Fergus ran to his experiment room and found a large hole in the wall. Bloodied bodies lay among the ruins. Some were still alive but could not get up and only groaned in pain.
He then ran towards the screams in the distance, leaving Olivia, who could only stand trembling at the horrific sight.
The dark magus passed by the people fleeing in the opposite direction. From their clothes, he could deduce the location of the escaped experimental subject.
Most of those people wore white and black uniforms, indicating they had just been recruited as soldiers. Fergus headed to the palace grounds, the initiation site of those people.
As soon as he passed through the gate, he encountered a creature with a height of 15 feet, the body of a human being but with enormous muscles with protruding veins.
That being screamed as several warriors and mages attacked his body. He beat and slammed those people, adding to the corpses lying on the grass.
"Amazing!!!" Instead of helping, the dark magus laughed while spreading his arms. "This is my masterpiece!!!"
Hearing Fergus' voice, the giant bald creature turned around, roaring like a beast, and dashed towards the dark magus.
Fergus immediately summoned a large magic portal on the ground. Then, another creature jumped from the portal, hitting the research subject's head with a giant mace. The subject staggered backward.
"Fight him!" Fergus gave an order to the 12 foot tall creature wearing a black hooded robe, and his face was hidden by the plain black mask. "And don't let him run away!!!"
The masked creature dashed forward, delivering combination mace blows to its foe's torso, legs, and head. The subject was unable to counterattack and was only pushed back.
Fergus laughed again. This wasn't a disaster for him but rather part of an experiment. He observed that the subject had not suffered any significant injuries, only minor bruises. "Hey, why don't you fight back, you ugly bald creature!!!"
And suddenly, the subject slammed his head into the masked creature's chest, knocking him down. However, the masked creature was able to get up before his opponent could do anything.
"I see." Fergus hissed. "He's not completely out of his mind. This is good."
The masked creature attacked again using his mace. But this time, the subject retaliated with a series of wild punches.
The subject ignored the strike that hit his body. He caught his opponent's body, then ran towards the tower's wall.
Because of the hard collision, a large hole was formed in the wall, resulting in a tremendous rumble.
Fergus ran to the tower. With his thrust magic, he pushed away part of the dust cloud so he could see better.
The masked creature was lying down, and its head was beaten by the subject.
"Looks like this is enough. I will examine you again in the experiment room." Fergus used his thrust magic again to send the scattered bricks flying onto the subject's back.
The subject immediately stopped beating his opponent and then faced Fergus. That creature's face, still looked like a human's but with many protruding veins, showed no anger anymore.
He stood up, shedding tears, and his mouth moved, forming the words "Why?" with no sound.
But Fergus didn't care. He controlled the masked creature to get up too. And then smack the back of the subject's head with the mace.
The subject has fallen down hard.
"We're done with this," Fergus muttered, then sharp spikes popped up on the masked creature's mace.
The masked creature beats the subject's body parts. The human-shaped being couldn't put up any resistance.
He could only groan in pain.
In just a few moments, the subject couldn't move anymore and only lay on his stomach with occasional twitching.
Fergus approached the bald, bloodied creature while the masked one stood still.
"His muscles have become denser and stronger…." He muttered, starting to scan the results of his experiment using his two shining hands. "Looks like I'll have to reduce some of the components of the potion. The Strength will certainly decrease, but…."
"Stay there, Fergus Algrave! Don't move!!!"
The dark magus stopped what he was doing and turned his body around, only to find that the king and prince were several feet away from him. The two of them were accompanied by several soldiers and mages ready to fight.
"Good afternoon, king Julius, prince Alric." Fergus stared at the prince, who could only gape at the experiment subject.
"I should have listened to the advisory council." King Julius spoke through clenched teeth. "You can't be trusted. You're causing a disaster here."
For the umpteenth time, Fergus laughed. "Are you blind, your majesty? Look, we've made a superhuman! This is the first try, and the results are promising!"
"You think that abomination is a success!?" King Julius pointed at the subject with wide eyes. "Are you insane!? He has killed many people!"
"We just need to tweak the potion." Fergus walked up to the supreme leader of the Durcia kingdom, triggering the guards to be even more alert. "Yes, it's a shame this has happened. However, it's a small price to pay to obtain the thing that will determine our victory. Or do you want your beloved country squandered by Vorn's army of vile demons?"
Before the king could answer, the prince chimed in. "I agree with him, father. This is simply a failure in an early-stage experiment, which is commonplace. It would be a shame if we let this go."
The king's eyes widened again. "Alric? What the fuck are you saying!? Why are we even supporting him!?"
"Hey, even your son agrees." Fergus glanced at Alric, who actually still looked terrified. It seems the prince is so desperate for this potion to work. "If you have any other solution for raising a powerful army, I will readily listen, oh my great king."
The veins on the king's face tensed up, and his breathing became heavy. "You..."
"Our goal is the same." Fergus continued. "I also want to take down that demon lord. There's no use arguing. Trust me."
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