Chapter 386

“Pathfinder, huh…”

Zeon mulled over the word Mandy had mentioned earlier.

There was something about the sound of it that didn’t sit right.

He didn’t know exactly where Sichuan was, the place Jang Wuhang had mentioned.

It was in the opposite direction from where Zeon had wandered, and far too distant besides.

If Jang Wuhang’s words were true, Sichuan and Neo Seoul were separated by more than 3,000 kilometers in a straight line.

Zeon had no knowledge of what was happening in such a faraway place.

It wasn’t surprising if a colony existed in a place he knew nothing about.

After all, Zeon’s knowledge of China was almost nonexistent.

Like Korea, China had collapsed completely during the Great Cataclysm.

Especially the areas bordering Korea had been wiped off the map, so thoroughly that now, over a hundred years later, few even remembered the name “China.”

Thanks to Dyoden, Zeon knew of China, but most people probably didn’t even know such a country had ever existed.

Dyoden had never explained why, but he didn’t seem to hold a good opinion of China.

“So, they built an underground city… Just how many lives were sacrificed for it?”

He’d heard that, in the past, China’s population had once been as numerous as grains of sand along the shore. But most of them must have died or been devoured by monsters during the Great Cataclysm.

And yet, they had survived, tenaciously, long enough to construct a vast underground city. That alone spoke of their tremendous tenacity.

“What were the odds that someone who set out from over 3,000 kilometers away would just happen to reach Neo Seoul? That can’t be explained by luck alone. He must be extremely capable…”

Zeon looked toward City Hall.

By now, Jin Geumho had likely finished meeting with Jang Wuhang.

“Well, I’m sure he judged the situation appropriately.”

To be honest, Zeon was curious about Jang Wuhang’s true intentions. But no matter what kind of scheme he might be hiding, Zeon wasn’t particularly worried.

After all, his opponent was Jin Geumho.

The man who had essentially rebuilt Neo Seoul from the ground up on his own.

Thanks to his powerful leadership, this vast city could exist in a world reduced to ruin.

Deceiving a man like that or plotting anything under his nose would be far from easy.

“Wow!”

Suddenly, Lemura’s delighted exclamation rang from the room.

Followed by Brielle’s voice.

“Did you see that? That’s a spirit.”

“So pretty!”

“Isn’t she? Say hello, her name’s Lili.”

“Hi, Lili!”

After Lemura’s shy greeting, Lili let out her trademark giggle.

Inside the room, Brielle had summoned Lili to introduce her to Lemura.

The laughter of the two girls spilled from under the door.

Zeon left them to play and stepped outside.

It was late at night, and there weren’t many people in the streets.

He walked through the quiet roads, eventually leaving the slums behind.

His destination was the desert.

For most, walking into the desert alone in the dead of night was suicide, but not for Zeon.

Once deep into the desert, Zeon took a moment to steady his breathing.

The reason he’d come out to the desert in the middle of the night was to check something.

“At that time, I’m sure the rock crocodile’s core was absorbed into me.”

He’d fought countless monsters, but this was the first time a monster’s core had been absorbed into his body on its own.

Something had changed inside him because of it. But up until now, he’d been too busy to examine it.

Now that he had time, he needed to understand the change.

He needed to be fully aware of his condition to react to any unforeseen danger.

Standing atop the sand, Zeon focused inward.

A vast desert of rolling, golden dunes appeared before him.

This was the essence of a sand mage.

And Zeon’s own essence as well.

He was familiar with the sight.

It was the same inner landscape he saw whenever he turned his gaze inward.

But today, it felt slightly different.

A subtle foreign presence.

Zeon tilted his head.

He had never felt anything like this since awakening as a sand mage.

He focused on the anomaly.

After long concentration, he finally identified the source.

“It’s you.”

Buried alone in the fine sand was a tiny pebble.

Zeon realized this was the core of the rock crocodile.

The rock crocodile was a fusion of a golem and a crocodile.

A unique lifeform that had never existed before, and likely never would again.

Its core had been absorbed into Zeon’s body and now remained in crystalline form.

Zeon focused his consciousness on the core.

It was an attempt to read its information and commune with it.

He lost track of time, entirely absorbed in the process.

When he finally opened his eyes again, the sun was already high overhead.

“Haa…”

Zeon let out a shallow breath.

Standing in place and maintaining such intense concentration had left him with a splitting headache. But compared to what he had gained over the night, it was a trivial price.

“Sand Soldier!”

Suddenly, Zeon summoned his sand soldiers.

In an instant, dozens of them rose before him.

The Sand Soldiers were one of Zeon’s most used skills.

They were especially effective against low-tier Awakened or swarms of monsters.

But they had a clear weakness.

Because they were made of sand, they could be easily destroyed.

Of course, he could simply summon new ones, but the inefficiency was undeniable.

Now, however, Zeon had discovered a new possibility within the golem core he had absorbed.

“Enhance!”

As soon as he spoke, the Sand Soldiers began to change.

Tss, tss, tss!

The coarse texture of sand was replaced by smooth stone.

It was the power contained within the rock crocodile’s core.

A power that transformed sand into rock, reinforcing it.

This was how the rock crocodile had grown its size.

In the blink of an eye, the Sand Soldiers became stone warriors.

At this point, it was almost inappropriate to keep calling them “Sand Soldiers.” “Stone Soldiers” might be more fitting.

But Zeon had no intention of changing the name.

Regardless of appearance, they were created by the authority of the sand mage.

“What happens if I dismiss them?”

He immediately dismissed the soldiers.

Boom!

The moment he did, the soldiers crumbled.

The shattered stone pieces returned to sand.

Born from sand, and to sand they returned.

Zeon looked around.

Now that he understood the power of the rock crocodile’s core, he needed to assess how powerful it really was.

Looking up into the sky, he called out.

“Gaia!”

–Pii!

At his call, a massive whale let out a cute chirp and came flying from high above.

She shot down like a meteor, then landed as lightly as a feather, completely ignoring the laws of gravity.

Zeon looked at her, slightly surprised.

“You’ve gotten even bigger.”

After absorbing the Reaper’s Scythe, she had grown to about seven or eight meters.

Now, she was nearing ten.

At this rate, she’d soon be the size of her mother.

Though her body had grown, her face was still adorably the same.

–Pii!

Gaia gently circled around Zeon.

For her size, it was a gentle nudge, but it made Zeon stagger.

He smiled and said,

“You’re probably a match for most monsters now.”

–Piii!

“Can I ride on you?”

–Pii!

“Thanks!”

Zeon climbed onto her back.

Now that she’d grown so large, the ride felt far more stable.

As he mounted, Gaia let out her characteristic cry and soared skyward.

In no time, she pierced through the thick clouds and climbed to a great height.

Above the clouds, an ocean of dazzling stars appeared before them.

Starlight rained down upon them.

It was a sight invisible from the ground.

Bathed in radiant starlight, Gaia’s massive body gleamed brilliantly.

Gliding through the heavens, she looked truly happy.

Now Zeon understood why she spent so much time up here.

Just as the sea suited whales, the sky was Gaia’s natural place.

Especially since there were no flying monsters nearby capable of threatening her.

At best, a wyvern might pose a threat, but even they no longer dared to attack Gaia in her current form.

At least in this region, no monster could harm her.

Even now, a distant flock of flying beasts spotted Gaia and abruptly changed direction.

Like prey fleeing from a predator.

Thanks to that, Zeon could calmly focus on his original purpose, scouting monsters, while riding on Gaia.

What would normally take three or four days of high-speed travel by car took only moments on Gaia’s back.

Soon, a moving horde of monsters entered Zeon’s field of vision.

Screeee!

An unsettling noise came from a swarm of monsters that resembled giant locusts.

Zeon frowned.

“Red locusts? What are those doing here?”

Red locusts were small monsters, about a meter in size.

Killing one wasn’t difficult. The problem was that they moved in swarms.

Hundreds at minimum, often thousands.

Despite their small size, they had voracious appetites, there was nothing they wouldn’t eat.

Once they descended on something, not even bones would remain.

Monsters without protective barriers were obliterated in seconds if caught by them.

The real issue was that this area wasn’t part of their natural habitat.

Red locusts were monsters native to far-off southern regions.

“Has the desert’s monster terrain shifted again?”

That wasn’t good news for humanity or Neo Seoul.

It meant they would have to rewrite their painstakingly compiled monster terrain maps.

And the red locusts themselves were a major threat.

Their titan-like shells deflected most attacks.

With frightening defense, razor-sharp jaws, and a predator’s temperament, they were born hunters.

Once targeted, even a survivor group could vanish without a trace.

“This is good. At least I’ve spotted them now.”

For the moment, it was only a few hundred, but once they fed and began mating, their numbers would explode to thousands, even tens of thousands.

That’s why survivor colonies within red locust territory regularly culled their numbers.

Missing that window meant a cataclysm.

How they ended up this far north, Zeon didn’t know.

What mattered was this, if they weren’t exterminated now, a disaster was guaranteed.

Zeon turned to Gaia.

“Wait here.”

–Pii!

“It won’t take long.”

Reassuring her, Zeon dove straight toward the ground.

He plummeted like a missile, but the sand rose to catch him gently.

Screeee!

Startled by Zeon’s sudden appearance, the red locusts froze in confusion.

Only for a moment.

Then, with drool dripping from their mandibles, they charged.

At that moment, Zeon muttered,

“Summon: Enhanced Sand Soldiers.”

Fwoosh!

At his words, a swarm of Sand Soldiers rose from the ground.

They were the stone-reinforced versions.

Zeon gave them an order.

“Don’t leave a single one alive, wipe them all out.”

Rumble!

At his command, the enhanced Sand Soldiers rushed into the locust swarm.

Screeee!

The red locusts bit down with their fearsome jaws, but their teeth shattered against the stone soldiers’ bodies.

Boom!

Stone fists smashed into heads and torsos.

Screeee!

Their shrieks were hideous as red locust bodies exploded.

The slaughter had begun.