Chapter 273
It had already been fifteen days since they began traveling atop Arkelon.
Arkelon’s pace had noticeably slowed.
Even though Pabilsa and Claire alternated using the Cure skill, it was no longer having much effect.
Kuhuhu!
Arkelon breathed heavily, as though struggling with exhaustion.
After observing him carefully, Pabilsa spoke to Zeon.
“I don’t think he can keep going any farther today.”
“Let’s rest here for today. Stopping early would probably be better for Arkelon as well.”
It was still too early for the sun to set, but Arkelon’s condition was so poor that they had no choice.
“Hoo… It seems Arkelon’s condition is deteriorating faster than expected. I’m worried he may collapse before we reach our destination.”
“He’ll hold on.”
“Yes. He’s a child with stronger willpower than anyone else.”
“He just needs enough rest. Then tomorrow, he’ll be able to continue the journey again.”
“Hearing you say that gives me some comfort. I truly feel ashamed.”
“There’s no need.”
“I’m truly grateful you came with us. Arkelon surely feels the same.”
Though Zeon was much younger than him, Pabilsa could not express how reassuring his presence was.
Even when he first met Zeon, he had thought him extraordinary, but now, after eight years, he had become even more remarkable than Pabilsa had imagined.
Someone more dependable and trustworthy than anyone else…
Once again, Pabilsa felt that asking Zeon for help had been the right decision.
Zeon spoke to Lee Jeongho.
“We’ll rest here for today.”
“Understood.”
Having seen Arkelon’s condition himself, Lee Jeongho followed the decision without complaint.
In truth, he had no other choice but to follow Zeon’s judgment.
It had already been nearly a month since they left Neo Seoul.
On the way here after stopping at the Iron Fortress, he had tried to memorize the terrain.
But it had not taken long for him to realize how meaningless that effort was.
No matter where he looked, the scenery was all the same.
In a desert where endless dunes stretched endlessly in every direction, it was impossible to find any landmark that could determine orientation.
Even using the constellations at night was useless.
The sand-filled night sky only revealed the stars a few days each year.
And for Lee Jeongho, who lacked knowledge of constellations, trying to navigate by the occasional visible star was impossible.
Only then did Lee Jeongho understand why Jin Geumho valued navigators so highly and sought to secure them.
Only navigators—or those with comparable abilities—could determine direction and cross the desert.
From that perspective, Zeon was the perfect guide.
He found paths better than any navigator, and unlike them, he also possessed overwhelming combat power.
Zeon was the only existence like that.
Suddenly, Lee Jeongho grew curious.
Just how far had Zeon traveled over the past eight years?
With Zeon’s abilities, he had likely gone farther than anyone from Neo Seoul ever had.
Zeon silently prepared food.
The way he casually pulled ingredients out of subspace, tossed them into a pot, and cooked them was anything but ordinary.
In an instant, a large pot filled with stew was boiling.
Zeon handed each of the three people a bowl of stew.
Lee Jeongho also accepted a bowl and sat down to the side.
“It’s good.”
During the journey here, Zeon had cooked from time to time.
Most dishes were simple things like stew, but they suited Lee Jeongho’s taste perfectly.
The others also enjoyed Zeon’s cooking.
After pouring the remaining stew into his own bowl, Zeon finally sat down.
Slurp.
Zeon carefully blew on the hot stew before eating it.
Though he had made it himself, it was quite good.
As he ate, Zeon looked toward Arkelon.
Arkelon was sleeping deeply with his head and legs withdrawn into his shell.
His condition had worsened to the point where he needed rest even before sunset.
Zeon asked Pabilsa,
“How much farther do we have to go?”
“If it hasn’t moved its nest, we should arrive in a week.”
“A week… That’s cutting it close.”
“Hoo… We can only hope nothing happens until then.”
Pabilsa let out a sigh.
Arkelon was everything to him.
More than a friend—they were beings bound together even at the soul.
If Arkelon died, Pabilsa would no longer have any reason to live.
Pabilsa wore a bitter smile as he scooped up a spoonful of stew.
At that moment, Zeon suddenly put down his bowl and stood up.
“What is it?”
“Just a moment.”
Zeon suddenly launched himself toward a large sand dune ahead.
“Let’s go together.”
Sensing the unusual atmosphere, Lee Jeongho followed after Zeon.
They reached the top of the tall dune almost simultaneously.
From there, they saw several people fleeing in the distance.
“Awakened? Scavengers?”
Lee Jeongho frowned.
The speed at which they ran was far beyond ordinary humans.
People who could run dozens of meters in a single second could not possibly be normal.
There were three people fleeing.
Each was desperately escaping in a different direction.
Zeon spoke.
“They’ve been watching us for a while now.”
“I’ll take the center.”
“Then I’ll take the left.”
“That leaves the right one. Damn.”
Lee Jeongho clicked his tongue in annoyance.
The two of them could not catch all three people fleeing in different directions.
The targets were simply too fast.
The two immediately began pursuing the fugitives.
Zeon activated Sand Step.
The sand itself pushed his body forward, propelling him at incredible speed.
But the fugitive’s speed was no joke either, and it took quite a while to close the distance.
Still, Zeon eventually managed to get close enough to the man’s back.
“Kgh!”
Realizing at last that he could not shake Zeon off, the awakened turned around.
He was a middle-aged man wearing a cloak made from the hide of some unknown magical beast.
His greasy, filthy hair was caked with sand, as though he had not washed in ages, and his teeth were rotten black stumps.
Though he looked more pitiful than a beggar, his eyes were filled with vicious hostility.
“Fuck!”
What the man pulled from his waist was a shamshir curved like a crescent moon.
Shiaaak!
The shamshir flew toward Zeon at terrifying speed.
At that moment, the sand around Zeon’s body writhed upward and shot toward the shamshir.
Dozens of sand snakes resembling venomous vipers.
It was one of Zeon’s skills—Viper.
Boom!
The shamshir exploded like a bomb from a single strike of Viper.
“Kugh!”
The awakened wielding the shamshir screamed as intense pain tore through his hand.
In reality, his hand had been shredded apart as though hacked repeatedly by blades.
That alone showed just how terrifying Viper’s destructive power was.
And for the awakened, the disaster had only just begun.
There were still dozens of Vipers Zeon had created remaining.
The dozens of Vipers exploded into the awakened simultaneously.
Pububububung!
“Kraaaagh!”
Unable to withstand the immense agony, the awakened screamed and collapsed.
After instantly subduing him, Zeon knelt on one knee and spoke.
“The injuries aren’t severe enough to kill you, so stop exaggerating.”
“You fucking bastard…”
“Who sent you?”
“What a shitty life… dying like this…”
At that moment, the awakened subdued by Zeon suddenly began turning pitch-black.
In an instant, his skin rotted away, exposing the muscles underneath, and soon even the muscles began melting.
“Kraaaagh!”
The awakened let out a horrific scream as his entire body melted away.
Caught off guard by the unexpected sight, Zeon quickly stepped back.
As though time itself had been compressed, the awakened’s body decayed and dissolved at an unbelievable speed.
Wrinkling his face at the horrendous stench, Zeon muttered,
“A… curse?”
That was the only possibility that came to mind.
The awakened no longer screamed.
His vocal cords had already crumbled and lost their function.
In the center of the chest where the heart still remained intact, Zeon spotted a tiny black branch no larger than a finger lodged into it.
The black branch decayed and disappeared together with the heart almost instantly.
Had Zeon not focused his senses, he would never have noticed it.
Instinctively, Zeon realized that black branch was the medium of the curse.
The awakened’s melted body seeped into the sand and vanished.
That was the awakened’s end.
Zeon recalled the awakened’s final words.
‘A shitty life?’
It was obvious the awakened had already known his end would come like this.
No sane human would willingly accept such a curse.
“A curse sorcerer’s doing?”
Zeon clicked his tongue.
No awakened other than a curse sorcerer could pull off something like this.
It was undoubtedly the work of the curse sorcerer who had injured Arkelon.
At that moment, Lee Jeongho approached Zeon.
He too had returned empty-handed.
Looking at the ground where the awakened had melted away, he said,
“The same thing happened. The one I chased melted away instantly too.”
“I think it’s the work of a curse sorcerer.”
“The one I chased also had a black branch lodged in his heart. That must be the medium.”
“Yes. It seems he’s been tracking Arkelon.”
“A cunning bastard. Instead of showing himself directly, he subdued scavengers and used them as scouts.”
“He’s definitely not an easy opponent.”
The fact that he still refused to reveal himself even while possessing a chimera like the black sea anemone proved it.
Opponents this cautious were difficult because there was no way of knowing what schemes they were plotting in the shadows.
That made them even harder to deal with.
Lee Jeongho asked,
“Have you fought a curse sorcerer before?”
“Once, a long time ago.”
“What was it like?”
“Even though his rank wasn’t particularly high, he was troublesome to fight. Their methods of attack are completely different from ordinary awakened.”
Curse sorcerers never fought head-on.
Their method was to hide themselves completely while spreading curses through mediums.
The moment one became enemies with a curse sorcerer, peaceful sleep became impossible.
They could place curses on everything you ate, drank, or even breathed.
The instant you let your guard down, even for a moment, the curse would worm its way in.
“It’ll be an exhausting battle.”
“I can imagine.”
Lee Jeongho nodded.
He too had fought curse sorcerers several times before.
Battles against them were always filthy, like struggling in a swamp, and never ended cleanly.
Fortunately, Lee Jeongho wore various items that protected against curses, so he had been fine.
But many others who fought curse sorcerers suffered terrible aftereffects and eventually lost their lives.
It wasn’t that he feared curse sorcerers.
He simply hated fighting them.
“Let’s head back. There’s no telling what tricks they may have pulled while we were gone.”
“Yes.”
The two hurried back to Arkelon.
Fortunately, neither Arkelon nor the others had encountered any problems.
Pabilsa asked the two upon their return,
“Is everyone alright?”
“We’re fine.”
“That’s good.”
“More importantly, it seems the curse sorcerer has followed us.”
At Zeon’s words, Pabilsa’s face turned deathly pale.
Having already suffered at the hands of a curse sorcerer once, the fear had been carved deeply into his bones.
“Grandfather.”
Kaylie hurriedly grabbed Pabilsa’s hand.
The warmth of her touch quickly calmed him down.
“My apologies. I showed an embarrassing side of myself.”
“It’s alright.”
Zeon shook his head and looked toward the desert.
By now, deep darkness had descended over the sands.
Somewhere beyond that darkness, the curse sorcerer was watching them.
They needed to drag the curse sorcerer hiding in the darkness out into the open.