Chapter 28 Surprising Counterattack

Slices cut through pipes and pillars, cutting into the sturdy walls and flooring of the chamber as well.

In his secluded chamber, Asiimov was led stunned; a middle-aged, snowy-haired man wearing an all-white coat watched from multiple angles what the possessor of the Creator's Grimoire System had done.

"...I see it now," Asiimov mumbled to himself, "...This man, Noah Grays, he is an anomaly among anomalies. For the future of mankind, its prosperity and safety, I must deal with him, here and now, before he grows further…!"

–

Left without any further words from the Sentinel member, Noah was surprised to find the barricades that were meant to keep him contained in the room were naturally let down, allowing him to move on.

'Guess he gave up on that? At least he's not stubborn,' he thought.

There was no sense of worry held by Noah as he strolled through the secretive research facility, almost treating it like an eventful outing and nothing more.

Multiple sets of footsteps sounded out, coming from both in front of him and behind, bringing him to a stop as he found more Sentinel soldiers arriving to cut him off.

"Come on. Are you that desperate that you're throwing meat shields at me now?" Noah sighed out.

Before even a single bullet could leave the barrel of the trigger-pulled weapons, Noah countered with dark magic, invoking what resembled spider-woven threads of darkness.

["Soul Weaver"]

Utilizing the threads, he whipped them around, ensnaring the soldiers and wrapping the pitch-black threads around their bodies, siphoning their life essence as he caught them.

[Experience: + 5]

[Mana partially replenished.]

Draining the others of their life, he turned to those left, finishing them as he dashed through the tunnel like a bolt of lightning, zapping through them.

["Absolute Enhancement: Electro"]

[Experience: + 5]

Constructing from the ceiling, another turret dropped down in front of him, this time not spewing bullets but igniting before sending a tunnel of flames in his direction.

"Really?" He said with a raised eyebrow.

It was simply enough to stop with one hand as he brought into reality a spell to stifle the incoming inferno: ["Heat Negation"]

Annihilating it from the very core of its essence, he snapped his fingers to invoke the magecraft, whisking the flames away into nothing more than embers that crumbled in the stagnate, underground air.

"Seriously, Asiimov? Don't tell me you're that desperate," he spoke to whatever cameras were observing him in the tunnel.

Suddenly, the floor he was standing on gave out, sliding out from beneath him as he began plummeting downward through a series of dark tunnels.

"--!" Noah looked up.

The howling laughter of Asiimov met his ears through the intercom, "Did you really think some fire was my trump card? Do you take me for a caveman?! Eat your heart out in the depths!"

As he fell downward, he activated ["Levitation"] to try and go back up, however, an array of turrets, grenades, and weapons carrying unknown feats of tech–spewing sound waves and lasers, shot against him from above, keeping him down.

Asiimov's voice echoed through the intercoms, "For the future of mankind, we must overcome you! You're an evil that must be purged! Before you topple what has been established, before you hurt more people, the Sentinels will stop you, Noah Grays!"

He was unable to get a word out as he was repeatedly slammed into with missiles while simultaneously being shot down by powerful shock waves that sent tremors through the vast tunnels.

"Ngh–!" He winced, gritting his teeth.

Due to the mixture of sound waves ringing through his ears and a constant barrage of anti-tank weaponry, explosives, and gasses being used in tandem, he was unable to properly orientate his mind, resulting in the inability to conjure a counterspell to the assault.

'I can't…focus!' He thought.

"Do you feel it?! This is the development–the progress, the ingenuity of mankind! This is the sacrifice my soldiers, my comrades, have made! It is not my achievement alone, but also those who came before me! You, arrogant child, wish to topple it all for the sake of your own hedonism?!" Asiimov's voice boomed through the intercom.

After an entire minute of the endless barrage of technological might, he finally fell through the end of the tunnel, finding himself plummeting down into a vast, empty room that stretched far-and-wide, housing steel and the smell of sewage.

"...Huff…" He breathed out.

His clothes were left in tatters; bruises and cuts that drew blood were etched onto his body–meager wounds for such an assault, yet the Sentinel of Scientific Development felt hope in this sight.

'If he can bleed, he can be beaten,' Asiimov thought.

As Noah caught his breath, he looked up as a hum met his ringing ears and sparks of light emitted from above.

Before he could even have a proper moment to regain his lost breath as his lungs ached, having breathed in smoke and embers, he found an array of top-secret missiles sailing down towards him, launching from missile silos embedded in the ceiling of the facilities' low level.

"Enough…!" Noah yelled out, spitting blood from his lips.

He clenched his fist tightly, swinging as he took control over the black-painted missiles with his ["Object Authority"], swiping his hand as he slammed them into the leftmost wall, causing a bright, powerful explosion to fill most of the secretive chamber.

Once again, it only seemed to be a distraction as he looked forward, finding something constructing itself from a panel in the floor ahead of him, across the scope of the room itself: it was a massive, sleek cannon forged of Reath metal, empowered by swirling energy encapsulated in humming tubes.

'A railgun…?' He realized.

"You continuously undermine humanity! For that, you will find yourself reawakening in the fiery pits of hell, Noah!" Asiimov roared from the intercom as his voice boomed.

Just as Noah raised his hand with the intention of invoking a barrier–he was too late in his reaction as the railgun fired, unleashing a visible shock wave that didn't reach his ears immediately.

'It should've been activated…! Why?!' He thought.

He was able to deduce the fact that his mind, discombobulated from the unprotected sound waves that had infiltrated his ears and subsequently, his mind, threw his focus off enough that his spell-flinging capabilities were hindered.

The projectile launched by heightened kinetic energy rose to levels once thought impossible by modern standards, slamming into Noah's chest before the sound met his ears.

"Grgh-!" He let out as blood spilled from his lips.