Chapter 292

Chapter 292

“Haa! Haa! It’s Neo Seoul.”

“Fuck! We’re finally back.”

Aaron and Dominic looked deeply moved as they gazed at Neo Seoul in the distance.

Both of them looked terrible.

Their clothes were torn to shreds, their hair was a wild mess, and they had suffered more than a few wounds, making them look like defeated soldiers.

The past three days had been hell for them.

That was because, except for the time they spent recovering mana and taking brief snatches of sleep, monsters had continued attacking them.

Zeon and Levin had been cruel enough to send monsters at them precisely when their mana recovered.

Because of that, they had barely been able to rest and had to keep fighting.

They had compressed experience that would have taken others months to accumulate into just three days.

Thanks to that, their bodies were battered, but their confidence had risen to its peak.

“Now we’re combat veterans.”

“Yeah! We’re not scared of F-grade monsters anymore.”

At that moment, a voice came from behind them, sending chills down their spines.

“Then you can fight E-grade monsters now, right?”

“Gasp!”

When the two turned around in shock, they saw Levin, who had approached like a ghost.

Levin smiled brightly and said,

“What do you think? Should I send some E-grade monsters right now?”

“That’s not it.”

“Come on! Why are you doing this again?”

Aaron and Dominic panicked and grabbed Levin’s arms.

On the way here, Levin had endlessly herded monsters toward them like a sheepdog, and thanks to that, the two had been forced to shit blood.

In their eyes, Levin was a demon.

Levin had only done it at Zeon’s instigation, but he had no intention of making excuses.

That was because this was the only way to slightly raise the chances of his friends surviving.

Levin patted the two on the shoulders and said,

“I did it all for you guys. You know that, right?”

“Of course.”

“Yeah! We know.”

Aaron and Dominic nodded frantically.

Watching them, Zeon chuckled and said,

“Let’s go in now.”

“Yes, Hyung.”

The three answered in unison.

They entered the slums together.

In only a few days, the atmosphere in the slums had changed again.

That was because the Mana Stone Mine subjugation had been officially announced.

Awakened and small parties that had obtained the information late were only now scrambling to secure supplies.

Small parties that could not obtain the supplies they wanted in Neo Seoul searched even the shops in the slums.

Because of that, the entire slums had grown noisy.

Levin looked at the two and said,

“It’ll be noisy until the attack force departs. Don’t get pointlessly excited and run around. Just rest.”

“I don’t even have the strength to walk around.”

“I’m going to sleep all the sleep I missed.”

True to their words, thick dark circles had settled under their eyes. Their eyes were full of drowsiness, and they looked like they might collapse at any moment.

They then bowed politely to Zeon as well.

“Thank you, Hyung-nim!”

“You went through a lot because of us. We’ll definitely repay this favor.”

“Yeah! You must be tired, so hurry home and rest.”

Zeon gestured for them to go in.

The two headed straight to their respective homes without looking back.

Zeon said to Levin,

“Let’s go in too.”

“Yes, Hyung. I need to wash up and rest.”

The person who had suffered as much as Aaron and Dominic was Levin.

For three days, he had searched for monsters suited to the two’s level and herded them like a sheepdog, so quite a bit of fatigue had built up.

He wanted to shower with cold water as soon as possible and rest in a soft bed.

Zeon nodded and said,

“Yeah! Let’s hurry home and rest.”

“Briel’s doing fine, right?”

“Why? Do you miss her?”

“Haha!”

Instead of answering, Levin smiled awkwardly.

The two walked side by side.

“Welcome back!”

As soon as they returned home, Briel greeted the two fiercely.

Just as Levin smiled and was about to say something, Briel brushed right past him and stood in front of Zeon.

Looking at Briel’s sparkling eyes, Zeon said,

“Gaia?”

“Yeah!”

“Got it.”

Zeon nodded and opened his subspace. Then Gaia poked its head out.

“Gaia!”

Squeeee!

“I missed you.”

Briel hugged Gaia tightly.

Gaia also seemed happy to see Briel after so long, wagging its tail gently in delight.

Zeon chuckled and said to Levin,

“It seems we’ve been pushed down the priority list.”

“Looks like it. I should hurry up and wash, then rest.”

“Do that.”

“You should rest soon too, Hyung.”

“I will.”

Levin entered his room first.

Briel held onto Gaia and chattered about what she was researching.

“This is nice!”

Home was the best after all.

---

Aiden looked at the warehouse with a grave expression.

The large warehouse was about half empty.

“Damn it!”

“Why?”

Giselle, who was beside him, looked at him with a puzzled expression.

“Are you asking because you don’t know? We don’t have nearly enough stockpiled supplies.”

“It’s usually filled about this much. What’s the problem?”

“If it were normal times, there wouldn’t be any problem. But the Mana Stone Mine subjugation is coming up.”

“Hm?”

“The supplies consumed will be several times greater than usual. On top of that, we have more people now. Damn it! I should’ve paid attention.”

Aiden belatedly blamed himself for the mistake.

Many things had changed after Jang Yong-beom became a Grade S Awakened.

The greatest change was that the scale of Jang Yong-beom’s party had grown dozens of times larger.

Jang Yong-beom’s party had originally consisted of four people: Jang Yong-beom, Aiden, Giselle, and Mountain. Because of that, there had been no need to stockpile supplies.

Since they were a small elite group, they had not needed many supplies. But now the situation had changed.

Jang Yong-beom had become a Grade S Awakened, and after the Pegasus Raid Team collapsed, quite a few Awakened had flowed in.

The party that had once consisted of four people now had more than one hundred.

It had been reborn as a small-to-medium raid team.

The problem was that their administrative capability had not kept up with the increased personnel.

Most of those they had accepted from the Pegasus Raid Team were Awakened specialized in combat.

They were far removed from the work of operating a raid team.

Because of that, the administration of Jang Yong-beom’s party had become a total mess.

By the time Aiden realized that, it was already difficult to fix.

Giselle carefully asked Aiden,

“Then what do we do?”

“We need to secure the supplies we’re short on first.”

“The supplies on the market must’ve already been swept clean by other raid teams.”

“What do we need most when facing monsters?”

“Potions. Detoxification, Healing, and Mana Potions! Other supplies can be obtained if we pay a premium, but the problem with potions is that supplies are so short we can’t get them at all.”

“Exactly! Securing potions comes first.”

“So how are you going to get them?”

“There’s the brat.”

“The brat?”

“Instead of standing around here, I need to go see the Captain.”

Aiden immediately left the warehouse.

Giselle followed and asked,

“At least answer me. What do you mean, the brat?”

“The brat who goes around with Zeon.”

“That arrogant brat?”

“Yeah! The potions that brat made were very effective.”

“Ah!”

Only then did Giselle realize why Aiden had mentioned Briel.

Briel had never openly bragged about her ability, but everyone in Jang Yong-beom’s party knew how outstanding an alchemist she was.

“But will that brat listen to our request? She’s really arrogant.”

“Still, we should speak to the Captain first.”

“Well, I suppose that’s the only move we have right now. I don’t like it, though......”

“This Mana Stone Mine subjugation is extremely important to us. If we make a major contribution this time, we’ll be recognized as an official raid team.”

As Jang Yong-beom became Grade S, they had become a raid team rather than a mere party, but their foundation was still weak.

If they wanted to soar higher, they had to make a great achievement this time and engrave the name Jang Yong-beom Raid Team into people’s minds.

“If things go well, we may even be able to obtain a share in the new Mana Stone Mine.”

“Is that even possible?”

“We have to make it possible. That’s my role.”

Burning with determination, Aiden sought out Jang Yong-beom.

After hearing everything, Jang Yong-beom let out a sigh.

“Hoo! I’ll have to bow my head to that guy again.”

“Bowing your head to him isn’t a major flaw, is it?”

At Aiden’s words, Jang Yong-beom’s face crumpled.

“Hey! Are you looking down on me? I’m Grade S too.”

“But he’s the Sandmancer, isn’t he?”

“Damn it!”

“It’ll be easier on your heart if you just accept it.”

“I accept it. I do. But I’m not at a level where I should be looked down on either, that’s all!”

“Who would dare look down on our Captain?”

“Right? They don’t, do they?”

“Of course not.”

“Kuh!”

Jang Yong-beom let out a hollow laugh.

That was because his mind had settled calmly while exchanging pointless words with Aiden.

Jang Yong-beom immediately sprang up from his seat.

Aiden blinked in surprise.

“What’s wrong?”

“I’m going to have to bow my head anyway, so why put it off?”

“You mean we’re going right now?”

“Yeah!”

“Let’s go.”

“I’m going too.”

Giselle followed Jang Yong-beom and Aiden.

The three left Neo Seoul and entered the slums.

The moment they entered the slums, the air itself changed.

Their throats already felt dry and gritty. Even so, the three did not feel particularly uncomfortable. They were used to this level of environmental change.

They headed straight for Zeon’s house.

They already knew where Zeon’s house was, so there was no problem.

THUD, THUD!

When they knocked on the door, Zeon came out a short while later.

He looked at the three with a puzzled expression.

“What brings the three of you here?”

“I came because I have a request.”

“A request?”

“Yes! A request. May we come in for a moment?”

“Hmm!”

Zeon looked thoughtful for a moment.

In that instant, a clattering sound came from inside the house.

It was the sound of Briel, having realized that guests had arrived, running into her room with Gaia.

After confirming that the two had entered the room, Zeon opened the door.

“Please come in.”

“Thank you.”

Jang Yong-beom, Aiden, and Giselle carefully entered Zeon’s house.

Zeon’s house was rumored to be a fortress.

A fortress that even Johan of Dongdaemun and the fanatics had been unable to break through.

Because of that, everyone was curious about what the inside of Zeon’s house looked like.

Seen in person, Zeon’s house was ordinary.

It was no different from any other house. But that thought changed the moment they saw the magic power generator in one corner of the living room.

That was because unusual magic power could be felt from the magic power generator.

‘So it isn’t an ordinary generator?’

Jang Yong-beom instinctively realized that Zeon had done something to the magic power generator. But he could not tell exactly what that was.

Zeon casually stepped in front of Jang Yong-beom.

He had intentionally blocked his view.

“What is your request?”

“Give us some potions.”

“Potions?”

“Yes! We need the potions that brat made.”

“Hmm!”

At Jang Yong-beom’s request, Zeon frowned slightly. But he soon realized that the request was not particularly bad for him either.

“I don’t need payment. Instead, I’ll ask one favor from you.”

“A favor?”

“It’s not that difficult.”

Zeon answered with a smile.