All personnel wearing suits blended into the surroundings.
The guild master followed after them, waving his hand.
“Big bro’s heading out first~”
“You go ahead. We’ll take it slow.”
At those words, the Novasis Guild Master turned around and glared.
“Am I some kind of meat shield?”
“Heh. We’re going right now. Let’s move!”
Everyone followed them toward the inside of the factory.
The Novasis Guild Master checked the guards visible near the factory.
Quietly, he turned on his built-in radio.
*Chk.*
“Two guards. Team 1 will handle them.”
He took a light step, ready to kill them, when they suddenly shifted.
“Hold. Are they getting off work?”
Seeing the guards leaving their posts, he soon smirked.
“What a mess. Ignoring them and entering straight inside.”
He immediately hopped the wall and went in.
Slowly scanning the surroundings, he searched the warehouses one by one.
And he found a warehouse exuding a strange energy.
The guild master raised his hand to signal.
*Chk.*
“It’s here.”
The guild master smiled and swung his hand, aura gathering at his fingertips.
*Boom!*
The door was violently torn away, and the interior was fully exposed.
One side of the warehouse was filled with Aujar potions.
“Found it.”
He grinned and gestured.
“Take it all.”
The guild members excitedly swept them up.
The guild master deactivated his stealth and checked the surroundings.
“No cameras either. Very lax.”
“Guild Master, we’ve taken everything.”
“Yeah. But is that all?”
The guild master showed confusion at the rather modest amount.
“This is it? Is there more somewhere else?”
While looking around in confusion, he found something even stranger.
“What’s a tree doing in a warehouse?”
A small sapling was growing in roughly scattered dirt.
The guild master approached it, quite intrigued.
“Huh. What the hell…”
He crouched down to get a closer look.
“What are you doing here?”
As the guild master brushed the trunk with his hand, black dust drifted out.
“Kegh, kegh?”
Having inhaled something suspicious, the guild master shook his head roughly and coughed.
“Kuhhak. Kuhhak.”
“Guild Master?”
The guild members asked, seeing the guild master coughing violently and trembling.
“Ah, i-it’s nothing. Here… s-something weird…”
When he looked back, it was gone.
There was only plain dirt.
“Huh? Hey! Didn’t you see a tree here?”
The guild members put some distance from the guild master and spoke.
“Guild Master. You’re acting a little strange right now. What is that?”
“Hey, what are you talking about? More importantly, the tree here… didn’t you see it?! It was definitely right here.”
Feeling the cold gazes of the guild members, he looked down at himself.
Tree roots and branches were entangled all over his body.
“Huh, uh?”
His vision gradually faded.
His strength slowly drained away.
His entire body was paralyzed, and his skin was stained with a deep poison.
He collapsed onto the floor with a thud.
*Splurt.*
“Guild Master!”
Everyone rushed over.
The moment they laid hands on the guild master, black spores puffed out.
“Keuk! Everyone get back!”
The Corrupted Devouring Ent sneered at them and swallowed them all.
“Kuaaack!”
Thick, toxic black spores scattered through the air.
The Corrupted Devouring Ent devoured them and slowly digested them.
One by one, the remaining guilds arrived at this horrific scene.
“What the hell? What kind of tree is this big?”
Those who discovered the giant Corrupted Devouring Ent settled inside the warehouse forgot about the potions and looked on with curious faces.
“Hyungnim. The potions are here.”
The Hongyeom Guild Master nodded roughly.
“Yeah, yeah. Do what you want. I’m gonna look at this thing.”
For some reason, his gaze kept being drawn to the tree.
“Dang. This is quite a sight. Should I pull it out?”
As he raised his hand, black spores wafted out.
Black spores pitter-pattered down from the tree growing inside the warehouse.
Everyone’s gaze turned to the tree as black spores fell from the ceiling.
“Hmm?”
The tree twisted and pulled out its roots with cracking sounds.
Before long, the tree transformed into the shape of a crude biped and lunged at everyone.
“Kuaaack!”
The Hongyeom Guild Master was the first to be pounced on, followed by all the surrounding guild members.
The mercenary force that arrived late saw this and urgently engaged.
“FUCK!”
They emptied all their bullets and then activated their respective skills.
Brilliant techniques flew toward the Ent.
The Ent, having taken quite a beating, collapsed limply.
“FUCK! FUCK! What the hell?!”
They roughly kicked the Ent.
The collapsed Ent gradually split open, and light began to flicker from within.
“Hmm?”
The mercenary captain, who had fixed his eyes on the scene, was soon bombarded.
*Kwaaaang!*
An explosion accompanied by black spores erupted.
The area shook, and everyone was blown away.
All that remained in place was a single black seed.
* * *
Having received a report on the situation at the scene, the secretary hurriedly returned.
He read her anxious expression and felt unease.
“No way. What the fuck is it?!”
“The three executive-level guilds including Novasis, who went to raid the warehouse, and two mercenary groups have failed. A monster has been released on site, and there were no supplies.”
“Aaaaack!”
He thrashed about wildly and looked at the secretary with bloodshot eyes.
“What about the Awakenings? The Awakenings?!”
She reported with her eyes closed.
“They have all been canceled, and even those who had previously Awakened are showing signs of switching to the Aujar service.”
Everything had failed completely.
The Association Chairman let out a hollow laugh.
“They’ve all gone to hell.”
He plopped down into his chair.
Staring blankly into the air, he called for the secretary.
“Arisa.”
“Yes. Please speak.”
The secretary stared at the Association Chairman who had called her.
“There must still be a chance, right?”
She stared at him with violet pupils filled with dense demonic energy.
“The Master has not yet arrived.”
“…….”
The Association Chairman closed his eyes and trembled.
“Damn it all.”
Recalling the past, he asked her to confirm once more.
“Let me confirm again. What was the price of my contract?”
She approached the trembling man and whispered into his ear.
“Great Monarch Paimon demanded the Republic of Korea in exchange for granting you your second life and your current talent.”
The Association Chairman opened his eyes and looked at the night scenery of the Republic of Korea steeped in deep darkness.
“It’s still fine. Still…”
Muttering like that, he rose from his seat.
“Contact the Blue House. Tell them I need to meet urgently.”
“Yes. I will contact them immediately.”
She looked at him and asked.
“What shall I say is the purpose?”
“Martial law. Tell them we must declare martial law.”
Foreshadowing catastrophe, the Association Chairman headed straight for the Blue House.
Arriving at the Blue House, he found the President with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
“Mr. President.”
The President looked at the Association Chairman with anxious eyes.
“Association Chairman! What in the world is happening right now! If this keeps up!?”
To the President gripped by extreme anxiety, the Association Chairman spoke softly.
“Please declare martial law. Mobilize the entire military.”
The eyes of the silently standing Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff went wide.
“Mr. President?”
The President listened to those words and nodded.
“There is no other way. Chairman, proceed immediately.”
The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff took a step back at this absurd conversation.
“Mr. President? What are you saying right now? Martial law?!”
The President let out a deep sigh and looked at the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
“How can you be so obtuse. We are saving this country right now!”
“No matter what, this is so sudden…!?”
The Association Chairman looked at the secretary waiting behind him.
“Arisa, if you please.”
The secretary called Arisa smiled and approached him.
“Wh-what is this?”
She looked at him, radiating demonic energy.
“Chairman, please take a nice, deep sleep. You’ll feel refreshed when you wake up.”
As she looked at him with a smile in her eyes, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff stared as if entranced.
“Will you now do as the President says?”
He quietly nodded.
“That will do.”
The President lost his words at this sight.
“Was I also made to do this?”
“Of course not. There was no need.”
He realized the meaning of these words.
The President was silent for a moment, then spoke.
“What I saw… is it really true?”
The Association Chairman spoke with a crooked smile.
“Would it be a lie?”
“Yes, yes, this is the way to save the country.”
The President rationalized himself and muttered.
The Association Chairman shouted as he left the Blue House.
“Move at once! At once!”
The President asked as he watched him leave the Blue House.
“Where are you going?!”
“The National Assembly. To stop the ignorant ones who would interfere.”
The President gave orders to the blankly standing Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
“Relay the order to the entire military.”
“Yes.”
* * *
Hanha Group Headquarters.
Three soldiers were sweating profusely in the quiet CEO’s office.
“I don’t recall telling you to enjoy your vacation this much?”
The three, including Shinhyeok, could not meet the battalion commander’s gaze.
“It was a rash judgment.”
The battalion commander was staring intently at Shinhyeok above all else.
His rebuke had been aimed solely at him the entire time.
Shinhyeok bowed his head at those disappointed eyes.
“I’m sorry.”
“You don’t know how precious your life is. You only have one life.”
“…….”
Lee Gangyeol sighed at Shinhyeok’s silence.
“Good grief. Like casting pearls before swine.”
*Vrrrm.*
At that moment, Lee Gangyeol’s phone rang.
He picked up the phone and checked.
“Gicheol, what’s going on?”
Along with static, Cha Gicheol’s urgent voice was heard.
“It’s martial law! Qu-quick… hurry. Mo-move!”
Lee Gangyeol looked at the three upon hearing those words.
He was taken aback by the message from the other end of the line.
Shinhyeok asked Lee Gangyeol.
“What is it?”
“Damn. The President has declared martial law, and soon the order will be relayed to the entire military.”
The expressions of the three changed drastically.
“It will probably be an order to occupy the National Assembly. To subdue and detain all assemblymen.”
“What?”
Lee Gangyeol smirked and called the operations officer waiting outside.
“Operations officer!”
“Yes!”
Major Baek Seokhun immediately entered.
“Call all Hongik units. And ask them.”
The operations officer gulped at his words.
“From now on, Hongik will disobey the superior order that will soon arrive. We will act independently and guard the National Assembly, not occupy it.”
“What does that mean?”
“We take only those who wish to go.”
Leaving only those words, Lee Gangyeol came out of the office.
He encountered the Hanha Group Chairman and politely bowed his head.
“I apologize for the discourtesy.”
“Hehe. Not at all.”
The Chairman saw Lee Gangyeol about to leave and asked.
“Are you going?”
“Yes.”
The Chairman asked out of curiosity at the answer without a hint of hesitation.
“Is there a need for you to do so?”
“I must. What I seek to protect is the people.”
He smiled at those resolute words.
“This is why you are Lee Gangyeol.”
The operations officer and the three followed him out.
“Director! I’m going too! Please hide well in the shelter!”
The Chairman’s expression hardened at Baek Arin’s urgent cry.
“A-ah, young lady?”
“I’ll see you later, Director!”
“Th-that girl!”
The flustered Chairman urgently ordered his secretary.
“Send whatever security personnel we have to the National Assembly immediately! Immediately!”
Baek Arin hurriedly chased after the battalion commander and encountered Eizar.
“Huh? Father?”
The priest grabbed her and gave her some advice.
“I cannot offer you direct help.”
“Huh?”
“Are you keeping well what I gave you?”
She was momentarily confused about what the priest had given her.
“Wh-what?”
“The Hero’s Mark.”
“Ah! That thing was stuck right in my heart?”
“Then that’s fine.”
Eizar gave advice to her, the sole Apostle of Aujar and the Hero.
“The Hero’s power comes from that god. So when it is hard, when you need it, earnestly plead. Then I will cheer for you.”
“Huh? Yes! I don’t really understand what you mean, but I got it! I’m in a hurry so I’ll be going!”
“Do your best.”
The priest saw her off.
Lee Gangyeol smiled upon seeing the three following behind.
“It’s going to be quite hard from here on.”
Shinhyeok spoke brightly.
“By now, it’s familiar.”