Episode 53
"Wake up."
Someone tapped Mandy’s cheeks and whispered.
Only then did Mandy regain consciousness.
The first thing to enter her vision as she opened her eyes was a dark cave ceiling.
"Where is this?"
"It's a Cyclops nest."
"What?"
"Quiet!"
The man signaling for quiet by pointing to his lips with a finger was someone Mandy recognized.
Unlike Mandy, he had East Asian features.
Black hair and black pupils. A young man who still had acne on his face.
"Of Korean descent, Mr. Gim Sang-sik, right?"
"That’s right. Keep your voice down."
Gim Sang-sik nodded.
As Mandy said, he was of Korean descent.
He was not an Awakened.
He was a technician dispatched to perform vehicle maintenance.
Mandy shook her head and raised herself up. Then the situation inside the cave became clear at a glance.
The cave was a whopping ten meters high.
It was high enough for a Cyclops to walk around with its head held high and still have room to spare.
The bodies of countless demonic beasts were strewn about inside the cave. It was clearly what the Cyclopes had left behind after eating.
Mandy and Gim Sang-sik were trapped in something like a birdcage hanging from the cave ceiling.
The cage made of an unidentified metal was so densely woven that there was no gap large enough to escape through.
Mandy snorted.
"Hmph! I can just break a measly cage like this and be done with it."
Although she had been knocked unconscious by a surprise attack from Anika, she was an Awakened with exceptional abilities.
If that were not the case, Neo Seoul would not have bothered dispatching her as a Supervisor.
She was a magic-type Awakened.
Her specialty was wind magic.
Mandy tried to cut the cage with blades of wind. But for some reason, the mana in her body would not budge at all.
"It’s no use. You can’t use mana in here."
"What do you mean? Why can’t I use mana?"
"I think this cage we’re trapped in is an item that controls mana."
"What? No matter how smart a Cyclops is, there’s no way it could make an item like this."
"The Cyclops didn’t make it. I think it obtained an item excavated from a dungeon by chance."
"Hmm!"
Only then did Mandy understand.
It would not be strange for any kind of item to appear in a dungeon.
After all, Neo Seoul existed thanks to items obtained from dungeons.
"Ha! So that means we’ve become the Cyclopes’ lunchboxes now."
The reason she and Gim Sang-sik were still alive was that the Cyclopes were not hungry yet.
Well, if they had devoured all the personnel at the shelter, they would have had more than full stomachs.
Mandy clenched her fist and said.
"What happened to Team 7? Did you see them?"
"No. I lost consciousness too, so……"
"How dare they strike me from behind. If we get out of here alive, I will never forgive them."
Mandy swore revenge.
The position of Supervisor in Neo Seoul was not won in a poker game. She had the skill and ability to match it.
If she could just return safely to Neo Seoul, she could deal with Team 7 easily.
The problem was that she had to escape this place safely first.
That was when.
Thud! Thud!
Heavy footsteps echoed through the cave.
It was clearly the sound of Cyclopes returning.
Gim Sang-sik’s complexion changed completely.
"The Cyclopes are……. *Sob*! We’re going to die."
His face turned pale as a sheet.
He was an ordinary person, not an Awakened like Mandy.
He had maintained his composure until now, but at the appearance of the Cyclopes, he completely crumbled.
Mandy comforted him.
"Calm down. We are not going to die."
"How? How can we face those monsters that not even the attacks of Awakened work on……"
"……."
Mandy could not answer.
She was equally grim.
The monster called Cyclops was the natural enemy of the Awakened.
Especially for magic-type Awakened like her, it was nothing short of a calamity.
Even now, no method came to mind for dealing with the Cyclopes.
Thud! Thud!
The footsteps grew louder, and soon the Cyclopes revealed themselves.
*Grrr!*
Cyclopes approaching with their single eyes gleaming.
Seen up close, they were even more terrifying.
"Ugh!"
Gim Sang-sik curled up and wrapped his head in both hands. His eyes lost focus, and drool trickled from his mouth.
Gim Sang-sik was going mad from the unique aura emanating from the Cyclopes. It was one of the reasons those who were not Awakened could not stand against demonic beasts.
The three Cyclopes had blood all around their mouths, as if they had just finished hunting somewhere. Yet seemingly still hungry, they looked around for prey.
The two people trapped in the cage came into the Cyclopes’ view.
*Grrr!*
Thud! Thud!
The Cyclopes strode closer.
There were three Cyclopes, but only two prey.
They fought over who would eat them.
The massive cave shook as if it would collapse at any moment.
The winner was the largest Cyclops.
It quickly subdued the other two and walked over arrogantly.
As the Cyclops drew closer, Mandy’s face turned deathly dark.
*Screech!*
Finally, the cage door opened, and the Cyclops’s massive hand reached for Gim Sang-sik.
Perhaps because the item’s effect disappeared when the door opened, the force suppressing her mana vanished.
"Get away!"
Mandy hastily launched Wind Cutter, blades of wind. But her attack dissipated futilely.
It failed to pierce through the Cyclops’s formidable magic resistance.
However, her attack was enough to provoke the Cyclops.
*Grrr!*
The Cyclops changed targets and grabbed Mandy.
"Ugh!"
As enormous force constricted her, Mandy let out a groan. Her consciousness grew hazy from the tremendous pressure.
The Cyclops brought the dazed Mandy toward its mouth.
*Eloy!*
It was when Mandy desperately called someone’s name.
*Swoosh!*
A strange sound reached Mandy’s ears.
It was the kind of sound a stream of water made passing through a narrow passage.
But this was a cave deep in the desert.
There was no way a waterway could pass through.
Mandy thought she was hearing hallucinations on the verge of death.
But the Cyclopes’ reactions were strange.
As if a massive enemy had invaded, the Cyclopes raised their clubs and glared in the direction of the sound.
*Rumble!*
Even at that moment, the strange sound was growing louder.
The leader Cyclops detected the ominous atmosphere and shoved Mandy back into the cage. Then it went to the other Cyclopes and glared ahead.
*What is happening?*
Mandy, who had barely saved her life, looked at the Cyclopes.
The capillaries in her eyes had burst from the pressure when the Cyclops grabbed her, making it difficult to see.
That was when.
*Boom!*
An enormous amount of sand surged into the cave.
The noise Mandy had thought was water was actually the sound of sand flowing through the cave.
The problem was that the speed at which the sand flowed through the cave was beyond imagination.
The sand surged directly toward the Cyclopes like a tidal wave.
*Uwoooark!*
*Kwooo!*
The Cyclopes roared and resisted the sand.
But no matter how massive the Cyclopes were, they could not push back all the sand filling the cave.
*Kwa-kwa-kwa!*
Like water jets fired at high pressure, the sand rushed in with tremendous force.
The Cyclopes swung their clubs wildly. But the sand did not yield at all; instead, it struck their bodies even more fiercely.
*Kuuwooor!*
The Cyclopes let out roars.
They were not roars to threaten an enemy.
They were closer to screams of terror. But Mandy and Gim Sang-sik could not know that.
Because they had both lost consciousness just before then.
*Crunch!*
In the meantime, the sand that had flooded the cave rotated at tremendous speed, grinding up the Cyclopes.
Their magic-resistant hide was ground away by the sand, soon revealing crimson muscle.
Their muscles, boasting overwhelming mass and strength, were torn away by the sand, revealing the bones hidden within. But even those were ground away by the sand in an instant.
Unfortunately for the Cyclopes, the cave was the worst possible terrain to maximize the power of the sand.
In the enclosed cave with nowhere to escape, the sand spun like a blender, grinding the massive demonic beasts called Cyclopes without a trace.
*Crunch!*
The terrifying noise of the sand spinning at high speed swallowed even the desperate screams of the Cyclopes.
***
Mandy and Gim Sang-sik groaned and regained consciousness almost simultaneously.
"Where is this?"
"Ugh!"
Soon, a white cloth covering the sky came into their blinking sights.
Then, a stranger’s voice was heard.
"You’ve come to your senses. That’s a relief."
"Huh!"
A man came into the sight of Mandy, who instinctively took a defensive posture.
It was a man wearing a hat pulled low over a dark red robe. Because of that, his face could not be seen.
Mandy readied Wind Cutter as she asked.
"Who are you?"
"Just someone passing through this place. I’m not an enemy, so relax."
The man answered as he removed the hat he had been wearing.
Long hair hanging down to his shoulders and pale white skin.
A slender frame, quite handsome features, and a gentle smile made for a striking impression.
Most of all, what stood out was his deep gaze.
His eyes, like black jewels, were deep and clear to the point that his inner thoughts were unreadable.
Confirming that there was no hostility in his eyes, Mandy asked carefully.
"Did you save us from the Cyclopes?"
"Of course not. I was passing by this area and happened to find you collapsed."
"You found us?"
"Yes! You were unconscious, trapped in something like a cage. I thought it would be dangerous to leave you there, so I moved you here."
At the man’s answer, Mandy placed a hand on her head for a moment.
Her head was throbbing.
She remembered the scene of an enormous amount of sand pouring into the cave.
*Then were we swept away by the quicksand?*
She could not know why quicksand had poured into the Cyclopes’ cave.
She was not curious about what had happened to the Cyclopes either.
What was important was that they had survived being swept up in such enormous quicksand.
Not only that, they had been luckily swept outside and received help from someone passing by nearby.
Their luck could not get any better than this.
Behind the man, a Bactrian camel loaded with luggage was visible.
Where they were lying, wooden poles had been erected with a white cloth canopy to block the sunlight.
Thanks to that, they were safe.
Mandy bowed her head.
"Thank you. We survived thanks to you."
"Don’t mention it."
"I will definitely repay this kindness. What is your name?"
The man answered with a smile.
"Jeon! My name is Jeon."