Chapter 358

Chapter 358

Grrrr!

Zeon stood where the Flame Wolves’ gazes were fixed.

The eyes of the Flame Wolves looking at Zeon were filled with fear.

Flame Wolves, beasts that seemed as though they would never know fear, were terrified of Zeon, who was nothing more than human.

Kim Jin-su and his subordinates looked baffled by the Flame Wolves’ reaction.

It was something their common sense could not comprehend.

A monster being frightened of a human was impossible. At least, they had never seen such a thing even once.

That was why they were confused. It was happening right before their eyes.

The Flame Wolves were clearly afraid of Zeon.

Whiiine!

Yip!

Zeon had not moved an inch, yet some of them were already letting out cries as if they were about to choke on their own breath.

They looked exactly like frightened puppies.

Zeon silently stared at the pack of Flame Wolves.

One unusually large individual caught his eye.

A Flame Wolf twice as large as the others, boasting deep crimson fur. Peculiarly, one of its ears had been cut off halfway.

It was the Alpha of this pack.

Grrrr!

The Alpha looked at Zeon and let out a growl, almost as if making excuses.

Zeon looked at it and said,

“It’s you. You’ve grown a lot.”

Its peculiar crimson fur was one thing, but with that half-severed ear, there was no way he could fail to recognize it.

Zeon was the one who had cut off that ear.

When it met Zeon’s gaze head-on, the Alpha did not know what to do with itself.

It turned its head away, desperately avoiding Zeon’s eyes, and its body trembled.

Quite a long time had passed, but it still remembered vividly.

That moment when Zeon had mercilessly slaughtered its kin.

Of course, the ones who had attacked Zeon first were the Flame Wolves.

In the Flame Wolves’ eyes, Zeon, walking alone through the desert, had looked like a delicious meal. But it did not take long for them to realize just how grave a mistake that had been.

Every Flame Wolf that charged at Zeon had been ground apart by the sand and vanished.

Hundreds of them, in fact.

The Flame Wolves here were all the children of the Flame Wolves who had died back then.

They had been too young, so Zeon had spared them instead of killing them.

Those young wolves had grown and formed a large pack, but they still retained the memory of that time with absolute clarity. That was why they were scared out of their wits the moment they saw Zeon.

The bus carrying Zeon entered the middle of the Flame Wolf pack. Behind it followed the buggy cars carrying the Awakened and the transport vehicles driven by the porters.

Normally, the Flame Wolves would already have attacked. But instead, they moved aside to both flanks, making a path for the vehicles to pass.

At a sight none of them had ever seen in their lives, the Awakened and porters focused on driving with dazed expressions.

The Flame Wolves did not make a single aggressive move until all the vehicles had passed.

Zeon stood on top of the bus and looked at the Alpha Flame Wolf.

The wind blew, softly scattering its mane.

He thought it looked fairly impressive.

When he considered the people who might someday pass through this place, it would have been right to wipe out the entire pack. But even if he got rid of this pack, another group of Flame Wolves would move into this place and thrive.

The most terrifying thing about monsters was that they reproduced with truly insane speed. It was impossible to eradicate such creatures completely.

It was better, even for other people’s sake, to let the ones imprinted with fear of humans remain and guard this place.

The Flame Wolves would think at least one more time before attacking humans.

And so, the procession of vehicles carrying Zeon’s group passed safely through the Flame Wolf pack’s territory.

“Ha ha! This is insane. I can’t believe we passed right through the middle of a monster pack without even fighting.”

“You’re laughing? I was holding it in because I thought I was going to piss myself.”

“One thing’s for sure. We’ll never experience anything like this again.”

As their tension eased, the Awakened and porters let out sighs of relief and began chattering.

The experience of passing through a Flame Wolf pack without swinging a single sword had been that thrilling.

Kim Jin-su looked toward the Armored Bus.

Zeon, who had been on the roof, was nowhere to be seen. He had gone back inside as soon as they passed through the Flame Wolf pack.

“I’m so stunned I can’t even speak. What the hell do you have to do to make monsters get scared and open a path for you?”

“This is seriously insane. Fucking insane!”

His subordinate also shook his head.

It had been a thrill intense enough to make their knees go weak. And he had a feeling that, as long as they were traveling with Zeon, they would have more experiences like this.

That feeling soon became reality.

After passing through the Flame Wolf territory, the monster they encountered was one of the desert tyrants: a Sandworm.

Zeon got off the bus briefly and spoke with Kim Jin-su.

“The sand here is especially soft, so Sandworms like this place. The sand grains transmit vibrations well, so the moment vehicles enter, they’ll notice.”

“Then what should we do?”

“We need to find a path.”

“Pardon?”

“At a glance, all sand looks the same, but even among it, there are grains that are coarser and carry a particular smell. To humans, it doesn’t make much difference, but to Sandworms, it smells especially unpleasant. If there’s sand like that, even Sandworms will take a long way around.”

“How do you distinguish sand like that? Ah, it wouldn’t matter for you, Lord Zeon. When it comes to sand, you can detect even the most minute difference.”

“That’s right. Do you see over there?”

Zeon pointed at an especially tall sand dune.

“Yes!”

“Do you see the brown sand continuing along that sand ridge? It’s darker than the other sand, so it should stand out.”

“Yes! I think I see it. It continues like a band.”

“That’s right. If you see that sand, make sure you move that way no matter what. That’s the method most likely to let you survive a Sandworm.”

“Ah, thank you.”

Kim Jin-su thanked Zeon for the new information he had never known before.

It might have been nothing special to Zeon, but to ordinary Awakened like Kim Jin-su, it was precious information that increased their chances of survival.

Usually, this kind of know-how and information was not shared easily.

Each guild and dungeon raid team kept it to themselves and absolutely never leaked it outside.

Neo Seoul’s reality was that all know-how and information had to be learned personally by throwing one’s own body into danger.

In that sense, Kim Jin-su was lucky.

Zeon had told him this information without asking for anything in return.

The First Escort Team moved toward the dune where the band of brown sand Zeon had shown them had formed.

Grind, grind!

The vehicle wheels made noise as they pushed through the sand.

If Sandworms really lived here, they should have rushed over after hearing the sound of the wheels. But even though the wheel noise disturbed the sand, no Sandworm appeared.

“Maybe there just aren’t any Sandworms here?”

Just as one porter spoke cautiously—

Pssshhh!

Far in the distance, sand suddenly shot up like a fountain.

Then the maw of a huge monster appeared.

A Sandworm had pushed its head out from beneath the sand.

For a moment, it writhed as if sniffing the air.

The Awakened and porters held their breath and watched.

After drawing in the fresh air for a while, the Sandworm disappeared back into the sand.

Only after a long time had passed since the Sandworm vanished did the Awakened and porters finally let out sighs of relief.

“Haa! There really was a Sandworm.”

“Fuck! I almost pissed myself again.”

“Who was the bastard who said there weren’t any Sandworms here?”

Zeon’s words had been true.

Sandworms did exist here.

If they had not moved along the place where the especially dark brown sand lay, just as Zeon had said, they would have run straight into a Sandworm.

Thanks to him, they had avoided fighting the Sandworm, preserved their strength, and obtained precious information as well.

Now, none of them doubted Zeon’s words.

Throughout the journey, Kim Jin-su and the Awakened listened closely to Zeon’s words and acted exactly as he instructed.

After ten days passed like that, they were able to reach their destination safely.

Deaths: zero.

Injuries: zero.

It was the first time in the history of the First Escort Team.

For the Awakened and porters who had always suffered from injuries, large and small, whenever they went on an escort mission, no schedule could have been easier than this one.

They felt boundless gratitude toward Zeon for making such a journey possible.

“You’re saying Ironclad Ants live here?”

“Yes! This place has the optimal environment for them.”

“Mm!”

Kim Jin-su let out a groan.

In his field of vision, a massive fissure in the earth came into view.

A huge fissure that looked as if a god had struck the earth with a gigantic axe.

It was so deep that no sunlight reached it, making it look dark even in broad daylight.

“Phew! If the fissure is this big, the number of Ironclad Ants must be no joke.”

“You know it well. A massive swarm of at least several thousand lives there.”

“Whew! Then this is going to be ridiculously dangerous.”

“We don’t need to deal with all several thousand. We’ll only hunt the ones deployed on the outer edge.”

“If their kin are attacked, won’t the ones inside come pouring out too?”

Kim Jin-su’s voice rose naturally in agitation.

“As I said a moment ago, this place is a special case. So many of them live together that food is always scarce. Even if a small number disappear, the ones inside won’t care.”

“Then this is a perfect opportunity for us.”

Kim Jin-su’s eyes flashed.

He was no fool.

He knew well that a shortage of food led to competition and division. With more than several thousand Ironclad Ants gathered together, there was a good chance they could not secure enough food and might view even their own kin as competition.

This was precisely such a time.

“Then should we go down right away?”

“No. We don’t need to go down.”

“Pardon?”

“We need to make them come up. That way, we can hunt them more easily.”

“How?”

“We’ll use bait. Then the Ironclad Ants on the outer edge will smell it and come up to the surface.”

“Could it be?”

Kim Jin-su and the Awakened turned their eyes toward the transport vehicle at the rear.

Several monster corpses were loaded onto the huge transport vehicle.

They were the corpses of the Flame Armadillos they had hunted on the way here.

Though Zeon had deliberately avoided other monsters, when they encountered the Flame Armadillos, he had immediately told them to hunt them.

Flame Armadillos were Grade D monsters.

Five meters long and covered in scales harder than steel, Flame Armadillos possessed truly formidable defensive power.

When facing an enemy, they attacked by launching scales wreathed in flame, making them extremely difficult to deal with.

Even after being hunted with difficulty, Flame Armadillos were not particularly useful.

The scales were barely usable, but the rest of the corpse had almost no value.

Because of that, Awakened avoided hunting Flame Armadillos unless they had no other choice.

But Zeon had insisted that they absolutely had to hunt the Flame Armadillos. Not only that, he had made them bring the otherwise useless corpses all the way here.

Zeon answered with a smile.

“Yes! Flame Armadillo carcasses are the Ironclad Ants’ favorite food. Because of the hard scales containing flame, they’re almost impossible for the ants to hunt under normal circumstances, so they go especially crazy for them.”

“Ah! Then......”

“Yes! If we place the Flame Armadillo carcasses at the entrance to the fissure, the Ironclad Ants will come up on their own.”

“To think there was a method like that. This really is a whole new world.”

Kim Jin-su and the Awakened could not stop marveling.

Zeon clapped his hands and said,

“Enough admiration. Let’s move.”

“Yes! Understood. Everyone heard him, right? Hurry and unload the Flame Armadillo carcasses.”

“Understood.”

The Awakened ran toward the vehicle carrying the Flame Armadillo corpses.

Since each one was a full five meters long, their weight was no joke either.

All of the Awakened had to cling to the Flame Armadillo corpses to move them.

They carried the Flame Armadillo corpses to one side of the fissure, then held their breath and waited.

Chik! Chik, chik!

A moment later, along with a strange noise, a pair of antennae appeared.

It was an Ironclad Ant.

The Ironclad Ant appeared while busily moving its antennae. Upon discovering the Flame Armadillo carcass, it released pheromones in every direction. Then other Ironclad Ants noticed the signal and climbed up from the fissure.

Zeon glared at the Ironclad Ants and said,

“We need to hunt them quickly before they carry off the Flame Armadillo carcasses.”

“Understood. Everyone, attack.”

“Yes!”

The Awakened answered and attacked the Ironclad Ants.

Every Ironclad Ant that climbed to the surface was cut down by the Awakened’s swords and blades. But it was not enough for them alone to deal with all of the Ironclad Ants.

Levin rolled up his sleeves and stepped forward.

“I guess I should help too.”

Crackle!

Levin, transformed into a ghost, unleashed Purple Lightning toward the swarm of Ironclad Ants.

It was the beginning of a massacre.

Briel muttered as she watched Levin unleash Purple Lightning.

“He’s having the time of his life.”

At that moment, Zeon was looking across the fissure.

On the other side, atop a rock, someone’s head was visible.