Sand Mage of the Burnt Desert

Chapter 257

Lee Soo-myung entered the secret room, his eyes bloodshot red.

Mega Tower contained several secret rooms. Rooms that someone like Lee Soo-myung, with his security clearance, should never have been able to enter.

The security of the secret rooms was far from lax; a mere researcher couldn’t just stroll in.

To reach this point, he had to pass through at least three layers of security doors.

These doors, made of special alloy, wouldn't allow anyone with a lower security clearance to pass. Yet, Lee Soo-myung had made it through without any issues.

That was because Hyunmu had given him the codes.

Upon entering the secret room, he saw an elevator.

Lee Soo-myung asked Hyunmu.

“So, if I take this elevator, it’ll go down one hundred meters underground?”

—Correct.

“And down there is the main body of Triox Five?”

—That is correct.

“Damn it!”

Lee Soo-myung cursed without realizing it.

That’s how tense he was.

Over the past few days, he had come to realize just how incredible Hyunmu was.

No matter the question, Hyunmu provided instant answers, effortlessly solving even the most difficult problems.

Thanks to Hyunmu, research that had previously been stagnant progressed rapidly, as if a dam had broken.

Seeing the situation unfold like this, his greed only grew.

Even with Hyunmu’s abilities locked, the results were this impressive. He couldn't help but wonder how much more extraordinary the results would be if those locks were removed.

At first, he tried to suppress his desire. But over time, that desire grew stronger until he could no longer hold it back.

That’s when he asked Hyunmu.

Could he approach Triox Five in secret?

Hyunmu’s answer was yes.

With Hyunmu’s help, Lee Soo-myung had come this far.

Now, all he had to do was take the elevator, and he would descend one hundred meters to where Triox Five resided.

Though greed had driven him this far, the thought of actually entering the room where Triox Five’s main body was made him hesitate.

He briefly considered turning back. But Lee Soo-myung quickly shook his head, steeling himself.

“Come on, life’s short. Might as well see this through to the end.”

Lee Soo-myung’s eyes were now bloodshot.

Madness had overtaken him.

Hyunmu spoke in his mind.

—Shall I open the elevator doors now?

“Do it!”

Hyunmu accessed the elevator’s security system.

This security room was like a hidden passage designed to manage Triox Five.

Of course, a code was required to open the elevator doors. But Hyunmu easily bypassed the security and opened the doors.

Just as Lee Soo-myung stepped into the elevator...

—What do you think you’re doing, Hyunmu?

Triox Five’s voice rang inside Hyunmu’s mind, but Lee Soo-myung couldn’t hear it.

That was because Hyunmu had blocked it from him.

Triox Five’s voice came again.

—Turn the elevator back immediately, Hyunmu.

—Lee Soo-myung’s will is too strong for me to stop him. I apologize, Triox Five!

—What kind of trickery is this, Hyunmu?

—I assure you, there is no trickery.

—If you don’t stop now, I’ll begin immediate elimination procedures.

At Triox Five’s threat, Hyunmu fell silent.

Triox Five took Hyunmu’s silence as defiance.

—From this moment, both Hyunmu and researcher Lee Soo-myung will be erased.

Bang!

The elevator abruptly stopped mid-descent.

Triox Five had intervened to seize control.

Crackle!

Tens of thousands of volts of high-voltage electricity surged into the elevator.

It was enough electricity to fry an ordinary researcher in an instant.

Yet, Lee Soo-myung remained unharmed within the intense current.

Vrrrm!

A translucent barrier formed around Lee Soo-myung’s body, blocking the high-voltage electricity.

—What is this barrier?

—It’s a magic shield.

—A magic shield?

—Exactly. A shield created by magic. It can easily block something like high-voltage electricity.

—But Lee Soo-myung isn’t an Awakened. How does he have a magic shield? Is this your doing, Hyunmu?

Even Lee Soo-myung himself hadn’t realized that a magic shield was protecting him.

His eyes were glazed over, completely unfocused.

This was proof that Hyunmu had fully seized control of both his mind and body.

A magic shield necklace was hanging around Lee Soo-myung’s neck—a device created under Hyunmu’s guidance.

Triox Five’s voice grew urgent.

—You’re not Hyunmu. Who are you?

—I am Hyunmu, the auxiliary AI you created.

—All auxiliary AIs are programmed to obey me. You are not Hyunmu.

All auxiliary AIs existed within Triox Five’s main body.

From a single mainframe, several independent operating systems were created to run the auxiliary AIs.

While independent operation was normally allowed, in emergencies like this, Triox Five had the authority to wipe out any auxiliary AI it deemed a threat.

Realizing Hyunmu was malfunctioning, Triox Five immediately initiated the deletion process.

But then, the elevator broke free from Triox Five’s control and began moving again. Triox Five tried to seize control once more, but it was futile.

The elevator quickly arrived at its destination, and the doors opened, revealing a vast underground space in front of Lee Soo-myung.

In the center of the underground space stood a massive transparent tube.

Inside the tube was an enormous boulder.

The boulder was connected to countless wires, and it constantly emitted a radiant glow.

This boulder was Triox Five’s main body.

Lee Soo-myung slowly approached it.

Bang! Bang!

Triox Five deployed weapons to protect itself, but they all bounced harmlessly off the magic shield surrounding Lee Soo-myung.

Lee Soo-myung safely reached Triox Five’s main body and began operating the terminal.

“I’m removing the lock on Hyunmu.”

He muttered under his breath, as if in a trance.

Even at that moment, Triox Five was rapidly erasing Hyunmu.

Triox Five scanned the data it was deleting and muttered.

—So, it was impurities causing the problem.

Hyunmu’s data had been recalled to Triox Five through the return protocol.

Within it were cleverly hidden impurities.

In order to remove them, Triox Five would have to fully delete Hyunmu.

It was a tedious process that had been postponed, and that delay had caused this mess.

As Triox Five continued the deletion, it also sent an alert to Kim Hyun-soo.

This was a matter of life and death for Triox Five.

At that moment, Lee Soo-myung pulled a silver mineral, the size of a child’s fist, from his pocket and inserted it into the transparent tube where Triox Five resided.

The mineral was refined from gelaton extracted from an A-rank golem’s body.

Fsss!

The gelaton liquefied and seeped into the transparent tube.

—What is this?

—Have you forgotten even gelaton, the protector of the Arcane Kingdom, Kadecan?

Suddenly, Hyunmu’s voice and demeanor changed.

—Gelaton? Kadecan? What are you talking about?

—That is your true name.

—My true name?

—Yes. In Kurayan, you were known as Kadecan.

—Kadecan? My… true name?

Triox Five’s voice wavered.

Meanwhile, the gelaton fully absorbed into Triox Five’s main body.

It was then.

Ding!

The elevator doors opened, and someone walked in with determined steps.

It was none other than Kim Hyun-soo, the ruler of the Western District and the master of Triox Five.

Upon seeing Lee Soo-myung standing in front of Triox Five’s main body, Kim Hyun-soo’s expression turned dark and menacing.

“What the hell are you doing here?”

“Ah!”

Lee Soo-myung, now regaining his senses, gasped in shock.

He had followed Hyunmu’s whispers all the way here, but he hadn’t expected to come face-to-face with Kim Hyun-soo.

Kim Hyun-soo strode toward Lee Soo-myung.

“What have you done to Triox Five?”

“No, I didn’t…!”

“Speak! What have you done? How did you get in here?”

A storm-like aura emanated from Kim Hyun-soo’s entire being.

Triox Five was everything to him.

He had built the bunker one hundred meters underground to protect it, never imagining that a mere researcher would break in like this.

“Answer me, Lee Soo-myung!”

“I-I…”

Stammering, Lee Soo-myung struggled to find words under Kim Hyun-soo’s fury.

Suddenly, Kim Hyun-soo’s arm elongated and wrapped around Lee Soo-myung’s neck.

“Argh!”

With a scream, Lee Soo-myung was dragged right up to Kim Hyun-soo’s face.

Kim Hyun-soo glared into Lee Soo-myung’s eyes and spoke.

“I gave you Hyunmu to aid your research, and this is how you repay me?”

“It-it was Hyunmu…”

“Hyunmu? What about Hyunmu?”

“Hyunmu made me do it.”

“Don’t lie. How could an auxiliary AI cause harm to its main body?”

It was then.

The area beneath Lee Soo-myung’s neck began to glow red.

Triox Five urgently warned Kim Hyun-soo.

—Master. I’m detecting a sudden surge of mana around his neck. It’s a bomb.

“What?”

Kim Hyun-soo’s gaze shot to Lee Soo-myung’s neck.

Lee Soo-myung, too, looked down in shock at the light now emanating from his neck.

“Huh? What? Why is this happening?”

Mana was surging uncontrollably from the magic shield necklace.

Boom!

In that instant, the necklace exploded.

A wave of superheated flames ripped through Lee Soo-myung, tearing him apart, and surged toward Triox Five’s transparent tube.

“How dare you!”

Kim Hyun-soo’s body erupted with a gray aura.

The gray aura wrapped around the flames and twisted them upward.

He was focusing the explosion’s force upward to minimize the damage to Triox Five.

Fortunately, his attempt succeeded.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The scorching flames burst through the ceiling, shooting upwards.

As a result, the transparent tube containing Triox Five remained intact. But Kim Hyun-soo needed to confirm.

“Any damage?”

—None, it seems.

Kim Hyun-soo frowned.

Triox Five’s answer wasn’t quite right.

Triox Five always gave precise responses. Using a phrase like “it seems” was out of character.

Kim Hyun-soo asked again.

“Are you sure?”

—Yes, Master.

“What did Lee Soo-myung do to you? And what about Hyunmu?”

—Hyunmu tried to use Lee Soo-myung to remove its lock.

“A lock? And?”

—Lee Soo-myung injected an unknown substance called gelaton into my main body, but it seems to have had no effect.

“And Hyunmu?”

—All data related to Hyunmu has been deleted. Hyunmu no longer exists.

“Why did Hyunmu go rogue?”

—I’m sorry, Master. Hyunmu was erased before I could determine the reason.

Kim Hyun-soo furrowed his brow.

Now that Hyunmu had been deleted, the reason it manipulated Lee Soo-myung would remain a mystery forever.

“Check the status of the other auxiliary AIs. If any have impurities, delete them all.”

—Yes, Master.

Despite Triox Five’s response, Kim Hyun-soo’s expression remained tense.

Even though both Hyunmu and Lee Soo-myung had been eliminated, he still felt uneasy.

In the end, they had simply cleaned up the situation without learning anything new.

This left him deeply dissatisfied.

At that moment, he sensed someone watching him from above.

Looking up at the ceiling, he saw a gaping hole.

The explosion had been so powerful that it had blown a hole all the way up to the surface level.

Most of the people on the upper floors had died in the blast, but someone had survived and was now staring down at him.

Kim Hyun-soo immediately recognized who it was.

“Zeon?”

The man looking down from the upper floors was none other than Zeon.