Chapter 156 – Federal Reserve Vault (3)

I gestured toward the stacks of gold bars lined up in the vault and said to Yelena, “Go ahead, take as much as you can fit into your spatial storage. I’ll divide it up later.”

Yelena blinked at me in surprise. “Huh?”

“Your spatial storage is pretty big, right?”

“But this is way too much. Even if you combined all the gold in the empire, it wouldn’t amount to this much.”

Though she was shocked by the sheer volume of gold, she didn’t object to secretly storing it in her spatial storage. Her mentor was a battle mage, which essentially made her a mercenary mage. And mercenaries, even under contract, never missed an opportunity to exploit a situation. Yelena, having learned magic from her mentor, was no different. Neither was I, having worked as a freelance knight and mercenary.

So, we quietly began gathering the gold. First, I emptied everything except the gold from my spatial expansion pouch and handed it over to Yelena, then stuffed as much gold as possible into the pouch. Even so, I couldn’t fit even a ton of gold into my pouch. But Yelena was able to store an enormous amount in her spatial storage.

Gold bars were sucked into a hole that appeared in the air, and in an instant, the innermost stack of gold disappeared, followed by half of the next stack before it stopped.

“It won’t take any more. I was confident in the size of my spatial storage, but I didn’t expect to fill it entirely with gold,” Yelena said, looking a bit overwhelmed after checking her storage.

The amount of gold she stored was roughly 200 tons. While it was impossible to calculate its current value, based on prices from my past life—about ten years ago—it would have been worth around 1.6 trillion Korean won. 200 tons was an enormous amount, equivalent to 40 large trucks, but compared to the 6,000 tons of gold in the vault, it was a drop in the bucket. From the entrance, the missing gold wouldn’t even be noticeable.

I decided to take it secretly because I knew how people’s minds worked. Even though 200 tons was a small fraction of the 6,000 tons, people wouldn’t see it that way. So, I planned to carry out just enough to keep them at ease. For that purpose, I had brought a large mountaineering backpack that could hold as much as possible.

After filling Yelena’s spatial storage and my pouches with gold, I stuffed the backpack with gold bars. By the time I filled it, it weighed over 200 kilograms. Even Hoffman would have struggled to carry it.

‘I’ll just have the party members help carry it for a while.’

It wouldn’t hurt to appear a bit greedy. I slung the heavy backpack over my shoulder and walked out of the vault with Yelena.

“You really are strong. I can’t believe you managed to carry that much,” Tom and the agents said, looking at me in surprise as I emerged with the backpack.

“I’ll have the party members help carry it.”

“Well, I guess that’s fine.”

Though they were surprised, Tom and the agents had also taken some gold bars—a few 12-kilogram bars each. In these times, even that much would be a huge help. Seeing the heavy backpack, the agents and Tom didn’t go back into the vault.

After we exited the vault, the steel door—or rather, the massive steel pillar—began to lower. It was time to detonate the bombs and bury the vault.

We started climbing back up the stairs. The heavy backpacks made the ascent much harder than the descent, but everyone was in good spirits. I felt the same. While the backpack wasn’t much help to me personally, I was still very satisfied. With the gold stored in my spatial expansion pouch and Yelena’s spatial storage, I could buy any fiefdom that was for sale. Even if it was just a remote barony, I liked the idea.

From now on, I wouldn’t need to gather more gold. All I had to do was wrap up this mission, quietly step back, and wait for the heroes and the expeditionary force to deal with the Demon King.

‘If the gate remains intact until then, I’ll pack up some intact appliances and daily necessities from this world and head back.’

As I thought about finding engineers who could repair electronics, architects, and people skilled in calculations to develop my fiefdom, we reached the first floor.

The agents had been placing bombs along the stairs as we climbed.

“I thought we’d run out, but the bombs we brought from the island are really coming in handy,” Tom said, looking satisfied, though I was a bit worried about the sheer number of bombs.

“Don’t worry. The vault is safe. The building is sturdy, so it won’t collapse easily unless we use a lot of explosives.”

Tom tried to reassure me, but that wasn’t what I was worried about. My concern was the undead roots covering Manhattan. I was worried about how they would react to such a large explosion. But there was nothing I could do about it now. We just had to get out of here as quickly as possible.

The first-floor hallway and lobby were a mess. Several thick walls had holes blown through them, and the once-clean interior was now half in ruins. If we had stayed on the first floor, we would have had to keep fighting the roots that were breaking through the walls. With Yelena’s mana depleted, we would have had to protect the agents and hold out, which would have been tough.

Fortunately, the massive root-like tentacles were no longer inside the building. Looking through the holes in the walls, I could see the roots slowly moving along the streets and building walls. They seemed to have returned to their usual state of alertness, having lost track of us. They weren’t completely still like before, but this was enough for us to escape—assuming the bombs didn’t cause any problems.

I nodded to Tom, and he gave the agents their orders. They placed the final bombs on the first floor, and once they were done, we prepared to make a run for it.

“We’ll set the timer for one minute. After we get out, if the building collapses, it should draw the attention of those monster roots,” Tom said. If things went as planned, it would be perfect.

Tom finished speaking and looked at me, and I nodded.

“There’s no one else outside.”

Before we set off, the boy with tracking abilities checked for any living people nearby, and Yelena and Zahina also scanned the area.

“There are no undead either. All I can sense are the dead roots of the sacred tree.”

I could feel it too. Fortunately, the roots hadn’t passed near the entrance.

*Pat!*

After confirming, I was the first to dart out of the entrance.

Unlike before, the roots were moving all around. The massive roots of the sacred tree, which looked like pillars, noticed me as soon as I appeared.

*Kwa kwa kwa!*

The roots, which had been moving slowly, now shot toward me like arrows. It felt like massive pillars were trying to crush me from all directions—above, left, right—everywhere except below. But I didn’t stop. I couldn’t. If I stayed in place, I’d be crushed by the roots closing in from all sides, so I had to dodge before they could hit me.

I sidestepped the root charging at me from the front and swung my mana-infused sword to the side.

*Ssshk!*

The sword, charged with mana, sliced halfway through the root passing by me. I hadn’t been able to cut it completely like before, but this was enough. The half-severed root began thrashing wildly behind me.

The thrashing root collided with other roots, smashing nearby buildings and streets. At the same time, a miasma began to spread through the area. It was a toxic aura that ordinary people wouldn’t be able to withstand for long.

Fortunately, we had a priest with us. Using the opening I created, the agents and my team members escaped the building. Yelena’s shield enveloped everyone, and inside the shield, Yerim’s holy energy filled the space. Even with the miasma spreading, as long as Yerim was here, there was nothing to worry about. As a mana user, I was also fine, so now I just had to buy as much time as possible.

I continued moving around the Federal Reserve building, injuring the roots as they attacked, until my party was far enough away from the building.

Then, a signal came.

A fireball shot into the sky, and I, with my armor infused with mana, leaped in the opposite direction.

*Koooooong!*

The first explosion shook the ground with a heavy thud. The roots that had been attacking stopped moving, and then the shaking and noise grew louder.

*Kooong! Kwang! Kwaaaang!*

The sound of the explosions grew louder and louder, until finally, it came from right in front of us—the first floor of the building.

*Kwaaaang!*

Flames shot out from the entrance and the holes in the walls, and even the intact walls began to collapse. Then, the building started to crumble.

*Kwa kwa kwa kwa!*

Though it wasn’t as tall as other Wall Street buildings, the sight of the massive, ten-story building collapsing was spectacular. Dust covered the streets, and debris flew in all directions. The shield enveloping me and my surroundings was also pelted with debris.

Of course, the roots chasing me were also hit by the falling debris. The roots were shattered by the debris.

I was as pleased with the roots being destroyed as I was with the spectacle of the building collapsing. Moreover, the spectacular explosion, contrary to my worries, did exactly what Tom had said—it drew the attention of the undead sacred tree.

The explosion, smoke, noise, and vibrations caused the roots to thrash wildly, unable to find me. Thanks to that, I was able to regroup with my party shortly after.

We were quite a distance from the collapsed building, but we didn’t stop. This was the only time we had to escape the thrashing roots.

As the debris settled and the dust cleared, the ruins of the Federal Reserve building could be seen in the distance between the other buildings. Now just a pile of rubble.

Due to the change in plans, no agents were left at the Federal Reserve building—or rather, the ruins. Now, this place would remain buried until the day the U.S. was rebuilt and someone dug up the vault. Or perhaps it would be forgotten, and someone in the distant future would stumble upon a fortune.

So, I made a mental note of the collapsed building. After all, the person who might strike it rich could be me.

I would return here someday—the day I would retrieve the thousands of tons of gold buried beneath.

With that hope in my heart, I turned my steps north. Our next destination was the meteorite crater, the rift.