In Search of the Source of the Tentacles

Currently, Jegal was discussing future plans with King Bashir and the knights.

Jegal summarized the facts he had uncovered once more.

“The tentacles control humans and move as a group. I don’t yet know how new tentacles are born, but the infection process is expected to involve controlling the host to subdue other humans with force or drugs and then infecting them. And they can communicate even when far apart.”

The King asked,

“Can’t the tentacles be cured?”

“The royal medical staff says it’s impossible because the tentacles are completely fused with the brain. The host dies the moment you try to remove the tentacles with magic.”

“Where do you think the tentacles’ base is?”

“I expect the origin of the tentacles to be in Bradon Village. This area is likely a key strategic point for them. And I investigated those who came over to North Gale from Bradon Village and discovered that Baron Minji is among them.”

The King asked,

“Isn’t Baron Minji the chairman of the large corporation, Minji Brand? What has Baron Minji been up to recently?”

Jegal explained about Minji.

“Baron Minji hasn’t appeared externally at all since going to Bradon Village, including social gatherings. Baron Minji has completely given his company to his subordinate, Chief Kureha, but no one knows if this was voluntary or forced. Kureha, who became chairman, bought a lot of Demon slaves and went to South Gale with the company employees. I think the tentacles were trying to create a new base.”

“Who is using the Minji Brand headquarters now?”

“Minji Brand sold the company’s real estate and physical assets, converted them into cash, and used that money to buy Demon slaves. Those who are not infected are using the headquarters now.”

“Hmm…. Buying Demon slaves. The tentacles and the Demons are connected.”

“That’s right. They wouldn’t have bought them just because they needed slaves. Demons must be involved. In my estimation, unless other lords accept them, they would have gone to Baron Minji’s territory.”

Research Knight Commander Piergas lamented,

“I often talked about technology with Baron Minji at social gatherings, I can’t believe this is happening.”

This time, Vanguard Knight Commander Maudan spoke in a warrior’s strong tone.

“So, Bradon Village and Baron Minji’s territory are the two bases of the tentacles.”

Jegal added,

“South Gale is more underdeveloped than North Gale, so information transfer is slow, making it vulnerable to infection, so the surrounding territories are not safe either.”

The King asked Jegal with a worried expression,

“I’m worried about the extent of the infection spread in South Gale. Jegal, do you know of any way?”

“Didn’t Your Majesty send messengers to all the lords of South Gale? As time passes, the messengers will return, and if you mark the areas where they don’t return on the Gale map, the distribution of the infection will appear.”

“Good idea! But the problem is that it takes a long time for the messengers to travel.”

Jegal looked at Piergas and asked,

“Piergas-nim. What happened to the portable scan body?”

Piergas replied,

“Mass production is not yet possible, but a prototype has been made. By charging a priest’s divine power into a mid-grade mana stone, it can be used up to 10 times. If we grind our researchers, we can produce one per week. For reference, if we use a top-grade mana stone, it can be used 100 times.”

“That’s too slow. You need to do it faster.”

King Bashir helped Jegal.

“Piergas, I will provide all the support necessary to speed up production. Make it faster.”

Piergas replied as if he couldn’t help it.

“I guess we’ll have to grind the researchers more. First, I’ll organize and send you the number of personnel to be投入 into areas that don’t require specialized skills and the necessary materials.”

King Bashir asked in a voice that seemed to be pondering,

“Where should we attack?”

Jegal spoke about his war plans.

“I think we should strike Bradon Village first. Bradon Village is the origin of the tentacles, and considering that these tentacles are moving intelligently, there may be an alpha individual controlling them. Usually, if you kill the alpha individual, the lower individuals lose their target. For example, the monster Arachne controls the lower spiders it creates, but if you kill the alpha individual, the lower spiders scatter. If we wipe out the tentacles in South Gale, this alpha individual may sense danger and enter the Bohark Forest.”

“If it goes into the Bohark Forest, we won’t be able to find it.”

“That’s right. The alpha individual could gain experience and do more terrible things in the future. Therefore, we must eliminate the alpha individual in Bradon Village first.”

“Should we lead the army to Bradon Village right now?”

“It would be best to send an adventurer team to Bradon Village to check the extent of the infection and their strength first. And we need to send an army to completely block the southern part of North Gale that borders the Loire River. No one unauthorized should be allowed to cross the Loire River into South Gale, and only those who have passed the scan body should be accepted from South Gale.”

“Couldn’t there be infected people coming through land routes?”

“To the east of South Gale, there is the Demon Lord Army Jungle and rugged mountain ranges, making it difficult to come by land. However, the western part of North Gale, which borders the Bohark Forest, also has Bradon Village, so we need to send an army to block it.”

“I’ll leave it to you to check Bradon Village, Jegal.”

“It’s within the expected range so far. Leave it to me.”

The Gale Kingdom sent a large army to the west of North Gale, which borders the Bohark Forest, and to the south, above the Loire River, to block it.

Of course, some troops were stationed in the east of North Gale as well.

People from North Gale could not go to the Bohark Forest and South Gale without permission, and to enter North Gale, they had to undergo a scan body check.

—

Jegal sent Information Knight Commander Giliosa to secretly contact the A-class adventurer team, White Wolf, in Argilla City.

White Wolf was a team of 20 adventurers who had successfully explored numerous ancient dungeons and had experience in eliminating Arachne colonies.

Currently, White Wolf’s leader, Jasim, was receiving a request from Jegal and Giliosa in a shabby building in the slum of Argilla City with his team members.

Jasim asked Jegal,

“So, you want us to check the extent to which the people of Bradon Village are infected with a creature called a tentacle, and we can check it with this portable scan body?”

Jegal replied,

“That’s right. I’ll give you two portable scan bodies made with this top-grade magic stone. Each one can be used 100 times. One is to randomly examine the people in the village square to check the ratio of infected people, and the other is to go deep into the village and randomly examine to check the ratio of infected people. The down payment is 5,000 gold, and if you succeed and return, I’ll give you 5,000 gold per person.”

Jasim asked with a suspicious expression.

“This is an enormous amount of money, is it a dangerous job? I’ve heard rumors these days that tentacles are controlling infected people.”

Since the Gale Kingdom government had hidden the information that there was an alpha individual in Bradon Village from the public, Jasim did not know that there could be an alpha individual there.

Jegal explained,

“It’s not so much dangerous as it is that the Gale Kingdom is in a hurry. We’ve already dealt with the tentacles in North Gale. We want to know the tentacle distribution in Bradon Village, but we want to focus more on South Gale. Even if you’re controlled by a tentacle, you’re just a regular person anyway, are you afraid?”

Jasim’s eyes narrowed slightly at the words that touched his pride, but Jasim was a veteran who had gone through thick and thin, and he was not shaken by this much.

As Jasim pondered, he didn’t think that White Wolf, an excellent adventurer team, would die to infected villagers.

“I’ll take the request.”

Jegal said with a smile.

“You thought well. I’ll give you the down payment and two portable scan bodies right now. Here you go.”

Jasim took the money-filled pouch and the items.

Jegal looked into Jasim’s eyes and warned,

“If you reveal the fact of the request to the outside or give up the request, the Gale Kingdom will chase you to the end, chop you into pieces, and make you into dog food.”

As Jegal’s words ended, information knights began to appear from all over the shabby building.

Although the killing intent was not felt, it was a chilling experience for thieves and assassins to appear from where no one thought they were.

Jasim swallowed hard and said as if not to be overwhelmed by the momentum.

“White Wolf does not give up on requests. We’ll be on our way.”

Thus, White Wolf led the team and left for Bradon Village.

—

Jackson, the lord of the Bradon territory in the Tentacle Kingdom, received word that the identity of the tentacles had been revealed in North Gale.

Jackson sent a communication to the Giant Ent General Muhza through the tentacle mental network.

– [Muhza-nim! Did you receive the communication that the tentacles have been revealed to humans?]

– [I received it.]

– [It seems like the humans will attack soon, should we prepare?]

– [Hmm…. From now on, our Giant Ents will close and hide all entrances to Bradon Village in Barain City except for the entrance.]

Barian City is a newly built city of Giant Ents built underground next to Bradon Territory and is still expanding.

Jackson asked,

– [What’s the reason?]

– [The humans still don’t know the identity of the Giant Ents. If we hide ourselves, we can use ourselves as a hidden card even if the human army comes. Like the saying goes, “Know the enemy and know yourself, and you will always be victorious,” if the enemy doesn’t know me in war, I can win.]

– [Kya~~ General Muhza is really smart! Then I will prepare for war in Bradon Territory.]

Out of the 50 tentacle heroes in Bradon Territory, 10 went to North Gale and 10 went to Baron Minji’s territory.

This time, 4 returned, so there were a total of 34 tentacle heroes in Bradon Territory.

Jackson inspected the weapons and troops of Bradon Territory and strengthened patrols around the village.

Jackson accepted the infected people who fled to Bradon Territory, but he was racking his brains as the territory became saturated.

A few days later, Jackson received a report that a group of 20 adventurers was approaching Bradon Territory.

Jackson knew that they were scouts sent by humans to check the power of the tentacles.

Jackson told Muhza that he would annihilate them all with the territory’s forces alone.

He must let them enter the territory first and then prevent anyone from leaving to prevent information leakage.

—

The White Wolf team arrived at the village entrance without any resistance.

White Wolf’s leader, Jasim, divided the team into two teams of 10 and quietly gave orders.

“One team will be led by me, Jasim, and will go deep into the village to investigate the distribution of infected people. The other team will be led by Vice-Captain Brani and will investigate the distribution of infected people in the square.”

Vice-Captain Brani was a 180cm tall South American woman with black curly hair, brown skin, and a voluptuous, glamorous body, and was a wind magic specialist.

Jasim led a team of 10 people and went deep into the village, feeling something strange and said to his team members.

“Something’s wrong. There are fewer people in the village than I thought. We’re going back to the square.”

Jasim’s senses were sounding an alarm that danger was near.

In the village square, people were selling goods and children were playing, just like any other square.

Brani led her team and examined the people in the square one by one with the portable scan body.

People didn’t pay much attention even when Brani approached and did strange things.

As Brani continued the examination, her team members’ faces contorted.

Brani completed the 20th examination and quietly said to her team members.

“This place is crazy…. Everyone is infected with tentacles. I’ll tell Captain Jasim to get out of here quickly.”

This was the middle of enemy territory, and the team was about to die before completing the request.

Just then, Jasim was leading his team and walking through the streets inside the village, returning to the square.

Brani sent a signal to Jasim that she was leaving the village and headed for the village entrance.

The moment one member stepped on the ground near the entrance, a Kuaaaang sound rang out, and green mucus spewed upwards from the ground, melting that member while they screamed.

Brani shouted urgently.

“No!!”

Tentacle mines began to explode everywhere.

Kwaaang Kwaang Kwaaaaang

In some places, grotesque creatures that looked like giant flowers with sharp teeth on their petals emerged from the ground and grabbed the squad members with their petals and ground them up,

In other places, several wriggling tentacle spears rose up and pierced the squad members.

Jasim’s squad members were no different.

One squad member was crushed by the tentacle gears like a shredder inside as the ground collapsed,

Another squad member had their lower body blown apart by an explosion that started from the ground.

Jasim shouted.

“Everyone, run to the entrance!”

But the tentacle heroes, who had already transformed into monster forms, were blocking the territory entrance with the infected.

All the infected people in the square took out the weapons they had hidden and rushed at the White Wolf team members.

From all directions, armed infected people poured out with a Uwaaaaa sound.

The belly of a human who had climbed onto the roof of a building stretched out and tentacles came out, and another White Wolf team member was hit by the green mucus shot from there and melted.

Jasim shouted with a chilling feeling.

“Crazy! We have to get out of here quickly!”

Jasim took out his beloved extendable chain sword and led the remaining team members and charged towards the entrance.

Dozens of infected people blocked Jasim’s path with weapons and rushed at him.

The White Wolf team members desperately swung their weapons and launched ranged attacks, trying to break through.

As Jasim swung the chain sword from top to bottom, the chain sword stretched out and became like a whip, passing through the infected people coming from the front as they were, and the infected people were neatly cut like tofu.

Suddenly, the infected people in front moved aside, and a huge, muscular monster human walked out from the center.

It was Jackson.

Jackson looked at the White Wolves and howled.

“Kuaaaaa!”

Jackson’s intangible aura materialized and a powerful wind blew against the White Wolf team members, causing their hair to fly back.

As Jackson charged at Jasim, Jasim spun the aura-clad chain sword in a circle, creating rotating chain sword gears in front of Jackson.

But Jackson was someone who had been granted the ability of a tanker by Kyle and whose skin had become as hard as armor.

Jackson wrapped his body in aura and took the rotating chain sword with his body as he was, and delivered a body check to Jasim.

Kwaaaang

Jasim was hit head-on in the solar plexus by Jackson’s body check and spat out blood as he flew backwards.

Jackson sat on top of Jasim and madly threw mount punches, and Jasim’s head became as flat as red flour dough.

The White Wolf team members screamed at Jasim’s miserable death.