Chapter 167
The awakened quickly got out of their vehicles and looked toward the direction where the dust cloud was rising.
“What is that?”
“Why are there magical beasts all of a sudden…?”
“Was there a habitat around here?”
Confused voices erupted from all sides.
This place was only about four hours away from the Magic Stone Mine.
The mine regularly conducted subjugation hunts, so there were no large groups of magical beasts in this area.
Naturally, the awakened had let their guard down to some extent.
But now, a massive cloud of dust was rising.
Such a phenomenon could never be caused by just a few magical beasts.
It only happened when a large herd was on the move.
Lee Jiryung shouted,
“Everyone, prepare for battle!”
“Prepare for battle!”
The Pegasus Raid Team drew their weapons and readied themselves.
Cha Jincheol gave a crooked smile and issued an order.
“It’s just a herd of beasts—wipe them out in one go. Everyone, to the front line!”
“Yes!”
At the command, the awakened from the western district moved to the front.
Levin spoke with a puzzled expression,
“Weren’t most of the western district awakened people who replaced their bodies with machinery? They look like ordinary humans to me.”
As he said, the awakened standing in the front line didn’t look much different from normal people.
Mandy answered him,
“That’s true for those below D-rank. Even some C-rank and above choose to expose their mechanical parts. But they can’t operate long in the desert.”
“Because of the sand?”
“Exactly. Desert sand is deadly for mechanized awakened. That’s why they mostly operate within Neo Seoul. That’s also the limitation of the western district.”
“Then those people?”
“They’re all C-rank or higher. They’ve covered their mechanized parts with artificial skin so they can operate in the desert.”
“Ah!”
“They’re weaker than fully mechanized awakened, but they can last much longer in the desert.”
That was why the western district awakened in the Pegasus Raid Team maintained appearances no different from ordinary humans.
Even so, they were powerful.
Their strength lay in their overwhelmingly enhanced physical bodies.
That was why they stood at the front.
They served as tanks, blocking the enemies’ charge with their bodies.
Thud—thud—thud!
As the magical beasts drew closer, heavy vibrations shook the ground beneath their feet.
Through the thick dust cloud, silhouettes began to appear.
“What…?”
“What is that? Two heads?”
The awakened at the front were startled by the shapes.
Kuuuu—
At that moment, the beasts burst through the dust and revealed themselves.
They were bulls.
Massive bulls with two heads and four eyes.
Their bodies gleamed as if covered in armor, and their four legs were thick like steel pillars.
Seeing their true form, Zeon muttered,
“Twin Head Buffalo.”
“That’s a buffalo? No way…”
Brielle muttered in disbelief.
Each buffalo stood over three meters tall.
They were large and massive enough to crush an ordinary human in an instant.
The real problem—
There weren’t just one or two.
Hundreds, thousands of them were charging toward the Pegasus Raid Team like a tidal wave.
BOOM!
“Argh!”
“Ghk!”
Groans burst from the awakened of the western district who had bravely taken the front line.
It was impossible to withstand the impact of hundreds of beasts crashing into them at once.
CRACK!
SNAP!
Limbs shattered under the horns of the Twin Head Buffalo, and spines were crushed.
A few awakened managed to hold out for a moment, but they were quickly swept away by the herd’s charge.
This was the terror of herd-type magical beasts like the Twin Head Buffalo.
A small number of awakened could never stop their charge.
The only way was to bombard them before they broke through the formation.
“Damn it! Attack now!”
“Full assault!”
From behind the western district awakened, the Pegasus Raid Team and mercenaries unleashed their skills all at once.
BOOOOM! BOOOOM!
A barrage of powerful attacks poured down on the herd.
ROOOAR!
MOOOO!
Dozens of Twin Head Buffalo collapsed in heaps.
But compared to the size of the herd, it was only a tiny fraction.
The survivors charged straight into the center of the Pegasus Raid Team with terrifying momentum.
“How dare you!”
At that moment, Lee Jiryung and the elites stepped forward.
Crackle—!
Lightning burst from Lee Jiryung’s entire body.
Dozens of Twin Head Buffalo struck by her lightning were instantly charred black and collapsed.
Bronson’s raid unit began taking down the beasts one by one.
But there were simply too many.
An uncountable number still remained.
BANG! BANG!
Heavy vehicles were pushed back or crushed under the overwhelming mass of the charging herd.
“This won’t do.”
Unable to hold back any longer, Levin leapt into the battlefield.
Purple lightning shot toward the Twin Head Buffalo.
Moooo—!
With a mournful cry, one of the beasts collapsed.
Its fallen body was immediately trampled by the rest of the charging herd.
Dust rose thick into the air, and the screams of people mixed with the cries of the Twin Head Buffalo, turning the battlefield into something resembling hell.
To protect Mandy, Eloi’s personality suddenly surfaced.
“Damn it! You cattle bastards!”
She swung the Mad Nine-Tailed Fox wildly and charged into the battlefield.
Zeon carried Brielle up onto a tall transport vehicle.
Unlike Mandy or Levin, Brielle had almost no combat ability.
But even the transport vehicle wasn’t safe.
Bang! Bang!
The Twin Head Buffalo repeatedly slammed into it, denting the vehicle and pushing it backward.
Startled, Brielle asked Zeon,
“Whoa! This is insane. Do they usually move in groups like this?”
“I’ve seen groups of a few hundred before, but this is my first time seeing thousands.”
Frowning, Zeon watched the rampaging herd.
Twin Head Buffalo were carnivorous magical beasts, but they were generally docile by nature.
Unless they were starving, they didn’t attack first.
Also, when a herd grew beyond a certain size, a new leader would emerge and split off.
That was because one leader couldn’t control too large a group.
The limit was usually around three to four hundred.
But now, the number charging at the Pegasus Raid Team clearly exceeded the thousands.
At least ten herds had merged together.
Something that should never happen under normal circumstances.
‘When something impossible happens, there’s always a cause.’
That was why Zeon hadn’t entered the battlefield yet.
His sharp gaze swept the surroundings.
Though the air was thick with sand, it didn’t matter to him.
The drifting grains of sand were feeding him information.
As he scanned the area, his gaze suddenly shifted upward.
In that moment, he spotted creatures circling in the sky.
They emitted cries that human ears could never hear.
Each time they cried, the Twin Head Buffalo fell into chaos and rampaged wildly.
Zeon spoke to Brielle,
“You can stay here alone, right?”
“Of course. Don’t worry about me. I can take care of myself.”
“Then I’ll be back.”
In an instant, a gust of sand lifted Zeon into the air.
His body soared upward in the blink of an eye, but none of the awakened on the battlefield noticed.
Zeon quickly rose over a hundred meters high.
From there, the creatures circling in the air became clearly visible.
They had the head of an eagle, the body of a lion, and a pair of wings on their backs.
Zeon immediately recognized them.
“Griffins.”
Griffins were B-rank magical beasts.
Though their rank was B, their danger level was equivalent to A-rank.
They were rulers of the sky, rivaling wyverns.
They would circle overhead and then dive like meteors, tearing apart not only awakened humans but even other magical beasts in an instant.
Griffins were the natural predators of the Twin Head Buffalo.
Only now did Zeon understand why the herds had gathered together.
The griffins were continuously emitting threatening cries.
Those cries had clearly driven the Twin Head Buffalo into a state of panic.
Like sheepdogs herding sheep, the griffins had used their cries to gather the buffalo and drive them toward the Pegasus Raid Team.
Screee!
The griffins spotted Zeon and let out threatening cries.
The sky was their domain.
They never tolerated intruders.
Abandoning their control over the buffalo, the griffins turned and attacked Zeon.
Whoosh!
They flew at him at near-supersonic speed.
To them, Zeon—floating defenselessly in midair—looked like easy prey.
But they quickly realized how wrong they were.
“Sand Blaster.”
At Zeon’s gesture, highly compressed sand shot forward.
Bam! Bam! Bam!
The Sand Blaster struck the griffins’ massive bodies relentlessly.
Thanks to the protective barrier surrounding them, they didn’t suffer fatal damage, but it was enough to startle them.
The griffins tried to change direction and retreat, but Zeon didn’t allow it.
“Claymore.”
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The sand particles floating around the griffins exploded.
The Claymore tore apart their barriers and wings without mercy.
Kiiieeek!
A female griffin, her wings destroyed, screamed as she fell.
The male griffin immediately chased after her to save her.
But her fall was far faster than his flight.
Crash!
The female griffin slammed headfirst into the ground.
If her barrier had remained intact, she might have survived the fall.
But it had already been destroyed by Zeon.
Without it, her body couldn’t withstand the impact.
Her body was horribly crushed—yet she still clung to life.
The male griffin landed beside her and let out a sorrowful cry.
Griffins only take one mate in their lifetime.
Once bonded, they remain together forever.
Because of that, their attachment to their partner was deeper than that of most magical beasts.
That was why the male had lost its reason and descended.
And that decision sealed its fate.
“Sand Mixer.”
At Zeon’s command, sand surged toward the griffins.
Grrrraaaang!
Before the male griffin could escape, the sand began to spin violently.
Like a blender, the rotating sand ground away at its barrier.
The griffin flapped its wings desperately, trying to break free—but it was useless.
The fine grains of sand, spinning at high speed, shredded even its steel-like body in an instant.
Kiiieeek!
The griffins’ agonized cries echoed from within the storm of sand—
but the roaring vortex swallowed even their screams.
It was the end of the griffins.