Chapter 301

Chapter 301

“Crazy!”

Hassim’s wide-open eyes trembled violently.

Even he, who almost never revealed emotion, could not hide his look of shock.

“Captain, what’s wrong?”

Alton asked with a puzzled expression.

The explosives he had made had detonated properly.

They had been improvised explosives, but their power had been certain.

No matter how strong an Awakened was, no one should have been able to remain unharmed in an explosion of that scale.

Hassim handed the telescope to Alton and said,

“Fuck! I think we’re screwed.”

“What?”

Alton’s eyes widened as he looked at the explosion site through the telescope.

“Does that even make sense?”

Beyond the lens, he could see a man, a girl, and a floating streamlined object standing perfectly unharmed.

Although they were blurry because they were so far away, he could at least tell they were still intact.

“I pumped in every bit of mana I had and blew it up, but they’re fine. What kind of monster is that......?”

Alton’s voice trembled on its own.

Hassim snatched the telescope from his hand and tucked it into his chest.

“It looks like we’ve somehow earned the grudge of some monster.”

He had known a day like this would come someday.

They had killed countless people and stolen everything those people had.

It would not be strange if someone he had killed had some connection to that monster.

Even Hassim was not confident he could withstand a trap where Alton had poured in all his mana like that. Yet the being beyond the telescope had not suffered so much as a scratch from the tremendous explosion.

That meant he was stronger than Hassim.

The man’s gaze and atmosphere were intense even from far away. Above all, the goosebumps rising over Hassim’s skin proved his strength.

This was the first time Hassim had felt this way while working as a Scavenger.

The only thought in his head was that he had to run, no matter what.

If they clashed head-on with such an opponent, the Helbrin Mercenary Corps would be annihilated without question.

Hassim said to his subordinates,

“From now on, we switch to Plan S.”

Survival Plan.

A survival plan activated in an emergency. That was why it was Plan S.

Hassim had prepared plans for the survival of the Helbrin Mercenary Corps in advance.

His subordinates, who had already memorized the plan, looked at Hassim with gleaming eyes.

“The rendezvous point is the slums of Neo Seoul.”

“Yes?”

“What?”

His subordinates blinked, wondering if they had heard wrong.

For Scavengers, the most dangerous place was Neo Seoul.

The slums were at least a little freer, but the risk there was still inevitably high.

However, Hassim was firm.

“Since that monster has set his mind on tracking us, completely shaking him off is impossible. In that case, it’s better to hide somewhere with a lot of people.”

“......”

His subordinates held their breath and listened to Hassim.

“And if we complete the deal with the Spider Queen, we’ll be able to set up a base in the slums or Neo Seoul.”

“We still haven’t secured the slaves they want, though?”

So far, they had secured only about forty slaves.

That was nowhere near the number Eli the Spider Queen wanted. But Hassim’s answer was clear.

“We can make up the shortage in the slums.”

“Ah!”

“Hmm!”

Only then did his subordinates understand.

Hassim clapped his hands and said,

CLAP—!

“We don’t have time. If it’s that monster, he’ll surely track us down soon. Move.”

“Yes, sir!”

“Then let’s all meet alive.”

No sooner had Hassim finished speaking than the mercenary corps split into three groups and scattered.

It was a choice made to raise their chances of survival even slightly in an extreme situation.

The group that included Hassim, Akashi, and Alton moved with the slaves, while the other two groups moved in different directions.

Like that, the Helbrin Mercenary Corps split into three and raced across the desert.

Quite some time after they left, Zeon, Briel, and Gaia appeared.

“They’re quick on their feet.”

Zeon let out a hollow laugh without realizing it.

As soon as they discovered the survivor village where the Helbrin Mercenary Corps had committed a massacre, an explosion had erupted as if it had been waiting for them.

The only reason they had survived the tremendous explosion unharmed was entirely because of his and Gaia’s abilities.

Gaia’s force field had protected Briel, and Zeon had dug beneath the sand to avoid the explosion.

Thanks to that, they had remained unharmed, but the survivor village had been completely destroyed.

Afterward, they had followed the traces of Hassim’s mercenaries all the way here, but the bastards had already fled.

Their judgment and speed of action were terrifyingly fast.

At this point, Zeon had to acknowledge them.

“It seems I underestimated them too much.”

These were people who knew the desert extremely well.

They had learned deep in their bones what they had to do to raise their chances of survival when they encountered a strong opponent they could not handle.

Humans like this were far more difficult to deal with than simpleminded Grade A monsters.

They clearly understood their own limits and knew when to retreat.

People like this knew how to walk the razor’s edge of survival while still taking profit.

Zeon examined the traces left on the ground.

“They split into three here.”

And they had scattered in completely different directions.

He could not catch all three groups.

He had to choose.

Zeon carefully examined the ground. But by then, the ground had already been covered in sand, leaving almost no traces behind.

In the end, Zeon had to rely on his instincts.

“I’ll have to chase the ones who fled east.”

“Is there a special reason?”

“The footprints are the deepest there, at least.”

“Why does that matter?”

“It means they loaded heavy cargo onto the Bactrian Camels.”

“By heavy cargo, you mean......?”

“Most likely the people kidnapped from the survivor village.”

“Ah! That makes sense.”

“We don’t have time. Let’s move quickly. The more time we give them, the lower our chance of catching up becomes.”

“Okay!”

Briel answered and climbed onto Gaia again.

Zeon and Gaia began the chase at frightening speed.

After running for half a day, they finally found traces of the bastards.

“Look at this.”

Another hollow laugh escaped him.

The traces left on the ground made him feel empty.

The group he had been chasing had split into two again.

Rather than realizing Zeon was tracking them, it seemed they had planned it this way from the beginning.

The group that had split into three had each divided into two again, leaving six groups.

That meant Zeon had that many more choices.

Zeon’s expression hardened coldly.

“A madman who’s smart on top of it. That’s the worst.”

He had gained another reason to catch them.

Before that, he had to choose.

Zeon chose the right side.

The traces left there were deeper.

It could have been a ploy to lure him in, but he had no other choice.

As Zeon raced across the desert at frightening speed, he saw dust rising far in the distance.

He had finally caught up to Hassim’s mercenaries.

Zeon said to Briel,

“I’ll go first, so follow me.”

“Okay!”

In that instant, Zeon kicked off the sand.

A pillar of sand shot up at terrifying speed and fired Zeon’s body like a cannon.

BOOM—!

With an explosive roar, Zeon’s body flew freely through the sky like a bird.

After reaching its highest point, Zeon’s body slowly drew a descending curve. But his body never touched the ground. That was because sand-laden wind blew in and supported him.

Whoooosh!

Zeon glided like a bird and approached the rear of the fleeing group in an instant.

“Aaah! It’s him.”

“He chased us down.”

The mercenary corps, having noticed Zeon’s approach belatedly, fell into chaos.

The sight of Zeon gliding toward them on sand-laden wind looked like a demon.

They realized it.

Now that he had caught up to them here, escaping from Zeon’s grasp was impossible.

“Damn it!”

“Attack!”

In the end, they gave up on fleeing and attacked Zeon.

The martial-type Awakened stepped forward and tanked at the front, while the magic-type Awakened fired attack Skills.

BOOM, BOOM, BOOM—!

All kinds of Skills flew in at frightening speed.

Any ordinary Awakened would have panicked under their attacks, but Zeon did not.

“Sand Blaster!”

Boom, boom, boom, boom—!

Every Skill the mercenary corps unleashed was intercepted by Sand Blaster.

“Damn it!”

“He’s using weird Skills.”

“Focus on tanking him.”

The martial-type Awakened at the front tried to block Zeon with their shields. But at that moment, the sand beneath their feet exploded.

BOOM—!

“Kraaaah!”

“Uwaaah!”

The martial-type Awakened screamed and were flung in every direction like bowling pins.

That was because Zeon had unfolded Claymore.

Without even glancing at the martial-type Awakened who had been flung away, Zeon unfolded Viper toward the magic-type Awakened.

Swish, swish, swish!

More than ten sand snakes flew out and struck the magic-type Awakened.

“Aaah!”

“Ghk!”

The magic-type Awakened were struck by Viper without putting up any proper response.

It was not because their abilities were lacking.

It was because Zeon’s Skills were that powerful, and his method of operating them far exceeded their expectations.

However, even the Awakened who were knocked away were no ordinary tough bastards.

“Damn it!”

“That son of a bitch......”

They endured the pain and charged at Zeon like evil spirits. But Zeon was more ruthless and stronger than them.

“Fire Rain.”

Fwoosh!

When he swung the Ultra-Heat Gauntlet, rain of fire fell.

The ultra-high-heat rain of fire brought death down upon the Awakened charging at Zeon.

“Spare me!”

“H-Hot!”

Among all the pain a human could feel, the greatest was the burning pain of being burned alive.

The Awakened rolled across the sand, trying to extinguish the flames clinging to their bodies. But the fire Zeon had created was not something that could be put out that way.

Like white phosphorus, once it stuck, it would never go out until it burned everything on its target.

For Awakened who could not unfold Aura Shield, it was truly a hellish attack.

Horrific screams flowed from everywhere.

Only then did Zeon let out a sigh and stop.

More than twenty people were burning in the rain of fire he had poured down.

The sight of living people burning was so terrible that one would fear seeing it even in a dream.

Zeon did not want to kill people this way unless he had to. But he knew all too well how clever and quick to respond the people he was chasing were.

If he gave them even the slightest opening, they would surely slip away like rats.

Above all, he wanted to give the worst pain to those who had slaughtered others in such cruel ways.

“S-Spare me!”

“Kraaaah!”

Zeon approached the one who seemed to be the leader among those crying out in pain. Perhaps because he was far stronger than the others, he was gritting his teeth and enduring even as one of his arms burned away whole.

Zeon asked him,

“Tell me everything about your group. Then I’ll kill you without pain.”

“Fuck off! You fucking bastard! You think this is enough to...... Kraaaah!”

FWOOOSH!

In that instant, the flames surged even more violently.

At the pain incomparable to before, the leader screamed until his throat nearly burst.

Zeon looked down at the man and said,

“I’ll ask one last time. Spill everything about your group.”