Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Zeon’s stamina had reached its limit.

He no longer had even the mana left to operate.

No matter how sparingly he operated his mana, the amount he possessed was not very large to begin with.

The sand beneath his feet no longer moved as he wanted.

Zeon had never once pushed himself this hard before.

Behind him, Zeon was staggering as if he might collapse at any moment, but Deioden had not stopped or looked back even once.

Not wanting to show weakness before Deioden, Zeon gritted his teeth and followed, but now he was truly at his limit.

‘This dogshit old man......’

The strength left Zeon’s legs, and he toppled over.

As he lay with his face buried in the sand, breathing harshly, he sensed someone’s presence.

Deioden had come back.

When Zeon barely raised his head and looked, Deioden was looking down at him with an expression of contempt.

“Useless bastard!”

“Urgh!”

“Because of a cripple like you, I have wasted time for nothing.”

Deioden sat down beside Zeon.

He took two pieces of jerky from his clothes.

He put one in his own mouth and threw the other to Zeon.

It meant Zeon should get up and eat it on his own.

But right now, Zeon did not even have the strength to get up.

His mouth was completely dry from not having drunk a single sip of water all day.

Eating jerky in this state itself was impossible.

If he could not recover his strength like this and continued lying facedown, even his life would be in danger.

Deioden knew that fact too.

Even so, he left Zeon alone.

Chewing the jerky, Deioden said,

“The old world was peaceful. Back then, even if you were a little weak, even if you were inferior to others, there was no problem surviving. It was still a world where common sense worked, and consideration for others was not strange. But as you know, the world changed and became one where the strong prey on the weak. If you are weak, you get eaten, and the one who survives monopolizes everything. It hurts? It is hard? Then give up. Once you die, it becomes easy.”

At his venomous words, Zeon gritted his teeth.

He had not lived very long, but he had met all kinds of people. Yet none of them had spoken as sharply as Deioden.

It felt as though a dagger was digging through his chest.

“If you want to be comfortable, keep lying there. If not, if you want to live even while suffering pain at the very limit, then get up with your own strength. Cripple!”

With those words, Deioden closed his mouth.

He did not even glance at Zeon and only chewed his jerky.

Deioden, too, had not drunk a single sip of water all day. That was why he did not eat the jerky quickly.

He let his saliva soften it and chewed slowly, preventing his throat from growing dry.

It was know-how he had gained from surviving in the desert for a long time.

Before he knew it, the sun was setting.

When night came, the temperature of the desert dropped rapidly.

It fell below freezing in an instant, and if one did not keep warm, one would suffer hypothermia and die.

Zeon knew that fact too.

‘I’m not going to die. I can’t die.’

Zeon crawled across the ground.

Like an earthworm, he wriggled his body and moved forward little by little.

After several attempts, he finally had the jerky before his eyes.

Zeon opened his mouth as he was and bit down on the jerky.

The sand stuck to the jerky entered his mouth along with it, but he did not care.

Zeon slowly chewed the jerky.

Because no saliva came out, the act of chewing the jerky itself was painful. Even so, he tenaciously chewed it.

After chewing for a long time, he barely managed to swallow it down his throat.

When the jerky entered his stomach, a little strength returned.

Riding that momentum, Zeon sat up. Then Deioden threw him another piece of jerky.

Zeon did not say thank you and simply chewed the jerky.

He felt vitality slowly returning to his body. At the same time, his mana also rose.

As if seeing through Zeon’s physical condition, Deioden said,

“The body and mana are not separate. Only when the body is strong does mana flow in easily. So if you want to become stronger, you must not cease training your body for even a moment.”

Zeon nodded silently.

That was because he felt it in his bones.

While he had been collapsed, he had tried to gather mana. However, mana had not easily returned to his exhausted body.

If he had not eaten the jerky and recovered at least a little strength, his mana would still have been crawling along the bottom.

Once his mana filled somewhat, he felt as though he might live.

“Phew!”

Only then did Zeon let out a sigh of relief.

After surviving a brush with death, the world came into view again.

Before he knew it, countless stars were floating in the desert sky where darkness had fallen.

The stars spread out like a carpet, giving off beautiful light.

Zeon stared blankly at the sight.

When he had been in Neo Seoul, he had never had the luxury of seeing such a scene.

He had never thought the stars were beautiful either.

But after nearly dying and coming back to life, he had become rather sentimental.

What brought Zeon, lost in sentiment, back to reality was Deioden’s voice.

“My friend.”

‘Friend?’

There was no one here besides Deioden and himself. Naturally, there was no one who could be called a friend either.

Zeon carefully looked at Deioden.

The one Deioden was speaking to was none other than his sword, Crayon.

‘Is he insane? Or is that sword an Ego Sword?’

The sight of him conversing with Crayon, which he had stuck in the ground before his feet, was not normal no matter who saw it.

Whether he knew of Zeon’s gaze or not, Deioden continued conversing with the sword.

“Yes, that place would be good. I still have not caught the boss there.”

“......”

“It has been so long that my memory was vague. Thank you, my friend!”

As if he had finished the conversation, Deioden looked at Zeon.

At that instant, Zeon felt a chill he could not identify.

---

No matter how much he had awakened, enduring the cold of the desert was absolutely not easy.

Because of that, Zeon had to spend the whole night shivering in the cold with his eyes open.

By contrast, Deioden slept deeply in a comfortable posture.

He slept so comfortably that Zeon wanted to punch him in the face.

Deioden opened his eyes in time with the rising sun.

The first thing Deioden did after waking was squeeze and drink the dew that had gathered on his clothes.

Only then did Zeon understand why Deioden had slept with his clothes spread wide.

Belatedly, Zeon also drank the dew gathered on his clothes. However, the amount was far less than the dew gathered on Deioden’s clothes.

‘If you know this kind of trick, you could have told me.’

He felt resentful toward Deioden for no reason.

And he realized it.

Everything about Deioden was suited to survival.

Even each of his smallest actions was all for the sake of survival.

Zeon made up his mind.

‘I have to learn everything from him. Even the smallest things......’

If he copied everything Deioden did, someday he too might grow to a similar level, no, to a level beyond him.

DRIP!

Zeon wrung out and drank every last drop of dew gathered on his clothes. Only then was his thirst completely quenched.

“Let’s go!”

Deioden said as he rose.

Zeon also nodded and stood.

He did not ask where they were going.

That was because he knew that even if he asked, Deioden would not answer anyway.

Although he had known Deioden for only one day, he now felt he roughly understood what kind of person he was.

He was an extremely self-centered and unfriendly man.

He would never kindly teach someone or show consideration for others.

He took Zeon along, but his way of thinking was that Zeon had to survive on his own.

To survive under such a man, Zeon had no choice but to read the situation quickly and respond.

Before he knew it, Deioden had gone far ahead.

Fortunately, all his mana had recovered overnight.

Zeon used the Skill he had realized yesterday.

He named the newly acquired Skill Sand Walk.

What Zeon paid the most attention to was, of course, mana management.

Because yesterday he had exhausted his mana and approached the threshold of death, he had realized that mana management was the most important thing.

‘It would be good if I could replenish mana as much as I consume it. Is there no method?’

Deioden seemed like he would know a method. But it was obvious that even if Zeon asked, he would not answer.

In the end, just as he had done until now, he had to figure it out or realize it on his own.

While using Sand Walk, Zeon continued thinking about how to improve it.

Not much time had passed since the sun rose, but the sand of the desert had already heated up like iron plates.

The heat rising from the ground and the sun beating down from the sky tormented Zeon terribly.

Even so, Zeon gritted his teeth and endured it.

As he endured and endured, his patience grew. And Sand Walk became much more natural as well.

After walking like that all day, the sun had set before he knew it.

Only then did Deioden stop, and Zeon could also catch his breath.

Fortunately, this time, his mana did not become exhausted. However, Zeon’s face showed clear signs of fatigue.

Using Sand Walk while managing his mana all day had pushed his body and mind to their limits.

He looked as if he might collapse from exhaustion at any moment, but Zeon forced himself to endure. To him, Deioden threw a piece of jerky.

This time, he did not have to suffer the humiliation of picking it up with his mouth.

Zeon held the jerky in his hand and tore off small pieces.

He chewed slowly, softening the jerky enough before swallowing it.

Naturally, the time it took to eat could only grow longer.

When Zeon had eaten about half the jerky, he glanced at Deioden. He thought he had eaten slowly enough himself, but Deioden had only eaten one-third of his. He had much more left than Zeon.

At the inexplicable feeling of defeat, Zeon bit his lip.

He deliberately chewed the jerky more slowly than Deioden. As he ate that slowly, nearly thirty minutes passed just to eat one piece of jerky.

‘But I’m still hungry.’

Zeon had not yet finished growing.

There was no way a single piece of jerky would fill his stomach.

This was the age when he became hungry again as soon as he turned away after eating.

Even so, he could not ask Deioden for more jerky. Zeon’s pride would not allow that.

Zeon decided to hold his starving stomach and try to sleep.

Before that, there was something he had to do first.

Zeon took off the clothes he was wearing and spread them on the ground.

It was to gather enough morning dew.

The next thing he did was make a sleeping place.

For Deioden, who possessed an ability difficult for Zeon to even imagine, the cold of the desert was nothing. But for Zeon, it was a matter of survival.

The solution Zeon came up with was a bunker.

Fortunately, he still had a little mana left.

When Zeon raised his control, the sand moved on its own.

A pit large enough for one person to enter was created.

Zeon entered the pit he had made. After that, he moved the sand again and covered the top of the pit.

Desert sand had no cohesion, so it did not clump together.

Normally, if one covered it with sand like this, it would have been natural for it to collapse at once. However, the sand held firm like a roof made of wood.

That was because Zeon had increased the cohesion of the sand.

Mana was consumed when making the bunker, but once it was completed, he no longer needed to use mana.

“Phew!”

Only after completing the bunker did Zeon let out a sigh of relief.

He felt regret, thinking he would have slept more comfortably last night if he had done this then. Still, it was fortunate that he could sleep comfortably today at least.

Suddenly, he thought of Deioden.

He wondered if he should tell Deioden to come in even now. But soon he shook his head.

In any case, Deioden was not someone who would listen just because he spoke.

If he truly could not endure it, he would crawl in on his own.

‘Whatever happens, happens.’

Thinking that, Zeon tried to sleep.

Outside, the temperature was dropping rapidly, but inside the bunker, it was quite warm.

The sand, which had been heated fiercely throughout the day, was providing him with enough warmth.

Thanks to that, he was able to sleep much more comfortably than yesterday.

What woke Zeon, who had been sleeping deeply, was a strange sensation.

A faint vibration was traveling through the sand.

“What is this?”

Zeon sat up and placed his hand on the floor. Then he felt the vibration even more strongly.

Zeon left the bunker and looked for Deioden.

Deioden was already awake.

He had Crayon stuck in the ground and was looking straight ahead.

Zeon also moved his gaze to where Deioden was looking.

All he could see was thick darkness.

It was the darkest time before sunrise.

It was impossible to distinguish anything. But that only applied to ordinary people.

Deioden’s sight, which surpassed limits, was piercing through the darkness beyond.

THUDDUDUDU!

The vibration grew stronger and stronger.

Zeon’s eyes trembled.

‘Dozens, no, at least hundreds.’

Deioden opened his mouth.

“Survive on your own, cripple! Heh-heh!”

His face, wearing a madness-filled smile, somehow looked excited.

Like a wicked child before setting fire to something.

But Zeon could not laugh.

That was because he knew Deioden truly would not help him. That made his stubbornness rise even more.

‘Fine! I’ll survive no matter what.’

The vibration grew more intense, and at last, they pierced through the darkness and revealed themselves.

Hundreds of pairs of eyes were approaching Deioden and Zeon at great speed.

Deioden said,

“It is a pack of great-horned hyenas. They are nocturnal creatures that chew up everything without leaving even a single bone fragment behind. So it would be best to be careful not to get caught by their teeth. By the time you come to your senses, you will be torn to pieces inside their bellies. Heh-heh!”

“You insane old man!”