Chapter 168
“Ahhh!”
Suddenly, the woman screamed and collapsed.
She was much larger in build than ordinary women.
A mother of three, and Urtian’s wife.
Her name was Deborah.
Deborah was a Tamer.
The insignia on her wrist indicated that she was C-rank.
Curling her body like a shrimp, Deborah endured the excruciating pain. It felt as if her head were splitting apart and her body about to burst. The agony was so intense that she couldn’t even dare to breathe properly.
Urtian was sitting beside her.
“Are you alright?”
“Haa! Haa! I… I’m okay now.”
“Did something go wrong?”
“The griffins I tamed… they’re all dead.”
“That can’t be…”
Urtian made a face of disbelief.
Griffins were among the higher-tier flying magical beasts.
They were so ferocious and powerful that even high-ranking Tamers found it impossible to tame them.
Deborah herself had only barely managed to tame them with the help of an item called the Collar of Subjugation that she wore around her neck.
The Collar of Subjugation was a powerful item that allowed its user to tame magical beasts of a higher rank than themselves.
The problem was that it linked the minds of the magical beast and the awakened. If either one was harmed, the other would suffer tremendous backlash.
That was exactly what Deborah was experiencing now.
As the griffins she had barely managed to tame through the collar died, she felt as if her entire body were being torn apart.
Urtian asked again,
“Are you certain the griffins are dead?”
“Yes! Both of them are dead.”
“Did they get taken down after descending close to the ground?”
“I don’t know. I did order them not to go down to the ground…”
“And they still died? It seems the Pegasus raid party is stronger than expected.”
“It seems so.”
“Then the Twin-Headed Buffalo must have scattered.”
“They probably have.”
Without the griffins, it would have been impossible to gather the scattered herds of Twin-Headed Buffalo across the desert and drive them toward the Pegasus raid party.
Now that the griffins were dead, the buffalo they had painstakingly gathered must have dispersed again.
“An unexpected variable.”
“I’m sorry.”
Originally, their plan had been to inflict massive damage on the Pegasus raid party using the Twin-Headed Buffalo. But with the griffins dead midway, the damage wouldn’t have been as severe as intended.
Urtian pressed his lips to Deborah’s forehead and said,
“It’s fine. It’ll just be a bit more troublesome. In the end, things will still go the way we want.”
“Haa! Haa! I survived…”
“Fuck… I almost died.”
The awakened members of the raid party lay sprawled across the ground, gasping for breath.
The area was littered with the corpses of Twin-Headed Buffalo and awakened individuals. Most were buffalo carcasses, but the number of fallen awakened was far from negligible.
At least fifty awakened had lost their lives in the buffalo assault.
Many of them were mercenaries.
The bigger problem, however, was the vehicles.
A large number of them had been damaged or completely destroyed by the attack.
Lee Jiryung surveyed the battlefield with eyes filled with fury.
He had led the Pegasus raid party for a long time, but this was the first time they had suffered such heavy losses before even entering a dungeon.
He approached Zeon.
His gaze fell on the sand where Zeon had shredded the griffins.
The sand was stained red with their blood.
“The griffins drove the Twin-Headed Buffalo here?”
“Yes.”
“That’s not something that happens naturally.”
Lee Jiryung’s eyes turned cold.
Even for high-ranking magical beasts, let alone something like griffins—creatures known for their brutality and near lack of intelligence—it was impossible for them to use other beasts in such a coordinated way.
“Did someone control the griffins?”
“That’s the most likely possibility right now.”
“I can’t believe it. Even high-ranking Tamers would struggle to tame something as savage as a griffin.”
“With the help of an item, it’s possible.”
“Is such an item common?”
“Not at all.”
At Zeon’s answer, Lee Jiryung bit his lip until it bled.
“Scavengers… and a highly elite group at that…”
Only scavengers would use tamed beasts to ambush a raid party.
Scavengers who had survived long in the desert had learned countless survival methods unknown to city-dwelling awakened. But this was the first time he had encountered a group that could control tamed magical beasts like this.
Lee Jiryung concluded that they must be dealing with a fairly large and organized scavenger group.
“Looks like we’ve become the target of a sizable group. Insolent bastards!”
Crackle!
White lightning burst from Lee Jiryung’s entire body.
It was a sign of just how furious he was.
Zeon silently watched him.
“Commander!”
Kelda hurried over to Lee Jiryung.
“What is it?”
“Two transport vehicles are missing.”
“What?”
“It seems they slipped away during the chaos.”
“Those sons of bitches…”
Lee Jiryung’s fury surged to its peak as he glared at Kelda.
Desertion from the raid party meant they no longer trusted the Pegasus raid party or its leader, Lee Jiryung.
This was a direct blow to his authority.
A raid party that lost its authority would face serious difficulties recruiting manpower in the future.
“Shall we send a pursuit team?”
“How many deserted?”
“Approximately thirty.”
“Thirty? They must think very little of me… Form a pursuit team immediately and bring them back.”
“Yes, sir.”
Kelda stepped back after replying.
She had already organized the pursuit team.
Three buggy cars carrying the pursuit team departed from the Pegasus raid party.
Levin, who had been watching them leave alongside Zeon, spoke.
“To have this many deserters right from the start…”
“Around Neo Seoul, they regularly hunt magical beasts, so even awakened don’t get many chances to face situations like this.”
“So it’s a matter of experience.”
“Exactly! If you hadn’t experienced a dungeon yourself, you would’ve lost your wits in that attack too.”
“Hey! I’m not that bad.”
Zeon gave a faint smile at Levin’s stubborn denial.
His gaze shifted toward Lee Jiryung.
Lee Jiryung was unable to hide his anger, radiating a dark, oppressive atmosphere.
It was no surprise—many had died and others had deserted before they had even reached the dungeon.
Even if most of them were mercenary awakened brought in just to fill numbers, it was still impossible for him not to feel displeased.
‘Let’s just hope this doesn’t have a major impact on the dungeon raid…’
In any case, leaving this place today was out of the question.
They had to collect the bodies and repair the damaged vehicles.
The awakened of the Pegasus raid party shouted as they busily moved about.
Zeon turned his head and looked toward the sand dune.
It was where the griffin he had shredded earlier was buried.
With a light wave of his hand, the sand parted to both sides, revealing the griffin’s corpse.
Its condition was horrific.
All its feathers had been torn off, and its flesh was so shredded that only bones and its beak remained. Yet, among the bones, a shining stone could be seen.
It was a mana stone from a B-rank magical beast.
The amount of mana it contained was immense, making it highly sought after.
“But this one seems special.”
Zeon picked up the griffin’s mana stone and examined it closely.
Occasionally, special variants appeared among mana stones.
Such stones had a distinctly different purity of mana.
Zeon held the mana stone up to the sunlight. Inside, a red aura flickered.
The red energy writhed like a living organism, as if trying to escape from within the stone.
“It contains a skill.”
From B-rank or higher magical beasts, mana stones containing skills would sometimes appear.
More precisely, the mana condensed within the stone awakened latent potential, allowing a skill to manifest.
These stones were extremely rare, and awakened individuals would go mad trying to obtain them.
After all, consuming just one could enhance one’s innate abilities without effort.
The problem was that there was no way to know what skill would emerge from such a stone.
There was a chance of gaining a skill that conflicted with one’s existing abilities.
Because of that, Zeon had only absorbed one skill-containing mana stone so far.
Fortunately, the “Super Regeneration” he obtained had excellent compatibility with his sand-based powers and caused no negative effects.
Since then, he hadn’t absorbed any other skill-containing mana stones.
At that moment, Brielle’s voice was heard.
“Is that a skill-containing mana stone?”
“Hm?”
“It is, right?”
“Yeah, it is.”
Since there was no reason to hide it, Zeon answered honestly.
“Can I take a look?”
“Sure.”
Zeon handed the mana stone to Brielle.
Holding it in her hand, Brielle closed her eyes.
Zeon quietly watched her.
While it was impossible for a human like him, a High Elf like Brielle might be able to discern the skill within.
After a while, she opened her eyes, and Zeon asked,
“Did you figure out what kind of skill it contains?”
“I’m not completely certain, but I can roughly guess the type.”
“So what is it?”
“It seems related to the griffin’s fear ability.”
“The skill it used to control the Twin-Headed Buffalo?”
“But even if you absorb this mana stone, there’s no guarantee you’ll get the exact same skill. The skill inside a mana stone only stimulates potential and brings it into bloom.”
Even if two people absorbed the same mana stone, the resulting skill could differ depending on what abilities they already possessed and their growth potential.
That’s what made it difficult.
Brielle spoke carefully.
“I think… rather than someone absorbing it directly, it might be better to use it as a material.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. If you use it in alchemy, it’ll probably grant related effects.”
Her eyes, as she looked at Zeon, were filled with hope.
Zeon wasn’t insensitive enough to miss what that meant.
With a small chuckle, he said,
“Then you use it.”
“Really?”
“It’s better for you to use it than someone else. Do as you like.”
“Thank you, Zeon! I’ll make something amazing with it. Just wait!”
“Sure.”
Making sure no one was watching, Brielle quickly tucked the mana stone into her pointed hat.
Though she hadn’t told Levin yet, her hat had a subspace enchantment.
It was smaller than the subspace backpack Levin carried, but it still had enough room to store most of the tools she used.
“Hehe!”
Beaming, Brielle returned to the buggy.
Left alone, Zeon moved the sand to bury the griffin’s corpse deep beneath the ground.
If others found out that a mana stone had come from the griffin, awakened individuals might target it.
Not that Zeon would easily fall to them, but it was better to minimize variables.
Rumble!
The griffin’s body sank dozens of meters underground, as if riding an elevator.
After completely covering his tracks, Zeon casually returned to his group.