Hiding A Logistics Center In The Apocalypse - Chapter 74
Chapter 74: The Green Indians and the Short-Legged Blue-Collar Workers (2)
TL/ED – Miso
The Apocalypse of the Great Forest, where the World Tree had vanished.
Within it, we discovered various portraits of the Druids.
The first Druid was lying flat on the ground.
“My old love! Where have you gone…?”
Rustle, rustle.
As if searching for a half-chewed World Tree Leaf, he frantically rummaged through the statues and under the huts.
Sweeping up dirt and dust, he looked utterly miserable, sobbing uncontrollably, his sorrow was beyond words.
The second Druid spread two fingers toward the sky.
“…If only my hand were a branch of the World Tree.”
Ssss.
The Druid brought his two fingers to his lips.
But all that touched his lips were his own bony fingers.
His hands were not the World Tree, after all.
The third druid was, remarkably, putting on a performance.
“Hoo… You guys shouldn’t smoke this stuff…”
Puff, puff.
Chewing on an innocent twig, he repeatedly smacked his lips for no reason.
The memories of the World Tree, engraved into his very cells, were stimulating his cerebral cortex.
The Druids, using all sorts of strategies, tried to console themselves over the loss of the World Tree…
But in the end, they had no choice but to admit it.
That they could no longer smoke the World Tree.
“Uhhhhhrrrgh…”
“Ahhhhrgh…”
Like soaked laundry left to dry, the Druids lay sprawled everywhere in disarray.
One Druid stumbled upon another in despair, only to trip over yet another sunk in deep depression.
Meanwhile, Lee Yong-su scratched his head, looking utterly baffled.
“What the hell are they even saying…?”
“Well…”
These druids are called the Poets of the Forest.
Had their tongues been marinated in oil or something?
These damn Druids never spoke a single word plainly.
Of course, understanding their meaning wasn’t particularly difficult.
“They’re asking for help.”
That was the gist of it…
“And we need their help, too.”
That was the other part of it.
Immunity from the Poison Gas.
Simply chewing on the World Tree Leaves wasn’t enough.
The Druids’ special processing was required.
Moreover…
“You said it has healing properties as well, right?”
“Yes… it does, but are you really saying the World Tree exists on Earth?”
Findrick, the Druid chief, asked me again, as if he couldn’t believe it.
The poisonous gas from the South had devastating aftereffects.
If we could use the World Tree Leaves to cure the afflicted, it would be a godsend.
With Findrick looking at me anxiously, I opened a portal.
To help them reclaim what they had lost,
And to gain even more.
***
Bubbling water.
The first step of “processing” was steaming the World Tree Leaves in the dense vapor.
“Ah! I have found you! I row this boat toward you!”
The first Druid stirred the water with a large ladle.
His laughter-filled eyes curved pleasantly like a Hahoe mask.
“If I become the World Tree myself…! If I become the World Tree!”
The second Druid, shoving unprocessed leaves madly into his mouth.
He was immediately restrained and dragged outside, while the remaining Druids sprinkled various additives onto the now-softened World Tree Leaves.
Next came…
Crisp.
Crunch.
Under the blazing sun, they dried the damp leaves, a final process.
The now-stiffened World Tree Leaves gleamed with a unique luster never seen before.
And the third Druid…
“Hoo… You guys shouldn’t smoke this stuff.”
Was sneakily sweeping the leaves into his bundle.
“Catch that bastard!”
Thanks to the other Druids who caught him red-handed and subdued him, the Druids’ special World Tree Leaves were successfully completed.
Like a grandmother’s hands carefully making kimchi, the wrinkled hands of Chieftain Findrick handed over the finished World Tree Leaves.
I didn’t hesitate and quickly took a bite.
And then…
“…Oh?”
A sensation I had never experienced before washed over me.
The leaf bent softly.
Yet, instead of getting stuck in my teeth or being chewed, it glided freely inside my mouth.
A delicious and addictive texture.
But the most surprising thing wasn’t the texture.
“It’s fragrant… and so refreshing…!”
It was truly an astonishing feeling.
The aroma of the World Tree pierced through my mouth and straight into my nasal cavity in an instant.
A sharp minty scent swept away the accumulated waste in my brain, instantly linking up the scattered circuits of my mind, wrapping my cerebrum in an electrifying intellectual satisfaction powerful enough to shatter the main gate of Seoul National University.
“Jeong-gyeom-ssi, this is really…!”
Lee Yong-su, who had also taken the World Tree Leaf, reacted the same way.
“This would be the perfect remedy for drowsy driving!”
Of course, the effects varied slightly depending on the person.
For humans, the World Tree Leaves weren’t addictive,
Yet their overwhelming benefits made them something you’d want to keep in your mouth forever.
“Keh keh! This is just the beginning!”
Chieftain Findrick, having thrown away all pretense of dignity, stuffed his mouth full of World Tree Leaves as if it were about to burst.
Just as he said, the applications of the World Tree were incredibly diverse.
The Druids gathered, finely ground the dried leaves, then either wrapped the powder in other leaves to light and smoke it, or burned them in large quantities to create thick, billowing smoke.
White smoke rose in dense clouds.
At first glance, it resembled the poison gas of the Southern Army, but its effects were the complete opposite.
The Druids regained their strength, and we, the Earthlings, had found a weapon to counter the invaders’ abilities.
Understanding this well, Chieftain Findrick turned to me and spoke.
“Jeong-gyeom-nim, have you ever heard the tale? Long ago, there was a young Druid who lived with a single World Tree. But one day, the Druid-”
“…Just tell me the conclusion.”
“…He was deeply, deeply grateful.”
Chieftain Findrick bowed his head to me.
Seeing this, all the Druids followed suit, lowering their heads.
To me, and to the Subspace Portal, which would become the symbol of a new ‘path’.
And then…
Just as the smoke thickened and everyone was basking in bliss
A voice pierced through the fog like a dagger.
“The Priest has awakened!”
The leader of the North, Glen Ford, had opened his eyes.
.
.
.
Munch, munch.
Chew, chew.
A handful of World Tree Leaves.
Priest Glen moved his large mouth, chewing the chewy leaves.
The World Tree Leaves were also known for their remarkable effects on memory.
It was meant to help him recall the situation in the South and pinpoint the location of the Dwarves’ factories
But…
“There’s no point in confirming the factory’s location.”
What he had seen far exceeded our imagination.
“…The factory moves.”
Glen was a massive black man, nearly two meters tall.
Seeing him clutch his shoulders and tremble, it was clear just how formidable the Southern forces were.
And then…
“Come to think of it… now isn’t the time for this…!”
As if suddenly snapping out of a daze, he jumped up in a panic.
“What’s wrong?”
“They’re coming up. We need to warn Chicago immediately…!”
A moving Dwarven factory.
That fact alone carried a lot of implications.
“…They have no need for supply lines. They just move the entire factory near the battlefield. Soon, the poison gas and monsters will flood into Chicago. We need to act, immediately.”
He moved urgently.
But I simply handed him a black smartphone.
“……?”
He gave me a look as if to ask if I was joking.
Sorry, but this was no joke.
It was a hundred times faster than having him drag his broken body across 100 kilometers.
“Just send a text.”
It was a smartphone equipped with a test-phase messaging system.
Since I had just shipped a smartphone to Kate, we could use it to alert Chicago about the Southern Army’s invasion.
This was a system where portals connected to other portals, enabling communication.
“And…”
Right now, Chicago wasn’t the real issue.
“The Southern Army’s target is this Great Forest.”
“……What?”
“They’ve been releasing poison gas into the Great Forest all this time.”
A poison gas designed for mind control.
Their strategy was simple:
Brainwash the Druids.
By doing so, they could take control of one of the strongholds, the Great Forest.
Of course…
“…It’s about time they changed their strategy.”
Serenity was under the protection of the Great Forest.
The enemy must have realized that blindly spraying poison gas was no longer effective.
And sure enough…
Kwaaaaang!
Kwaaang!
The Southern Army’s bombardment had begun.
There were no more gas canisters.
Instead, Dwarven cannons roared, unleashing terrifying blasts.
The Great Forest trembled like waves crashing in a storm from the impact.
Kugugugu…
The vibrations rumbled from beneath the ground.
The Druids, caught off guard by this sudden attack, were visibly shaken.
“Obstin!”
“Yes, Chief!”
“Gather the warriors. Immediately-”
It was the first time they were facing a full-scale offensive from the Southern Army.
Their instinct to protect the Great Forest had kicked in, making them act impulsively.
But
I stopped them.
“You must not go outside. It’s open terrain.”
“……!”
The Druids, who had spent their lives inside Serenity, wouldn’t know.
That outside the Great Forest lay the vast, barren American wilderness.
Given their nature, which relied on using the environment, any battle outside would put them at a severe disadvantage.
In fact, it was the opposite.
Now was the time to use their greatest weapon.
“Can you manipulate the Great Forest’s spatial distortion directly?”
A mind-bending space, where everything twisted and blended together unpredictably.
This was what made the Druids’ fortress an impenetrable stronghold.
“If all our people combine their strength, it should be possible, but…”
“Redirect the enemy’s bombardment to one concentrated location. Serenity will be safe.”
A strategy that could render the enemy’s attacks meaningless.
But Chieftain Findrick still looked uncertain.
“But we can’t just sit back and do nothing, can we?”
“We won’t be sitting back.”
Of course not.
If all we did was keep dodging, it would be no different from raising our guard and letting the Southern Army’s punches land endlessly.
I immediately pulled out my smartphone and relayed my request to PAX.
And before long
Urrrrrrr!
Through the portal, hundreds of PAX Men began pouring into Serenity.
And they weren’t empty-handed.
On their shoulders rested Dwarven anti-tank rockets resembling RPG-7s
Along with equally formidable weapons.
[Hyungung AT-1K Raybolt +4, price not set.]
Anti-tank missiles supplied by the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Every single one of them had been enhanced to the limit, from the weaponry to the missiles themselves.
Click!
What the PAX-men aimed at was…
↓↓↓
the target area, displayed by PAX in a massive hologram.
The exact location of the Southern Army’s artillery positions.
Now, all that was left
“An artillery duel.”
Kwaaaaang!
Kwaaang!
The enemy’s bombardment continued.
An indiscriminate barrage, powered by the Dwarven factories’ production capacity.
But I intended to overload their assault.
‘…Let’s see how this plays out.’
A battle between the Dwarven factories’ production capacity and the inventory of our logistics center.
‘Let’s find out who runs out first.’
****
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Mr. Fool
Thank you for another chapter tl-nim~