Chapter 168

Chapter 168

“Aaah!”

Suddenly, a woman screamed and collapsed to the ground.

She was a woman with a far larger build than ordinary women.

The mother of three children and Urtian’s wife.

The woman’s name was Deborah.

Deborah was a Tamer.

The Rank Insignia on her wrist showed that her grade was Grade C.

Deborah curled up like a shrimp and endured the intense pain. The agony felt as though her head would split open and her body would burst apart, leaving her unable to even breathe deeply.

Urtian was sitting beside Deborah.

“Are you all right?”

“Haa! Haa! I’m...... fine now.”

“Did something happen?”

“The Griffins I tamed all died.”

“That cannot be......”

Urtian’s expression filled with disbelief.

Among flying monsters, Griffins belonged to the upper tier.

They were so fierce and powerful that even a high-grade Tamer would find them impossible to tame.

Deborah had only managed to tame the Griffins by borrowing the power of the item called the Necklace of Subordination around her neck.

The Necklace of Subordination was a powerful item that allowed one to tame even monsters of a higher grade than oneself.

The problem was that it connected the minds of the monster and the Awakened, so if either one was harmed, the other would also suffer a massive blow.

That was Deborah’s current state.

The Griffins she had barely managed to tame using the Necklace of Subordination had died, and she too had felt pain as if her entire body were being torn apart.

Urtian asked once more,

“Are you certain the Griffins are dead?”

“Yes! Both of them died.”

“Were they caught after going down close to the ground?”

“I don’t know that much. I did order them not to descend to the ground.”

“And yet they died? It seems the Pegasus Raid Team’s strength is greater than expected.”

“It seems so.”

“Then the Twin-Head Buffalo must have scattered.”

“They probably have.”

If not for the Griffins, they would not have been able to gather the Twin-Head Buffalo herds scattered throughout the desert and drive them toward the Pegasus Raid Team.

Now that the Griffins were dead, the Twin-Head Buffalo they had worked so hard to gather must have scattered.

“An unexpected variable.”

“I’m sorry.”

Their original plan had been to use the Twin-Head Buffalo to inflict heavy damage on the Pegasus Raid Team. But since the Griffins had died midway, they would not have caused as much damage as planned.

Urtian pressed his lips to Deborah’s forehead and said,

“It is fine! It will be a little more troublesome, but everything will still go the way we want.”

---

“Haa! Haa! I survived.”

“Fuck! I almost died.”

The raid team’s Awakened lay sprawled on the ground, gasping for breath.

The area was filled with the corpses of Twin-Head Buffalo and Awakened. Most of them were Twin-Head Buffalo corpses, but the number of dead Awakened could not be ignored either.

At least fifty Awakened had lost their lives in the Twin-Head Buffalo attack.

Especially many of the Awakened who had joined as mercenaries died.

The greater problem was the vehicles.

A considerable number of vehicles had been damaged or completely destroyed by the Twin-Head Buffalo attack.

Lee Ji-ryeong looked around the battlefield with eyes full of rage.

He had led the Pegasus Raid Team for a long time, but this was the first time they had suffered such heavy losses before even clearing a dungeon.

Lee Ji-ryeong approached the place where Zeon was.

His gaze turned toward the sand where Zeon had ground the Griffins apart.

The sand had been stained red with the Griffins’ blood.

“You said the Griffins drove the Twin-Head Buffalo?”

“Yes!”

“This is absolutely not natural.”

Lee Ji-ryeong’s eyes were cold.

If it were a high-grade monster above Grade A, that would be one thing. But it was absolutely impossible for a fierce and nearly irrational monster like a Griffin to use other monsters in this manner.

“Did someone control the Griffins?”

“As of now, that seems the most likely possibility.”

“Unbelievable. Even for a high-grade Tamer, taming a savage monster like a Griffin would not be easy.”

“It is possible with the help of an item.”

“Are items like that common?”

“They are absolutely not common.”

At Zeon’s answer, Lee Ji-ryeong bit his lip until it bled.

“Scavenger, then. And highly elite ones at that......”

The only ones who would attack a raid team using tamed monsters were Scavenger.

Scavenger who had survived in the desert for a long time had mastered countless survival methods unknown to urban Awakened. But this was the first time they had encountered a Scavenger group that controlled tamed monsters.

That was why Lee Ji-ryeong thought the opponent was a very large Scavenger group.

“It seems we have become the target of a fairly large group. Insolent bastards!”

CRACKLE!

White lightning rose from Lee Ji-ryeong’s entire body.

It meant that his rage was that great.

Just as Zeon silently watched Lee Ji-ryeong, it happened.

“Captain!”

Kelda hurriedly approached Lee Ji-ryeong.

“What is it?”

“Two transport vehicles are missing.”

“What?”

“It seems they took advantage of the chaos and deserted.”

“These sons of bitches......”

Lee Ji-ryeong, whose rage rose to the top of his head, looked at Kelda with terrifying eyes.

That was because deserters appearing in the raid team was the same as saying they did not trust the Pegasus Raid Team or Lee Ji-ryeong as their captain.

This was an issue of Lee Ji-ryeong’s prestige.

A raid team whose prestige had fallen would later face problems recruiting personnel.

“Shall we send a pursuit squad?”

“How many deserters are there?”

“We estimate about thirty in total.”

“Thirty people escaped? Just how lightly did they look down on me...... Form a pursuit squad immediately and bring those bastards back.”

“Understood.”

Kelda withdrew with her answer.

She had already organized the pursuit squad.

Three buggies carrying the pursuit squad left the Pegasus Raid Team.

Watching the pursuit squad leave with Zeon, Levin opened his mouth.

“To think this many deserters appeared from the start.”

“Monsters around Neo Seoul are hunted periodically, so even Awakened do not have many chances to encounter them.”

“So it’s a matter of experience.”

“That is right. If you had not experienced a dungeon, their attack would have emptied your soul too.”

“Come on! I’m not that bad.”

Zeon smiled faintly at Levin, who denied it firmly.

His gaze turned toward Lee Ji-ryeong.

Lee Ji-ryeong could not hide his rage and was giving off a dark atmosphere.

That was understandable. They had not even reached the dungeon, yet many people had died and deserted.

Even if most of them were mercenary Awakened brought along to fill the numbers, it was inevitable that he would feel displeased.

‘I can only hope this does not have a major effect on the dungeon clearing......’

In any case, leaving this place today was out of the question.

They had to recover the bodies and repair the damaged vehicles.

The Awakened of the Pegasus Raid Team shouted as they moved busily.

Zeon turned his head and looked at the sand dune.

It was the place where the corpses of the Griffins he had ground apart were buried.

When Zeon lightly waved his hand, the sand slid to both sides and revealed the Griffins’ corpses.

The condition of the Griffins was gruesome.

All their feathers had been torn away, and their flesh had been shredded until almost only bone and beak remained. But between the bones, there was a stone shining.

It was the Mana Stone of a Grade B monster.

The mana it contained was also impressive, so demand for it was quite high.

“But this one seems special.”

Zeon picked up the Griffin’s Mana Stone and examined it closely.

Occasionally, special ones appeared among Mana Stones.

Such Mana Stones differed in the purity of the mana one could feel from them.

Zeon held the Mana Stone up to the sunlight. Then he saw red energy flickering inside it.

The red energy squirmed like a living creature, trying to escape outside the Mana Stone.

“It contains a Skill.”

From monsters above Grade B, Mana Stones containing Skills sometimes appeared.

To be precise, the mana of the monster condensed inside the Mana Stone awakened potential and caused a Skill to bloom.

These Mana Stones were extremely precious, and Awakened searched for them with bloodshot eyes.

That was because, as long as one consumed even a single one, they could raise their innate ability without effort.

The problem was that one could not know what kind of Skill would emerge from such a Mana Stone.

If things went wrong, it was possible for a Skill incompatible with one’s existing Skills to appear.

Because of that, Zeon too had only absorbed one Mana Stone containing a Skill until now.

Fortunately, the super-regeneration he had obtained had not had any negative effect on the authority of sand, and its compatibility was very good.

After that, he had not absorbed any Mana Stone containing a Skill.

At that moment, Briel’s voice rang out.

“Is that perhaps a Mana Stone containing a Skill?”

“Hm?”

“It is, isn’t it?”

“Yes! It is.”

It was not something he needed to hide anyway, so Zeon answered calmly.

“Can I see it?”

“Sure!”

Zeon handed the Mana Stone to Briel.

Briel held the Mana Stone in her hand and closed her eyes.

Zeon watched Briel quietly.

It was impossible for him, a human, but perhaps Briel, a High Elf, might be able to identify the Skill.

After a long while, Briel opened her eyes, and Zeon asked,

“Did you figure out what kind of Skill it contains?”

“I’m not certain, but I can guess roughly what kind of Skill it is.”

“So what Skill does it contain?”

“It seems like a Skill related to the Griffin’s Fear.”

“The Skill the Griffins used to control the Twin-Head Buffalo?”

“But I can’t guarantee that absorbing this Mana Stone will grant the exact same Skill. A Mana Stone’s Skill only stimulates and blooms possibility, literally speaking.”

Even if one absorbed the same Mana Stone, the Skill that appeared differed depending on what Skills the Awakened already possessed and their growth potential. That was why it was difficult.

Briel spoke carefully.

“I think it would be better to use it as a material rather than having someone absorb it directly.”

“Is that so?”

“Mm! If it is used in alchemy, I think it will probably gain an effect related to that side.”

Briel’s eyes as she looked at Zeon were filled with earnestness.

Zeon was not so insensitive that he failed to understand what that meant.

Zeon gave a faint laugh and said,

“Then you use it.”

“Can I?”

“It is far better for you to use it than someone else. Do as you like.”

“Thank you! Zeon. I’ll make something really amazing. Look forward to it!”

“Sure!”

As if afraid someone would see, Briel slipped the Mana Stone into her pointed hat.

She had not told Levin yet, but her pointed hat was enchanted with subspace.

Compared to the subspace backpack Levin carried, it was smaller, but it still had enough space to hold most of the tools Briel used.

“Hehe!”

Briel excitedly returned to the buggy.

Left alone, Zeon moved the sand and buried the Griffins’ corpses deep beneath it.

If the Awakened learned that a Mana Stone had come from the Griffins, they might target it.

Zeon was not someone who would be caught by that, but the fewer variables there were, the better.

GRRRRIND!

The Griffins’ corpses descended dozens of meters underground as if loaded onto an elevator.

After completely erasing the traces, Zeon calmly returned to his companions as if nothing had happened.