CHAPTER 44: THE UNDERGROUND KING

The earth magic left the woman in a state of tremendous anxiety. Under the pressure, she confessed almost everything. She didn’t want to betray her husband, or the mayor, bishop, dentist, firefighter, delivery man, and several male colleagues in the office.

(눈_눈)

Average looks, but so many lovers—must have a silver tongue and skilled hands.

“Nobody asked about your love life. Tell me. Where did you keep the infiltrator?” Wayne demanded coldly.

“At the Holy Gate! There’s an underground prison there. The bishop imprisoned the infiltrator and plans to sacrifice the blasphemer to the great Underground King tonight.”

“What’s the Underground King?”

“I... I don’t know. It’s... It’s enormous...”

Intense fear flashed across the woman’s face. Whatever she was recalling made her tremble and stutter incoherently.

The Holy Gate was the tunnel leading to the underground world, its entrance located in Enrod. The two detectives’ report had marked the exact location. It was very close to the Geocentrism Sect’s headquarters, just a fifteen-minute walk from the town hall.

Originally an empty lot, the sect purchased the land to build a chicken farm. Halfway through construction, a bishop discovered a massive fissure leading to the inner world. Everyone believed it to be a manifestation of the Lord of the Void in response to the followers’ devout prayers, showing the lost souls the right path.

Later, geology professor Vincent and his team of professionals were invited to Enrod for an on-site inspection.

The tunnel entrance, the Geocentrism Sect’s headquarters, and the government hall sat in a straight line. It couldn’t be a coincidence. It was very likely a special magic formation. Wayne committed the crucial information to memory, planning to rescue Isabella first and then relaying the information to her.

One failure could be forgiven; after all, a mighty dragon could still lose to a local snake. He was willing to give Isabella the benefit of the doubt. The powerful mage recommended by his master couldn’t possibly fail in the same way twice.

As for the lady embedded in the wall... well, she was extremely faithful to love and confessed everything to protect her virtue. Moved, Wayne knocked her unconscious with a hand chop before dissolving the earth wall and dragging the lady to a nearby office, locking her in a filing cabinet.

Then there was the starfish-like tentacle monster in the corridor. He tried burning it with fire magic, which turned out to be more effective than expected.

The eight-legged starfish was slimy like a marine creature, obviously full of water and fluids, yet it was more flammable than catkins. As soon as it came into contact with flames, it turned into ash and left only a black liquid stain on the wall.

It looked like crude oil!

“Be grateful that this isn’t my world, or wars will break out on your land.”

Wayne cleaned up the mess roughly. He couldn’t erase all the traces, but it was good enough. Before the Geocentrism Sect noticed that two of their followers had gone missing, he had to hurry to the chicken farm to rescue Isabella.

He lowered his hat and hurried out of the government hall. He had a hunch that the bald old man had seen through the dove earlier, but remained calm and sent the two followers to confirm the situation.

He prepared for the worst-case scenario that he was already exposed. The clock was ticking. He had to act fast.

***

Chicken Farm.

Generally, farms raising broiler chickens and laying hens would be built in the suburbs, as far from towns as possible. But since the Geocentrism Sect had infiltrated the local government and even enthralled the mayor as their lapdog, it was no surprise that a farm was built within town.

The main entrance was guarded by sect members, all wearing white hooded robes. The fabric was rough with loose threads at the cuffs, cinched at the waist with a hemp rope. The style was reminiscent of ascetic monks.

Wayne didn’t rashly break in. Instead, he intercepted a cargo truck of the sect at a street corner.

The robed driver popped his head out and snapped, “I’m busy hauling wares, buddy. You better have something important to say, or I’ll make sure you can never talk again.”

“There is something.” Wayne extended his fist, fingers clenched as if holding something. He said solemnly, “The Lord of the Void spoke to me and granted me a holy relic to present to the bishop as soon as possible. We cannot miss this sacred day.”

Well, why didn’t you say you’re one of us earlier?

Since they shared the same faith, the driver treated Wayne much more kindly. He leaned toward Wayne’s fist, holding his breath. “What holy relic is it? Can I see? Please, just a peek.”

“Of course...”

Bam!

Wayne climbed into the driver’s seat. After some manhandling, he put on the driver’s white robe and started the truck, heading straight for the farm gate.

The free eggs were in high demand, and the townspeople flooding the plaza enthusiastically queued up multiple times, pretending to be newcomers. As this was the truck’s fifth trip between the rally site and the chicken farm, the guards didn’t notice anything amiss and opened the gate for Wayne without checking.

When the truck stopped, followers in waiting loaded baskets of eggs onto it. Wayne locked the car and joined the egg-loading team.

“Hurry, everyone. They’re running out of eggs.”

The other followers eyed Wayne. A new face, but hardworking. No one suspected his identity.

After a while, he clutched his stomach with a pale face and said, “Shit, where’s the restroom? I ate something bad and can’t hold it much longer.”

“Holy crap, stay away from me...”

Nobody wanted to get close to a potential biohazard. The followers quickly pointed the way and told Wayne to hurry back. If the egg transport was delayed, and the higher-ups held them accountable, it would be a bad time for all of them.

While shouting that it was coming out, Wayne ran frantically with the keys clutched in his hand. His comical act made the crowd erupt into laughter. The atmosphere brightened with amusement.

The new guy was entertaining. The followers took an instant liking to him even though they didn’t know his name.

Wayne disappeared around the corner in a few strides. Then he grabbed air and sniffed it, detecting no trace of Isabella’s scent. Understandable. It had been too long for any scent to linger, and she surely had ways to conceal her presence as a mage.

Recently, he had been strengthening his thoughts through meditation, improving his control over both his sense of smell and his supernatural sense. The former, especially, he could now control at will.

This was good news. Now he could deceive himself that magical girls’ farts didn’t smell.

He entered the main hen house through the side door. To his surprise, there weren’t many laying hens. Not that their numbers were few, but compared to the endless supply of free eggs the sect had been handing out, the farm’s hens were pitifully insufficient.

Unless every hen kept on the farm was an advanced egg-producing machine.

He saw a follower pulling a cart and dragging baskets of eggs from a warehouse. Immediately, Wayne grabbed a nearby cart and entered, pretending to do the same thing.

He found himself in an enormous warehouse circled by tall concrete walls, with only a few windows at the very top. Lights hung from the ceiling, and two assembly lines rumbled loudly as eggs moved along conveyor belts. Dozens of followers numbly packed them into crates, their eyes vacant and their movements mechanical like tireless marionettes.

Wayne couldn’t see the other end of the conveyor belt. A black cloth hanging from the machinery blocked his view. But he smelled something familiar: the scent of the eight-legged starfish.

The strong smell was coming from the starting side of the conveyor belt!

Pupils contracting, he rushed to the machinery and lifted the black cloth to reveal two enormous tentacles. The wet things writhed, and the tips of the tentacles gaped open to produce translucent eggs that solidified upon contact with light, making them look like ordinary chicken eggs. The speed and efficiency were enough to make real hens question their purpose in life.

A chill overtook Wayne. His scalp went numb, and his stomach churned. He almost vomited on the spot.

“Damn it all, are you trying to turn the entire town into monsters?”

“Wait, I remember the maid bringing back a basket of eggs. Could the fried egg this morning be...”

Blegh!!