Chapter 231

Chapter 231

The gate of the Mana Stone Mine opened.

Since the top-grade Mana Stone had been carried out, people could now come and go as usual again.

An armored bus was waiting at the entrance to the mine.

It was the bus that regularly traveled between Neo Seoul and the Mana Stone Mine.

Mana Stones were loaded in the luggage compartment beneath the bus, and Awakened were riding on the roof to protect the armored bus.

Unusually, there were many passengers aboard the armored bus.

Because bus service had been completely cut off for the past few days, the waiting passengers had all flooded in at once.

Because of that, Zeon’s group barely managed to find seats.

Levin looked out the window and said,

“Isn’t Jang Yong-beom’s party coming with us?”

“I heard they got a separate vehicle. Mountain is too huge to fit into a bus like this.”

“Ah!”

Levin nodded as if he understood.

As his name suggested, Mountain had a body as large as a mountain.

No matter how much he folded himself up, he would not even be able to pass through the bus door.

It was better for them to secure a separate vehicle and move on their own.

The armored bus, packed full of passengers, departed with a powerful roar from its exhaust.

“We’re leaving.”

Briel looked out the window with an excited expression.

Because of the memories of being captured by humans, she did not like Neo Seoul. But after living together with Zeon, Levin, and the others, Neo Seoul, which had once felt like hell, had now become a more comfortable home than anywhere else.

She wanted to return home as soon as possible, lie down on her own bed, and sleep deeply.

The same was true for Levin and Eloy.

Thinking that Neo Seoul was not far away seemed to give them strength they did not have.

They looked out the window with excited expressions.

The other passengers had similar expressions.

Miners who had worked at the Mana Stone Mine, dispatched Awakened, merchants, and others all smiled with anticipation at the thought of returning to Neo Seoul.

Zeon leaned deeply back in his chair and closed his eyes.

‘This is nice.’

Returning home felt good.

Even if that place was filthy and miserable.

The problem was that Dongdaemun had half-occupied Shinchon, where his home was.

‘Johan! As expected, you don’t miss an opportunity.’

By now, Johan must also have heard that he had returned. It was obvious how he would react.

As Zeon wondered what he should do, he fell asleep.

He was sleeping soundly when he suddenly felt the bus lurch.

Opening his eyes, he saw the bus shaking as it passed over a large mound.

“What is it?”

“Why is it shaking this much?”

The others were also startled and looked outside. Then they saw a sand field that had been torn up terribly.

“Stop the vehicle. Looks like there was a fight here.”

An Awakened riding on top of the bus shouted to the driver.

The driver hurriedly stepped on the brake and stopped the bus.

The escorting Awakened and Zeon’s group got off the bus.

The remaining passengers stayed inside the bus and looked out the windows with curious eyes.

Eloy examined the surroundings and frowned.

“Looks like there was a pretty fierce fight here. Look at the footprints.”

Just as she said, countless footprints were stamped across the area. The chaotic footprints proved that a fierce battle had taken place here.

“Who the hell fought in the middle of this desert?”

Levin muttered with a puzzled expression.

There was still a considerable distance to Neo Seoul.

Even if a fierce battle had taken place here, there was no way for Neo Seoul to know.

Eloy said with a serious expression,

“Could Scavengers have fought each other? There’s nothing left, so I can’t tell.”

“They buried them deep under the sand.”

“Hm?”

“Wait a moment.”

Zeon raised his control. Then the objects buried deep in the sand slowly rose to the surface.

THUD—!

What rose from underground was a broken armored vehicle and the wreckage of buggies.

Eloy’s eyes trembled.

“This is?”

“It’s the armored vehicle that left carrying the top-grade Mana Stone. It seems they were ambushed here and wiped out.”

“NSSC Team 2 was wiped out?”

“It seems so.”

Zeon looked at the buggy with a serious expression.

Inside the buggy, the corpse of Ji Sang-woo, Team Leader of NSSC Team 2, could be seen. Half of his neck had been cut open, and his head was dangling loose.

“It seems he was killed instantly, without any chance to respond.”

“You’re telling me NSSC’s Team 2 Leader died without even being able to respond? Who the hell killed them?”

“We’ll have to examine that now. If we examine the bodies, there should definitely be traces left behind.”

An Awakened’s Skill always left traces.

If they could identify the Skill, it would not be difficult to infer who the culprit was.

Eloy ground her teeth and said,

“If I find out, I absolutely won’t let them off. How dare they attack a unit directly under City Hall? Even if we have to mobilize all of City Hall’s power, we’ll punish them.”

At that moment, an eerie voice sounded from behind them.

“Well! You won’t have that chance.”

“What?”

They turned around and saw that the Awakened who had been riding on the bus roof had approached without them noticing.

They were smiling, showing white teeth.

The instant Eloy saw the Awakened’s eerie smiles, an ominous premonition flashed through her mind.

“Don’t tell me you were the ones?”

“Heh-heh!”

It was then.

CRASH—!

Suddenly, the armored bus they had ridden exploded.

The powerful explosion vaporized the bus in an instant, and the passengers inside disappeared without leaving a trace, unable even to scream.

“Krrgh!”

“Aaagh!”

Eloy and Briel were swept up in the explosion and flung backward, while Levin collapsed to the ground with his eardrums burst.

Only Zeon stood firm, unaffected by the explosion, and looked at the Awakened.

“Did you hide a bomb in the bus?”

“It’s a bomb developed for anti-monster use. It blows a bus like that away without leaving a trace.”

“If you were aiming for me, your timing was wrong. You should have blown it up when I was still on the bus.”

“We know very well that you wouldn’t have died even then, Sandmancer.”

“You knew who I was and targeted me? Who sent you? Lee Ji-ryeong? Johan?”

“Heh-heh! Do you think we’ll answer?”

“If you won’t speak on your own, I’ll open your mouths myself.”

“You won’t have that chance.”

“What?”

At that instant, the necklaces around the Awakened’s necks burst with bright light.

Sensing something ominous, Zeon hurriedly raised a sand wall.

CRASH—! BOOM—!

At that moment, the Awakened’s bodies exploded.

The necklaces had been self-destruction items.

Ultra-high-heat flames and a storm swept across the area.

The explosion was powerful enough that the sand wall Zeon had raised was blown away without a trace. Because of that, Zeon also received no small amount of impact.

If not for the robe made from Leviathan’s hide, he might have suffered serious injuries.

“Mm!”

Zeon swept back his disheveled hair and looked at the place where the explosion had occurred.

Everything had been blown away.

The Awakened, as well as the armored vehicle and buggies Zeon had raised from the sand, were gone.

Only one of the armored vehicle’s thickest steel plates remained. Everything else had vanished.

“They self-destructed and erased every trace?”

With that, every clue to discovering the ones who attacked NSSC disappeared.

This had happened precisely when Zeon’s group was passing nearby.

“Is it a coincidence? No, it was a meticulously calculated ambush. It can’t possibly be a coincidence.”

The problem was the attackers’ purpose.

It felt strange to say they were simply after the top-grade Mana Stone.

It was true that the top-grade Mana Stone was an extraordinary object worth risking lives for. But if one considered the danger after stealing it, it was not something that could be attempted rashly.

Neo Seoul would clearly use all its strength to retrieve it.

If they made one wrong move, the organization itself could be torn apart. Even so, they had done this without the slightest hesitation.

That meant they were confident their identity would not be exposed, or that they could avoid Neo Seoul’s pursuit.

“Krrgh! My ears......”

“Is everyone all right?”

“It hurts!”

At that moment, Levin, Eloy, and Briel rose.

Briel hurriedly poured a potion into Levin’s ears because his eardrums had burst, leaving him unable to keep his balance.

Eloy shook her head and looked at the place where the Awakened had self-destructed.

“What the hell were they? They self-destructed just to erase traces? Can a person throw their life away that easily?”

“Normally, no.”

“Then what were these bastards? They were definitely smiling right before they died.”

“Yes! They smiled. Like people being embraced in the arms of God.”

“God? Don’t tell me they were fanatics?”

“Yes! Those who follow Johan are like this.”

“Insane! Johan really did something like this?”

“He’s the one who will suffer the most trouble if I return to Shinchon.”

Johan had already seized half of Shinchon.

If Zeon returned to Shinchon, they would have to go to war. So it could be that Johan was trying to remove him in advance.

“The problem is that he also knows very well that something of this level can’t kill me......”

Zeon frowned deeply and looked ahead.

Only traces of the explosion remained. Everything else had disappeared.

Even the remaining traces would soon be buried and erased by the blowing sand-laden wind.

The only people who knew that something tremendous had happened here were Zeon’s group.

It was then.

ROOOAR—!

A powerful engine sound came from far away.

“What is that?”

“A vehicle?”

Buggies were racing toward them from the distance at terrifying speed.

The buggies, which had been running at full speed, surrounded Zeon’s group in an instant.

Dozens of Awakened got out of the buggies.

Eloy recognized them.

“NSSC?”

They were the Awakened of Team 1 and Team 3, excluding Team 2, which had been wiped out here.

Eloy approached them and said,

“Hey! I’m Mandy, Supervisor under City Hall. You know me, right?”

Naturally, they did not know that Eloy had dual personalities, so she put forward the name Mandy.

“You fucking bitch! How dare you kill my subordinates?”

At that instant, an unexpected attack flew toward Eloy.

The Captain of NSSC had swung a gigantic sword.

Eloy hurriedly took out Mad Nine-Tailed Fox and blocked the Captain’s attack.

CRASH—!

“Khh!”

With an explosive roar, Eloy was pushed backward.

Blood forced its way out from the corner of her mouth.

She had suffered a loss from the unexpected surprise attack.

Eloy wiped the blood with her sleeve and cursed.

“Fuck! What the hell are you doing?”

“You’re asking because you don’t know? You fucking bitch! You ambushed and killed my subordinates.”

Kevin, the Captain of NSSC, pointed his gigantic sword at Eloy as he spoke.

A tremendous killing intent flowed from Kevin’s entire body.

One hour ago, he had heard Team 2’s radio transmission.

* We’re under attack. Requesting rescue. The attacker is...... Kraaak!

The radio cut off with Ji Sang-woo’s scream.

Immediately after that, he led every NSSC member and rushed here.

Eloy desperately explained.

“We didn’t kill anyone.”

“Then what is that?”

Kevin pointed to the armored vehicle’s steel plate torn apart by the explosion.

It was the wreckage of the armored vehicle NSSC Team 2 had been riding.

Eloy’s face hardened.

That was because she realized that nothing she said would get through to him.

Every situation pointed to them as the culprits.

There was no way excuses would work on someone who was convinced they were the culprits.

Zeon said to Eloy,

“It seems this was their real trap.”

“Real trap?”

“The moment we kill them, we’ll have to go to war with Neo Seoul. We can’t do that.”

“Johan, that son of a bitch......”

Eloy ground her teeth.

She was about to erupt from frustration.

Just as she was about to swing Mad Nine-Tailed Fox, Zeon pressed down on her shoulder and spoke instead.

“We surrender.”

“After killing all our people, you’re saying you surrender?”

“Yes. We surrender.”

“Are you fucking joking?”

“Surely you won’t attack people who are trying to surrender?”

Zeon raised both arms high.