Chapter 306

Just like the first time she had met Zeon, Brielle’s face was expressionless.

There was no emotion whatsoever on her face, to the point that Zeon quietly let out a sigh as he looked at her.

The one Brielle was staring at was a man from the Hashim Mercenary Corps.

A man completely broken by Zeon before ultimately dying.

The terror he had felt before death remained vividly etched across his face, his neck snapped and his tongue hanging limply from his mouth.

Brielle had watched the entire scene—Zeon extracting every piece of information he could before killing the man.

An ordinary child would have been terrified by Zeon’s brutality.

But Brielle was no ordinary child.

She had endured countless hardships and had become far too familiar with scenes like this.

Moreover, as a High Elf, her mind was several times stronger than those of children her age.

That was why she could remain composed even before the gruesome spectacle Zeon created.

No—she wasn’t calm at all.

Right now, she was angrier than ever.

The men Zeon killed were indeed the human hunters who had abducted her.

Not just Brielle, but countless children had lost their parents to them and were kidnapped and sold away in every direction.

Compared to the others, Brielle had actually been lucky.

Aside from being forced to make drugs, she hadn’t suffered physical abuse.

Because she was an alchemist capable of producing high-purity narcotics, they had treated her as something valuable.

The other children weren’t nearly as fortunate.

Some were sold to mad mages and became experimental subjects.
Others were sold as gladiator slaves or thrown to magical beasts as feed by tamers trying to train them.

All those children who were sold away ended up living miserable lives before eventually dying.

No one even knew how many children the Hashim Mercenary Corps had captured.

Among them were many elves as well.

The absurd thing was that even until his death, the man hadn’t recognized Brielle.

There had simply been too many cases like hers.

To them, Brielle hadn’t been a special elf—just one slave among countless others.

The fact that they had completely ruined someone’s life yet couldn’t even remember her made her fury boil over.

Her shoulders trembled violently, as if her anger still hadn’t faded.

At that moment, Gaia cautiously peeked out from Zeon’s subspace.

After observing everything from inside, Gaia had noticed Brielle’s unusual expression and carefully emerged.

—Piiiii!

If Gaia hadn’t comforted her at that exact moment, it would have taken Brielle a long time to recover from her rage.

Brielle hugged Gaia tightly and whispered,

“Y-yeah. I’m okay. Thank you, Gaia. Hurry back into the subspace before anyone sees you.”

—Be?

“Yeah, really. So just watch from inside. I don’t want you staying in a filthy place like this even for a moment.”

—Bei!

With a disappointed expression, Gaia returned to Zeon’s subspace.

For Gaia, a spirit lifeform, the sewer environment was unbearably horrible.

Perhaps things would be different if Gaia had grown to even a quarter of Mobydick’s size, but right now Gaia still needed to absorb only pure energy.

“Hoo…”

Brielle took a deep breath.

As though nothing had happened, her usual expression returned.

Then she asked Zeon,

“So what now?”

“We keep tracking them.”

“I figured you’d say that.”

Brielle clenched her small fist tightly.

Before dying, the man had confessed that the Helbrin Mercenary Corps had made a deal with Eli.

But he didn’t know why Eli wanted to gather a hundred slaves.

Everything was still shrouded in mystery.

To uncover Eli’s true objective, there was only one option left—capture Hashim, the leader of the Helbrin Mercenary Corps.

“But before that…”

Zeon turned his head and looked toward the boy standing nearby.

It was Jetoya , the boy who had been chased by the Helbrin Mercenary Corps.

Jetoya  stared at Zeon with a face full of fear.

The men who had instantly annihilated the Red Horn Crocodile Crew had themselves been slaughtered by Zeon as casually as swatting flies.

Jetoya  had never witnessed such overwhelming combat ability in his life.

He was so shocked that he hadn’t even noticed Gaia briefly emerging from Zeon’s subspace.

“Ah… ah…”

Unable to think of what to say, Jetoya  merely opened and closed his mouth repeatedly.

Zeon and Brielle were the first outsiders Jetoya  had ever encountered.

Jetoya  had been born and raised down here.

To him, the outside world was both a source of longing and fear.

He had always dreamed of escaping this filthy place and reaching the surface, but his body had become optimized for the dark underground.

Like a real crocodile, he couldn’t survive without a certain level of humidity.

He had tried several times to leave for the outside world, only to experience unbearable pain before being forced to return.

That was when he realized it.

He was fated never to leave this place.

And it wasn’t just Jetoya .

Most children born down here were in the same situation.

The others didn’t even dare dream of going outside.

Unless they awakened and obtained special abilities, they were destined to spend their entire lives here.

To Jetoya , an outsider like Zeon was terrifying.

Even more terrifying than the Helbrin Mercenary Corps who had killed the Red Horn Crocodile Crew.

Zeon asked him,

“What’s your name?”

“Je… Jetoya .”

“Jetoya ?”

“Yes!”

“That’s a good name. I’m Zeon. And this is Brielle.”

“Zeon… Brielle…”

Jetoya  blankly repeated their names.

“As you can see, we came from the surface. We’re chasing those people. So I’d like your help.”

“How?”

“Guide us to where they are.”

“I-I’ll guide you. But I have a c-condition.”

“A condition? Doesn’t seem like you’re in a position to make demands.”

Zeon looked at Jetoya  with interest.

Despite trembling in fear, the boy still managed to propose conditions—that courage intrigued him.

“I-I know. I know I’m not in a position to bargain.”

“Then why?”

“Because… we’re desperate.”

“What are you desperate for?”

“We need electricity.”

“Electricity?”

“To purify this polluted underground even a little, we need electricity. So please get us a mana generator.”

Jetoya ’s unexpected request made Zeon stare blankly for a moment.

He had expected the boy to ask to be taken outside.

After all, for people who had spent their entire lives in darkness like Jetoya , Zeon thought a home on the surface would be the most desperate wish imaginable.

Zeon asked again,

“You need a mana generator?”

“Yes! Even a small one is fine. Please, get us a mana generator. If you do, I’ll do anything.”

Jetoya  immediately dropped to his knees on the filthy ground.

Zeon frowned.

An old memory surfaced in his mind.

Not long after returning to Neo Seoul, the mana generator he had purchased from the Goblin Market had been stolen.

‘They were crocodiles too. Was their leader named Croker?’

They had all died at Zeon’s hands.

Back then, they had also said they desperately needed a mana generator.

At the time, Zeon hadn’t paid much attention to their words.

But hearing the same plea once again from the mouth of a young boy made him feel strangely unsettled.

After organizing his thoughts, Zeon spoke.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t get a mana generator either. They’re no longer supplied to the Goblin Market.”

“Th-that…”

At Zeon’s cold response, Jetoya  looked devastated.

He pitied the boy, but he couldn’t give him false hope by promising something impossible.

That was when—

“I can make one.”

Brielle suddenly interrupted their conversation.

Zeon turned toward her in shock.

“What?”

“I said I can make one.”

“How? You don’t even know its structure.”

“I do!”

“You… don’t tell me… you took apart the one at home?”

“Sorry!”

Brielle lowered her head deeply, her face bright red.

While Zeon had been away, she had secretly dismantled the mana generator equipped with the Watching Eye.

Because of that, Zeon’s house had temporarily been left completely defenseless.

If enemies had attacked at that moment, Brielle would have died for sure.

Fortunately, nothing happened, but even now, just remembering it sent cold sweat down her spine.

After perfectly analyzing the mana generator’s structure, she had reassembled it.

Thankfully, it still functioned perfectly afterward.

It had been Brielle’s little secret—though Zeon obviously knew now.

“So you really can make one?”

“Yeah! As long as we can get the materials.”

“What materials do you need?”

“It’ll cost some money, but we should be able to get everything from the Goblin Market.”

“Then that settles it.”

Zeon nodded and looked at Jetoya .

“You heard her.”

“You can really make a mana generator?”

Jetoya  stared at Brielle in disbelief.

With a firm expression, Brielle answered,

“I can. Though I can’t provide the mana stones.”

“I can handle that myself.”

“So you do have a way to get mana stones. Anyway, my answer is yes, it’s possible. But in return, you’ll have to help us.”

“I’ll help. I’ll do anything.”

“Then guide us to where those people are.”

“But…”

“Don’t tell me you’re backing out now?”

“It’s not that. There are just too many of them… Will you really be okay?”

“That’s not something you need to worry about. Even if all of them attack together, they still won’t be a match for Zeon. You saw it yourself, didn’t you? How strong he is.”

“Mmm…”

“If you’re scared, then don’t do it. We can find them without your help anyway. You just won’t get the mana generator.”

Brielle’s cold words startled Jetoya  into answering immediately.

“No! I’ll do it. I’ll guide you.”

“We don’t have time. Start leading us.”

“Okay!”

Jetoya  took the lead.

As Zeon and Brielle followed behind him, they continued talking.

“What made you decide to dismantle the mana generator in the first place?”

“Because I was curious.”

“You really are something else.”

“Can’t help it. It’s just my nature.”

“You completely figured out the structure?”

“Yep! There was a protective magic array designed to prevent anyone from understanding the internal structure, but that kind of thing is useless against me. Hehe!”

Brielle grinned proudly.

The mana generator was the culmination of Neo Seoul’s magitech engineering.

Because of that, they had taken extreme precautions to prevent the technology from leaking out.

Protective magic arrays had been inscribed onto each module so that if someone opened it carelessly, it would automatically explode.

But those protections meant nothing before Brielle’s exceptional magical alchemy.

Like a cicada shedding its shell, she had unraveled every single protection array and absorbed the technological knowledge Neo Seoul had accumulated over a hundred years.

Zeon spoke seriously.

“Never let outsiders know you can build mana generators. If Neo Seoul learns the truth, they’ll definitely try to eliminate you.”

“Okay! I won’t tell anyone else.”

“Good.”

Zeon let out a quiet sigh.

If others discovered just how extraordinary Brielle’s abilities were, greed would inevitably consume them.

‘Even if I want peace, trouble never stops coming.’

Perhaps this too was part of his karma.

It felt as though the world simply refused to leave him alone because he possessed power that was too great.

‘Can’t be helped.’

Like Brielle said, perhaps the only thing he could do was follow wherever fate led him.

Just like now.

Jetoya  was leading them deeper and deeper into darker underground tunnels.

Having companions who were too talented came with its own problems.