Chapter 285

Chapter 285

“Fuck! We can’t get pushed back here. Front line, hold tighter. If you bastards get broken through, we all die.”

“Those bastards must be insane. They’re just charging straight in.”

A group of Awakened were fighting fiercely against monsters.

They were a Pathfinder team dispatched from Neo Seoul.

The monsters the Pathfinders were facing were a pack of Great-Horned Hyenas, one of the most common monsters found in the desert.

Because they had the habit of attacking until they died once they marked something as prey, they were among the most troublesome monsters.

That was why, once one encountered a Great-Horned Hyena pack in the desert, one had to fight until one side was annihilated.

Eun So-young, who led Pathfinder Team 3, gritted her teeth and swung her sword.

She was a Grade C martial-type Awakened.

She was of Korean descent and had quite a sturdy build for a woman. She possessed strength to match, and freely swung a sword as large as her own body.

“Fuck! Why the hell are Great-Horned Hyenas popping up here?”

Pathfinder teams basically understood the habitats and ecosystems of the monsters near Neo Seoul.

Even when they had passed through this place the day before yesterday, they had definitely seen no Great-Horned Hyenas.

Since this was not a Great-Horned Hyena habitat either, they had not thought it strange.

Naturally, they had chosen this route again on the way back. She had truly never imagined that would become their fatal mistake.

Great-Horned Hyena packs had suddenly appeared from somewhere and launched a fierce attack.

As the Team Leader, Eun So-young stood at the front line and blocked the Great-Horned Hyenas. The martial-type team members built a wall with her.

Meanwhile, the magic-type Awakened cast Magic and killed the Great-Horned Hyenas.

CRASH—!

THUD—!

Yelp!

As the Magic struck, Great-Horned Hyenas died one after another.

Even though their kin were dying, the Great-Horned Hyenas charged fiercely without a trace of fear.

Eun So-young and the martial-type Awakened fought desperately, but their defensive wall shook precariously.

“Fuck! If this keeps up, we’re all going to die.”

“Damn it!”

Fear appeared on the Pathfinder team members’ faces.

They had always thought a day like this might come, but when they actually faced a hopeless situation, the fear of death assaulted them.

In truth, many of their comrades had already vanished into monsters’ bellies.

Now it seemed to be their turn.

CRUNCH—!

“Guh!”

At that moment, one of the Awakened standing in the front line had his shoulder bitten by a Great-Horned Hyena.

The Great-Horned Hyena’s huge teeth pierced through his armor and left a deep wound.

“William!”

“You hyena bastard......”

The comrades beside him swung their swords to save him, but it was no use. Even while taking wounds, the Great-Horned Hyena clung on tenaciously and refused to let go.

The Great-Horned Hyena tried to drag the Awakened back into its pack. If it managed to return to the pack like this, the Awakened would surely be torn to pieces and enter their bellies.

Because of that, Eun So-young was about to take a risk and save him.

THUD!

Suddenly, a powerful vibration rang through the earth.

The Pathfinder Awakened tensed, wondering if another monster had appeared.

THUD!

With another heavy footfall, something enormous appeared over the sand dune.

“Ah!”

“Fuck! We’re finished.”

The moment Eun So-young and the Awakened saw the enormous object, they despaired.

What appeared beyond the sand dune was a gigantic monster turtle.

The moment the Pathfinder team members saw the monster turtle with sharp spikes jutting from its shell and head, they sank down where they stood.

Its overwhelming size had made them lose even the will to fight.

That was how enormous the monster turtle that had appeared beyond the sand dune was.

Every time it took a step, the entire area shook as if an earthquake had struck.

Even the Great-Horned Hyenas that had been attacking the Awakened like mad were startled by the monster turtle’s appearance and retreated.

Even the Great-Horned Hyenas, who did not easily withdraw even when facing monsters stronger than themselves, were frightened by the majesty of the enormous monster turtle.

“Where did a monster like that come from......?”

Eun So-young trembled, her teeth clacking together.

Just then—

A human voice came from the monster turtle’s shell.

“Archelon! Sweep them away.”

At that moment, the gigantic monster turtle opened its mouth wide and fired compressed air shots.

BOOM—!

Kwaaak!

Krrrng!

An explosion erupted within the Great-Horned Hyena pack.

The Great-Horned Hyena struck squarely by the compressed air shot vanished without a trace.

It was truly tremendous power.

The gigantic monster turtle fired compressed air shots in succession.

BOOM, BOOM, BOOM—!

With explosive roars, countless Great-Horned Hyenas were swept away.

The Great-Horned Hyenas began fleeing.

No matter how fearless the Great-Horned Hyenas were, before overwhelming size and power, they had no choice but to choose flight.

Thanks to that, Eun So-young and the Awakened barely managed to save their lives. But they could not relax.

That was because the monster turtle, far more terrifying than the Great-Horned Hyenas, was approaching.

THUD! THUD!

The closer it drew, the stronger the vibrations felt.

Just as they thought they would be helplessly devoured by the monster turtle, that same voice rang out.

“So they really were Awakened from Neo Seoul.”

The old man who appeared from within the gigantic monster turtle’s shell was Pabilsa.

Beside Pabilsa stood Zeon and Kaylee.

Looking at the Awakened still sitting there in a daze, Zeon said,

“They must have been very startled. They still haven’t come to their senses.”

“Anyone would be shocked the first time they saw Archelon.”

“I think I can return to Neo Seoul with them. Thank you for bringing me this far.”

“I should be the one thanking you. Thanks to you, not only did our Archelon recover perfectly, it even rose one Grade higher.”

Now that Archelon had become Grade A, it had gained an attack Skill called compressed air shot.

The Skill itself was ordinary, but a Skill unfolded by a Grade A monster possessed power on a completely different level.

The compressed air shot had tremendous power, enough to blow away most monsters without a trace.

It had truly gained the majesty befitting the nickname mobile fortress.

Thanks to that, Zeon had been able to ride Archelon comfortably all the way here.

In his heart, he wanted to ride Archelon all the way to Neo Seoul, but if he did, Archelon would definitely draw Jin Geum-ho’s attention.

There was nothing good about attracting Jin Geum-ho’s attention. There was no telling what he might do.

Zeon looked at Kaylee.

“Take care, Sister.”

“Yeah! You too. If things get hard in Neo Seoul, come find Archelon anytime.”

“I will.”

“Goodbye!”

Kaylee looked faintly regretful.

That was because she still had lingering feelings about parting from Zeon like this. But they had to part here.

They were nomads who wandered the desert.

Now that Archelon was healthy again, they had to pick up the residents they had temporarily entrusted to Steel Fortress and wander the desert once more.

That was the destiny of the Mort Clan.

After saying farewell to the two of them, Zeon climbed down from Archelon and approached the Pathfinder team.

Eun So-young and the Awakened stared blankly at Zeon.

It felt too unreal to sink in.

Zeon asked them,

“Are you all right?”

“Ah, ah! Well......”

Eun So-young stammered.

“My name is Zeon.”

“Zeon? Don’t tell me, the Sandmancer?”

Eun So-young looked up at Zeon in shock.

The Awakened affiliated with City Hall knew all of Neo Seoul’s major Awakened.

Zeon’s name was near the top of the list.

Naturally, there was no way she would not know it.

“How are you here?”

“I stepped outside for a while and was on my way back to Neo Seoul.”

“Ah!”

“More importantly, that person’s wound looks serious......”

Zeon approached the Awakened who had been bitten by the Great-Horned Hyena earlier.

He was barely clinging to consciousness through superhuman endurance, but his condition was extremely serious.

Zeon took out a Healing Potion Briel had made from his subspace and handed it to the Awakened.

“Drink half of it, and pour the rest over the wound.”

“Guh! Th-Thank you.”

The Awakened used the Healing Potion as Zeon instructed.

Once he used the Healing Potion, the pain vanished, and fresh flesh filled in the wound where a large hole had been torn open.

It was not completely healed, but the immediate crisis had certainly passed.

“Hoo!”

Only then did the wounded Awakened let out a sigh of relief.

He looked at the wounded area with a fascinated expression.

The fresh flesh had grown in imperfectly, so he would need separate surgery later, but even this degree of closure was a miracle.

Healing Potions were being developed in Neo Seoul as well, but there were no potions that improved wounds this dramatically.

The effect of the Healing Potion Zeon had handed over was truly astonishing.

“Thank you. Thanks to you, I survived.”

“It was nothing.”

“Great-Horned Hyena packs suddenly appeared, and I thought we were all dead for certain. If not for you, Mr. Zeon, we would have been annihilated.”

“I’m glad I wasn’t too late.”

If Zeon and Archelon had arrived even a little later, Pathfinder Team 3 would have been annihilated without a trace.

THUD! THUD!

At that moment, heavy footfalls rang out.

It was the sound of Archelon moving.

With heavy footfalls, Archelon slowly moved away.

The figures of Pabilsa and Kaylee waving from atop Archelon also gradually faded.

Eun So-young carefully asked,

“But what is that? Is it really possible for humans to tame and ride such an enormous monster?”

“It is impossible for anyone else.”

Zeon did not tell her anything more about Archelon.

If he gave detailed information for no reason and Neo Seoul began tracking Archelon, things would only become troublesome.

Knowing that, Pabilsa and Kaylee had also hurriedly left the area.

Zeon asked Eun So-young,

“Were you carrying out a mission?”

“Yes! We were checking whether a shelter could be built near here.”

“A shelter? Here, of all places?”

“That is......”

Eun So-young hesitated for a moment.

After looking at her comrades, she cautiously spoke as if she had made up her mind.

“The truth is, not far from here, we discovered a place suspected to contain Mana Stones.”

“A Mana Stone Mine?”

Zeon was surprised.

That was because he knew how important a Mana Stone Mine was to Neo Seoul.

Thanks to the Mana Stone Mine discovered in its early days, Neo Seoul had been able to develop to its current state.

That was because Mana Stones had been supplied steadily from the Mana Stone Mine.

However, as a long time passed, mining Mana Stones had gradually become more difficult. All the Mana Stones near the surface had been mined, and only those deep within the shafts remained.

As the difficulty of mining rose sharply, the mining output visibly decreased.

To mine the same amount of Mana Stones as before, far more miners and equipment had to be deployed.

Naturally, Neo Seoul’s concerns could only deepen.

For Neo Seoul to be maintained, high-quality Mana Stones absolutely had to be supplied steadily.

At that time, Pathfinder Team 3 had discovered a Mana Stone Mine near here.

“Are you certain?”

“For now, we have confirmed that Mana Stones are distributed at the surface. We were planning to establish a shelter to properly determine how much could be mined. But those fucking hyena bastards attacked......”

Eun So-young looked frustrated.

Fortunately, thanks to Zeon, no one had died, but the very fact that they had nearly been annihilated was humiliating to her.

Zeon asked Eun So-young,

“What do you plan to do now?”

“If you help us, Mr. Zeon, I would like to return to Neo Seoul with evidence that a Mana Stone Mine exists. But......”

“There is a problem, then?”

“Yes!”

Eun So-young bit her lip hard.