Chapter 347
“Ha!”
“Fuck!”
The faces of Levin and Jetoya twisted grimly upon arriving at the village.
Several corpses were already visible.
The villagers had gathered around the bodies, weeping.
Brielle lightly shook her head and spoke.
“Looks like she already came through here.”
“She worked with incredible brutality. Judging by the wounds, she seems to use silver threads as weapons, and she has absolutely no hesitation when it comes to killing people.”
Just by examining the condition of the corpses, Levin had already figured out the kind of weapon Chensi used.
It proved just how much experience Levin had accumulated.
Chensi had already turned Jetoya’s village upside down before disappearing.
The only fortunate thing was that the death toll was not very high.
She had killed only the minimum number necessary to obtain information before leaving.
The bad news was that it meant Chensi operated with ruthless efficiency.
Indiscriminate slaughter was easy, but efficiently killing people to extract only the information she wanted was difficult.
Which meant she was an extremely dangerous opponent.
Tracking someone who pursued efficiency to such an extreme was equally difficult.
Jetoya grabbed the surviving villagers and asked what had happened when Chensi visited.
A little later, after gathering all the information, Jetoya approached the other two.
“That bitch is completely insane. She executed the villagers one by one until she got the answers she wanted.”
“This will keep happening until she secures Remura.”
“Then we need to track her down quickly.”
“Will you be alright?”
“What do you mean?”
“This is the village you lead. Are you sure it’s okay to leave without handling the bodies?”
“What they want isn’t recovery. It’s revenge.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes! Even the families of the dead begged me for revenge. So let’s hurry and pursue her.”
“Alright. Let’s do that.”
Levin nodded and looked at Brielle.
Brielle pulled a glass vial from beneath her pointed hat and spoke.
“Her traces are still fresh, so tracking her shouldn’t be difficult.”
Brielle poured the liquid from the vial onto the spot where Chensi had stood.
Immediately, glowing footprints appeared on the ground.
It was a tracking elixir Brielle had created.
Once the target was identified like this, all they had to do was pour the elixir at every fork in the path to easily determine which direction the target had moved.
Brielle moved first in the direction of the glowing footprints, while Levin followed behind and called out to Jetoya.
“Let’s go, Jetoya!”
“Yes, hyung!”
Thus, the three of them began the pursuit.
After confirming there was no one around, Brielle spoke.
“Alright. You can come out now, Gaia!”
—Bee!
At that moment, Gaia opened a subspace portal and revealed herself.
Having regained her freedom, Gaia happily wagged her tail.
In the past, Gaia had been so weak she could barely endure even a short time in the sewer filled with polluted energy, but now she had grown much stronger and could tolerate it to some extent.
Brielle stroked Gaia’s head and said,
“I’m happy to be with you too. But right now, tracking her comes first. Before more sacrifices happen……”
—Ppii!
“Right! Let’s go.”
Brielle and Gaia dashed through the darkness after Levin and Jetoya.
Meanwhile, Zeon was sitting inside old man Clexi’s shop, eating a meal.
The soup rice packed with meat was Zeon’s favorite food.
At some point, gukbap had become an essential comfort meal for him.
Slurp!
Watching Zeon eat the soup rice so deliciously, old man Clexi spoke.
“Is it good?”
“It’s delicious.”
“You can really swallow food at a time like this?”
“It goes down just fine.”
“No, I mean, you sent those kids into the crocodile cave, and you can still enjoy soup rice?”
“You made it yourself, so shouldn’t you know better than anyone? Why wouldn’t I enjoy something this tasty?”
“Good grief! Aren’t you worried about the kids at all?”
“Not even a little.”
Zeon’s firm answer caused old man Clexi’s face to crumple.
“Seriously?”
“Yes.”
“No, why? You sent only those young kids there, and you’re still not worried? Is your heart broken or something?”
“I didn’t raise them weak enough for me to worry over every little thing.”
“What?”
“I trained them harshly. Something like this won’t be any problem for them.”
“You’re certain?”
“Yes.”
As he answered, Zeon lifted the bowl and gulped down the remaining broth.
Old man Clexi silently stared at Zeon’s face.
He didn’t like how calm Zeon looked.
But at the same time, he trusted Zeon’s words.
Because he knew exactly how cautious Zeon was.
If Zeon spoke with such confidence, then he undoubtedly had a solid reason for it. He was not the kind of person who would send children into danger recklessly.
Only then did old man Clexi finally relax and let out a sigh.
“Whew! Fine, let’s say the kids are okay. But what about you? How long are you planning to stay like this? Are you just going to waste time?”
“That’s not it.”
“Then?”
“As a matter of fact, I was just thinking it was about time for me to start moving too. Right after I finish this soup rice.”
The bowl was nearly empty now.
Zeon scraped up every last grain of rice and piece of meat before setting the bowl down.
Clack!
“Ah! That was satisfying. Anything you make is always delicious, old man.”
“Heh heh! Everyone knows my cooking skills.”
“Thanks to that, I think I’ll be able to move with plenty of energy.”
“What are you planning to do?”
“First, I’ll get rid of the watcher.”
“The watcher?”
“I’ve tolerated it long enough already.”
Zeon smiled.
Old man Clexi found that smile chilling.
“That’s a killer’s smile.”
“Hm?”
“I mean it’s the kind of smile perfect for killing people.”
“Ah, well……”
Only then understanding what old man Clexi meant, Zeon let out a faint chuckle and stood up.
“Thanks for the meal. I’ll come again next time.”
“Next time, I hope you bring the kids with you.”
“I’ll try.”
“Good. Take care.”
“Yes.”
Zeon placed money on the table and left the shop.
Once he had gotten a fair distance away, the look in Zeon’s eyes changed.
He raised his head and looked toward the distant clock tower.
It was the famous clock tower of Sinchon.
Thanks to that tower, the people living in Sinchon could tell the time without needing watches.
The distance between the clock tower and Zeon exceeded three kilometers.
An ordinary person would not even be able to see what was on top of the tower.
But Zeon could see clearly.
A man sitting there, staring directly at him.
The man wearing priestly robes and radiating fierce killing intent from his eyes was Rubo.
One of the Dark Saints proudly boasted by Dongdaemun, and the owner of the overpowered skill known as Clairvoyance.
From atop the clock tower, he had been monitoring Zeon’s every move.
And the information he gathered about Zeon’s activities was being reported to Dongdaemun in real time.
A deep furrow formed on Rubo’s brow as he watched Zeon.
Because their eyes had met directly.
‘No way…?’
There was a distance of three kilometers between them.
Moreover, Rubo was concealing himself with a stealth skill.
No matter how exceptional an Awakener was, discovering him while hidden here should have been impossible.
In fact, among all the targets Rubo had monitored, not a single one had ever discovered him.
That alone could have made him careless.
But Rubo never let down his guard for even a moment.
Because he knew very well that a single lapse in caution could cost him his life.
The instant his eyes met Zeon’s, Rubo’s heart suddenly began pounding violently.
And Rubo knew exactly what it meant.
It was the warning of instinct.
‘He found me.’
Rubo immediately sprang to his feet.
At that same moment, Zeon kicked off the ground and launched himself forward.
Directly toward the clock tower where Rubo was hiding.
Sand lifted Zeon’s body high into the air.
“Damn it!”
Rubo fled without even looking back.
Although he specialized in surveillance, he was still an Awakener.
His physical abilities alone were comparable to those of most martial-type Awakeners.
In an instant, he kicked off the clock tower and leapt onto the rooftop of a nearby building.
‘I need to regroup with the other Dark Saints.’
There had originally been ten Dark Saints sent into Sinchon.
But after Chensi suddenly disappeared, only nine remained.
Besides Rubo himself, there were still eight others scattered throughout Dongdaemun.
During that time, the Dark Saints had spread throughout Sinchon gathering information about the Saintess.
Rubo already knew all of their locations.
He moved toward the nearest Dark Saint.
Swooosh!
At that moment, the sound of something cutting through the air came from behind him.
Cold sweat ran down Rubo’s spine.
Because he knew exactly who it was.
‘Damn it!’
The sound was rapidly getting closer.
And Rubo understood perfectly what that meant.
In the end, Rubo gave up on fleeing and turned around.
Thud!
The next instant, a tremendous impact slammed into his chest.
Zeon, flying through the air, had kicked him square in the chest.
“Gah!”
With a scream, Rubo tumbled across the rooftop floor.
He rolled for quite a while before finally crashing into the railing and stopping.
Zeon lightly landed in front of him.
To Rubo’s eyes, Zeon descending atop the sand looked like a demon.
Looking down at Rubo, Zeon spoke.
“You’ve worked hard monitoring me all this time.”
“Fuck! You already knew?”
“You watched me so obsessively for an entire month. Wouldn’t it be stranger if I didn’t know?”
“Then you knew from the very beginning that I was monitoring you?”
“Yes.”
“Ha! You son of a bitch……”
Rubo ground his teeth at Zeon’s answer.
Because he realized all his efforts during that month had been meaningless.
“So you knew everything and still let me continue?”
“I did feel a little sorry for you.”
“For what?”
“You barely slept, hid yourself every day, crouching around just to monitor me.”
“Then why didn’t you attack me back then? If you had, I wouldn’t have wasted a whole month doing useless crap.”
“Because it was a promise.”
“A promise?”
“You didn’t know? I made a deal with Sir Johan. For one month, I would let you people operate freely.”
“That……”
Rubo could not continue speaking.
Because Johan had told him exactly the same thing.
Zeon glanced toward the clock tower and said,
“The promised month ended one minute ago. So now, please get out.”
“You’re insane! You attack over just one minute?”
“I told you already. The time I promised Sir Johan was exactly one month. So you should keep your side of the agreement too.”
“Fuck!”
Rubo cursed at Zeon’s chilling gaze.
But that was all he could do.
In reality, there was nothing he could do against him.
Even though Rubo possessed the extraordinary skill Clairvoyance, he was no match for Zeon.
If they fought head-on, he would lose one hundred percent.
Rubo staggered to his feet.
“Take everyone else and leave too. If even one of you remains behind, I won’t stay quiet.”
“W-Wait. There’s still one person whose whereabouts we haven’t confirmed.”
“And you expect me to believe that? I’ll give you ten minutes from now. Take the remaining nine and get out of Sinchon. Anything that happens afterward will be your responsibility and Sir Johan’s.”
“Damn it!”
At Zeon’s warning, Rubo hurriedly left.
Watching Rubo’s retreating figure disappear into the distance, Zeon smiled.
‘Now the justification is on my side.’
Dongdaemun had been given an entire month, yet still failed to find any clues.
Since Zeon had honored the agreement and waited exactly one month, Johan could no longer complain no matter what actions Zeon took now.
‘This is going to give you quite a headache, Johan. You spent an entire month accomplishing nothing except making enemies of the other districts……’