Chapter 169

Chapter 169

A day had passed since the monster attack.

During that time, the Pegasus Raid Team recovered the bodies and repaired the vehicles completely.

Now all they had to do was depart whenever they were ready. But a problem had arisen.

The pursuit squad that had gone to capture the deserters had not returned.

They waited another two days after that, but the pursuit squad never came back.

Kelda spoke carefully to Lee Ji-ryeong.

“At this point, we should consider them dead as well.”

“Were there dangerous monsters other than the Twin-Head Buffalo?”

“I apologize. I should have investigated more thoroughly.”

“Enough. How could humans possibly know every monster habitat when they change constantly? We depart first. If they are alive, they will catch up on their own.”

“Understood.”

In the end, Kelda relayed Lee Ji-ryeong’s order to the Pegasus Raid Team.

The vehicles departed, raising dust.

Among them was the buggy carrying Zeon’s group.

Inside the buggy, Mandy carefully opened her mouth.

“Do you think they were attacked by monsters?”

“We cannot rule out the possibility that they were attacked by Scavenger.”

“How on earth do Scavenger detect and avoid monsters? Could they also have a Navigator?”

“If Navigators were that common, there would be trade with far more Colonies.”

“Then?”

“Experience. They have spent over a hundred years learning how to survive in the desert. It is precious experience that the Awakened of Neo Seoul, who live safely inside the walls, can never obtain.”

“Then are all Scavenger made up of Awakened?”

“No. There are quite a few ordinary people among them.”

“How do people with no abilities survive in the desert? Awakened may have the strength for it, but ordinary people......”

“Do not underestimate humanity’s potential. Though humans are born weak, their will to survive is stronger than that of any other living creature. I have even seen a seven-year-old child kill a monster using nothing but traps.”

“Is that true?”

“I saw it with my own eyes.”

“Mm! Humanity’s potential really is frightening. Then again, they built a giant city in the middle of the desert with their bare hands.”

In the end, even Mandy had no choice but to acknowledge humanity’s tenacious survival ability.

While they spoke quietly, the buggy continued pushing through the sand.

Fortunately, this time, no monsters attacked.

Thanks to that, the Pegasus Raid Team was able to arrive smoothly at a point one hundred kilometers away from where the dungeon had been discovered.

Even by then, the pursuit squad that had gone after the deserters had not returned.

At this point, they had to assume the squad had certainly lost their lives.

Because of that, the atmosphere of the Pegasus Raid Team had plunged to its worst.

The mood among the West District Awakened traveling with them was not good either.

That was because they had suffered many injuries while fighting the Twin-Head Buffalo.

One of the problems with mechanized Awakened was that if they were injured in the desert, proper repairs were difficult.

The mechanical bodies that had replaced human flesh were vulnerable to sand, and parts were especially difficult to secure.

Of course, they had brought spare parts, but with so many injured, another problem had arisen.

There were not enough replacement parts.

The Awakened with self-repair Skills were slightly better off, but those without such Skills had no choice but to rely on temporary repairs.

Even the cold-hearted Cha Jin-cheol could not help being flustered by an unexpected situation.

‘Damn it! We haven’t even reached the dungeon, yet we’ve already lost a considerable portion of our combat strength.’

He had never imagined that the mechanized Awakened would suffer such heavy damage from mere Twin-Head Buffalo.

His original plan had been to achieve far greater merit than the Pegasus Raid Team and greatly increase their share. But with so many injured from the start, he had no choice but to revise the plan.

‘No, there are still opportunities left. I’ll pull our people back and put the Pegasus Raid Team bastards up front.’

Of course, he could not do it openly.

If they secretly withdrew during a fierce battle, even the Pegasus Raid Team would not notice.

Cha Jin-cheol muttered inwardly,

‘Black Tortoise.’

—Yes! Master.

At that instant, an answer sounded inside his head.

It was Black Tortoise, the AI Kim Hyun-su had given him.

Black Tortoise, an inferior version of the Three-Legged Crow, prioritized keeping Cha Jin-cheol’s physical condition at its optimum at all times.

Thanks to that, Cha Jin-cheol could move perfectly even in the sand-covered desert. But the other West District Awakened did not enjoy such benefits.

That was because Kim Hyun-su downloaded inferior-version AIs of the Three-Legged Crow only to his closest aides.

‘From now on, establish a detailed plan focused on preserving our combat strength intact.’

—Yes! Master.

Cha Jin-cheol did not need to devise the plan in detail.

As long as he gave the broad command, Black Tortoise, the auxiliary AI, calculated and executed the rest on its own.

It was the greatest advantage of mechanized Awakened, and the reason every Awakened of West District wanted an AI so desperately.

The only ones in this expedition who had suffered no damage were Zeon’s group.

Only they were racing across the sand with their fighting strength perfectly preserved.

‘His ability is too dangerous. No one saw it, yet he hunted the Griffins alone.’

The battlefield of flying monsters was the sky.

Humans suffered against flying monsters because they could not fly. Of course, some people had learned flight Skills, but their combat power was weak. Because of that, when facing monsters like this, they were not much help.

But Zeon was different.

As long as there was sand, he could fly through the sky as much as he wanted.

Although Cha Jin-cheol had not seen it with his own eyes, simply hearing that Zeon had killed the Griffins was enough to understand how dangerous he was.

‘His ability to manipulate sand is no different from a natural enemy to mechanized Awakened like us. Once this dungeon clearing ends, we must eliminate him. Without fail......’

—That is a sound judgment. Shall I establish a plan to eliminate Awakened Zeon after the dungeon clearing ends?

‘Prepare the plan for now. We will decide whether to execute it when the time comes.’

—Yes! Master.

---

“Ghhhhh!”

Kim Ki-gwang, the pursuit squad captain of the Pegasus Raid Team, lay on the ground and groaned.

Corpses lay scattered around the blood-soaked Kim Ki-gwang.

They were the pursuit squad, his subordinates.

One of Kim Ki-gwang’s arms had been blown off, and his abdomen was split open in a long gash.

The fact that he was still breathing in that state felt like a miracle.

He was still alive only because he was a high-grade Awakened. If he had been an ordinary person, he would already have lost his life.

In front of Kim Ki-gwang sat a large man.

His face was covered in tattoos whose meanings were impossible to know, and his ears were pointed.

He was not human, but an elf.

The elf’s identity was Urtian.

The Scavenger group he led had attacked and annihilated the pursuit squad and the deserters.

“Look at this bastard’s equipment.”

“Jackpot!”

“Fuck! This bastard’s broke.”

The Scavenger searched the dead Awakened and stripped away every usable item and piece of equipment.

This was how the Scavenger of the desert survived.

The Scavenger stripped not only equipment, but food as well.

In truth, what mattered most to them was not equipment, but food. However, a hastily formed pursuit squad was not likely to carry much food.

Fortunately, there had been a small amount of food loaded on the vehicles the deserters had ridden. Thanks to that, they could put out the urgent fire.

Still looking down at Kim Ki-gwang, Urtian gave his subordinates an order.

“Distribute the equipment among yourselves, and Deborah will handle the food distribution.”

“Understood.”

Deborah, who was nearby, answered.

Deborah was Urtian’s wife, and she was in charge of the Scavenger group’s internal affairs.

All the food Urtian and the Scavenger plundered was distributed fairly through her.

Kim Ki-gwang struggled to open his mouth.

“Do you...... think you bastards will get away with this?”

“And if we do not?”

“Our raid team...... will never leave you bastards alone.”

“Is that so?”

“The captain will avenge us.”

“That is something to look forward to.”

Urtian grinned.

A cruelty unlike that of an elf was plainly revealed in his expression.

It was different from most elves, who hid their emotions behind expressionless faces.

It was then.

“Here’s a sword.”

“Can’t I have it?”

“No!”

“Come on, brother!”

Children who looked exactly like Urtian chattered as they pulled a dagger from the corpse of an Awakened.

Kim Ki-gwang looked at them with fading eyes.

“Half...... elves? Half-breeds?”

CRUNCH—!

At that instant, Urtian’s fist smashed Kim Ki-gwang’s head apart.

Kim Ki-gwang, having lost his head, died where he lay.

Urtian shook the blood and brain matter from his hand and muttered,

“Who the hell are you calling half-breeds?”

Children born between Urtian, an elf, and Deborah, a human.

They possessed the traits of both elves and humans.

Urtian was prepared to gladly throw away his life for his children.

Urtian beckoned Cormac over.

“Urtian!”

“Where is their main force now?”

“They have set up temporary quarters seventy kilometers away.”

“There must be a dungeon nearby.”

“Most likely.”

“They brought this many people, so it must be a very large dungeon.”

“Yes!”

“Then they must have plenty to eat.”

Urtian smiled brightly.

“Yes! The risk is high, but the reward will be just as great.”

“We always accept risk.”

“However......”

“What is it?”

“Their combat strength is not to be taken lightly, so we will have to mobilize all our forces as well. If that happens......”

Cormac’s gaze turned toward Urtian’s children.

The children were still bickering over who would take the dagger.

If the Scavenger were fully mobilized, even the young children would have to be deployed into battle.

“It is time for those children to experience real combat as well.”

“They are still young children.”

“Cormac!”

“Yes?”

“How old were you when you first killed a person?”

“Twelve...... years old.”

“My eldest is twelve, and my second is eleven. They are old enough to be deployed into real combat. Even if they are my children, there are no exceptions.”

“But still......”

“For reference, I killed my first person when I was seven.”

“Understood.”

In the end, Cormac accepted it.

As Urtian said, Scavenger were deployed into real combat from childhood.

It was an unavoidable choice if they wanted to survive in the desert.

They could not care for children forever simply because they were young.

Once they learned to walk and run, they had to learn how to hold weapons.

Lucky children awakened, but there were far more who did not.

Awakened children were sent into raids from a young age, and even children who did not awaken did their part by providing rear support.

The Scavenger survived by uniting tightly in that way.

They too had once wanted to enter Neo Seoul.

They had wanted to live comfortable lives within Neo Seoul’s towering walls. But Neo Seoul had no intention of accepting rootless Scavenger.

Not even the slums, let alone Neo Seoul, were permitted to them.

Those who were not permitted had to wander the desert and obtain food by their own strength.

Monsters, and other Scavenger groups.

All of them were their enemies.

To survive against enemies, even children had to take up weapons.

They had to kill monsters, kill humans from other groups, and survive.

Now Urtian’s children too had to set foot into that cold, harsh world.

That was the fate of those who lived in the desert.

Urtian grabbed a handful of sand and muttered,

“Until we are permitted even a single handful of land where we can live, we kill and kill again, take and take again. That is our fate.”

Red sand trickled down between his fingers.