Chapter 209

Chapter 209

Zeon’s group walked across the sand.

Naturally, Zeon used Sand Walk and moved as if gliding, while Levin moved in Ghost Transformation.

The reason Levin had transformed into a ghost was simple.

He was trying to increase the duration and raise the grade by continuously using his main Skill.

Maintaining Ghost Transformation like this consumed an enormous amount of mana. But just as one had to empty something before it could be filled, if he kept repeating this kind of act, his mana capacity would grow, and his mana recovery would improve.

Levin knew that as well, which was why he deliberately moved in Ghost Transformation instead of riding a Bactrian Camel.

By contrast, Briel and Eloy were riding Bactrian Camels and traveling comfortably.

Briel was studying alchemy even on the camel’s back, while Eloy was maintaining Mad Nine-Tailed Fox and preparing herself to fight at any time.

No matter how much Mad Nine-Tailed Fox was a dungeon-made item, it would inevitably deteriorate if it was not maintained properly.

To Eloy, Mad Nine-Tailed Fox was no different from part of her own body. That was why she maintained it whenever she had time, always keeping it in the best condition.

“Whew! It’s fucking hot. I just can’t get used to this heat.”

Eloy, who had finished maintaining Mad Nine-Tailed Fox, wiped the sweat from her forehead.

Sweat was pouring from her face like rain.

Riding a Bactrian Camel was nice because she could travel comfortably, but there was nothing she could do about this terrible heat.

By contrast, Briel did not look especially hot.

It was thanks to the robe made from Sand Angler hide.

It perfectly blocked the desert heat and kept her in a comfortable state at all times. Thanks to that, Briel could immerse herself in alchemy even beneath the scorching sun.

“Mm! I think it’ll work if I combine a few more things here......”

“Little one! What are you muttering about like that?”

“Shut up. If you’re bored, get off the camel and swing your spear by yourself.”

“Don’t be like that. Tell your big sister. Who knows? Maybe I’ll solve your problem.”

“Blech!”

Briel grabbed her throat and pretended to retch. Even so, Eloy did not look offended.

A High Elf and a half-elf.

The two elves, who had seemed as though they could never mix, like water and oil, had grown quite close while traveling together.

Of course, they still bickered over small things, but compared to the past, when they had completely ignored each other, this was great progress.

Eloy sat close beside Briel and said,

“You like it, yet you keep acting like this.”

“Get away from me. It’s hot.”

“It isn’t hot at all, little one!”

“Your body is hot.”

“What do you mean hot?”

Eloy outright hugged Briel tightly.

Briel shuddered and tried to escape, but it was no use.

In the end, Briel looked at Zeon with a tearful expression.

She was hoping Zeon would save her.

But at that moment, Zeon was looking into the distance.

Sensing that the atmosphere was unusual, Eloy let go of Briel.

“What is it?”

“Can you see it?”

“See what?”

Eloy unconsciously looked toward where Zeon’s fingertip was pointing and frowned.

The place Zeon was pointing at was the air.

Far away in the sky, something was circling.

Eloy’s expression immediately distorted.

“Damn it! Are those Wyverns?”

“It seems so.”

“Why would Wyverns be here?”

The objects circling in the air were a swarm of Wyverns.

For some unknown reason, the Wyverns were circling the same place.

Wyverns were tyrants of the sky.

They were Grade B monsters with a high danger level, and their temperament was so ferocious that they could not tolerate the sight of anything else in the sky.

Even if that something was another monster.

They were especially infamous for their obsession with territory, and for never letting any living creature that intruded into their territory live.

Eloy looked around and said,

“Could this be Wyvern territory?”

“They’re creatures that rarely leave their territory, so it’s probably safe to assume so.”

“Can’t we turn back?”

“I think it’s too late for that.”

The Wyverns that had been circling in the air could be seen flying toward Zeon’s group.

They had clearly noticed that Zeon’s group had intruded into their territory.

“Damn it!”

“Ugh! Wyverns, of all things.”

Eloy and Levin prepared for battle.

Their faces were clearly tense. By contrast, Zeon stared intently at the Wyvern swarm without the slightest change in expression.

The Wyverns approached rapidly.

Each flap of their wings carried them hundreds of meters forward.

The Wyvern swarm reached the vicinity of Zeon’s group in an instant.

At the head of the swarm was one especially enormous Wyvern.

Its body was easily twice as large as the other Wyverns, and its wings were so huge they seemed to cover the sky.

But what was most impressive was the faint red energy rippling around its enormous body.

Briel shouted,

“It’s a force field. It’s Grade A or higher.”

It was common knowledge that monsters of Grade B or higher possessed force fields. The force field of a Grade A monster was far clearer and stronger than that of a Grade B.

Just like the enormous Wyvern now flying at the front.

If one encountered a monster with a force field in the desert, they might as well consider themselves dead.

Even an Awakened of the same Grade A would struggle to face a monster with a force field one-on-one.

Above all, Wyverns could fly freely through the sky.

They were capable of three-dimensional maneuvering.

Most Awakened would be torn to pieces without even being able to respond to their movements.

“Fuck! Why did it have to be Wyverns?”

“Damn it!”

Eloy and Levin entered battle stances. But Zeon still showed no movement at all.

KRAAAAAH!

The Wyvern swarm roared.

At their roar, Eloy and the others felt their bodies stiffen.

They had been struck by the Wyverns’ Fear.

Briel was no exception.

“Ah!”

Her whole body stiffened, and she could not move.

In the meantime, the Wyvern swarm arrived.

The moment the creatures opened their mouths and tried to attack the four of them, Zeon’s body floated into the air.

The sand had lifted his body.

In an instant, he was at the same eye level as the Wyverns.

At that moment, the Wyverns’ attack stopped cold.

The Wyverns’ eyes trembled violently as if they had seen something terrifying.

Even the Alpha covered in a force field was no exception.

As if it had seen something it should never have seen, the Alpha stopped in midair and widened its eyes.

Zeon opened his mouth while floating in the air.

“It’s been a while. You’ve grown a lot.”

Instead of answering, the Wyvern hovered in place and looked around.

It looked as if it was searching for somewhere to escape. But soon, it looked at Zeon with an expression of resignation.

When Zeon gestured, it approached him helplessly.

It looked exactly like a frightened puppy.

Zeon touched the Alpha’s head and said,

“Your nest isn’t here, is it?”

KRAAAR!

The Wyvern let out a cry as if making an excuse.

It was not as though Zeon could understand the Wyvern’s words.

He was merely guessing roughly from the feeling.

“Did you perhaps flee from an enemy?”

KRAAAR!

“I suppose so.”

Zeon nodded.

The first time he met the enormous Wyvern before his eyes was four years ago.

Back then, the giant Wyvern had not yet become an Alpha, and its grade had only been Grade B.

At the time, the creature had been seriously wounded.

It was dying after being attacked by another Wyvern.

He did not know why he had done it, but he felt pity for it and treated it.

Thanks to Zeon’s treatment, the creature did not die and survived, and some time later, it left Zeon’s side.

He met it again a year later.

As though it had completely forgotten its memories of Zeon, it attacked him.

That was when Zeon realized it.

There was no need to show mercy to monsters.

Monsters, whose instincts came before reason, had no concept of repaying kindness.

So he attacked the creature with the intent to kill.

There was no way a mere Grade B monster could withstand Zeon.

The creature fell into a near-death state, and Zeon’s merciless beating continued. But the funny thing was that as it struggled to survive, the Wyvern was promoted to Grade A.

Even after becoming Grade A, it was impossible for it to escape Zeon’s hands.

It was beaten half to death again.

Only when it had been reduced to such a corpse-like state did the creature finally submit to Zeon.

Seeing it pitifully beg for its life weakened Zeon’s heart.

No matter how little it understood grace, he still had a memory of saving its life.

The idea that he had saved it and then killed it felt deeply uncomfortable. So he spared it once more.

The Wyvern fled like an arrow before Zeon’s mind could change.

He thought their connection had ended there. But his tie with the creature was tenacious.

When Mandy, Eloy’s other personality, had been captured by the Cyclops, he encountered it again.

The creature had become the Alpha of a swarm.

In name and reality, it had become a ruler of the sky. Yet even after becoming a ruler, its deep-rooted fear of Zeon had not disappeared.

That was why it recognized Zeon and avoided him first.

He had thought he would never see it again after that, but unexpectedly, they had met here.

The Alpha did not even dare think of fleeing and turned its head to avoid Zeon’s gaze.

That was how great its fear of Zeon was.

Zeon asked it,

“What drove you out of your territory?”

Wyverns almost never left their territory.

The fact that such a Wyvern had abandoned its nest and migrated this far was itself a serious problem.

KRAAA!

The Alpha Wyvern let out a mournful cry.

But he still could not understand it.

In the end, Zeon sighed and said,

“Fine! What does that matter? You must have had your reasons for abandoning your nest. Since you’ve already migrated here, refrain from attacking humans.”

The Wyvern nodded as if it understood Zeon’s words.

Zeon patted the Wyvern’s nape.

“Go now.”

As though it had been waiting for those words, the Wyvern flapped its wings and moved away from Zeon.

The other Wyverns followed the Alpha and flew away.

Levin and Eloy’s mouths fell open when they saw that.

“Waaah!”

“What the hell just happened? The Wyverns are running away?”

According to their common sense, this was utterly impossible.

Briel muttered with an expression that asked why they were so surprised.

“It’s Zeon.”

“Even so, that was......”

“He’s the only Sandmancer in this land.”

Briel’s eyes did not waver in the slightest as she looked at Zeon.

That was how firm her faith in Zeon was.

At Briel’s almost fanatical appearance, Eloy looked dumbfounded for a moment. But since she had seen it with her own eyes, she had no way to refute it.

A swarm of Wyverns called tyrants of the sky was fleeing like mad.

She found herself wondering just how terrifying Zeon must be for them to run away like that.

“Ah, forget it. I’m not even going to talk.”

In the end, Eloy raised both hands in surrender.

Zeon did not immediately descend to the sand. Instead, he flew toward the place where the Wyverns had been circling.

The sight of Zeon flying while stirring up sand-laden wind looked like a bird.

After staring blankly at that sight for a moment, the three soon ran in the direction Zeon had flown.

After running for quite some time, they reached their destination.

Zeon had already arrived there.

“What is this?”

“Good heavens!”

“Damn it!”

The three who arrived late widened their eyes.

At the place they reached, a sight too gruesome to look upon had unfolded.

Broken wagon wreckage, countless corpses of Bactrian Camels and people, and Great-Horned Hyenas tearing into the corpses.

The Wyvern swarm had also flown in, drawn by the smell of the Bactrian Camels and corpses.

Grrrr!

When strangers appeared, the Great-Horned Hyenas that had been tearing into the corpses bared their teeth and grew wary.

THUD, THUD, THUD—!

At that instant, countless sand snakes attacked the Great-Horned Hyenas.

Zeon had unleashed Viper.

Whimper!

The Great-Horned Hyenas pierced by the sand snakes collapsed with mournful cries. The surviving creatures were startled and fled.

Zeon looked at the corpses with sunken eyes.

“They’re desert nomads. All of them were killed by Orcs.”