Chapter 266
Twenty minutes.
That was how long it took to wipe out the pack of hundreds of Flame Wolves.
Lee Jeongho gave his sword a hard shake, flinging off the blood.
As the Flame Wolves’ blood scattered away, the blade regained its original smooth sheen.
Even after cutting down hundreds of Flame Wolves, Lee Jeongho’s sword remained perfectly intact.
The bones and muscles of magical beasts were incomparably tougher than those of humans. Once a magical beast reached around C-rank, its durability could be considered greater than steel. Yet despite slicing through hundreds of such beasts, the sword showed no damage at all.
‘An item.’
And undoubtedly one obtained from a high-grade dungeon.
Zeon figured it probably had at least three or four different options attached to it.
Shrrng!
As Lee Jeongho sheathed his sword, there was not even a single bead of sweat on his face.
Handling a pack of magical beasts like this was not even enough to count as a warm-up for him.
“Wow! Seriously, that’s completely broken.”
Claire shook her head in disbelief.
She had worked several missions with Lee Jeongho before, so she already knew how strong he was, but every time she saw him fight, it sent chills down her spine.
And at City Hall, there were at least six more people as strong as Lee Jeongho.
No one even knew how much hidden power they still possessed beyond that.
People who had never experienced the true strength of City Hall could never understand it.
Anyone who knew even a little about their power would never dare oppose them.
Just like Claire right now.
Claire looked at Zeon.
She assumed his face would contain at least a little of the same fear she felt.
But contrary to her expectations, Zeon’s face showed absolutely no agitation as he looked at Lee Jeongho.
She observed him carefully, wondering if he was merely hiding his fear, but that did not seem to be the case.
‘Is this man really not afraid of Lee Jeongho? Is he that confident in his own abilities?’
Claire bit her lip lightly.
At that moment, Lee Jeongho spoke to Zeon.
“Sorry for wasting time because of me. Let’s move on now.”
“Yes! Thank you for your hard work.”
Zeon nodded and resumed walking.
Duduyan and Aslan hurried over to Zeon’s side.
They wanted to put as much distance as possible between themselves and Lee Jeongho.
The display of power he had shown was that shocking.
‘He didn’t even use a single skill.’
The fact that he could slaughter magical beasts so effortlessly without using skills was astonishing.
And terrifying.
Aslan muttered,
‘If I ever come to Neo Seoul again, I’m a son of a bitch—no, a magical beast bastard. I shouldn’t even piss in this direction again.’
For some reason, he felt like he would get cut down by Lee Jeongho the moment he left Zeon’s side, so he stuck even closer to him.
Whether Zeon noticed or not, he simply kept walking indifferently.
They walked for a long time past the corpses of the Flame Wolves Lee Jeongho had killed.
It was a desert without a single signpost.
No matter where they looked, the scenery remained the same.
Gigantic dunes and hills of sand stretched endlessly like waves.
An ordinary person exposed to such an environment would panic almost immediately and lose all sense of direction.
Lee Jeongho and Claire were far from ordinary people.
Naturally, they felt no fear.
Still, they could not help but feel a sense of bleakness.
Lee Jeongho pulled a compass from his pocket.
The needle was spinning wildly.
It worked properly near Neo Seoul, but once they got farther away, it became completely useless like this.
“As expected, once you come deep into the desert, a navigator becomes essential.”
Lee Jeongho frowned slightly.
Navigators were extremely rare.
And navigators capable of accurately determining direction over long distances while avoiding magical beast territories were even rarer.
The absence of navigators was one of the reasons Neo Seoul could no longer expand its territory.
That was why Zeon’s existence stood out all the more.
He was a guide even more capable than a professional navigator.
On top of that, he sensed magical beasts better than navigators did.
“There’s a magical beast one kilometer away.”
“Is it dangerous?”
“I don’t think so.”
“How can you tell?”
“I just know.”
“I see.”
To some, it might have sounded like an insincere answer, but Lee Jeongho let it slide.
He himself was a high-level awakened.
High-level awakened individuals possessed senses unique to them.
The kind of senses that could not be explained with words.
A realm ordinary people could never understand, even if they lived their entire lives.
Just as Zeon had said, after traveling about one kilometer, they saw a gigantic magical beast.
It was an enormous bull standing at least five meters tall.
The spiral horns growing from both sides of its head looked sharp enough to pierce straight through the bodies of most magical beasts.
Its muscular body was covered in thick scales.
Duduyan recognized the beast.
“That’s a Thunder Buffalo.”
“To think we’d see one here.”
Aslan’s eyes widened as he stared at the Thunder Buffalo.
Lee Jeongho and Claire approached them.
“Is it some kind of special magical beast?”
“It’s a rare magical beast. They call it the Wanderer of the Desert.”
Zeon answered.
He was familiar with the creature as well.
“What makes it so special?”
“It’s one of the rare herbivorous magical beasts.”
“Herbivorous? Is there even grass in the desert? Something that huge would need an enormous amount of food.”
“Cacti are its main food source. It wanders the entire desert searching for cacti. That’s why they call it the Wanderer of the Desert.”
“Hmm! The desert really is full of things I don’t know.”
“This works out well.”
“What does?”
Instead of answering, Zeon looked at Claire.
“You’re a tamer, right?”
“How did you know?”
Claire’s eyes widened in surprise.
The fact that she was a tamer was supposed to be a secret.
But Zeon continued without hesitation.
“If you’re a tamer, you should be able to tame that thing easily. Contrary to appearances, it isn’t hostile toward humans.”
“Really?”
Claire’s eyes sparkled after her brief surprise.
For a tamer, opportunities to tame such a gigantic magical beast did not come often.
Lee Jeongho asked Zeon,
“Is there really a reason to tame that magical beast? We don’t have much time.”
“A Thunder Buffalo’s back is extremely wide and comfortable. If we ride it, the time it takes to reach the Steel Fortress will be greatly reduced.”
“Hmm.”
Zeon looked at Claire.
“What will you do?”
“I’ll try.”
Claire approached the Thunder Buffalo.
Perhaps sensing a human approaching, the Thunder Buffalo lifted its head and looked at her.
Its large eyes were clear and gentle, just like those of a real cow.
“Hello!”
Claire waved her hand and spoke in a friendly voice.
At that moment, the necklace around her neck began to glow.
The necklace’s name was the Rainbow Pendant.
It was an S-rank item.
The Rainbow Pendant instantly amplified her lacking abilities and dominance.
It was such an absurdly overpowered item that it could only be used once per day.
Even then, once she used it, all her mana would be depleted, leaving her exhausted for at least two days afterward. That drawback made it impossible to use carelessly.
Claire knew that herself, so unless the target was extraordinary, she tried not to rely on the Rainbow Pendant’s power. But after witnessing the strength of the people accompanying her, she decided that even if she collapsed from exhaustion, it would not become a problem.
Being a tamer did not mean one could instantly tame magical beasts.
Some people forcibly subdued beasts into submission, but that was not Claire’s style.
Of course, there were times when she used force, but under normal circumstances, she preferred to build a bond through communication.
She carefully spoke to the Thunder Buffalo.
“I want to become your friend.”
Prrrt!
The Thunder Buffalo flicked its ears and stared intently at Claire.
As though it could see straight through her true feelings.
“We won’t hurt you. We only want to become your friends. Won’t you accept my feelings?”
Like someone making a heartfelt confession, Claire spoke with complete sincerity.
And the Thunder Buffalo accepted her feelings.
“Moo!”
It responded with a cry completely devoid of hostility.
Claire stroked the Thunder Buffalo’s face and spoke.
“Thank you for allowing it. Then, would you carry us?”
Thud!
The moment she finished speaking, the Thunder Buffalo bent its knees.
Seeing that, Duduyan and Aslan’s mouths fell open.
“What the hell is with that woman? She tamed a magical beast that easily?”
“Even Lady Deborah couldn’t do that.”
There was also a tamer in the Steel Fortress.
Deborah, Urtian’s wife.
She was a C-rank tamer.
And she possessed a powerful item called the Necklace of Subjugation.
Thanks to it, she could tame magical beasts of a higher rank than herself.
But even she could not tame magical beasts as effortlessly as Claire had.
Taming magical beasts required immense patience.
That meant it also required a tremendous amount of time.
Yet Claire had tamed the Thunder Buffalo far too easily.
“Either her abilities surpass Lady Deborah’s…”
“Or she definitely possesses an item far stronger than the Necklace of Subjugation.”
“How many monsters like that exist in Neo Seoul? Lee Jeongho alone is overwhelming enough, but even the tamer is beyond imagination.”
“Damn it! To think we have to open the Steel Fortress to monsters like them. If only I hadn’t gotten drunk, none of this would’ve happened.”
Aslan lowered his head and bitterly blamed himself.
Duduyan did not comfort him.
Partly because he knew comfort would be useless, and partly because he simply did not want to.
That was how serious Aslan’s mistake had been.
Claire climbed onto the Thunder Buffalo’s back first, and the others followed one by one.
The Thunder Buffalo’s back was broad enough to resemble a playground.
Even after seating five people, there was still space left over.
Claire asked Zeon,
“Which way should we go?”
“West.”
“You heard him, right? Could you head west for us?”
Claire whispered gently.
The Thunder Buffalo began walking westward.
Thud! Thud!
Each step of the Thunder Buffalo echoed heavily through the desert.
Claire lay down on the Thunder Buffalo’s back and spoke to Lee Jeongho.
“Unless I give it another command, it’ll keep heading west. So I’m going to lie down and rest for a bit.”
“You worked hard. Get some proper rest until evening.”
“Yes!”
Claire closed her eyes.
In just a few minutes, her face turned pale.
Even with the help of the Rainbow Pendant, taming the Thunder Buffalo had only been possible because she had scraped together every last bit of her own power.
As a result, both her mana and stamina had been completely depleted.
Claire quickly fell into a deep sleep.
Lee Jeongho stared at her with unfocused eyes.
He was so accustomed to suppressing his emotions that it was impossible to tell what he was thinking just by looking at his face or eyes.
Thud! Thud!
Every time the Thunder Buffalo took a step, heavy sounds rang out and sand scattered into the air.
Even while carrying five people, the Thunder Buffalo continued walking steadily without showing any signs of fatigue.
There was no need to separately provide food or water.
It simply found cacti on its own and satisfied both its hunger and thirst.
Lee Jeongho was so impressed that he let out a sigh.
“I never knew riding a magical beast could be this comfortable. If I’d known, I would’ve come out to the desert more often.”
“Not everyone gets to enjoy such luxury.”
“I suppose not. If anyone could do this, humanity’s territory wouldn’t still be this limited. What do you think, Sand Mage?”
“I don’t think that deeply about things.”
“The strong must think deeply. The greater your influence on the world, the greater your sense of responsibility should be. That is the duty of the strong.”
“Well, maybe.”
“Zeon!”
“I think and act enough in my own way already. So please keep the nagging to a minimum.”
At Zeon’s casual retort, Lee Jeongho’s eyebrow twitched.
If the other person had been anyone besides Zeon, he would have cut them down instantly.
But he still needed Zeon.
To safely retrieve Moby Dick’s Heart from this damned desert, he absolutely needed Zeon’s guidance.
Lee Jeongho gripped the hilt of his sword tightly.
It was a habit that surfaced whenever he was forcing himself to endure.