Chapter 40

The Smart Farm’s cultivation facility had an unusual structure, resembling a typical building.

That is, if you ignored the transparent glass walls designed to let in ample sunlight.

“It seems they cultivate different medicinal ingredients on each floor.”

The first thing visible upon entering was a multitude of medicinal herbs planted in long, rectangular flowerbeds.

Artificial lighting hung above them.

It seemed intended to distribute light evenly, even to the darker areas.

Furthermore, monitors were installed at each flowerbed.

A quick glance revealed holograms displaying humidity, temperature, growth status, and the date.

Likely for periodic status checks.

Every medicinal ingredient requires different optimal conditions and climates for peak growth.

Hence the meticulous monitoring.

“So they’re crafting potions from high-quality ingredients.”

Truly fitting for a pharmaceutical company.

Though it would all be useless soon enough.

Tuk.

Siyoon placed his hand on the monitor connected to a flowerbed.

And repeatedly used Enhancement.

[ Enhancing ‘State-of-the-Art Holographic Medicinal Flowerbed’. ]

[ Enhancement successful. ]

[ Enhancement succeed… ]

He would have preferred to blow it all up at once, but he had exhausted his explosive potions reducing the research lab to ashes.

Still, it shouldn’t be a major issue.

Even a rough estimate put a single flowerbed at dozens of meters in length.

Once it exploded, it would obliterate the nearby flowerbeds and the entire system.

[ Enhancement has failed. ]

Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwang!

Just as Siyoon anticipated, the monitor and the entire flowerbed detonated simultaneously.

Crimson pillars of fire spread outward, incinerating all the medicinal herbs.

Once damaged through any means, medicinal ingredients lose their efficacy.

In other words, they were now unrecyclable trash.

“Good.”

Siyoon immediately headed to the next floor.

And just like on the first floor, he repeatedly used Enhancement.

By then, the spreading flames had begun to steadily consume the building.

Countermeasures like sprinkler systems were in place, but they proved futile.

These were no ordinary flames.

They were born from an object exploding due to an Enhancement failure, spreading the fire everywhere.

As such, they burned their targets with far greater ferocity.

Moreover, the abundance of electronic equipment inside triggered rapid chain explosions.

In this manner, Siyoon ascended floor by floor.

He completely incinerated all seven stories in flames.

Arriving at the rooftop, the Smart Farm he overlooked was a spectacular sight.

The nearby research lab was still exploding, collapsing in various places.

The surroundings were a chaotic mess of explosion debris and traces of combat.

“Looks like everything was wrapped up while I was busy.”

Baek Euntae came into Siyoon’s view.

Having slain all the hunters at the research lab, he was moving to join up.

Siyoon could see it clearly, his vision enhanced through his eyes.

Hwik.

Siyoon dropped straight down from the seventh-floor rooftop to the ground.

The night wind, heated by the flames, brushed hotly against his cheek.

During his descent, the gazes of the hunters fighting Euntae snapped toward him.

He enhanced his arm to boost his strength and thrust a fist toward one of the men.

Kwa-a-ang!

Siyoon slammed the man into the ground, using him as a cushion, and rose smoothly.

Simultaneously, the bodies of the hunters who turned to look were dyed blood-red alongside a flash of sword light.

Beyond the pattering drops of blood, Euntae spoke.

“Well, you certainly wrapped things up quickly.”

“I was quite busy on my end, though.”

“Anyway, business is finished. Let’s go.”

Euntae shook the blood off his sword and surveyed the area.

“We achieved our original goal, didn’t we?”

“Yeah.”

The Smart Farm here was completely destroyed.

The research lab had collapsed, and the burning cultivation facility was on the verge of caving in.

Having blown everything to kingdom come, no original data or facilities remained.

Restoring it to its former state would be impossible.

This left two Smart Farms remaining.

Rather than wasting time on this already ruined site, it was wiser to target the others.

Siyoon exited the Smart Farm alongside Euntae.

* * *

Bu-u-ung.

After completely obliterating one of Haind’s Smart Farms.

Siyoon rested inside the car driven by Euntae.

He hadn’t fallen into a deep sleep. He merely closed his eyes to melt away some of his fatigue.

“Anyway, what’s the plan now?”

“What do you mean?”

Euntae asked, glancing at Siyoon who had his eyes closed.

Outside, thick darkness still blanketed the sky.

Despite the fierce combat, the elapsed time was surprisingly just over two hours.

It was still the dead of night, far too early for dawn to break.

“No matter how much their stock plummeted, they’re still Haind. The news hasn’t broken yet, but word of the Smart Farm attack has probably already spread internally.”

Truthfully, Siyoon had intended to assault another Smart Farm immediately.

Striking while the iron is hot was the better strategy.

But as Euntae said, Haind was a bona fide mid-sized enterprise.

There was no way an attack on a vital facility like a Smart Farm hadn’t been reported.

“I’m expecting as much.”

Siyoon replied.

A Smart Farm was the very backbone of a pharmaceutical company like Haind.

Naturally, an attack on such a place would put them on high alert.

Siyoon wasn’t stupid enough to overlook such an obvious consequence when planning his operations.

Above all, even if their surveillance and defenses tightened, there were always ways to breach them.

He had the means.

He had prepared numerous methods for this very day.

Euntae, however, seemed unconvinced, letting out a long, low hum.

That was when he spoke up.

“Or how about somewhere else?”

“Hmm?”

As if something had come to mind, Euntae offered a suggestion.

“Looking at you now, you seem fixated solely on the Smart Farms.”

“That’s true, but…”

“It’s certainly a solid idea. They’re important, after all. But there’s another place just as vital, and a lot more interesting.”

An interesting place, huh.

As he said, Siyoon had only considered raiding the Smart Farms.

But if another target existed, he could inflict damage on them far more efficiently.

“Where’s that?”

“Haind’s logistics warehouse.”

Euntae flashed a grin.

“They call it a logistics warehouse, but it’s actually where they store their spare medicinal ingredients.”

“Hmm.”

“For your information, the warehouse is nearby.”

It was undeniably a good proposal.

Haind had currently lost one Smart Farm.

Losing their spare ingredients on top of that would deal a massive blow.

‘Plus, the distance is favorable based on its location.’

Being close meant they could raid it this very moment.

They could inflict damage swiftly and decisively.

“Alright. We’ll go there.”

“I don’t usually do this kind of thing, but consider this a bonus.”

The decision was made.

The moment the plan changed, Euntae stepped on the accelerator.

The car carrying the two sped rapidly down the deserted road.

* * *

The Haind logistics warehouse Euntae mentioned was genuinely close by.

It took only ten minutes to get there.

Though he had driven excessively fast, the important thing was that they had arrived.

Siyoon and Euntae brazenly revealed themselves at the warehouse’s front gate.

The warehouse was an important stronghold, but it ranked lower than a Smart Farm.

Assuming the inside was already in an uproar, they decided to breach it quickly.

“I’ll break through again this time.”

“Got it.”

Seupat.

Accompanied by the sound of his drawn sword, Euntae leaped forward, his figure vanishing instantly.

The next moment, he appeared right in front of the hunter guarding the gate.

“Huh?”

A flash of sword light gleamed before the bewildered hunter.

Simultaneously, two hunters’ necks bid farewell to their bodies.

They probably never realized it was their dying breath.

That was how fast Euntae’s sword was.

Kwang!

Having killed the gate guards, Euntae kicked the door open.

The iron gate crumpled inward, revealing the interior landscape.

There was a space large enough to park trucks and a massive building that appeared to be the warehouse.

It was quite different from Siyoon’s expectation of a few shipping containers at most.

“Intruders! Prepare for combat!”

“By their looks, it’s the guys who raided the Smart Farm just now!”

“Exercise extreme caution in battle!”

Hunters who swarmed upon hearing the commotion aimed their weapons.

Just as expected, the information had spread entirely in the meantime.

It wasn’t particularly surprising, so neither Siyoon nor Euntae was perturbed.

Huyuk.

Taking long strides, Euntae’s figure moved in front of the hunters in a flash.

At that moment, a man wielding a shield charged toward his swinging sword.

The shield, which should have been cleaved in two, unexpectedly blocked Euntae’s attack.

“Oh?”

“You underestimated us. Did you think we wouldn’t be prepared?”

The man declared triumphantly.

He seemed to feel it was worth blocking the attack of the man who had devastated the Smart Farm.

“I’ll take him on, so everyone attack—”

Seugeok.

At that moment, the shield in contact with the sword split in two like a cake.

The hunters flinched at the sight of the man sliced vertically along with his shield.

“Did you think I couldn’t break through? Your analysis of your opponent is lacking.”

“You bastard…”

Seeing Euntae’s relaxed demeanor, a hunter gnashed his teeth.

“Don’t give him an opening! Attack all at once!”

With the shout, the hunters swarmed him.

If they couldn’t stop him, they were dead anyway.

Realizing this, the hunters attacked with everything they had from the start.

Elongated spears shot forth like ballista bolts.

Dozens of arrows rained down from above, and swords and hammers fell like lightning.

Siyoon aimed his sniper rifle at the arrows.

Euntae would break through the front anyway.

Therefore, dealing with the ranged attacks was Siyoon’s role.

[ Enhancing ‘Eyes’. ]

[ Vision increases. ]

[ Dynamic vision increases. ]

Siyoon’s instantly enhanced pupils contracted rapidly.

The trajectories of the arrow rain, falling like a meteor shower cutting through the night sky, became vividly clear.

A scope was unnecessary in this situation.

He needed to shoot and hit multiple targets at once, but a scope limited his field of vision.

That was why he enhanced his eyes instead.

To read the trajectories with his enhanced vision and dynamic vision.

Tu-tu-tu-tu-tu.

Siyoon held his breath and pulled the trigger.

Once, twice, three times…

While firing dozens of rounds, his body remained fixed, his posture unwavering.

He had minimized the recoil using his grown physical abilities and control.

The performance of the +5 RTB-201 and Siyoon’s abilities combined.

The bullets’ trajectories were remarkably stable.

In an instant, the bullets piercing the night sky shot down every single glowing arrow.

Jjeo-jeo-jeong!

“…?!”

The arrows shattered by the bullets exploded on the spot like firecrackers.

The archer positioned in the rear widened his eyes in panic.

Siyoon aimed directly for the archer’s head and fired.

Puk.

As the archer beside him died, another shooter glared at Siyoon.

He rapidly drew his bowstring and loosed an arrow.

This time, the target was precisely Siyoon.

While Siyoon kept the shooters in check from the rear, Euntae swung his sword.

Swa-ea-ea-eck!

High-speed rushing sword strikes flashed and rained down.

As if caught in a spider’s web, the hunters couldn’t get past Euntae’s sword.

They were utterly helpless against his instantaneously accelerating attacks.

Hu-du-duk.

Red blood and chunks of flesh scattered around.

There were a total of seventy hunters, but they couldn’t handle Siyoon and Euntae.

“It’s over.”

Euntae handled close combat, Siyoon handled ranged combat.

With the roles divided this way, the battle ended one-sidedly.

“Let’s head in and finish this quickly.”

“Let’s.”

The two walked toward the brightly lit warehouse in the dead of night.

Now, all that remained was to blow up that warehouse.

The warehouse storing Haind’s medicinal ingredients would be completely incinerated tonight.