Chapter 336

Chapter 336

“Fuck! How are you getting pushed back in firepower over there? The bastards tanking up front are all going to die.”

“We need support on this side too!”

“That octopus bastard! How many more tentacles is it hiding?”

The expedition was locked in fierce battle with the Kraken.

The Kraken was not the only being the expedition had to fight. They also had to face the monsters the Kraken had called.

The Kraken, a Grade S monster, and the countless monsters under its command had devastated the entire area.

The one commanding the battle as a whole was Seo Tae-ran, Jin Geum-ho’s secretary.

Not only Jang Yong-beom, but even the leaders of the other raid parties were following Seo Tae-ran’s command.

Seo Tae-ran did not recognize the autonomy of each raid party.

Right now, this was an emergency, and she judged that dividing their strength in such a situation would be inefficient.

Under normal circumstances, the raid parties would have rebelled against Seo Tae-ran’s orders, but they had already exhausted much of their strength dealing with the Necromancer’s summons, so they followed without complaint.

They knew that doing so was better for preserving their own forces.

Thanks to that, Seo Tae-ran easily gained command authority and exercised her influence.

Now, the Kraken hunt was racing toward its final stage.

As expected of a Grade S monster, the Kraken was powerful.

It possessed Skills so mighty they could be called authorities.

One of them was the “Contaminated Ink” it was now spraying while swinging its ten tentacles.

As the name suggested, it wildly sprayed ink through its ten tentacles.

Just hearing the name, it did not sound frightening at all, but no one could say that after actually facing it.

Hiss!

Everything the ink touched melted.

Even armor made in Neo Seoul was useless.

Even an Aura Shield could not block the ink.

The pitch-black ink melted everything it touched in an instant like an acidic solution. Because of that, the Awakened’s casualties grew.

Even this much was only because the raid party leaders stood at the front and neutralized its attacks with their respective Skills. If they had not been there, the damage would have snowballed.

“Chaaat! Wrath of the Earth.”

“Divine Slash!”

Boom, boom, boom!

All kinds of Skills exploded against the Kraken’s massive body.

The Kraken, whose force field had already been stripped away by the attack force leaders’ attacks, shook violently from the heavy impact.

BOOM! BAAANG!

A massive tentacle fell toward the Awakened’s heads like a laundry bat.

The Awakened leaped this way and that like grasshoppers to avoid the tentacle, which was larger than a huge stone pillar. Even so, they did not stop attacking.

It was then that Zeon returned to the camp.

“Wow!”

Zeon exclaimed in admiration as he watched the Awakened hunting the Kraken.

“Zeon!”

“Brother!”

Briel and Levin ran over when they saw Zeon.

Zeon hugged them and asked,

“What is all this?”

“What else? They’re hunting a Grade S monster.”

“Where were you, Brother?”

“Is everyone all right?”

“Yeah!”

“Are you all right, Brother?”

Only after confirming that they were all fine did the three of them smile.

BAAANG!

Kuwaaaaah!

That was when it happened.

Along with a sound like heaven and earth collapsing, the Kraken’s final scream echoed out.

At last, the Mana Stone expedition had succeeded in hunting the Kraken.

They saw the Kraken’s enormous body collapse.

“Waaaaah!”

“We got it.”

“We hunted a Grade S monster.”

The people’s cheers rang out.

Once the Kraken fell, the monsters that had been attacking so madly tucked their tails and fled as if it had been agreed upon.

Holding Claymore, Jang Yong-beom shouted,

“We’ve secured the Mana Stone Mine. This place is now our land.”

“Waaaaah!”

“A new Mana Stone Mine.”

“This place is our land.”

The people cheered.

This did not simply mean they had brought down a Grade S monster and secured a Mana Stone Mine.

It was a historic moment in which humanity’s territory had expanded by that much.

Standing together with Briel and Levin, Zeon watched the sight of the people shouting in triumph.

---

The Kraken, a Grade S monster, was a monster with nothing to waste.

The distribution of the Kraken would be handled later. For now, they began stabilization work on the Mana Stone Mine.

The surviving Mechanics and Awakened joined forces to erect buildings.

The buildings were the containers and work vehicles they had dragged all the way here.

The faces of those working were full of vitality.

They had paid a heavy price, but in the end, they had achieved the goal they wanted.

The raid parties and Awakened who had participated in this expedition would undoubtedly receive great rewards.

Some would gain immense fame, while others would become rich.

All because they had taken part in this clearing.

But no one thought of it as free, or as getting a free ride.

Because everyone had paid a price.

Zeon sat on the roof of a vehicle and watched the people busily moving about.

At that moment, someone approached him.

It was Seo Tae-ran.

“Mr. Zeon!”

“You must be busy. What brings you here?”

“I wanted to talk for a moment.”

Seo Tae-ran stared intently at Zeon.

Her gaze was rather burdensome, but Zeon spoke calmly.

“What are you curious about?”

“That place…….”

Seo Tae-ran looked at the large fissure in front of the Mana Stone Mine.

It was the fissure the Necromancer Pilgram had created.

“What about it?”

“Is it safe now?”

Her question implied many things.

Zeon looked at Seo Tae-ran’s face for a moment, then nodded.

“Yes!”

“Are you certain?”

“Probably.”

“And that Necromancer?”

“He won’t ever come back to life again.”

“I see.”

“That’s right.”

“That’s a relief. Then we can collapse that fissure, can’t we?”

“You’re going to destroy it?”

“If we leave it there for no reason, someone else might start making a fuss about going inside.”

“That’s true.”

Zeon nodded, agreeing with her opinion.

The underground fissure had been the Necromancer’s domain.

Ordinary dungeons disappeared when the boss died. But this place was different. Even though Pilgram had died, it still had not disappeared and remained intact.

Zeon thought the reason was the jewel Pilgram had carried.

That jewel, which had made the half-demon dragon Nigel move personally, was still maintaining the fissure.

There did not seem to be any items or undead left separately, but the Necromancer’s lingering thoughts or influence might still remain.

If ordinary people or lower-ranked Awakened approached such a place, they were bound to be affected negatively.

Those with weak minds or low abilities might be stained by the malice the Necromancer had left behind.

The best way to prevent that was to cut off the possibility of approaching the fissure at the source.

Seo Tae-ran preferred methods that eliminated any potential source of trouble from the beginning. That was why she intended to collapse the fissure.

In any case, the open-pit Mana Stone Mine was some distance away from this place.

It would not have much effect on the open-pit Mana Stone Mine.

In that case, there was no reason to hesitate.

Once Zeon gave his permission, Seo Tae-ran immediately began the work of collapsing the fissure.

Collapsing the fissure was simple.

The bedrock had already been weakened because countless Awakened had entered and fought there.

When several high-ranking Awakened used their Skills toward the fissure cliff, the massive bedrock collapsed helplessly.

The fissure vanished without a trace, and the Necromancer’s traces were completely erased as well.

All that remained was to distribute each raid party’s stake according to their clearing contribution, and to build a fortress.

It was an open plain in every direction.

All that could be seen was golden sand.

There was no cover whatsoever to defend against monster attacks.

If things remained like this, there was a high possibility that the workers would be wiped out later if monsters attacked.

Because of that, Neo Seoul was proceeding with a plan to send a follow-up unit and build a fortress here.

There was no longer anything for Zeon to do here.

While countless people moved to secure various rights and interests, Zeon sat comfortably in a chair and rested.

Sitting in a chair beneath a large tent that blocked the sunlight, Zeon looked rather relaxed. But his thoughts were more complicated than ever.

‘Nigel!’

More than ten days had already passed since his battle with the half-demon dragon Nigel ended.

During that long period, Zeon reviewed his battle with him every day.

He did not know what intention Nigel had.

But the fact that he had once been a dragon alone made him a threat to humanity.

If Nigel made up his mind and attacked Neo Seoul, it would suffer tremendous damage.

No matter how much monster-repelling power Neo Seoul possessed, it would not work against an existence outside the standard like a dragon.

Every day, the battle against Nigel unfolded again and again inside his head.

It was a fight that belonged only to Zeon, one no one else could ever know.

After the battle in his head ended, he would be so exhausted he could not even move a finger, but no one else could know those circumstances.

In other people’s eyes, Zeon simply looked as if he were lounging around with nothing to do. Even so, no one looked at Zeon with displeasure.

Because the one who had made the greatest contribution in the Necromancer’s fissure was Zeon.

If not for Zeon, half of the people now breathing air on the surface would have lost their lives.

Because they knew that fact, no one disturbed Zeon’s rest.

“Whew!”

Zeon sighed and rose from his chair.

After reviewing the battle with Nigel, his entire body was soaked in sweat before he knew it.

Just as Zeon was wondering whether he should take a shower, he heard people cheering outside.

“Waaaaah! It’s the follow-up unit.”

“Fuck! The second group has arrived. Now we can go home.”

“Kahaha!”

At the sudden commotion, Zeon came out of the tent.

He saw countless vehicles entering the open-pit Mana Stone Mine.

It was the Second Expedition sent by Neo Seoul.

Since the First Expedition had secured the Mana Stone Mine, they had sent the second force to build a fortress and stabilize the area.

Now that the Second Expedition had arrived, the First Expedition could finally return to Neo Seoul.

Naturally, the people could not help cheering.

This was an open-pit Mana Stone Mine with nothing in it.

Not only were there no entertainment facilities, there were not even any conveniences to be found if one searched with washed eyes.

After spending more than ten days in a place like this, some people who liked noise and excitement were on the verge of losing their minds.

Now that the Second Expedition had arrived, they could leave the work of stabilizing and defending the Mana Stone Mine to them and return to Neo Seoul.

At that moment, Levin and Briel approached Zeon.

“Brother! The Second Expedition is here.”

“What are you going to do, Zeon?”

The two looked at Zeon with faces full of anticipation.

Though they had not expressed it until now, the two of them had also been rather bored with life here.

Zeon did not betray their expectations.

“Yeah! Let’s go back.”

“Really?”

“Hooray!”

The two jumped up and down in delight.

Zeon let out a small laugh at the sight of them.

That was when Seo Tae-ran walked toward him with an unfamiliar man.

He was a man in his mid-forties wearing a uniform that did not suit the desert.

The man, who gave off such a stiff, stifling atmosphere that merely looking at him made one feel choked, stopped in front of Zeon with Seo Tae-ran.

When Zeon looked at him with a questioning expression, Seo Tae-ran introduced the man.

“This is Mr. Sadoski, who will stabilize and operate the Mana Stone Mine. He is a Grade B Awakened, and he has earned Mr. Jin Geum-ho’s trust because of his outstanding organizational management ability. We will leave fortress construction and operation to him and depart for Neo Seoul.”

“Nice to meet you! I’m Sadoski. From now on, leave the operation of the Mana Stone Mine to me. There will be nothing more for you to concern yourself with.”

Sadoski crossed his arms and looked down at Zeon with lowered eyes.

Zeon silently looked at his arrogant demeanor for a moment.

Sadoski did not even blink.

‘Hmph! In the end, he’s nothing more than an ignorant fool with only brute strength. A fortress like a mining city can never be operated unless it’s by an expert like me.’

He was highly confident in his own abilities.

His mission was to stabilize the Mana Stone Mine and maximize Neo Seoul’s profits.

In the process, his intention was to ruthlessly cut down the rights of those who had made awkward little contributions.

To do that, he absolutely had to seize the initiative from the start.

He put strength into his eyes and glared at Zeon. Unfortunately, his intention did not work on Zeon.

“Handle the Mana Stone Mine operation however you like. I’m not interested anyway.”

Pat, pat!

Zeon patted his shoulder as he walked past.

“Guhk!”

In that instant, Sadoski received a tremendous shock and coughed up blood.

It was as if he had been struck by a massive mace, leaving him unable to breathe.

It was not a shock a mere Grade B Awakened could endure.

“Ghk! Cough!”

Sadoski had to endure the pain for quite some time afterward.