Chapter 132
Raven was a B-rank martial-type Awakened.
That alone made him strong enough, but on top of that, he had been trained as a soldier and could handle all kinds of firearms with ease.
He wasn’t a gunslinger, but he was just as skilled with weapons as they were.
Sword and gun.
Two weapons that shouldn’t normally go together—but in his hands, they worked in perfect harmony, unleashing overwhelming power.
Raven didn’t even consider drawing his sword.
He was confident that his gun alone was enough.
The weapon he held was a Desert Eagle.
An antique from before the world’s collapse.
Originally, it would’ve been nothing more than scrap that couldn’t even fire—but thanks to an enchanter, it had been reborn as a supreme killing weapon.
With just one shot, it could blow the head of most Awakened apart like a watermelon.
No matter how skilled an Awakened was, they couldn’t dodge a bullet fired point-blank.
Raven aimed the Desert Eagle at Zeon’s forehead and said,
“Think of it as bad luck. Your fate ends here.”
“Don’t go deciding someone else’s fate. Mine isn’t cheap enough to be dictated by someone else.”
“Oh yeah? Too bad.”
Raven grinned and pulled the trigger.
Click!
The sound of the hammer striking rang out.
But the expected bullet never fired.
“…What? A malfunction?”
Raven stared at the Desert Eagle in confusion.
A normal gun might fail.
But this wasn’t a normal weapon.
It was a magically enhanced item crafted by a skilled enchanter.
It wasn’t in some harsh desert environment either—there was no reason for it to suddenly fail inside Neo Seoul.
Raven tilted the Desert Eagle.
Fine grains of sand trickled out from the barrel and chamber.
“…Sand? Why is this inside the gun?”
For a moment, Raven couldn’t hide his disbelief.
He always maintained his weapon carefully.
He had even checked it before coming here.
There had been no problem then.
Raven glared at Zeon.
“Did you do this?”
“Who knows?”
“So you’re a magic-type, huh? Pulling tricks like this.”
“Maybe it’s a trick. Maybe it’s skill.”
Zeon smiled faintly.
That expression irritated Raven.
“Let’s see if you can keep smiling after your head gets cut off.”
Swoosh!
Raven swung the sword from his back.
The blade cut through the air like lightning, reaching Zeon’s neck in an instant.
Clang!
At that moment, Zeon knocked the blade aside with his gauntleted fist.
“So not magic—martial type, then?”
“Why don’t you find out yourself?”
“I was planning to.”
Swoosh!
Raven swung his sword at terrifying speed.
His swordsmanship was precise and razor-sharp, yet filled with immense power.
If it struck a human’s fragile body, it would split it in two instantly.
But that only applied if it actually hit.
Zeon dodged every attack by the narrowest margins.
Whenever dodging wasn’t possible, he blocked or deflected the strikes with his superheated gauntlet.
Frustrated, Raven pulled out the machine gun hidden inside his coat.
“You rat bastard! Let’s see you dodge this.”
Rrrrttt!
Without hesitation, he opened fire.
Bullets powerful enough to pierce steel plates ten centimeters thick rained down like a storm.
No matter how strong an Awakened was, such an attack would normally force them back.
But Zeon didn’t dodge.
He charged straight through.
Rat-tat-tat-tat!
Countless bullets struck Zeon’s body.
But not a single one pierced through.
It was because of the robe he wore.
Made from Leviathan’s hide, the robe was far too durable to be penetrated by attacks of this level.
The only exposed part was his face—and even that was completely protected by his superheated gauntlet.
Raven’s eyes widened.
“Damn it!”
Boom!
At that moment, a powerful impact struck his abdomen.
Zeon’s kick had landed.
“Ghk!”
With a choked groan, Raven was sent flying backward.
Zeon immediately closed the distance and threw a punch.
Boom!
“Kuh—!”
Even though Raven barely managed to block it, the shock still rattled his insides.
“You… what the hell are you? What are you, you bastard?!”
Raven roared as he charged again.
***
On top of a building overlooking the plaza stood three figures.
A hunched old man leaning on a cane—and twin sisters who looked exactly alike.
The twin sisters watched the fight between Zeon and Raven with fascination.
“Wow!”
“It’s my first time seeing Raven—the human hunter—pushed this far.”
Their eyes widened as if they were watching something rare.
Even the old man beside them let out a remark.
“Even so, Raven is a fairly strong B-rank Awakened… To push him into a corner like this.”
Raven was by no means an easy opponent.
Using both gun and sword made him especially difficult to deal with.
Of course, that was by ordinary standards.
To the old man and the twin sisters, it didn’t matter.
They were far too strong to be threatened by someone like Raven.
The twin sisters looked at the old man at the same time.
“Who is that guy?”
“Do you know anything about him?”
The old man shook his head.
“I don’t know either. It’s my first time seeing him today.”
“So even you don’t know everything, old man.”
“Yeah, looks like it.”
At their words, the man they called old man let out a small chuckle.
Everyone else addressed him as Elder Go or simply Elder. Only the twin sisters called him old man.
That alone showed how close they were.
“I don’t know everything either. The world is a big place.”
“So you really don’t know everything.”
“…But are we just going to leave it like this?”
The fight between Zeon and Raven was growing more intense.
So far, there hadn’t been much damage—but if it continued like this, the surrounding people would likely suffer greatly.
The old man spoke.
“I don’t think I need to step in. That one is already guiding things so the damage stays minimal.”
His gaze was fixed on Zeon.
Zeon’s movements were so subtle that even the twin sisters hadn’t noticed.
He was drawing all of Raven’s attacks toward himself, preventing any harm from spreading to the surroundings.
At the same time, he skillfully redirected the attacks aimed at him, dispersing their force.
Thanks to that, there had been no major damage or casualties so far.
The twins spoke in turn.
“Martial type?”
“What rank?”
“At least B-rank…”
“He’s strong.”
“But not strong enough for us.”
“Of course not.”
“Should we attack?”
“Want to?”
At that moment, the old man shook his head and interrupted them.
“Don’t.”
“You think we’d lose?”
“Lose?”
“Not really… but it’d be annoying. Types like him—if you don’t finish them off in one go, they become a huge headache later.”
At his answer, the twin sisters frowned at the same time.
They seemed to think for a moment, then spoke together.
“I don’t like things getting annoying.”
“Me neither!”
“Let’s just watch.”
“Yeah!”
The old man smiled at their exchange.
The twin sisters were named Eun Sujin and Eun Suyoung.
They were members of the same group as the old man—the Numbers.
The Numbers.
An execution unit directly under Jin Geumho, the mayor of Neo Seoul.
Whenever a major incident threatened the foundation of Neo Seoul, or when Jin Geumho needed to eliminate an enemy, they were deployed.
Every member of the Numbers consisted of S-rank or A-rank Awakened.
Eun Sujin and Eun Suyoung possessed powerful telepathic abilities.
They could invade an opponent’s mind, sow confusion, or even control them.
Their mental powers were so strong that Awakened below B-rank wouldn’t even be able to resist.
The old man was a barrier mage.
If he wished, he could create a powerful barrier covering the entire plaza.
The barrier he created completely isolated the space from reality.
Until he released it, no one could escape.
Though his direct combat ability wasn’t remarkable, his overwhelming barrier power and versatility made him one of the strongest within the Numbers.
“Thanks to the mayor, I get to enjoy quite an interesting show. This is definitely a high-level fight. Heh heh.”
Jin Geumho had secretly summoned him and assigned him the role of a coordinator.
A coordinator—someone who adjusted and controlled the situation.
Jin Geumho wanted things to escalate—but not beyond what he could control.
If the entire framework of Neo Seoul collapsed, it would be a major loss for him as well.
That was why he had secretly dispatched the old man and the twin sisters.
They were perfectly suited to manage the situation.
At first, the old man had found the mission bothersome.
Though not as long-lived as Jin Geumho, he too had lived a very long life.
He had experienced countless incidents.
When he was younger, he found such things entertaining—but now, he had grown tired of them.
He had even been considering retiring from the Numbers.
But the fight between Zeon and Raven had reignited his interest and curiosity.
The battle between Zeon and Raven was growing fiercer.
Driven to desperation, Raven was attacking Zeon with everything he had.
Rrrrttt!
He fired his machine gun wildly while swinging his sword in all directions.
But none of his attacks had any effect on Zeon.
Raven was a renowned human hunter of the Eastern District.
His strength had already been proven.
He was strong.
But at this moment, he was no longer the stronger one.
In front of someone far more powerful, he was utterly helpless.
“What… what are you? What the hell are you?!”
In the end, Raven shouted in frustration.
At that moment, he had already collapsed mentally.
Zeon was like a cliff.
A towering cliff so high that one couldn’t even imagine overcoming it.
If Zeon wanted, he could defeat Raven at any time.
Yet he didn’t.
Because of a strange, prickling sensation he had been feeling.
Someone’s gaze.
Zeon heightened his senses and scanned the area.
But he couldn’t find the owner of that gaze.
It wasn’t that they were hiding behind obstacles or inside buildings—if that were the case, he would have found them long ago.
‘A barrier… isolating the space?’
An ordinary Awakened wouldn’t have even considered such a possibility.
But Zeon wasn’t ordinary.
He had wandered the desert for eight years, encountering countless situations—and just as many Awakened.
Among them were those who used barriers or magic circles to conceal themselves.
At first, they had caused him trouble—but eventually, he figured out how to deal with them.
Whoosh!
Suddenly, a sandstorm rose in the plaza.
Since sandstorms were common, no one found it strange.
But this one was different.
Zeon had created it.
The sandstorm swept across the entire plaza.
And in that moment, Zeon saw it—
A space where the sandstorm alone failed to reach.
It was exactly where the old man and the twin sisters were.
‘There.’
Zeon’s gaze naturally shifted toward the top of the building.
At that instant, the old man felt a chill run down his spine.
Because Zeon’s eyes met his directly.
‘That kid… can he see me?’