Chapter 165

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Translated by Pratt

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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The next morning, the Pegasus Raid Force departed from the magic stone mine. There was a worn-out look on the faces of those leaving the magic stone mine. Most of the raid force had spent the previous night partying without restraint, as if it were the last night of their lives. The aftereffects showed up on the day of departure. Even so, Lee Ji-ryeong said nothing. That was because he knew that the moment they entered the desert, whether they wanted to or not, they would have to steel themselves. There had been thirty vehicles when they entered the magic stone mine, but when they left, that number had risen to forty. That was because the vehicles carrying the West District Awakened had joined them. The sight of forty vehicles charging across the desert at once was spectacular. As the vehicles moved, dust billowed up like clouds. Mandy joined Zeon, Brielle, and Levin in their vehicle.

Sinking deep into her seat, Mandy said, “This is nice. Going with other people was always awfully uncomfortable.”

The position of Supervisor was an uncomfortable one for others to be around.

No one liked a person who monitored their movements and reported them to City Hall.

That was why most people excluded or avoided Supervisors dispatched from City Hall.

Mandy asked Zeon, “By the way, do you happen to know what kind of dungeon this is?”

“I don’t. I heard it was buried deep in the sand, so they weren’t able to identify it.”

“The Pegasus Raid Force is impressive. A dungeon buried deep under the sand is hard to detect, and yet they still found it.”

“I suppose they must have an excellent scout.”

“That’s right. According to the rumors, the Pegasus Raid Force’s scout has an exceptionally sharp dungeon-detection ability.”

“Then they must get a lot of scouting offers.”

“That’s why the Pegasus Raid Force is said to manage him very carefully.”

“Do you know who it is?”

“Even so, I’m still a Supervisor, so I at least know the personnel records.”

Every raid force in Neo Seoul had to submit its personnel records to City Hall.

In Neo Seoul, the personnel records submitted by raid forces were classified and stored as top secret.

Naturally, Supervisors had the authority to read them.

“The one leading the Pegasus Raid Force’s scouting team is a man named Gesling. He’s both the scout and the leader. Under him are Ichiwoo, the dungeon mapmaker, Obroi, the guide, and Macnine, the protector. The four of them form a team.”

“Protector?”

“A martial Awakened. He serves as the one who protects the scouting team with his outstanding combat strength.”

“I see.”

“Anyway, all four are outstanding Awakened. That’s why Lee Ji-ryeong treasures them greatly.”

“I can see why.”

Zeon nodded.

Finding dungeons in the desert was by no means an easy task.

It was the kind of probability people compared to finding a needle in a sea of sand.

It was the scouting team that dramatically increased those odds.

The better the scouting team a raid force possessed, the higher the chance that it would find and conquer more dungeons.

Naturally, Lee Ji-ryeong had no choice but to cherish them.

As she looked at Zeon’s profile, Mandy suddenly had a thought.

‘Wait. A great many dungeons are buried under the sand. Finding those buried dungeons is the scouting team’s job, and then this man…’

He was the world’s only sand mage.

Naturally, he possessed outstanding dominion over sand, and he had already proven his ability in the battle against Balrog.

Even if Balrog had just Awakened and was extremely weakened, it was still a calamity-class demonic beast.

Someone capable of subduing such a demonic beast could naturally find even dungeons sleeping deep beneath the sand with ease.

‘Just how many dungeons has he found and conquered?’

Curiosity welled up in her like a flood, but she could not bring herself to ask him directly.

It was then.

Zeon, who had been staring absentmindedly out the window, suddenly opened his mouth.

“There are watchers.”

“Pardon? What do you mean? Watchers?”

“Someone is hiding on that sand hill over there and watching this procession.”

The place Zeon indicated was an unusually tall sand mountain.

At a glance, the sand mountains of the desert did not look very tall, but in reality, many of them reached hundreds of meters.

The sand mountain Zeon pointed to was one such place.

The sand mountain, hundreds of meters high, glittered gold under the sunlight.

Mandy narrowed her eyes and stared, but saw nothing.

“There are watchers there?”

“Yes.”

“Really?”

“There are two of them. Ah, they’ve disappeared now.”

The figures Zeon’s senses had caught disappeared.

It was obvious they had either used a concealment skill or left the area.

If they had been a little closer, he might have been able to track their movements as they retreated.

But the buggy was already moving farther away at high speed, and their movements were too stealthy, so he ended up losing their trail.

Levin asked, “Hyung, could it have been that guy from yesterday?”

“Possibly…”

“Things don’t feel normal right from the start.”

Mandy cut into the conversation between the two.

“That guy from yesterday?”

“Ah, Levin said he saw a suspicious person yesterday.”

“A suspicious person?”

“It’s hard to explain in words, but he said it was someone who did not suit the mine.”

“Is that so?”

Mandy frowned.

The beginning of things was always important.

If something impure had already drifted in from the start like this, then there was a high chance that more obstructions would appear later.

“Could it be scavengers?”

“Maybe.”

“But with this many people moving together, would scavengers really target us?”

There were nearly three hundred seventy Awakened alone, and more than forty vehicles.

It was enough military strength to wipe out any large demonic beast in an instant.

No matter how fearless scavengers were, they should never have been able to touch a force of this scale.

“They probably only came to observe. You don’t need to worry too much. Even if it were a scavenger group, at most they’d only number a few dozen.”

The scavengers were the kind of people tough enough to survive in a desert where not a single blade of grass grew.

But even so, forming large groups in the desert, where even getting enough to eat was difficult, was not easy.

That was why most scavenger groups consisted of anywhere from a few dozen to a bit over a hundred people.

With that level of strength, raiding the Pegasus Raid Force was impossible.

They would be annihilated instantly before they even got close.

Zeon nodded at Mandy’s words.

“That may be true.”

“We still have a long way to go, so get some rest. I should get some shut-eye too.”

Mandy leaned deep into her seat and closed her eyes.

***

“Why’d you want to pull back? We could’ve watched a little longer.”

“I didn’t like the feeling.”

“What feeling?”

“It felt like something was sweeping across my whole body.”

As the woman answered, Aslan found himself frowning without realizing it.

The owners of the gazes that had been watching the Pegasus Raid Force just before were none other than Aslan and the woman.

They had been observing the Pegasus Raid Force from afar.

They had been trying to determine its exact scale.

And then, all of a sudden, the woman had grabbed Aslan by the scruff of the neck and dragged him several kilometers away.

All that time, he had been hauled along like luggage.

There was no way the words coming out of him could be pleasant.

“What the hell are you talking about, something sweeping across you? There was nothing there.”

“I definitely felt it.”

“Ah, seriously…”

“One more word and I’ll tear your mouth apart.”

“Ghk!”

Aslan hurriedly shut his mouth.

Traveling together had made him forget for a moment, but the woman was an assassin.

And one of a rank so high that Aslan could not even be compared to her.

He was not someone who could casually backtalk her.

If he got on her nerves, he could lose his life before he even realized it.

He had seen several people die that way.

The woman’s name was Duduen.

She was a B-rank assassin.

Duduen said, “Let’s go back.”

“No, we need to gather more information.”

“I don’t like the feeling. We return and make our report like this.”

“All right. Dammit!”

Aslan nodded as if he had no choice.

The two mounted the Bactrian camels they had prepared in advance.

Evolved Bactrian camels were the scavengers’ finest means of transport.

No matter how long they ran in the desert, they did not tire, and their noses could detect the presence of other demonic beasts like radar, allowing them to avoid danger.

Because of that, scavengers always rode Bactrian camels.

“Let’s go!”

They galloped across the desert atop the Bactrian camels.

The camels sped toward their destination at a terrifying pace.

After running for quite some time, they arrived at a place where countless tents and a herd of Bactrian camels were lined up.

There were well over a hundred tents visible at a glance, and the people outside were several times that number.

Even though that many people were present, it was strange how little noise there was.

Duduen and Aslan pushed through the people and headed toward the center of the encampment.

At the center was a fairly large oasis, and in front of it stood a particularly large tent.

In front of the tent burned a campfire, like the ones before the other tents, and over it roasted an unidentified chunk of meat.

In front of the campfire sat a large man tearing at the meat, while beside him a sturdily built woman diligently applied oil to it.

And around them, children ran about noisily.

In a certain light, it even looked peaceful.

Aslan and Duduen approached the man.

“Captain!”

“We’re back, Urtian.”

At their voices, the man raised his head.

He had the rugged face of a man.

His face was covered in tattoos whose meaning could not be understood.

And yet what stood out more than the tattoos were his pointed ears.

The man was not human, but an elf.

The elf called Urtian opened his mouth.

“You both worked hard. Sit and eat some of this. This sand ogre meat is fantastic.”

The meat roasting over the campfire was none other than sand ogre.

The woman tending Urtian’s plate cut pieces of the sand ogre meat and placed them on dishes.

Then she handed them to the two.

“Eat up, Aslan. Duduen.”

“Thank you, Deborah.”

“We’ll eat well.”

Aslan voraciously devoured the meat on his plate, while Duduen removed the hood of her robe.

At last her appearance was revealed.

Skin as dark as black crystal, irises like black gemstones, and pointed ears.

She too was an elf.

But she was far darker and blacker than ordinary elves.

That was why her comrades called her a dark elf.

The two of them ate the sand ogre meat hungrily.

Sand ogre was by no means an easy demonic beast to catch.

It was a rare creature that was only caught once every few years.

Watching the two eat, Urtian said, “We got lucky and managed to catch it. The others were given enough to share too, so eat your fill.”

“Thank you, Urtian.”

“By the way, what was this expedition like? I heard the scale was quite large.”

“There are nearly forty vehicles and close to four hundred Awakened.”

The one who answered was Aslan.

“So that many Awakened were mobilized? Then it looks like they found a large dungeon somewhere.”

“That seems likely. If that many people were mobilized, then they must also have an overabundance of food and supplies.”

“Really?”

Urtian’s expression turned interested.

Then Duduen cautiously spoke.

“Wouldn’t it be better to pass on this raid?”

“Why?”

“I don’t like the feeling.”

“Is that so?”

It was then.

“We can’t. We’ve already reached our limit. If we don’t secure provisions this time, there will be people starving to death.”

Someone objected and walked over.

He looked to be in his mid-to-late thirties.

Unlike Urtian, he was human.

Urtian looked at him.

“Comac.”

“Captain, we need food. Right now.”

The man called Comac spoke with force.

At that, Urtian smirked and looked at Duduen.

“You heard him, didn’t you? The Red Storm Corps needs food right now.”

“Urtian!”

“Then tell me everything you’ve found out so far.”

In Urtian’s voice, captain of the massive scavenger force known as the Red Storm Corps, where elves and humans had united, there was an irresistibly commanding strength.