Chapter 63

Chapter 63

[Translator – Peptobismol]

Chapter 63

The bloodthirsty roar of the Alpha Fire Wolf shook the minds of the Awakeneds.

“Arghh!”

“Shit!”

The Awakeneds momentarily lost their balance and staggered.

In contrast, the Fire Wolves, fueled with courage and strength by their leader, attacked even more fiercely.

The already unfavorable situation rapidly deteriorated further.

“Damn it! These bastards....”

Eloy spat curses, sweeping back her lush blonde hair.

The crimson blood flowed down the Mad Gumiho.

She didn’t know how many Fire Wolves she had killed.

Driven by madness, she killed and killed again.

Yet the Fire Wolves did not diminish.

When one fell, another filled its place, fearlessly rushing forward.

“Kraaargh!”

One of the struggling Awakeneds fell prey to the Fire Wolves.

Dozens of Fire Wolves gathered around the fallen Awakened.

In an instant, the Awakened became prey to the Fire Wolves and disappeared from the world. Yet even that wasn’t enough to satisfy them as the Fire Wolves continued their onslaught.

“Sweep them all away.”

Eloy hurled the Mad Gumiho into the air.

In the air, nine spears split into nine pieces in an instant.

With a gesture from Eloy, the nine spears rose high into the air.

From the mana connecting the nine spears, an incredibly intense light burst forth.

“Nine Spear Strike.”

Eloy unleashed her most powerful skill available.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The rain of spears struck the Fire Wolves rushing the armored bus.

In an instant, hundreds of Fire Wolves were swept away.

“Haah! Haah!”

Eloy gasped for breath as she retrieved the Mad Gumiho.

The power was immense, but the mana consumption was also tremendous.

Her mana was on the verge of depletion. Yet she couldn’t afford to rest.

Kwaaaah!

Countless Fire Wolves filled the gaps and rushed forward again.

Despite killing hundreds, it seemed insignificant.

“Damn it! There’s no end even if we kill them all. Where are all these monsters coming from?”

She knew the reason.

It was the Alpha.

When a group of monsters had a leader, their numbers swelled, and their cohesion increased.

Forming a large army was instantaneous.

Unless they killed the Alpha, the Fire Wolves would continue to multiply endlessly.

They had to kill it.

The problem was that killing it was nearly impossible.

The Alpha Fire Wolf merely watched from afar, never participating in the hunt.

As if it were too good to play.

“I have to kill that son of a bitch.”

Eloy gritted her teeth.

But even defending the armored bus was challenging, let alone attempting to kill it.

That’s when it happened.

Whoooosh!

Suddenly, a strong wind was felt from behind.

Turning around, she saw a sandstorm approaching.

Thick sand obscured her vision completely.

Eloy shouted at the driver without another thought.

“Drive the car into the sandstorm!”

Whether the driver heard her or not, the bus was driven in the direction from which the sand was blowing.

The massive armored bus disappeared into the sand in no time. However, the Fire Wolves persisted, albeit in significantly reduced numbers.

As Eloy wielded the Mad Gumiho, she muttered.

“Looks like the heavens haven’t entirely forsaken us yet.”

* * *

Zeon glanced back.

Naturally, no fire skill would be effective in front of the Inferno Gauntlet.

In the end, all that remained for the Alpha Fire Wolf was a direct melee assault.

With overwhelming size, immense mass, sharp fangs, and claws, it charged at Zeon.

Despite its imposing presence, Zeon’s expression remained unchanged.

Just as the Alpha Fire Wolf’s fangs were about to pierce Zeon’s body, a sand barrier appeared in front of him.

In an instant, the sand engulfed the Alpha Fire Wolf.

Zeon muttered,

“Sand Mixer.”

Graaah!

Fine sand particles began to rotate at incredible speed.

Like a blender, the sand particles ground the Alpha Fire Wolf to shred.

The Fire Wolf struggled in agony, trying to escape the sand’s rapid rotation. However, no matter how hard it tried, escaping the high-speed rotation of the sand was impossible.

Fur was torn away, flesh was ripped apart.

The sand penetrated, crushed, and disintegrated flesh.

Amidst the immense pain, the Alpha screamed, but even its screams were drowned out by the sand’s deafening noise.

Graaah!

Blood sprayed, flesh splattered.

The rapidly rotating sand particles quickly turned red. Yet the sand didn’t stop.

Awoooh!

Grrrr! Grrrr!

The Fire Wolves, previously engaged with the Sand Soldiers, suddenly whimpered and howled.

They had sensed their leader’s demise first.

With their dominant leader gone, the Fire Wolves scattered in all directions.

Only now did Zeon release the Sand Soldiers and Sand Mixer.

Thud!

In the place where the Alpha Fire Wolf stood, a single crimson Mana Stone fell.

Only the essence of the Alpha, the Mana Stone, remained, while bones, flesh, and all else disappeared.

Though Zeon had swiftly defeated a B-rank monster, there was no particular gleam in his eyes.

The path he had walked was too harsh for him to be excited or pleased by this.

The Alpha Fire Wolf was not even considered a threat.

Picking up the Mana Stone of the Alpha Fire Wolf, Zeon murmured,

“This should fetch a decent price.”

Until now, he hadn’t needed money.

There was no use for money in the desert.

Except for Neo Seoul, colonies didn’t have the luxury to develop civilization beyond mere survival.

They used Mana Stones or barter instead of money for transactions. Hence, there was no need to convert Mana Stones into currency. But Neo Seoul was different.

Over ten million people gathered there, and including those in the slums, the population was close to twenty million.

With so many humans living in such a cramped space, money became the only means of transaction.

The better the quality of the Mana Stone, the higher its value.

Especially, Mana Stones obtained by killing Alpha monsters like this one were in high demand. Those mined from Mana Stone Mines were qualitatively different in terms of energy they provided.

Zeon stored the Mana Stone in his subspace.

The once-filled area with Fire Wolves had now dissipated and was nowhere to be seen.

Until an Alpha reappeared, they would live scattered in small groups.

“Shall we return?”

Now that the objective was achieved, he needed to return to the armored bus.

Zeon unleashed his Sand Strides and caught up with the armored bus in an instant.

The bus was still engulfed in the sandstorm and completely unaware of the outside situation.

However, they seemed to sense that the Fire Wolf attacks were gradually subsiding.

Zeon casually entered the armored bus and dispelled the sandstorm.

As the sand that obscured their vision disappeared, Eloy and the Awakeneds, including miners, realized the situation.

“What’s going on?”

“The wolf pups all ran away, didn’t they?”

“We’re alive. We survived.”

The Awakeneds and the miners hugged each other in joy. However, Eloy couldn’t feel pure joy like them.

She knew that the current situation was anything but natural.

Eloy glanced at Zeon, who was sitting with his arms crossed.

A whiff of blood wafted from him.

As a half-elf, her keen sense of smell couldn’t be deceived.

‘That bastard must have done something.’

Without that, the current situation didn’t make any sense.

The problem was that she couldn’t know what Zeon really did.

‘What on earth is his identity? That damn bastard...’

[Translator – Peptobismol]