was scared.
[Hide]
And so she hid.
As her companions hid and Oknodie emerged from the confined facility, Mahabharata felt as dizzy as the Man’s Representative.
Either side felt like they were possessed by a ghost.
