Chapter 177

Chapter 177

A straight path leading to the ancient castle appeared.

The shifting sands pushed to either side formed sand walls dozens of meters high.

Leeches could be seen wriggling across the cut surfaces of the sand walls.

The sight of leeches the size of an adult’s forearm squirming made the people feel deep fear.

The one fortunate thing was that the leeches did not seem willing to come out of the sand.

Zeon said,

“It would be best to cross the shifting sands quickly. I can’t maintain this for very long.”

“Understood.”

Lee Ji-ryeong nodded and gave an order to the Pegasus Raid Team.

“We break through the shifting sands zone like this.”

“Yes!”

“Let’s go!”

Lee Ji-ryeong took the lead and entered the shifting sands zone.

It felt strange to walk along the path Zeon had opened.

Leeches were still wriggling in the walls on both sides.

They fixed about one-third of their bodies in the sand and stretched out the rest, trying to suck the Awakened’s blood.

Fortunately, the path Zeon had opened was wide enough that the leeches’ mouths could not reach them, but it was still terrifying enough.

Zeon said to Levin and Briel,

“You two cross as well.”

“What about you, Brother?”

“Don’t worry about me. Once I recover my mana, crossing these shifting sands will be nothing.”

One of the reasons Zeon had come here was to help Levin and Briel gain dungeon experience.

Both of them had great growth potential.

The more dungeons they experienced, the faster their growth would accelerate.

Zeon looked at Levin.

“You protect Briel. You can do that, right?”

“Of course.”

“Then cross.”

“Yes!”

Levin nodded and looked at Briel.

Briel looked as though she did not want to be separated from Zeon, but she did not whine or refuse.

Briel pulled her pointed hat low and said,

“I’ll go ahead and wait for you.”

“Sure!”

“Come quickly.”

She entered the shifting sands zone with Levin without waiting for Zeon’s answer.

In that way, everyone entered the path Zeon had opened.

It was when Lee Ji-ryeong and the front line had almost reached the other side.

Suddenly, the leeches showed strange behavior.

SCREEEE!

With bizarre cries, the leeches launched themselves out of the sand.

The leeches shot out like bullets and clung to the Awakened’s bodies, sinking their teeth in.

“Krrgh!”

“The leeches are attacking.”

The Awakened who had not yet escaped the shifting sands zone panicked at the leeches’ sudden bodily assault.

“Damn it! You leech bastards......”

One Awakened burned the leech that had attacked him with a flame Skill.

That became the starting point.

“Die!”

“Yaaaah!”

The Awakened attacked the leeches that had leaped out of the sand.

The creatures were frightening when they were hiding within the sand, but once they had come out, they were not that threatening.

The leeches that had leaped out in greed for human blood were helpless against the Awakened’s attacks.

“Come at me again, you fucking leeches!”

The Awakened who had first burned a leech to death glared at the sand wall while breathing heavily.

His eyes were filled with madness.

His fellow Awakened were startled when they saw his gaze.

“Hey, don’t.”

“Fuck! That bastard’s lost it.”

At that moment, the Awakened whose eyes had turned attacked the leeches wriggling inside the sand.

FLARE!

Ultra-high-heat flames burned the leeches squirming within the sand.

The leeches burned and writhed in agony.

“Ptooey! Worthless things......”

The Awakened who had attacked with flames spat phlegm on the ground and looked at the writhing leeches.

It was then.

RUMBLE, RUMBLE!

Suddenly, an intense vibration could be felt from within the sand.

At that instant, Zeon’s expression changed.

That was because he felt all the leeches spread evenly through the shifting sands moving at once.

The leeches were flocking toward the place where the Flame Awakened had burned their kin.

‘All the leeches are connected. They take the pain of their own kind as their own pain.’

Zeon knew very well what that meant.

He shouted loudly,

“These things are swarm-type monsters. Get out of the shifting sands zone immediately.”

At the words swarm-type monsters, the faces of several Awakened turned deathly pale.

“Fuck! No wonder......”

“Run!”

They were the first to sprint with all their strength.

The Awakened left behind looked at one another’s faces, unable to understand what was happening. Then one of the Awakened running ahead shouted,

“You cripples! Don’t think, just run.”

“What the......”

FLAAARE!

It was then.

Suddenly, something enormous burst through the sand.

It was a giant leech, as if an ordinary leech had been inflated tens or hundreds of times over.

It swallowed the Awakened who had fallen behind.

CRUNCH!

“Aaaargh!”

“Save me!”

The Awakened swallowed by the leech screamed desperately.

At the horrific sight unfolding before their eyes, Levin and Briel widened their eyes.

“What the hell is that?”

“I don’t know! Just run already.”

“Y-yeah!”

Levin grabbed Briel’s hand and ran.

Even at that moment, giant leeches broke through the walls and appeared. They attacked the Awakened still inside the shifting sands zone.

The leeches attacking the Awakened were not single living beings. Thousands, tens of thousands of leeches had gathered together and transformed into giant forms.

That was the terror of swarm-type monsters.

Individually, they were nothing special, but when they gathered into one, they displayed terrifying power.

Thousands or tens of thousands of leeches that had been only Grade D or Grade E gathered into one entity and became a monster of Grade B or higher.

Dozens of such creatures were breaking through the sand walls and revealing themselves.

Monsters above Grade B developed force fields.

Because of that, the attacks of most Awakened did not work on them.

A force field lingered around the entire body of the giant leech monster. It was proof that they were Grade B monsters.

“They’re still just leech bastards. I’ll burn them all to ash.”

The Awakened who had provoked the leeches into gathering as one unleashed a flame Skill.

FLARE!

Ultra-high-heat flames poured out with enough force to burn the leech. But the high-heat flames did not deal any damage to the leech that had become a Grade B monster.

Instead, only the Awakened who had attacked drew the giant leech’s attention.

“N-no!”

The giant leech opened its great mouth and swallowed the Awakened whole.

CRUNCH!

The Awakened was crushed inside the giant leech’s mouth.

After swallowing the Awakened, the leech moved in search of another victim.

More than half of the Awakened still had not escaped the shifting sands zone, and among them were Levin and Briel.

If things continued like this, the two of them would clearly be attacked by the giant leeches as well.

“Whew! It can’t be helped.”

Zeon sighed and unleashed Sand Blaster.

CRASH! CRASH!

Sand Blaster flew at terrifying speed and struck the giant leeches’ bodies.

At the sudden impact, the giant leeches’ attention focused on Zeon.

They wriggled and approached him.

Because they were so large, they closed the distance in an instant.

In the blink of an eye, dozens of giant leeches surrounded Zeon.

Briel, who saw the sight from far away, shouted loudly,

“Zeon!”

RUMBLE!

At that instant, the ground, unable to withstand the weight of the leeches, collapsed.

Zeon and the leeches fell deep underground in an instant.

At the unexpected situation, Levin and Briel shouted,

“No!”

“Zeon!”

But by then, Zeon and the leeches had already vanished into the sand.

RUMBLE, RUMBLE!

Immediately afterward, the shifting sands that had been split to either side surged back and covered the path Zeon had created.

“Haa! Haa!”

“Am I still alive?”

“I almost died.”

The Awakened who had barely escaped the shifting sands zone collapsed to the ground and panted.

Fortunately, because Zeon had drawn the leeches’ attention, the Awakened’s losses were not great.

Lee Ji-ryeong clicked his tongue.

“Did he really die here?”

“Even if he is a Sandmancer, there should be nothing he can do once surrounded by that many leeches. Moreover, hadn’t he nearly exhausted his mana?”

Bronson, the clearing team leader, looked at the sand with a skeptical expression.

The shifting sands flowed proudly again, as if they had never been severed.

It was proof that Zeon’s control was no longer acting upon them.

“Tch! What a shame. He still had plenty of value left.”

“He wasn’t someone who would bow his head to anyone anyway. Perhaps this is better.”

The corners of Bronson’s mouth curled upward.

From the beginning, he had not liked Zeon.

He had merely stood by because Lee Ji-ryeong, the raid team captain, had intended to use Zeon.

Thanks to Zeon, they had safely crossed the shifting sands zone, so his usefulness had come to an end.

From here on, it was the Pegasus Raid Team’s share.

Lee Ji-ryeong turned and said,

“Forget Zeon and focus on clearing the ancient castle.”

“Yes!”

“Everyone, follow me.”

“Let’s go!”

“Waaaah!”

Following Lee Ji-ryeong, the Pegasus Raid Team and the Awakened headed toward the ancient castle.

Left behind, Levin muttered,

“There’s no way Brother died so meaninglessly.”

“Of course not.”

“Huh?”

“Did you forget who Zeon is? A Sandmancer dying inside sand? Say something that makes sense.”

At Briel’s reaction, Levin blinked in surprise.

“Do you know something?”

“I don’t!”

“Then why......”

“Even so, I know Zeon isn’t dead. Zeon is alive.”

“Really?”

“Zeon was born with the blessing of sand. There’s no way sand would kill Zeon. If we go to the ancient castle, Zeon will definitely come there too.”

Briel’s voice was filled with certainty.

Levin stared at Briel’s face, then nodded.

“You’re right! There’s no way Brother would die from something like this.”

“Of course.”

“Got it. Then let’s go to the ancient castle. If he’s alive, he’ll definitely come there.”

“Mm!”

“Be careful! We can’t trust the other Awakened.”

“I never trusted the other humans from the start.”

Briel snorted.

There were only a very small number of humans she trusted.

All other humans were no different from enemies to her.

At that moment, several Awakened from the Pegasus Raid Team approached the two.

“From now on, we will protect you.”

“Protect us?”

“Yes! The Captain ordered us to protect you.”

“You don’t need to go that far.”

“It is the Captain’s order. You have no right to refuse.”

The Awakened answered in a cold voice.

They called it protection, but in truth, it was surveillance.

The two who had lost Zeon were quite desirable existences.

One was an Awakened with a rare ability, and the other was an elf.

Their usefulness was boundless.

Lee Ji-ryeong had no intention of letting the two go.

Levin ground his teeth.

‘So this is how you’re going to act? We’ll see. Let’s see if you can still act like this when Brother Zeon comes back.’