Reborn as the Head of the Stolen Mage Family

Chapter 67

Eddie quickly arrived in front of the tree artifact.

As he reached the entrance, the various mixed auras became even clearer.

Now it was time to disable the magic formula embedded in the artifact to reveal the entrance.

Preparation was essential before using magic in earnest.

Eddie deployed a wide Anti-Magic Hemisphere to prevent the detection of magic clashes.

A large, shimmering dome was created around him and the tree.

Next, Eddie took a stance and aimed his wand at the tree.

Fwaaaaaa-

Without a magic circle, the 7-star non-elemental magic 'Revelio' was deployed.

He could now perfectly deploy even advanced magic that could disable and reassemble any magic without a magic circle.

‘My abilities have definitely changed compared to when I infiltrated Ivan's dimensional space.’

It was the result of the effect of the Seed of Infinity added to his continuous training.

Eddie was satisfied and slowly turned the tip of his wand clockwise.

Like turning a key that fit perfectly into a lock, his wrist turned smoothly without resistance.

‘Got it.’

The Revelio that had perfectly permeated the tree began to disable the artifact's magic formula.

It was a formula with a very difficult deployment and disabling condition.

If his abilities had been at the level of a few months ago, he would have had a hard time like when he faced the goat statue containing the dimensional space.

But it was not a problem for the current Eddie.

When all the formulas were disabled, the ground beneath his feet vibrated faintly.

When he stepped back a little, thick tree roots soon wriggled from under the dirt ground.

The roots, rising from the ground, began to intertwine densely and create a structure.

Soon, an arch made of tree roots was created in front of Eddie's eyes.

It was the real entrance to Kirhausen's secret facility.

Eddie entered the arch without hesitation.

The moment he passed through, the scene in front of him changed, and his body was inside a dark underground space.

The space leading to the entrance was not very wide.

Instead, numerous passages were connected in a winding manner.

On the walls of each passage, greenish mana gems resembling Blumers were installed.

Seeing that, Eddie narrowed his brow and clicked his tongue.

‘These aren't the passages I confirmed during the day. What a needlessly troublesome facility.’

The number of passages he had confirmed with Terra-scrutor was 9.

They were all straight, heading towards the center at regular intervals.

They were not narrow passages with mana gems installed like the ones in front of him.

It seemed that the scale of the facility was larger than he had thought.

The outer area, excluding the center, seemed to be in a complex maze form.

‘Well… it can't be helped.’

For now, he had no choice but to go wherever his feet took him.

Eddie entered the nearest passage.

If he had his way, he would have liked to deploy the Search spell to find the way to the center.

However, since he couldn't carelessly use magic here, he had to find out by foot.

After wandering through the passages for a long time, Eddie soon came out into a huge space.

There was not a single light, but he could feel that the flow of air had changed.

The majestic flow, which could be felt on his skin, made him guess the scale of the space.

‘What is this place?’

Even with Eddie's keen senses, he couldn't feel anything.

It was just an empty space with no living creatures, no mana aura, and no magic from items.

Pat-

Eddie created a small light source at the tip of his wand.

He began to explore the various parts of the space, illuminating the area in front of him with a simple light-attribute magic.

But after looking around for a long time, the space was still an empty lot in the darkness.

‘At this rate, I'll be up all night here. Should I just look around somewhere else?’

He was frustrated and wondered if he should give up and turn back.

But the empty lot was so strange that he couldn't easily leave.

Why would such a large, empty lot exist in this important facility?

But it was then.

Thud-

Something was kicked at the tip of his foot.

To see what it was, Eddie brought his wand to his feet.

"……!!"

And Eddie's body froze.

‘What… is this…….’

Lying at his feet was a naked human body.

And it wasn't just one.

Eddie slowly extended his wand forward.

As the light shone ahead, a mountain of human bodies was revealed.

"……."

Eddie forgot to breathe for a moment and stared at the scene in front of him.

No matter how prepared he was to infiltrate, a sight of this magnitude came as a considerable shock to him.

It took a little time to regain his composure.

Eddie took a quiet, deep breath and then made the light source at the tip of his wand a little bigger.

Then he illuminated the mountain of corpses and slowly took a step.

There wasn't just one or two piles of corpses. At least several hundred discarded bodies were in front of Eddie.

He felt like he was going to throw up, but Eddie endured it and examined the piles of corpses closely.

When the shock subsided, the scene in front of him looked objective, and his head began to work properly.

‘It's not a human body.’

The piles of corpses didn't smell.

With so many corpses piled up, it was impossible for there to be no smell of decay.

It also didn't make sense that they had eliminated the smell with magic.

If they had the devotion to eliminate the smell with magic, they could have just eliminated the corpses with magic in the first place.

Moreover, upon closer inspection, there were many among the piled bodies who had the same face.

The faces of about 3 to 4 people were seen repeatedly.

An impossible thing if it were a human body.

Considering all these circumstances-

The conclusion was that the mountain of corpses in front of him was discarded homunculi, and this place was a huge disposal site.

While coming to that conclusion, Eddie was surprised by one fact.

‘Even a discarded homunculus should have a little mana left…. They've completely removed its abilities without a trace.’

A common sense he had known from the past was overturned once again.

Eddie was once again amazed at the advanced homunculus creation technology.

Until his foot was kicked by a body, he hadn't even felt the presence of these many discarded bodies.

To be able to achieve such perfect disposal after inheriting the memories of a homunculus.

Whether it was a successor or a remnant, the skill that had developed the power of the heretics made his teeth chatter.

Just then, a presence was felt approaching the disposal site.

Eddie deactivated the light and hid himself in the darkness.

Grrrr-

A moment later.

The wall of the disposal site opened, and two men entered, carrying something.

They were homunculi with the same clothes and the same appearance.

"Heave-ho-"

The two homunculi threw the body of their discarded comrade like a piece of luggage.

If they had been human, they would have felt a devastating emotion, but since they were created dolls, there was not a single emotional stir.

‘Are they homunculi made from owl beastmen?’

Eddie watched the eyes of the two homunculi with interest.

Two pairs of eyes with clear yellow circles shone fiercely in the darkness.

No wonder they were able to handle their work so well in this dark and wide disposal site without getting lost.

Where did they lure or kidnap the beastmen from to use them so viciously?

Eddie clicked his tongue at the sin of the still unknown organization.

Then he followed the two homunculi who were leaving the disposal site.

The two homunculi walked through the complex path and headed towards the inside of the facility, and on their way, many homunculi quietly passed by.

They were divided into roles according to their given abilities and were in charge of the overall labor and security of the facility.

And judging by the purity of their energy, they were not homunculi created with highly concentrated creation technology like Sylvia.

A kind of disposable consumable.

‘So that's why there were so many discarded ones.’

Eddie felt sorry for the mana users who had been sacrificed as materials and continued to walk.

The place the two homunculi arrived at was in front of a thick iron door.

The number 9 was engraved on the iron door.

Chiiiiik-

As soon as the door opened, a strong smell of chemicals, characteristic of a laboratory, wafted out from inside.

‘I've come to the right place.’

Eddie frowned and followed the homunculi into the laboratory.

The smell was sickening, but his attention was drawn to the scene in front of him more than that.

The huge experimental equipment in full operation and the Mana Bloodstones piled up in one corner.

And the people in green capes conducting the experiments.

He had finally entered the heart of the secret facility.

"Zimo, how much longer for the Mana Bloodstone refinement?"

"It will be completed in 2 to 3 hours. This time, the amount of the elixir will be enough to fill a tank."

"Good. Then, after you empty the tank, proceed with the next synthesis with Sara. I'll go and report the progress to the teacher."

"I understand. But what should we do with this sluggish ant? Looking at its condition, it seems like it can last for about another day."

While they were talking about the experiment, the man called Zimo pointed to the homunculus standing next to him and said.

As if to prove his words, the homunculus' posture was hunched.

The middle-aged man who seemed to be the leader waved his hand in an unimpressed tone.

"Forget it. Discard it and tell the creation room to send a new one. Anyway, the ants for numbers 4 and 7 are in surplus, so the creation room won't say anything."

"Yes, I understand."

"Then I'll be on my way."

The middle-aged man in the green cape, who had given the order, disappeared in an instant.

He, who seemed to be the person in charge of this 9th laboratory, used teleportation magic without using the passage.

If so, it was highly likely that the remaining Zimo and Sara were also mages.

Eddie mulled over the contents of their conversation and watched the laboratory.

There wasn't much he could understand with the information he had now.

But fortunately, the subsequent actions of Zimo and Sara helped with the remaining understanding.

Zimo approached the sluggish homunculus and placed his hand on its forehead.

Then the contained abilities were removed along with the magic, and the homunculus collapsed powerlessly.

Zimo gestured with his chin to the two waiting owl beastmen homunculi.

"Throw this away."

Then one of them stepped forward and, without hesitation, shouldered the collapsed homunculus and left the laboratory.

‘They call the homunculi ants. And the fact that there are leftover ants for numbers 4 and 7… does that mean those two places are not currently in operation?’

While Eddie was analyzing the information, Zimo and Sara transferred the synthesized elixir into a tank.

The two of them nodded their heads as if they were satisfied with the amount synthesized.

Then they instructed the remaining owl beastmen homunculus to take the tank to the center.

Eddie's eyes narrowed.

He didn't know about the others, but he knew well what that elixir was.

Not only had he seen it once before, but he had even taken it himself.

‘It was an elixir with a magic-absorbing effect. They said the one they gave me last time was a sample. In the meantime, the mass production system has been completely established.’

At that time, the Pasquier researchers had expressed concern, saying that ‘the amount of elixir synthesized is too small compared to the materials and time invested.’

And Sylvia had quelled their concerns by saying that it could be solved with Furas' support.

‘It seems Furas really saw the effect of the elixir and greatly increased his support.

The elixir that required 30 Mana Bloodstones and 5 months of synthesis to fill 3 vials.

But now it was being actively created, enough to fill a human-sized tank more than halfway in a short period of time.

Eddie glared at the tank being moved by the homunculus with sharp eyes.

‘This is number 9… even if you exclude the empty numbers 4 and 7, that kind of production is happening in 6 more places.’

The pace of the conspiracy was much faster than he had thought.

Eddie thought that he would have to step up his plan even more when he got out of here.

Grrrr-

Just then, a wall on one side of the laboratory opened, revealing a hidden passage.

It was the passage leading to the center that he had confirmed during the day.

‘There it is.’

The owl beastman homunculus moved the tank and entered the passage.

The wheels of the tank fit perfectly into the groove dug into the floor.

It was a passage installed to move the elixir.

Eddie followed closely behind the homunculus moving the tank.