Chapter 310
Borin’s eyes as she watched the front gate were cold.
Her originally expressionless face radiated a chilling aura.
Her gaze was fixed on a massive factory located on the outskirts of the Northern District.
Most commercial zones and factories were concentrated in the Central District, where City Hall was located. In particular, the major production facilities were gathered close to City Hall.
It was a measure to allow City Hall to efficiently manage everything produced in Neo Seoul.
That didn’t mean there were no commercial areas or factories in the other districts.
Items developed independently, things considered less important, or goods absolutely necessary for a district’s survival were produced within each district.
The factory Borin was currently watching was one of those places.
It was a facility that produced food for the elves.
The elves of Kurayan were primarily herbivores.
The plants of Kurayan were so rich in nutrients that there was no need for them to eat meat. They could survive perfectly fine on fruits and vegetation alone.
But Earth’s situation was different.
The land had become completely devastated, leaving almost no space to grow plants.
At least Bukhansan behind Neo Seoul had been partially preserved, but developing it was impossible.
City Hall had designated it as a specially protected preservation zone.
So the elves created their own food production factory in order to survive.
The ingredients, made from an appropriate blend of cultured meat and cultivated plants, were designed solely for the survival of elves.
The taste was poor because every nutrient elves required had been packed into it, but it allowed them to maintain their physical condition at its peak.
Of course, not every elf ate the food produced in the factory.
Many elves enjoyed eating meat.
The elves had changed greatly after coming to Earth.
At first, it had been an unavoidable choice made for survival, but now many elves genuinely enjoyed the taste of meat.
Borin was one of them.
She believed eating meat strengthened one’s fighting spirit. That was why she enjoyed it. Still, that didn’t mean she disliked the artificial food produced by the factory.
Her own house was filled with food made there.
That alone showed how important this factory was to the survival of the elves.
And that was why Borin was furious.
“How dare they mess with a food factory.”
While monitoring Eli, they had detected suspicious movements.
The Blue Leaf Special Operations Unit had followed the trail all the way here.
Recently, Eli’s close aides had been frequently entering and leaving this factory.
It was obvious they were secretly plotting something.
Borin gave the order to the Blue Leaf Special Operations Unit.
“Move in.”
“Yes!”
“We need to subdue all of Eli’s aides and find out what they’re planning, so be prepared for anything.”
The Blue Leaf Special Operations Unit answered shortly and firmly.
After all, they were interfering with Eli’s personal followers.
If things went wrong, it could even trigger internal conflict.
Even though he had been exiled, Eli’s influence in the Northern District remained strong.
They had to completely deal with everything happening in the factory before Eli noticed.
As a major facility, the factory was protected by a magic formation.
When a translucent barrier blocked the Blue Leaf Special Operations Unit, Borin issued another order.
“Deactivate it!”
“Yes!”
At the command, the operatives pulled out circular metal plates from their bags and attached them to the magic formation.
Pazzz!
Sparks burst from the metal plates, and blue currents spread across the entire formation.
The metal plates were keys.
Master keys capable of disabling and opening the magic formations protecting the Northern District’s major facilities.
Using these keys temporarily neutralized any magic formation.
Just like now.
Tsssss!
Centered around where the key had been installed, a massive door appeared.
Borin and the Blue Leaf Special Operations Unit passed through the opening and entered the factory.
“What?”
“Why was the protective magic formation deactivated?”
The people near the factory entrance murmured in shock.
Then they saw the Blue Leaf Special Operations Unit entering the factory.
“Fuck! What is this?”
“Stop right there.”
They stepped forward to block the unit’s path.
Borin looked at them with icy eyes and spoke.
“We are the Blue Leaf Special Operations Unit acting under Lady Serian’s orders. Anyone who obstructs us will be treated as a traitor.”
“Traitor?”
“What are you talking about?”
The people inside the factory looked utterly dumbfounded.
Most of the workers there were elves or dwarves.
The elves flinched at the word “traitor,” but the hot-blooded dwarves instead became angry.
“On what grounds are we traitors?”
“So receiving Lady Serian’s orders is enough? You accuse us of treason without evidence, and you think you won’t be held accountable?”
The short dwarves raised their voices.
An ordinary elf might have shrunk back under their pressure, but Borin was different.
“We can look for evidence now.”
“What?”
“Let’s inspect the factory. If everything’s clean, I’ll admit my wrongdoing and withdraw. I’ll even step down as captain of the Blue Leaf Special Operations Unit. So move aside.”
“Fuck! You think that makes sense?”
“Why wouldn’t it? It’s simple. You move, and we go inside to confirm things. Is that too hard to understand?”
“No! This factory is soaked with our blood and sweat. We can’t just let you in whenever you want.”
The dwarf desperately rejected Borin’s demand.
At that moment, a cold smile appeared on Borin’s lips.
“Refusing my orders means refusing Lady Serian’s orders. That confirms your treason. What are you waiting for? Open the way.”
“Yes!”
The Blue Leaf Special Operations Unit immediately charged toward the dwarves and elves blocking their path.
Shiiik!
The rapiers in their hands shot forward at terrifying speed.
“Fuck! Block them!”
“As if we’d just let you through!”
The factory’s dwarves and elves drew their war hammers and rapiers to resist the Blue Leaf Special Operations Unit.
Borin scoffed.
“So there really is something suspicious here.”
They were resisting so desperately because they had something to hide.
But their strength wasn’t enough to stop the Blue Leaf Special Operations Unit.
Even among elves, the difference in combat ability was vast.
Compared to the Blue Leaf Special Operations Unit, which had crossed countless life-and-death battlefields during dangerous missions, the factory’s elves and dwarves were no match.
“Aaagh!”
“Kuugh!”
The Blue Leaf Special Operations Unit instantly subdued those blocking their path and opened the way.
Borin walked down the path they cleared and headed deeper into the factory.
At the entrance of the facility, artificially cultivated plants were growing.
After passing through the vegetation, a vast open space appeared.
Along one side of the factory stood rows of gigantic test tubes. Inside the tubes filled with special culture fluid, artificial meat was growing.
On the opposite side, plants brought from Kurayan were being cultivated.
After briefly scanning the interior, Borin headed farther inside.
Deeper within, a steel door and reinforced bulkhead appeared.
It was a secret area hidden inside the factory.
The factory blueprints had never indicated the existence of such a place.
Clank!
The door was locked from the inside.
“Hoo… what a pain……”
Slash!
Borin let out a sigh and swung her rapier. The locking mechanism was sliced apart as easily as paper.
Without hesitation, Borin stepped into the secret area.
The instant she entered, her expression twisted sharply.
It was because of the stench of blood pouring from within.
“What the—?”
It was the first time she had ever smelled such a horrific scent of blood in the Northern District.
The faces of the Blue Leaf Special Operations Unit members, who had subdued the elves and dwarves outside before entering, turned just like hers.
“Urgh! Uwegh!”
“Damn it!”
The smell of blood was so overwhelming that it made them gag the moment they inhaled it.
Forcing down their nausea, they moved deeper inside.
The moment they reached the innermost part of the secret space, Borin and the Blue Leaf Special Operations Unit widened their eyes.
“Holy shit!”
“What is this?”
An unimaginably gruesome sight unfolded before them.
Human corpses had been skewered and hung in the air like butcher shop meat.
Countless insects clung to the dismembered human bodies.
Bzzzz!
The insects flapped their wings as they gnawed on the corpses.
One of the Blue Leaf Special Operations Unit members covered his mouth and asked Borin,
“Captain! What are those things?”
“I… don’t know.”
Borin had seen countless demonic beasts during her many missions, but even she had never encountered insect-like creatures such as these.
Each one was as large as an adult’s forearm, with four pairs of wings and ten legs.
Its mouth contained huge teeth resembling hooks, while its four pairs of eyes moved independently in different directions.
Its tail resembled that of a scorpion.
It looked like a grasshopper enlarged hundreds of times and fused together with several different insects.
The insects sensed the intrusion of strangers and all turned toward them at once.
The sight of tens of thousands of insects staring at them was horrifying enough to haunt someone’s nightmares.
Kekekek!
Kkekkk!
The creatures clicked their teeth together, producing strange noises.
It almost sounded like they were communicating with one another.
The moment Borin saw that, she hurriedly gave an order.
“Close the door.”
“Pardon?”
“We can’t let even a single one escape from here. Close the door now.”
“Y-Yes! Understood!”
The Blue Leaf Special Operations Unit hurriedly shut the door.
Afterward, one of the unit’s awakened mages melted the door and its seams shut with ultra-high-temperature flames.
It was necessary because Borin had already cut apart the locking mechanism.
Borin let out a bitter smile and muttered,
“I just hope it holds for a while.”
Fwoooosh!
At that moment, the insects sensed danger and all took to the air at once.
More than tens of thousands of them swarmed together before charging toward the Blue Leaf Special Operations Unit in unison.
The sight of countless insects rushing forward while clacking their teeth together was terrifying.
But Borin didn’t waver in the slightest.
“Come at me all you want, you filthy bugs!”
BOOM!
A massive explosion shook Neo Seoul.
The impact was so enormous that even the other districts could feel the tremor.
Zeon briefly stopped walking and looked toward the direction the explosion had come from.
Not far away, flames were soaring high into the sky.
“What now?”
“It’s from the factory district!”
People startled by the explosion shouted as they stared at the fire.
The place Zeon was currently in was the Northern District.
He had come there to seek the Northern District’s cooperation in tracking down Hashim.
Zeon frowned.
A bad feeling suddenly washed over him.
And this kind of intuition was almost never wrong.
“Tch.”
Clicking his tongue, Zeon headed toward the site of the explosion.
A short while later, he arrived at the very factory Borin had entered.
Crimson flames were bursting through the factory roof and shooting into the sky.
The heat was so intense it looked as though the factory walls would melt at any moment.
On the factory floor lay the elves and dwarves subdued by the Blue Leaf Special Operations Unit.
Just as Zeon passed them and headed deeper inside—
BOOM!
An explosive blast erupted from the steel door deeper within the factory.
As though an immense impact had struck it from the inside, the steel door bulged outward.
KWAANG!
Another deafening explosion rang out, and the steel door shattered apart.
An enormous swarm of insects immediately poured out all at once.
Bzzzzzz!
“Don’t let even one escape! A disaster will fall upon the Northern District!”
It was at that moment that Borin’s urgent voice rang out from deeper inside.
‘A disaster?’
Without another thought, Zeon opened his subspace.
Shrrrack!
An enormous quantity of sand poured out.
“Sand Tornado.”
The sand instantly swallowed the insects whole.
Though countless bugs tried to escape, the sand outnumbered them thousands of times over.
Grrrrrr!
The Sand Tornado spun violently, grinding all the insects to pieces.