Chapter 165
The next morning, the Pegasus Raid Team left the Magic Stone Mine.
The faces of those departing the mine were clearly filled with exhaustion.
Most of the raid team had indulged themselves wildly the previous night, as if it were the last day of their lives. The aftermath showed on the very day of departure.
Even so, Lee Jiryung didn’t say anything.
Because she knew that the moment they stepped out into the desert, they would have no choice but to steel their minds.
When they had entered the Magic Stone Mine, there had been thirty vehicles. By the time they left, the number had increased to forty.
That was because the vehicles carrying the awakened from the western district had joined them.
The sight of forty vehicles racing across the desert all at once was spectacular.
As the vehicles moved, clouds of dust billowed up like smoke.
Mandy joined Zeon, Brielle, and Levin in their vehicle.
Leaning deep into her seat, Mandy said,
“Nice. Traveling with others was really uncomfortable.”
The position of supervisor was one that naturally made others uneasy.
After all, she monitored their activities and reported them to City Hall—hardly something people would appreciate. Because of that, most people either avoided or kept their distance from supervisors dispatched by the city.
Mandy asked Zeon,
“By the way, do you happen to know what kind of dungeon it is?”
“I don’t. They said it’s buried deep in the sand, so they couldn’t determine it.”
“The Pegasus Raid Team is impressive. It’s hard to detect dungeons buried deep in the sand, yet they found one.”
“They must have an excellent detector.”
“That’s right. Rumor has it the Pegasus Raid Team’s detector has exceptional dungeon-detection abilities.”
“Then they must get a lot of scouting offers.”
“That’s why the Pegasus Raid Team manages him very carefully.”
“Someone you know?”
“Well, I am a supervisor. At least I have access to personnel information.”
All raid teams in Neo Seoul were required to submit their personnel information to City Hall.
In Neo Seoul, that information was classified as top secret and securely stored.
Supervisors naturally had the authority to access it.
“The person leading the Pegasus Raid Team’s exploration unit is a man named Gesling. He’s both a detector and a leader. Under him are a dungeon mapmaker named Lee Chi-woo, a guide named Obroy, and a guardian named McNine. The four of them form a team.”
“Guardian?”
“A martial artist. He protects the exploration team with outstanding combat ability.”
“I see.”
“In any case, all four of them are exceptional awakened. That’s why Lee Jiryung values them greatly.”
“That makes sense.”
Zeon nodded.
Finding dungeons in the desert was absolutely not easy.
It was like searching for a needle in a haystack.
What drastically increased those odds was the dungeon exploration team.
The better the exploration team a raid group had, the higher the chance they would find and conquer more dungeons.
Naturally, Lee Jiryung had no choice but to cherish them.
As Mandy looked at Zeon’s profile, a thought suddenly crossed her mind.
‘Wait. Many dungeons are buried in the sand. Finding them is the job of an exploration team… then this man…’
He was the only sand mage in the world.
Naturally, he possessed extraordinary control over sand, and he had already proven his abilities in the battle against the Balrog.
Even if he had only just awakened and his power was still greatly weakened, a disaster-class magical beast was still a disaster-class being.
If he had the ability to subdue such a creature, then surely he could easily locate dungeons buried deep beneath the sand.
‘Just how many dungeons has he found and cleared?’
Her curiosity reached the sky, but she couldn’t bring herself to ask directly.
At that moment—
Zeon, who had been staring out the window with an indifferent expression, suddenly spoke.
“There’s a watcher.”
“Huh? What do you mean? A watcher?”
“Someone is hiding on that sand hill over there, observing this convoy.”
The place Zeon pointed to was an unusually tall dune.
At a glance, desert dunes didn’t seem that high, but in reality, many exceeded hundreds of meters.
The dune Zeon indicated was one of those.
Rising hundreds of meters high, it shimmered gold under the sunlight.
Mandy narrowed her eyes and stared hard, but she couldn’t see anything.
“There’s a watcher there?”
“Yes.”
“Really?”
“There were two of them. Ah… they’re gone now.”
The presence Zeon had sensed disappeared.
They had either used a stealth skill or left the area.
If they had been a bit closer, he might have been able to track their movement as they retreated. But the buggy was moving fast, and their movements were subtle, so he lost them.
Levin asked,
“Hyung, could it be that guy from yesterday?”
“Maybe…”
“This is already feeling off from the start.”
Mandy cut into their conversation.
“From yesterday?”
“Ah, Levin said he saw a suspicious person yesterday.”
“A suspicious person?”
“It’s hard to explain, but he said it was someone who didn’t fit in with the mine.”
“Is that so?”
Mandy frowned.
The beginning was always important.
If things started off with this kind of impurity, there was a high chance more interference would follow later.
“Could it be scavengers?”
“Maybe.”
“With a force this large moving, would scavengers really target us?”
There were as many as 370 awakened, along with over forty vehicles.
It was a force strong enough to wipe out even large magical beasts in an instant.
No matter how reckless scavengers were, they wouldn’t dare touch a force of this size.
“They probably just came to scout us out. No need to worry too much. Scavenger groups are usually only a few dozen people at most.”
Scavengers were tough enough to survive in a desert where not even a blade of grass grew. But even so, forming a large group in such an environment—where even finding food was difficult—was not easy.
That was why most scavenger groups consisted of a few dozen to around a hundred people.
With that kind of force, it would be impossible to take on the Pegasus Raid Team. They would be annihilated before they could even get close.
At Mandy’s words, Zeon nodded.
“That’s true.”
“It’s a long way ahead, so get some rest. I should get a bit of sleep too.”
Mandy sank deep into her seat and closed her eyes.
***
“Why did you pull us out? We could’ve observed a bit longer.”
“I didn’t like the feeling.”
“What feeling?”
“It felt like something was scanning my entire body.”
At the woman’s reply, Aslan unconsciously frowned.
The ones who had been watching the Pegasus Raid Team just moments ago were Aslan and the woman.
They had been observing the raid team from a distance.
It was to determine their exact scale.
But suddenly, the woman grabbed the back of Aslan’s neck and pulled him back several kilometers.
During that time, he had been dragged along like baggage.
Naturally, he couldn’t hold back his complaints.
“Damn it, what the hell do you mean something was scanning you? There was nothing there.”
“I definitely felt it.”
“Ah, seriously…”
“Say one more word and I’ll rip your mouth apart.”
“—!”
Aslan quickly shut his mouth.
Traveling together had made him forget for a moment, but the woman was an assassin.
And not just any assassin—one of a far higher rank than him.
She wasn’t someone he could act recklessly around.
If he got on her nerves, he might lose his life without even realizing it.
He had seen several people die like that.
The woman’s name was Duduyan, a B-rank assassin.
Duduyan spoke,
“Let’s go back.”
“Why? We need to gather more information.”
“I don’t like the feeling. We return and report as is.”
“…Fine. Damn it.”
Aslan nodded reluctantly.
They mounted the two-humped camels they had prepared in advance.
These evolved camels were the best means of transportation for scavengers.
No matter how long they ran through the desert, they never tired, and the mane on their necks functioned like radar, detecting the presence of other magical beasts and helping them avoid danger.
Because of this, scavengers always rode two-humped camels.
“Let’s go!”
They rode the camels and sped across the desert.
The camels charged toward their destination at a terrifying speed.
After traveling for quite some time, they arrived at a place where countless tents and herds of two-humped camels were lined up.
Outside the tents, groups of people sat together, tearing into something as they ate.
At a glance, there were well over a hundred tents, and the number of people outside was several times that.
It was almost strange how quiet it was despite so many people being present.
Duduyan and Aslan pushed through the crowd and headed toward the center.
At the center was a fairly large oasis, and in front of it stood an especially large tent.
A campfire burned in front of the tent, and over it, some unidentified meat was roasting.
In front of the fire sat a large man tearing into the meat, while a well-built woman beside him carefully cut it for him.
Around them, children ran about noisily.
In a way, it almost looked peaceful.
Aslan and Duduyan approached the man.
“Boss!”
“We’ve returned, Urtian!”
At their voices, the man raised his head.
He had a strong, rugged appearance befitting a man.
His face was covered in tattoos of unknown meaning.
But more striking than the tattoos were his pointed ears.
The man was not human—he was an elf.
The elf called Urtian spoke,
“You both worked hard. Come, have some of this. The sand angler meat is excellent.”
The meat roasting over the fire was that of a sand angler.
The woman attending to Urtian sliced the meat and placed it onto plates, then handed them to the two.
“Eat, Aslan. Duduyan.”
“Thank you, Deborah.”
“I’ll eat well.”
Aslan devoured the meat on his plate, while Duduyan removed the hood of her robe.
Her appearance was revealed.
Exceptionally dark skin, black eyes like obsidian, and pointed ears.
She too was an elf.
But far darker than ordinary elves.
That was why her companions called her a Dark Elf.
The two of them, hungry as they were, ate the sand angler meat with relish.
The sand angler was not an easy magical beast to hunt.
It was a rare creature, caught only once every few years.
Watching them eat, Urtian said,
“We were lucky to catch it. We’ve shared plenty with the others too, so eat your fill.”
“Thank you, Urtian.”
“By the way, how’s this raid group? I heard it’s quite large.”
“There are over forty vehicles and nearly four hundred awakened.”
It was Aslan who answered.
“That many awakened? Seems they must’ve found a major dungeon.”
“That’s likely. With that many people mobilized, they must be carrying more than enough food and supplies.”
“Is that so?”
Urtian’s expression turned interested.
At that moment, Duduyan carefully spoke,
“Shouldn’t we pass on this raid?”
“Why?”
“I have a bad feeling about it.”
“Really?”
Just then—
“No. We’re already at our limit. If we don’t secure food this time, people will start starving.”
Someone objected as he approached.
He was a man who appeared to be in his mid-to-late thirties.
Unlike Urtian, he was human.
Urtian looked at him.
“Komak!”
“Boss, we need food. Right now.”
The man called Komak spoke firmly.
At that, Urtian let out a faint chuckle and looked at Duduyan.
“You heard him. The Red Storm Band needs food.”
“Urtian!”
“So tell me everything you’ve learned so far.”
The voice of Urtian—the leader of the massive scavenger group known as the Red Storm Band, composed of both elves and humans—carried an undeniable authority that no one could defy.