Chapter 41

Siyoon entered Haind’s warehouse.

Given that it stored medicinal ingredients, the security was exceptionally thorough.

Passwords, special key cards, biometric scans—

Multiple layers of authentication were required before the doors would open.

But before Siyoon, they were as flimsy as paper.

All he had to do was repeatedly use Enhancement until the security devices exploded.

Kwang!

One of the massive steel doors hung loose from the explosion.

Siyoon forced it open with raw strength.

As the door opened, the pungent, heavy herbal scent of medicinal ingredients wafted out from within.

“So this is what Haind’s logistics warehouse looks like.”

The interior of the warehouse was quite spacious.

Artificial lighting and air purifiers hung from the ceiling.

Sections divided by the type of medicinal ingredient.

Each section was partitioned by transparent glass, with different humidity and temperature levels.

This was evident from the hologram that appeared beside the security panel.

‘Well, they wouldn’t store precious medicinal ingredients all jumbled together.’

After all, ingredients often degraded or spoiled depending on environmental conditions.

Since these were meant for potion crafting, they seemed to take particular care with storage.

‘Still, that’s a lot of ingredients.’

Siyoon found himself genuinely impressed.

The number of different ingredients stored in a single section alone numbered in the dozens.

In truth, “ingredient warehouse” would have been a more fitting name than “logistics warehouse.”

‘At least it’ll be easy to burn.’

Granted, the sections were divided by special glass partitions.

But they were all packed together in a confined space.

Meaning, if he blew up just one section, the destruction would spread to the rest—it was only a matter of time.

“Shall I handle it this time?”

“No.”

He was the one who had to inflict damage on Haind.

Even though Baek Euntae was helping him now, this was Siyoon’s fight.

Kung.

Just as before, Siyoon breached the section’s lock through a failed Enhancement.

Then he placed his hand on the longest storage unit along the inner wall.

Kwang!

After repeated Enhancements led to failure, the entire elongated storage unit blew apart.

The reinforced glass surrounding it shattered from the force of the blast.

Siyoon and Baek Euntae quickly fell back.

Flames erupted upward, and sensors reacted to the shockwave with a blaring alarm.

At that moment, the ceiling sprinklers burst to life, spraying water.

An attempt to suppress the fire.

In response, Siyoon detonated another storage unit.

Kukwang!!

The fire, fueled by the explosions, spread outward in an instant.

The fierce flames consumed the stored ingredients, producing a foul stench.

“Fast.”

Baek Euntae whistled as he watched the warehouse begin to collapse.

“Alright, this one’s done. Let’s head to the next.”

“Let’s.”

There wasn’t just one warehouse.

Perhaps anticipating such incidents, Haind had warehouses scattered across multiple locations.

He planned to destroy at least two more before dawn broke.

Siyoon turned to leave the burning warehouse.

That was the moment.

His sixth sense flared instinctively, screaming danger.

It was the same sensation he’d felt when he first fought an elite magic beast—every hair on his body standing on end.

“Get down!”

“What?”

No time for explanations.

Siyoon grabbed Baek Euntae’s head and forced him down.

An instant later, an invisible force grazed the top of his skull.

Kwaaaaaang!!

The burning interior of the warehouse shattered under some tremendous impact.

A burst of wind scattered the embers in every direction.

For the briefest moment, it felt as though all the surrounding air had been sucked into that single strike.

The awe at the sheer magnitude of the impact lasted only a moment.

“You’ve got good instincts.”

Udeuk.

A massive hand, like a pot lid, seized the hanging door and ripped it clean off.

The man revealed through the gap was a giant.

A frame well over two meters tall. Broad, thick shoulders and dense muscle.

Dressed in a sharp black suit, the man looked down at Siyoon with a grin that bared his teeth.

Siyoon swallowed dryly.

‘He’s strong. Incredibly strong.’

Killing intent.

The man before him was radiating unmistakable killing intent as he stared him down.

It was the stench of blood that clung to a man who had spent his entire life on the edge of death.

As if one wrong move would mean instant death.

“Damn it…”

Thick beads of sweat formed along Baek Euntae’s jaw.

“I never expected him to show up here.”

“You know him?”

“Yeah. Know him all too well.”

Baek Euntae raised his sword upright, keeping his eyes locked on the man.

Ready to react the instant the man made a move.

“His name is Kwon Chan. Vice-captain of Haind’s bodyguard unit.”

Hearing the man’s identity, Siyoon’s brow furrowed.

No wonder. His aura had been anything but ordinary from the start.

But he never expected the vice-captain of the bodyguard unit to show up in person.

‘Though, it wouldn’t have been strange if he’d shown up sooner.’

Come to think of it, the recent incidents had been quite significant.

Internal chaos compounded by the destruction of the Smart Farm.

From a certain perspective, it would be stranger for someone of his caliber not to intervene.

“We need to kill him. Now.”

Baek Euntae said.

Anxiety and urgency were written across his face.

“If we don’t take him out fast, Haind’s CEO will show up.”

“What?”

“The vice-captain doesn’t mobilize easily. But if he has, it’s because something equally important is at stake.”

Hearing Baek Euntae’s explanation, Siyoon grasped the situation immediately.

Kwon Chan had been sent to clean up the scene before the CEO arrived.

But the real concern lay elsewhere.

“If the CEO arrives, it’s over.”

“……”

“So we need to kill him now and get out of here fast.”

Baek Euntae bit his lip hard.

Sweat beaded and dripped from his face, rigid with tension.

His eyes seemed fixed not on Kwon Chan before him, but on something beyond.

It was an expression Siyoon had never seen on him, not even when they’d been surrounded by countless enemies.

That alone told Siyoon just how powerful Haind’s CEO must be.

“So these are the ones who touched the Smart Farm…”

The man—Kwon Chan—looked down at the two of them.

His killing intent more venomous than before, Siyoon preemptively Enhanced his entire body.

“Mere underlings, after all.”

It happened in a flash.

Kwon Chan lunged to stomp Siyoon into the ground.

His speed was so fast that even Siyoon’s Enhanced eyes struggled to track it.

But Siyoon and Baek Euntae barely managed to evade the attack.

Only possible because both had been on high alert beforehand.

Kwadeudeudeudeuk!

As a result, Kwon Chan’s foot shattered the marble floor beneath it.

Amid the pulverized fragments, his eyes shifted.

“Annoying—.”

Swaek!

Split to either side, Siyoon and Baek Euntae attacked Kwon Chan simultaneously.

They had exchanged a signal with their eyes moments before.

Siyoon had positioned himself perfectly in his blind spot.

Moreover, Baek Euntae’s attack accelerated instantaneously, making its speed impossible to predict.

Dodging from this angle was impossible.

Kwadeuk!

“…!”

But their expectations were completely off.

Instead of dodging or taking the hits, Kwon Chan blocked them bare-handed.

‘A skill?’

Siyoon stared at his blocked strike.

The speed of the reaction was surprising enough, but what troubled him more was the hardness of the man’s skin.

It was as hard as striking iron, not human flesh.

Baek Euntae’s side was no different.

“Hmm.”

Baek Euntae’s sword had left only a faint mark on Kwon Chan’s palm.

Clearly not expecting this, his expression went rigid.

“Unimpressive.”

Having blocked their attacks, Kwon Chan muttered in a flat tone.

Siyoon and Baek Euntae created distance before he could grab them.

‘This is dangerous.’

He didn’t need to analyze it to know.

Baek Euntae’s attack had been blocked far too easily.

The same sword that had slaughtered dozens of hunters, blocked so effortlessly.

It was impossible without a skill.

‘A defense-boosting type? Or impact mitigation?’

There was too little information to deduce anything from a single exchange.

But there was no need to speculate.

Baek Euntae already knew.

“A skill that raises defense?”

“You know more than necessary.”

“Shouldn’t we prepare for the worst? Not that I expected to actually run into him.”

He must have done thorough research when he took this commission.

In any case, according to him, it was a defense-boosting skill.

‘Still, it’s not the worst.’

High defense was actually preferable.

There were plenty of ways to counter it.

Damage reduction, on the other hand, was far trickier to deal with.

It literally reduced a fixed amount of damage regardless of the attack.

“My turn now.”

Kwon Chan’s foot ground against the floor.

With wind-like speed, he drove his fist straight at Siyoon.

Just as Siyoon had combat skills, Kwon Chan was also a close-quarters fighter.

Kuuuuu—!

The massive fist tore through the air like a bomb.

A fist surging forward at near-sonic speed.

Even with Enhanced eyes, tracking its speed was barely manageable.

‘Countering head-on would be inefficient’

It wasn’t impossible, but there was no need to take the risk.

Against an attack like this, deflecting was the better option.

Making a split-second decision, Siyoon tilted his body and struck upward at Kwon Chan’s arm with a knife-hand.

Kwang!!

But this, too, was no easy feat.

The fist, laden with devastating power, inflicted damage even from a grazing contact.

Siyoon grimaced at the throbbing pain.

‘If I keep dawdling, we’ll be done for before the CEO even arrives.’

Time was running out for them.

They couldn’t drag this fight out.

Eudeuk.

Right after deflecting the attack, Siyoon dove inside Kwon Chan’s guard.

Then he struck the exposed flank of his upper body with a knife-hand.

Once again, it felt like pounding against solid steel.

‘But high defense doesn’t mean invincibility.’

Siyoon had seen Kwon Chan’s palm get scratched by the sword earlier.

His body simply had high durability.

Meaning he could still take damage.

Hwoong!

Unfazed by Siyoon’s attack, Kwon Chan thrust his palm outward.

Just before being caught, Siyoon pulled back—and Baek Euntae’s sword came down from a diagonal angle.

Kkaang!

“Why is his body making metallic sounds…!”

But Kwon Chan blocked the sword strike with the back of his hand.

The impact even produced the sound of metal striking metal.

‘His defense is even higher than before.’

This was crucial information.

Earlier, Baek Euntae’s attack had at least left a scratch—but not now.

That meant he could further increase his defense through his skill.

‘Can he do it per body part?’

There was no point in keep wondering.

Siyoon committed to an attack to test the theory.

[ Enhancing ‘Hand’. ]

[ Enhancement is stacking. ]

[ Defense penetration temporarily increases. ]

[ Maintaining this state for an extended period will cause overload. ]

Stacking Enhancement on his hand in addition to his arm, his senses sharpened further.

Exploiting the moment Kwon Chan’s attention was drawn to Baek Euntae, he swiftly attacked from the side.

Ppeok!

“Kuh…!”

Kwon Chan grimaced as the fist connected with his abdomen.

A stark contrast to his reaction moments ago when he’d brushed off Siyoon’s attack.

More than anything—

‘The impact is different.’

Completely different from the sensation of striking hard metal earlier.

But Kwon Chan was still blocking Baek Euntae’s sword with his bare hand.

Meaning, he could concentrate his defense onto a specific body part at will.

Conversely, other areas would have reduced defense.

“Hah, so that’s how it works.”

Baek Euntae, who had been watching the exchange, seemed to reach the same realization—his eyes changed.

Kwon Chan’s face, on the other hand, contorted with rage.

“How dare you insects!!”

Jjeojeojeojeok!

When he stomped his foot hard, cracks spread across the floor like a spiderweb.

The ground beneath them heaved upward, throwing them off balance.

Kwon Chan seized the opening and reached for Siyoon, who was closest to him.

Swaaaek!

The devastating fist surged toward him in an instant.

Siyoon watched it approach with calm eyes.

The battle wasn’t over yet, and even the immediate future was uncertain.

He needed to make a gamble, but the timing wasn’t right.

He had to hold the line, but relying on his body alone was the worst option.

That left only one option.

Cheolkeok.

With practiced hands, Siyoon swiftly pulled the trigger.

His gun and bullets were all enhanced to +5.

But that wasn’t enough.

‘Sharper. Faster.’