The Abominable Factory

I stared blankly at the severed head of the scout floating in midair, its neck sliced clean through, and thought, That sword sure has a nice feel to it... It's the real deal. The new greatsword was impressive, but more importantly, the neck was a vital spot. Attacks there guaranteed critical hits and massive damage. On top of that, I was using two skills at once. It was new to feel no resistance at all when cutting through the neck of a hunter around my level.

I quickly stored the floating head and the collapsing body into my pocket dimension, then began eliminating the scouts one by one as they came to check the prison area at staggered intervals.

Three kills and still no level up? Tch... On top of that, they weren't dropping any equipment, just random runes. Farming them wasn't even fun. Their mana levels were close to C-grade, but their gear and combat ability were pathetic. That's what happens when you force your abilities up. These guys probably had very little dungeon experience too.

Clicking my tongue in disappointment, I headed toward the prison where my companions were being held. The cell door was sealed with steel bars and a lock, but with a soft shrrrk, I simply stored the entire barred section into my pocket dimension and removed the door. The bars were massive enough that most hunters couldn't store them, but for me it was effortless.

Stepping inside, I found two people collapsed in a corner, trembling pitifully. Jin-gyeong. Ji-woo.

"Huuueee... uueee..."

"Hehehehe... hihit..."

Both were deeply drugged, letting out strange moans and giggles as they lay sprawled on the floor. Their mana is being suppressed too... Shackles designed to control mana were fastened around their ankles and necks. These were the kind ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠used in awakened prisons. Their eyes were completely unfocused, pupils dilated, and they couldn't even hold themselves up properly. At least they weren't violated. That's something.

Unlike the women in the other rooms, they weren't stripped naked, and I couldn't sense anything goblin-related below their waists, so I was certain. In the farthest room, over ten female hunters in a similar drugged state were either bent over in grotesque postures or lying face-down.

Should I try it? Ran. Please.

Ran, nestled inside the hood-like cloak around my neck, activated [Acceleration] at my request. At the same time, a sensation I'd never felt before spread through my mind like lightning. Waaaah— It was as if my thoughts were expanding infinitely, something I'd vaguely experienced before but couldn't quite place. My inventory ability's potential expanded dramatically. ......I can do it. I can store people.

I approached Jin-gyeong first, who was still out of it, and reached out. Her eyes met mine and a faint light returned to them, but that was all. The moment my hand touched her, she transformed into a blue mass of light and was sucked into my pocket dimension. Good. Let's move fast.

After storing Ji-woo as well, I picked up speed. My pocket dimension was an almost infinite space with no limits. I gathered every hunter in the room, then moved to the next.

"Heee......"

"Puhuu......"

The women in the next room were in far worse condition. It wasn't just the drugs dulling their eyes. These ones have already been worked on... Their bellies weren't swollen yet, but I could clearly sense the faint stirrings of small lives inside them. As I moved from room to room, I stored every woman whose belly was gradually swelling. By the time the count reached three hundred, I felt genuine disgust toward this organization. How many people must be supplying female hunters to maintain numbers like this? It seemed necessary to thin out the mid- and low-grade hunters in this country once and for all.

Even larger than the prison holding the hunters was a space containing hundreds of ordinary civilians. Their physical condition was far worse than the hunters'. The presence of the lifeforms inside them was faint as well. Everyone's in bad shape. It wouldn't be strange if they died right now... Maybe the organization had decided ordinary people were too difficult to work with and had started targeting hunters instead. Hunters' bodies were much sturdier than civilians', so there was a clear advantage in being able to use them longer. They probably don't have just this one factory. The larger ones might even be managed by actual S-grades... Ha— What the hell am I supposed to do with these bastards?

Suppressing the heat rising in my chest, I sensed hunter reactions in a distant area and sprinted toward it. Along the way, I detected repulsive non-human presences and stopped there first. What I found was a goblin with a shackle ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠around its neck freely violating a woman. She too had a shackle around her neck chained to the wall, preventing escape. The lack of any supervising personnel suggested they were just tossed in here carelessly.

—Ugh...! Eut...! Huuk... Stop... Please stop...! S-Someone... Save me—

The woman screamed for it to stop, but the goblin only thrust its hips more violently. Ah, seriously! I rushed in, beheaded the goblin, then lightly tapped the stunned woman's neck to knock her out. As if that might help her forget the nightmare she'd just endured. I hoped it would. After storing the woman in my pocket dimension, I realized the adjacent room—where an iron bed stood—contained over a hundred goblins writhing in heat. They were all clearly aroused. The factory operators must have done something to them. ......Wall of Fire.

I densely manifested flame barriers inside the sealed space and burned them all to death.

—Kieeeek!!

—Kauuuuuk!!

They no longer gave experience messages, but it still felt satisfying. As I headed back out toward the remaining women, a siren suddenly blared throughout the underground facility and an alarm activated.

A woman's urgent voice echoed loudly through the space. Well, that was expected. All the women suddenly disappeared and the goblins were wiped out. Also, calling it a "Stone Nest" was too much. It was a twisted way of referring to the womb as a "baby nest" and then changing it to mean a place that holds evolution stones. It pissed me off. For a moment, I felt the urge to blow this entire cursed space apart. Collapsing a space only two floors underground wouldn't harm the hunters inside, but at least making them suffer under the rubble would feel satisfying.

Uuuuung—

Huh?!

As if responding to my desire for destruction, Skull Bomb evolved right then. Thanks. These bastards really need to be taught a lesson. I embedded a hundred Skull Bombs into the ceiling at regular intervals while continuing to move. The sharp-sensed hunters in the first search party were closing in on their own encirclement, but none of them detected me as I slipped past. However, the A-grade mages in the second search party activating detection magic was a problem.

—Revealbane—!

—Detect Magic!

That one's going to be tricky... [Stealth] was an ambiguous ability to classify as magic, so I figured I could slip past Detect Magic somehow. Revealbane was harder to judge. That spell detected beings that posed a potential threat to the caster, making it the perfect magic for pinpointing me while I was busy planting bombs. Its downside was a narrower range than Detect Magic. I couldn't just walk through the detection barrier like it was nothing, so I needed another approach. Let's divert their attention a bit.

While moving, I detonated twenty of the Skull Bombs I'd planted in sequence.

KWAKWAKWAKWAKWABOOM──!

The thunderous explosions, staggered in time, made the dozens of hunters tightening the encirclement switch from detection stance to combat stance. I didn't miss that brief opening and slid between them. "Huh? Did something just pass by?" "I didn't feel anything. More importantly, stay alert! There are definitely multiple intruders. If a fight breaks out, it's ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠going to be a headache!"

Fortunately, they let me slip through. They were surprisingly sloppy for their ranks. Storing people in the pocket dimension only lasts thirty minutes. I still had time, but I sensed another thirty or so victims elsewhere and hurried toward them. Huu— From the rough sensations, I'd already known what was happening, but actually witnessing the horrific scene made even my mental fortitude waver.

"Kuaaaaaaaaah──!"

"J-Just kill meee... Kill me pleash..."

The place I'd arrived at was where goblin-human hybrids were being born. The newborns were immediately wrapped in cloth and moved to another room. The female hunters who had just given birth had no light left in their eyes, yet ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠they instinctively reached toward the children they'd borne. But the children's condition was far from normal. "Kieee...! Kiee!!" Born already possessing sharp teeth, the greenish hybrids struggled to straighten their grotesquely twisted bodies. They're born into discomfort from the very beginning... Damn it. These were babies born with bodies that couldn't live long from the moment they entered the world.

Deeper inside, the uncomfortably born hybrid children lay neatly arranged, each with something embedded in their bodies. Mana stones and runes again...? They've already been raising female hunters with Evolution Water, but that's still not enough? The process of feeding mana stones and runes to babies born from mating female hunters—enhanced by Evolution Water—with goblins. I didn't know how long they'd keep the children in that state, but the already emaciated, dying infants were instinctively fusing the mana stones and runes into their bodies to survive. They dissolve the babies whole like that, make products from the resulting Evolution Water, use it to lure female hunters and raise more mothers, then repeat the cycle... That's the routine. I had a rough picture now, but I had no idea where to even begin dealing with it.