Chapter 611

The scent sac of the Spike Mole contained the main ingredient of the drug.

The powder Levin had inhaled was exactly that.

The moment it entered his body, his mind went hazy, and his breathing grew rapid.

Levin quickly shut his mouth, so the amount that entered his system wasn’t large. But even that tiny amount was enough to completely shake his mind.

Because of it, his mana control faltered, and his ghost form was temporarily undone.

“Huh? What’s that?”

“It’s a person.”

The workers wearing masks spotted Levin and shouted.

“Tch!”

Levin hurriedly turned back into a ghost, but it was already too late.

“An intruder.”

“Call the hunters.”

They immediately contacted the monster-hunting team outside, and the slaughterhouse was sealed.

“Ugh!”

Levin clutched his chest.

His heart pounded violently, and his vision spun.

It was the aftereffect of inhaling the powder from the scent sac.

Even that minute amount had pushed his body beyond his control.

The workers rushed at Levin, who flickered unsteadily like a candle about to go out.

Though they worked at a slaughterhouse, they were all awakened.

Normally, Levin wouldn’t have cared about their attacks.

His ghost form nullified all physical damage.

But now, his body wasn’t normal.

His control slipped, and his ghost form kept breaking.

If he was struck while tangible, even Levin would be injured.

“Damn it!”

In the end, Levin chose to run.

He quickly escaped the sealed room and rushed toward the exit. But fleeing wasn’t easy.

The corridors had been blocked by thick bulkheads.

Normally, he could pass through them effortlessly, but not now.

His mind felt like it had been stirred into chaos with a ladle, and even maintaining consciousness was difficult.

“There he is.”

“A rat sneaking in here.”

At that moment, the monster-hunting team appeared.

They attacked Levin fiercely the instant they saw him.

Levin tried to use Purple Lightning, but his mana kept cutting out, preventing proper activation.

Slash!

In that instant, the team leader’s blade cut across his back.

Flesh and muscle split, and blood sprayed.

Luckily, the wound was shallow.

If it had been deeper, his spine might have been severed entirely.

Still, the injury wasn’t entirely bad.

The intense pain snapped his mind back to clarity.

Levin hurriedly dodged their attacks and slipped into a ventilation shaft.

The corridors were sealed, but the vents remained open.

“After him!”

“Don’t let him escape!”

The hunting team crawled into the vent after him.

Their faces were filled with determination to capture him no matter what.

The distance between them and Levin was shrinking.

His vision blurred again, and his limbs slowed.

At this rate, he’d be caught in no time.

Then Levin remembered the potion Brielle had given him.

A potion made from the tears of the World Tree.

‘She said it cures all status effects.’

Without hesitation, Levin uncorked it and poured it into his mouth.

The moment he drank it, a refreshing energy surged through his body.

The potion, infused with the tears of the World Tree, instantly expelled the drug from his system and restored his condition.

Focus returned to his fading eyes, and vitality spread through his body.

His previously disrupted mana flow stabilized.

“Whew!”

Levin let out a breath of relief.

Now that his condition had returned to normal, there was no need to run.

Unaware of his recovery, the pursuing hunters shouted,

“He’s completely drained. Capture him now.”

“You rat! I’ll throw you into the incinerator and burn you to ashes.”

The team leader’s fury soared.

He swore to burn Levin alive.

Finally reaching Levin’s back, the leader thrust his sword.

Swoosh!

The blade passed through Levin’s body like tofu.

At that moment, the leader realized something was wrong.

There was no sensation in his hand.

Only then did he notice Levin’s body had become translucent.

Now fully recovered, Levin had returned to ghost form.

“What the hell?”

Crackle!

In that instant, lightning exploded inside the narrow vent.

Levin had unleashed Purple Lightning.

The hunting team inside the shaft was struck without even having time to scream.

The vent filled with the stench of burnt flesh and hair.

“Ha… I thought I was dead.”

Only then did Levin breathe out in relief.

The entire hunting team pursuing him had been charred to death.

All except one—the team leader.

Stronger than the others, he had survived the lightning, but barely.

His body was covered in burns and blisters.

He wouldn’t last long in that state.

Levin grabbed him by the collar and asked,

“Where is the Spike Mole farm?”

“Hah… If I tell you… will you let me live?”

“I won’t kill you.”

“How… can I trust that?”

“Don’t if you don’t want to. I’ll kill you right now.”

“Fuck!”

The leader’s face twisted at the threat.

His entire body burned with pain, and his mind was fading.

Even so, he wanted to live.

If he could just escape, he might receive treatment in Neo Seoul.

“I’ll ask one last time. Where is the farm?”

“In my vehicle… there’s a map marked with the location.”

“A map?”

“Yeah! Damn it!”

“How many people are there?”

“Five… people.”

“You’re not lying, are you?”

“Believe it or not.”

“Fine.”

Levin released his grip.

The leader collapsed like a lump of meat, gasping.

Leaving him behind, Levin exited the vent.

With his abilities restored, the bulkheads were no longer an obstacle.

Boom!

At that moment, an explosion erupted in the center of the slaughterhouse.

Levin’s expression changed instantly.

“Those bastards… are they destroying the evidence?”

Flames surged from inside.

Levin immediately fled the slaughterhouse.

Boom! Boom!

A chain of explosions followed, engulfing the entire place.

Levin hurried to the team leader’s vehicle and retrieved the map.

Just as the man said, the farm’s location was marked.

“Good. He didn’t lie. I didn’t kill him directly either, so I kept my promise.”

Levin looked around.

There was no sign of the workers.

They had already fled.

“Crazy bastards. They blew the whole place just from a brief exposure?”

He shook his head in disbelief.

He had faced many enemies, but none this decisive.

“Wait… are they going to shut down the farm too?”

They had destroyed the slaughterhouse just because of one intruder.

That meant security was everything to them.

Levin immediately took off into the sky with the map.

Flying at full speed, he reached the location in less than an hour—a journey that would normally take a full day by car.

He landed in a deep canyon far from the mine.

As he descended, a foul stench filled the air.

He followed the smell.

When he reached the destination, his face twisted in disgust.

A massive Spike Mole was trapped inside a specially made cage.

Numerous tubes were connected to its body.

They seemed to be supplying nutrients.

Around the cage, about a dozen men bustled about.

Levin hid in ghost form and watched.

A man who appeared to be the leader spoke,

“The stimulant’s in. The young will come out soon. Be careful not to damage them.”

“Yes, sir!”

The men prepared.

—Keeeek!

The caged Spike Mole screamed.

Its abdomen swelled like a mountain, then it gave birth as if suffering from diarrhea.

Each time a newborn emerged, the men carefully caught it.

One after another, more than ten were born.

They moved them to the side.

There were dozens of smaller cages there, each holding young Spike Moles of various sizes.

The men placed the newborns inside and immediately injected them with a mysterious substance.

As the liquid entered, the newborns screamed in pain.

—Kiiiik!

The men ignored it and injected every last drop.

Soon, the bodies of the young swelled like balloons.

Just as they seemed about to burst, they stabilized.

But they had grown visibly larger.

At birth, they were only the size of an adult’s arm—but now they were more than twice that size.

One man muttered,

“This growth stimulant is insane. Raising newborns to adult size in ten days.”

monsters naturally grew fast.

Most reached full size within a year.

But this stimulant reduced that to just ten days.

It drastically shortened the growth cycle.

Thanks to it, they could rapidly increase their numbers.

And their cruelty didn’t end there.

They inserted something into the mother that had just given birth.

“Heh… you’ve given birth, so time to get pregnant again.”

It was the preserved semen of a male.

The mother screamed in agony, but the men didn’t care.

The leader muttered,

“Capturing the queen was a stroke of luck. She can keep giving birth without issue.”

This wasn’t an ordinary Spike Mole.

It was the queen.

It had immense reproductive ability.

Even naturally, it could produce at least ten offspring a year.

But the leader’s drug shortened the pregnancy cycle so drastically that it could give birth three or four times a month—each time producing over ten offspring.

Even for a monster, it was excessively cruel.

Yet the leader showed no guilt.

“You’re a monster I tamed. You’ll never escape my control until you die.”

“Ugh… makes me want to puke.”

“Huh?”

The leader turned at the sudden voice behind him.

Levin stood there, looking like he might actually vomit.

“Who are you? How did you get in here?”

“You bastards! You’re raising monsters like this to produce drug materials?”

“How do you know that?”

“People like you don’t deserve to be treated as human.”

Crackle!

Sparks burst from Levin’s body.

The leader’s eyes widened.

“You… don’t tell me—”

“You’re all dead. Say it.”

“N-no!”

Flash!

At that moment, a massive bolt of lightning struck the canyon.