Sand Mage of the Burnt Desert

Chapter 126

Swoosh!

“Kuhh!”

A sharp sound and a scream echoed simultaneously.

The owner of the scream, with a hole in his shoulder, rolled around on the ground.

He was a sleek, clean-shaven man.

His face, covered with a coat and a middle-aged hat, expressed shock and horror.

“Why, why are you doing this?”

At that moment, the person who had shot the hole in his shoulder landed softly.

It was a beautiful woman with alluring eyes, soft hair blowing in the wind, and a curvaceous body.

The woman, with an annoyed expression, approached with a long spear, her eyes blazing with anger.

“Are you asking because you don’t know?”

“No, you suddenly attacked a person who was just walking down the street…”

“Are you sure?”

“No, I mean…”

“Do you really think so? You’re the one who attacked an innocent person walking on the street and killed them yesterday.”

“How do you know that?”

The man’s eyes, hidden behind a middle-aged hat, wavered, and the woman with the spear snorted in laughter.

“Did you think you wouldn’t get caught even if you did something like that in Neo Seoul? You Scavenger bastard!”

“Fuck! Who are you?”

The man jumped up and shouted.

“Me? I’m the unfortunate civil servant who has to work at night because of you. Ah, I’m not a civil servant, am I? Well, whatever. I’m Mandy, and I’m being tormented at night because of you! Ah! Now it’s Eloy.”

“Mandy? Eloy? What are you talking about?”

“Anyway, it’s because of you. You bastard!”

The woman, shouting angrily, was Eloy.

Her mission was to eliminate the Scavengers who were disturbing Neo Seoul.

As the Scavengers continued their mischief, the City Hall had given Awakeneds the task of dealing with them.

Other Awakeneds could choose their missions according to their taste, but Mandy, who was contracted to the City Hall, had no choice but to accept.

As a Supervisor, she received benefits, but also had heavy responsibilities.

That was why she was dealing with a man who seemed to be a Scavenger in the middle of the night.

The man’s name was David Oh.

He was an ordinary resident of the Northern District.

At least, that was what was known about him externally. But Eloy’s investigation had revealed otherwise.

He was a Scavenger, hiding behind the facade of an ordinary office worker.

And he was incredibly vicious.

The number of Awakeneds he had hunted down had already exceeded five.

If it weren’t for Eloy’s keen senses as a half-elf, she wouldn’t have discovered his true identity until much later.

“Being caught by the City Hall’s watchdog, what shitty luck.”

“Repeat that and you’re dead!”

“Shut up. I’ll just kill you and run off to the desert. And that’ll be all.”

“What’s the point of going to the desert? You might as well get caught by me.”

“Hmph! You think people only live in Neo Seoul? There are people living in the desert too.”

“Looks like the Scavenger’s base in the desert. If you come obediently I won’t hurt you.”

“Hah! You’re the one who suddenly attacked an innocent person and made a hole in their shoulder. You think that doesn’t hurt?”

“Thinking about it, I might have been a bit too harsh. You understand, don’t you? As an office worker, I know how tough it is.”

“I don’t know! Fuck you, you bitch!”

“You don’t know? Then I’ll make you know.”

Eloy smiled coolly.

“Let’s do it. Let’s see who gets defeated first.”

David pulled out a weapon from his coat.

Chirp!

The weapon in his hand was a metal whip.

Made of special materials, it extended to five meters long when David snapped his wrist.

Eloy muttered as she saw the whip in David’s hand.

“There’s no easy way to deal with Scavengers like him. They need to be beaten senseless.”

“Die!”

At that moment, David’s whip flew towards Eloy at supersonic speed.

It was an incredible speed that no ordinary human could detect.

But Eloy was no ordinary human.

She was a half-elf and an Awakened.

Her senses were much more acute than those of other Awakeneds.

Swish!

Mandy dodged the whip by a hair’s breadth and counterattacked.

Her speed was as fast as David’s whip.

“Kuhh!”

David hastily tried to recover his whip and defend himself, but Eloy didn’t give him the chance.

Pang!

Her spear struck David’s body.

David screamed in agony as his bones broke and his muscles tore.

“Kuhh!”

“Where are you going? I’m still far from being done. You bastard, you need to be beaten to death.”

Eloy continued to mercilessly beat David with her spear.

She could have ended his life with a single slash, but she didn’t.

Her goal was not to kill David, but to extract as much information as possible from him.

For now, she would just keep him alive and continue to beat him senseless.

Thud! Pang!

The merciless violence continued for a while, and when it finally stopped, David had been minced like a piece of meat. But he was still alive.

Eloy grabbed David’s collar and said.

“Let’s have a talk now. Where is your hideout?”

* * *

The slums were noisy.

Originally, people didn’t move around much during the day when the sun was hot, but recently, the peace had been broken.

Zeon knew that the reason was the White Bear Caravan.

Since the White Bear Caravan had set up its fort outside Neo Seoul, people’s activities had increased.

The appearance of the White Bear Caravan had stimulated Neo Seoul and the slums in many ways.

The goods released by the White Bear Caravan were mostly things that couldn’t be obtained in Neo Seoul.

These goods had piqued people’s curiosity, and even during the day, they came out onto the streets.

Thanks to this, the slums, which had been quiet for a long time, were now bustling with energy. However, this atmosphere wasn’t entirely good.

At the same time, the number of incidents had also increased.

“Stand right there! If you get caught, you’re dead!”

“Shit!”

A cat-and-mouse chase took place inside the Goblin Market.

A customer had stolen something and was being pursued. However, he was soon caught by the Goblin Market guards.

The merchants, watching the customer get caught and beaten, said.

“These days, there are more and more crooks like him.”

“If they knew what kind of place this Goblin Market was, they wouldn’t dare try to steal.”

“It’s been like this since the White Bear Caravan came.”

Zeon overheard the merchants talking.

He had come to the Goblin Market to buy something and witnessed the commotion.

The stolen item was a dagger released by the White Bear Caravan.

It was said to be a high-quality dagger, strengthened by a skilled Enchanter.

An Enchanter itself was a rare profession, and the dagger’s material was excellent, making it a valuable item.

Its enchantment was an increase in penetration power.

According to the Goblin Market’s verification, it had at least a 30% increase in penetration power compared to other daggers of the same grade.

Items of this magnitude were not easily available in the market.

To some extent, the mindset of the thief was understandable.

Of course, this didn’t apply to Zeon.

The goods released by the White Bear Caravan were quite excellent, but they were not enough to pique Zeon’s interest.

What Zeon needed were not those weapons, they were small everyday necessitates.

The Awakened guard of the Goblin Market took out a small disk from the thief’s arms.

“What’s this? Where did you steal it from?”

“Bullshit! That’s mine. I bought it from the caravan with my own money.”

“Lying bastard! We’ll confiscate this for now.”

“Give it back! It’s mine!”

“Stop making a big fuss, you thief!”

The Goblin Goblin Market merchants yelled and beat the thief, but Zeon shook his head and continued shopping.

Just then, someone approached Zeon quietly.

“Don’t you think it’s unnecessary to buy things like this from the Goblin Market?”

The one speaking so naturally was Yoo Se-hee, the head of the Goblin Market.

Behind her, was her escort, the Black Lion.

Zeon handed over the money to the merchant and said.

“But this place is the most trustworthy, after all.”

“That’s true.”

Yoo Se-hee nodded as if it was obvious.

“So, I came here. What about you?”

“I came out because it was noisy outside.”

Yoo Se-hee gazed at the thief, who was struggling to get back the disk that had been taken away by the Awakened guard.

Zeon chuckled.

“It seems to be happening often these days.”

“Oh, it happens several times a day. There are many suspicious people coming in.”

“Don’t you usually strictly screen people’s identities?”

“That’s true, but you can’t completely block it. With the current lack of manpower, there are gaps.”

“That’s quite serious.”

“It’s serious. It’s all because of the White Bear Caravan. They’ve thrown a stone into the quiet pond and caused ripples.”

“The shockwave is quite big. I can hear the sounds of disturbances all around.”

“That’s proof that Neo Seoul isn’t as perfect as they think. If it were, it wouldn’t be shaken this much by just a small impact.”

“That’s true.”

“I suppose it will continue to be noisy for a while. The poison has already been released into the Goblin Market.”

They were talking about the goods released by the White Bear Caravan.

Zeon agreed.

“Poison? That sounds about right.”

“We’ll have to see how far the poison spreads. Until then, it will be quite noisy.”

“Whatever. We just have to endure it.”

“Ah, you’re optimistic. Well, someone with your abilities probably won’t be affected much by this chaos. It’s a bit enviable.”

“Enviable? I also hate noisy things.”

Kwaang!

Just then, a massive explosion occurred nearby.

A fierce flame and shockwave engulfed the area.

“Shit!”

Yoo Se-hee’s guard, the Black Lion, quickly created a protective barrier to shield her from the explosion.

Thanks to that, she escaped without a single injury.

“What?”

Yoo Se-hee looked around with a dismayed expression at the site of the explosion.

It was where they had just subdued the Awakened who had stolen goods a moment ago.

Not only the Awakened who had stolen the goods but also the Awakened guard from the Goblin Market who had subdued him, along with the nearby shops, were swept away by the explosion without a trace.

“What happened? What’s going on?”

“It seems like the one who was caught earlier exploded.”

“You’re saying that a person exploded like a bomb? That’s impossible.”

“Maybe the item he had was the one that exploded.”

“That’s… ”

Yoo Se-hee was at a loss for words, and Zeon walked towards the explosion site.

“Uh-oh!”

“Ahhh! My leg…!”

“Save me!”

The area around the explosion site was like a scene from hell.

Many people were injured and crying out in agony.

Some had lost their arms, while others had huge holes in their abdomens and were crying out.

The damage was much greater than expected, and Zeon’s expression turned grim.

Although the people who died or were injured were strangers, it was still uncomfortable to see.

“This is it.”

Zeon quickly found the source of the explosion.

A large crater had formed, and there were scattered flesh and bones everywhere.

There were also remnants of goods that seemed to belong to the Goblin Market merchants.

Among them, what caught Zeon’s attention was a dark, charred metal fragment. Zeon realized it was a piece of the disk that had been in the thief’s possession.

Zeon carefully picked up the fragment.

A mysterious symbol was engraved on the fragment, which was about half the size of his palm.

“What is this?”

Yoo Se-hee, who had approached, asked.

“I don’t know. Have you seen anything like this before?”

“No, it’s my first time seeing it.”

“There’s a strong mana residue left behind.”

“What does that mean?”

“It seems like this item was the one that exploded.”

“Why would it explode like a bomb?”

Zeon couldn’t answer.

He didn’t know the item’s true identity. But one thing was certain – the one who had released this item was Damien.

‘Damien. You deliberately released the poison.’