Chapter 133

As if he had never noticed the old man at all, Zeon refocused entirely on his battle with Raven.

Go Elder’s hand, gripping his cane, trembled slightly.

It had only been for a brief moment—but Zeon had clearly looked straight at the exact spot where he stood.

“Did he really see me?”

A flicker of confusion crossed the old man’s face.

A barrier surrounded him.

It was completely isolated from reality—no Awakened could detect it.

Naturally, it couldn’t be seen with the naked eye either.

Not even by members of the Numbers.

This had been confirmed countless times.

And yet, for that fleeting instant, Zeon had looked precisely at where he and the twin sisters were.

“Did he really see through the barrier? No… that’s impossible. Even S-rank Awakened can’t detect my barrier.”

The old man shook off the thought.

If Zeon truly had pierced his barrier, it would mean he was at least on the level of an S-rank—or higher.

Up until now, only two people had ever seen through his barrier.

Jin Geumho and Deioden.

Both were beings who had lived since before the Great Cataclysm—existences beyond ordinary humans.

So it wasn’t strange that they could see through it. For them, it was only natural.

But no other Awakened had ever been able to detect or pierce his barrier.

If Zeon truly had noticed him, it would mean he stood on the same level as those two.

“That’s absurd… I must be mistaken.”

At his muttering, the twin sisters looked at him curiously.

“What’s absurd?”

“Nothing. More importantly, can you find out that guy’s name?”

“It won’t be hard.”

“Then go ahead.”

“Okay!”

Just as the twins nodded in unison—

Boom!

A completely different level of explosion rang out.

Startled, they looked toward the battlefield and saw Raven being blasted far away.

His coat was torn to shreds, and the bulletproof vest beneath it had been completely destroyed.

Even his signature sunglasses were shattered, with only the frame remaining.

“Ugh!”

Raven threw away the broken frame and staggered to his feet.

His whole body throbbed.

It felt as if he had just been crushed in a massive grinder.

If the force behind Zeon’s punch had been even slightly stronger, he truly would have been ground to pieces.

“Tch… stepped in shit somewhere unexpected. Never thought someone like you would be hiding in the slums.”

“A lack of information always leaves painful wounds.”

“I’ll admit it. I knew nothing about the slums—or about you. That’s why I got screwed. But don’t think I represent the Eastern District. I’m just a hunting dog.”

“I know.”

“…Tch!”

Zeon’s calm reply twisted Raven’s face in frustration.

Though his pride was wounded, Raven couldn’t bring himself to charge in recklessly.

He knew it would be pointless.

At that moment—

“You sons of bitches!”

Jacob, who had been lying still as if dead after Raven’s earlier attack, suddenly rose, trembling.

His blood-soaked hand still held the detonator he had tried to press earlier.

With bloodshot eyes, he shouted,

“If it’s come to this, we all die together!”

“Y-you…?”

Raven stammered in shock.

He knew exactly what Jacob was holding.

“Heh… I always knew a day like this might come. Just didn’t think it’d be today. Still… with this many people joining me, the road to hell won’t be so lonely.”

By sheer coincidence, Jacob was standing right above where the bomb for hunting large magical beasts had been hidden.

If it exploded, not only he—but everyone around the plaza would be annihilated.

“St-stop, you bastard!”

“Fuck off!”

Jacob flipped Raven off and pressed the detonator without a second of hesitation.

“Damn it!”

“Ah!”

The old man and the twin sisters gasped.

They were safe inside the barrier—but the people in the plaza would not survive.

It was unfortunate, but they had no intention of intervening.

They weren’t compassionate enough to risk themselves for the slum dwellers.

At that moment, someone completely unexpected moved.

Zeon.

The instant Jacob pressed the detonator, Zeon launched himself forward without hesitation.

Stopping the explosion was impossible.

But he could still reduce its scale.

Zeon poured mana into his superheated gauntlet.

At that moment, the dragon’s eye embedded in the gauntlet emitted a blinding light.

“Ghk!”

“My eyes—!”

Everyone exposed to the light was momentarily blinded.

Raven, the old man—even the twin sisters lost their sight and staggered.

BOOOOM!

At that instant, the bomb buried beneath the plaza exploded.

Jacob was instantly obliterated in the blast.

Just as the inferno was about to spread outward—

Zeon reached the center of the explosion.

“Haaat!”

With a shout, Zeon suppressed the explosion with his superheated gauntlet.

The light bursting from the gauntlet wrapped around the firestorm.

The flames, unable to spread, were halted by the barrier of light.

But it wasn’t enough.

Zeon drew out even more mana.

“Ghk!”

Blood seeped from the corner of his mouth.

He had stopped the explosion from spreading—but it still wasn’t enough.

Zeon used his authority.

‘Disappear.’

At that moment, the ground of the plaza caved inward.

Zeon manipulated the sand beneath it, creating a massive pit.

‘Now!’

He forced the firestorm down into the sand pit—

Then leapt away at the last possible instant.

BOOOOOM!

The suppressed flames erupted even more violently, as if venting their fury.

But with the surroundings sealed by sand, the explosion shot upward into the open sky.

A pillar of fire soared high into the heavens.

It was a breathtaking sight.

“What… is that?”

“What just happened?”

Raven and the old man stared upward, mouths agape.

They had been blinded for a moment and hadn’t seen what happened.

Which made it all the more shocking.

“…He suppressed the explosion.”

“What did he even do? Is that even possible?”

“That’s insane.”

“…Is he even human?”

They all knew Zeon had done something, but no one could tell exactly how he had concentrated the explosion into the sky.

The pillar of fire that had shot endlessly upward soon faded away.

After watching it to the very end, the old man finally spoke.

“At least A-rank.”

“At least? Then… are you saying he could be S-rank?”

“That’s crazy.”

At the old man’s declaration, the twin sisters stood there, stunned.

They wanted to ask if he was mistaken—but they knew better than anyone how sharp his judgment was.

If he said A-rank, then it was A-rank.

And he had added “at least.”

That meant he could be even higher.

There was only one way to know for sure—by facing him directly.

Just then—

They saw a group of Awakened rushing down the main road connected to the plaza.

They were Awakened from Dongdaemun.

“Over there!”

“Was it a terrorist attack?”

Although the explosion had been suppressed to minimize damage, the towering pillar of fire couldn’t be hidden.

The Dongdaemun Awakened, having seen it, rushed over in a frenzy.

“Where is he?”

Raven looked around, but Zeon was nowhere to be seen.

He had already disappeared.

“Damn it… can’t be helped.”

There was no reason for Raven to remain any longer.

After gathering his equipment, he left the plaza.

Watching him go, the old man spoke to the twins.

“Let’s go as well.”

“Mm!”

They quickly left too.

By the time the Dongdaemun Awakened arrived at the now-empty plaza, they were left dumbfounded.

“Who the hell did this?”

“Was it the scavengers again?”

They frantically searched for the cause of the incident, but by then, everyone involved was already gone.

“Damn… that actually hurt.”

Zeon muttered as he rotated his right wrist.

Anyone else hearing it would have been horrified—but Zeon spoke as if it were nothing.

That alone showed how far beyond common sense his actions had been.

“If it weren’t for the superheated gauntlet, my arm would’ve been blown off.”

When he first obtained the gauntlet, he hadn’t imagined it would become this useful.

Thanks to it, he had survived countless crises—and had been able to properly conceal his control over sand.

After eight years of never taking it off, it now felt like a part of his body.

At that moment, he sensed someone approaching.

“Zeon!”

It was Brielle, arriving late.

“You’re here?”

“Are you okay? I saw a huge explosion.”

“It’s nothing. Let’s go home.”

“Now?”

“Yeah.”

“Alright!”

The two of them left Dongdaemun completely.

The district was thrown into chaos by the series of incidents.

Awakened rushed about frantically trying to manage the situation, while the slum residents stood in shock, not knowing what to do.

The entire area had fallen into panic.

Leaving that chaos behind, the two returned to Sinchon.

As soon as they arrived, it felt like they could finally breathe.

Even though it was the same sky, the air somehow felt cleaner—despite still being filled with fine sand particles.

As he walked, Zeon thought,

‘Who were they?’

The ones hiding within a barrier, secretly observing.

One old man, and two young girls.

He hadn’t been able to see their faces clearly from that distance—but from their presence and their ability to deploy a barrier, it was obvious they weren’t ordinary Awakened.

‘Where did they come from? They didn’t intervene even when Raven was losing… so probably not from the Eastern District. Another district? Or the City Hall?’

There was no certainty yet.

But realizing that someone had been watching was already a significant gain.

Just then—

“Hey!”

Someone came stomping toward Zeon and Brielle in a huff.

The moment Zeon saw her face, he smirked.

Brielle just shook her head.

The woman approaching them in a completely wrecked state was none other than Eloi.

She had been used as bait to distract the Dongdaemun Awakened—and now she had returned in tatters.

Her clothes were torn to shreds, and her face and body were covered in injuries.

“Damn it! You ran off while I was fighting? How could you do that to me?!”

“Impressive that you made it out of Dongdaemun alive.”

“Do you have any idea how much hell I went through? Those fanatic bastards were swarming like a pack of dogs… ugh!”

Eloi shuddered as if the mere memory disgusted her.

Fanatics who charged forward without fear of injury or death.

It would’ve been easier if she could just kill them.

But killing them would cause a problem too big for Neo Seoul to handle—and the same applied to Dongdaemun.

She had to subdue them without killing them, which made the fight far more difficult.

What angered her most, however, was that while she struggled, Zeon and Brielle had simply left.

“You abandoned a teammate and ran? And you still call yourselves allies?”

“Calm down.”

“Calm down?! How am I supposed to calm down?!”

As Eloi shouted, Brielle casually picked at her ear.

“For a half-elf, you’ve got quite the voice. My ears are ringing…”

“You really have a death wish, don’t you?”

“Relax. We got something you’ll like.”

“…What? Really?”

Eloi’s expression instantly changed.

Brielle grinned.

“What is it?”

“Not for free.”

“You little—!”

“Hehe!”

And just like that, the half-elf and the high elf continued bickering for quite a while.