Chapter 83

Chapter 83

WHOOSH!

Tremendous flames filled the underground space.

A naturally occurring fire could never possess this kind of firepower.

It was a blaze created by Zeon.

The ultra-high heat flames burned everything underground.

Croker and the Crocodiles’ corpses, Goran and Ava, and even the corpses that had supplied blood—nothing was left behind. Everything was turned to ash.

In the underground space swept by the tremendous flames, nothing remained.

“Are you really human?”

Briel looked at Zeon with an appalled expression.

A Sand Mage was also wielding flame-type abilities.

Even in the world of elves, dual awakened were almost nonexistent.

There were occasional people who awakened two abilities, but usually, one ability became the main one, while the other was only used as support.

This was the first time she had seen an Awakened like Zeon, who could freely use two abilities like this.

Zeon looked at Briel with a slight frown.

“Let’s go!”

“We’re leaving?”

“Then are you going to stay here?”

“No, I’m leaving.”

Briel shook her head and stuck close to Zeon’s side.

She had been imprisoned in this hellish space where not even a single ray of light entered for over a year.

Just the fact that she could see sunlight again after so long made her excited.

Zeon walked through the underground passage with the burden called Briel attached to him.

“Huff! Huff! W-wait a moment......”

But after walking only a short distance, Briel stopped.

Her face had turned pale, and she was staggering as if she might collapse at any moment.

Zeon asked,

“What is it?”

“Fuck! Medicine, medicine......”

Briel hurriedly searched inside her clothes and took out several pills.

At that instant, Zeon’s gaze sank coldly.

“Are those drugs?”

“N-no! They’re stimulants.”

Briel hurriedly swallowed the pills.

As soon as she took the pills, her complexion returned to normal.

“Haa! Haa! I can live now.”

“An elf taking stimulants. And didn’t you say you were a High Elf?”

“Fuck! Do you think I take them because I want to? This is all because of you humans.”

“What do you mean?”

“Do you think my body would be fine after making drugs day and night without any protective gear or items?”

Because she had been forced to make drugs under the Crocodiles’ surveillance, her body had eventually become soaked in drugs and ruined.

She could not live a single day without medicine, and her body was so unstable that it would not have been strange if her breath stopped tomorrow.

In the end, she secretly manufactured other medicines in order to survive.

They were a kind of stimulant and supplement.

Fortunately, she was able to prevent her body from being damaged any further by the drugs, but in exchange, she became unable to live without the stimulants and supplements.

That was why she hated humans.

Her hatred toward humans, who had corrupted a pure elf to this extent, was justified.

At least, Briel thought so.

“If you rely on drugs like that, you’ll meet a sudden and miserable death someday.”

“Hmph! Don’t pretend to worry about me. You’re the same human as the rest of them......”

“Is there a way to get off the drugs?”

“I don’t know! I’ll have to find a way before I die.”

“I suppose all I can do is wish you luck.”

“I don’t want comfort from a human.”

“You’re the one who chose to follow that human.”

“Fuck!”

“If your body has recovered, let’s go.”

Zeon started walking again.

After glaring at Zeon’s back for a moment, Briel hurriedly followed him.

After walking for a long while, a door leading outside finally appeared.

Briel narrowed her eyes at the intense light pouring in through the wide-open door.

After being trapped underground for so long, even her eyes had weakened.

If she went outside like this, the sunlight might burn her retinas.

Briel pulled her pointed hat low and covered her eyes.

Zeon took Briel’s hand. At that, Briel flinched.

“If I don’t hold your hand, you won’t be able to follow me.”

“Tch!”

At Zeon’s words, Briel pouted.

But she did not pull her hand away.

That was because she understood, just as Zeon said, that there was no other way.

Zeon and Briel walked down the street side by side, holding hands.

The hot wind mixed with sand, the noisy voices of people, the intense sunlight felt across her entire body.

At the external stimulation she felt for the first time in a year, Briel’s body trembled slightly.

She had longed for this feeling for so long.

Drip!

Tears flowed down Briel’s cheeks.

She lowered her head deeply so that Zeon could not see her tears.

When Briel fell silent, Zeon did not open his mouth either.

The two walked quietly down the street.

After walking for quite some time, they reached Shinchon, which had already recovered its ordinary appearance, as if the chain explosions had never happened.

The dead were pitiful, but the living had to live.

Even if the street became a scene of chaos again today and countless people died, the market would open again tomorrow.

“Huh?”

“Z-Zeon.”

A few among the people recognized Zeon.

Shock appeared on their faces.

All of them knew about the fight between Goran and Zeon.

Their fight had devastated the street, so it would have been stranger if they had not known.

The problem was that the one who had returned was not Goran, but Zeon.

It was a fight that would only end when one of the two died, and the fact that Zeon had returned meant he was the winner of that fight.

There was no one on this street who did not understand that fact.

“Did Zeon really win?”

“My god!”

“Then is the owner of this street changing?”

The people’s agitation reached Zeon clearly.

They wanted Zeon to say something. But Zeon passed them indifferently and entered the building where his house was.

“Huff! Huff!”

After walking up to the eighteenth floor, Briel’s complexion turned pale again.

As she gasped for breath, Briel once again took stimulants from inside her clothes and consumed them.

With the help of the medicine, Briel was barely able to reach the eighteenth floor.

“Haa! Haa! Fuck! My heart’s going to explode.”

She leaned against the wall and breathed roughly.

“This is it.”

Zeon opened the door to his house.

Briel entered Zeon’s house without any expectations. But the moment she stepped inside, she was startled by the sight, which was completely different from what she had imagined.

“What is this? Why is it so clean? There’s even a barrier?”

Her eyes widened as she looked around the interior.

As a High Elf, Briel’s eyes could clearly see the barrier surrounding Zeon’s house.

She had never seen such an elaborate barrier even in her hometown.

“Is that a magic power generator? What’s that gem on top of it? Is that the source of the barrier?”

Briel trembled when she saw the Watching Eye.

They said one saw as much as one knew.

Because she had some knowledge of barriers, she could tell how extraordinary the Watching Eye was.

“What are you really? Are you human? Are you perhaps a dragon that Polymorphed?”

“Do you know dragons too?”

“Are you joking? How could I not know dragons?”

“Have you ever seen one?”

“Of course not.”

Briel lowered her head.

There was no way an elf as young as her had seen a dragon in person.

Only a few dragons had crossed over into this world, and all of them were hiding deep in places beyond people’s sight.

They were not foolish enough to reveal themselves even to a young elf.

Dragons were unimaginably ferocious, insidious, and cruel.

If Briel had met a dragon, she probably would no longer be an elf of this world.

Briel looked up at Zeon.

“Am I going to live here from now on too?”

“For the time being.”

“Yahoo!”

Briel ran to the bed.

The thing she had missed most while making drugs underground was a warm bed. That was why she dove for the bed first.

But she could not fulfill her wish.

Zeon had grabbed her by the nape of her neck.

“That’s not your place.”

“Then where am I supposed to sleep?”

Instead of answering, Zeon looked at the sofa.

“You’re telling me to sleep on the sofa? Isn’t that too much for a lady?”

“First! You’re not a lady. Second! The bed is mine. Third!”

“What, there’s a third too?”

“Yes! Third! I decide.”

“Ugh!”

“So don’t covet my bed and sleep on the sofa. Even that is a big concession.”

“Grr!”

Briel gritted her teeth and glared at Zeon.

Tears were welling in her eyes, but they could not move Zeon’s heart.

In the end, Briel trudged weakly toward the sofa. But the moment she lay down on it, she smiled brightly as if nothing had happened.

“Wow! It’s soft. So soft!”

The sofa was softer and more comfortable than she had expected.

After flailing her arms and legs for a while, Briel soon fell into a deep sleep as if nothing had happened.

Haa. Haa.

Listening to Briel’s quiet breathing, Zeon thought,

‘A High Elf’s covenant, huh......’

The thread of the covenant connected him and Briel.

It was impossible to forcibly sever this thread.

Since Briel had sworn to follow him, he had gained an obligation to look after her.

An unexpected burden had attached itself to him.

‘Do I have to find a High Elf village to sever the covenant?’

Come to think of it, he had not asked where Briel’s village was or how many people lived there.

Zeon thought he should ask when Briel woke up.

There was one thing he had to do before that.

Leaving the deeply sleeping Briel behind, Zeon left the house.

The place he headed to was Goran’s establishment.

Near the collapsed arena, Goran’s businesses were scattered all around.

Among them, Zeon entered the building where the prostitutes gathered.

Even though they saw him enter, not a single prostitute stopped him.

They knew as well.

As of today, the ruler of this street had changed.

They had no will to resist the new ruler.

A prostitute who looked slightly older stepped forward.

“Welcome.”

“It seems you know me.”

“This is a place where you can’t survive even a single day without good sense. Of course, there’s no way I wouldn’t know you.”

“Then this will be easy to say. Where is Eaton?”

“Pardon?”

“Don’t make me say it twice. Tell me where Eaton is.”

“I’ll guide you.”

The prostitute guided Zeon to Ava’s room.

Eaton was lying there, receiving treatment.

“You are?”

Seeing Zeon, Eaton hurriedly raised himself.

His injuries from Zeon had not yet healed, so even sitting up was difficult. But he had to force himself up.

That was because he could not simply sit there and be defeated.

“Lord Goran? Don’t tell me you defeated him?”

“Goran, Ava, and the man named Taeo all died by my hand.”

“That’s...... impossible!”

“Whether you believe it or not, you’re the only one left alive among Goran’s followers.”

Eaton’s face turned deathly pale.

If Zeon’s words were true, then Goran’s force had completely collapsed.

Zeon said to him,

“You have two choices left. One is to fight to the end and die.”

“Is there another choice?”

“Of course.”

“What is it?”

“To become the ruler of Shinchon in Goran’s place.”

“What? What do you......?”

Eaton blinked, unable to understand Zeon’s words for a moment.

Common sense said that Zeon, who had defeated Goran, should become the ruler of Shinchon.

“Why would you make me the ruler instead of becoming one yourself......?”

“I like things as they are now. If you don’t want it, I’ll have to put someone else forward.”

“N-no. I’ll do it. I’ll become the ruler of Shinchon.”

Eaton spoke hurriedly.

Before he knew it, his face was full of greed.

He had only worked under Goran because he believed Goran was a mountain he could never cross. He, too, had ambition.

Knowing Zeon’s offer was an opportunity that would never come again, he seized it without hesitation.

The fact that Ava, who had been his lover, had died by Zeon’s hand did not matter at all.

There were plenty of prostitutes who could replace her.

Zeon said,

“If you promise just one thing, the ruler of Shinchon is you.”

“What is it?”

Eaton looked at Zeon with eyes filled with intense desire.

Zeon’s answer was simple.

“Don’t bother me.”