Chapter 151

Chapter 151

Grrrr!

A gigantic sword was piercing the Balrog’s chest.

It was a sword made of pitch-black diamond.

Using the authority of the Gauntlet of Extreme Heat, Zeon had applied ultra-high heat and immense pressure to sand, transforming it into diamond.

It was a miracle possible only because Zeon could freely control both sand and flame.

The black-shining diamond sword pierced straight through the Balrog’s chest.

If it had wanted to, the Balrog could have avoided Zeon’s attack. Yet for some reason, at the final moment, it had not dodged and had taken Zeon’s attack head-on.

Drip, drip!

The Balrog’s blood flowed down the black diamond sword.

The Balrog stood blankly like a mannequin, staring at the diamond sword piercing its chest.

Zeon said to that Balrog,

“Damian! Was that you? Were you the one who held the Balrog still at the last moment?”

At that moment, the Balrog turned its head and looked at Zeon.

The Balrog said nothing.

Damian’s face seemed to overlap the Balrog’s.

His face seemed to nod, as if saying yes.

“So even you couldn’t become a complete villain.”

Grrrr!

Instead of answering, the Balrog let out a groan of pain.

Its eyes, looking at Zeon as if it could not believe its own death, were full of disbelief.

The flames flowing from the Balrog’s eyes and mouth grew stronger and stronger.

The flames began burning the Balrog’s body from within.

As if it intended to leave no trace of itself in this world, it burned itself away.

Zeon silently watched the sight.

The Balrog’s mighty body turned to ash and scattered.

In that way, the Balrog and Damian vanished from this world without leaving a single trace of themselves behind.

As if they had never existed from the beginning.

At that moment, the world changed.

Elder Go had released the barrier.

The rivers of lava and volcanic terrain, which had been bubbling as if they would overflow at any moment, vanished without a trace like a mirage.

Instead, what entered Zeon’s eyes was the endless, vast desert. And far away, he could see Neo Seoul standing tall.

“Hah! Hah!”

Elder Go gasped as if he would stop breathing at any moment.

He had used all his strength to maintain the barrier.

If Zeon had been even slightly later in defeating the Balrog, Elder Go would not have been able to maintain the barrier until the end.

He was exhausted to the point that standing on his own two legs was difficult, but Elder Go forced himself to straighten his back and stand.

That was because the Elf Queen, Eli, Borin, and the others were still unharmed.

‘They definitely said Elharun.’

A city said to have been established by the nonhuman races who had crossed over to Earth.

Even though he had long been one of the mayor’s closest aides, he had never once heard that such a city existed.

If Mayor Jin Geum-ho had known, then Elder Go would have known as well.

That meant the contents of the conversation that had taken place inside this barrier were top secrets even Jin Geum-ho did not know.

‘Those sinister elves will not stand by and let the secret they have hidden so tightly until now leak outside.’

If things went wrong, they might have to fight a fierce battle with the elves as well, so he could not let down his guard.

At that moment, Serian approached Zeon.

“Whew! You worked hard. Thanks to you, we were able to prevent a great catastrophe.”

“It was thanks to you lending me your strength.”

“A Sandmancer. I never imagined it. To think an Awakened with such an ability existed.”

“I also never expected to meet the queen of North District.”

“It is an embarrassing nickname. More importantly, shouldn’t we talk?”

“About Elharun?”

“That too, and......”

Serian trailed off.

There was no way to stop the location of Elharun from leaking now.

The only way to keep the secret was to kill Zeon and Elder Go, but she had no confidence she could handle the aftermath of killing either one.

‘It was a fact that would become known someday anyway.’

Elharun was not such an easy place that one could find it simply because they roughly knew its location.

Because it was protected by all kinds of magic circles and barriers, unless one was a Navigator at Damian’s level, it could never be found.

Even if someone did somehow find it, its defense system had already been completed, so no one without permission could ever enter.

It was simply that they had thoroughly kept it secret until now in preparation for any possible contingency.

In any case, a secret that had already leaked could not be gathered back up. Nor could she kill Zeon and Elder Go.

It might be easier to recruit Zeon instead.

An ability to freely control sand in a desertified world.

‘This man’s potential is truly limitless. I must make him one of ours.’

It would likely cost no small price to draw Zeon in, but that much was more than worth bearing.

It was then.

“Surely you don’t mean to take this man in, do you?”

Noticing the signs, Eli put the brakes on before Serian could even state her business.

“Eli!”

“That is unacceptable.”

“Do you know because of whom things have reached this state, and yet you still say that?”

“I do apologize for that. But we cannot bring a human into our district. Our North District is the final cradle of the stranded races of Kurayan.”

Eli’s eyes were filled with bloodshot veins.

Those reddened eyes were full of hostility toward Zeon.

“We must kill them now and silence them. That is the only way to protect our pitiful races.”

At Eli’s words, which crossed the line, Serian’s anger exploded.

“Enough. Because of your arbitrary decision, precious elites lost their lives. How many more people must die before you are satisfied? And do you think you can handle that man?”

“Your Majesty?”

“Please, come to your senses. The world is not friendly to us, nor is it so easy that we can do whatever we want. Whether we like it or not, we must live by compromising with the people of this world. Why won’t you accept that fact?”

“So you intend to take that human’s side?”

“That is not what I said.”

“If not, then what is it?”

“Haa! You truly cannot be reasoned with. Eli! I am stripping you of all your authority for the time being.”

“Your Majesty!”

“That is an order. If you refuse, it will not be temporary. I will strip it from you permanently.”

“......”

Only then did Eli close her mouth.

In North District, Serian’s position was as solid as an iron fortress.

With a single command from her, everything Eli possessed would vanish like a mirage. That was why Eli had so tenaciously coveted Serian’s position.

Serian let out a faint sigh and looked at Zeon.

But by then, Zeon had already moved away from her.

Zeon was now with Elder Go.

“Are you all right?”

“I am not all right.”

“You worked hard.”

“You are the one who worked harder than I did. More importantly, you are impressive. To think you actually defeated the Balrog.”

“It was thanks to everyone helping.”

“Is that so? I do not think I was much help, but if that is what you think, then I am grateful.”

“You were a great help.”

“What about the twin sisters? I sent them to stop you.”

“I only taught them the lesson that they shouldn’t peer into someone else’s head carelessly, then sent them back.”

“Thank you.”

Elder Go let out a sigh of relief.

The twin sisters were no different from his own granddaughters.

If he had known that Zeon was an Awakened with this level of power, he would never have sent them.

“It may not be much of a payment, but I will keep my mouth shut about this place called Elharun.”

Elder Go deliberately spoke loudly enough for Serian to hear.

He was putting her in his debt so she could not act carelessly.

“However, I do not think I can hide the fact that you are a Sandmancer. To convince the mayor of how the Balrog was destroyed, I must speak truthfully about your ability.”

“Do that. I did not think I could hide it forever anyway.”

“The mayor will send someone to you before long.”

“I’ll wait.”

Zeon nodded.

After an incident this large, there was no way Mayor Jin Geum-ho would not know.

‘I would have had to meet him someday anyway.’

Thinking that, Zeon looked toward the place where the Balrog had vanished.

The Balrog, and Damian, had disappeared from this world without leaving a single trace of themselves behind. The only legacy he had left was Elharun’s location.

To uncover it, he had staked everything and lived with an intensity like flame before burning himself out.

Zeon thought he would likely never be able to forget Damian.

---

The rumor that the White Bear Caravan had summoned the Balrog quickly spread throughout all of Neo Seoul.

City Hall organized a pursuit squad and began tracking down the remnants of the White Bear Caravan.

Whatever the reason, summoning the Balrog near Neo Seoul was an unforgivable major incident.

But the pursuit squad failed to capture the remnants.

All of the White Bear Caravan’s survivors were extremely experienced at surviving in the desert.

Furthermore, they had a Navigator named Allen.

He did not measure up to Damian, but he still possessed enough ability to find direction and move through the desert.

Thanks to Allen, the surviving members of the White Bear Caravan were able to shake off their pursuers and gather at the rendezvous point.

“Caravan Master!”

“You made it out safely.”

There were young men waiting to greet Alexandro and his subordinates.

Allen and Jack.

They were Awakened who had escaped the fortress before Alexandro.

“You all made it safely. Thank goodness.”

A smile appeared on Alexandro’s face after confirming that the two were safe.

Allen was a Navigator, and Jack possessed subspace.

All the mana stones the White Bear Caravan had purchased in Neo Seoul were stored inside Jack’s subspace.

These mana stones would become Akutsk Colony’s lifeline.

Although it was regrettable that they had lost Damian, Alexandro believed these two would fill the place he had left behind.

Alexandro embraced them and said,

“Now let’s return. To our home, Akutsk.”

“Yes!”

It was sure to be a harsh road.

Damian, who had safely guided them, was gone, and their numbers had shrunk to one-tenth of what they had been.

Even so, hope still existed for them.

What they had obtained from Neo Seoul was not only mana stones.

During their stay in Neo Seoul, they had done their utmost to collect Neo Seoul’s goods.

Objects where Magic and science existed in harmony.

From common items like magic lamps, cars, and refrigerators to a small magic power generator they had barely managed to obtain.

Among them, the usefulness of the magic power generator was beyond description.

If they studied it, Akutsk Colony might be able to produce electricity stably like Neo Seoul.

Now that they had obtained a sufficient quantity of mana stones, it was an attempt worth making.

This single small magic power generator was more precious than the items they had obtained from clearing dozens of dungeons.

Alexandro and the survivors set off while protecting Allen and Jack.

Unlike when they had come to Neo Seoul, they had no proper means of transportation.

They had to walk to Akutsk on their own two feet. Even so, not a single person complained.

Because it was something they had already prepared themselves for.

After they had walked for some time, Allen’s face suddenly hardened.

“I sense a monster up ahead.”

“A monster?”

“Damn it! It’s moving under the sand. It’s definitely a Sandworm.”

“A Sandworm? Get behind me.”

Alexandro hurriedly hid Allen and Jack behind him.

RUMBLE!

Far away, they could see the sand heaving.

As Allen had said, a gigantic Sandworm was approaching at terrifying speed.

A Sandworm that had surfaced above ground would not be Alexandro’s opponent. The problem was that the Sandworm was moving underground.

A Sandworm that moved with the thick sand as its shield was a fairly burdensome opponent.

At that moment, the Sandworm’s movement suddenly stopped.

“What trick is this?”

GRIIIIIND!

At that instant, the sand around the place where the Sandworm had stopped began rotating fiercely.

The sand, spinning at terrifying speed, ground the Sandworm apart like a blender.

GRAAAAAR!

The Sandworm’s roar echoed out.

That was the Sandworm’s last.

“What on earth?”

At that moment, Alexandro saw the figure of a man standing far away on a tall sand dune.

Alexandro recognized the man’s identity at once.

“Ze......on?”

The one and only Sandmancer of the Scorched Desert.

As if killing the Sandworm had completed his task, Zeon vanished.