Chapter 324
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The sound of the magical beasts charging made it feel as though the very earth itself was shaking.
The tremendous vibrations were enough to rattle even the massive armored buses.
“My god!”
“There are too many!”
“This is truly unbelievable.”
The twin sisters and Elder Go stared with mouths agape at the tidal wave of magical beasts surging toward them from afar.
They had carried out countless missions in Neo Seoul.
Naturally, they had experienced numerous incidents and seen all sorts of horrors.
But without a doubt, this was the first time they had ever witnessed a sight as overwhelmingly terrifying as the one before them now.
There were no giant-class magical beasts in sight.
Most of them were small and medium-sized creatures.
Flame Wolves, Great Horned Hyenas, and other pack-type magical beasts made up the majority.
Individually, none of them were particularly troublesome.
Elder Go alone could dismantle one with the flick of a finger.
The problem was their numbers.
No matter how weak a magical beast might be, once their numbers surpassed the thousands, they gained enough power to tear apart ordinary awakened individuals in an instant.
And both Flame Wolves and Great Horned Hyenas were naturally violent creatures with tremendous combat ability.
If those beasts attacked in packs, even B-rank awakened would struggle to guarantee their survival.
Yet the beasts charging at them now far exceeded the scale of any ordinary pack.
Even Elder Go and the twins had never seen a magical beast horde of this size before.
The unprecedented sight was enough to overwhelm all three of them.
The same was true for Seo Taeran inside the other armored bus.
“Incredible…”
Thud! Thud!
The heavy vibrations traveled through the metal plating of the armored bus and reached her directly.
Having spent her life within the safety of Neo Seoul, Seo Taeran had never personally faced a magical beast army like this before.
She was confident in her ability to instantly eliminate ordinary magical beasts, but even she could not help feeling overwhelmed by a horde of this magnitude.
Only now did it truly feel like she had entered the desert.
But she couldn’t stand there stunned forever.
The magical beast horde had already reached striking distance.
Seo Taeran issued an order to her subordinates.
“Eliminate them!”
“Yes, ma’am!”
Her subordinates responded sharply before leaping from the armored bus.
They ran alongside the vehicle, attacking the charging magical beasts.
Boom!
Crack!
With explosive sounds, the leading magical beasts collapsed.
But that alone was nowhere near enough to stop the stampede.
The beasts trampled over the corpses of their fallen comrades and charged directly at Seo Taeran’s subordinates and the armored buses.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
As the magical beasts slammed their entire bodies against the buses, the massive vehicles shook violently as though struck by an earthquake.
Metal bent inward and dents formed everywhere, making it seem as though the buses could break apart at any moment.
At that point, even Seo Taeran could no longer remain idle.
“Hah!”
Jumping from the bus, Seo Taeran drove a punch directly into the forehead of an Ironclad Rhinoceros.
Crack!
The skull of the Ironclad Rhinoceros—said to be several times harder than titanium—crumbled like tofu beneath her fist.
The beast died without even managing a scream.
Nearby magical beasts immediately lunged toward her.
“Pathetic beasts…”
A chilling coldness flashed through Seo Taeran’s eyes.
She darted through the horde at incredible speed.
Boom! Bang!
Every movement of her fists, knees, and feet burst apart the heads of magical beasts.
Creatures below D-rank were no match for her.
With each strike, Seo Taeran calmly reduced their numbers one by one.
But even that barely made a difference.
Against such an enormous army, it was like scooping out a single spoonful from the ocean.
In a way, it highlighted the limitations of martial-type awakened.
Against humans or giant magical beasts, they displayed overwhelming power compared to other awakened.
But against enemies relying on sheer numbers like this, their efficiency inevitably dropped.
The same applied to her subordinates.
Though they steadily killed one beast after another, the sheer number of magical beasts made it impossible to notice any reduction.
‘At this rate, there’s no solution.’
Seo Taeran suddenly turned her gaze toward the armored bus carrying Zeon.
A translucent barrier surrounded the bus.
Elder Go had deployed a barrier to protect it.
Bang! Bang!
The magical beasts slammed against the barrier with tremendous force, only to be thrown back.
Thanks to that, the bus remained completely unharmed.
Under Elder Go’s protection, the twin sisters activated their abilities.
“Hiyah!”
“Mental Disruption!”
Using telepathy, they interfered directly with the minds of the magical beasts.
Their mental attacks carried effects nearly equivalent to curses.
The affected beasts lost their sanity completely and began rampaging wildly, even turning on one another.
“Incredible!”
Seo Taeran couldn’t help admiring them.
Unlike her group, which killed enemies one at a time, the twins were forcing huge numbers of magical beasts to fight each other, rapidly thinning the horde.
But even that was not enough.
They were slightly more effective than Seo Taeran’s side, but the number of beasts still wasn’t decreasing fast enough to visibly matter.
Seo Taeran’s gaze shifted toward Zeon and Brielle standing atop the bus.
Brielle was energetically shouting while casting magic.
Though Brielle was primarily an alchemist, she could still use simple spells.
Among them, wind magic was her specialty.
The favorite spell of the B-rank awakened was Wind Cutter.
Wiiiiing!
Razor-sharp winds swept outward, shredding apart the magical beasts rushing toward the bus.
Arms, legs, and torsos were severed as blood sprayed in every direction.
The power of the spell was far too overwhelming to belong to a young girl.
Seo Taeran frowned.
Brielle’s abilities far exceeded the information the secretary office possessed.
According to their investigation, Brielle had been estimated at only D-rank.
But the magic she displayed now was absolutely not at D-rank level.
‘Did her rank increase recently?’
Seo Taeran’s gaze shifted toward Zeon standing behind Brielle.
No one understood better than Seo Taeran just how difficult it was to rise even a single rank.
She herself had nearly coughed blood trying to raise her own level.
And effort alone wasn’t enough.
One needed exceptional awakened abilities, tremendous natural talent, and above all, systematic support that efficiently guided one’s growth.
Fortunately, Seo Taeran had possessed all three.
She had awakened as a D-rank, had extraordinary physical talent as a martial artist, and most importantly, she had Jin Geumho backing her.
Jin Geumho had ensured she followed the optimal path for growth.
Thanks to that, Seo Taeran had become an A-rank martial artist at an unprecedented speed.
Because she herself had walked the royal road of advancement, she understood something clearly.
To grow several times faster than ordinary people, assistance from someone powerful was absolutely essential.
‘It’s probably because of that man.’
Seo Taeran’s gaze fixed on Zeon.
The secretary office estimated his rank to be S-rank.
But rank alone could not fully explain just how unique he truly was.
It was impossible to fully explain.
There were already many S-rank awakened in Neo Seoul besides Zeon.
What made Zeon truly special was his awakened class.
The unique ability to control sand.
On an Earth transformed entirely into desert, it was a power capable of displaying overwhelming strength unlike anyone else.
If someone like Zeon personally decided to nurture another person’s growth, then naturally that person would develop at an astonishing pace.
At that moment—
Zeon, who had been observing the battlefield from atop the bus, stepped forward to the front.
‘So he’s finally going to act?’
Seo Taeran already knew a great deal about him.
The secretary office constantly sent her reports.
Because of that, she was very familiar with the power and range of the skills Zeon commonly used.
But she had never once seen them with her own eyes.
This was the perfect opportunity to witness Zeon’s abilities firsthand.
After all, seeing something directly was far more accurate than simply reading about it in a report.
Seo Taeran watched him with expectant eyes.
Then it happened.
Rumble!
Suddenly, the surrounding sand began to churn violently with an ominous sound, flowing freely in all directions.
The sand moved like a river.
It was one of Zeon’s skills—
Quick Sand.
A unique technique that transformed the surrounding area into a vast field of quicksand.
Every region except the path the buses traveled on instantly became quicksand.
Kwoooar!
Kehng!
Krrraaah!
The magical beasts screamed.
In an instant, over half of their bodies sank into the sand.
And the more they struggled, the deeper they were pulled under.
Perhaps giant beasts above B-rank could escape, but smaller magical beasts had little chance of getting out of the quicksand.
Unlike Sand Mixer, it lacked overwhelming killing power, but against hordes this large, Quick Sand was far more efficient.
The quicksand field Zeon created was unbelievably vast.
Thousands of magical beasts were trapped within it, flailing helplessly.
Some had already sunk so deep that even their heads had disappeared beneath the sand.
Though magical beasts wouldn’t die easily simply from being buried, escaping wouldn’t be easy either.
With Zeon instantly neutralizing the beasts blocking the way ahead, the path toward the expedition camp finally opened.
Seeing the armored bus carrying Zeon charge forward at terrifying speed, Seo Taeran shouted to her subordinates,
“Everyone, get back on the bus! We’re following them.”
“Yes, ma’am!”
The fighters battling the magical beasts immediately boarded the bus.
Their vehicle accelerated and caught up to the bus carrying Zeon’s group.
Kwoooar!
Krrrgh!
The howls of magical beasts echoed from every direction.
Brielle approached Zeon and asked,
“Why aren’t you killing them? If you used Sand Mixer, you could wipe them all out.”
“I need to conserve mana. The real threat is still ahead. I can’t waste mana on small fry like these.”
“That’s true.”
Brielle nodded.
Once the Kraken was killed, the low-rank magical beasts gathered here would naturally scatter on their own.
The real problem was the Kraken.
The creature had entrenched itself inside the magic stone mine, rendering Zeon’s sand attacks far less effective there.
To kill it, even Zeon would have to remain extremely cautious.
That was why he deliberately avoided using mana-intensive skills against the lesser magical beasts.
Because of that, Seo Taeran failed to fully grasp Zeon’s true strength.
It was disappointing that she still hadn’t witnessed powerful techniques like Sand Mixer or Sand Storm directly.
But one thing became crystal clear to her.
‘Not only does he understand his abilities perfectly, but his judgment is frighteningly precise. He doesn’t recklessly use high-powered skills. He only uses exactly the amount of power necessary at the right moment. Even among the Numbers, only the top-tier elites possess this level of control.’
A chill ran down Seo Taeran’s spine.
Zeon was far more dangerous than she had initially imagined.
She was glad she had personally come here.
Simply witnessing a portion of Zeon’s abilities had already made the harsh journey through the desert worthwhile.
After racing through the magical beasts trapped in the quicksand, the armored buses finally arrived at the expedition camp.
“What is this…?”
“Whoa! They fell into that?”
The twin sisters were the first to gasp in horror.
And understandably so.
At the site where the camp had once stood was a gigantic fissure with no visible end.
A crack vast enough to swallow all three thousand four hundred people.
It was so enormous that it looked as though some colossal giant reaching the heavens had struck the earth with an axe.
Zeon peered down into the fissure.
Deep below, a faint barrier shimmered softly.
It was preventing those who had fallen from escaping.
Elder Go immediately recognized what it was.
“It’s definitely a barrier.”
“Can you remove it?”
“It doesn’t look easy. It’ll take some time.”
“You’ll need to hurry.”
“I already intend to start immediately. From this point onward, it’s my domain. Step back and watch.”
Elder Go immediately closed his eyes and focused his mind.
Zeon silently observed him for a moment before turning to Seo Taeran.
“Please protect Elder Go.”
“And what about you?”
“I’m going to check on the Kraken.”
“You’re going to hunt it already?”
“Just reconnaissance for now.”
“Understood. We’ll wait.”
At Seo Taeran’s response, Zeon headed toward the open-air magic stone mine.
An enormous sea of sand stretched before him.
Srrrk!
As if sensing Zeon’s arrival, a gigantic magical beast silently raised its head from beneath the sand.