Chapter 19

Chapter 19

When the world changed like this and monsters appeared, nonhuman races appeared as well.

They seemed similar to humans, yet possessed entirely different characteristics.

They were not the result of existing humanity evolving or changing, but an entirely new kind of race.

Humans called those who had suddenly appeared out of nowhere nonhuman races.

It was said that some among the nonhuman races lived inside Neo Seoul. But Zeon had never seen them.

Originally, quite a number of them had lived there, but most had been massacred because of a certain incident several decades ago.

The few survivors were strictly forbidden from going outside and lived only inside Neo Seoul. Because of that, Zeon, who had been in the slums, had never been given a chance to see them.

This was his first time seeing a nonhuman race with his own eyes.

Pointed ears were the symbol of elves among the nonhuman races.

The elves who had suddenly appeared in this world one day originally had pure white skin. But under the influence of the environment, it had now become a deep brown.

The elves who had suddenly appeared were holding bows and arrows, and swords hung at their waists.

Without warning, they climbed onto the rock where Deioden and Zeon were, then discovered the two of them.

“Humans!”

“Good. Throw the humans to that thing as bait. Then its attention will be divided.”

“But how can we?”

“We have to live first.”

Amid the divided opinions, the elves aimed their bows at Zeon and Deioden. Then they threatened them.

“Get down from the rock, human!”

“Go down on your own if you do not want to die.”

“Sorry, human!”

“Move aside!”

At the elves’ threats, Zeon looked utterly dumbfounded.

When people commonly thought of elves, they tended to see them as a noble race. That was because their appearances were so uniquely beautiful, and they carried a cold atmosphere.

Zeon, too, had held a certain fantasy about elves, but that fantasy shattered completely.

That was when it happened.

THUD! THUD!

Heavy footsteps rang out.

From the footsteps alone, he could tell that whatever was coming was extremely large.

Urgent expressions appeared on the elves’ faces.

“It’s close. Hurry and throw the humans down to lure it away.”

“Damn it! It followed us all the way here.”

“I said get down already, human!”

The elves pulled their bowstrings taut, and the bows bent like full moons.

Instead of answering, Zeon looked at Deioden.

That was because Deioden’s mood had been unusual ever since the elves appeared.

Deioden had been indifferent even when attacked by monsters and when the Scavengers attacked. Yet now, madness gleamed in his eyes for the first time in a while.

Not knowing that, the elves were threatening Deioden.

Just as Zeon swallowed dryly at the strange atmosphere,

Unable to endure it any longer, one elf released his bowstring.

SHAAK!

An arrow was fired right in front of Deioden. But unlike what the elf expected, the arrow did not pierce Deioden’s head.

Before anyone knew it, the arrow was caught in Deioden’s large hand.

At the unbelievable sight, the elf who had shot the arrow widened his eyes.

CRUMBLE!

In Deioden’s hand, the arrow turned to dust and scattered.

“What?”

“Vermin races!”

Deioden stretched out his hand and grabbed the elf’s face.

His large hand completely covered the elf’s face.

“Mmph!”

The elf struggled and tried to pry Deioden’s hand away. But he was far too weak to withstand Deioden’s terrifying strength.

Seeing that sight, the other elves shouted.

“You bastard!”

“Let go of him, human!”

That was when it happened.

CRACK!

The head of the elf in Deioden’s hand shattered like a cracker.

Blood and brain matter splattered.

Pieces of flesh even stuck to the faces of the elves who had been trying to save their companion.

At the horror that had happened in an instant, the elves’ bodies stiffened.

SHING!

Deioden seized Crayon, which had been stuck in the ground.

“You bastards are always like that. To survive yourselves, you treat human lives as if they are nothing. That is why the world ended up like this.”

At the madness he emitted, the surrounding darkness seemed to ripple.

“Ugh!”

“What?”

The elves came to their senses and stepped back in fear.

In all their lives, they had never seen a being emit such terrifying bloodlust and madness as Deioden.

That was when it happened.

THUD!

Together with a heavy footstep, the being that had driven the elves to flee all the way here appeared.

It was a giant lizard, five meters tall at the shoulder and more than fifteen meters long from head to tail.

Two large horns grew from its head, and at the end of its tail was a spiked iron mace.

Every time the giant lizard moved, a RATTLE! rang out from the black scales covering its entire body.

The elves called this giant lizard Megalania and feared it.

A red force field hung over Megalania’s entire body.

If compared to humans, it was a martial-type Awakened.

That was proof that its physical ability was tremendous.

Its scales possessed incredible hardness and magic resistance, so even the elves’ main weapons, bows and magic, could not wound it.

It could truly be called the elves’ natural enemy.

Because of that, when the elves encountered Megalania, they chose to flee. But even fleeing was not easy. Megalania’s sense of smell was highly developed, so it pursued them to the end.

The reason the elves had fled toward the rock where Zeon and Deioden were resting was also because of Megalania.

FLICK!

The long tongue unique to lizards flicked out from Megalania’s mouth.

Its vertically slit eyes were fixed on the elves and humans on top of the rock.

Two more pieces of prey had increased. From its perspective, it was no different from an unexpected windfall.

Deioden’s eyes turned toward Megalania.

“How dare a worthless monster......”

He swung Crayon horizontally.

At that instant, Zeon felt a dizzying sensation as though the world had been cut in half. The elves felt the same.

What they felt was no illusion.

SLAAASH!

The giant monster, fifteen meters long, had been split in two and collapsed into the desert.

Neither the scales said to possess incredible hardness, nor the blue force field said to belong only to monsters of Grade B or higher, were more than thin sheets of paper before Crayon.

“My God!”

“Insane!”

At the unbelievable sight, the elves widened their eyes.

Megalania was a Grade B monster.

A Grade B monster was stronger than a Grade B Awakened.

Differences in weight class existed between living creatures, and by the time a monster reached Grade B, its size was usually larger than a house.

Because of that, to hunt a Grade B monster, several Grade B Awakened had to form a team, or a specialized raid party was needed.

Megalania was a monster treated as a boss in any dungeon.

In particular, when it came to defensive power alone, it was so extraordinary that it ranked among the top three of the countless monsters existing in the desert.

Between every living creature, compatibility existed, and for elves, Megalania was the worst possible opponent.

It was not for nothing that Megalania was called the elves’ natural enemy.

The sight of such a monster being cut down and killed like a sheet of paper by a single strike from Deioden was far too unreal.

‘Who in the world is this man?’

The elves had appeared one day as if they had simply dropped onto this land.

Originally, they lived in regions thick with trees and plants. Elves were a race that could not live away from forests.

Because of that, when they were exposed defenselessly to an environment called the desert, countless elves died. However, the small number of surviving elves eventually adapted to the desert and began increasing their race again.

They called themselves “Desert Elves.”

Desert Elves looked down on humans, thinking of them as an inferior race.

That was why they had tried to treat Deioden and Zeon as bait for Megalania. Yet the human they had thought so little of possessed power beyond imagination.

GRAB!

Deioden seized the neck of the elf lost in thought.

“It seems there is a village here. Where is it?”

“Grrgh!”

RUMBLE!

A terrifying force was emitted from Deioden’s entire body.

Even Zeon, who was nearby, felt his insides shake so violently that he could not come to his senses.

The condition of the elves who received Deioden’s force head-on was even more miserable. In particular, the elf whose neck Deioden was holding was bleeding from all seven orifices.

Deioden asked again,

“Where is it? Your village.”

“Grrgh! Why would you......?”

“Just answer me, uninvited guest!”

The elf whose neck was being held pressed his lips shut.

That was because he could feel a terrifying hostility toward elves from the human before him.

Instinctively, he felt he must not reveal the location of the village.

CRACK!

At that instant, the elf’s neck twisted.

Deioden had broken it without the slightest hesitation.

After throwing away the dead elf, Deioden looked at the other elves.

“Ugh!”

“A-a demon!”

Having lost their companions in an instant, the elves sank to the ground and pissed themselves.

Zeon, who belatedly came to his senses, tried to stop Deioden.

“Wait. Stop for a moment.”

“Shut your mouth, cripple!”

“No, shouldn’t I at least know why you’re doing this? Why are you killing the elves......”

Zeon could not finish speaking.

BOOM!

An explosion burst out, and his body was flying backward.

Deioden’s fist had struck his abdomen.

Zeon spat blood and rolled across the sand.

Deioden did not even glance at Zeon and approached the remaining elves.

“Where is your village?”

“Ugh! As if we would tell you something like......”

“We do not know.”

They shook their heads desperately.

Deioden looked down at them with madness-filled eyes.

Unable to withstand his gaze, one elf unconsciously turned his eyes away.

At that instant, Deioden showed his white teeth and smiled.

“It is over there.”

His eyes were pointed precisely toward the place the elf’s gaze had turned.

The elf hurriedly denied it.

“N-no, it is not.”

WHOOOM!

No sooner had his words ended than Deioden swung Crayon.

“Kraaaagh!”

“Ghk!”

The elves were split in two and died instantly.

BOOM!

After killing all the elves in an instant, Deioden launched himself toward the direction where he suspected the village was.

As his body broke the sound barrier, a sonic boom erupted.

“Grrgh!”

At the sonic boom that shook his eardrums, Zeon barely came to his senses.

By the time he rose, Deioden had already gone so far that he looked like a tiny dot.

“That old man......”

Zeon rubbed his chest.

Still, perhaps Deioden had held back, because it did not seem any bones had broken.

It was also thanks to the breastplate Kaylee had made protecting him.

Zeon knew that Deioden always carried madness within him. But he had never seen him lose control to this degree.

“What kind of grudge does he have against nonhuman races?”

No matter how he looked at it, he could only think Deioden had done this because of some grudge.

The corpses of the elves left behind were truly horrific.

It was his first time seeing elves at all, and now it was also his first time seeing elven corpses.

“Damn it!”

His stomach churned.

He was still not used to seeing corpses like this.

Zeon forced down his nausea and looked in the direction where Deioden had disappeared.

“What a truly dogshit old man.”

He used Sand Walk.

Crossing the desert in the middle of the night was a mad act that put one’s life on the line, but now was not the time to weigh this and that.

Zeon tracked Deioden.