Chapter 14

Chapter 14

“Haa! Haa!”

Zeon sat with his back against the wall, breathing roughly.

He had poured everything out.

His mana and even his physical energy had all hit rock bottom.

He truly did not have the strength left to move even a single finger.

By contrast, Deioden showed not a trace of exhaustion.

Even his breathing had not grown rough.

Once again, Zeon keenly felt just how inhuman Deioden was.

Zeon had killed quite a few Wolf Ants himself, but compared to Deioden, it was not even a drop in the bucket.

Most of the Wolf Ants inside the Ant Nest had been killed by him. Yet without showing the slightest sign of fatigue, he was rummaging through the spawning chamber.

Zeon wondered what nonsense that man was doing now.

CRACK!

What Deioden tore out was the stone slab where the Queen Wolf Ant had usually sat.

The huge stone slab was ripped away like a sheet of paper.

Hidden beneath the stone slab was an egg the size of an adult’s fist.

“Heh-heh!”

Deioden lifted the egg and looked at it.

A soft light was flowing from the egg.

“This is it.”

“What do you mean, this is it?”

“Eat it.”

“What?”

Deioden threw the egg to Zeon.

Zeon caught it with a dumbfounded expression.

“What is this that you’re telling me to eat?”

“It is the Queen Wolf Ant’s egg.”

“That’s not what I’m asking.”

“It is not an ordinary egg. It is the egg that would have become the next queen. The essence of the Queen Wolf Ant is melted inside it.”

“Like the Sand Angler’s gallbladder?”

“It is even better than that. Eat it.”

“Mm!”

Zeon held the egg and hesitated for a moment. But soon he squeezed his eyes shut and brought the egg to his mouth.

When he broke the shell, the egg spilled out and flowed into Zeon’s mouth.

The moment the egg slid down his esophagus, Zeon felt a terrible heat, as if his entire body were burning.

“Aaaagh!”

At the terrible pain, Zeon screamed and rolled across the floor.

The pain from when he had eaten the Sand Angler’s gallbladder was a joke compared to this.

It felt as though a sharp awl were endlessly stabbing into his stomach.

It was not pain one could endure while fully conscious.

Deioden merely watched Zeon writhe and did nothing.

“If you want to survive in this insane world, you had better get used to pain.”

It was pain for the sake of becoming stronger.

Pain like this did not even count as true pain.

At least by Deioden’s standards, that was so.

Leaving Zeon alone, Deioden approached the Queen Wolf Ant’s corpse.

Because he had smoothly cut the part where the neck and body connected, the corpse was clean, without a single wound.

It was not easy to obtain a Queen Wolf Ant’s corpse this clean.

There was nothing to throw away from the Queen Wolf Ant’s corpse.

The pair of antennae were the finest item for detecting ghost-type monsters, and the six legs had excellent hardness, making them suitable for crafting weapons.

That was not all.

SQUELCH!

Deioden thrust his hand into the Queen Wolf Ant’s body and rummaged around.

A moment later, his hand emerged again holding a stone the size of a fist.

It was a Mana Stone.

And one of extremely high purity.

As befitted the queen of a swarm, she had carried a Mana Stone within her.

Mana Stones were not something that could only be mined from mines.

Occasionally, among monsters, there were creatures that carried Mana Stones like this.

They were far purer than Mana Stones mined from mines, and some even contained the energy of the monster, making their range of use extremely broad.

The titanium-like shell could be used to make top-quality armor, and the organs could also be used as various materials.

Deioden summoned subspace and stored the Queen Wolf Ant’s entire corpse inside.

Zeon’s pain had still not ended.

Now, as if he no longer even had the strength to scream, he was curled up tightly like a shrimp, only choking out broken sounds.

Seeing that, it seemed it would take a long time for him to digest the Queen Wolf Ant’s egg.

THUD!

Deioden thrust Crayon into the ground and sat down.

Because it had been tempered with the flame drake’s heart, Crayon now boasted an even more intense edge.

A faint red radiance also hung over the blade.

But such external changes were not very important to Deioden.

What truly mattered was Crayon’s essence.

“My friend......”

VMMMM!

As if answering, Crayon let out a sword cry.

The sword cry continued for a while, and Deioden listened carefully.

After a long while, Deioden opened his mouth.

“Yes! I know. But there is no other way.”

VMMMM!

“If he is weak, he dies. That is all his fate amounts to.”

VMMMMM!

“You know it as well, do you not? We do not have much time left...... We absolutely need him.”

VMMMM!

“Yes! You are right, my friend. But......”

The conversation between the human and the sword continued for a long time after that.

---

“Haa!”

Zeon opened his eyes with a sigh.

His whole body ached as though he had been beaten with a hammer.

There was no strength in his arms or legs at all. It was clearly the aftereffect of eating the Queen Wolf Ant’s egg yesterday.

He had spent the entire night feeling pain as though an awl were stabbing into his stomach, so it was only natural that his limbs had no strength.

He had to be grateful, at least, that his limbs were intact.

Zeon was checking his mana when he was startled.

That was because the amount of mana had increased by at least three or four times.

“What the?”

“You should have gotten over that premature-ejaculation mana problem a little now.”

Deioden’s voice suddenly reached him.

When Zeon turned his head and looked, Deioden was rising from his seat and storing Crayon.

“The egg I ate increased my mana?”

“That is right. The eggs of certain monsters have the effect of increasing mana. Not all eggs do. Only special individuals, like the one you consumed, have that effect.”

“Mm!”

“If you are done resting, get up. How long do you plan to laze around?”

“Yes! Yes! I’m getting up.”

Zeon stood, clutching his trembling legs.

No matter how much he complained that his body hurt, he knew Deioden would not take his circumstances into account.

It was better for his mental health to endure the pain and get up instead.

Thanks to Deioden, his mana had increased several times over, so this much pain was nothing.

Zeon followed Deioden out of the Ant Nest.

“Phew!”

He had not known the blazing sun could feel this welcome.

While Zeon savored the sunlight and fresh air, Deioden was already walking far ahead.

Zeon hurriedly used Sand Walk and followed behind Deioden.

Sssshhh!

His body slid forward over the sand.

Now that he had plenty of mana, he could control the sand as he pleased without deliberately moving both legs.

Thanks to that, following Deioden was no longer so difficult.

Zeon pulled his robe low over his head.

After his desperate battle with the Wolf Ants, the outer surface of the robe had many scratches. There were even places where holes had been pierced. But as time passed, it slowly recovered to its original state.

The Sand Angler skin’s unique restorative power had activated.

Thanks to that, after about half a day, the robe returned to a state without a single scratch.

Its ability to block heat remained the same as well.

Once Sand Walk was combined with the robe’s ability, traveling through the desert no longer felt difficult.

Zeon took out a piece of jerky from inside his clothes and put it in his mouth.

As he slowly chewed the jerky, he thought,

‘Where is his final destination?’

He was dying to know what Deioden was looking for in this vast desert and where he was going.

It would have been one thing if he had not traveled with him from the beginning, but now, even if only to know Deioden’s true destination, he had to continue accompanying him.

That was when it happened.

A thick sand-laden wind blew in.

A particularly strong wind had swept up the surrounding sand with it.

Zeon pulled his robe low and narrowed his eyes.

An ordinary person would have lost direction in the sand-laden wind, or had their vision restricted. But to Zeon, it caused only slight discomfort and was no obstacle.

Zeon raised his control and prevented the sand from coming toward his face. The robe protected the rest of his body, so it was fine.

WHOOOSH!

The strong sand-laden wind swallowed the world.

All he could see was a curtain of sand, and Deioden’s figure was nowhere to be found.

Even so, Zeon did not panic.

That was because as his mana had increased, his detection range had also expanded greatly.

He could feel Deioden’s presence as he walked across the sand several dozen meters ahead. Each time Deioden stepped on the sand, his presence was felt clearly.

It was as if the sand itself was delivering information about Deioden to him.

‘So this is what being promoted feels like.’

He looked at his Rank Insignia.

Two lines were shining.

The deep orange light proved that he was a Grade E Awakened. But that was only the part visible on the surface.

In reality, he was much stronger than an ordinary Grade E, and he had more mana as well.

It was thanks to Deioden working him harshly.

Thanks to that, Zeon had been able to develop at high speed.

He had also been able to increase the ways he used his ability without being bound by common sense or prejudice.

‘What matters is imagination.’

He had felt that keenly while fighting the Wolf Ants.

Fighting only with fixed Skills was foolish.

Even with the same Skill, the difference in power was enormous depending on how it was applied and used.

Imagining without limit and manifesting that imagination into reality.

That was what Zeon considered true strength.

It was also a truth he would never have learned if Deioden had not worked him so brutally.

‘Though the fact that he is a dogshit old man has not changed......’

He always drove Zeon to his limits and expected him to crawl out alive on his own.

If Zeon failed to meet his expectations, he would be abandoned without mercy.

Now, Zeon did not care even if he was abandoned, but he still wanted to follow him to the end.

That was because he believed that if he followed him to the end, he could become stronger.

He no longer wanted to repeat hiding because he had no strength, and being chased because he was weak.

He did not know where the end of this road lay, but if he followed Deioden, someday he would be able to seize strength similar to his.

As he walked while thinking, the sand-laden wind passed before he knew it, and his vision opened wide.

He could see Deioden’s back as he walked ahead.

He was still looking only forward.

Sand had piled thickly on his head and shoulders, but he did not brush it off and only kept walking.

Then Deioden, who had been walking ahead, suddenly stopped.

‘Why did he stop?’

There was still plenty of time before sunset.

It was not the time for Deioden to rest.

Zeon approached Deioden’s side.

Even when Zeon stood beside him, Deioden did not react and only looked ahead.

Naturally, Zeon’s gaze also turned toward the place Deioden was looking at.

‘What is there?’

Zeon’s eyes, which had been looking forward, soon widened.

That was because something enormous was moving on the horizon where the sky and desert met.

THUD! THUD!

The moment he confirmed the identity of the enormous object approaching with heavy sounds, Zeon nearly screamed.

It was a gigantic turtle.

What made it different from an ordinary turtle was that it was thousands of times larger, and its shell looked like a fortress.

Moreover, a blue force field, the trait of Grade B or higher, hung over its entire body.

“What...... is that?”

“A mobile fortress. Archelon.”

“Archelon?”

“Yes! It is a turtle-shaped monster. Its grade is only Grade B, but in terms of defensive power alone, it is above Grade A. Because of that, people have remodeled its shell into a fortress and ride it around.”

“You mean humans tamed such a gigantic monster and ride it around?”

Zeon’s face was full of disbelief.

That was because it was a story too difficult to believe. But with a turtle-shaped monster carrying a fortress on its back right before his eyes, he had no choice but to believe it.

Archelon was coming straight toward the direction where Zeon and Deioden stood.

It seemed to be walking slowly, but because Archelon’s body was so enormous, it soon arrived before them.

Seen up close, Archelon was even more overwhelming.

It was almost the size of a village.

It was hard to believe that humans had tamed such an enormous monster and rode it around.

THUD!

At last, Archelon stopped before the two of them.

The gate of the fortress opened, and someone appeared.

It was an old man whose face was full of wrinkles.

He pushed up his slipping glasses with his index finger and looked at Deioden.

“I was not sure from afar, but it really was you, Deioden.”