Chapter 109

Chapter 109

The women were all as slender as models. But their attack power far surpassed that of ordinary Awakened.

They had clearly been empty-handed, yet at some point, small bows had appeared in their hands.

They were specially crafted items.

They were only about the size of a child’s torso, and could be folded and stored away. Because monster bones and tendons had been used to make the bow frames and strings, they possessed tremendous elasticity.

The arrows had also been made from monster bones, and their piercing power had been increased through magical treatment.

SWISH, SWISH, SWISH!

The women shot arrows at Zeon and Briel.

Zeon and Briel threw themselves in different directions to dodge the arrows. But the arrows changed their trajectory as if they had eyes and chased after the two of them.

Zeon fired Fire Missiles and shot the arrows down.

BOOM! BOOM!

With explosions, the arrows burst apart like fireworks.

Briel, on the other hand, cast magic.

“Hup! Barrier!”

With her shout, a translucent film formed in front of her.

BOOM! BOOM!

The arrows collided with the barrier and exploded.

“It seems you have some skill. But that level won’t let you escape the Blue Fallen Leaf Special Operations Unit.”

The woman in the fedora murmured in a cold voice.

The women she called the Blue Fallen Leaf Special Operations Unit were not ordinary people.

Their senses were several times sharper than those of ordinary humans, and they had received special training, allowing their movements to surpass their limits.

They circled Zeon and Briel at terrifying speed like bees, continuously firing arrows.

SWISH, SWISH, SWISH!

Zeon’s gaze sank coldly.

That was because he realized these were not arrows fired merely with the intention of wounding him and Briel.

They were arrows fired with the intent to take their lives.

That was how tremendous the power contained in the arrows was.

Because of that, Zeon had no choice but to draw out more strength.

Fire Missiles poured out without pause.

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!

The arrows exploded right in front of Zeon as if fireworks were going off.

The woman in the fedora watched that and murmured,

“It seems he’s a fire-type Awakened. It’s a shame. His skill is too good to be wasted in the slums.”

She had already decided to kill Zeon and Briel.

That was how important Levin and the man were.

Levin was an Awakened of a rare system, and the murderer was important evidence.

She could not give up either one.

If other forces learned that they had taken them, they would certainly covet them.

The surest way to keep a secret was to remove the witnesses.

The woman in the fedora was faithful to that principle.

She thought Zeon and Briel would fall soon. But the situation flowed differently from her expectations.

Zeon’s movements suddenly changed.

After shifting from defense to offense, Zeon moved far faster and more powerfully than the women.

BANG!

“Aaah!”

With an explosion, one of the women who had been firing arrows was sent flying backward.

Zeon’s fist had struck her abdomen.

The Gauntlet of Extreme Heat was an excellent item that allowed him to use fire magic, but it was also a powerful weapon in itself. And Zeon used the Gauntlet of Extreme Heat better than anyone.

Daeioden had trained him harshly.

Even without drawing on sand, and even without casting fire magic, Zeon was strong.

He had been tempered by Daeioden, and after that, had spent seven years wandering the world and training himself brutally.

His physical abilities were in no way inferior to those of martial-type Awakened.

BANG!

“Agh!”

With another explosion, another woman was sent flying.

The whites of her eyes were showing, so it was clear that she had lost consciousness.

Zeon moved in search of another victim.

“Die!”

THWIP-THWIP-THWIP!

The woman who became Zeon’s target fired arrows in rapid succession.

It was an incredible rapid shot.

Four arrows reached Zeon’s head, chest, and stomach almost simultaneously. But Zeon knocked the arrows away easily, without the slightest sign of panic.

With metallic sounds, the arrows struck the Gauntlet of Extreme Heat and bounced away.

The woman’s eyes widened.

That was because Zeon, who had knocked away the arrows, was now standing right in front of her.

“Impossible......”

BANG!

At that moment, Zeon struck her head with his fist.

Fortunately, her head did not burst, but blood sprayed from her nose and mouth as she lost consciousness.

Zeon was merciless.

He did not go easy on them just because they were women.

He sank them one by one with a single blow.

The eyebrows of the woman in the fedora trembled.

“Was he not a magic-type, but a martial-type Awakened?”

Even so, Zeon’s martial prowess was beyond common sense.

The sight of him using fire magic at exactly the right moments, based on powerful physical ability, dealt a tremendous shock to the woman in the fedora.

Zeon knocked down the entire Blue Fallen Leaf Special Operations Unit in an instant.

“Ghhh!”

“Aaah!”

The members of the Blue Fallen Leaf Special Operations Unit, who had been trained not to scream under any circumstances, lay on the ground groaning.

It had looked like simple punching, but inside those blows was powerful fire energy.

He had condensed fire energy and sent it into the opponent’s body the moment his fist made contact.

Because of that, the women struck by Zeon’s fists felt pain as if their entire bodies were burning.

Burning pain was one of the greatest pains humans could feel.

No matter how harshly trained a person was, they could not endure the pain of being burned.

As the women writhed in pain, their hats came off.

“As expected, you were elves.”

The ears revealed beneath were pointed.

It was an undeniable trait of elves.

Even if they married other races and their blood became diluted, the traits of elves never disappeared.

Briel wrinkled her nose.

“I thought the scent was familiar. But there’s a stench mixed in.”

Elves who had lived in the human world for a long time carried the scent of humans.

It was a smell elves disliked.

To a proud High Elf like Briel, it felt even more foul.

‘To them, I must smell the same. My body was ruined from making drugs too.’

She would never again return to the purity she had once known.

Briel bit her lip hard and pulled her pointed hat low.

At that moment, the leader of the women removed her fedora and said,

“I failed to recognize that there was such an extraordinary Awakened in the slums. If I had known, I would have prepared more thoroughly.”

“Did you call yourselves the Blue Fallen Leaf Special Operations Unit? You’re from the northern district, aren’t you?”

“That’s right.”

The woman answered honestly.

After things had reached this point, denying it until the end would only make her look ridiculous.

“My name is Borin Strabach. And you?”

“Zeon!”

“I see, Zeon! As you guessed, I came from the northern district.”

“I thought so.”

“Then you must know what you did wrong.”

“Has the world gone wrong? Or is the elven way of thinking completely different from humans? Aren’t you the ones who did wrong? You tried to kidnap Levin without permission and take the murderer away.”

“It was a choice we had no choice but to make for the sake of the world. I have no reason to feel guilt over that.”

“That must be convenient. If you do something wrong, you can just excuse it by saying it was for the sake of the world. I suppose that’s how elves mixed with humans survive. Maybe that’s why you couldn’t enter Elharun.”

“Elharun? What is that?”

Borin asked with a frown.

At her reaction, Zeon furrowed his brow.

‘She doesn’t even know the city of the different races exists. Do the abandoned elves not know? Or do only the higher-ups know while hiding the information from those below?’

At present, there was no way to know which was true.

Zeon deliberately answered bluntly.

“If you don’t know, then forget it.”

“Haa! You have a talent for making people angry.”

“You’re not human, though.”

“We are just like humans...... No. Why am I even saying this?”

“Because you’re afraid.”

“What did you say?”

“When people are afraid, they tend to talk more.”

“This Borin is afraid? Don’t make me laugh. We elves never feel fear.”

“Then why are you only running your mouth? If I were you, I would have attacked long ago.”

Zeon’s words were decisive.

SNAP!

Borin felt the thread of her reason break.

By the time she regained her senses, she was already charging toward Zeon.

As expected of the captain of the special operations unit, Borin possessed tremendous ability.

She had the mobility unique to elves and knew how to use wind-type Skills.

A Grade B magic-type Awakened.

That was Borin’s true identity.

“Wind Cutter!”

Borin murmured softly and sent Wind Cutter flying toward Zeon.

WHIRRR!

The reason wind-type Skills were difficult to deal with was that they could not be distinguished with the naked eye.

Just as wind could not be seen, wind-type Skills could not be seen either.

Rather than responding after seeing them with the eyes, one had to move entirely by trusting one’s own instincts.

That was why Awakened with low grades or little combat experience found wind-type Skills the hardest to deal with.

But Zeon was different.

Even if it could not be seen, and even if it was unleashed without leaving any trace, Zeon’s senses perceived it vividly.

CLANG!

He struck away the Wind Cutter with the back of the hand wearing the Gauntlet of Extreme Heat.

Borin gritted her teeth and used her next Skill.

“Tornado Breath.”

At that moment, wind began rotating at terrifying speed and flew toward Zeon.

It was a destructive Skill that shattered everything caught in it.

It was the most powerful Skill she could use.

She had realized she had no chance of victory through ordinary attacks, so she had gone all out.

ROOOOAR!

Tornado Breath approached Zeon while destroying everything around it.

Seeing that, Briel shouted in alarm.

“Ah! Danger......”

In her eyes, an illusion appeared of Zeon being torn apart by the tornado. But it was only an illusion.

Zeon was no longer in the place Tornado Breath had pierced through.

Briel’s eyes widened.

“When did he get all the way there?”

Zeon was standing behind Borin.

He had moved at a speed neither Borin nor Briel could perceive.

Zeon raised his hand and murmured,

“Fire Rain!”

At that moment, an enormous rain of fire fell from the sky.

The fiery rain, shooting down like meteors, struck Borin at terrifying speed.

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!

The rain of flame struck Borin mercilessly.

Under the fire rain pouring down without even a gap for a drop of water to pass through, Borin did not dare think of dodging and instead protected herself with Wind Shield, a defensive Skill.

The fire rain hammered the shield of wind without pause.

Under the repeated, tremendous impacts, Borin bit her lip hard.

‘Mana has its limits, so he won’t be able to maintain such a tremendous Skill for long.’

The more powerful a Skill was, the more mana it consumed.

Because of that, some Skills exhausted an Awakened after being used only once.

Borin thought the Skill Zeon was using now would be the same. But unlike her expectations, Fire Rain showed no sign of ending and continued to pour down.

CRACK!

The one whose mana ran out first was instead Borin.

As the power of Wind Shield weakened, cracks appeared.

“N-no!”

At the moment her scream rang out, Wind Shield shattered into pieces.

What greeted her next was the hellish fire rain.

The fire rain battered her entire body like bullets.

“Aaah!”

Under the tremendous impact, Borin screamed and collapsed.

Only then did Zeon stop casting Fire Rain.

Borin’s condition was surprisingly intact.

It was thanks to the trench coat she was wearing.

Although it looked like an ordinary coat, it was an item with protective magic embedded within it.

The magic that activated only once at a moment of crisis had saved her life.

“Ghhh!”

She had barely saved her life, but Borin had received such a tremendous impact that she could not move.

Zeon knelt on one knee in front of Borin and met her gaze.

“Now let’s have what you call a conversation. It seems you’re finally ready for that.”