Chapter 166

Kiiiiiik!

With a loud screech, a large transport vehicle came to a halt.

The people inside got out, grumbling.

“Damn it! Again?”

“What the hell! What’s the point of riding a vehicle if it breaks down every few minutes?”

As the large transport vehicle stopped due to a breakdown, the other vehicles came to a halt one after another.

At that moment, a short, stocky middle-aged man got out of the vehicle right behind.

“What now? It stopped again?”

“Yes! It looks like the gear has corroded.”

“Damn this cursed sand. Even with magical treatment, it still wrecks everything. How many times has this happened already?”

The short middle-aged man spat on the ground and cursed loudly. In some ways, he looked almost comical.

He was barely tall enough to reach an average man’s chest, but his shoulders were far broader—enough to resemble a gorilla.

Yet no one laughed.

Because he wasn’t an ordinary human—he was a dwarf.

Even in the northern district, where different races gathered, dwarves were rare. And that was exactly what this short middle-aged man was.

At that moment, pushing through the crowd, Lee Jiryung appeared.

She spoke to the dwarf.

“Another vehicle broke down?”

“Yeah. The gear’s completely shot. Looks like we’ll have to replace it.”

“How long?”

“Won’t be fixed today.”

“I see. Then we’ll rest here for today. Fix the broken vehicles while we’re here.”

“Damn it! Everyone else gets to rest while I have to work.”

“Anyone hearing that would think you’re the only one working, Jeloei. If you mobilize the base team, it’ll take two hours at most, right? We’ll leave you plenty of food and alcohol. Hang in there.”

“Tch! Fine.”

Jeloei pulled out tools from his work apron as he replied.

They were far too large to have come out of the apron’s pocket. Seeing the massive tools appear as if defying the laws of physics, the awakened mercenaries widened their eyes.

“What the… how did that come out of the apron…?”

“Don’t tell me the apron has a subspace enchantment?”

Their guess was correct.

Jeloei’s work apron was enchanted with a subspace that allowed him to store tools.

Thanks to that, he could carry every tool he needed for work inside his apron.

Lee Jiryung gave orders to the Pegasus Raid Team.

“We’ll rest here today. Set up a perimeter and prepare the meal.”

“Yes!”

At her command, the Pegasus Raid Team moved in perfect unison.

Those assigned to guard duty took their positions, while others brought out pre-prepared food from the transport vehicles.

The food prepared by the Pegasus Raid Team didn’t require cooking.

They were preserved meals, fully cooked and ready to eat—like boxed lunches.

Thanks to that, everyone could sit comfortably and eat.

Zeon and his group also gathered in front of their buggy and began eating.

Levin and Mandy chatted as they ate their lunch boxes.

“This is pretty good. So raid teams always get to eat stuff like this?”

“That’s only because it’s the Pegasus Raid Team. Smaller raid groups couldn’t even dream of this. Most of them eat tasteless canned food.”

“Canned food?”

“It’s the easiest way to store food.”

“Then even the Pathfinder team run by Neo Seoul eats canned food?”

“Of course. That’s why once they come back from the desert, they don’t even want to look at canned food for a while.”

“Yeah, I can see that.”

Levin nodded.

Since this was his first time joining a raid team, even this kind of trivial information was valuable to him.

At that moment, Brielle suddenly asked Zeon,

“But is it okay for so many people to gather like this?”

“What do you mean?”

“If a magical beast like a sandworm attacks, wouldn’t the damage be huge?”

“This place has coarse and solid sand particles. It’s not terrain that sandworms prefer.”

“Sandworms care about sand too? Wait, there are different types of sand? Isn’t it all the same?”

“It varies depending on the terrain. Some places have fine grains, others are rough. Sandworms prefer fine sand—it’s easier for them to burrow through than coarse sand.”

“I see.”

Brielle’s eyes sparkled.

Learning something new always delighted her.

But suddenly, her expression twisted.

Her already unfocused eyes began to tremble wildly.

“Again…?”

Brielle hurriedly rummaged through her belongings and pulled out a vial of medicine.

But her hands were shaking so badly she couldn’t open it properly.

“Seriously, this kid…”

Mandy let out a bitter smile and opened the vial for her instead.

As soon as she handed it over, Brielle quickly swallowed the medicine.

“Haa… haa…!”

Brielle collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath.

“Are you okay?”

Levin asked with concern, though he wore a faint bitter smile.

“Why do people even make drugs like this? I seriously can’t understand the human race.”

At that moment, a rough voice cut in.

“Then what about dwarves?”

The owner of the voice was none other than Jeloei.

He approached them, holding a bottle of beer in his hand.

“A dwarf?”

“Call me Jeloei, Supervisor.”

“Are the vehicles all fixed?”

“Heh! This isn’t the first time something like this has happened. It’s nothing.”

Jeloei took a swig of beer and sat down in front of Zeon.

“You’re that famous sand mage, Zeon, right?”

“Do you have business with me?”

“Not really. Just wanted to see your face. It’s my first time seeing someone with the sand mage class. Want a drink?”

Jeloei suddenly held out the beer bottle toward Zeon.

Zeon lightly shook his head.

“I don’t drink.”

“You don’t drink something this good? It’s not quite as rich as real barley beer, but it’s pretty close.”

“Looks like you really like alcohol.”

“Heh! For a race like ours that makes a living through labor, booze is essential.”

“I suppose that makes sense.”

“By the way, the fact that you’re not surprised to see me means you’ve met my kind before, right?”

“A few times.”

“Where?”

“Not around here.”

At Zeon’s vague answer, Jeloei frowned.

“What, is it that hard to say where you saw them?”

“It’s not exactly a pleasant memory.”

“So you don’t like our kind?”

Jeloei’s expression hardened.

He knew there were many people in Neo Seoul who disliked other races like dwarves and elves, but this was the first time someone had shown it so openly to his face.

“I’ve been stabbed in the back by dwarves too many times…”

Zeon shrugged.

What he said was true.

The dwarves he had met in the desert had all been selfish, always trying to take advantage of him somehow.

Because of those experiences, Zeon didn’t like dwarves very much.

“Ahem… I’ll apologize on their behalf. But you should understand—this world is harsh. They probably had no choice but to act that way just to survive.”

“It’s a world where everyone struggles to survive. Not just dwarves…”

Jeloei’s face turned red, clearly failing to save face.

“Doesn’t seem like the right atmosphere for conversation today. Let’s talk another time.”

Without even waiting for Zeon’s reply, Jeloei stood up.

From his perspective, he was leaving empty-handed.

Zeon didn’t even spare him a glance.

From the start, Jeloei hadn’t been someone he cared about. And as he had said before, he didn’t trust dwarves as a race.

Despite their hearty appearances, they were narrow-minded and scheming.

Brielle let out a small chuckle.

“You really don’t like them, huh?”

***

“Ugh! Ptooey!”

“Damn this sand!”

The awakened woke up in the morning, all cursing the sand.

A sandstorm had blown through while they slept, covering their bodies.

If it had only been sand piling on them, it would’ve been one thing—but it had also gotten into their breathing, making it even more unbearable.

In contrast, Zeon’s group had no such problem.

Zeon had used his control to prevent sand from piling up on them.

Thanks to that, the three of them had a very comfortable morning.

“Ah, that was a good sleep.”

“This is the first time I’ve slept this comfortably in the desert.”

They quickly prepared to leave.

There was no time for a proper breakfast.

They would have to make do with simple food inside the vehicle.

As soon as the four of them got into the buggy, the vehicles began to move again.

The large-scale migration resumed.

At the front of the convoy were Lee Jiryung and Jeloei.

Having boarded in place of Kelda, Jeloei’s face was twisted with dissatisfaction.

Lee Jiryung smirked.

“Looks like things didn’t go well.”

“That brat’s got an attitude.”

“He has the right to. He’s strong enough.”

“Damn it! I was going to ask him to keep sand from getting into the vehicles, but I couldn’t even bring it up. Says he doesn’t like our kind. Says we’ve got no loyalty. Do you think the same?”

“If I did, I wouldn’t have let you into the raid team.”

“Tch! If he wasn’t a sand mage, I’d have snapped his spine.”

“Hold it in. We need him for this raid.”

“…Since you’re saying it, Boss, I’ll hold back.”

“Heh.”

Lee Jiryung smiled.

Jeloei had a rather childlike side.

He was honest about his emotions, and everything he felt showed in his tone. That made him easy to handle.

And he had the skills to back it up.

There was a reason Lee Jiryung had entrusted him with the base team.

“By the way, you said the dungeon is about 300 kilometers from here?”

“Yeah.”

“Isn’t this the first time we’re raiding a dungeon this far away?”

“Yeah.”

“Ugh… makes me nervous. Wonder what kind of monster’s waiting this time. Feels like we’re heading straight into a beast’s jaws.”

“You’ve cleared so many dungeons already, and you’re still nervous? Not very dwarf-like.”

“What, you think dwarves don’t feel fear? Well, the ones in Kurayan might be like that, but I was born and raised here.”

“Then you don’t know much about Kurayan.”

“Not really. My father talks about his homeland and all that, but to me it’s just another place. This is my home.”

“Our home.”

“Yeah, our home. And yet people reject us just for being dwarves…”

Jeloei ground his teeth, still irritated just thinking about it.

“That guy really is a sand mage, right?”

“Absolutely. I saw it with my own eyes.”

“Damn it… why would the gods give such a rare ability to someone like him?”

“Were sand mages rare even in Kurayan?”

“If something like that existed, my father would’ve told me. As far as I know, not a single sand mage ever appeared in Kurayan.”

Lee Jiryung frowned.

‘All awakened abilities that appeared on Earth originated from Kurayan. There are no exceptions.’

It wasn’t just her assumption.

It was a conclusion reached after long research by City Hall.

The accepted theory was that if an ability didn’t exist in Kurayan, it wouldn’t exist on Earth either.

And yet, for the first time, someone had appeared who defied that theory.

That person was Zeon.

‘Is he a product of coincidence… or an anomaly that exists outside the laws of this world?’

At that moment, a voice broke her train of thought.

“Magical beasts! There are magical beasts ahead!”

In the direction the convoy was heading, a massive cloud of dust was rising.