NOVEL WEB Ch. 30
The best time to strike was right after the guard shift at the factory.
Newly posted men had yet to settle into proper patrol routines.
Hella and Waver exchanged glances, then charged toward the factory.
Whoooosh!
Dust whirled up in their wake as they sprinted.
By the time their speed reached its peak, it looked like a miniature storm sweeping across the ground.
Their flashy entrance, without the slightest attempt to conceal themselves, immediately drew the attention of the gate guards.
“Who goes there!”
The shout, rifle raised, might have been textbook procedure—but in practice, it was useless.
Squelch! Crack!
Both gate guards were down in an instant.
Hella’s spear, assembled as she drew it, pierced one man’s throat. Waver’s dagger, whipped from his belt, shredded another’s chest.
Not a wasted movement—clean, efficient work.
So fast that nearby workers couldn’t even grasp what was happening.
Wiping blood off her spear, Hella sneered.
“Idiots. If someone looks dangerous, you shoot first, ask later.”
“They were too fast to react.”
“Listen to him brag.”
“Would it kill you to call it praise for once?”
“Not if it comes out of your mouth.”
While they bickered, others spotted the anomaly.
Waaaah!
Sirens wailed across the compound.
From the hill, I saw waves of guards surging toward Hella and Waver.
“They’ll hold, right?”
“You’re worried about them? They’re dumb as rocks but seasoned fighters. Worry about us instead.”
Keljid gave a dry snort and placed his hand on the side gate.
Crackle!
A burst of lightning shattered the security system instantly.
He was about to slip inside quietly when his brows furrowed.
“Hm?”
“What is it?”
“We’ve been made. The system had hidden magic woven in—an alarm spell, set to trigger when tampered with.”
“You missed that? Some Tower mage you are.”
The reproach was inevitable.
Keljid’s involvement was supposed to be a secret weapon.
With this, sneaking in and frying the data was going to get messy.
“It’s black magic. Out of my league.”
He sighed.
Black magic, running counter to natural law, was notoriously difficult for a regular mage to handle.
But for me? It was different.
“I see.”
My vision filled with the oily blaze of black mana.
Lines of energy were streaking inward, toward the factory.
Not too late yet.
I reached out, snagging the trailing thread of darkness.
A sprite perched on my fingertip grabbed hold with me.
Fwoosh!
“What the…!”
Keljid gawked, stunned.
To him, it must have been a first.
Before the magic could loop back to its caster, the sprite had burned it away.
“It’s dealt with.”
“You… you’re a black mage?”
“No. I just have this ability.”
There was no time to explain.
Keljid and I slipped among the scattering workers and pushed into the building.
“Don’t panic! It’s only two of them! Keep working or die!”
Even now, the overseers were merciless.
They whipped the terrified workers, forcing them back to their stations.
Harsh control worked—the laborers hesitated, then trickled back.
“That mindset won’t do.”
I deliberately raised my voice, making my presence known.
What we wanted was chaos beyond control, inside and out.
“Hm? And who the hell are you two! Get back to your posts!”
The overseer turned on us.
Instead of answering, I lashed out with tendrils.
“Wh—urk!”
Mistaking us for just two intruders, he paid for his carelessness.
The writhing vines wrapped his throat, snapped it, and dropped him limp to the ground.
“U-uaaagh!”
“Enemies! They’ve made it inside!”
“Spare us! We know nothing!”
The workers, shocked by the sight, fell into renewed panic.
I let them scatter.
We weren’t here to massacre innocents.
If they spread fear through the compound, that was exactly what I wanted.
“Already gone?”
Keljid had vanished, perhaps cloaking his presence with magic.
Fine. He’d handle his task.
Now it was up to me.
I raced up the stairs.
Aside from a separate warehouse, the factory had production floors and the administrator’s office stacked in one building, floor by floor.
The same layout as the factory I once escaped.
If the structure was the same, so would the placement.
As expected, the higher I went, the more commotion I found.
“Intruder inside! One overseer down!”
“There! That’s him!”
These were the patrol guards assigned to protect the executive.
The moment they spotted me, they opened fire.
Ratatatatat!
I wasn’t some superhuman who could dodge a hail of bullets head-on.
But—
“What the hell—?”
“What is that monster!”
「The World Tree preens proudly.」
I didn’t need to dodge.
Wood-hard flesh.
The bark-like shield of my tendrils held firm against the storm of lead.
Rifle rounds pinged uselessly to the floor.
“Gaaah!”
With a whipcrack of vines, the guards toppled like dominoes.
I grabbed the last one by the collar.
“Where’s the plant manager?”
“T-top floor! All the way up!”
I hurled him aside.
He staggered off, murmuring frantically into his lapel as he fled.
Broadcasting that the intruder was after the manager, no doubt.
Exactly what I wanted.
‘Now most of the internal security will cluster around him… including Quadrapple.’
Dispatching the decoys, I finally reached the floor with the manager’s office.
Whsshh!
The World Tree’s leaves trembled.
Had it retained memories from when it was just a seed here?
It seemed excited.
My heart pounded too.
Not the same manager as the one who once exploited me—but the same kind of man.
Repressed vengeance stirred awake in my chest.
Bam!
I kicked the door open.
“…?”
Lavish décor, the usual taste of an oppressor.
But quiet.
No shrieks, no gunshots from a panicked manager.
Odd.
Squelch!
“…Blood?”
I glanced down to see sticky red spreading underfoot.
Following the trail, I found the slumped corpse of a fat man—the manager, most likely—in the corner.
“Told him to relax, but he kept whining and tried to run. So I killed him.”
The voice came from behind the desk.
Dim light through the blinds outlined a figure.
Bulky armor covered him head to toe, visor glowing red like a laser.
Four gilded skulls gleamed across his chestplate.
“Hm. You don’t look very grateful. Wasn’t this trash your target?”
“Why kill him?”
I kept my tone steady.
“Didn’t I just say? He was noisy.”
“Weren’t Quadrapple’s orders to protect the manager?”
“Oh, you knew that and still came? Gutsy.”
The man rose to his feet, words spilling lazily.
“Well, to answer—no. That’s your mistake.”
“You killed him to silence him. He must’ve known something he might have let slip.”
“….”
He froze.
A direct hit.
“Goblins in District 7. Black mage Dalton Sunderland. Brotherhood’s Branch Chief, Malay Krector. Ring any bells?”
“How the hell would I know?”
I studied his face closely.
No flicker of guilt. Not even feigned.
His twitching brows showed genuine confusion.
‘So he didn’t even know what secret he was covering. Just followed orders.’
Even Quadrapple, for all their fame, were still just a security force.
The corporate underbelly wasn’t their business.
‘Still, not a total waste.’
Centrim had sent Quadrapple to Delippersy—and still wasn’t confident enough. They had the manager silenced too.
Whatever the secret was, I wondered if it tied to the black mages, or the circuit etched into the spirit cocoon.
‘It resembles Hynax’s methods.’
The corporate purge of Hynax’s records had been just like this.
And if Centrim had been behind that too… it made sense.
“Anyway, enough chatter. Who hired you? Sylvester?”
He was just as curious as I was.
“What’s it to you?”
“Triple the pay. I’ll spare your life if you spill and walk away.”
Trying to lure me out to crush the rest?
A classic trick from a bloated megacorp.
“The math doesn’t add up. The client and broker would never let me walk.”
“If you carry Centrim’s name, you won’t have to worry about that.”
“How am I supposed to trust a watchdog’s promise?”
“I just slit the manager’s throat on my own judgment. I’ve got that kind of leeway. Squad leaders in Quadrapple have autonomy.”
A squad leader wasn’t a low rank. And he sounded far too confident for it to be mere bluff.
I pretended to consider it, dragging out the moment before answering:
“I refuse.”
“And why’s that?”
“Because I don’t think you’d let me live.”
“…Khh-hhh.”
He chuckled like a lunatic.
Crash!
At the same time, Quadrapple operatives burst through the windows, rifles leveled straight at me.
“Quick on the uptake. Annoyingly so.”
“You’re not curious who sent me?”
“That’s something we’ll dig up ourselves.”
He drew a hand across his throat.
“Kill him.”
Ratatatatat!
Thunder-like gunfire exploded, a storm of flashing muzzles.
“Empty your mags! Turn him into a beehive!”
A barrage fierce enough to obliterate any normal body, leaving not even scraps.
Too late to throw up vines for cover.
Yet I stood calmly, surveying the battlefield.
Crunch! Crack!
Bullets sank into me, only to slow, stop, and clatter to the ground.
Clink, clink.
I flexed my limbs, shaking loose the rest of the rounds embedded in me.
Riddled with holes, yet not even an itch.
‘My body is the World Tree’s cradle.’
An extension of lignification.
Like extending vine-whips, bark wrapped my body until I looked like a wooden doll.
“…”
Even at the shocking sight, not one of them flinched.
That was the experience of a corporate strike unit—veterans who’d faced monsters before.
“Some no-name merc, and you’re still standing?”
The man muttered, relaxed, as if it was only a matter of time.
I rolled my shoulders with a grin.
“You shouldn’t look so smug.”
“What?”
Time to shatter his illusion.
Bang!
This gunshot came from me.
The cheap Hastok-400 revolver in my hand. Pathetic hardware against Quadrapple’s cutting-edge armor.
“...!”
Thud!
Yet the round slipped through a helmet with ease.
His jaw clamped tight in shock.
‘The enchantment worked.’
Sage’s talent hadn’t let me down.
In just days, she’d managed to imbue bullets with magic.
The enchantment was simple: destructive force, amplified.
Basic, but brutally effective.
“Damn bastard…!”
Rumble!
He staggered forward, but then a great tremor shook the building.
The structure shuddered, cracked, and rained debris.
The booming roar left ears ringing.
As the soldiers struggled for balance, I peered out the window.
Flash!
Lightning slammed into a section of the factory, white brilliance splitting the sky.
A miracle dragged down to earth—magic.
‘He pulled it off.’
The signal I’d been waiting for.
The algorithm’s data fried, the control systems collapsed.
The man pushed to his knees, face twisting.
“What have you done…!”
“Who said killing the manager was our goal?”
The assassination had been bait, the secret-baiting my own improvisation.
“The factory’s production is finished. And you, killing your own man out of fear? Your career’s done.”
“You filthy bastard…!”
I centered myself.
The sprite, merged into the World Tree within me, pulsed in resonance.
Just like with the goblins of District 7—I’d push through the cracks left by Keljid’s spell.
This wasn’t some ramshackle warehouse but a full industrial plant, the scale worlds apart.
But lignification gave me the mass to make up the difference.
“Here’s a parting gift.”
Lucky, they’d live.
Unlucky, they’d wish they hadn’t.
Rumble!
“…!”
I crashed through the window, leaping into open air.
The curses, screams, and gunfire were buried with the collapsing factory.
Thud-thud-thud!
“Holy shit, what the—!”
Hella leapt back, spear raised at me.
I clutched my ringing head.
“It’s me. Put that away.”
“Allen? What the hell are you doing falling out of the sky? What about your job?”
“Keljid finished it. We’re done.”
“Seriously? Then… wait, when did that place get trashed like that?”
She’d been so focused on fighting, she hadn’t noticed Keljid’s strike—or my demolition.
“Did you set off a bomb or something?”
“Something like that.”
I looked back.
The factory was caved in, like a giant had hammered its palm down.
Caved roof, skewed walls, rubble strewn wide.
We’d killed their executive and brought the whole plant down.
With Keljid’s strike, production shutdown was certain.
“You sure made a mess too.”
The field was littered with corpses, silent now.
No groans, no stragglers.
The mercs’ efficiency left nothing but clean death.
Bodies lay like discarded stones, craters pocked the earth.
The raw power of warrior-types—humans who could match weapons with muscle and mana.
“More importantly, what’s with that look? Ugh, creepy—clean it up.”
「The World Tree sulks.」
Right. I was still fully lignified, vines trailing.
“It’s not that bad.”
“On your face it’s nightmare fuel. Burned into my eyes already.”
I wasn’t consoling the World Tree, but honestly, I thought I looked fine.
It was her taste that was weird.
But I’d be the bigger man and let it slide.
“Anyway, if it’s all done, let’s bail. Nothing left to chase us.”
Waver strolled over, relaxed.
He was right. Between the feint and the wreckage, pursuit wasn’t an option.
Maybe we hadn’t even needed the split strategy—steamrolling would’ve sufficed.
“What about Keljid?”
“Should we go get him? Though if a collapsing building killed him, he wasn’t worth much anyway.”
“…That bastard you call Keljid. Would this be him?”
The voice froze us.
We snapped back into combat stance.
“Heh-heh-heh… got me good. No going back to the company now.”
Through the drifting dust, a hulking figure staggered forth.
The haze parted to reveal what he carried.
“Keljid!”
“So that’s him, huh.”
He was alive—barely.
Shredded armor had soaked most of the damage.
The Quadrapple leader held Keljid limp by the scruff, grinning, then tossed him to the ground.
“Now, let me return the favor.”
Crunch!
His boot crushed down, bursting the mage’s chest.
Keljid’s corpse was kicked aside like garbage.
“Not one of you leaves here alive.”
His bare body pulsed, flesh swelling and shrinking grotesquely.
(End of Chapter)