Of course, it goes without saying, there’s no such thing as an exit in a workshop. Even if there were, it would only be something that Frondier could create.
The workshop expands in size just as much as the weapons and materials Frondier has collected.
Through countless experiences, Frondier has stored many weapons, and the workshop has grown in size accordingly.
It’s nearly impossible for the people inside to avoid all the traps and search the entire building. Anyway, there’s no exit, so it’s meaningless.
“The traps are better than I thought.”
Frondier sat comfortably and observed the inside of the workshop.
Frondier understood the principles of trap mechanisms through the prior knowledge he had from games and the experience of clearing dungeons.
The traps currently inside the workshop are applications of that. Since the workshop itself is originally his skill, the traps made of mana are not difficult to implement.
“It’s surprising that Eden discovered it so quickly, but it doesn’t change much.”
The space of the workshop is excessively advantageous for Frondier. From the perspective of an enemy, the workshop itself is already a trap. Not entering here in the first place is the most perfect precaution.
The reason Frondier has bothered to create traps now is merely to experiment with various things on the pros.
“Even after discovering the trigger, they eventually fall for it. It must be because the inside of the workshop is completely dark, but if done well, it might be usable outside too.”
Frondier indifferently spoke as he watched people inside the workshop die one by one.
He watched as pros detected, handled, or were unable to handle the traps; then he thought of a way to improve them, one by one.
…… Several hours had passed in this way.
Frondier dusted his hands off and stood up.
He walked at a leisurely pace and opened the door of the workshop. He went up the stairs to the first floor, the second floor, and the third floor, where he approached a man standing still in the center.
Of course, the trap didn’t go off even when Frondier pulled the trigger.
The trigger was Frondier’s dark power, and he was the owner of this workshop.
“Thank you for your hard work.”
“…… Fron, dear…….”
The man standing in the center looked at Frondier with a ragged breath, as if he were dying. Corpses were strewn all around him.
They all died before they could even reach the third floor, and only one was left.
“I see that the rumors were true. Mister Eden.”
“…….”
Eden Hamelot. He was the only one among so many others who survived.
Of course, even he wasn’t in the best condition. While he narrowly avoided the traps, he became exhausted, and countless wounds were carved into him.
“…… Are they all dead?”
Since the pros split up into several teams, Eden didn’t know about the others. Frondier nodded.
“They are.”
“…… The comrades I believed in died in an instant. They screamed and wailed for their lives, or sometimes they didn’t even do that—they just died in an instant. They all died like that, Frondier.”
Eden’s voice trembled slightly, filled with boundless fury. With killing intent blazing his entire body, he looked at Frondier.
After listening to Eden’s strained voice, Frondier said,
“──Is that so?”
“Y, you son of a bXXch!!!”
Eden pulled out all of his remaining aura and charged at Frondier. He didn’t care about the traps or anything else. Even if they were activated, he was prepared to take them on.
Frondier raised one hand. With that, the weapons in the workshop began to move and swarmed toward Eden.
“Grrroooooooar!!”
Eden Hamelot emitted a fearsome aura, systematically destroying the weapons one by one.
With his chillingly well-trained swordsmanship, agility, and aura, Eden had the trifecta that justified calling him the number one pro.
However, this was Frondier’s workshop.
Creak-
“Gasp!”
The entire workshop lightly shook. Eden lost his balance. However, he quickly recovered and this time, he levitated his entire body. It was a kind of floating.
Frondier’s weapons flew at him again. Eden countered them with his aura and swordsmanship.
The weapons were smashed by Eden’s swordsmanship and rolled on the ground. And while Eden wasn’t looking, they disappeared, only to return to their original place, waiting for their turn again.
Swoosh!
This time from behind. The weapons that had been shooting at Eden’s front under Frondier’s command were now coming at him from all directions.
“Ugh!”
Eden spun his body, dealing with the weapons. His aura mixed in, creating a whirlwind.
The fierce wind subdued the weapons flying at him from all sides. However, the ones he couldn’t destroy were lifted again and shot at him.
In addition to that.
Boom!
“?!”
At one moment, Eden realized he was smashed against a wall. It wasn’t that he had gone towards the wall; the wall had flown towards him, forcefully smashing into him.
As if the shaking of the workshop wasn’t enough, the entire place moved so that the walls and the floor attacked Eden.
“Cough, cough, ugh!”
The stamina and aura he had spent, the floating he had used to maintain balance, the spinning to deal with attacks from all sides, and now, dealing with the walls and the floor as well. Eden was already pushed to his limits.
Thump! Thud!
When he came to, Eden was pinned against the wall, his body bound by all sorts of weapons that Frondier had shot.
While he was frantically swinging his sword, Frondier stood in his spot, not moving an inch, watching Eden.
“Cr, ugh! Frondier! Frondieeeer!!!”
Eden screamed with resentment and rage. Frondier calmly walked towards Eden, step by step.
“You must have felt it yourself.”
Frondier told Eden the truth that he had been averting his eyes from.
“If you had come at me from the start, it would have been quite a fight.”
“……!”
The piercing voice stopped for a moment.
Eden is a strong man on par with Renzo. Of course, Renzo has now acquired the Divine Spear and Shield, so I don’t know how it is now, but he is not an opponent that Frondier can easily defeat to this extent.
“Because you tried to hide your appearance and solve things by just giving orders, you ended up like this.”
The reason is simple.
Because he looked down on Frondier.
Because he thought that a mere student wouldn’t be able to handle the attacks of the pros.
Frondier sighed.
“I was careless. Because I showed my strength carelessly, people like you don’t know their place, try to use me, and mess with my surroundings.”
“Frondier, do you think you can get away with this? The entire Phenomenon headquarters will come after you to kill you.”
Even though he was tied up, Eden growled without losing his spirit.
Frondier, who had been watching him for a while, said.
“So, where is it? The hideout where you’re researching the mana injection?”
“I don’t know anything about that.”
Eden looked at Frondier with sharp eyes and said.
Frondier smiled at him.
“Fortunately.”
“……What?”
“There is an order to things. As expected, even Eden-ssi knows it well.”
Bam!
“Kyaaah!!”
Frondier took out his dagger and stabbed Eden’s shoulder before pulling it out in one go. It was a dry movement, as if he were wringing a pig’s neck.
“That’s right. This is the right order. It’s not easy to open your mouth. It’s a good thing that Eden-ssi is a strong person.”
“Y-you crazy bastard…!”
To Eden, Frondier’s words sounded as if he wanted to torture him.
In fact, that was true. Frondier could not let Eden, who was hailed as the number one pro, get away with killing people for experiments and, above all, using Ellen.
Weaving
Rank – Legendary
Dragon Heart
Frondier swallowed something he called the Dragon Heart. Of course, Eden had no way of knowing what Frondier had just ingested.
All Eden knew was that Frondier’s mana, already seemingly limitless, surged in an instant, and the tie he wore emitted light while a tremendous fear overtook him.
“……I see.”
Frondier’s voice seemed to boil with some change in his body.
With a calm smile, Frondier said,
“Mr. Eden, you have a younger sibling. Five years your junior.”
“……What?”
“You live quite far from your family. To keep them safe from the monsters outside, you’ve placed them in ‘Entobus,’ known for its good public order even in the center of the continent. You’re a filial son who treasures his parents.”
“……How, how did you……”
Eden, unable to bluff, uttered his words with a trembling voice. Frondier’s words were too precise to be mere guesses.
“People have their own purposes in life. For most, their own well-being is paramount, but some carry something more important in their hearts. Physical torture doesn’t work well on such people.”
Frondier picked up a dagger.
The blade that had just pierced Eden’s shoulder was smeared with blood, and the blood slowly dripping down the blade soaked Frondier’s hand.
“Finding what truly matters to those people is the correct sequence for proper torture.”
“How, how could you, you……”
To Eden, his family was far more precious than any research on mana injections or the like. It was a secret he would not disclose to anyone.
Having the title of the top pro meant Eden had many rivals, and accordingly, many enemies.
To keep them at bay, Eden had sent his family to the safest place and never spoke of their relationship to anyone.
Yet, Frondier had figured it out in an instant. There was only one possibility.
‘A skill! It’s a skill! Frondier used a skill with something he just ate!’
A guess almost close to the answer.
However, this correct answer only brought despair to Eden.
Because if Frondier’s skill could really reveal the opponent’s ‘secrets’,
For Eden, the location of the Mana Injection Research Institute would be much easier to find than his family.
If so, Frondier already knows the location of the institute, so there is no need to torture Eden.
“F, Frondier! I got it! I’ll tell you the information! The location of the institute is, pfft!”
Realizing something eerie, Eden tried to spit out the information, but Frondier was faster.
Frondier’s black mist filled Eden’s mouth. He could breathe, but he couldn’t speak.
“You shouldn’t be like that from the start.”
Frondier’s sunken eyes were unfathomable.
Eden had never seen such gloomy and chilling eyes before.
Eden tried to tell him the information about the institute, but Frondier wouldn’t let him.
Frondier turned the dagger in his arm. Meanwhile, at Frondier’s will, the weapons in the workshop lined up around Eden.
It was an array of weapons not suitable for combat at all, but only for torture.
“Like I said before.”
Frondier said, choosing the torture tools with indifferent eyes.
“There is an order. In everything. You, your parents, your younger sibling.”
“Keuk! Pfft! Keueok! Keueok!!”
Eden’s voice couldn’t form words no matter how much he tried to spit them out. Watching him with tears and mucus running down his face, Frondier picked up one of the nearby tools.