Chapter 336
“Fuck! How are we losing in firepower? All the bastards tanking at the front are gonna die!”
“We need support over here too!”
“That damn octopus! Just how many more tentacles was it hiding?”
The expeditionary force was engaged in a fierce battle against the Kraken.
And the Kraken wasn’t the only enemy they were fighting. They also had to deal with the magical beasts it had summoned.
The entire area had been reduced to ruins from battling the S-rank magical beast Kraken and the countless monsters under its control.
The one commanding the battle overall was Seo Taeran, Jin Geumho’s secretary.
Not only Jang Yongbeom, but even the leaders of the other raid teams were following Seo Taeran’s commands.
Seo Taeran did not acknowledge the autonomy of the individual raid teams.
This was an emergency situation, and she believed dispersing their strength under such circumstances would be inefficient.
Under normal conditions, the raid teams would have objected to Seo Taeran’s orders, but they had already exhausted much of their power dealing with the necromancer’s summons, so they followed without complaint.
They understood that cooperating this way was better for preserving their own forces.
As a result, Seo Taeran easily obtained command authority and exercised her influence.
Now, the Kraken hunt was approaching its final stage.
True to being an S-rank magical beast, the Kraken was powerful.
It possessed abilities strong enough to be called authorities.
One of them was the “Corrupted Ink” it sprayed while lashing out with its ten tentacles.
Just as the name implied, it wildly sprayed ink through all ten limbs.
The name itself sounded almost ridiculous, but no one who experienced it firsthand could laugh.
Chiiiiik!
Everything touched by the ink melted away.
Even armor manufactured in Neo Seoul was useless.
Aura Shields couldn’t block the ink either.
The pitch-black liquid melted anything it touched instantly like a corrosive acid.
As a result, the awakened suffered heavy casualties.
The only reason the damage wasn’t worse was because the raid leaders stood at the front using their skills to neutralize the Kraken’s attacks. Without them, the casualties would have spiraled out of control.
“Hyaaaat! Wrath of the Earth!”
“Divine Severing Slash!”
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Various skills exploded across the Kraken’s massive body.
Already stripped of its force field by the raid leaders’ attacks, the Kraken reeled violently from the heavy impacts.
BOOM! KWAAANG!
Massive tentacles crashed down toward the awakened like giant pestles.
The awakened leapt around like grasshoppers to avoid the limbs, which were larger than gigantic stone pillars.
Even so, they never stopped attacking.
It was at that moment that Zeon returned to the camp.
“Wow!”
Zeon let out a gasp of admiration as he watched the awakened hunting the Kraken.
“Zeon!”
“Hyung!”
Brielle and Levin ran toward him the moment they saw him.
As he embraced them, Zeon asked,
“What the hell is all this?”
“What do you mean what? We’re hunting an S-rank magical beast.”
“Where were you, hyung?!”
“Are you all okay?”
“Yup!”
“More importantly, are you okay?”
Only after confirming that everyone was safe did the three smile.
KWAAANG!
KUUUUOOOAR!
Then it happened.
Along with a sound like the heavens collapsing, the Kraken’s final scream echoed across the battlefield.
At last, the magic stone mine expedition had succeeded in killing the Kraken.
Its enormous body collapsed to the ground.
“WOOOOOOAH!”
“We got it!”
“We killed an S-rank magical beast!”
Cheers erupted everywhere.
The moment the Kraken fell, the magical beasts that had been attacking so frantically tucked their tails and fled as though they had planned it beforehand.
Jang Yongbeom raised his claymore and shouted,
“We have secured the magic stone mine! This land now belongs to us!”
“WAAAAAH!”
“A new magic stone mine!”
“This land is ours!”
People roared in celebration.
It wasn’t simply because they had defeated an S-rank magical beast and secured a magic stone mine.
This was a historic moment in which humanity’s territory had expanded even further.
Standing beside Brielle and Levin, Zeon quietly watched the cheering crowd.
As an S-rank magical beast, there was not a single useless part on the Kraken.
The distribution of the Kraken’s materials would be handled later. For now, efforts began to stabilize the magic stone mine.
The surviving mechanics and awakened combined their efforts to erect buildings.
The structures were made from the containers and work vehicles they had dragged all the way here.
The faces of the workers were full of vitality.
They had suffered enormous losses, but in the end, they had achieved their goal.
The raid teams and awakened who participated in this expedition would undoubtedly receive great rewards.
Some would gain tremendous fame, while others would become rich.
Simply because they had taken part in this raid.
But no one believed those rewards were unearned or freeloaded.
Everyone had paid a price.
Sitting atop a vehicle roof, Zeon watched the bustling people below.
At that moment, someone approached him.
It was Seo Taeran.
“Mr. Zeon.”
“You must be busy. What brings you here?”
“There’s something I’d like to discuss with you for a moment.”
Seo Taeran stared intently at Zeon.
Her gaze was somewhat burdensome, but Zeon replied calmly.
“What are you curious about?”
“That place…”
Seo Taeran looked toward the massive crack in front of the magic stone mine.
It was the very fissure created by the necromancer Pilgram.
“What about it?”
“Is it safe now?”
Her question carried many implications.
After silently looking at her face for a moment, Zeon nodded.
“Yes.”
“Really?”
“Probably.”
“And the necromancer?”
“He will never come back to life again.”
“I see.”
“That’s right.”
“That’s a relief. Then I suppose we can collapse that fissure now?”
“You’re going to destroy it?”
“If we leave it alone, someone’s bound to insist on going inside sooner or later.”
“You have a point.”
Zeon nodded in agreement.
The underground fissure had been the necromancer’s domain.
Normally, when a dungeon boss died, the dungeon disappeared as well. But this place was different.
Even though Pilgram had died, the fissure still remained completely intact.
Zeon believed the reason was the gem Pilgram had possessed.
That gem—the one important enough to move the half-dragon Nigel personally—was likely what continued sustaining the fissure.
There were no remaining items or undead left inside, but traces of the necromancer’s lingering thoughts and influence might still remain.
If ordinary people or low-ranking awakened approached such a place, they would inevitably be affected negatively.
Those weak of mind or lacking in ability could become tainted by the malice left behind by the necromancer.
The best way to prevent that was to completely block off all possibility of approaching the fissure in the first place.
Seo Taeran preferred eliminating every possible source of trouble entirely.
That was why she intended to collapse the fissure.
In any case, the open-air magic stone mine was located quite far from here.
The exposed magic stone mine itself would suffer little to no impact.
In that case, there was no reason to hesitate.
The moment Zeon gave his approval, Seo Taeran immediately began the operation to collapse the fissure.
Destroying the fissure was simple.
After all, the bedrock had already been severely weakened by the countless awakened fighting inside it.
As several high-ranking awakened unleashed their skills toward the fissure walls, the massive rock formations crumbled down helplessly.
The fissure disappeared without leaving a trace, and the remnants of the necromancer were erased completely as well.
All that remained now was distributing shares to each raid team according to their contribution and constructing a fortress.
The area was a vast open plain.
Nothing could be seen except endless golden sand.
There was not a single piece of cover capable of defending against magical beast attacks.
If left as it was, the workers would likely be massacred once magical beasts attacked later on.
Because of that, Neo Seoul was planning to dispatch a follow-up force to construct a fortress here.
At this point, there was nothing left for Zeon to do.
While countless others busied themselves securing various rights and interests, Zeon sat comfortably in a chair, resting.
Sitting beneath a large tent that shielded him from the sunlight, Zeon looked rather relaxed.
But internally, his thoughts were more complicated than ever.
‘Nigel.’
It had already been over ten days since his battle with the half-dragon Nigel ended.
During all that time, Zeon replayed the battle in his head every single day.
He still had no idea what Nigel’s true intentions were.
But the mere fact that he had once been a dragon made him a threat to humanity.
If Nigel truly decided to attack Neo Seoul, the resulting damage would be catastrophic.
No matter how much anti-magic power Neo Seoul possessed, it would not work against an existence outside the standard like a dragon.
Every day, Zeon fought Nigel repeatedly inside his mind.
It was a battle only Zeon could understand.
And every time those mental battles ended, he became so exhausted that he couldn’t even move a finger.
But no one else knew what he was going through.
To everyone else, Zeon merely looked like someone lazily resting around doing nothing.
Even so, nobody viewed him negatively.
Because Zeon was the one who had made the greatest contribution within the necromancer’s fissure.
Had it not been for Zeon, at least half the people currently breathing on the surface would have lost their lives.
Everyone knew that.
Which was why no one disturbed his rest.
“Hoo…”
Zeon let out a sigh and rose from his chair.
After replaying the battle with Nigel in his mind, his entire body had become drenched in sweat.
Just as Zeon was wondering whether he should take a shower, cheers suddenly erupted outside.
“WAAAAH! The follow-up force is here!”
“Fuck yeah! Those second-wave bastards finally arrived. We can go home now!”
“Kuhahaha!”
At the sudden commotion, Zeon stepped out of the tent.
He saw countless vehicles entering the open-air magic stone mine.
It was the second expeditionary force sent from Neo Seoul.
Since the first expedition had secured the magic stone mine, the second force had been dispatched to build a fortress and stabilize the area.
Now that the second expeditionary force had arrived, the first expedition could finally return to Neo Seoul.
Naturally, everyone erupted in celebration.
This was an open-air magic stone mine in the middle of nowhere.
There were no entertainment facilities.
No conveniences whatsoever.
After spending more than ten days in such a barren place, some people who thrived on noise and activity were on the verge of losing their minds.
Now the second expeditionary force would handle stabilization and defense of the mine, allowing the first expedition to finally return to Neo Seoul.
At that moment, Levin and Brielle approached Zeon.
“Hyung! The second expeditionary force is here.”
“So what are we gonna do, Zeon?”
Their faces were filled with expectation as they looked at him.
Though they hadn’t openly shown it until now, the two of them had also grown quite tired of life here.
Zeon did not disappoint them.
“Yeah. Let’s go back.”
“Really?”
“Yessss!”
The two jumped up and down excitedly.
Zeon smirked at the sight of them acting like children.
And it was then—
Seo Taeran approached him alongside an unfamiliar man.
The man looked to be in his mid-forties and wore a formal uniform utterly out of place in the desert.
Simply looking at him made the atmosphere feel suffocatingly rigid.
Seo Taeran stopped in front of Zeon and introduced the man.
“This is Mr. Sadosky. He’ll be stabilizing and operating the magic stone mine. He’s a B-rank awakened and highly trusted by Jin Geumho due to his exceptional organizational management skills. We’ll leave the construction and operation of the fortress to him while we return to Neo Seoul.”
“A pleasure. I’m Sadosky. From now on, leave operation of the magic stone mine to me. You won’t need to concern yourself with it anymore.”
With his arms crossed, Sadosky looked down at Zeon arrogantly.
Zeon silently stared at him for a moment.
Sadosky did not even blink.
‘Hmph! At the end of the day, he’s just some ignorant brute with strength. A fortress city centered around a mine can only be managed by an expert like me.’
He was extremely confident in his own abilities.
His mission was to stabilize the magic stone mine and maximize Neo Seoul’s profits.
And part of that plan involved mercilessly stripping away the interests of those who had earned only superficial achievements.
To do that, establishing dominance first was essential.
He glared at Zeon intensely.
Unfortunately for him, his intimidation meant absolutely nothing to Zeon.
“Handle the mine however you want. I’m not interested.”
Tap. Tap.
Zeon casually patted Sadosky on the shoulder as he walked past him.
“KUHUK!”
In that instant, Sadosky suffered an overwhelming shock and coughed up blood.
It felt as though he had been struck by a gigantic mace.
He couldn’t even breathe properly.
The impact was far beyond what a mere B-rank awakened could endure.
“Ghk! Kugh!”
Sadosky continued suffering in agony long afterward.