Chapter 299
The Helbrin Mercenary Company was a small-scale Scavenger group made up of around forty members.
Considering that there were many Scavenger bands in the desert numbering in the hundreds, the fact that the Helbrin Mercenary Company had survived this long was practically a miracle.
But none of the members considered their survival miraculous.
Because they possessed the skill to survive.
Their leader, Hashim, was a B-rank martial-type Awakened, while the rest of the group consisted mostly of C-rank and D-rank Awakened.
Even a C-rank Awakened was considered a valuable combat asset in Neo Seoul.
And the Helbrin Mercenary Company had ten of them.
Buckshire and Etli, who had entered Neo Seoul for negotiations, were also C-rank Awakened.
But there was one Awakened in the Helbrin Mercenary Company who was treated as even more valuable than they were.
“How is it? Can you sense anything?”
“There are life signs two kilometers east.”
“How many?”
“Not many. About six people. Looks like a single family.”
The young man in his early twenties answering Hashim was named Akashi.
Akashi was a Japanese Awakened with sharp, slit-like eyes that left a strong impression.
He was a magic-type Awakened who possessed a detection skill.
Search for Extra.
It was a skill capable of detecting every living creature within his sensing range.
Essentially, it functioned like a radar.
Akashi was one of the Helbrin Mercenary Company’s key personnel.
Thanks to him, they could easily locate people hiding in the desert and plunder them, while also detecting demonic beasts in advance and avoiding them.
Akashi had played a huge role in the survival of the small mercenary band.
Hashim frowned.
“That’s not many. Still, better than nothing. Go capture them.”
“Yes, sir!”
At his command, around ten mercenaries rushed forward.
All of them rode double-humped camels, allowing them to arrive at the destination in no time.
It was a hill buried beneath sand.
After briefly surveying the surroundings, they soon discovered terrain that felt slightly unnatural.
“A camouflage tarp.”
A tarp colored like sand had been cleverly spread over the area.
It was a makeshift tent built by planting a few thin metal poles into the sloped sand dune and covering it with the camouflage cloth.
Fwoosh!
When they pulled away the tarp, the people hiding underneath were revealed.
A man who appeared to be the father and a teenage boy around fifteen or sixteen years old immediately attacked with desperate cries.
“Fuckers! Die!”
“Yaaah!”
The weapons in their hands were blades made from the bones of an unknown demonic beast.
Both of them were F-rank Awakened.
Naturally, they were stronger and faster than ordinary people, but they were no match for the Helbrin Mercenary Company.
Crack!
With the sound of bones breaking, the two were subdued instantly.
“Not my family, you devils!”
“Let go!”
The father and son struggled beneath the mercenaries’ boots, but it was useless.
“Heh. They’re putting up a decent fight.”
“Still just weak trash. Wonder if there’s anything useful here?”
The mercenaries mocked them while turning toward the rest of the family.
An elderly man who could barely move, a woman who seemed to be the mother, and two small children stared at them with terror-filled faces.
A mercenary approached them and spat on the ground.
“Six people. One of them’s worthless scrap that can’t even be recycled. Damn it.”
“P-Please spare me.”
Realizing his fate, the old man fell to his knees and begged.
“Why bother? You’d just waste food.”
The mercenary immediately drove his blade into the old man’s chest.
Stab!
“Kugh!”
The old man coughed blood and stared at the mercenary in disbelief.
The mercenary looked down at the dying man with a cruel grin.
“Father!”
“Father-in-law!”
“Grandpa!”
The family screamed after losing their loved one before their eyes.
But their cries meant nothing to the mercenaries.
The mercenaries trampled them mercilessly.
“Aaagh!”
“Ugh!”
The family screamed beneath the mercenaries’ kicks.
But the mercenaries didn’t even blink as they brutally beat them down.
If they didn’t break their spirits like this, the captives might resist while being transported.
“The problem is these bastards…”
The mercenaries’ gazes shifted toward the father and son pinned beneath their feet.
Even if they were only the lowest-ranked F-rank martial-type Awakened, they were still martial Awakened.
Unlike the low-level alchemist they had captured earlier, these two posed actual danger.
If left alive, they could turn their blades on the mercenaries at any moment.
Without mana restraints, completely suppressing them was impossible.
“Well, it’s a waste, but can’t be helped.”
Clicking their tongues, the mercenaries plunged their blades into the father’s and son’s chests.
Stab!
Stab!
Like butchering demonic beasts, they killed the two men mechanically and without hesitation.
The father and son died without even managing to scream.
When the remaining family members tried to cry out, the mercenaries coldly warned them,
“Anyone who opens their mouth from now on ends up the same way.”
The terrified family immediately covered their mouths.
Only then did the mercenaries smile in satisfaction.
After binding the survivors, they returned to where Hashim was waiting.
“We killed three and brought back three.”
“That’s all?”
“Sorry, sir. The rest would’ve just wasted food or resisted.”
“Tch! Can’t be helped. Akashi!”
Hashim called out to Akashi.
“Yes, boss.”
“You’ll need to work a little harder.”
“Well, guess there’s no choice.”
Continuously maintaining the Search for Extra skill consumed a huge amount of mana.
No matter that Akashi was a C-rank Awakened—if he kept burning mana all day long, he’d collapse by evening.
For a mercenary who always needed to stay battle-ready, it was far from an ideal situation.
“We need to gather a hundred people somehow, so bear with it until then.”
“Fine. But don’t forget to reward me properly afterward.”
“When have you ever seen me let something slide? Once we conquer the Steel Fortress, I’ll let you enjoy as many women as you want, so look forward to it.”
“Yes, boss!”
Only then did Akashi grin.
The Helbrin Mercenary Company resumed moving in search of more slaves.
***
“Hoo…”
Zeon let out a sigh as he looked at the corpses.
He had discovered them buried beneath the sand and pulled them out himself.
There were three bodies in total.
An old man, an adult man, and a boy.
Their similar faces made it obvious they were family.
“They killed the old man because he’d be troublesome to drag around, and the father and son because they looked likely to resist.”
Zeon could tell just by looking at the father and son’s skeletal structure.
They had both been martial-type Awakened.
“How tragic.”
Zeon genuinely mourned their deaths.
He understood better than anyone how difficult and brutal it was to survive in the empty desert.
They must have fought desperately against the harsh environment to protect their family, only to die such meaningless deaths.
“Huu…”
Another sigh escaped him naturally.
Brielle couldn’t even bring herself to look at the corpses and lowered her head.
“This is horrible! How can human beings do this to each other? They should be protecting and helping one another instead…”
“Yeah…”
Zeon shook his head and looked around.
But nowhere could he find the ones responsible for this tragedy.
He thoroughly searched the area, yet not a single trace remained.
The sand had buried all signs of them.
No matter how absurdly powerful Zeon’s abilities were, he still couldn’t easily locate people beyond his detection range.
The Helbrin Mercenary Company had already escaped beyond it.
Their mobility was truly extraordinary.
“Looks like all the Scavengers are riding double-humped camels.”
In the desert, there was no other mount capable of that level of mobility.
“This just became troublesome.”
Catching people with such mobility would never be easy.
“I guess I’ll have to search from the sky.”
“You’re going to look from above?”
“That seems like the only option right now.”
“Then I guess we have no choice.”
“Stay alert, both of you. We don’t know what kind of demonic beast might attack.”
–Be!
Brielle and Gaia answered with determined expressions.
Climbing onto Gaia’s back, Brielle said,
“Don’t worry! I’ll protect you.”
–Bbi-bbi!
“Right! Let’s do our best together.”
At that moment, Zeon slowly rose into the sky.
The sand beneath him rose like a pillar, pushing his body upward.
Gaia flew upward as well, matching Zeon’s pace.
Fortunately, no demonic beasts attacked them even after they ascended around five hundred meters.
Stopping there, Zeon looked around.
But the Helbrin Mercenary Company was nowhere to be seen.
“Looks like I’ll have to go even higher.”
Ruuumble!
Dense sand winds pushed him upward once more.
It was when he had risen another two hundred meters—
Screeech!
A tremendous tearing sound suddenly exploded from the distance.
“Ah! What the—”
By the time Brielle noticed and screamed, something pale had already lunged at them.
BOOM!
With a thunderous crash, Gaia’s massive body shook violently.
Something had flown at them at an invisible speed and slammed into them.
Thankfully Gaia had already deployed her force field.
Otherwise, that single strike might have killed them instantly.
The object that collided with Gaia shot away at terrifying speed.
It moved so fast they couldn’t even identify its shape properly.
After flying far away, the creature made a huge arc before charging at them again with horrifying speed.
BOOM!
A sonic boom erupted as it surpassed the speed of sound.
At that moment, Zeon erected a wall of sand in front of them.
CRASH!
The object flying at supersonic speed pierced through the sand wall, causing its trajectory to shift slightly.
Thanks to that, Zeon, Brielle, and Gaia escaped unharmed.
In the brief instant the sand wall was pierced, Zeon managed to identify the demonic beast.
“A Blade Frigatebird.”
It was a flying demonic beast that looked like a frigatebird enlarged tenfold.
Its fully spread wings reached nearly five meters in length.
The creature spent all twenty-four hours of the day riding the winds through the skies, hunting low-level demonic beasts like Bullet Hummingbirds.
In terms of pure combat power, it was only around C-rank.
The problem was its speed.
Its absurd, insane speed.
It could fly faster than sound itself.
And its wings were as sharp and hard as blades.
When it charged at supersonic speed and sliced with those wings, there was almost nothing it couldn’t cut apart.
Apparently, this area was the Blade Frigatebird’s territory.
Like most demonic beasts, the Blade Frigatebird wouldn’t tolerate intruders entering its domain.
BOOM!
The creature came again, triggering another sonic boom.
By the time they recognized the sonic boom, the Blade Frigatebird had already reached right in front of Zeon.
Its blade-like wing slashed toward his neck.
At that exact moment, Zeon—already prepared—opened his mouth.
“Sand Tornado!”
Instantly, a gigantic whirlwind of sand erupted before him and swallowed the Blade Frigatebird whole.
KWAHHHH!