Chapter 188

Chapter 188

“Huff! Huff!”

Briel breathed roughly as she walked across the sand.

Zeon and Levin walked ahead of her, and Eloy walked behind.

Her face had turned red beneath the blazing sun, and her breath rose to the tip of her throat, but she no longer accepted Levin’s help.

That was because she knew there would be no growth if she kept relying on him. So even if she collapsed along the way, she had decided to walk with her own strength.

Levin occasionally looked at her with pity, but he respected her will and did not reach out his hand.

Levin’s gaze turned toward Zeon.

That morning, Zeon had said it.

He did not know the exact distance, but the place they were in was west of Neo Seoul. So they had to go east.

He had guessed it from the constellations the previous night, but he did not tell them that much.

Behind them, Eloy muttered,

“How strange. The dungeon was definitely north of Neo Seoul, but the place where we fell is west.”

“That’s because a dungeon itself is a place where human common sense doesn’t work.”

“Do you think I don’t know that? I’m just saying it’s strange, kid!”

“Who are you calling a kid? Instead of that, can’t Sister Mandy come out in your place?”

“Mandy can’t withstand an environment like this.”

Eloy answered Levin’s question firmly.

The perceived temperature of the scorching sand was over fifty or sixty degrees.

No matter how outstanding an Awakened was, they could not endure such an environment for long. Moreover, they were walking on their own two legs.

Eloy could still endure it because she was herself, but if it had been Mandy, she would have collapsed long ago.

Mandy looked at Zeon, who was walking at the very front.

Zeon was walking through this harsh environment without much difficulty.

Watching him, as though the sand itself were pushing him forward, made her feel envious.

‘What an enviable ability. A man loved by sand......’

She did not envy any other Awakened’s ability, but she envied Zeon’s ability terribly.

At that moment, Zeon suddenly stopped.

Eloy asked with a puzzled expression,

“What is it?”

“An oasis.”

“An oasis? Where?”

She hurriedly looked around. But no oasis could be seen.

“What? There isn’t one.”

“There isn’t one now, but one will appear soon.”

“What kind of nonsense is that......?”

Eloy looked at him with disbelief, but Zeon’s face did not waver in the slightest.

He said,

“An oasis will appear soon, so let’s rest for a bit.”

“Yes, Brother.”

“Mm! We’re saved.”

Levin and Briel believed Zeon’s words without the slightest doubt.

They sank to the ground and beat their swollen legs.

“Whatever. I don’t care anymore.”

In the end, Eloy also plopped down beside them.

She did not know whether Zeon’s words were true, but she was still glad to rest.

Levin took jerky out of his backpack and handed it out.

It was jerky made from cultured meat, but it was good to eat while resting like this.

They had been chewing jerky for quite a while.

Bubble!

Suddenly, the sand in front of them churned.

Bubbles rose as if water were boiling, and then the sand began being pushed away in every direction.

“What the hell? An oasis is really appearing?”

Eloy’s eyes widened.

Unbelievably, an oasis was truly forming before them.

The sand was pushed away, and clear water filled its place.

“It’s an oasis.”

“Waaaah!”

Levin and Briel burst into cheers and ran toward the oasis.

They had believed Zeon, but when an oasis truly appeared, their reason was paralyzed.

They wanted to immerse themselves in the cold water as quickly as possible and cool off.

Splash!

The two jumped into the oasis almost at the same time.

Eloy soon threw herself into the oasis as well.

The water was surprisingly cold and clear.

Merely soaking in it seemed to drive away all the heat.

As the three swam through the water, something strange entered their eyes.

It was a pure white lamp.

It looked as if the moon were floating beneath the water.

At the sight they had never seen before in their lives, the three people’s eyes grew hazy.

Not only Briel and Levin, but even the experienced Eloy lost her mind while looking at the lamp.

They pushed through the water and approached the lamp.

As they drew closer, the lamp’s true form was revealed.

It had a body as large as a Great-Horned Hyena, an enormous mouth that took up more than half of it, and an antenna-like spike on its forehead with a large, round piece of flesh attached to it.

What they had mistaken for a lamp was the round sphere attached to the antenna-like spike.

When the three approached, entranced by the lamp, the creature opened its great mouth.

They were walking right toward its mouth without realizing they were on the verge of being eaten.

“It’s a Sand Angler. All of you, snap out of it.”

BOOM—!

With Zeon’s shout, an explosion burst out.

Before they knew it, Zeon had jumped in and attacked the monster that had been about to swallow the three.

The Sand Angler, having received a heavy blow, tried to flee into the depths of the water, but Zeon did not let it.

Zeon approached the Sand Angler at terrifying speed and struck its forehead with a powerful blow.

CRASH—!

With the sound of a bomb exploding, the Sand Angler’s head was crushed.

Only then did the three, who had been bewitched by the Sand Angler, come to their senses.

“Hah!”

“Uwaaak! What the hell is that?”

“A monster......”

The three hurriedly climbed onto the sand and panted for breath.

Their faces had turned deathly pale.

The fact that they had nearly been eaten alive by a grotesque monster threw them into panic.

At that moment, Zeon rose to the surface.

He threw something onto the sand.

THUD!

The object that slammed into the sand with a heavy sound was the corpse of the Sand Angler that had just tried to eat them.

“Uwek!”

“Ugh!”

“You’re saying we jumped into a place where that thing was?”

Seeing the Sand Angler’s true form made them even more nauseous.

Zeon emerged from the water and said,

“It’s a Sand Angler. As you can see, it is a monster that creates miracles in a desert without a single drop of moisture.”

“So that monster called a Sand Angler made the oasis?”

“That’s right! Normally, it swims through the sand, but from time to time, it creates an oasis like this to lure prey.”

“What kind of monster is that......?”

Eloy trembled as if horrified.

Her personality was a mess, but she was still a woman, so just looking at the Sand Angler’s corpse made her shudder.

“It looks hideous, but it’s useful in many ways. Its belly skin in particular is soft and tough, so if you make a robe from it, the performance is excellent.”

“That’s......”

Just as Deioden had once taught Zeon, Zeon was now teaching them.

Before anyone noticed, Briel had stopped retching and was looking at the Sand Angler with sparkling eyes.

“Is the performance really good if you make it from Sand Angler belly skin?”

“Outstanding.”

“Then give it to me. I’ll make a robe.”

“Do that.”

“Yes!”

Briel cheered.

Zeon skinned the Sand Angler’s belly and handed it to Briel.

Briel carefully stored the Sand Angler belly skin as if it were a precious treasure.

Since he had already started, Zeon dismantled the Sand Angler.

Levin watched his work with eyes full of curiosity.

Zeon dismantled the Sand Angler into easy-to-eat pieces and laid them out on the ground.

“There’s almost nothing to throw away from a Sand Angler. Among them, this gallbladder is the highlight. There is no better medicine for strengthening the bones and muscles. Who wants to eat it?”

“You want us to eat that? Uwek! I don’t want to.”

“I’ll pass too.”

Eloy and Briel, being women, clearly refused.

Zeon’s gaze turned toward Levin.

“Is that really good for you?”

“You’ll be surprised after eating it.”

“Then I’ll eat it.”

Levin answered with a stiff expression.

He had realized it during this dungeon clearing.

He was still far too lacking.

He had to become stronger.

To become stronger, he could eat something even worse than this.

Zeon handed him the large gallbladder and said,

“Eat every last bit.”

“You want me to eat all of this?”

“Yes!”

The gallbladder Zeon had eaten in the past had been several times bigger than this.

It was probably because that one had lived longer than the Sand Angler he had just caught.

Levin looked appalled, but soon began eating with a resolute expression.

Like all gallbladders, the Sand Angler’s gallbladder was horribly bitter.

The one fortunate thing was that he did not need to chew it with difficulty. The moment it entered his mouth, it melted softly like ice cream.

He did not feel full at all either.

Thanks to that, Levin was able to eat the enormous gallbladder completely.

“To think all of that went in. That’s strange.”

Levin also looked at his own stomach as if he could not believe it.

It was then.

Suddenly, terrifying heat surged up from inside his belly.

“Aaaargh!”

Levin screamed and rolled across the ground from the tremendous pain.

Briel asked carefully,

“Is he going to be okay?”

“He’ll be fine. He’ll sleep deeply after that, and when he wakes up, he’ll be better. In the meantime, we should eat the meat.”

“Mm!”

Zeon took a pot out of subspace and placed the Sand Angler meat he had just dismantled inside.

It was an item enchanted with magic, so it heated up without needing a separate fire.

Eloy crouched beside Zeon and asked,

“Are we really eating that?”

“It may look like this, but it’s quite delicious.”

“After living this long, I really am eating all kinds of things. Sand Angler, of all things...... But if the Sand Angler is dead, what happens to the oasis?”

“It will disappear without a trace after a few days.”

“Then it will never appear again?”

“A new young one will be born soon and replace it. They always lay eggs in advance.”

“I see.”

Eloy nodded at the fact she had not known.

Traveling with Zeon taught her many things she had not known.

Probably no one in Neo Seoul knew that such a monster existed.

Zeon knew many secrets of the desert that most people did not know.

Suddenly, she wondered how many secrets existed inside that small head.

Sizzle!

Meanwhile, the Sand Angler meat cooked inside the pot.

Zeon took out several spices and sprinkled them over the Sand Angler meat. Then the smell became even richer.

“Wow!”

“The smell is insane.”

The two women could not keep their senses before the savory smell.

Zeon handed them the fully cooked Sand Angler meat.

Briel and Eloy buried their noses in their plates at the same time and ate ravenously.

The food Levin had packed in his backpack was delicious too, but it could not compare to freshly stir-fried meat.

“Ah! It’s delicious. To think such a hideous thing tastes this good.”

“I guess this is why they say you shouldn’t judge by appearance alone.”

Briel and Eloy smiled in satisfaction as they patted their swollen bellies.

“Krrgh! Kraaagh!”

Even then, Levin was still screaming and rolling across the ground.

Zeon chewed the Sand Angler meat and looked at Levin.

It was a pain he had experienced before.

Pain as if the whole body were being torn off and dismantled must be dominating him. But once this pain passed, Levin’s body would certainly change beyond recognition.

‘Endure it. This pain will make you grow further.’