Chapter 129: Unimbara Warehouse Raid

Ppuru?

Ppuru approached the new object curiously. Harry pressed the LF Bar’s probe against Ppuru’s body.

Beep.

A digital number appeared on the screen.

[1,706]

“Is that high or low? I have no sense of it.”

“Small animals are under 500 LF, F-rank monsters around 1,000. So higher than average.”

Ppuru!

Understanding the praise, Ppuru rubbed against Jin Seong-ha’s large hand and acted cute.

“Uung, as expected, our Ppuru is special.”

At Jin Seong-ha’s baby-talk, Harry Strange made a face as if he’d heard a monster’s cry.

Ion couldn’t stay still.

“What about Sanse? Measure my Sansevieria too.”

Beep.

[7,990]

Heh.

Ion smiled at Ppuru and Jin Seong-ha.

Harry’s eyes widened.

“Very high. Highest I’ve measured so far. Even A-rank monsters were in the 6,000s. Because it’s a plant?”

Harry, flustered, measured other plants in the workshop.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

[800], [720], [912]

Even another Sansevieria only hit 912 LF. Ion grinned and stroked Sanse.

“That’s my Sanse. Ppuru was… 1,706? Small and precious.”

Ppuru…

Defeated Ppuru flattened its ears.

Jin Seong-ha just smiled, finding it cute.

“Let’s measure me and Leader Ion too.”

“I’m not really curious.”

Actually extremely curious.

But he didn’t want to share his number.

“Human version is still in development. I thought humans would be 3–4,000, but after that plant… not sure. Need to finish it fast and check.”

Ion decided: once Harry made the human LF Bar, he’d never go near him.

Harry eyed Sanse suspiciously, then stored the item back in inventory.

“Anyway, even idiots should now realize life force is a power like magic power, aura, or mana. I’ll make cloaks that suppress life force above 50 LF. Won’t fool the artifact, but it’ll fool the people using it.”

“Thank you.”

“Lucky bastards. I’m returning to my country in three days.”

“Meaning you’ll finish before three days?”

“Yeah. Come tomorrow. And…”

Harry frowned deeply, clearly displeased.

“Jin Seong-ha. Take a photo before you go. My daughter’s your fan.”

December 10, near midnight.

Heavy snow had fallen all day on Dolbi Mountain, Cheorwon, Gangwon-do—where the Unimbara warehouse stood. Blizzard strong enough to erase footprints instantly.

They had chosen this day on purpose, but the weather was worse than expected. Ion left Sansevieria in Jin Seong-ha’s inventory.

Sansevieria was strong in dry desert climates but weak to cold—immediate frost damage. It recovered fast, but no reason to make it sick on purpose.

Instead, Ion hugged cold-resistant ivy.

“Please take care of me, Ivy. Sorry for the trouble.”

Rubbing his nose on ivy leaves, Ion made Shin Sae-mi rub her arms as if creeped out.

“Crazy…? I heard rumors, but you’re a real plant lover.”

She glanced beside her—Jin Seong-ha was scattering something on the white snow.

“Hey, what are you doing? What’s that?”

“Special improved health feed that doesn’t freeze.”

“Why are you scattering it?”

“In winter, animals come down to human areas looking for food and die innocently or get caught in poacher traps. Only 1 ton—small amount. Still long until entry time, so I’ll spread it and come back.”

Jin Seong-ha shouldered a feed sack from inventory and headed deep into the mountain. It almost felt like the main purpose was feeding animals and raiding the warehouse was an afterthought.

“What the hell am I doing with these guys…”

Sae-mi sighed, clutching her forehead.

Jin Seong-ha returned shortly; the three hid in the snow and watched the warehouse.

They kept distance—the life-detection artifact was monitoring the surroundings.

“You both prepared properly?”

“Yes.”

Jin Seong-ha took out the item Harry Strange made. A vinyl-like cloak—transparent and suppressed the wearer’s life force.

“Harry Strange made it? You sweet-talked a difficult guy. But…”

Sae-mi checked her system window.

“One use lasts 10 minutes?”

“We’ll only use it to reach the entrance. Once there, I’ll handle the artifact.”

“What nonsense. I told you that artifact needs mana to control.”

At that, Ion—sliding his arm into the cloak—said,

“Ah, didn’t mention yet. I can handle mana.”

“Huh?”

“…”

“…?”

Confusion turned to wide eyes.

“What. You… f*ck… had a mana-handling skill?”

“Not a skill. Special training from my Teacher when young—can sense mana. Once inside, I’ll inject mana and disable the artifact.”

Kim Young of Butterfly Mask had said Ion wasn’t even mentioned in the memoir. Teacher called him true trash.

So Unimbara wouldn’t expect a mana user.

“Flame sword, vines, mana-handling skill—how many do you have? We’re allies now—spill everything. What skills you got?”

Skills: none.

Ion couldn’t answer honestly, stayed silent. Jin Seong-ha asked,

“We’re ready—what about you? How will you enter?”

No answer—instead, Sae-mi’s figure vanished instantly.

“…”

Not vanished.

Bzzz—

A single bee flew where Sae-mi had been.

Jin Seong-ha extended his hand; the bee gently landed on his finger.

A small, chubby bumblebee.

Jin Seong-ha plopped down in the snow.

“A bumblebee. Aah… cute… aah…”

The bumblebee fluttered its transparent wings.

Jin Seong-ha’s hand trembled too.

“Cute. In this world… such a cute and precious skill…”

Ppuru!

Ppuru, sitting on his shoulder, sensed danger and flew over.

The bumblebee dodged Ppuru and moved to Ion.

“Ppuru. Bullying someone smaller and weaker is bad.”

Ppuru. Ppuru. Ppuru!

“Sorry. My kid’s a brat… Anyway, bee transformation skill—impressive. Can you turn into other animals?”

Ion answered for the unanswerable Sae-mi.

“Only bees. Not a skill—natural ability related to the trait ‘Beekeeper.’”

“Natural ability?”

“Like your 5-element resistance.”

“Ah… truly cute and precious trait…”

His pronunciation was a bit off just now.

“Stop getting distracted—put on the cloak. We’re going in.”

“Right. Ppuru, heard that? Let’s go inside.”

Ppuru.

Ppuru slipped into Jin Seong-ha’s shirt.

Ion wanted to ask why bring Ppuru if it might cause trouble again—but let it go.

Two people and one bumblebee pushed through the blizzard.

[Unimbara 4th Container – Authorized Personnel Only]

They easily hopped the barbed-wire fence. No alarm despite being in the artifact’s detection range. As Harry predicted, it only alarmed above a certain life-force threshold.

The warehouse door was closed; one guard post beside it. The blizzard kept windows shut. Ion enhanced his hearing with magic and eavesdropped.

“White light keeps blinking.”

“Ignore white. Bugs. Only watch from yellow.”

“Ah, okay.”

Three guards monitored the life-detection artifact—a dragon-head model connected to a terminal. The dragon head was the artifact; the terminal Unimbara’s addition.

Ion injected mana. Mana passed through barriers effortlessly and reached the artifact.

Plan: overload it with mana to break it.

With one minute left on cloak time, Ion stopped injecting mana and wiped sweat from his brow.

It consumed a surprising amount—worthy of an artifact.

“Malfunction?”

“What?”

“No lights at all. Even our signals gone.”

“Ugh, annoying. They said modified artifacts are unstable. I’ll take it—you guard here.”

“Okay.”

Beep, CLUNK. The warehouse door opened.

Ion entered before the guard.

Wide space divided by panels—ordinary guild warehouse. No trace of System Age or Butterfly Mask.

Few people—two or three Unimbara guild members in work clothes yawning.

Not lax—overreliance on the life-detection artifact.

Cloak time nearly up, Ion quickly hid behind crates. CCTV blind spot Sae-mi had scouted.

Did Jin Seong-ha hide properly? Then—

“…!”

Jin Seong-ha appeared right beside him—startled Ion.

Invisible cloaks made distance hard to gauge. Unlike Ion, Jin Seong-ha had known and looked relaxed.

“Hey, guard who should be outside—what’s up inside?”

“Artifact broke.”

“Again? f*ck. They said it’s unstable. I’ll take it—you stay here.”

The guard and a worker headed to the center.

No stairs—only a freight elevator in the middle.

Memoir stored in 5th SA vault—basement 5. Neither planned to use the elevator.

A bumblebee slipped out of Ion’s breast pocket.

Ion and Jin Seong-ha crouched low and followed the bee’s flight.

Better not get caught until reaching the memoir. Early detection gave them time to move it.

Ion flattened to the ground.

Crawling like an insect, he glanced up—saw Jin Seong-ha’s back crawling the same way.

Protagonist buff too much…

Long stretched legs, sturdy calves—comparing made Ion sigh.

Then suddenly,

Why am I comparing myself to the protagonist?

He needed to be more vigilant.

Bzzz—

The bumblebee stopped and flew in a figure-eight.

There.

Guild members moving cargo were there.

“What the—bee?”

“Wait… bee in winter? Weird.”

A suspicious guild member reached for the bumblebee.

At that moment, Ion revealed himself.

RUMBLE—

“What the—?”

“ARRGH, f*ck!”

Vines erupted from the floor and bound the guild members.

Ion quickly covered both ears.

BOOM!

A missile-like explosion.

Ion used wind magic to clear smoke and dust fast.

A huge hole in the floor—exactly where the bumblebee had flown figure-eights.

BOOM! BOOM!

Jin Seong-ha, wearing triple-buff <Eternal Serendipity> items, punched downward—floors collapsed.

He reached basement 3 in seconds.

Plan: straight to the memoir vault. Elevator to basement 5 was impossible without detection—force it.

“ARRGH!”

“What’s happening?”

“Block! Block now!”

Shouts everywhere.

The bumblebee quickly returned to Ion’s pocket. Ion jumped into the hole.