Souta and Isabella went out of the illusion barrier. As soon as they left it, the illusion barrier along with the things inside it crumbled down. It disappeared without leaving a trace.

Isabella was staring blankly at her hands. She still couldn't believe what she heard just now. The level of information that she received was something that a person from a backward world couldn't handle.

He glanced at her and he didn't disturb her. He could understand her feeling. He felt it too when he first arrived in Imperium. His mind couldn't handle everything that's why he subconsciously treated everyone as NPC and everything as a game.

Souta went around the laboratory as he left Isabella organized her thoughts. Right now, the problem about the Imperium was too large for him so he wouldn't bother himself with it for the time being. The greatest problem that he could solve with his strength at this moment was the problem with Great Astley Empire.

The problem with Great Astley Empire was within his power level while the problem with Imperium was for powerful gods.

"They are using humans and demis for experiments... They even used monsters."

This laboratory was bigger than he imagined. He already saw more than fifty containers and seventeen of these containers have humans and demis inside it. All of them were unconscious. The worse case was that some of them were already dead.

Souta couldn't even feel a life force within their bodies. No mana or any other energy could be sensed in their bodies. That's why he concluded that they were dead.

"Hmm...?"

He saw a table with books in his sight. He approached it and slowly picked up one of the books on the table.

"This is a record..."

The book contained a record of one of the people that they've experimented with. The state of the person's body, basic information like age or blood type, and any other sickness were all recorded in it.

There's no dust so people must be cleaning this place from time to time. It makes sense since a few of the experiment subjects were still alive at this moment.

"I need to find the people who are managing this place. There should be someone like that here."

Souta muttered as he placed back the books on the table. He then examined the other books and found it the same. It's a record of the other experiment subjects.

He turned his head and he moved forward, exploring the unknown part of the laboratory.

Moving forward, there were another fifty containers and all of it has humans and demis inside. The experiment subjects didn't have any clothes and all of them were unconscious.

Some parts of their bodies weren't proportioned. It must be because of the experiment that's why some of their arms were too small or too large. Some of them didn't look like an arm of a human or demi.

At the edge, a single table was situated and a container was in front of it. The container has a human body within. The only difference was that there were words written on the container.

"Zero eight..." Souta muttered as he approached the table while looking at the human inside the container.

He then looked down at the table and read the notes on it.

"Experimental subject number 08..."

The notes were about the girl inside the container. The result of the experiments and what experiments she'd gone. And this was a piece of shocking information.

Why? Because it's about the famed parasitic essence eater of the Great Astley Empire.

They were researching about the parasitic essence eater. It's good. Souta wanted to know the detailed information of this parasite.

At the same time, he heard a familiar sound in his mind.

*Ding!*

[Special Quest triggered!]

[Subjects]: The emperor of the Great Astley Empire isn't the true ruler. He is nothing but a puppet. Find the true ruler of the empire and rescue the people from different facilities.

Rewards: ???

A special quest...? It was a good thing that he chose this world. The special quest was important to him.

Still, the content of the quest was something that he didn't imagine. The emperor was just a puppet? Does anyone know that someone was manipulating the emperor? His task was to find the shadow ruler of the empire and rescue people like this woman inside the container.

Different facilities... It also means that there were others like this laboratory.

A faint smile formed on Souta's face. He then shook his head and read the content of the notes. The content of the notes was about the parasitic essence eater.

The parasitic essence eater came from a world called Xyvn. Torkez and his group were the first ones to discover this world decades ago. But then the empire discovered it too so the two fought and in the end, the empire won and they acquired most of the parasitic essence eater.

Without a host, the parasitic essence eater was just like an egg. Their appearance varied from each other but all of them were spherical. They couldn't move without a host and they could easily devour any creature without sufficient life force.

"So according to research that they've made, ordinary people couldn't handle the parasitic essence eater as it would consume them. Only people with sufficient strength would be able to handle it."

Souta muttered while rubbing his chin. Sufficient strength, huh? Most of the people that had parasitic essence eaters in their bodies were B-rank so maybe a B-rank was the minimum required strength to handle a parasitic essence eater.

Once the parasite has a host, it wouldn't be able to separate itself from the host. The parasite would die once it removed itself from its host. It would also die once the host died and it didn't have the power to change its host.

"What a sensitive parasite..."

This was just the basic information of the parasitic essence eater but Souta learned a lot of things about those unknown creatures.

"According to their decades of research, the parasite could only post a problem to weak people. Maybe, C-rank and below... But for those B-ranks, the parasite would boost their strength greatly. It would also help them recovered any kind of wounds that they've suffered. As long as they are not dead, the parasite could heal them."

Souta said as he turned his gaze to the girl inside the container. The empire was still researching about the parasite. How could it reproduce was still unknown as the notes didn't mention anything about it.

Now it's time to free these experiment subjects... It was his quest, after all.

He gathered his energy on the tip of his finger and flicked it.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Several explosions occurred in the laboratory as Souta shattered all the containers.

Isabella was startled. She hurriedly ran forward and went to Souta's side. "What happened, Souta?" She asked.

Souta glanced at her and said, "Some of them are still alive so there's a chance that we could save them. Help me in waking up these people."

"O-Oh," Isabella nodded her head.

Suddenly, Souta grabbed Isabella's wrist. "Wait!"

"Why?" Isabella asked.

"I heard some footsteps..." Souta said to her in a low voice as he looked at his surrounding with a cautious expression. "Who's there?"

A person appeared before their eyes. The person was a man that looked like in his early twenties. The man was wearing a plain brown jacket and a white coat. He had a curly brown hair and brown eyes.

"I'm the one who should ask you that question. This is my laboratory so what are you doing here?" The man said with a faint smile on his face.

"Are you from the empire? I came here because I'm curious about this facility. Thanks to this facility I've learned something about the parasitic essence eater." Souta said while examining the man in front of him. He secretly glanced at the experimental subjects on the ground.

"If you're thankful then why are you breaking the container. My precious subjects are lying on the ground, you see." The man said to Souta. As Souta was observing him, he was also observing Souta. He wanted to know what's the capabilities of this man.

Souta silently circulated his energy inside his body and ten black balls appeared behind him.

Swoosh!

"I'm sorry but I'm going to take these people with me." He said as a gravity field enveloped the people on the ground.

"Hmph! As I thought you're up to no good."

The man snorted and his body expanded. His clothes were torn apart as his body turned into a three-meter giant. Purple color veins were popping out of his arms and face. His nails turned into sharp blades and the same could be said to his teeth.

"I will not let you leave this place!"

Souta smirked as he gathered his energy in his fist and shot a punch on the ceiling of the laboratory.

Boom!

"If you don't want me to leave then I will simply destroy this place."