Chapter 39

Chapter 39

The dwarf Gofrey glared with eyes like bulging bells.

“As expected of the human race, you’re treacherous. Pretending to be unconscious and tricking us.”

“Who’s calling whom treacherous, you stubby runt half the size of a finger?”

“Grrgh!”

At Deioden’s venomous words, Gofrey’s face twisted hideously.

His face was full of rage.

He had heard plenty of rumors about Deioden.

He knew Deioden hated nonhuman races like himself, and that he was an Awakened with terrifying skill.

From the perspective of Earthlings, he could understand that.

To them, they might be invaders. But they too had made that choice in order to survive.

There was no reason for a choice made for survival to be condemned.

Fighting to survive, and the strong surviving to rule, was an utterly natural thing.

At least, it had been in Kurayan where they had lived.

“I’ll show you the true strength of us dwarves.”

Gofrey raised his hand. Then the dwarf warriors waiting in the Valley of Death revealed themselves.

The dwarf warriors were riding vehicles mounted with large cannons.

Originally, there had been no cars in Kurayan.

They had been made by studying Earth’s cars.

The vehicles, completed by combining dwarf technology and Magic, had mana particle cannons installed on them.

These too had been copied after observing Earth’s weapons.

They were still imperfect and fell far short of the power originally planned, but Gofrey was confident they would be enough to kill Deioden.

Those who appeared around the dwarves were elf rangers.

The elf rangers were riding red horses.

The horses named Red Blood had crossed over from Kurayan together with the elves. Strangely enough, they were carnivorous.

They were fierce and strong enough to devour small monsters.

The elf rangers had tamed such Red Bloods and rode them.

That was because in the desert, their mobility was unmatched.

All the elf rangers wore light armor and held bows and arrows.

They were racing forward at tremendous speed.

Deioden’s mouth twisted.

“Heh-heh! I thought it was strange that no matter how much I searched the desert, I couldn’t find you. So you were hiding like cockroaches and making this trash.”

“Consider it an honor, human! You’ll be the first sacrifice to the mana particle cannons made by the great dwarven race.”

“At the end of the day, you’re just a dragon’s servants.”

“Who are you calling servants? We only made a deal with him.”

Gofrey flared up.

“A deal? A deal with a dragon. Did half-sized bastards like you have that much ability?”

“Shut up, human! Do not look down on the strength of those who made Elharun. Even the great dragon cannot treat our city of Elharun carelessly.”

“So Elharun is the name of the city you bastards built.”

“Hrk!”

Gofrey sucked in a breath.

That was because he had revealed a secret without realizing it.

Just as humans had built colonies to survive after Earth became a desert, those who had crossed over from Kurayan had secretly built a city as well.

In a place where human eyes could not reach.

The name of the enormous city where humans, elves, dwarves, and other nonhuman races lived together was Elharun.

The elves had led it, and the dwarves had designed it. The humans had supplied science, technology, and funding. The remaining races had also pooled what strength they could, completing it together.

Its scale and location were secret beyond secret, and even its very existence was secret. Yet with his own mouth, Gofrey had blurted out that Elharun existed.

Deioden said to Zeon,

“Cripple, did you hear that?”

“Yes!”

Zeon nodded.

Gofrey had only said one thing without thinking, but it contained a great deal of information.

First, a city called Elharun existed.

Elharun’s location was not very far from Kamchatka Colony.

It was a city where Magic and science harmonized, like Neo Seoul.

They regarded Earth’s humans as extremely insignificant.

Lastly, they were in a cooperative relationship with a dragon named Haieltun.

He did not know what their objective was. But the fact that they were united as one was itself a great threat to the humans of this land.

Hammerson glared at Gofrey, who had leaked the secret, and muttered,

“Fucking dwarf bastard!”

“Shut your mouth! Human! How dare you speak so recklessly to me?”

“Were you not the one who leaked the secret?”

“If we kill everyone here anyway, the secret will have no way to spread. Was that not the reason we brought the mana particle cannons in the first place?”

At Gofrey’s words, Hammerson’s expression twisted.

Seeing that, Zeon muttered inwardly.

‘They’re united, but it’s not perfect. All three races don’t fully trust one another.’

He saw the elf standing far away and letting out a sigh.

Judging by the previous conversation and her reaction now, she was the only one standing apart.

It might have been the elves’ disposition, but in any case, it was clear she felt uncomfortable working together with the dwarves and humans.

Deioden mocked them.

“Heh-heh! What a laughable bunch. Kidnapping people who were simply passing by wasn’t enough, so now you’re fighting among yourselves. Are your heads lacking something?”

“Shut up!”

Gofrey roared and quickly retreated.

Hammerson and the elf followed after him.

The moment they moved, the dwarves in the Valley of Death fired the mana particle cannons.

BOBOBOBOOM!

With explosive roars, the mana particle cannons flew toward Deioden and Zeon.

Deioden did not dodge the mana particle cannons.

“Kahaha!”

He charged straight toward the incoming beams of light with Crayon before him.

“He really is a crazy old man, no matter what.”

Zeon shook his head.

He had no intention of taking the mana particle cannons head-on like Deioden.

A sand barrier rose around Zeon.

CRASHCRASHCRASH—!

Immediately afterward, the mana particle cannons struck.

Sand burst apart, and it shot high into the sky.

Terrifying heat melted the sand, and a tremendous shockwave erupted in every direction.

Its power was truly dreadful.

“Grrgh!”

Zeon let out a low groan.

He was constantly raising sand barriers to protect himself, but the impact penetrating the sand pounded his body like an iron hammer.

“They really made something dangerous.”

With this level of power, ordinary monsters would be melted in an instant.

He did not know if mana particle cannons existed in Elharun, but they were certain to become a tremendous threat.

There was a limit to blocking the mana particle cannons with sand barriers alone.

Zeon hurriedly entered the sand.

Having burrowed deep into the sand in an instant, Zeon changed direction.

It was the direction of the Valley of Death.

‘I need to get rid of the mana particle cannons.’

He released Exion outside his body. Then the sand was pushed away, creating space for him to move.

Zeon used Sand Walk and advanced.

The sand ahead brushed past Zeon and was pushed behind him.

Deep underground, where there was no visibility and it was impossible to grasp direction.

But Zeon moved while holding the exact direction, as if he were seeing it with his own eyes.

That was because the sand within a radius of dozens of meters was transmitting information to him.

CRASHCRASH!

Even at that moment, the impact from outside was being transmitted little by little.

The mana particle cannons were still pounding the earth.

Then at some point, he could no longer feel the impact of the mana particle cannons.

Just then, Zeon reached the entrance of the Valley of Death.

Zeon pierced through the sand and emerged outside.

At that instant, what he saw was the site of a massacre.

“I’ll kill every last one of you.”

Deioden was running wild.

Even after being struck so many times by the mana particle cannons, Deioden had not suffered a single scratch.

The mana particle cannons had only made his rage greater.

CRASH—!

With one slash from him, a vehicle mounted with a mana particle cannon exploded.

Crayon crushed not only the vehicle, but also the dwarf riding it.

“Kraaaagh!”

“Aaagh!”

The screams of the dwarves echoed through the Valley of Death.

It was an utterly one-sided massacre.

Realizing they could do nothing with the mana particle cannons, the dwarves dismounted while carrying war hammers and all kinds of weapons.

They too were Awakened.

They could not flee just because Deioden was frightening.

They attacked Deioden with all their strength.

The elf rangers joined in as well.

They held Deioden in check by firing arrows filled with mana. But their attacks did not reach Deioden.

The aura Deioden emitted deflected every arrow.

CRUNCH!

“Kraaaagh!”

At Deioden’s slash, a dwarf’s head shattered.

He could have killed dozens at once, but Deioden killed them carefully, one by one.

That appearance seemed even crueler.

“That cruel......”

Hammerson trembled.

His shoulders were twitching in small spasms.

Deioden’s martial prowess, which exceeded his imagination, had frightened him.

When he received Haieltun’s request, he had looked down on Deioden.

He had thought that no matter how strong a human of Earth was, there would be a limit. But the martial prowess Deioden displayed in person surpassed his imagination.

“Kraaaagh!”

“Ghk!”

Deioden was crushing the powerful dwarf warriors and elf rangers like ants.

The dwarves and elf rangers were attacking with all their might, but they could not inflict any damage on Deioden.

It was like watching a dragon.

“Damn it! We’re pulling back.”

Hammerson gave the order to his subordinates.

“You mean we’re abandoning the elves and dwarves?”

“We are not abandoning them. It is a strategic retreat.”

Hammerson answered his subordinate’s question coldly.

“But......”

“Take proper care of the guide. As long as we capture him, this won’t be a loss.”

“Understood.”

It was when the subordinate answered and stepped back.

“Grrgh!”

“Damn it!”

Suddenly, bewildered voices came from his other subordinates behind him.

Startled, Hammerson looked back, and Damian was gone.

“What? What happened?”

“H-he disappeared into the sand.”

His subordinates wore dumbfounded expressions.

They had clearly been holding Damian properly, but he had vanished into the sand in an instant.

The place where Damian reappeared was a good distance away from them.

Zeon had taken him through the sand and emerged outside.

Zeon asked Damian,

“Are you okay?”

“I’m...... okay.”

Damian shook his head and answered.

He was just as dazed.

Hammerson shouted,

“Capture them!”

His subordinates charged at Zeon and Damian.

As if showing off that they were Awakened, all kinds of Skills were fired at Zeon. But Zeon raised a sand barrier and easily neutralized their attacks.

BOBOBOBOOM!

The attack Skills failed to pierce the sand barrier and vanished.

“What the hell?”

“He’s using a strange Skill.”

“Stop him from using that Skill!”

The Awakened approached in an instant and struck the sand barrier directly.

CRASH—!

With an explosive roar, the sand barrier collapsed. But Zeon, who should have been behind the sand barrier, was nowhere to be seen.

He had used the sand barrier to block their sight and moved underground.

The place where he reappeared was behind the Awakened.

Zeon, who had revealed himself without a sound, used Sand Missile.

WHOOSHWHOOSHWHOOSHWHOOSH!

More than ten Sand Missiles flew toward the backs of the Awakened’s heads.

In an instant, the heads of five or six Awakened shattered and turned to powder. Only then did the other Awakened realize Zeon had moved behind them.

“He’s using some bizarre Skill.”

“Is it Blink?”

Bewilderment appeared on the Awakened’s faces.

Zeon looked at them and smiled slightly.

“It’s still too early to be surprised.”

“Arrogant human.”

“Get him!”

The Awakened charged at Zeon in anger.

Watching them run at full force, Zeon murmured,

“Sand Blender!”

GRRRRIND!

At that instant, the sand beneath the Awakened’s feet rotated at high speed.

“W-what?”

“The sand?”

The Awakened were swept up by the rotating sand.

The sand ground them apart in an instant, without giving them the slightest chance to escape.

“Kraaaagh!”

“Aaagh!”

The Awakened’s desperate screams burst from within the sand rotating at high speed. But even those vanished completely a moment later.

Leaving behind the sand dyed red with blood, Zeon looked at Hammerson.

“Now you’re the only one left.”