Chapter 319

Chapter 319

“Grrr!”

Eli looked up at the Punishers with eyes full of venomous resentment.

She was kneeling with mana restraints fastened around both arms.

The Punishers had subdued her and placed the mana restraints on her.

In the process, the Punishers had also suffered quite a few wounds. As befitted the second-in-command of the North District, Eli was strong.

If the Punishers had not joined forces and driven her into a corner, they would never have been able to subdue her alive.

Still wearing the mana restraints, Eli screamed at the top of her lungs.

“Hurry up and release these restraints! If it weren’t for these damned things, I’d wipe out the likes of you in an instant.”

“She’s still got spirit. Would she quiet down if we cut off one of her arms?”

At the cold words of the elf wearing the silver mask, Eli flinched for a moment.

The hooded Punisher looked at Eli and let out a deep sigh.

“Hoo! How did it come to this, Eli?”

“What are you? Why are you talking like you know me?”

“You know me as well. I’ve watched you for a very long time.”

“Then take off your hood and talk.”

Eli glared at the hooded Punisher with bloodshot eyes.

At her vicious gaze, the hooded Punisher sighed again.

In truth, he wanted to take off his hood and reveal his identity right then and there. But if he did, the peace he had struggled so hard to obtain might vanish.

If he revealed his identity, Eli and others seeking power would surely have approached him already or pestered him endlessly.

He had hidden his identity and lived quietly because he disliked such trouble.

If he lost his temper at Eli’s words and exposed his face now, he could be dragged into bothersome affairs.

Eli shouted at the Punisher.

“See? You don’t even have the courage to show your face. Does it feel good living that hypocritically? Did Serian tell you that was the right way to live? Let’s be honest. How long are we going to live parasitizing the human world like this? Elves are superior to humans, so is it normal for us to live while watching their every move?”

“Do you truly believe elves are superior to humans?”

“We’re far smarter, and our physical abilities are superior too. In outward beauty, humans can’t even compare.”

“Then why didn’t you become independent long ago? Instead of living in Neo Seoul while watching humans’ moods, why didn’t you build your own kingdom in the outside world? Or go to a city built by our kin who crossed over from Kurayan?”

“That’s......”

“Let’s at least admit what must be admitted. Humans may be physically inferior to us, but they have something we don’t. Do you know what that is?”

At the hooded Punisher’s words, Eli’s face twisted. But no matter how much she thought, she could not come up with an answer.

The hooded Punisher sighed and said,

“If you don’t know that, you’ll have no choice but to live forever under that delusion.”

“So what’s the answer?”

“Courage.”

“What?”

“The courage to lose everything they once enjoyed and still rise again with bare fists. The courage to stand and fight against enormous monsters they can’t possibly handle. The courage to carry stones over collapsed ruins, build houses, and eventually raise a city. That is courage elves can never possess.”

“Don’t make me laugh. Why would elves lack courage? Elves are stronger warriors than anyone.”

“Then why did you flee Kurayan? Why did you flee to this world instead of fighting against your world’s destruction?”

“That’s......”

Eli hesitated for a moment, unable to answer quickly.

The hooded Punisher looked down at Eli and calmly continued,

“We lacked the courage to fight against destruction. But humans, even in a world destroyed against their will, stood on the earth with their own two feet. That is the greatest difference between elves and humans. They possess the courage we lack. That is why we, who lack courage, live clinging to the world of humans. You must face this reality.”

“You think I’ll fall for that kind of sophistry?”

Eli struggled to the very end and denied the hooded Punisher’s words.

The hooded Punisher sighed.

“Hoo! What meaning do such words have now? It has already happened.”

Thanks to the mobilization of even the Punishers, Eli’s rebellion had been blocked beforehand. But they could not prevent a split from forming inside the North District.

This incident would send a huge shock through the North District.

Those who had followed Eli would resist, and those who followed Serian would look at them with cold eyes.

Resolving that division was Serian’s burden.

“Her Majesty will suffer for a while again.”

“What choice is there? We can only help her.”

The elf wearing the silver mask approached the hooded Punisher and spoke.

“Before that, there’s still one more thing to resolve.”

“Hm?”

“The Sandmancer.”

“Mm!”

The silver-masked elf let out a low groan.

If not for Zeon, the entire North District might have suffered fatal damage.

“To think they made a monster called Gu by forcing insects to devour one another.”

“It’s horrifying just to imagine what would’ve happened if the Gu had been released.”

“Without the Sandmancer, we could never have stopped them.”

“We’ll have to repay him somehow.”

“That is our way.”

They did not possess the courage to rise from bare ground as humans did, but repaying kindness in equal measure was still their way.

Both kindness and grudges were calculated thoroughly, and the corresponding price was paid.

At the very least, if they wanted to live mixed into the human world, rewards and punishments had to be clear.

The silver-masked elf sighed.

“I can’t even guess what kind of price we’ll have to pay him.”

“What’s the point of us worrying? Her Majesty will handle it.”

“Hoo! We only place a great burden on her.”

“That is the path she chose. We can only assist her quietly from the shadows, as we’ve done until now......”

The hooded elf shook his head and turned around.

He saw Borin and the Blue Fallen Leaf Special Operations Unit sitting on the floor, gasping for breath.

They were suffering from the aftereffects as soon as the buff ended.

They had compressed and used ten days’ worth of energy in a single moment, so they would suffer for several more days.

The problem was that even with such a buff, the Blue Fallen Leaf Special Operations Unit had suffered many casualties.

This too would take quite some time to resolve.

In one way or another, it had been a day full of wounds.

“Hoo!”

“Haa!”

The Punishers’ deep sighs scattered into the air.

---

Yu Se-hee stared at Zeon, who had appeared suddenly, with a dumbfounded expression.

“Wait, didn’t you just go into Neo Seoul?”

“That was until yesterday.”

“Then you came out today? What the hell happened in Neo Seoul? The entire North District was in an uproar.”

“You know that much?”

“The lockdown was so thorough that I don’t know the internal details, but I do know that something big happened.”

The moment something happened in the North District, Yu Se-hee had also tried to grasp the situation. But immediately afterward, all entry into the North District was forbidden, and information was completely cut off.

Because of that, she had been feeling stifled.

Zeon told her what had happened.

“The Spider Queen, the second-in-command of the North District, plotted a rebellion.”

“Eli did?”

“Yes!”

Zeon briefly explained Gu and Romina to her.

After hearing everything, Yu Se-hee looked sickened.

“If a strange lifeform like that had been released......”

“Many people would have died.”

“She’s properly insane. No matter how good power is, trying to kill that many people......”

No matter how far human rights had fallen in this world, there was still a line that had to be kept.

Eli had crossed that line long ago, and by a great distance.

“So what happened to Eli?”

“Judging by how quiet it is, they must have subdued her properly.”

“That’s a relief, then. But who are the people you brought with you?”

Yu Se-hee’s gaze turned to the men standing beside Zeon.

One of them was fidgeting like a dog that desperately needed to take a shit. It was Akashi, who had been with the Helbrin Mercenary Corps.

Because he had committed the crime of kidnapping the people Eli had used as food for Gu, he did not know what to do with himself.

Zeon spoke about him without adding or hiding anything.

“His name is Akashi. He was the detector of the Helbrin Mercenary Corps. Because of him, the Helbrin Mercenary Corps could avoid monsters and kidnap countless people.”

“A detector? You mean he can detect monsters in advance?”

“Yes!”

“Good heavens!”

Yu Se-hee sprang up from her seat in shock.

That was how surprising Zeon’s words were.

Awakened who could detect monsters in advance were extremely rare.

“What’s his detection range?”

Instead of answering, Zeon looked at Akashi.

His gaze told Akashi to speak for himself.

Akashi hesitated for a moment, but unable to withstand Zeon’s pressure, he opened his mouth.

“I am a Grade C Awakened. My detection range is roughly ten kilometers.”

“You can detect monsters from that far away?”

“Ah! To be precise, it’s not monster detection, but lifeform detection. The monsters I can detect from ten kilometers away are only those with extremely strong life reactions.”

“You mean large-class monsters of Grade B or higher.”

“Yes!”

“Then what about small monsters?”

“For monsters that move in packs, around seven or eight kilometers. For small monsters, they have to approach within four or five kilometers before I can tell.”

“Mm!”

Yu Se-hee let out a low groan.

Her eyes were gleaming.

If one could detect large monsters from ten kilometers away in advance, they could avoid them.

As far as she knew, the most outstanding existing detector could only detect monsters from about three kilometers away.

Even that alone earned him tremendous treatment and special protection.

Yet the sharp-eyed man before her said he could detect large monsters ten kilometers away.

At this level, he could be considered a human radar.

He could not compare to a professional Navigator, but this was still a top-tier talent.

Yu Se-hee said to Zeon,

“Hand him over to us.”

“He has committed many crimes.”

“That doesn’t matter. We’ll squeeze more out of him than the crimes he committed. We’ll work him until he begs us to kill him instead.”

“That’s an answer worthy of the master of the Dokkaebi Market.”

Zeon chuckled.

To her, a person’s good or evil did not matter all that much.

What mattered was ability.

As long as one had ability, most crimes could be forgiven.

If they used Akashi well, they could pioneer several routes leading outside.

For example, the Steel Fortress Zeon had mentioned.

If they could open a safe road to Steel Fortress, it would bring the Dokkaebi Market tremendous profit.

That would be more than enough to offset the burden of keeping Akashi.

Yu Se-hee said,

“I’ll repay you properly.”

“I don’t need repayment. Instead, please take good care of this man.”

Zeon pointed to the man standing beside Akashi.

“Who is this one?”

“Bryce. He’s a Grade F alchemist.”

“An alchemist? Only Grade F?”

Yu Se-hee looked unimpressed.

There were so many Grade F Awakened that one could kick them underfoot.

She liked the alchemist class, but that did not make him appealing enough to accept blindly.

Zeon chuckled and said,

“He can make sand hardener.”

“Hardener, so what...... Wait! He hardens sand?”

“Yes!”

“Damn it!”

CRASH—!

Yu Se-hee struck the desk.

Only then did she realize how remarkable this Grade F alchemist named Bryce was.

“Then we can harden sand and make bricks. We can build more houses.”

“Yes! You could also build bunkers underground.”

“Where did you kidnap this one from?”

“He’s from a survivor village plundered by the Helbrin Mercenary Corps, where Akashi was.”

Contrary to what Hassim had said, the Helbrin Mercenary Corps had not handed Bryce and the villagers over to Eli. They had only locked them away somewhere.

Akashi had revealed Hassim’s lie to beg for his life, and as soon as Zeon found out where they were imprisoned, he rescued them.

Zeon said,

“Bryce has family.”

“Okay! No matter how many there are, we’ll protect them and provide them with a place to live. So hand Bryce over too.”

“You promise?”

“I swear on my name. The Dokkaebi Market will take responsibility.”

“Good.”

Zeon nodded.

At that moment, Bryce, who had been standing blankly, began shedding tears.

That was because, to him, who had lost everything and fallen into despair, Yu Se-hee’s words had become a ray of light.

Although it was not the way he had wanted, the very fact that everyone who had lived with him in the survivor village could now live in the slums under the protection of the Dokkaebi Market was enough to satisfy him.

“Thank you. Hic! Thank you so much.”

In the quiet room, Bryce’s sobs echoed.