The Genius of Cloning in the Academy City-Chapter 152: The Witch’s Cauldron (2)

A flash of light swept across the safe zone and disappeared.

The magical wave emitted from the Vision Prism brushed past the people around it, causing a slight mental shock.

"Ugh... my head... my head!"

"Ah... why is it so dizzy..."

The aftermath of the magical wave was not insignificant. The hunters who were engaged in a battle with the beasts suddenly experienced paralysis, chills, and dizziness, putting their lives at risk.

Still, the problems they faced were comparatively mild when compared to the Federation soldiers.

The soldiers closest to the Vision Prism were directly in the epicenter of the magical wave.

The researchers from Magna Nabis, who had intended to activate the Vision Prism, were also caught in an unexpected situation.

"Ugh... Aaaah!"

The moment Major Marius faced the light from the armored truck head-on, he felt a terrifying sensation, as if his brain was being torn apart.

’Why? What is this? What is that... who was I again...?’

After the final moments of contemplation flashed through his mind, a horrifying pain filled his head as if a skewer was being twisted inside his skull.

"What the hell... Aaaahhh!"

Starting with the Major, the soldiers around him and a few unfortunate hunters collapsed, screaming. In the sensation of his head turning completely white, the Major gave up on trying to think.

"Kugh..."

People forgot themselves in the midst of their seizures. All that remained in their vacant minds were instincts and a few memories.

After about a minute, they slowly began to regain their senses and stood up, their eyes blurry from the effects. The surrounding chaos prompted everyone to grab their weapons.

The Major fumbled to take out his pistol. From his eyes, the humanity he once held seemed to have vanished.

Behind the shield, a sudden flash of light was felt.

"Ugh! What is that?"

From behind the shield, it was just an unusual light, but those outside the shield, the Violets, felt dizzy.

"I’m dizzy!"

It was a strange but familiar sensation. It reminded me of the time I was caught up in an experiment in the underground. It felt similar. Could it be some sort of mental manipulation magic?

"Where is the source of the light?"

"Beyond the building!"

Based on the positional and visual information from the other Violets, it was determined that the source of the light was the Federation soldiers.

The strange thing was that there were several small buildings between us and them.

They treated the walls as if they were nonexistent, breaking through them. It was clear that this was no ordinary beam of light.

Lucian was the one who clarified my doubts. Perhaps sensing something wrong, he looked around in shock.

"What kind of magic is this...?"

"Magic?"

"Over there! Look over there!"

While I was still confused, Daphne hurriedly explained.

"Didn’t you feel it? I sensed a strange flow of mana right before this happened. That’s why I deployed the shield... But, oh my..."

Daphne was explaining what she felt, but stopped mid-sentence. People outside the shield were stumbling around as if drunk, unable to regain their composure.

"Aack... What is this?"

"I see... our dead father is here!"

Some people were jumping around in shock. But that was the least of the worries.

"Are you okay?"

"Ugh... huh? Why was I doing this?"

As the verdant light mana poured down on the heads of the few closest people, they regained their senses as if they had just woken up from a drunken stupor.

The problem, however, was elsewhere.

"Federation soldiers!"

"Why are they acting like that?"

Some of the Federation soldiers were stumbling toward us. I felt a sense of déjà vu. Didn’t I see this somewhere before?

Daphne, too, tried to help them. The soldiers were trembling uncontrollably.

"Huh...? Are you okay?"

"…Don’t get any closer. Those guys are acting strange."

Kalia recoiled at the sight of a soldier trembling stiffly like a broken doll. In that moment, one of the soldiers suddenly jerked his head up.

"Yik! Look at those guys!"

"Ugh..."

The soldier, groaning, had no focus in his eyes. He drooled as he glanced at us, and then, with a hideous scream, aimed his gun at us.

"That’s a ghoul!"

The Federation soldier-ghoul fired off a barrage of bullets. Fortunately, the shield was still up.

While the bullets ricocheted off, Irene, who was closest, swung her spear and split the ghoul in half. The other ghouls nearby were quickly subdued by the surrounding hunters.

"They turned into ghouls...?"

Gunshots echoed from all around the forward base. For reasons unknown, the Federation soldiers who had turned into ghouls were launching indiscriminate attacks!

"Eeek! Ghouls are shooting!"

At the same time, a horde of beasts surged from underground, and the defensive line began to collapse rapidly. Irene tugged at the hem of my clothes.

"This is dangerous. We need to evacuate, now!"

"Where to?"

"This place is done for! Let’s head to the back gate!"

I ran with my team toward the back gate. The hunters who had been fighting the beasts also began to retreat, one by one.

"Command! This is an emergency! We need reinforcements immediately!"

Violet Squad, 150 strong, appeared and ran toward us in a few blinks. Amid the chaos of the retreat, the people around us were murmuring.

"Where did that force come from..."

"Who are you guys!"

I quickly responded while running.

"We’re the Ariel Group!"

Everything was a mess.

Just a while ago, the Federation soldiers, who had been our allies, were now mostly ghouls, shooting at us, and the fanatics were causing chaos both inside and outside the base.

The beasts were now treating the safe zone like their own backyard, attacking anything in sight. It was pure pandemonium!

"It must be because of the Vision Prism!"

"The command has sent orders! We need to allocate some of the squad to that location..."

"Yes! We’re trying to evacuate for now!"

After a brief reunion, I saw the monster horde rushing like a wave, possibly due to a collapse in one of the defense lines.

"My goodness... the right defense line has fallen too..."

Not only Adela and the students, but also the people were running toward the back gate of the base, chased by the monsters. I analyzed the situation after observing the scale of the monsters.

"This... there’s too many of them."

I tried to check the Vision Prism state, but a troublesome issue arose.

"If this continues, these monsters will quickly reach the main force!"

The place where my team members were located was a wide street, perfect for an encirclement. The best course of action was to evacuate to a favorable position, replenish mana, set up a formation, and then call in reinforcements to fight.

To do that, I needed to buy some time. There was also a reason to cross beyond that monster horde.

Violet’s unit deployed a shield wall. Adela, who had been evacuating, turned toward us, and I saw her face go pale.

"What are you doing right now?"

I answered with a smile.

"We’re going to fight! There are too many monsters. We need to buy some time."

"What do you mean...?"

"It’s okay, no need to worry! Hurry and evacuate with the students! Everyone is injured, right? They can get treated by our team members!"

She looked at us with a horrified expression.

"It’s okay, Adela unnie! I’m used to dying!"

After saying that, I drew my sword and charged into the monster horde with my squad.

"Stop...!"

Adela saw it. Violet and her escort unit charging into the monster horde with swords raised.

"Stop!"

The professor called out to her.

"Adela, we need to evacuate first!"

She glanced once at where Violet had disappeared and then at the students, biting her lip before running off.

"Why...!"

Violet’s unit cut through the monster horde like salmon swimming against a waterfall.

"Kiiyaaang!"

While slashing through monsters, 67th Unit disappeared, grabbed by the jaws of an unknown monster.

"Keek! My arm got torn off. I’m going ahead!"

Even as she was dying, 67th Unit tried to use a bomb for a mutual destruction, but the bomb didn’t work.

"What the heck! Why?!"

"Is it a dud?"

The issue didn’t stop with one bomb. All firearms, rockets, and grenades failed to fire. All kinds of gunpowder weapons were rendered useless.

At this point, the firepower of Violet’s unit had been reduced by more than half.

"Bullets aren’t the problem! All the guns are like this!"

Violet No. 332 hastily pulled out a rifle from her inventory and tried to cock the loading handle. She changed bullets, pulled out a different gun, and shot.

While two squads were dying, buying time, some of the Violets managed to dodge the monsters, ghoulified soldiers, and fanatic scum, and managed to reach the location where the Vision Prism had been.

The ghoul soldiers were oddly fighting the monster horde.

The area around the convoy with the Vision Prism was filled with the charred remains of federal soldiers, shattered monsters, and burning vehicles. In the center, an armored truck carrying the prism could be seen. The truck was still intact.

"What the heck are they?!"

Around the truck were strange figures I had never seen before. Based on their movement, they were not clan hunters or fanatical scum. Most importantly, they didn’t say a single word.

Who the hell are they?

Violet No. 76 hid behind the truck and observed them.

They had brought a massive drone with them. Whether you could call it a drone was questionable.

When the drone arrived, the figures took the Vision Prism out of the truck and loaded it onto the drone. The giant drone carrying the prism lifted into the sky.

"Ugh! They’re stealing our relic!"

It was a good thing I came here. Violet No. 76 pulled out a crossbow, aiming to shoot it down.

"How dare you steal our relic!"

Just as I was about to pull the trigger, a loud crash was heard, and a Nox Terror appeared. The slime rider from earlier was leading his subordinates this way.

A massive tentacle struck the drone. The Vision Prism fell with a thud onto a nearby building.

The strange figures and fanatics began fighting, but they seemed too rushed to pay much attention.

"Wait, this..."

"This is our chance!"

The command center quickly created more clones. While the intense battle raged on, Violet’s unit successfully reached the building and approached the Vision Prism.

"Got it. Let’s run!"

We began running with the Vision Prism. The relic was incredibly heavy and much larger than Violet. It couldn’t even fit in my inventory.

It was so big that it felt like we were stealing a cultural monument. But with enough people, it was possible to move.

No matter how I thought about it, I couldn’t let those suspicious figures have it.

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"Run!"

Violet’s unit ran, carrying the relic.