Chapter 265
Zeon left the house early in the morning.
Today was the day they were supposed to depart for the Steel Fortress.
The gazes monitoring him no longer existed.
Because the Shadow Unit had completely withdrawn.
If he had acted purely on impulse, he would have killed every member of Team 2.
But doing that would have crossed the line.
The moment he crossed the boundary set by Jin Geumho, war would inevitably break out.
Neither Zeon nor Jin Geumho wanted such a worst-case scenario.
Knowing that, Zeon had deliberately stopped just short of the line.
Fortunately, Jin Geumho imposed no sanctions on him for what he had done.
After all, the two of them were essentially temporary allies at the moment.
Because both shared the common goal of finding Moby Dick.
Zeon headed to the lodging where Aslan and Duduyan were staying.
The two had already finished preparing to leave.
As soon as Zeon entered, Aslan spoke.
“Mr. Zeon! I found out.”
“You mean the woman?”
“Yes! That woman named Claire—she’s a Tamer.”
“A Tamer?”
“From what I learned, she’s a B-rank Tamer. But strangely enough, she spends a lot of time in casinos.”
“A casino?”
At that moment, a certain woman surfaced in Zeon’s mind.
The woman he had once met at a casino.
Her body had carried the hormonal scent of a Queen Ghost Dragonfly.
That was why he had suspected she might be a Tamer.
He had forgotten about her for a while, but the moment Aslan mentioned a female Tamer, she immediately came to mind.
Aslan lowered his head deeply.
“I’m sorry. That’s all I managed to find out.”
“No. That’s more than enough information. You worked hard.”
Zeon’s reassurance eased Aslan’s expression slightly.
Duduyan kicked Aslan in the backside and said,
“You idiot! Just try drinking again.”
“If I ever drink again, I’m your son.”
“I don’t need a son like you.”
“Whatever! Anyway, I’ll never drink again. There’s no more alcohol in my life from now on.”
“And if you drink again, I’ll personally chop your wrists off.”
“Anytime.”
At Aslan’s bold declaration, Duduyan glared at him fiercely.
Zeon stepped in and redirected their attention.
“That’s enough, both of you. Let’s head to the meeting place. They’re probably waiting for us.”
“Yes, Mr. Zeon.”
“Understood.”
They headed toward an open lot on the outskirts of the slums.
It was a place where dungeon raid parties and Pathfinder teams gathered one last time to inspect their equipment before leaving Neo Seoul.
Two people were waiting for Zeon’s group there.
One man and one woman.
The man wearing loose robes was none other than Lee Jeongho.
The hilt of a sword could be seen through the folds of his robe.
Beside him stood a woman with the hood of her robe pulled low over her face.
Though her features were hidden beneath the hood, Zeon recognized her instantly.
‘So it really was her.’
Even now, the faint pheromone scent of the Queen Ghost Dragonfly still lingered on her body.
Enough time had passed that it should have disappeared completely, yet traces still remained.
But Claire herself seemed unaware of it.
“Huh? You’re…….”
Claire raised her voice the moment she saw Zeon.
Just as Zeon recognized her, she recognized him as well.
“It’s been a while.”
“The casino, right?”
“Yes.”
“Then you’re the Sand Mage?”
“That’s right.”
“Wow! Small world. I never imagined the Sand Mage I’d be traveling with would be you.”
Claire pushed back the hood she had been wearing.
A cascade of thick black hair poured down like a waterfall.
A striking beauty with sun-tanned bronze skin and dark eyes.
Claire revealed her true appearance just like that.
“I’m Claire.”
“I know.”
“Then please take care of me, Mr. Sand Mage.”
Claire said it with a playful smile.
Lee Jeongho glanced at Claire and spoke.
“So you two already knew each other?”
“Ah! We met once before while I was relaxing at a casino after finishing a mission.”
“Is that so?”
“Though I never imagined the man I briefly passed by back then was the famous Sand Mage.”
“That’s good. It’ll be a long journey, so it’s better than traveling with complete strangers.”
Claire silently nodded.
Lee Jeongho’s gaze shifted toward Duduyan and Aslan standing behind Zeon.
“So you’re the people from the Steel Fortress. Then I’ll leave the guidance to you.”
Lee Jeongho made no effort to hide the fact that he knew about the Steel Fortress.
He had already heard about what happened to the Shadow Unit yesterday.
The incident in which Zeon single-handedly subdued every Shadow Unit Awakened monitoring him had deeply shocked Lee Jeongho.
Very few people knew of the Shadow Unit’s true existence.
As their name implied, they were beings like shadows.
Many people lived their lives under the Shadow Unit’s surveillance without ever realizing it.
Unless someone possessed an awakened Eye of Insight like Lee Jeongho, detecting them was nearly impossible.
And yet Zeon had discovered them with absurd ease, ambushed them, and subdued them perfectly.
If he had killed those he captured, things would have escalated drastically.
But instead, he left them alive.
It was a warning.
A counterattack nobody had expected.
The one most shaken by it was Seo Taeran, Jin Geumho’s secretary.
For the first time in years, she had failed to hide her panic.
That was how far Zeon’s retaliation exceeded her expectations.
Watching Seo Taeran struggle to conceal her shaken expression had been fairly entertaining.
Of course, she herself believed she had hidden it well.
But she could never deceive the eyes of Lee Jeongho, whose Eye of Insight had already awakened.
‘A man who can never be underestimated.’
Still, he wasn’t afraid.
People said the entire desert was Zeon’s weapon, but Lee Jeongho was an Awakened specialized in combat against humans.
There was no Awakened alive that he couldn’t kill once he truly decided to do so.
That was why Jin Geumho trusted and relied on him so heavily.
His mission was simple:
Safely bring the Land Whale’s heart back to Neo Seoul.
To ensure the mission’s success, Jin Geumho had specially provided an interspatial necklace.
It contained a storage space large enough to fit an entire car.
Before departing, Claire asked Zeon,
“So we’re really not taking a vehicle?”
“It’ll break down within a few days. And since we won’t be able to repair it, walking is easier.”
“Haa… this is going to be rough.”
Claire let out a deep sigh.
She had spent her entire life in Neo Seoul.
There had been a few occasions when missions temporarily took her outside the city, but even then it had only ever been for a day or two.
This was her first time spending such a long period out in the desert.
That was why she was afraid.
But unlike her, there wasn’t even the slightest hesitation in Zeon’s steps.
“Let’s go.”
Duduyan and Aslan immediately followed behind him.
As people who had lived in the desert their entire lives, they moved without hesitation.
In fact, they looked pleased to be leaving suffocating Neo Seoul behind.
‘The Steel Fortress really is better than Neo Seoul. Neo Seoul is too bleak. I don’t want to stay in a place like that any longer.’
It was burdensome having to return to the Steel Fortress dragging along two unexpected burdens, but what was done was done.
Still, they trusted that Urtian would somehow handle things once they arrived.
Whoooosh!
The moment they stepped into the desert, a fierce sandstorm greeted them.
Sandstorms frequently swept through the slums as well, but desert sandstorms existed on an entirely different level.
Their intensity and destructive force couldn’t even be compared.
The entire world turned yellow.
As though they had expected it, Duduyan and Aslan lowered their heads and tightly wrapped their robes around themselves.
Lee Jeongho and Claire, briefly startled by the unexpected sandstorm, soon copied them and walked with their heads lowered.
Only Zeon walked with his head held high.
“This feels good.”
The peaceful life he had lived in the slums wasn’t bad.
But being here in the desert made him truly feel alive.
To others, the sand brought only suffering.
But to him, it felt warm and comforting, like a mother’s womb.
***
Their journey to the Steel Fortress ran into trouble from the very beginning.
“What is this?”
Lee Jeongho’s eyebrows twitched.
An enormous pack of magical beasts blocked the group’s path.
Grrrrr!
They resembled wolves, but their bodies were several times larger.
The breath spilling from their mouths carried intense heat.
Claire immediately identified them.
“A pack of… Flame Wolves.”
“I know they’re Flame Wolves. What I’m asking is why Flame Wolves are here.”
“Well, that’s……”
“This place is only fifty kilometers away from Neo Seoul.”
“.iHo.”
Only then did Claire understand what Lee Jeongho meant.
Fifty kilometers was still within Neo Seoul’s anti-magic influence zone.
Ordinary magical beasts wouldn’t even dare approach.
Though Flame Wolves were relatively strong creatures, they weren’t powerful enough to overcome Neo Seoul’s anti-magic force.
At minimum, creatures on the level of Mammoths were needed to endure the anti-magic field and approach this close.
The individual rank of a Flame Wolf was D-rank.
However, because they moved in packs, they were classified overall as C-rank threats.
Even for C-rank magical beasts, approaching this close to Neo Seoul made no sense.
“Could Neo Seoul’s anti-magic force not be functioning?”
“That’s not it. It’s simply weakened somewhat.”
Lee Jeongho’s expression stiffened.
He was one of the very few who knew the true source of Neo Seoul’s anti-magic force.
The gigantic White Dragon beneath Neo Seoul—
The corpse of Tamulas itself was the source of the anti-magic field.
Even now, Tamulas’s corpse was being dismantled piece by piece.
The painstakingly extracted parts became fuel for Neo Seoul’s development.
But the more Tamulas’s corpse was dismantled, the weaker Neo Seoul’s anti-magic force became.
Because once separated from the main body, the detached parts lost their anti-magic properties.
Lee Jeongho bit his lip.
‘The anti-magic force is weakening much faster than expected. If Flame Wolves can approach this close, larger magical beasts will get even nearer.’
The larger the magical beast—and the higher its rank—the more overwhelming its power became.
Ordinary anti-magic force couldn’t stop them from approaching.
Fortunately, regular extermination campaigns kept large magical beasts from appearing around Neo Seoul.
But there was no guarantee that would remain true forever.
‘It’s a race against time. We need to complete Heavenly Punishment as quickly as possible. And for that, we absolutely need the Land Whale’s heart.’
A sharp light flickered within his translucent pupils.
“Ugh!”
Overwhelmed by the suffocating presence, Claire stumbled backward in shock.
The killing intent radiating from him was too much for a Tamer like her to endure.
The same was true for Duduyan and Aslan.
It felt to them as though their entire bodies were being sliced apart by blades.
Only Zeon remained completely expressionless even within Lee Jeongho’s domain.
Zeon spoke.
“There’s no need to fight them. We can just avoid them without any problems.”
“If we leave them alone, they’ll multiply and eventually threaten Neo Seoul. The most efficient way to deal with a problem is to eliminate it while it’s still small.”
Shrrng!
The sword hanging at his waist slid free.
The moment Lee Jeongho held the sword in his hand, his entire presence changed.
A suffocating sword aura poured out from him.
It felt less like looking at a human and more like staring directly at a sword.
A blade sharpened to the utmost extreme.
The sharp sword intent, capable of slicing even breath itself, aimed toward the Flame Wolf pack.
Sensing the blind swordsman’s killing intent, the Flame Wolves released furious howls.
KRRRRAAA!
KWAANG!
The Flame Wolves breathed fire and charged forward like mad beasts.
Lee Jeongho walked alone toward the massive pack.
Slash!
The instant his sword cut through the air, over ten Flame Wolves split cleanly in half and tumbled across the ground.
With another swing, every Flame Wolf within several meters was bisected and collapsed.
It was a one-sided massacre.
The blind swordsman’s merciless blade was annihilating the entire pack.
Duduyan and Aslan shuddered at Lee Jeongho’s overwhelming might.
“This is insane.”
“He’s monstrously strong.”
Zeon, too, watched Lee Jeongho’s slaughter with deeply sunken eyes.