Chapter 55

Chapter 55

One thing people misunderstood was the belief that rain never fell in the desert.

But that was only half-knowledge.

Rain fell even in the desert.

It simply poured down too suddenly, then vanished into the sand just as quickly, leaving no trace behind.

At times, it fell as if it meant to swallow the entire world, and in truth, it sometimes turned the whole area into a sea of water. It only disappeared into the sand in an instant, as if nothing had happened.

Even in the desert, there were terrains where water gathered especially well.

Places where the rain falling over the area collected like puddles or ponds.

Of course, the water vanished in an instant, but Ghost Horsehair Worms slept in places like that.

They were parasitic lifeforms that slept as if dead when the sand was completely dry, then awakened like a lie once rain fell and pooled.

By grade, they were insignificant beings that did not even reach Grade F.

Neo Seoul did not even know such monsters existed. Because of that, they were not included in the Monster Bestiary that had been compiled with so much effort.

A parasite-like monster that did not even qualify as Grade F.

But their danger level surpassed imagination.

Once they entered the body, even the strongest monster would die of dehydration while searching for water.

At the very least, unless one could protect the whole body with a force field, there was no escape from the Ghost Horsehair Worms’ tentacles.

Awakened were no different.

Once the worms invaded the body, there was no way to drive them out.

Zeon had learned that fact by chance.

It had rained in a place he was passing through. As it happened, Ghost Horsehair Worms awakened in the puddle, and a gigantic monster came to drink water. Then Zeon watched as the gigantic monster became a puppet and moved.

From then on, Zeon had become interested in Ghost Horsehair Worms. But obtaining one was harder than he had expected.

First, there were not many terrains where they could live in ideal conditions.

They did not exist in regions where rain never fell at all. And even in the desert, there were not many terrains where rain fell and pooled, even if only for a moment.

Lastly, even if he went through such trouble and found Ghost Horsehair Worms, capturing them alive was not easy.

Because of that, Zeon had failed several times to obtain Ghost Horsehair Worms. But thanks to those repeated failures, he had found a method to capture them alive.

Zeon took a small glass bottle from inside his robe.

On the surface of the glass bottle, characters whose meaning he could not understand had been engraved in intaglio.

FLUTTER!

When Zeon arrived at the puddle, the Ghost Horsehair Worms sensed him and shook their bodies violently.

They twisted their wire-like bodies and rushed at Zeon.

The sight of them approaching, grotesquely twisting their wire-like bodies without arms or legs, naturally inspired terror in anyone who saw it.

“What are those?”

“Ah!”

Mandy and Kim Sang-sik, who were watching from afar, stared wide-eyed in shock.

That was because the Ghost Horsehair Worms’ bodies suddenly turned transparent, then shot toward Zeon like missiles.

At that moment, Zeon held out the glass bottle in his hand. Then three Ghost Horsehair Worms, which had been shooting forward at an invisible speed, slipped straight into the glass bottle.

It looked as if the Ghost Horsehair Worms had entered the glass bottle on their own. But Mandy knew that was not the case.

Zeon had clearly used some kind of method.

Since he had obtained the Ghost Horsehair Worms he wanted, he had no need for the rest.

FWOOSH!

For an instant, high-heat flames rose around Zeon’s body.

The crimson flames burned the remaining Ghost Horsehair Worms to ash in an instant. After clearing away the Ghost Horsehair Worms, Zeon scooped up the sand beneath his feet and filled the glass bottle with it.

This was the key.

Putting sand from the place where the Ghost Horsehair Worms had been sleeping into a magically treated glass bottle.

If he did that, the Ghost Horsehair Worms fell asleep as if by a lie.

When they had attacked Zeon, they had grown more than one meter long, but now they had shriveled smaller than a finger and entered a dormant state.

Zeon hummed as he closed the lid of the glass bottle.

“Hmm-hmm!”

A smile like that of a mischievous child appeared on his face.

Zeon stored the bottle containing the Ghost Horsehair Worms inside his robe. In truth, he had put it into his subspace, but to Mandy and Kim Sang-sik, it appeared as though he had placed it inside his robe.

At that instant, the downpour stopped as if it had been a lie, and the sunlight shone down fiercely.

Mandy and Kim Sang-sik blinked.

Too much had happened in an instant, leaving them dazed.

This was an experience they could never have had in Neo Seoul.

The two came down from the sand dune and approached Zeon.

Mandy asked carefully,

“What are you going to do with those Ghost Horsehair Worms?”

“What do you mean?”

“I only ask because they seem useful in many ways. If you bring them to Neo Seoul, researchers could study them and make something that might help many people.”

As befitted a Supervisor dispatched from Neo Seoul, Mandy was interested in a new type of monster. But Zeon firmly cut off her interest.

“I’m sorry. I obtained the Ghost Horsehair Worms out of my own personal curiosity. If you want them, catch them yourself.”

“Ah! That isn’t what I meant......”

Mandy stammered in confusion.

Right now, her lifeline depended on Zeon. This was not the time to offend him.

“I’m sorry. My greed went too far.”

“It’s all right. That can happen. Just don’t do it again.”

Zeon smiled gently at Mandy’s apology. But Mandy could not smile. For some reason, Zeon’s smile felt chilling.

Only then did Mandy become aware of what kind of person Zeon was.

The other party was someone strong and experienced enough to wander the desert alone.

‘Judging by the Skill he used earlier, there’s a high chance he’s a Magic Type Flame Awakened.’

The fact that he had burned the Ghost Horsehair Worms in an instant even as torrential rain fell meant his level was considerable.

‘At least Grade C to Grade B.’

At that level, he would receive considerable treatment even in Neo Seoul.

Mandy thought she would have to be even more careful.

After the series of disturbances ended, the three began moving again.

Once Kim Sang-sik recovered some of his stamina, he switched places with Mandy.

“Haa!”

Mandy let out a relieved sigh after climbing onto the Bactrian Camel.

No matter how much of an Awakened she was, walking over sand all day consumed a tremendous amount of stamina.

After walking only half a day, her breath was already at her chin, and the scorching air felt as if it would burn her airway.

Zeon said to Mandy,

“If you’re thirsty, wring out your wet clothes and drink from them.”

“That’s......”

“If a little more time passes, even that will evaporate, and there’ll be nothing left to drink.”

At Zeon’s words, Mandy hurriedly took off her outer garment and wrung it out. Then water flowed out.

Mandy hastily drank the water dripping down.

Kim Sang-sik followed Mandy’s example.

Zeon waited so they could drink enough water.

In truth, Zeon had quite a lot of water in his subspace.

It would not have mattered if he shared the water. But if they only obtained things so easily, they could never survive in the desert.

They had to find water for themselves and hunt for food.

If they wanted to return safely to Neo Seoul, they had to start forming those habits now.

Zeon led the group without showing the slightest sign of hardship.

Kim Sang-sik and Mandy took turns riding the Bactrian Camel and replenished their stamina. And they watched Zeon.

Even after walking all day, Zeon showed no sign of fatigue.

He did not even sweat, and there was not the slightest sign that his breathing had grown rough.

Mandy and Kim Sang-sik could not understand him.

‘How is that possible?’

‘He seems like someone who’s lived in the desert all his life. No, even then, is that really possible?’

The more they watched him, the more their curiosity about Zeon piled up like a mountain. But perhaps Zeon had no intention of telling them anything about himself, for he only walked in silence.

“Hmm!”

After walking for a long while, Zeon suddenly stopped.

He knelt on one knee and brushed the sand away with his hand. Then an object buried beneath the sand was revealed.

What Zeon found in the sand was, unexpectedly, a corpse.

It was a body dried stiff like a mummy, all the moisture inside it gone.

He asked the two,

“Do you recognize who this is?”

“This person was an Awakened from Team 3.”

Mandy recognized the corpse’s identity at once.

He had been the first Awakened to escape when the Cyclopes attacked. Since he had fled first, she had naturally thought he would be alive. She could not understand why he was dead here.

Zeon pulled the Awakened’s corpse completely out. Then the wound on its back was revealed.

“It looks like he was attacked from directly behind. Judging by the size and shape of the wound, I think it was a sword......”

At Zeon’s words, Mandy’s pupils trembled.

When the Cyclopes attacked, they had escaped by team. That meant this man should have had his teammates beside him.

If so, the one who had ambushed and killed him from behind had to be a teammate from Team 3.

Zeon continued,

“He has no belongings. It looks like everything he had was taken.”

“So he was robbed?”

“Yes.”

“Haa!”

“When humans are isolated in the desert, their true nature comes out. It isn’t that surprising.”

Zeon spoke as if it were nothing.

It was not that rare for yesterday’s comrade to become today’s enemy.

Perhaps there had been a grudge from before, or perhaps the killer had coveted the things the corpse had carried.

Once isolated in a barren environment like the desert, the nature people had kept hidden until then came out.

Zeon had seen this sight countless times, so he was not surprised. But Mandy and Kim Sang-sik seemed greatly shocked and could not say anything.

Zeon stood and said,

“Let’s leave. Monsters that smell him will come soon.”

If they wasted time trying to take care of the corpse, they would make easy targets for monsters.

The best option was to leave before monsters arrived.

Fortunately, Mandy and Kim Sang-sik both obediently followed Zeon’s words.

The corpse had only been a colleague dispatched with them.

Since there had been no personal exchange, they could leave coldly.

How long had they walked like that?

“Ghk! Get away from me. Haaah!”

Suddenly, from far away, they faintly heard someone’s voice filled with desperation.

Zeon led the group toward the direction of the voice.

“Tch!”

Suddenly, Zeon clicked his tongue.

Mandy asked carefully,

“What’s wrong?”

She still could not see anything. Because of that, she could not understand what Zeon had seen that made him click his tongue.

Zeon pointed at the sky.

“A Wyvern flock.”

“Wyverns?”

Only then did Mandy look into the air.

She saw a flock of Wyverns circling in the distant sky.

When they walked a little farther, they saw an Awakened fighting desperately against the Wyvern flock.

He swung a spear and attacked the Wyverns. But there was no way his attacks could reach them.

The Wyverns toyed with the Awakened as if a cat were playing with a mouse.

Each time they did, large wounds appeared on the Awakened’s body.

He was protecting his body with protective gear made in Neo Seoul, but it was useless before the Wyverns’ sharp claws.

SLAAASH!

The Wyvern claws tore through the Awakened’s protective gear like rags.

The name of the Awakened being attacked was Cread.

He was an Awakened belonging to Team 3, together with the corpse Zeon’s group had found earlier.

He had killed his comrade and stolen his water and items.

Because he had lacked water, it had been a choice he could not avoid. The items were a bonus. The dead had no need of them anyway.

After killing his comrade that way, he crossed the desert alone.

Until then, he had been confident he would survive.

No matter how dangerous the desert was, he had thought he could overcome the crisis well enough on his own. But it did not take even half a day for him to realize how foolish that thought had been.

KRAAAH!

Against the teeth and claws of the Wyvern flock attacking from the sky, he was helpless.

“Kraaaagh!”

In the end, Cread’s neck was bitten by a Wyvern’s teeth, and his breath was cut off.

Once Cread died, the Wyverns swarmed in to enjoy their feast.

The sight was reminiscent of a flock of crows.

“Ghk!”

Kim Sang-sik turned his head away from the sight of Cread’s corpse being torn apart.

On his face, revulsion and fear coexisted.

Mandy was the same, but as befitted an Awakened, she calmly examined the situation.

An especially large Wyvern entered her view.

The other Wyverns were greedily eating Cread’s corpse, but that one stood alone and aloof, guarding the surroundings as if it had no interest.

A glossy black body at least twice the size of the other Wyverns.

At a glance, she could tell it was the leader of the Wyverns.

A faint red light rippled around its gigantic body.

Mandy recognized the identity of that faint light at once.

“A force field? Then it’s a monster of Grade B or higher?”

The Black Wyvern possessed the force field said to belong only to monsters of at least Grade B or above, or dungeon bosses.

Sparks crackled around the black force field. It was a phenomenon that occurred when a force field was too powerful. A phenomenon that appeared only in the force fields of Grade A monsters.

In other words, the Black Wyvern was a Grade A monster.

“Hrk!”

Mandy let out a groan without realizing it.

That was because her eyes had met the Black Wyvern’s.

The enormous Black Wyvern was definitely looking at the place where she stood.

“Hic!”

The tremendous fear that took over her body made her hiccup on its own.

There was no way that ferocious Wyvern flock would leave them alone.

They did not tolerate any living creature entering their territory.

Mandy thought the Wyvern flock would soon fly in and attack them. But strangely, no matter how much time passed, the Wyvern flock showed no intention of moving.

The enormous Black Wyvern in particular looked elsewhere and busied itself with other things.

As if there were something here it must not look at.

‘Could it be because of him?’

Mandy hurriedly looked at Zeon. Then Zeon smiled and said,

“It seems the Wyvern flock is full. Seeing as they aren’t paying attention to us. We don’t know when they might change their minds and come after us, so let’s hurry.”

He moved without waiting for Mandy’s answer.

“W-wait for us.”

“Ugh!”

Mandy and Kim Sang-sik followed Zeon without any time to think further.

Only after Zeon’s group disappeared from view did the Black Wyvern turn its head again and look.

In the Black Wyvern’s eyes, as it watched Zeon’s back grow distant, there was a faint light of fear.