Chapter 80

Chapter 80

Zeon pursued Goran.

Goran had left almost no traces, but that did not mean he had hidden himself perfectly.

Movement through a city inevitably left traces behind.

Walls, floors, people’s reactions, their gazes—everything became a clue from which the situation could be inferred.

Zeon was extremely skilled at this kind of pursuit.

Simply sweeping his gaze over the surroundings was enough for him to infer the route Goran had taken.

The problem was the people interfering with his pursuit.

BOOM!

A person passing beside Zeon exploded without the slightest warning.

Fortunately, Zeon moved away just before the explosion and suffered no damage. But the people nearby were caught in the blast and lost their lives.

“Hic! Hic!”

“It hurts!”

Even those who barely survived wept in terror or screamed.

The street instantly became a scene of chaos, and people scattered in every direction like locusts.

The suicide attacks aimed at Zeon continued one after another.

The difference from ordinary suicide attacks was that those who exploded did not do so of their own will.

Those who committed suicide did it by their own choice, but the people who had just died in explosions died without even knowing that they themselves had exploded.

Goran had cruelly used the people of the slums as bombs. The victims did not even know that they had been chosen as bombs by Goran.

BOOOOM!

Another explosion occurred.

This time, two people nearby exploded at once.

The people near them were killed or injured, and the street turned into pandemonium.

The more Zeon pursued Goran, the greater the damage became.

Only then did Zeon understand why people feared Goran.

“It’s because of that bastard.”

“Explosions are happening wherever he goes.”

“You son of a bitch!”

Those who had suffered damage turned their anger toward Zeon.

They thought Zeon was the cause.

It was a self-destruction attack using ordinary people who were not Awakened.

Even if he survived without being swept up in the explosions, he could not help being tormented by guilt.

Goran knew exactly how to rule people through fear. He also knew exactly what he had to do to deal a decisive blow to his opponent.

In this way, Goran was driving Zeon into becoming the public enemy.

In a sense, it was more terrifying than a direct attack.

If the people around someone were harmed or killed because of them, anyone’s actions would inevitably shrink back.

Goran understood such human psychology better than anyone, and he knew how to use it well.

He was the hardest type of opponent to face as an enemy.

The rumor that Zeon was pursuing Goran had already spread throughout all of Shinchon. Goran’s side had deliberately leaked the information.

It was a kind of message.

A message from Goran to the residents of the slums.

If you cannot stop Zeon, you will die.

So you must kill Zeon.

His message was clearly conveyed to the residents of the slums.

“You bastard!”

“You dare chase Lord Goran?”

“Die!”

Enormous hostility focused on Zeon.

This was the first time Zeon had experienced such a situation.

In the desert, everything was clear.

Enemies and allies were clearly divided.

But this place was not like that.

People moved according to their own interests.

To them, justice or revenge was a story from a distant land.

Their immediate profit and safety mattered most. That was why they attacked Zeon.

But their attacks did not work on Zeon.

It was impossible for stones or knives thrown by ordinary people to wound Zeon’s body.

The problem was the people who approached close and then exploded.

Until just before they died, they had no idea that they had become human bombs.

For a very long time, Goran had steadily turned the residents of the slums into human bombs as a means of protecting himself.

Although it consumed too much mana to create many at once, he had still placed more than enough people throughout the streets who would explode and die for him.

Zeon’s eyes swept over the people approaching him.

After experiencing it several times, he could now distinguish whether someone was a human bomb created by Goran just by looking at the condition of their body.

“You bastard! Lord Goran is......”

A middle-aged man with reddened eyes raised his voice.

Zeon knew that was the warning sign before an explosion. But the middle-aged man who was shouting did not know that fact himself.

‘I don’t know if this will work, but......’

Zeon launched himself toward the middle-aged man.

By the time the middle-aged man realized what was happening, Zeon’s palm was already covering his face.

“What are you......?”

“I’m saving you, so stay still.”

THUMP!

At that instant, Zeon’s mana was injected through the middle-aged man’s face.

He had used the Superheated Gauntlet to force fire energy into him.

The condensed fire energy instantly swept through the middle-aged man’s body. In that process, it burned away the impurities within him.

The impurities were Goran’s mana and blood, which had been injected into him.

Zeon had removed a kind of detonator from the middle-aged man’s body.

“Huek!”

The middle-aged man collapsed as strength left his legs.

He did not even know that Zeon had saved him. And Zeon did not feel the need to tell him.

Right now, pursuing Goran was more urgent.

He absolutely could not give Goran time to prepare.

Zeon increased his pursuit speed even more.

He gave those hoping to die in suicide explosions no room to approach at all.

After a persistent pursuit, Zeon arrived at a small warehouse on the outskirts of Shinchon.

When he opened the warehouse door and entered, there was an entrance leading underground inside.

Zeon murmured,

“Every rotten bastard seems to set up a base underground.”

Of course, it was not that he failed to understand.

He would have prepared a hiding place underground too if he were in the same position.

Zeon went straight underground.

Since he already had experience entering underground, there was not the slightest hesitation in his movements.

The narrow underground waterway was filled with a foul stench.

It was so terrible that most people would lose consciousness the moment they smelled it. But Zeon raced through the underground waterway without even wrinkling his nose.

---

“He’s tracking us.”

At Ava’s words, Goran frowned slightly.

“He’s a persistent bastard. To think he tracked us all the way here.”

He had sent human bombs several times to warn him.

He had told Zeon that he was dangerous, and that Zeon should not cross the line any further. But as if mocking Goran’s warning, Zeon was tracking him at terrifying speed.

Goran looked at the passage they had come through.

“I never thought I’d end up like this because of one bastard.”

“He is strong.”

“I know. At least Grade B. He may even be Grade A or higher.”

“Could he be someone sent by Neo Seoul?”

“That possibility exists too.”

Neo Seoul did not want the forces in the slums to grow beyond a certain level.

Because of that, it suppressed the powers of the slums in various ways.

The fact that they appeared like ghosts and scouted away new Awakened whenever they appeared in the slums was for the same reason.

Zeon had appeared suddenly, as if he had dropped from the sky.

Nothing was known about him.

It was a point that made one suspect he had been sent by Neo Seoul.

Goran gritted his teeth.

If Zeon really had been sent by Neo Seoul to weaken him, then he would have to prepare for war. But first, dealing with Zeon came before anything else.

The reason he had deliberately come to the foul and filthy underground waterway was not because he was afraid of Zeon.

It was because there was a way here to deal with Zeon without using his own forces and strength.

Goran asked Ava,

“Do you know the phrase ‘resolve the knot where you tied it’?”

“It is my first time hearing it.”

“Heh-heh! I learned it recently too. It was a phrase used before the Great Cataclysm. They say it means the one who caused the problem should solve it.”

“I see.”

Ava smiled with her eyes.

Only then did she realize why Goran had deliberately come here.

Goran said,

“He will bitterly regret daring to defy me.”

“As expected of you, boss.”

“There is not a single person on this street who can defy me and survive. My goal is not something as small as being ruler of Shinchon. I will unite all the slums, and one day, I will cross that wall and become the ruler of Neo Seoul. That is the mission and destiny given to me.”

“I will follow you until then.”

“Let’s go!”

“Yes!”

The two disappeared into the darkness of the underground waterway.

A long while after they disappeared, Zeon appeared.

Zeon stopped where they had been standing and looked around for a moment.

“This is probably what I think it is.”

Zeon was not a fool.

He had noticed Goran’s intention.

It would have been stranger not to notice when Goran kept luring him deeper into the underground waterway like this.

Though Zeon had realized Goran’s intention, he had no intention of turning back.

Zeon continued moving.

At some point, the air in the underground waterway changed.

The damp feeling beneath his feet disappeared, and soft sand had piled up.

It seemed he had left the area where water flowed.

Zeon touched the sand with his hand.

Soft sand slipped between his fingers.

A smile appeared on Zeon’s lips.

“As expected, there is sand in the depths.”

Neo Seoul was a city built on sand.

Naturally, sand entered the waterways too.

The sand that flowed down with the water could only pile up in a deep place like this.

Zeon walked over the sand and finally reached his destination.

Goran and Ava were there.

The problem was that the two were not the only ones waiting for him.

Including a man with bumpy skin like a crocodile’s, countless people were gathered in the open space.

Zeon recognized their identity at once.

“The Crocodiles.”

As expected, this place was the Crocodile Den.

The man with bumpy skin was Croker, who led the Crocodiles.

Instead of Zeon, Croker was glaring at Goran.

“I’m fairly certain my request was for you to deal with that man.”

“That’s right!”

“Then why did you lure him here?”

“Heh-heh! He turned out to be stronger than expected. Too hard to handle, you see.”

Goran smiled, showing his white teeth.

In contrast, Croker’s face hardened like stone.

If they were going to deal with Zeon themselves, there would have been no need to ask Goran.

They had used Goran to avoid unnecessary sacrifices, but Goran had instead brought disaster here.

This place was the most important location among the Crocodile dens.

If this place collapsed, the Crocodiles living in the underground waterway would suffer a major blow. Knowing that fact, Goran had still lured Zeon here.

Goran said calmly,

“Let’s live by helping each other. We’re in a symbiotic relationship anyway.”

“You son of a bitch, seriously......”

“Calm down. Our enemy is that bastard......”

Goran pointed at Zeon.

Since he had already fought Zeon, he knew how strong Zeon was.

In the end, Croker had no choice but to release Goran’s collar.

It would not be too late to vent his anger later.

Right now, it was time to deal with the intruder named Zeon.

Croker looked at Zeon and said,

“To make things this big over just one magic power generator. You really are something too.”

“So why covet my belongings? You could have just found something else.”

“If I could have obtained something else, I would not have coveted it.”

“That is because your ability is lacking.”

“We’ll see if you can keep running your mouth a moment from now.”

Croker approached Zeon with heavy steps.

The Crocodiles followed behind him.

Goran watched the scene and laughed.

“Heh-heh! At last, this is the picture I wanted.”

His eyes were glittering with madness.

He had been watching this place for a long time.

Croker had tried to keep it secret in his own way, but Goran had figured this place out long ago.

“Heh-heh! Fight. Fight and both of you die if possible.”