Episode 63
The Fear unleashed by the Flame Wolf leader shook the Awakened’s minds.
“Kuhk!”
“Damn it!”
The Awakened momentarily lost their balance and staggered.
Conversely, the Flame Wolves gained courage and strength from their leader’s Fear, charging even more fiercely.
The already unfavorable battle tilted even more rapidly.
“Fuck! These sons of bitches….”
Elroi swept back her lush blonde hair and spat out a curse.
Red blood flowed down the shaft of the Mad Gumiho.
She didn’t know how many Flame Wolves she had killed.
Filled with frenzy, she killed and killed again.
Even so, the Flame Wolves did not decrease.
When a gap opened, another bastard filled it, rushing in without fear of death.
“Kuaaak!”
One Awakened who had been barely holding on was bitten by a Flame Wolf and fell from the bus.
Dozens of Flame Wolves swarmed the fallen Awakened.
The Awakened instantly became prey for the Flame Wolves and disappeared from the world. Yet, seemingly still hungry, the Flame Wolves continued to charge.
“I’ll sweep them all away.”
Elroi threw the Mad Gumiho into the sky.
In midair, the spear instantly split into nine.
At Elroi’s gesture, the nine spears rose high into the air.
An incredibly intense light burst from the mana connecting the nine spears.
“Nine Spear Strike.”
The strongest skill Elroi could currently use unfolded.
BOOOOM!
A rain of spears poured down, striking the Flame Wolves charging at the armored bus.
Hundreds of Flame Wolves were swept away in an instant.
“Haa! Haa!”
Elroi retrieved the Mad Gumiho and gasped for breath.
Its power was extreme, and so was the mana consumption.
Her mana was on the verge of hitting rock bottom. But she couldn’t rest indefinitely.
“Kwaaaah!”
Countless Flame Wolves filled the empty spaces and charged again.
Though hundreds had died, it didn’t even show.
“Fuck! There’s no end to killing them. Where the hell did all these demonic beasts crawl out from?”
She knew the reason too.
That leader was the problem.
No matter what demonic beast group it was, when a leader was born, their numbers grew massively and their cohesion increased.
Forming a massive army took but a moment.
Unless the leader was killed, the Flame Wolves would endlessly expand their forces.
She had to kill it.
The problem was that killing it was almost impossible.
The Flame Wolf leader only watched from afar and did not participate in the hunt.
As if to say they were not worth playing with.
“I have to kill that bastard.”
Elroi ground her teeth.
But merely defending the armored bus was overwhelming, so she couldn’t even dare to try.
It was then.
“Hwoooong!”
Suddenly, a strong wind was felt from behind.
When she turned around, she saw a sandstorm blowing in.
Dense sand covered her entire field of vision.
Without thinking further, Elroi shouted to the driver.
“Drive into the sandstorm.”
Whether the driver heard her or not, he drove the car in the direction the sand was flying.
The massive armored bus quickly disappeared into the sand. Still, the Flame Wolves persistently followed. But their numbers had notably decreased.
Elroi muttered, wielding the Mad Gumiho.
“So Heaven hasn’t completely abandoned us after all.”
***
Jeon glanced back.
The bus was hidden by the dense sandstorm and could not be seen.
It was the sandstorm he had called forth.
He saw the Flame Wolves caught in the sandstorm wandering around in confusion.
At this level, Elroi and the Awakened would be able to hold out for the time being.
Now he had to resolve the problem.
Jeon unfolded Sand Step.
“Swish!”
Jeon’s body slid across the sand as if skiing, flying forward.
“Kwaaaah!”
The Flame Wolves that spotted him charged.
At that moment, dozens of strands of sand formed beneath Jeon’s feet.
The sand strands that rose like vines climbing a wall shot straight toward the Flame Wolves.
“THUD-THUD-THUD-THUD!”
The Flame Wolves couldn’t even scream before being pierced by the sand strands and losing their lives.
Jeon didn’t stop for even a moment.
Hundreds of Flame Wolves were impaled by the sand strands and died before they could even approach Jeon.
Jeon arrived in front of the Flame Wolf leader in an instant.
“Grrrrr!”
The Flame Wolf leader bared its teeth at Jeon.
The firelight dwelling in its eyes deepened.
Through the demonic beast’s unique instinct, it realized Jeon was a dangerous existence.
Jeon looked at the Flame Wolf leader and spoke.
“You’re about B-Rank. If you’d had a little more time, reaching A-Rank wouldn’t have been a problem at all.”
Just as Awakened rose in rank, demonic beasts also rose in grade as experience and time accumulated.
The Flame Wolf leader before Jeon’s eyes was still a young wolf in its growth period.
Its development speed was fast precisely because of that.
If left like this, it would soon become A-Rank.
It was clear that leaving it be would become a disaster.
“Kwaaaah!”
It roared.
It unleashed its Fear. But its Fear had no effect on Jeon whatsoever.
Jeon frowned and said.
“It’s spraying spit. Filthy…….”
Indeed, the Flame Wolf’s saliva splattered onto Jeon’s chest.
The Flame Wolf’s saliva contained poison and corrosive components, capable of melting and tearing apart ordinary protective gear in an instant.
But not a single trace was left on the robe Jeon was wearing.
The robe Jeon wore was made of Leviathan leather.
It was of a far higher grade and stronger than the Flame Wolf leader.
Naturally, the Flame Wolf’s saliva could not damage it.
Then, sensing their leader’s crisis, the Flame Wolves rushed in like mad.
Their purpose was singular.
To save the leader even if they died.
But Jeon had no intention of granting them their wish.
“Summon! Sand Soldier.”
In an instant, sand rose around Jeon and took human shape in a flash.
They were Sand Soldiers.
The number of Sand Soldiers created this way reached hundreds.
“Block them!”
At Jeon’s command, the Sand Soldiers moved.
Without fear, without hesitation.
The Sand Soldiers willingly threw themselves into the Flame Wolves’ jaws.
They fought, killed, and died.
The Sand Soldiers crumbled like sandcastles upon taking heavy damage.
Even so, Jeon did not worry.
Because as long as there was mana and sand, he could summon as many Sand Soldiers as he wished again.
Sand existed infinitely, and Jeon’s mana was plentiful.
There was no problem whatsoever maintaining the Sand Soldiers.
While the Sand Soldiers blocked the Flame Wolves, Jeon approached the leader.
“Kwoooh!”
Flames surged from its mouth and tail.
When the Flame Wolf leader opened its mouth, flames of tremendous heat poured down on Jeon.
“Sorry, but this much can’t deal any damage to me.”
Jeon raised his right arm. Then, red light flashed from the Extreme Heat Gauntlet.
The red light instantly swept away the leader’s flames.
It was the Extreme Heat Gauntlet embedded with the eye of a Red Dragon.
It could be called the pinnacle of fire attributes.
Naturally, no flame skill worked before the Extreme Heat Gauntlet.
In the end, all that remained for the Flame Wolf leader was close-quarters combat, rushing in to bite and tear with its own body.
It charged forward, wielding its overwhelming size, tremendous mass, and sharp teeth and claws as weapons.
Despite its overwhelming appearance that would make one’s knees buckle, Jeon’s expression barely changed.
Just before the Flame Wolf leader’s teeth pierced his body, a sand wall appeared before Jeon.
The sand instantly devoured the Flame Wolf leader.
Jeon muttered.
“Sand Mixer.”
“GRIND!”
In an instant, fine sand particles began to rotate at tremendous speed.
The sand particles literally ground up the Flame Wolf leader like a mixer.
The Flame Wolf thrashed in agony, trying to escape the sand. But no matter how hard it struggled, escaping the rapidly spinning sand was impossible.
Its fur was torn away, and chunks of flesh were ripped off.
The sand dug into its flesh, crushing and disintegrating it.
The leader screamed in excruciating pain. But even its screams were buried by the noise of the rapidly rotating sand.
“GRIND!”
Blood splattered, and chunks of flesh flew.
The rapidly spinning sand was instantly dyed red. Still, the sand did not stop.
“Owooooo!”
“Yelp! Yelp!”
The Flame Wolves fighting the Sand Soldiers suddenly curled their tails and howled loudly.
They were the first to sense their leader’s death.
With the leader that had dominated the pack through powerful authority gone, the Flame Wolves scattered in all directions.
Only then did Jeon dispel the Sand Soldiers and Sand Mixer.
“Clack!”
A red magic stone fell in the spot where the Flame Wolf leader had been.
Everything that had comprised bones, flesh, and body disappeared, leaving only the magic stone, its essence.
He had dealt with a B-Rank demonic beast in an instant, but there was no particular light of excitement on Jeon’s face.
The path he had walked was too cruel to get excited and happy over something like this.
Something on the level of a Flame Wolf leader couldn’t even be considered a threat.
Jeon picked up the Flame Wolf leader’s magic stone and muttered.
“This would fetch quite a bit of money if sold.”
Until now, money hadn’t been necessary.
Because there was nothing to spend money on in the desert.
The Colonies excluding Neo Seoul had been too preoccupied with survival to have the leeway to develop civilization.
They used magic stones or barter instead of money as a medium of exchange. Because of that, there was no need to convert magic stones into money. But Neo Seoul was different.
Over ten million people gathered and lived in Neo Seoul.
If those living in the slums were included, it was close to twenty million.
With so many humans gathered in a cramped space, they naturally had no choice but to use money for transactions.
The higher the quality of the magic stone, the higher the price it fetched.
Especially a magic stone obtained by killing a demonic beast leader like this was worth whatever price one asked. The energy obtainable from it was qualitatively different from those mined from magic stone veins.
Jeon put the magic stone into subspace.
The pack of Flame Wolves that had filled the area was nowhere to be seen, scattered into pieces.
Until a new leader appeared, they would live scattered in small groups.
“Shall we head back?”
Having achieved his objective now, he had to return to the armored bus.
Jeon unfolded Sand Step and caught up to the armored bus in an instant.
The armored bus was still engulfed in the sandstorm, so it couldn’t perceive the situation outside at all.
However, they could feel that the Flame Wolves’ attacks were gradually lessening.
Jeon calmly entered the armored bus and dispelled the sandstorm.
As the sand obscuring their vision disappeared, Elroi and the other Awakened realized the situation.
“What the?”
“The wolf bastards all ran away?”
“We lived. We’re alive.”
The Awakened and miners embraced each other and rejoiced. But Elroi couldn’t rejoice as purely as them.
Because she knew the current situation was by no means natural.
Elroi, who had entered the bus, looked at Jeon.
Jeon was sitting in a chair with his arms crossed.
The thick scent of blood wafted from him.
Her half-elf sense of smell could not be deceived.
‘That bastard definitely did something.’
Otherwise, the current situation didn’t make sense.
The problem was that she couldn’t tell what Jeon had done.
‘Just what is his true identity? That damned bastard…….’