Chapter 347

Chapter 347

“Hah!”

“Fuck!”

Levin and Jetoya’s faces twisted when they arrived at the village.

It was because they could already see several corpses.

The villagers had gathered around the bodies and were crying.

Briel shook her head slightly and said,

“It looks like she’s already been here.”

“She used a very cruel hand. It seems she uses silver thread as a weapon, and she doesn’t hesitate at all when killing people.”

Levin had already figured out the weapon Chensi used just by looking at the wounds on the corpses.

That was proof that Levin, too, had accumulated a wealth of experience.

Chensi had already turned Jetoya’s village upside down and disappeared.

The one fortunate thing was that not that many people had died.

She had killed only as many as needed to obtain information, then left.

The bad part was that this meant Chensi moved efficiently.

Indiscriminate slaughter was easy, but killing people efficiently like this and extracting only the information one wanted was difficult.

It meant she was that difficult an opponent.

Tracking someone who moved while pursuing extreme efficiency was just as difficult.

Jetoya grabbed the surviving villagers and asked about the situation when Chensi visited.

A little while later, after obtaining all the information, Jetoya approached the two of them.

“This woman is completely insane. She executed the villagers one by one until she got the answer she wanted.”

“This will keep happening until Remura is secured.”

“Then we need to track her quickly.”

“Will you be all right?”

“What do you mean?”

“This is the village you lead. Will you be all right leaving without tending to the bodies?”

“What they want isn’t tending to the bodies. It’s revenge.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes! The families of the dead asked me for revenge too. So let’s hurry and track her.”

“All right! Let’s do that.”

Levin nodded and looked at Briel.

Briel took a glass bottle from her pointed hat and said,

“That woman’s traces are still here, so tracking her won’t be difficult.”

Briel sprinkled the liquid inside the glass bottle over the place where Chensi had stood. Then Chensi’s footprints glowed with a luminous light and appeared.

It was a tracking elixir Briel had made.

After specifying the target like this, sprinkling the elixir at each fork in the path would make it easy to tell which direction the target had moved.

Briel moved first in the direction of the footprints, and Levin followed behind her, saying to Jetoya,

“Let’s go, Jetoya!”

“Yes! Brother.”

And so the three of them set out in pursuit.

After confirming that there were no people around, Briel said,

“All right. Come out now, Gaia!”

—Pii!

In that instant, Gaia opened subspace and revealed itself.

Having regained its freedom, Gaia wagged its tail happily.

The old Gaia had been so fragile that it could barely endure even a short time in the sewers filled with murky energy, but now it had grown much stronger and could endure to some extent.

Briel stroked Gaia’s head and said,

“I’m happy to be with you too. But tracking comes first right now, so let’s focus. Before more sacrifices appear…….”

—Pii!

“Right! Let’s go.”

Briel and Gaia raced into the darkness after Levin and Jetoya.

＊＊＊

Zeon was sitting in Old Man Clexi’s shop, eating.

Gukbap filled with plenty of meat was Zeon’s favorite food.

The gukbap he had started eating at some point had now become an indispensable light meal for Zeon.

Slurp!

Old Man Clexi watched Zeon eat the gukbap deliciously and said,

“Is it good?”

“It’s good.”

“Food actually goes down your throat?”

“It goes down very well.”

“No, you sent only the kids into the Crocodile den, and gukbap still goes down?”

“You made it yourself, so you should know. Why wouldn’t something this good go down?”

“Good grief! I’m asking if you aren’t worried about the kids.”

“I’m not worried at all.”

At Zeon’s firm answer, Old Man Clexi’s face crumpled.

“Really?”

“Yes!”

“No, why? You sent only those little ones, and you’re still not worried? Is your heart seriously broken?”

“I didn’t raise them so softly that I’d need to worry over nothing.”

“Huh?”

“I trained them harshly. Something like this won’t be a problem for those kids.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes!”

Along with his answer, Zeon lifted the bowl and slurped down the broth.

Old Man Clexi silently stared at Zeon’s face.

He did not like how calm Zeon looked. But separate from that, Zeon’s words inspired trust.

Because he knew very well how cautious Zeon was.

When Zeon spoke like that, he clearly had that much certainty. He was not the kind of person who would send children into death without that certainty.

Only then did Old Man Clexi feel relieved and let out a sigh.

“Whew! Fine, let’s say the children are all right. But how long do you plan to stay like this? Are you just going to keep passing time?”

“No, of course not.”

“Then?”

“I was already thinking it was about time I started moving. Once I finish this gukbap, that is.”

The bowl was now nearly empty.

Zeon scraped up the remaining meat and rice, ate them cleanly, then set down the bowl.

Tap!

“Ah! That was good. Food you make is delicious no matter when I eat it.”

“Heh heh! Everyone knows my cooking skill.”

“Thanks to that, I think I can move with some strength.”

“What do you plan to do?”

“First, I need to drive away the watcher.”

“Watcher?”

“I’ve endured this much, haven’t I?”

Zeon smiled.

Old Man Clexi found his smile chilling.

“That’s a murder smile.”

“What?”

“I mean it’s a good smile for killing people.”

“Ah, well…….”

Only then did Zeon understand what Old Man Clexi meant, and he rose from his seat with a small laugh.

“Thank you for the meal. I’ll come again next time.”

“I would prefer it if you came with the children.”

“I’ll try.”

“Good! Take care.”

“Yes!”

Zeon placed money on the table and left the shop.

Once he had put some distance between himself and the shop, Zeon’s gaze changed.

He raised his head and looked toward the clock tower far in the distance.

It was Shinchon’s famous clock tower.

Thanks to that clock tower, the people living in Shinchon could tell the time without wearing separate watches.

The distance between the clock tower and Zeon was over three kilometers.

An ordinary person would not even be able to see what was on top of the clock tower. But Zeon’s eyes saw it clearly.

The man sitting there, staring fixedly at him.

The one wearing priestly robes and emitting an intense eye-glow was Rubo.

He was one of the Dark Saints Dongdaemun was proud of, and a man who possessed the broken Skill called Clairvoyance.

He was watching Zeon’s every move from the top of the clock tower.

The movements of Zeon that he grasped that way were being reported to Dongdaemun in real time.

A deep furrow appeared between Rubo’s brows as he watched Zeon. That was because their gazes had met head-on.

‘Surely not?’

There was a distance of three kilometers between him and Zeon.

Moreover, he was hiding himself with a concealment Skill.

No matter how outstanding an Awakened was, discovering him hidden here should have been impossible.

In fact, not a single person Rubo had ever watched had discovered him.

Because of that, he might have grown complacent, but Rubo did not let his guard down for even an instant.

He knew well that a single moment of carelessness could take his life.

The instant his eyes met Zeon’s, Rubo’s heart suddenly began pounding violently.

Rubo knew very well that it was a warning from instinct.

‘He found me.’

Rubo immediately rose to his feet.

At that moment, Zeon kicked off the ground and launched himself forward.

Straight toward the clock tower where Rubo was hiding.

Sand lifted Zeon’s body high into the air.

“Damn it!”

Rubo fled without looking back.

Although he specialized in surveillance, he was still an Awakened.

His physical ability alone was as outstanding as most martial-type Awakened.

In an instant, he kicked off the clock tower and moved to the rooftop of a neighboring building.

‘I need to join the other Dark Saints.’

There were ten Dark Saints who had entered Shinchon.

Chensi had suddenly disappeared, so the remaining Dark Saints numbered nine.

Even excluding him, there were eight more in Dongdaemun.

During that time, the Dark Saints had spread throughout Shinchon and gathered information about the Saintess.

He already knew their locations.

Rubo moved to find the closest Dark Saint.

Whoooosh!

At that instant, he heard the sound of air splitting behind him.

Cold sweat ran down Rubo’s spine.

Because he knew the owner of that sound was Zeon.

‘Damn it!’

The sound of air splitting was getting closer and closer.

Rubo was not someone who failed to understand what that meant.

In the end, Rubo gave up on fleeing and turned around.

Thud!

At that moment, a powerful impact struck his chest. Zeon, who had flown through the air, had kicked him in the chest.

“Ghk!”

Rubo rolled across the rooftop floor with a scream.

Only after rolling for some time and crashing into the railing did Rubo’s body stop.

Zeon landed lightly in front of him.

To Rubo’s eyes, Zeon descending on sand looked like a demon.

Zeon looked down at Rubo and said,

“You worked hard watching me all this time.”

“Fuck! You already knew?”

“You stared at me so persistently for an entire month. Wouldn’t it be stranger if I didn’t know?”

“Then you knew from the start that I was watching you?”

“Yes!”

“Hah! You dog-like…….”

At Zeon’s answer, Rubo chewed hard on his lip.

Because he realized everything he had done until now had been pointless.

“So you knew everything and still left me alone?”

“I did feel a little sorry for you.”

“What?”

“You couldn’t even sleep properly because you were watching me, and you sat hidden and crouched every day.”

“Then why didn’t you attack me then? If you had, I wouldn’t have had to waste an entire month on pointless nonsense.”

“Because it was a promise.”

“A promise?”

“Didn’t you know? I made a promise with Lord Johan. For one month, I would let you people move freely.”

“That is…….”

Rubo could not continue.

Because he had heard the same thing from Johan.

Zeon looked back toward the clock tower and said,

“The promised month has passed now. By one minute, to be exact. So please get out.”

“Insane! You’re attacking me because a single minute passed?”

“I told you. The time I promised Lord Johan was exactly one month. So you should keep your promise too.”

“Fuck!”

Rubo cursed at Zeon’s cold gaze. But that was all.

In reality, there was nothing he could do.

Although he had the special Skill called Clairvoyance, he could not compare to Zeon.

If he clashed with Zeon in battle, he would lose one hundred percent.

Rubo staggered to his feet.

“Take all the others and leave. If even one person remains, I won’t stay still.”

“W-wait. There is still one person whose whereabouts have not been confirmed.”

“You expect me to believe that? I’ll give you ten minutes starting now. Take the other nine people and leave Shinchon. Whatever happens after that will be entirely your and Lord Johan’s responsibility.”

“Damn it!”

At Zeon’s warning, Rubo hurriedly left.

Watching Rubo’s back as he swiftly disappeared, Zeon smiled.

‘With this, the justification has passed to my side.’

Even though Zeon had given them an entire month, failing to find any clue was Dongdaemun’s responsibility.

Since he had watched them for the promised month, no matter how Zeon acted now, Johan could not protest.

‘This will be quite a headache for you, Johan. You spent a month gaining nothing, and only made enemies of the other districts…….’