NOVEL NEXT Chapter 137
On a snowy day.
Inside the building, I quickly did what a technician would do.
That means I powered up the emergency generator set up in the building.
Vweeeeeng-!
“… Got it.”
The lights that had gone out flickered back to life, and we, trapped in pure white darkness, returned to the world of light. Once I arrived back at the first-floor lobby, I let out a sigh of relief at the sight of the elevator back in working order.
“Shall we head up now, Galm?”
“Scientist. Just a quick question, but earlier you—”
“Earlier? What happened? I was so shocked I forgot what happened.”
Galm, who had called me a little beast, looked at me with a sour expression. However, I could only smile sheepishly to appease him. Even though I had turned on the emergency generator, there was no guarantee the elevator wouldn’t suddenly shut down while we were going up.
If by any chance the elevator plummeted, the only one who could save me in a free-fall elevator would be the muscle guy who could shrug off hundreds of meters of landing without any trouble. Ahh—look at those magnificent muscles over there. What a splendid entity that holds value beyond anything in a primitive world that has lost civilization.
“Hmmm… I’ll let it slide for now.”
Having returned to the headquarters of the evil organization with Galm, I halted for a moment at the sight of Ayle and Vira fiddling around with a game console in the corner of the laboratory. The two wore innocent expressions as if they had no idea what had just happened.
After all, there was an infinite energy device in the lab to power up the AI. The electricity inside the lab should be able to handle it alone.
“Uh—what’s going on? You’re back already?”
“O-Oh, you’re here?”
After giving Ayle a light flick on the forehead as she slyly hid the game console behind her back and spread open a book, I sat down on the sofa and briefed both of them on our situation.
“Outside is completely blocked. The snowstorm is so bad I doubt we can go back.”
“Eeeeh… but I need to get back to watch anime…”
“Watch it here.”
“The internet’s down…”
“Oh.”
I realized a moment too late that the building had experienced a power outage, and judging by the internet being down, it seemed like the entire area had lost power, meaning the base station might also have gone down.
Hearing that, Ayle made a face like she had just learned her country had been invaded, then mumbled that she was getting depressed and turned on the game console while slumping on the sofa.
Leaving Ayle, who was sprawled out like a jellyfish with the game console in her hands, I continued my conversation with Vira.
“There’s a gate, right? Can’t we just use that to get back?”
“The gate is currently in use by Arima.”
“Arima? Why? What’s going on?”
“He took a vacation to his hometown as soon as it started snowing. Apparently, there are many places there where it doesn’t snow at all year round.”
“We can just close and open it, right?”
“That’s not free you know? Plus, he just ran out of fuel…”
And refilling that fuel was Arima’s job. It was the duty of a wizard who suddenly took a vacation to a faraway hometown.
Vira, hearing Arima had gone far away, clicked her tongue and spoke.
“If Arima were here, this situation would be easily resolved.”
“How?”
“He’s a wizard, right? He can bring down lightning from a clear sky… Then surely he can clear a snowstorm, too.”
Such a remarkably irresponsible suggestion, yet I somewhat agreed with Vira. If it were Arima, the great mage of cataclysm, he could definitely solve something like this weather anomaly.
Normally, he would whine about not having enough mana, but wasn’t this the perfect moment to traverse back to that other world? If it were a moment to go between worlds loaded with plentiful mana, there was no need to conserve mana.
“Then shall we go look for Arima?”
“In what time frame? The AI you brag about isn’t even over there! By the time you come back, the snowstorm might have cleared up.”
“Guess you’re right…”
“Today, let’s just stick around here and have fun! What could possibly happen? We’ve got four high-ranking members of the evil organization here!”
“I need to get home to watch anime…”
While Ayle was the only one whining against Vira’s grand plan, Galm, who had dried off, joined our group. The four of us huddled together and held an impromptu picnic. We had plenty of food and drink. Some of the higher-ups had stashed snacks in my laboratory like magpies collecting food for their nests.
As the gathered higher-ups munched on food and drinks, the natural conversation topic led to this damn weather anomaly.
“When the hell is this cursed snowstorm going to end?”
“Isn’t this the scientist’s fault?”
“Vira, we covered that topic earlier.”
“Oh, right?”
“More than that, why do you always assume it’s my fault when something goes wrong…?”
It seemed typical to witness the condemnation of scientists continuing endlessly.
“If this level of snowstorm can be sustained, then we can call it an S-class superpower.”
“No, it’s beyond S-class! The entire world is in a snow panic!”
“W-Wait a minute? Isn’t that a bit strange? There are warm cities that never see snow all year round…”
“That’s why it’s weather chaos! Or is it really a villain’s attack?”
“Well, it doesn’t seem like science is the problem.”
A discussion continued on how much ability would be necessary to create a snowstorm of this magnitude.
“So you’re saying that a tragedy of these proportions wouldn’t just arise from simple technological advancement overnight? There must have been several signs, and there’s no way people in this era could have missed such clues.”
“So are you saying this is an artificial phenomenon rather than a natural one? There has never been anyone in history that could display superpowers on this scale. Unless we’re talking about someone who’s beyond even S-class, an SSS-class superpower…”
“Vira, you may not know, but there are such beings in this world.”
“What? You say I don’t know— while I may not have experienced it, I’ve been through more than you!”
“C-Come on, you two— don’t fight…”
A quarrel erupted.
Then, blink, blink.
“Kyahhhhhh—!?”
“W-What was that!?”
“I think I was more startled by your scream than Ayle, you know…”
And just like that, it ended with just a few flickering lights.
Late at night.
In a pitch-black time where not even sunlight or moonlight shone.
Once I confirmed that the white madness that had colored the window outside was no longer visible, I cautiously opened the window, wondering if the snow had stopped. However, the window wouldn’t budge. Despite my best efforts, groaning and pushing against it, it remained shut.
“Ughhh—!”
“Puhahaha—! You can’t even open that? I told you to work out a little! Let me do it… uh, wait?”
“Both of you move aside. Weaklings.”
It wasn’t until Galm, who arrived late to the scene, forcibly ripped open the window that we learned why it wouldn’t open. Along with the reason why the outside was black and invisible just an inch ahead.
“The window is…”
“I-Ice?”
Outside the window, snow had hardened into ice, piled up to several dozen centimeters. Considering we were many floors up in a building, it was hard to comprehend just how much snow was falling.
Thump, thump— Galm knocked the ice off the window, sending it tumbling below, then sneakily peeked his head out, only to return covered in snowflakes.
“……I can’t even estimate how much is piled up.”
“Let’s go down for a moment.”
“Let’s go together.”
So Galm and I went back down to the first floor. As I watched the elevator move in silence, I sensed something ominous in the awkward silence. It was an animalistic instinct I hardly felt in my time since falling to this world.
Kuuuuuung—! The elevator stops at the first floor with a rough jolt that couldn’t be believed to belong to a luxury elevator.
At that point, Galm seemed to sense something strange too, looking at the door with a hint of tension. A moment later, when the door opened, what we saw was a colossal wall.
“This is…”
“…Oh no.”
It was a wall made of snow.
In other words, the relentless snowstorm had completely filled the first floor of the building.
To put it briefly.
“Insane…”
The moment the door opened, it was a snow barrier.
* * *
[Reporting… Current damage from the heavy snowfall is…]
[Civilians… Please stay as safe as possible…]
[An unprecedented… anomaly… Survivors… all deceased…]
“Oh, the TV is on.”
Inside the laboratory.
While Eight and Galm went down to the first floor, Vira and Ayle, remaining behind in the lab, widened their eyes at the voice coming from the TV.
Despite not hearing it properly as signal connections flickered in and out, it was clear that something was very wrong.
Swallowing hard, the two exchanged worried glances and shivered slightly.
Perhaps they weren’t merely facing a weather anomaly…
But a larger fragment of the end of humanity.