Chapter 232

Chapter 232

CLICK! CLICK!

Handcuffs were locked around Zeon’s and Eloy’s wrists.

They were not ordinary handcuffs.

They were restraints that controlled the movement of mana.

Once these handcuffs, which concentrated Neo Seoul’s technology, were put on, mana immediately hardened like stone and no longer moved.

All Skills that used mana became impossible to use.

Eloy, wearing the handcuffs, shouted angrily.

“Fuck! We didn’t kill them. Are your eyes needle holes? Are they ornaments? Does this really look like something we did?”

“Shut up!”

An NSSC Awakened taped Eloy’s mouth shut, then shoved her into a buggy.

“I’ll get in on my own.”

Zeon smiled and climbed into the buggy.

Kevin glared at Zeon with terrifying eyes.

“What are you scheming? Do you think I’ll go easy on you just because you act like that?”

“The truth will come out. For now, I simply don’t want to shed blood with you.”

“You’re still insisting it wasn’t you until the end.”

“If I had truly killed them, you wouldn’t have found even a trace.”

“......”

“In any case, the truth will be revealed soon enough.”

With those words, Zeon firmly shut his mouth.

Kevin’s jaw muscles twitched.

He also knew that Zeon was a Sandmancer.

If Zeon had truly decided to hide his traces, no matter how hard NSSC tried, they would never have found the place where Team 2 had been wiped out.

‘Could what he said really be true?’

Doubt bloomed in his mind.

At that moment, the Awakened reported.

“There is no one nearby.”

“Everything evaporated because of the explosion.”

Kevin looked around.

Sand lay in every direction.

There was nowhere to hide and nowhere to conceal anything.

What they saw was everything.

Kevin nodded and climbed into the buggy.

“Everyone returns to Neo Seoul.”

“Yes, sir!”

NSSC immediately left the scene.

After they departed, something rose from the sand.

The one who appeared, half-transparent like a Specter, was Levin.

The fact that Levin was in Ghost Transformation was not surprising. His main Skill was Ghost Transformation, after all.

What was truly surprising was that a girl in Ghost Transformation was beside him.

It was Briel.

Briel had turned half-transparent like Levin.

“This is?”

“Surprised?”

“You can turn other people into ghosts too?”

“They can’t be apart from me. We have to be touching.”

As if proving Levin’s words, he was holding Briel’s hand tightly.

After becoming Grade B, he had gained a new Skill.

One of them was the ability to turn another person into a ghost through contact like this.

At best, it only added one more person, but its usefulness had increased greatly.

The moment NSSC appeared, Zeon had said to Levin,

‘You two hide.’

Levin had not needed to think further and grabbed Briel’s hand. Then he entered Ghost Transformation.

The two hid inside the sand while in Ghost Transformation.

Kevin, the Captain of NSSC, possessed sharp senses, but he did not notice the two. That was why he left the scene so readily.

Briel looked at the buggies growing distant and said,

“Zeon told us to hide because he wants us to find evidence, right?”

“Yeah! We have to find evidence that Johan planned and led this.”

“Can we do it on our own?”

“Even if it’s impossible, we have to make it possible.”

“Let’s go back to the slums first. If we start digging from there, something will come out.”

“You’re pretty good. You aren’t even panicking.”

Levin looked at Briel with a proud expression. Then Briel pouted.

“That’s because humans have done so much to me. Levin, if you were locked underground and forced to make drugs day and night, you’d end up like me too.”

“You’re better than me.”

“As long as you know. Let’s hurry.”

“Yeah!”

Levin nodded and moved while still in Ghost Transformation. Naturally, Briel followed Levin through the sky.

---

A man in priestly robes was praying before a massive cross.

After chanting prayers for a long while, the man opened his eyes.

The middle-aged man, whose neatly slicked-back hair, thick horn-rimmed glasses, and small curved eyes were striking, was Johan, the ruler of Dongdaemun.

Perhaps he was pleased with his prayer, because Johan wore a satisfied smile.

“Good! Very good! I feel as though something wonderful is about to happen.”

His body felt good, as if he had received a blessing.

At times like this, something pleasant always happened.

Johan thought this time would be the same. And his prediction was right.

“Zeon has been captured by NSSC.”

Joshua, the Heresy Inquisitor, brought a pleasant report.

“Are you certain?”

“I confirmed it with my own eyes. He is now imprisoned in the NSSC prison.”

“Is the NSSC prison useful?”

“It is fifty meters underground. It is made from special metal, so neither sand nor any external substance can infiltrate it. Not only that, it perfectly blocks external mana and flow, so Awakened cannot use their abilities.”

“Excellent!”

Johan smiled in satisfaction.

Neo Seoul’s science, combined with Magic, had far surpassed the technological level of Earth from a hundred years ago.

Scientists had created items to control Awakened, and one of them was the mana-restraining handcuff. The NSSC prison was an advancement of that technology.

Once trapped in this completely sealed space, no mana could be used at all.

For an Awakened, it was truly the worst environment.

While locked inside the NSSC prison, Zeon would never be able to use his power.

“To think he gave us such good information. I really did choose the right business partner.”

“Lee Ji-ryeong is by no means someone trustworthy.”

“Are you advising me right now, Joshua?”

“No. I was simply worried......”

“I know all your worries. But you have no need to worry at all. God is on our side.”

A chilling smile appeared on Johan’s lips as he looked up at the massive cross.

At the sight of Johan, Joshua the Heresy Inquisitor could say nothing.

Johan was the pinnacle of Dongdaemun.

Countless Paladins and clergymen moved around him.

His command was the command of God.

Johan said,

“Now that the obstacle has disappeared, we can completely take control of Shinchon. Find Eaton, remove him, and build God’s holy temple on their stronghold.”

Joshua trembled.

That was because he smelled the thick reek of blood in Johan’s voice.

The curtain was rising on a war for supremacy in the slums.

No one knew how many people would die.

Even Joshua, who was used to blood, trembled violently in fear.

---

“Impressive.”

That was Zeon’s impression after being locked in the prison.

It truly was impressive.

The walls, sealed tightly on all sides, were smooth without a single seam, and mana was completely cut off, impossible to sense at all.

It was the worst possible environment for an Awakened.

“Damn it! Why did you let yourself get caught so easily? We have no reason to be here.”

Beside him, Eloy shouted angrily.

Eloy, who had been deprived of Mad Nine-Tailed Fox, was furious to the tips of her hair.

From the moment the weapon she cherished like her life left her hands, her mind had become unstable from anxiety.

Because of that, she kept pacing left and right restlessly while spouting nonsense.

Zeon understood her.

If he had also been stripped of the Gauntlet of Extreme Heat, he might have reacted the same way.

Fortunately, he had not been deprived of the Gauntlet of Extreme Heat.

To be precise, NSSC had failed to remove the Gauntlet of Extreme Heat from his hand.

The Gauntlet of Extreme Heat, embedded with a dragon’s eye, could not be removed without Zeon’s permission.

Since they could not cut off Zeon’s arm either, NSSC had completely wrapped Zeon’s right arm in restraints.

In this state, he could not use the item’s power at all.

Thanks to that, Zeon could no longer open his subspace either.

His abilities had been completely sealed.

Even so, Zeon did not look particularly anxious.

He looked around the prison and admired Neo Seoul’s technology.

“This is why the other colonies can’t catch up.”

The technological gap between other colonies and Neo Seoul was at least several decades.

Compared to newly formed colonies like Steel Fortress, the gap was over a hundred years.

It meant they would have to work for a hundred years just to barely catch up. The problem was that Neo Seoul would not stand still during that time, so the gap would never narrow.

There was no way to close this gap.

No, there was exactly one.

Neo Seoul had to collapse miserably.

But for now, that was a completely impossible method.

Unless the disaster that had turned Earth into a desert a hundred years ago happened again, Neo Seoul would not fall.

Only after a while did Eloy ask Zeon,

“What are we going to do now?”

“Wait.”

“For what?”

“If we stay here, someone will definitely contact us.”

“Who?”

“Anyone.”

“Isn’t that too irresponsible?”

“Calm down. They won’t think we’ll be trapped here for long either.”

“They?”

“The ones who planned this.”

“You mean Johan?”

“Johan is one of them.”

“Fine! Anyway, you’re saying we’ll be released soon, right?”

“Yes.”

“Whew!”

At Zeon’s firm answer, Eloy calmed down a little.

After catching her breath for a moment, Eloy apologized.

“Sorry!”

“It’s all right. If my weapon were taken from me, I’d probably be the same.”

“Thanks for understanding.”

“Just think of it as resting before a big fight.”

“A big fight? Well, I guess so.”

Eloy clenched her fists.

There was no way those who had driven them this far into a trap would stay still. Whether they liked it or not, a fierce fight would break out.

Until then, she had to rest and get her body into optimal condition.

“It seems better for Mandy to be here right now instead of me. She’ll be much calmer.”

At that instant, Eloy’s expression changed.

Zeon asked her,

“Are you Mandy?”

“Yes! I’m sorry. Eloy got needlessly worked up.”

“It’s fine.”

“If a fight breaks out, she’ll come forward again. Until then, I’ll stay out.”

“You don’t need to ask my permission for every little thing. Do what’s comfortable for you, Mandy.”

“I’m always grateful. Without you, Lord Zeon, we would not have been able to return here safely.”

Mandy bowed her head in thanks.

Just as Zeon wore an awkward expression, it happened.

THUD! THUD!

Suddenly, someone knocked on the prison door.

When Zeon looked at the door, a small window opened, and someone’s face appeared.

White hair and eyes surrounded by deep wrinkles.

Zeon immediately recognized the person.

“Elder Go?”

“It’s been a while.”

The old man smiling with his eyes at Zeon was Elder Go, a member of the Numbers.

“We came too.”

Familiar voices came from Elder Go’s left and right. They were the twin sisters who always moved around with Elder Go, Eun Su-jin and Eun Su-young.

They stepped onto a foothold, raised their faces to the window, and showed themselves.

“Hi!”

They waved and smiled.