Silence descends over the group, Rika and the others' gaze still locked on the twin doors. Strength started to drain from her body. The girl looked down, noticing that her whole body was shivering from rage.
'That reckless idiot!'
Rika's finger curled up into a tight fist, causing the armor to clatter. The sound attracted the remaining member, who glanced at her side, yet their eyes clouded by shadows of regret.
No one dared to open their mouths; the three exchanged glances but flinched when they saw Rika move closer to the large monitor.
The red-haired girl scanned the information plastered across the monitor. Her red eyes swept through every document, although she was not as efficient as Cain, but slightly better than the other three.
One by one, she cross-checks the important ones until she finds the procedure called.
'Attribute injection process!?'
Her finger held the holographic cursor on the table, and she stretched its tip to enlarge the details displayed on the screen.
'This is a crucial process where a human, selected from many experiments, will be merged with an attribute that originates from nature, which contains wild and raw energy.'
Rika fell silent; she kept staring at the monitor screen like a possessed being. She didn't even react to the human trials and the failed tests that claimed many lives, including children.
Behind her, Peter and Louise approached, but after reading only a few lines, their expressions twisted. They cast their attention aside.
The notes explained that the human body, which received the attribute injection, exploded into a bloody mist. Some were burned until charred, and small children's bodies were minced, leaving small pieces of flesh.
Everything was written realistically, along with the picture of the incident.
However, when Peter turned to the side, he widened his eyes. Abel, who should have had less tolerance for sensitive matters like this, was instead staring at the screen firmly.
His yellow pupils contracted. He recorded every tragedy, storing it deep in his brain.
One minute passed in silence as Rika closed the information tab and glared at the images of tubes on the screen. Among the five tubes, she locked her gaze on the black one.
'Chaos Lightning Attribute: The main/primordial element that the ancestors once called the hand of God itself. Every bolt forms the surface of the earth, and its thunder brings a storm that brings blessing to the mainland.'
The girl finally understood why Cain insisted on not taking that one. The sheer power it possessed was even larger than the other four combined. Basically, whoever wanted to absorb it had already lost their mind because it was plain suicide.
"Alright, we are going into the next room."
"W-Wait a minute, Rika."
Unlike usual, Louise raised her voice, making Rika turn towards her. The brown-haired girl occasionally peeked at the screen. She swallowed hard, gathering the courage to speak.
"I-Isn't this something dangerous. E-Especially, the pictures from the experiment just now, ugh!?"
Louise raised her hand to cover her mouth, her stomach churning.
Rika crossed her arms over her chest. She let out a long sigh and began to summarize all the information she had received.
"You must be misunderstanding something."
Her statement brought everyone's attention to her. The girl shifted her body to face the monitor and retrieved the report on the failed experiment.
Peter and Louise wrinkled their foreheads, and Abel also began to clench his fists because he felt Rika's attitude was a bit disrespectful towards the grieving soul.
"Look closely, these unfortunate humans are clearly different from us."
The other three raised their eyebrows, unable to grasp the difference between the two. Rika fiddled with her cursor and, instead of showing the sentence, enlarged the date area.
"Look, this is a recording from hundreds of years ago, even before the virus beasts existed, and you know what's different between them and us?"
Peter's breath hitched, daring himself to stare at the monitor screen and gritting his teeth. Louise and Abel exchanged glances, their expressions still blank.
The blue-haired boy took a deep breath and answered.
"They are just ordinary humans, while we are humans who were forced to mutate to survive in a harsh environment."
"That's right!"
Rika nodded and operated the lone door in the corner. It showed a staircase leading down toward their new opportunity, or doom.
"If you understand, quickly decide whether to take this rare opportunity, or just stay still and wait for the fool behind that door to die in vain."
The red-haired girl scoffed, unwilling to call the leader's name. She left all her weapons, including the three people who were still frozen in place.
She entered the narrow corridor, which was bright thanks to the white neon lights hanging on the ceiling. Her footsteps echoed in her ears, fading the sound of her rapid heartbeat.
Although she said that in front of the others, the risk she faced was still 50-50 due to the lack of evidence detailing success.
However, Rika felt her mind grow cold and calm as she unconsciously reached for the right shoulder Cain had gripped.
Rika abruptly smiled and stood facing an iron door with a round lever. She turned it counterclockwise. When the door showed a slight gap, the girl immediately went inside and locked it tightly so that the outside air would not contaminate the environment inside.
'Where is it?'
She gazed around, leaving the door until the creaking sound of the opened door attracted her attention back. Rika widened her eyes as Abel came in; his breathing was rough.
"Sorry if I startled you."
The boy smiled shyly, and she shook her head. Somehow, this small exchange between them felt nostalgic.
They approached a giant tube between a table with equipment that was somewhat alien to them.
From the large tube, a hose connected to other small tubes containing attributes, lined up at the end of the room. Rika's sharp gaze stopped at the small tube containing the red-colored elemental attribute.
The object spun, glowing bright orange and occasionally spewing tiny, swirling flames, similar to the image of the sun she had read in a book.
"Abel, can you help me?"
"Of course."
Rika explained the procedure from connecting the chamber to starting the transfer, and the timing.
"Are you ready?"
"Yes, I have remembered everything."
Abel nodded, raising his thumb high to the sky.
"Good."
The girl swallowed hard while staring at the chamber, or the large tube that could contain an adult human. She checked the chamber, which was made of a mixture of iron and reinforced synthetic glass, then went inside.
Inside, Rika regulated her breath, in and out, before removing her iron bracelet and throwing it out, making her vulnerable to virus contamination.
"Let's start, Abel!"
"Alright."
Abel started moving as he closed Rika's chamber and connected the iron hose to the small chamber containing the red sun. He made sure there was no leakage from the connection, and repeatedly paced back and forth like a dog chasing its tail.
After being sure everything was perfect. The blonde boy turned towards the large chamber and saw Rika raising her thumb.
"Alright, we will start!"
He held the small lever of the chamber containing the sun. Then, the boy turned it down, causing the elemental energy to melt and be sucked into the girl's space.
Meanwhile, Rika, who was trapped inside, exhaled sharply. She clenched her hands tightly, bracing herself.
'I can do this!'
For a moment, only stillness remained until the temperature inside the tube began to rise, opening the pores on her body.
"Ukh!"
The girl blinked, witnessing something orange floating around, swimming like a serpent in the air. Her vision swayed, as if the world was spinning.
All of a sudden, the chamber breathed hot air that boiled her white skin to crimson.
"Aaaaakh!"
Rika roared, feeling her whole body being showered by molten iron. Its scorching heat burned her flesh down to her bones.
Abel, who heard the scream, scowled, nearly pulled the lever and ended the process. But he gripped the lever, knowing Rika was not a weak girl who tolerated being protected at all times. She would conquer something as easy as this.
Seconds passed as the chamber imprisoning Rika emitted a red, burning glow. It blew hot air that stung Abel's skin.
The chamber hissed, exhaling thick smoke. Abel's jaws clattered in worry. He alternated his gaze between the chamber in front and beside him, then his pupils narrowed.
"It's gone!?"
Abel shifted his gaze, and from the smoke, the figure of Rika was panting. She leaned against the chamber wall. Her skin was glossy as she bathed in her own sweat.
"I won!"
Rika clenched her raised fist and took a guts pose. She glared towards the door where Cain was battling alone.
'With this, I can fight alongside you!'