Chapter 170

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Translated by Pratt

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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Kieee!

It began with the roar of an unidentified demonic beast. Using that roar as the signal, demonic beasts resembling scorpions attacked. There were ghost-like patterns on their shells.

“Ghost scorpions.”

“Watch out for the stinger in their tails. If it hits you, it’s instant death.”

The Awakened of the Pegasus Raid Force recognized the demonic beasts at once. Like Twin Head Buffaloes, ghost scorpions were demonic beasts that lived in herds. They dug through the desert underground and made mazes of their own. Ghost scorpion venom had the effect of hardening sand. It hardened it as solidly as concrete. Ghost scorpions dug through sand, sprayed venom on the walls, and solidified them. In that way they expanded their territory and turned the entire underground into a labyrinth. Once a maze-like nest was formed that way, their numbers multiplied geometrically. There was a saying that if you saw one ghost scorpion, there were hundreds nearby. Lee Ji-ryeong shouted while releasing lightning.

“Gesling! What happened? There was no mention of a ghost scorpion nest anywhere near here.”

“There definitely wasn’t one when we found the dungeon.”

Gesling answered while killing ghost scorpions. Gesling was the leader of the scouting team. The dungeon they were now heading to had also been discovered by the scouting team under his command. When they had passed through this place back then, a ghost scorpion nest definitely had not existed. If they had seen ghost scorpions, they would have led the party by another route.

“Gesling is right. Back then we didn’t see a single ghost scorpion.”

Macnine, who was on the same scouting team, backed up Gesling’s words. Lee Ji-ryeong’s face hardened.

“Then did the ghost scorpions settle here after that?”

Several months had passed since the scouting team had explored the dungeon. In that span, it would not have been strange for ghost scorpions to move in and make a nest here. The problem was that there were far too many ghost scorpions for that explanation alone. The number wriggling out was already well over several hundred. A group of that size counted as an army even among demonic beasts.

“Could it be that a queen was born?”

If so, it made sense. Rarely born queens gave birth to dozens of ghost scorpions at once.

Lee Ji-ryeong shouted, “Everyone be careful. There’s definitely a ghost scorpion queen somewhere nearby.”

“Yes!”

“Okay, captain.”

The Awakened formed a tight scrum and fought the ghost scorpions.

Even so, casualties appeared.

“Aagh!”

“Kuh!”

The Awakened stung by ghost scorpion venom thrashed on the ground with screams.

The stung area turned black and swollen, then quickly spread through the whole body.

“Kyaaa!”

“S-save me!”

Those poisoned by ghost scorpion venom writhed in agony.

“Fuck!”

“Doesn’t anyone have a potion?”

At that moment, a girl in a pointed hat stepped forward.

It was Brielle.

She fed potion little by little to the Awakened who had been stung by ghost scorpion tails. Their conditions visibly improved.

“Haa! Haa!”

“I… lived.”

The potion Brielle administered was an antidote potion she had made herself.

It was an item that circulated only in poor districts and could not be obtained in Neo Seoul.

Those whose lives were saved thanks to Brielle thanked her.

“Thank you. Thanks to you, I lived.”

“Little one! I’ll definitely repay this debt.”

“Hmph! You don’t need to repay me, so get back to fighting.”

Brielle drove them back to the battlefield again.

At that moment Levin came over to Brielle’s side.

“That’s an antidote potion, right? Did you get it at Goblin Market too?”

“Idiot!”

“Huh? Why again?”

“I made that.”

“What?”

“I said I made the antidote potion.”

“Really?”

Levin’s eyes widened in a circle.

His expression looked so foolish and amusing that Brielle snorted and said, “That’s right. The antidote potions distributed at Goblin Market are made by me.”

“I didn’t know. Wow! You’re really amazing.”

“Now do you get it? I’m just that amazing an elf.”

Brielle’s nose rose high into the sky.

Just then, Keldara approached Brielle.

She had seen Brielle saving her subordinates with antidote potion.

“Do you happen to have any antidote potion to spare?”

“I’ve got a few.”

“Please hand all of them over to us. We’ll pay you more than enough.”

Even at this very moment, more wounded were appearing.

If those stung by ghost scorpion venom were not treated quickly, they would lose their lives.

At present, there was no means of treatment other than the antidote potions Brielle had brought.

Brielle readily handed over the antidote potions.

“There are ten in all. One bottle can treat about five people.”

“Thank you.”

Keldara took the antidote potions and hurried toward the fallen.

The faster the potion was administered, the greater the chance of saving a life.

Fortunately, everyone who received the antidote potion in time was able to survive. But the lives of those caught by ghost scorpion pincers could not be saved.

Their whole bodies had been torn to pieces once caught.

No matter how many were killed, ghost scorpions kept crawling out without end.

At this rate, it seemed there would be no end.

Even then, Zeon did not move.

His gaze was fixed on the holes the ghost scorpions were crawling out of.

Krrr!

He felt a powerful vibration on a completely different level from before.

‘The queen.’

Unable to bear watching its subordinates die, the queen had stepped in herself.

‘I can’t let that continue.’

Zeon quietly moved the sand under his feet.

A mass of sand poured soundlessly into the hole.

Swooosh!

The sand that filled the hole raced forward at terrifying speed and collided with the ghost scorpion queen.

Kwagagagak!

The high-pressure sand ground away the ghost scorpion queen’s armor.

Kieee!

The agonized scream of the ghost scorpion queen echoed through the cave.

It was unmistakably a B-rank demonic beast.

Naturally, it was wrapped in a force field.

It was a sturdy protective membrane that would not flinch at ordinary physical attacks, but it was useless against the sand that flooded the narrow cave and poured in while filling every inch of it.

Thud!

One of the ghost scorpion queen’s eyes burst.

Sand invaded through the ruptured eye.

The sand attacked the ghost scorpion’s eyes, brain, esophagus, heart, and more in sequence.

The ghost scorpion queen convulsed under the sand attack occurring simultaneously from inside and outside.

Zeon muttered, “‘Claymore.'”

Boom!

In an instant, the sand inside and outside the ghost scorpion queen’s body exploded all at once.

The ghost scorpion queen burst apart without even getting out a scream.

As soon as the queen died, the ghost scorpions that had been attacking humans so fiercely panicked and scattered in all directions.

“What the hell? Are they running away?”

“We lived.”

Without knowing why the ghost scorpions were fleeing, the Awakened cheered.

Only a few people, including Lee Ji-ryeong and Cha Jin-cheol, realized that Zeon had killed the ghost scorpion queen.

‘To think he can manipulate sand that freely in the desert. That’s practically cheating.’

Zeon quietly checked the inside of the tunnel, but there was no magic stone left from the queen.

When he returned, Brielle glanced at the griffin magic stone he had separately stored.

“That one’s special.”

“How so?”

“It contains a very unusual tendency. The effect those griffins used to herd and control things may be inside it.”

“Can it be absorbed?”

“I wouldn’t recommend it. It’d be better as alchemy material.”

Zeon handed the magic stone to Brielle without much hesitation.

“Then use it well.”

“Really?”

“You know better than I do.”

Brielle hugged the magic stone happily, then tucked it into the subspace hidden in her pointed hat.

“I’ll make something amazing.”

Zeon quietly buried the remaining griffin traces beneath the sand.

There was no need to let others know that the griffin magic stone existed.

By the time the commotion settled, the buggy had broken down near the dungeon area.

Zeon placed a hand on the sand and narrowed his eyes.

A very strong dungeon was nearby.

‘How high does his rank have to be to dispose of a ghost scorpion queen that easily?’

There was a simple way to check an Awakened’s rank.

It was to check the insignia engraved on their wrist.

Some people flaunted their insignia as if showing off, but those who thought deeply about it mostly hid their insignia thoroughly.

Lee Ji-ryeong had his wrist covered by a wrist guard, and Cha Jin-cheol also completely concealed his insignia with long sleeves.

To see such a person’s insignia, one had no choice but to subdue them and check directly. But not only was there no way Zeon would be taken down that easily, this place was his domain, the desert.

Sand that he could use as a weapon was spread everywhere.

It was an overwhelmingly advantageous environment for Zeon.

Fighting Zeon in a place like this was no different from suicide.

Even if they really wanted to fight, they had to pick an environment much more advantageous to them. At the very least, it could not be a desert with nothing but sand like this.

Meanwhile, Zeon secretly checked whether a magic stone had come from the ghost scorpion queen. But no magic stone was detected anywhere.

‘Too bad, but it looks like none came out this time.’

Not every demonic beast carried a magic stone.

Even among high-rank demonic beasts, there were many that did not produce magic stones.

Like this case.

Zeon turned away without lingering.

The Pegasus Raid Force was cleaning up the battlefield that had become a complete mess.

“What a shame! We could’ve made good defensive gear from these bastards’ shells.”

“There’s nowhere to load them. Shame or not, we have no choice but to throw them away.”

They had brought dozens of transport vehicles, but there was no space there to load demonic beast carcasses.

Even if they loaded demonic beast corpses, they had to load the ones that came from the dungeon.

From experience, the corpses of demonic beasts that came from inside dungeons were more valuable.

That was why, when carrying out dungeon raids, they mostly threw away the corpses of demonic beasts they had killed in the desert like this.

Just then Lee Ji-ryeong approached Zeon.

“I’m in your debt again this time.”

“I only did what naturally had to be done.”

“I’d appreciate it if you think of it that way.”

Then Lee Ji-ryeong’s gaze turned toward Brielle.

“I heard you gave antidote potions to Keldara?”

“Yeah!”

“Their effect was impressive. Where did you get them?”

“If you go to Goblin Market, they have them.”

Brielle naturally hid the fact that she had made them herself.

“You mean the Goblin Market in the poor district?”

“Yeah!”

“That’s a shame! If we’d known beforehand, we would’ve prepared some too. In any case, thanks to you, many people survived. We’ll definitely repay this.”

“Do as you like.”

Brielle answered with a sullen expression, as if she had no interest in repayment.

In truth, she had no interest in repayment.

She did not think handing over a few antidote potions was some great act of grace.

Lee Ji-ryeong stared at Brielle for a moment, then went back to where the Pegasus Raid Force people were.

Once he was some distance away, Brielle muttered, “That was scary to death. What kind of look was that…”

“You have things you’re scared of too?”

“Of course I do. I have emotions too.”

“I thought you’d lost the feeling of fear again.”

“Ah, seriously…”

Brielle glared at Levin.

Levin whistled, pretending not to notice her gaze.

Fortunately, since there had been barely any dead people, the cleanup finished quickly.

“All right, let’s move.”

“Move out!”

The raid force got back into the vehicles and set off toward the dungeon again.

Zeon’s group also boarded their buggy and followed them.

Thunk!

How long had they traveled?

Suddenly, an ominous vibration was felt from the buggy.

Levin, who was sitting in the driver’s seat, frowned and said, “I think there’s something wrong with the drive shaft.”

“Does it look like it’ll stop immediately?”

“Not immediately, but at this rate it looks like it’ll give out by around evening.”

“Then just keep driving. We’ll reach the dungeon by evening anyway.”

“Got it, hyung!”

Levin nodded.

Even so, it had lasted quite a long time.

The other vehicles had already stopped several times, and the base team led by Jeloei had repaired them constantly.

Compared to that, the buggy Zeon was riding had made it all the way here without breaking down even once.

Levin knew that was thanks to Zeon.

Zeon had used his authority to protect it from the sand.

Even so, the vehicle could not endure the desert’s harsh environment and broke down.

Around the time the sun was setting in the desert, the buggy Zeon and the others were riding came to a complete stop. Even so, the group was not disappointed.

That was because the place where the buggy had stopped was right near where they guessed the dungeon would be.

When Zeon got down from the buggy, he felt a powerful energy beneath his feet.

“There really is a dungeon. And a very powerful one at that…”