Chapter 54

Chapter 54

The man was Zeon.

The seven years had stripped the boyishness from him.

The baby fat had vanished from his face, and his gaze had deepened.

Even in each of his movements, there was ease, giving him the dignity of the strong.

Zeon took a leather waterskin filled with water from inside his robe.

“You must be thirsty. Drink.”

“Ah! Thank you.”

Mandy happened to be suffering from a burning thirst, so she accepted the leather waterskin without refusing.

She drank first, then handed the leather waterskin to Kim Sang-sik.

After drinking water, some of her strength returned.

“Phew! Thank you.”

“Thank you very much. I really thought I was going to die without being able to move.”

The two thanked Zeon.

Zeon smiled and said,

“I’m glad you’re both safe.”

“But are there no others with you?”

“I have no companions.”

“Then are you crossing the desert alone?”

Mandy’s eyes widened.

Even the Pathfinder teams, who were considered elites in their own right, had barely managed to reach this place as a group. That was how dangerous the desert was.

No one knew where or what kind of monsters lived.

Especially after the massive mana explosion seven years ago, the monster ecosystem had changed greatly, making all existing data useless, and the desert had become even more dangerous.

Except for the area near Neo Seoul, there was no safe place. Yet Zeon said calmly that he was crossing the desert alone.

It was only natural that Mandy found it suspicious.

Zeon smiled and said,

“I have good instincts. I also have a small ability to sense monsters in advance. So if something feels wrong, I take another path no matter what. That way, I end up avoiding monster habitats.”

“You don’t have a separate detection Skill?”

“No, I don’t.”

“If that’s true, then you really do have extraordinary instincts. They must help a lot with survival.”

“Thanks to them, I’ve survived until now.”

Zeon gave off the feeling of a seasoned survival expert.

He had the ease of someone who could only have survived in the desert for a long time.

Mandy pressed her lips together for a moment.

She knew nothing about Zeon. Even so, right now, there was no one else she could rely on.

She asked carefully,

“May I ask where your destination is?”

“Why do you ask?”

“If you’re going near Neo Seoul, I wondered if you could take us with you.”

“Neo Seoul?”

“Yes! We will definitely repay you. Please take us to Neo Seoul.”

“That won’t be easy. I don’t know if you’re aware, but the habitat map of monsters has changed greatly since seven years ago.”

“That’s exactly why I’m asking. Mr. Kim Sang-sik and I both hold fairly decent positions inside Neo Seoul. If you take us there, Neo Seoul will reward you well.”

She did not know Zeon’s identity, nor did she know where he had come from.

Normally, she would never have made a commission to such an uncertain being.

But after Zahar’s betrayal had taken everything from her, she had no options.

Right now, she did not even know where Neo Seoul was.

It was better not to cling to the naive thought that it would appear if they simply went north.

The desert scenery all looked similar, so moving while holding to an exact direction was impossible in itself.

Moreover, they had lost all the trucks they had ridden here. If they let Zeon go in this situation, they would wander the desert and dry to death like mummies.

The only hope they had of surviving was Zeon.

Kim Sang-sik also knelt before Zeon.

“I beg you like this. Please don’t abandon us.”

At least Mandy was an Awakened, but Kim Sang-sik was truly an ordinary person.

If he were abandoned here, he would surely die before lasting even a day.

Zeon let out a sigh and said,

“Phew! I suppose there’s no helping it. All right. I’ll take you as far as Neo Seoul for now.”

“Really? Thank you. If you take us only as far as Neo Seoul, I’ll definitely repay you.”

Kim Sang-sik wore a deeply moved expression.

---

Perhaps because the day had been so exhausting, Mandy and Kim Sang-sik fell into a deep sleep.

Zeon quietly looked at the two sleeping people.

“So they really came from Neo Seoul.”

The two did not know it, but Zeon had been watching them from the beginning.

More precisely, from the moment Zahar and Team 7 had come to the Goblin settlement.

It had not been long after he had annihilated the Goblins.

At a glance, Zahar and Team 7’s clothing and equipment had been refined. They could not be compared to people barely surviving in the desert.

Looking at clothing so thoroughly marked by civilization made him miss Neo Seoul.

Seven years ago, Deioden had disappeared together with Haieltun.

They had literally perished without leaving a single trace.

The shock had completely changed the terrain of the desert and caused an unprecedented mana storm.

Zeon was the only person who had watched the end of both of them to the very last.

When both of them vanished, Zeon felt an immense sense of loss.

After that, he wandered the desert without destination.

Just as Deioden had done.

He had no particular goal, nor did he have any special thought that there was something he had to do.

He had lived that way for seven years.

If he included the one year he had spent with Deioden, he had wandered the desert for eight years.

Quite a lot had happened during that time, and those experiences had made Zeon grow.

As it happened, he had already been starting to feel that it was time to return to Neo Seoul.

Meeting these two had lit a fire in Zeon’s heart.

If their destination was the same anyway, taking them along did not make for a bad picture. It would let him enter Neo Seoul easily.

Having organized his thoughts that way, Zeon lay down.

He buried himself deep in his robe and fell asleep.

KIEEEEK!

The next morning, Zeon opened his eyes at the strange sound coming from far away.

Mandy and Kim Sang-sik sprang up outright in a fit.

“What is it?”

“What was that sound......?”

They were clearly terrified.

That was because they had felt the hostility and killing intent contained in the sound from afar.

Zeon answered with an unconcerned expression.

“It’s the cry of a Wyvern. It seems there’s a Wyvern nest not far from here.”

“A...... Wyvern?”

“Good heavens!”

The two went deathly pale.

The Wyvern was a Grade B monster. But its danger level was assessed as Grade A or higher.

That was because, unlike other monsters, its main stage was the sky.

Since no one could predict when or where it might suddenly appear and attack, it felt even more threatening.

Zeon rose and gathered the awning and wooden poles he had set up overnight.

“We’d better leave before the Wyverns come this way to forage.”

He skillfully packed up the belongings he had spread out and loaded them onto the back of the Bactrian Camel. Then he left without the slightest hesitation.

Mandy and Kim Sang-sik hurried after Zeon in confusion.

Kim Sang-sik’s face in particular was twisted so badly it seemed pitiful.

The distant cry of the Wyvern alone made his heart pound violently.

He was worried his heart might burst at this rate.

‘This place is hell. First Cyclopes, and now Wyverns. How on earth has that man survived in a place like this?’

His gaze was fixed on Zeon, who was walking ahead.

Zeon was walking calmly, as if it were nothing.

Even the sand that sank deep up to the ankles did not seem to pose much of a problem for him.

When Kim Sang-sik looked to the side just in case, Mandy was already struggling as well.

No matter how much of an Awakened she was, walking over sand inevitably consumed an extreme amount of stamina.

Thinking that they would have to walk to Neo Seoul like this made his mind go faint.

“Hah! Hah!”

They had not walked for long, yet sweat poured down like rain, and rough breaths escaped them.

His face had turned bright red, looking as if it might burst at any moment.

That was when Zeon looked back.

“This won’t do.”

“What?”

“The two of you should take turns riding the camel. It will help preserve your stamina a little.”

“What about you?”

“I’m used to sand, so I’m fine walking all day.”

Unlike the two of them, who were already drenched in sweat, Zeon was dry and fresh.

His face was the same as usual, and not even his breathing had roughened.

It was proof that his words were not a lie.

“Thank you.”

Kim Sang-sik did not dare refuse and climbed onto the Bactrian Camel’s back.

He was still exposed to the scorching heat all the same, but he no longer felt as if he were about to die like before.

Kim Sang-sik was sincerely grateful to Zeon.

As if it were nothing, Zeon calmly began walking again.

Mandy watched Zeon’s back and marveled.

‘His walk is truly unusual. How can his feet not sink in, and how can he walk as if he’s sliding like that? It’s almost as though the sand is pushing him forward on its own.’

It was a truly unusual gait.

She had never seen a single person walk like that.

‘He must be an Awakened too. Magic Type, or maybe martial type? What grade is he?’

There was a great deal she was curious about.

For now, it was certain Zeon was an Awakened.

Otherwise, there was no way he could be so calm under this scorching sun.

What Mandy was truly curious about was what kind of Awakened Zeon was.

It would be easy to confirm by looking at the Rank Insignia on his wrist, but Zeon was wearing a gauntlet on his hand.

The gauntlet he wore was shaped to cover all the way up to his forearm.

Uniquely, a roundly cut red jewel was embedded in the back of the hand, drawing the eye.

Judging by the fact that he wore a gauntlet, he seemed like a martial type.

Weapons like that were mainly used by martial-type Awakened.

But to say with certainty that he was a martial-type Awakened, the atmosphere Zeon gave off was strange.

The color symbolizing martial-type Awakened was red.

That was because they were active and passionate under the influence of their awakened abilities. That was why the color of their Rank Insignia was red as well.

By contrast, Magic Type Awakened were blue, symbolizing coldness.

That was because reason tended to come before instinct.

Because of that, it was not very difficult to distinguish between Magic Type and martial-type Awakened. Yet strangely, those traits did not appear clearly in Zeon.

Judging only by his clothes, he was clearly a martial type, but his behavior and gaze were closer to those of a Magic Type.

‘I’ll find out if I keep watching.’

The distance to Neo Seoul was no less than one thousand kilometers.

If they traveled together over such a long distance, he would inevitably reveal his ability.

Mandy tried to walk while preserving her stamina as much as possible.

Fortunately, she had the ability to control wind.

Whenever her body temperature rose under the hot sunlight, she lightly stirred a breeze to cool herself. Thanks to that, she could endure better than Kim Sang-sik, who was riding the Bactrian Camel.

That was when Zeon’s voice came from ahead.

“It looks like it’s going to rain. Let’s go up there.”

“What?”

“Rain?”

Mandy and Kim Sang-sik wore baffled expressions.

There was not a single cloud in sight, and the sun was beating down so fiercely, yet he spoke of rain.

They thought Zeon had gone mad.

But Zeon ignored the two people’s reactions and led them to a high place.

They had no other options anyway, so the two had no choice but to follow Zeon.

It was when they reached the top of the highest sand dune in the area.

RUMBLE—!

Dark clouds gathered in an instant, and thunder and lightning struck.

Then sheets of rain began pouring down.

“It...... was real?”

“Good heavens!”

At the reality that seemed like a lie, the two could not close their gaping mouths.

The rain pouring down with incredible force gathered thickly in the low ground.

If they had not listened to Zeon and had remained below, they would be floundering in water by now.

Just as they thought they had done well to listen to him and climb to high ground, Zeon looked at the waterlogged area and smiled.

For some reason, that smile felt strangely chilling.

He said,

“When rain falls in the desert like this and water gathers, there are things that wake up. As it happens, this place has the perfect terrain for them to inhabit.”

“Wake up? What does?”

“Those things.”

At that instant, bubbles rose from the waterlogged area, and something appeared.

Bizarre creatures with thin, elongated bodies, like twisted wires, moved with an awkward wriggle.

At the grotesque sight, Mandy and Kim Sang-sik felt their stomachs turn.

Holding her stomach, Mandy asked,

“W-what are those? I’ve never seen anything like them before.”

“They’re Ghost Horsehair Worms. When it’s dry, they sleep, and when they’re supplied with moisture, they wake up and search for victims.”

“Ghost Horsehair Worms?”

“They burrow into a victim’s body and control the brain, forcing the victim to search for water.”

“Water? In the desert?”

“That’s why they’re terrifying. If you’re taken over by Ghost Horsehair Worms, you’ll wander endlessly through the desert until you finally die of exhaustion. Then they suck nutrients from the corpse and go to sleep. When it rains, they wake up again.”

The most terrifying things in the desert were not monsters like Wyverns.

Invisible threats like that were far more terrifying.

Mandy and Kim Sang-sik trembled without realizing it.

Zeon moved toward the place where the Ghost Horsehair Worms were and said,

“Wait here.”

“No, why would you go down there when those terrifying things are there?”

“I’ve wanted one for a long time.”

Zeon answered with a smile.