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Chapter 686: Special-Grade Supply Crate (3)

—W-What… what do you mean, a severed arm can be reattached?

Neheren’s face, already pale blue with fear, turned even whiter.

After all, telling him to just make sure his neck stayed intact implied that it didn’t matter what happened to the rest of his body.

At that, Yeongwoo answered indifferently.

“There’s quite a lot of regeneration-type equipment around. So as long as you’re not already dead, I can recover you somehow.”

—As long as my neck doesn’t get severed……?

“Yeah. I don’t know the exact limits either, but… I doubt it can reattach a completely detached head.”

Of course, that too was something that could only be known through actual experimentation.

Maybe if the head were reattached immediately after being severed, revival might even be possible.

“Anyway, I’m not going to let you die easily. I promised I’d let you go once this is over, didn’t I? To keep that promise, you need to stay alive first.”

—…That’s not exactly comforting.

“I wasn’t trying to comfort you.”

Inside the one-armed man’s office stretched a long, spacious corridor, and after passing through it, they arrived at no fewer than three branching paths.

“This place really is huge. Which one is it?”

As Yeongwoo stood in the center of the fork and asked, Neheren pointed toward the patterns engraved into the walls.

—These are a kind of signpost.

“Signpost? This isn’t even the common language, and it’s not being translated either.”

—Of course not. They’re not letters, they’re pictures. A code only people from the Salzeo family can understand.

“What a thoroughly insufferable bunch.”

And yet, in the end, they had still been brought to the brink of collapse like this.

There was no such thing as absolute invincibility in this universe.

“So, which one of the three is it?”

—None of them.

“What?”

As Yeongwoo’s brow twitched, Neheren stretched out his arm and pressed the wall patterns in a specific sequence.

“Don’t tell me.”

—Exactly what you’re thinking.

Kooong!

A heavy sound rang out from inside the wall, as though something massive had descended.

Then the floor beneath Yeongwoo and Neheren, who was slung over his back, slowly began to sink.

“There was a basement……?”

—It’s part of the standard configuration for high-grade structures in our family. There are separate spaces that only open through code input. In this case, it’s an underground level.

“Going by Salzeo standards, this one-armed guy is supposedly just a dropout, but isn’t he getting excessively special treatment?”

—Life is originally like that. But in the end, he still couldn’t avoid this disaster. In a way, maybe this too is the fate of a dropout.

Disaster.

That was what he called the assault of Planetary Ship Lord Jeong Yeongwoo.

“Yeah, I guess bad luck really is equal for everyone.”

With those words, Yeongwoo stepped onto the underground floor.

Thud.

The first space on the underground level was a large square lobby.

Normally, guards would have been stationed here, but now it stood completely empty.

“So the guys who came as reinforcements earlier must’ve crawled out from here.”

—Probably.

“Then does that just leave the Subua now?”

—…Probably.

“Is that the only word you know?”

—It’s not like I know everything about my family either.

“Still, you at least know roughly how strong this Subua is, right? You said they’re basically secretaries slash assassins.”

At Yeongwoo’s question, Neheren shifted his gaze into empty space.

—The levels of the Subua vary wildly. But if there’s one thing they all have in common, it’s that persuasion is impossible.

“Persuasion?”

—A Subua never submits to outsiders. They can’t be bought off, and surrender can’t be demanded from them either.

“They can’t even be bribed? That’s a little surprising.”

—They’re people who live with their lives already offered up. The moment the Salzeo they serve dies, the Subua dies alongside them.

“What?”

That story was impressive enough that even Yeongwoo couldn’t hide his surprise.

“Then if I kill the one-armed guy, does his Subua automatically die too?”

—That’s right.

“Oh, then there’s no need to fight the Subua with difficulty, is there?”

—…But if you kill the Salzeo here, you won’t be able to open the supply crate. And besides.

Then Neheren, true to being the child of a prestigious family, made a rather sharp observation.

—That one-eyed man earlier said he follows a policy of not killing, didn’t he? The moment the Salzeo dies, the Subua would commit suicide as well. Would that one-eyed man really overlook two deaths like that?

“Oh right, there was Mr. Poachi.”

Yeongwoo smacked his lips as though disappointed.

“Of course I was joking. Like you said, that one-armed guy needs to stay alive if we want to open the supply crate.”

—But if the Subua turns out to be much stronger than expected, you’ll try to harm my brother.

“Of course. My own survival matters more than my relationship with Mr. Poachi or the supply crate in this place.”

Meanwhile, Yeongwoo had arrived before a massive iron door at the far end of the lobby, and once again he was faced with patterns similar to the ones from before.

“Another password.”

—Regrettably, it seems I’ll have to function once again.

Security so airtight that it could not easily be breached without bringing a Salzeo in person.

Watching Neheren press the symbols engraved into the iron door one by one, Yeongwoo felt a strange thrill.

—There probably won’t be another security door beyond this one. If even this has opened, it means the Salzeo himself has come here directly.

No sooner had Neheren finished speaking than the thick iron doors slid apart to either side, revealing a narrow, elongated passageway.

Drrrrrrk!

Seeing it, Yeongwoo gave a brief impression.

“This is obviously a trap.”

The corridor was only wide and tall enough for maybe two people to barely squeeze through.

“I bet once we’re about halfway through, a giant iron ball heated red-hot is gonna come rolling out from the other side.”

At that, Neheren laughed incredulously.

—Your imagination is impressive, befitting someone who drags celestial bodies around.

“I’m serious. Don’t you feel the malicious intent radiating from this corridor?”

—Then what are you going to do? Turn back?

“As if. This is exactly why I brought you along.”

—……?

The moment Neheren widened his eyes, sensing something ominous, Yeongwoo grabbed him around the waist and thrust him forward.

Hwaet!

—W-What are you doing?!

“This is called a meat shield.”

It was also at that moment that Yeongwoo powerfully stepped forward.

Kwaat!

As a result, Neheren, held out in front of him like a ship’s figurehead, shot across the corridor at high speed, and soon the exact thing Yeongwoo had anticipated occurred.

“Knew there was something.”

Muttering as he sensed movement from the dark space at the opposite end of the passage, Yeongwoo heard Neheren gape open his mouth.

—What? What’s there?

Neheren still couldn’t see anything.

Besides, there were still over fifty meters left before reaching the end of the corridor.

However, just because it wasn’t visible to the naked eye didn’t mean nothing had happened.

Sssshaaaaaaat!

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Needle-like projectiles had shot out from the far end of the passage.

“Watch out!”

Detecting them early, Yeongwoo used Neheren to shield his own body while accelerating even more, and in the end, one of the needles embedded itself into Neheren’s shoulder.

Pit!

—Aagh? W-Wait! Something got stuck in my shoulder!

Then Neheren’s face twisted in terror.

—M-My shoulder.

“What? What is it?”

—A paralysis needle……! 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

At that, Yeongwoo pushed forward even more boldly.

If the true nature of this ambush was paralysis needles, then there was no danger of Neheren dying instantly, and even if Yeongwoo himself were struck, it would have no effect.

After all, thanks to the legendary tooth「Venomfang」, he was essentially in a state of immunity to all poisons.

【Venom Affinity】

| Grants immunity to most toxic substances; inhaling poison increases bodily regeneration.

“If it were me, I would’ve thrown bombs instead. Are they conscious of you after all?”

When Yeongwoo asked this, Neheren, dangling one arm limply in front of him, answered.

—P… probably?

“Then from now on, shout your name loudly.”

—What?

“Right now!”

With those final words, Yeongwoo hurled Neheren into the end of the corridor, now right before them.

So that the utterly terrified Neheren would scream out his own name like a shriek.

—I-I am Neheren Salzeoooo……!

And almost simultaneously.

Hwaaaaat!

Drawing out Bastard, Yeongwoo threw himself into the pitch-black space ahead.

Inside the dim darkness, he could see large and small structures scattered here and there.

‘Cover.’

And just as expected, he also saw a nimble silhouette leap out from behind one of those structures.

As expected, the one-armed man’s Subua had revealed himself in order to rescue Neheren Salzeo.

“So there you were!”

Taat!

The Subua, his entire body wrapped in black cloth as though disguised as a shadow, paid no attention to Yeongwoo’s shout and ran straight toward Neheren.

—Neheren Salzeo, just what in the world has happened here?

At that, Neheren, half collapsed on the floor, lifted his head to look at him.

—…I’m sorry. But I won’t take Dots’s life.

—……!

Dots Salzeo.

The controller of Planet Tspodal and the owner of this office.

—Don’t tell me, you…….

The moment the Subua raised his head, sensing that something had gone terribly wrong, Yeongwoo was already pushing open the exit of the dark chamber.

Then brilliant white light poured in from the opposite side, and Yeongwoo stepped into it.

—You bastard……!

The furious voice of the Subua thundered from inside the dark room.

But Yeongwoo had already confirmed with his own eyes the figure of the one-armed man seated roughly twenty meters away.

“So it’s you? My money pouch.”

An extremely luxurious-looking mechanical prosthetic arm.

An expression overflowing with arrogance.

And even the silver-white chair magnificently supporting his rear.

There was no doubt.

That bastard had to be Dots Salzeo.

—What the hell? How could something like that be allowed into my room?

Soon, Dots Salzeo twisted his brow with the expression of someone staring at an insect, and immediately afterward, the Subua charged at Yeongwoo with terrifying speed.

—You bastard, if you take even one more step from there……!

But Yeongwoo had already moved—not only that, he had already activated “Lightning Step” toward Dots Salzeo.

Pachichichit!

Turning into a massive bolt of lightning, Yeongwoo shot toward the one-armed Salzeo.

The Subua slashed through the place where Yeongwoo had been standing, but he was far too late.

Dots Salzeo had already been dragged out of his chair and slammed face-first into the floor.

Kwaaaaaak!

—You insane bastard!

Despite being overpowered by overwhelming physical force, Dots Salzeo showed no sign of fear at all.

—Your ignorance is driving you to commit an act beyond your ability to bear. Do you even know who I am?

At that, Yeongwoo looked down at him with icy eyes and answered shortly.

“I already told you earlier. You’re my money pouch. Judging by the look of this place, there’s probably a vault somewhere too.”

After sweeping his gaze across an office incomparably larger than Neheren’s, Yeongwoo warned the Subua, who was subtly moving his hand.

“Don’t try anything funny. No matter how fast you are, you’re not faster than the speed at which this one-armed guy’s neck can snap.”

As Yeongwoo actually tightened his grip with those words, Dots let out a ragged scream and gasped for breath.

—Kraaagh! S-Stop! Have you really gone mad?!

Then the Subua withdrew the hand he had been moving toward his chest and gestured for calm.

—Hey. Think before you act. You didn’t come here without knowing what this place is, so you should also know very well what will happen afterward.

“Yeah. I’ve got a feeling I’ll be walking out of here soon with an armful of cash bundles.”

—…….

“But it seems you’re still not prepared yet.”

—…Prepared for what?

“To hand over the money obediently.”

As Yeongwoo raised Bastard high with those words, the Subua’s eyes widened as though he had realized something.

The predicted trajectory of that crimson demonic sword was aimed directly at Dots Salzeo’s shoulder.

Specifically, the left shoulder connected to the mechanical prosthetic arm.

And finally, with the face of a true villain, Yeongwoo spat out a line worthy of one.

“Alright, let’s make you a proper one-armed man first!”

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