Chapter 355

Thud! Thud!

“Zeon! Wake up. It’s already seven.”

Brielle noisily banged on Zeon’s door early in the morning.

“Yawn! What is it this early in the morning?”

Rubbing his eyes, Zeon opened the door, and Brielle and Gaia walked in.

“Did you forget? Yoo Sehui asked to meet today.”

“Ah! Right.”

Only then did Zeon scratch his head as if he had finally remembered.

A few days ago, Yoo Sehui had sent word asking him to come to the Goblin Market. She said that by then, what they had been preparing would probably be finished.

At the time, he had been too exhausted to even ask what exactly they were preparing.

After destroying Dongdaemun, dealing with the aftermath had become Zeon’s responsibility as well.

If Zeon had wanted, he could probably have taken Dongdaemun for himself. But that wasn’t what he wanted.

Zeon returned Joshua and the remaining Dongdaemun personnel unharmed.

Naturally, Zeon had assumed that Joshua, the Inquisitor, would seize control of Dongdaemun.

Among the surviving believers, he was the strongest. But things did not unfold as Zeon expected.

Infighting broke out among the surviving leaders of Dongdaemun.

As long as a powerful central figure like Johan existed, no one had dared covet the throne. But once Johan disappeared, every surviving executive began to desire power.

None of them were willing to submit beneath someone else.

In terms of awakened abilities, Joshua the Inquisitor was unquestionably the strongest, but unfortunately, he lacked political skill.

He excelled at torturing and killing people, but he was utterly unsuited for gathering and leading others.

In the end, Joshua’s lack of political ability caused problems, and the ambitious leaders fought one another for control of Dongdaemun.

Dongdaemun had been a gathering of fanatics.

If they had been ordinary people, they would have realized through Johan’s death that he was not a savior and left the cult. But people incapable of rational thought refused to accept Johan’s death and believed he would someday resurrect.

Until that day came, they considered it their duty to preserve and protect the cult.

The surviving executives exploited those feelings and proclaimed themselves guardians of the order.

They insisted that until Johan returned, they would protect and expand the cult in his place.

With so many people claiming to be the cult’s protector, infighting naturally erupted.

As a result, countless people died, and Dongdaemun became a lawless zone.

Taking advantage of the chaos, numerous scavengers and criminals flooded into Dongdaemun, worsening the disorder even further.

Zeon instructed Eaton to constantly monitor Dongdaemun’s movements.

It was obvious that the chaos there would eventually affect the entire slum district.

For now, the disorder remained confined to Dongdaemun, but given enough time, it would inevitably spread to places like Sinchon and Guro as well.

‘This is exactly why I didn’t want to get involved with fanatics.’

Zeon let out a bitter smile as he draped on his robe.

No matter what, all of this had happened because he killed Johan.

He bore at least some responsibility for the situation.

That was why he kept a close eye on Dongdaemun and remained prepared to intervene at any moment.

Of course, the best-case scenario would be never having to step in at all. But no one could predict what would happen tomorrow, so he could not afford to lower his guard.

Thanks to that, Zeon was mentally exhausted.

If Brielle hadn’t woken him, he probably would have forgotten entirely about meeting Yoo Sehui today and kept sleeping.

After washing up quickly, Zeon spoke to Brielle.

“Let’s go.”

“Okay!”

“I don’t see Levin.”

“He went to the Crocodile Cave last night.”

“He goes there often.”

“I think he’s worried about Jetoya and Remura. He keeps stuffing all kinds of things into his subspace backpack and heading down there.”

At Brielle’s answer, Zeon chuckled.

Levin might have been the one going underground, but the items filling the subspace backpack had obviously all been gathered by Brielle.

Both Levin and Brielle were cold toward outsiders, but toward people within their circle, they were incredibly generous.

They rejected strangers or unfamiliar people, but once convinced someone was on their side, they took very good care of them.

Together with Brielle, Zeon stepped outside.

Even though it was still early morning, the sunlight was scorching.

Avoiding the sun, the two moved through the shade until they arrived at the Goblin Market.

Yoo Sehui greeted Zeon and Brielle.

“You came quickly. I thought you’d be late.”

“Brielle hurried me along.”

“So the brat is useful sometimes after all.”

At Yoo Sehui’s words, Brielle frowned and replied,

“Hmph! I didn’t rush because I wanted your praise. You said the sand hardener was finished, right?”

“That’s right! We even built a house with it as a test.”

“Really? How is it?”

“See for yourself.”

Smiling, Yoo Sehui led them toward the outskirts of the slums.

The outer edge of the slums connected directly to the desert.

Without even a defensive wall, it lay completely exposed to the desert sands.

There wasn’t a single proper building material to be found anywhere, which was why nobody lived there.

Yet standing proudly in the middle of the desert was a house.

The walls and roof were all made entirely of sand.

It wasn’t large or luxurious, but it looked quite sturdy.

At that moment, the door opened and someone stepped outside.

Zeon recognized him instantly.

“Bryce.”

“Ah, Mr. Zeon!”

The man ran over with delight.

He was Bryce, the one who had created the sand hardener.

After losing his village to the Helbrin Mercenary Corps and being captured, he had been rescued by Zeon and entrusted to Yoo Sehui.

“Is this house made using the sand hardener?”

“Yes! The walls, ceiling, and roof are all made from sand. Aside from the doors and windows, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say the entire house is made of sand.”

“May I take a look inside?”

“Of course. Please come in.”

Bryce opened the door and invited the three inside.

The moment they entered, a cool sensation washed over them.

Outside, the blazing sun scorched the desert, yet inside the house there was no heat at all.

“Does the hardener also act as insulation?”

“As expected, you noticed right away. That’s correct. The hardener blocks external heat and keeps the interior cool.”

“That’s incredible.”

“That’s not all. The coating on the sand also repels rain completely.”

“And yet you still built homes underground because of scavengers, right?”

“Exactly. In the desert, people built underground homes to defend against scavenger attacks, but there’s no need for that in Neo Seoul.”

Bryce smiled brightly.

His goal had remained unchanged from the beginning.

He simply wanted to live like a human being.

In his view, animals dug caves to hide from danger, but humans should have homes above ground.

In the slums, countless people had no homes of their own and were forced to live in other people’s houses.

Some even ended up living in the Crocodile Cave because they couldn’t find a place on the surface.

With the sand hardener, houses could be built freely along the outskirts of the slums.

All that was needed was sand and the hardener.

Of course, things like doors and windows still had to be obtained separately, but at the very least, the basic structure could be created easily.

At that moment, Yoo Sehui interrupted their conversation.

“But there’s one problem.”

“What is it?”

“We’re short on materials for the sand hardener.”

“Can’t you get it at the Goblin Market?”

“If we could, I wouldn’t even be telling you about it. The core ingredient of the sand hardener is the bodily fluid of Ironclad Ants. As you know, Ironclad Ants dig hundreds of meters underground, so hunting them isn’t easy.”

Ironclad Ants were E-rank magical beasts.

Individually, they weren’t especially powerful. The problem was that they were swarm-type magical beasts that lived in colonies.

Their numbers ranged anywhere from hundreds to tens of thousands.

On top of that, their tunnels stretched from dozens to hundreds of meters underground. Once they decided to hide, finding them became impossible.

The Ironclad Ant fluid currently circulating in the Goblin Market came only from isolated stragglers that had been hunted, so the supply was extremely limited.

Bryce lowered his head like a sinner.

“The fluid from a single Ironclad Ant is enough to make ten barrels of sand hardener. If those ten barrels are diluted and used, they can build around a hundred houses like this one.”

“That’s simple enough. One Ironclad Ant equals a hundred houses. A hundred ants would mean ten thousand houses. Then… ten thousand people? No, wait. Assuming three people live in each house, that means homes for at least thirty thousand people.”

“That’s correct.”

“Then there’s no reason not to hunt them.”

“But Ironclad Ants are extremely difficult to hunt. Even catching one or two is hard.”

The tunnels of the Ironclad Ants were more complicated than a maze and incredibly narrow.

They were so cramped that even a single adult could barely squeeze through. Because of that, sending large forces into the tunnels to capture them was impossible.

That was precisely why Ironclad Ant fluid was so valuable.

“Not only is it impossible to drive them into a mass hunt, but even locating their nests is difficult.”

“I can imagine.”

Zeon nodded.

Unless someone possessed a special ability, finding ant tunnels stretching hundreds of meters underground was impossible.

The only person in the Goblin Market with an ability suited for detecting magical beasts was Akashi, but even he couldn’t locate Ironclad Ants buried hundreds of meters underground.

Zeon spoke to Yoo Sehui.

“Can you prepare ten magic-type awakened of at least C-rank, twenty porters, and around ten transport vehicles?”

“That much is easy anytime. Why? Are you planning to go personally?”

Yoo Sehui looked at Zeon with excitement shining in her eyes.

If Zeon stepped in, hunting Ironclad Ants would no longer be such a difficult task.

Zeon nodded.

“I should.”

“I’m not doubting your abilities, but first we’d have to find where the Ironclad Ants live. Do you already know where they gather?”

“Yes.”

“Seriously?”

Yoo Sehui looked utterly unconvinced.

“If you understand the ecology of Ironclad Ants, finding their nests isn’t that difficult.”

“And what does that mean?”

“They’re fond of Blue Wolf Moss.”

“And what’s that supposed to be?”

“Blue Wolf Moss survives by parasitizing White Snow Cacti—”

“What’s a White Snow Cactus now? Ah, forget it! Don’t explain any further. I won’t understand anyway. So basically, if you find a White Snow Cactus, you can find Blue Wolf Moss, and that means there’s probably an Ironclad Ant nest nearby, right?”

“Usually.”

“That sounds like there’s an exception this time. Am I right?”

“Yes. If I go along, we can skip all those troublesome steps.”

“You already know where their habitat is.”

“Exactly. You really are smart.”

“That compliment doesn’t make me happy at all.”

Yoo Sehui glared at Zeon.

At the same time, however, her mind was spinning rapidly.

‘The First Escort Unit is resting right now, so I can mobilize them. That should more or less solve the awakened and porter problem. As for the vehicles, I can pull them from somewhere else.’

If anyone else had proposed this, she would have agonized over it for days. But the one making the suggestion was Zeon.

There was no one who understood the desert better than him.

If Zeon was involved, the expedition was guaranteed to succeed. There was no reason to hesitate.

“Good! When are we leaving? Tell me, and I’ll have everything prepared by then.”

“Is there any reason to delay? Let’s depart tomorrow.”

“That quickly?”

“Is there a problem?”

“No. None at all!”

Yoo Sehui shook her head.

Even if there was a problem, she would have to make it disappear.

If Zeon changed his mind in the meantime, they would lose the chance to obtain Ironclad Ant corpses.

“I’ll have the awakened, porters, and vehicles ready by tomorrow morning. You just need to show up.”

“Understood.”

“If we clear out even one large Ironclad Ant nest, we can secure living space for tens of thousands of people. This is an incredible opportunity.”

Yoo Sehui clenched her small fist tightly.

Even Jin Geumho, the Market Lord, had been unable to expand Neo Seoul any further. The reason was simple: there was nowhere for people to live.

If they secured enough sand hardener, the amount of habitable land would increase accordingly.

She would be solving a problem that even Jin Geumho had failed to resolve.

The more sand hardener they acquired, the greater Yoo Sehui’s influence would become.

And as her influence grew, both the Goblin Market and Sinchon would become safer. There was no reason not to do it.

‘The future of Neo Seoul depends on this expedition.’