A few days ago, a research lab vanished into thin air.
To be more precise, the entire contents of the room were wiped clean.
I won’t hide it—it was the very lab where I had been serving as an assistant.
I was called in for questioning, of course, but I was released almost immediately since there was nothing suspicious about me. They did, however, squeeze every bit of data and research I knew out of me before letting me go.
The culprit was a slime we had been culturing in the lab. The researcher in charge was attacked and killed by the creature, which was subsequently exterminated. Peace eventually returned to the research institute. The disposal squad is quite capable, after all.
Four researchers were currently loitering in the 1st-floor lounge.
The topic of conversation was, naturally, the hottest news on everyone's lips: "Who will be the next to take over the vacant lab?"
"I’m hoping to use this opportunity to finally become a Senior Researcher," one said.
"Oh? Do you actually have an idea that might be useful for the Magic Soldier Project?"
"Of course—but wait, I’m not saying another word here. I can't have you lot stealing my ideas."
"Hahaha, fair enough."
"Man, I’ve been dying to carve up some slaves for a few experiments myself."
We had a mountain of research we wanted to conduct. Humanity? Morality? Such concepts didn't exist in this place.
Slaves were resources, monsters were materials, and while assistants were granted the bare minimum of human rights, they were little more than glorified errand boys... though, I suppose I was one of those errand boys myself until just the other day.
For the record, my own idea involved transplanting monster flesh into humans.
Combining monsters and humans into an "Artificial Majin"—it had a nice ring to it, didn't it? If the records for the Synthetic Magic Beast Project hadn't been lost, those specimens would have made for excellent muscle grafts. It was a shame that the data had been so thoroughly scrubbed.
"The Artificial Majin Project is a shoe-in for next season's competition. I’m green with envy."
"If the professor hadn't caused that accident, our Synthetic Magic Beast Project would have taken the top spot. Then I would have rightfully been granted my own lab... Hm?"
A siren began to wail—a rhythmic, piercing sound.
"Hey, hey, don't tell me another subject escaped?"
"How lucky. The only subjects left right now are for the Artificial Majin Project, aren't they? Serves them right."
"I don't know the completion rate of their specimens, but we'd better evacuate. What a massive pain."
Assuming the disposal squad would handle it as they always did, I stood up to leave just as the squad burst into the room.
"Hey, what’s all the noise about?"
"Researchers! Evacuate the facility immediately! It’s dangerous here!"
"What? We're on the ground floor."
"Exactly. Even if a subject escaped, we should still have plenty of time."
"The target was confirmed on the 3rd floor!!"
The 3rd floor. Hearing those words sent a cold shiver down my spine.
I didn't know how it had done it, but the subject had moved from the basement to the 3rd floor without being detected. That meant there was a very real possibility that we, standing on the floors in between, could have been intercepted and killed.
"Hurry, I’ll lead the way!"
"A-Ah, right!"
"I'm not staying in this deathtrap! Let me out of here!"
"Wait! Stop!"
Ignoring the disposal squad’s orders to stay back, one of my colleagues bolted for the door.
But then.
"Mugoh, gobobobob!?"
"What!? It's already here!"
A splash of red water—no, a red slime—plummeted from the ceiling, engulfing the researcher’s head.
It happened in an instant. It lunged, snapping its mass around him in a single, voracious gulp.
"Special Equipment D!"
"We can't, sir! We'll hit the researcher!"
"I don't care! He’s already a goner!"
The squad fired the chemical agent. The slime violently shook the researcher's body from the neck down, using him as a shield to dodge the spray. The researcher hit by the chemicals began to sizzle and melt, and a foul, acidic stench filled the air. A muffled scream echoed from deep within the slime’s mass.
A moment later, a dull, squelching sound rang out, and the screaming stopped. The researcher's arms fell limp. The slime dropped the corpse—which now had a gaping hole in its headless back—and vanished back into the shadows of the ceiling.
My colleague... the man I was just chatting with... was dead. He was dead. He was actually dead...
"Dammit! Is it learning?! How is this possible for a mere slime?!"
"Ugh, h-hey, what do we do?"
"It's too dangerous that way. Let's run this way!"
"But that leads to the basement!"
"If the subject is upstairs, the basement is actually the safest place to be!"
Following someone's desperate shout, we fled toward the basement.
Once we were all inside, we slammed the hatch shut. It was airtight; the slime shouldn't be able to follow us through the seal.
The basement was pitch black. All the lighting magic tools had been deactivated. We had to rely entirely on light magic.
"Hey, it's a bit late now, but shouldn't we have used the servants as shields to get outside?"
"They're already wiped out."
"What?"
There should have been four servants on duty. All of them?
"It hasn't even been five minutes since the alarm went off. How is that possible?"
"Two of them were killed before the alarm even sounded. One was killed right after sounding it, and the last one... he died just after reporting the situation to us and trying to flee."
It seemed the four servants who had been gathered in the break room had literally traded their lives to sound that alarm.
To think that such a massacre was happening right while we were relaxing upstairs...
Present in the room were three researchers and four members of the disposal squad.
The squad members were all clad in protective suits.
"Hey! You have suits for us, don't you?"
"Yeah. Put these on."
"Oh, thank god. I’m glad I didn't have to kill you for them."
The disposal squad captain handed us the suits. With these, at least we wouldn't have to worry about being melted by the slime... or so I thought, until I realized there were only two suits. Wait, what about me?
"Hey! Give me a suit too!"
"Listen. That’s your lab’s slime out there, isn't it? You should be the one taking responsibility."
"What?! If you want to play the blame game, we're in this mess because the disposal squad failed to do its job in the first place!"
"...Fine. Stop shouting. You can have mine."
The captain sighed, stripped off his protective suit, and handed it over.
How sensible. He clearly understood whose life carried more weight here. Admirable, really.
...Ugh, it reeks of sweat. Despite the smell, I couldn't afford to be picky with my life on the line, so I pulled the suit on.
"Hm? ...Wait, wasn't the disposal squad a five-man team?"
"One of us was killed. The thing was hiding inside a protective suit... Keep your eyes peeled. There isn't just one of them. There are at least five. We managed to take down two, but..."
...What? What did he just say?
That meant there were three left?! Three of those monsters?!
"H-H-H-Hey! These suits we just put on... they're safe, right?!"
"Rest assured, we checked the inside of those two before handing them over. I wouldn't have given them to you otherwise."
"Whew... thank goodness."
"No, it's not 'thank goodness'! Were you even listening?! It means there are at least three more of those slimes out there!"
"...At least three, yes."
A heavy silence fell over us. Those blood-red nightmares were currently prowling the halls just beyond the hatch.