After calming down Friede with some gentle pats, we diligently smashed our way through the crystal maze together.
In the middle, we encountered another Doppleganger, but this time it was imitating Friede instead of me, making it easier to deal with.
Friede, who couldn’t use the Holy Sword, was easy enough for me to take down on my own.
After a while of pushing forward, we finally spotted the exit of the maze.
Well, “spotted” might be a stretch. We basically demolished the entire area, leaving only the exit behind.
“This place is really blocked up tight. What could possibly be inside…?”
The exit we reached was blocked by a particularly sturdy metal door.
It looked like someone had tried to force it open, as the surface was riddled with countless scratch marks, and it was pretty battered too.
It looked like a shelter door that had been attacked by monsters.
“Friede, on the count of three, we hit it together. Got it?”
“Okay!”
It was obvious that this door wouldn’t just budge with a shove, so we unleashed our full power and smashed it right off its hinges.
The metal door itself was so sturdy that it only bent a little when we hit it, but the hinges? Not so much.
– Kuuuuunng!
With the hinges broken, the metal door was sent crashing inside, letting out a heavy groan.
A cloud of dust that seemed like it had been sitting there for hundreds of years exploded up, spreading out like fog, accompanied by a smell reminiscent of rotten dirt.
We stepped inside, relying on the light of the Holy Sword.
“Is this… some kind of lab?”
Inside the metal door wasn’t a dungeon but more like a room. Everything was shattered beyond recognition, making it impossible to find anything intact.
Broken lights. Shattered shelves and desks. A rotten leather sofa, and splintered crates.
Glass shards were scattered all over the floor, and there was a large crystal tube containing a mass of something unidentifiable. The air was thick with a strange stench.
There were fragments of blackboards filled with complex formulas and destroyed precision instruments, resembling a mad scientist’s lab after an earthquake.
“Hilde! Look at this, over here!”
Friede, who had jumped ahead into the lab, seemed to have found something in the corner and shouted in excitement.
“What is it? Did you find some useful magic item?”
“Not that…! Just look!”
“Alright, let’s see… Ugh, what the heck. It’s just a corpse.”
What Friede had discovered was indeed a corpse.
It was the skeleton of a dwarf, crumbling to pieces as it had been dead for hundreds of years. The rotting flesh was squished onto the floor like a stain.
“This looks completely useless…”
A demon’s corpse might fetch some money if you sold it to the Magic Tower, but that’s only if it’s fresh.
Not even a crazy wizard obsessed with demon research would want this skeletal mess.
“No, not the corpse! This!”
Friede shook her head and handed me something.
“What’s this?”
I took the item she presented and examined it.
The cover was completely rotted away, and the contents looked old enough to fall apart if I handled it wrong. But one thing was clear: it wasn’t a magic book.
So it might be books the dwarf had read… or perhaps a diary?
“Hmm…”
If this was a demon’s diary from hundreds of years ago, it might have historical value.
If it turned out to be a research diary, it would fetch even more.
I carefully unfolded the old bundle of paper and began to read the contents slowly.
Fortunately, the lines hadn’t been severely damaged, and I could read most of it without much trouble, even if it was a bit faded.
“Oh, it’s definitely a research diary.”
As I suspected, this bundle of paper was the research diary of a demon.
To be precise, it was a diary filled with a chaotic mix of research notes and daily records.
The research notes were too filled with specialized terms for me to make sense of, so I only skimmed through the parts listing daily life.
◆◆Researcher’s Diary◆◆
March 17.
That damned bat-eared scum has shoved me into this hellhole.
I don’t know where he picked up my joke from the drinking party. He has ears like a damned owl.
I’ve been promoted from a basic researcher to a management position, claiming it’s a step up, but I should’ve blasted that smirking face with a fireball.
Just because I’ve been placed as a guard for the brain prison instead of an actual researcher doesn’t make it a promotion. This is demotion if you ask me.
Is it really that big of a deal to make a joke about needing a drill to deal with a frumpy old maid for five hundred years?
And it’s not just a brain prison; it’s F-67! This is practically a death sentence. If that monster breaks out, it’s going to tear the guard apart first.
The future looks dark. Like that bat-eared bastard’s face.
March 18.
The former guard looked at me like I was a discarded dog. What a miserable feeling.
Being a guard isn’t much of a job.
The entrance to the brain prison is tightly locked, so I’m not allowed to go down, just make sure the three meals are delivered regularly.
Looks like the monster needs to eat to survive.
I wonder if starving him would make it safer, but on the other hand, he might burst out because of hunger, so I’ll hold off for now.
The upper floors are filled with magic stones. They call it glowing crystals nowadays, I think? They’ve found a way to create magic stones from ores instead.
Anyway, that magic stone is overflowing. Most of it is fully charged.
When I asked the former guard why, he said it was because the monster leaked out tons of magic power while breathing. It’s terrifying. What kind of monster is that?
March 20.
I’ve decided to conduct some personal research.
Though I was downgraded to a guard because of that bat-eared wench, my main purpose is to study magical creatures.
With not much else to do besides supplying food for the monster, I figure I have plenty of time to research. There are already tons of magic stones lying around.
I need to make this guard room more like a lab.
March 25.
I started the research.
The subject is, as always, creating a new magical creature that can utilize magic power. The concept is “mimicry.”
It’s an idea that came to mind while drinking, but it seems pretty good with hindsight.
I need to gather some materials first.
April 15.
The first attempt failed.
I tried to create a magical creature by using magic stones to mimic me, but it shattered into pieces the moment it moved.
Should I separate the joints and connect them with magic like a Golem?
May 9.
Second failure.
Even if I tried to make it like a Golem, it just remains a Golem. The performance isn’t bad, but the spell for moving joints and the spell for replicating form clashed badly.
Well, that makes sense, doesn’t it? As soon as you mimic something else, it can’t be a Golem anymore.
At least the motion mimicry spell worked fine. It might be pretty useful to apply it to a knight-like small Golem. I’ll have to make one later.
Once I make a Golem, I could use it for security.
June 12.
Third failure.
I bought a Gargoyle to analyze it. I thought a spell that animates a solid statue could allow for shape replication like a Golem.
I was wrong.
The magic spell applied to the Gargoyle was even more complex than a Golem. High-level mimicry spells couldn’t be inserted at all.
June 14.
Why didn’t I think of this sooner!
I changed my approach. From solid to liquid. If I use a liquid that can change its shape according to the flow of magic, I won’t even have to worry about joints.
I can’t believe I came up with this idea from a cleaning Slime, am I a genius or what?
I bought a bit more Slime to pat myself on the back. This brain prison is too big for me to clean alone. From now on, I leave it all to Slime.
August 2.
Imbuing Slime properties into magic stones proved more complicated than I expected. After being stuck on it for over a month, I feel like I’m finally making progress.
If I play my cards right, I might succeed within this week.
August 5.
That Emil guy brought some consolation alcohol.
When he said I might suit a guard’s life, I almost hit him. If it weren’t for the consolation alcohol, I’d have smashed his head in, Emil!
They say the war is heating up above. Supposedly a hero or whatever has pushed deep into the 7th invasion route?
A commander of the Jotun was also said to have been killed by that human.
They warned us to be careful since they might invade here anytime… Man, I hope that bat-eared wench dies instead.
August 8.
Thanks to Emil, who left me feeling uneasy for no reason, my dreams have been restless lately.
I had no choice but to temporarily halt my research and reinforce the security measures.
I subdivided the upper floors and allocated more monster guards… I should probably create a maze in front of the lab too.
September 17.
I molded the magic stones into a maze. It was a good call to create Golems. If I tried this solo, it would be a massive undertaking.
The finished mirror maze was quite satisfying.
Thanks to stacking transparent magic stones and mirrors chaotically, even I couldn’t tell which path was right.
This won’t completely stop the enemy, but it will at least give me time to escape.
And as I flee, if I leave the prison door wide open, maybe the captive monster will break free and take care of all the enemies!
Right after that, I realized half a year had passed since I let myself get so wrapped up in research I forgot about feeding the monster.
Well… if it’s gone a half-year without saying anything, it’s probably either dead or doesn’t need to eat anymore.
Let’s focus on research.
September 25.
I succeeded! Hooray!
Finally, I created a magic stone with Slime properties!
I may not have replicated the acid that dissolves trash, but who even needs that? Just changing a lump of crystal into a malleable liquid is a huge success.
Now, I just need to implant the shape mimicry and movement mimicry spells.
October 13.
Just shape and movement mimicry isn’t enough.
It seems like those limbs are moving independently because they don’t understand what their movement means. I think I’ll need to add a memory mimicry spell.
I’ll need to accurately replicate the brain so they can extract the memories.
Oh, speaking of, it seems like a few Slimes have gone missing… but it’s probably nothing. They’re probably just up in the corner getting rid of garbage.
January 4.
After a long trial and error, the prototype has finally been completed.
A magical creature that mimics the outward appearance, memory, and movement of the enemy. I tested it by replicating myself, and it worked perfectly.
There’s a hitch, though: since it’s only mimicry, it can’t perfectly replicate a stronger being than itself. But that’s an issue I can fix later.
I named the prototype Doppleganger.
As I walked down the corridor with it, I felt like I was walking with two (Doppel) of me (Gänger). Isn’t that a pretty genius level of naming?
April 3.
I’ve been quite busy lately.
I dealt with the improvements for the Doppleganger one by one and spent time fortifying magic-stone Gargoyles and Golems created in that process.
I integrated a few finished Dopplegangers into the mirror maze as security, and the rest I replicated and had them assist me in my research.
When I reported the research progress to my superiors, they replied that they would provide a few human prisoners for testing.
If I deliver according to the report, I’ll be promoted to chief researcher! Finally, I might see some glory!
Oh, and that damned bat-eared wench got captured as a prisoner after losing to a hero, it serves her right! Surely she’s undergoing unspeakable torture now. It’s the best news I’ve heard recently.
◆◆Hilde◆◆
“…Now I know why there were so many Dopplegangers in this dungeon. This pathetic fool was the mastermind.”
I let out a light sigh and shrugged.
I wondered why such a rare monster would congregate together, but it turned out this dungeon was like the birthplace of the Doppleganger.
There must have been a few more lurking around, but we smashed them all with the crystal walls before they had a chance to emerge.
And this corpse next to me seems to be the very culprit that created the Doppleganger monster. I’m not sure why it’s dead here though.
Well, I might find out more if I read on. The next page is the last one anyway.
I flipped the page of the diary, revealing the final page which was stained with black spots unlike the last pages. Given the state of the stains, it seemed likely that they were drops of blood shed by the diary’s owner.
In other words, this meant that the writer was in a situation where they couldn’t wipe away the blood.
Most likely, this diary’s author wrote the last page and… no, it’s possible they died in the middle of writing it.
I carefully scanned the blood-smeared final page, trying to decipher it.
◆◆Blood-Drenched Diary◆◆
May 1.
I was wrong.
I’ve created a monster. An incomprehensible monster.
Why didn’t I realize it sooner?
The ability to perfectly mimic the abilities and memories of sentient beings implies that their self-awareness can also be perfectly duplicated.
One of the Dopplegangers I created rebelled against me. It wanted to kill me and take my place, breaking free from the status of a mere experiment subject.
The loyal Doppleganger and the rebellious one began to fight and devour each other.
Only then did I realize what I had created.
A monster that deceives, deceives, and replaces another perfectly.
They could kill anything and become anything.
They could perfectly mimic the strength of whoever they consumed. Even if that target was a commander or someone higher.
I barely managed to escape to here and locked the door, but this seems to be the end of the road for me. The bleeding from my abdomen won’t stop. My fingertips keep trembling.
I wondered if there was a potion, but all of them had already shattered. Perhaps the rebellious Dopplegangers struck first.
The intelligence they accumulated through repeated transformations had surpassed my judgment. They could deceive me entirely and rise up in rebellion.
These monsters must never make it out.
I merely intended to create a useful military weapon, not to give birth to monsters that would destroy our society.
These must be locked away in this brain prison forever.
Now that I’ve failed to control them, I only have one option left.
I’ve decided to deliberately destroy the spatial spell that connects this brain prison to the invasion route.
Then, this area will probably be swept away by spatial distortions and disappear somewhere far away. To some layer with no entrance or exit.
May you wander forever in a prison you cannot escape from, you damned monster brats.
◆◆Hilde◆◆
“Well, that’s what you get for your own actions.”
“True that.”
Just as Friede said, the death of the author of this diary was truly poetic justice.
To be killed by the rebellion of the very experiment they created due to reckless research leaves no room for sympathy. It’s the ultimate in pathetic endings.
Especially since it looks like they completely abandoned their original duties during this time.
There’s no other kind of pathetic like this.
