Chapter 213
“Chit! Humans.”
“Kill them.”
Ordinary orcs had no such thing as cold, rational thinking.
If they found an enemy, they attacked.
If they won, they ate. If they lost, they were eaten.
Attacking on sight—that was the nature of orcs.
The orc scouting party became excited the moment they saw the buggies carrying human Awakeners and launched their attack.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Kicking up clouds of sand, the orcs charged.
Hundreds of hulking bodies, far larger than humans, rushing forward—it was enough to make one wet themselves in fear.
“Prepare for battle!”
“Damn it!”
The Awakeners gripped their weapons and readied themselves.
Despite their massive size, the orcs moved at terrifying speed.
They closed the distance in an instant.
Boom!
Crash!
With explosive impacts, orcs and Awakeners clashed.
Jang Yongbeom’s party joined the fight without hesitation.
Slash!
“Kegh!”
One orc was split clean in half by Jang Yongbeom’s claymore.
Yet despite killing it instantly, his expression remained grim.
“These bastards are tough. Stay sharp.”
“Got it!”
“Don’t worry, captain.”
Aiden and Giselle replied as they fought their respective opponents.
Aiden used a high-frequency vibration skill to dismantle orcs, while Giselle froze their legs with ice magic.
Meanwhile, Mountain locked hands with an orc in a raw contest of strength.
“Grrr! I’ll crush you, monster!”
As Mountain exerted himself, veins bulged across his forehead and arms.
The orc met him head-on with pure brute force.
“Chit! Human dies!”
“I win!”
Creak—!
Shockingly, Mountain won the struggle.
A human overpowering an orc in raw strength.
The orc’s back slowly bent backward.
A look of disbelief spread across its face.
“Chit! N-no way… I can’t lose in strength…”
Crack!
In the next instant, its spine snapped completely with a sickening sound.
Mountain hoisted the broken corpse high and roared.
“Uooooo!”
To an outsider, it might have looked like Mountain himself was the orc.
“That idiot…”
“Freaking monster.”
Even his own teammates, Aiden and Giselle, shook their heads in disbelief.
Mountain moved on, searching for his next victim.
After all, they were a party dispatched from Neo Seoul—
Composed of powerful Awakeners.
Their combat strength was not inferior to the orc force.
As time passed, the Awakeners began to overwhelm the orcs.
“Chit!”
“Graaagh!”
Orcs screamed as they fell.
Of course, there were casualties among the human Awakeners as well.
But in the end, it was the humans who won.
“Huff… huff…”
“We won…”
The Awakeners gasped for breath, celebrating their victory.
But the one who had led them to it—Jang Yongbeom—didn’t look pleased at all.
“All the buggies are destroyed.”
The already fragile vehicles had been completely wrecked in the attack.
From here on, they would have no choice but to travel on foot.
“Damn it!”
“We need to report these monsters to Neo Seoul—but how long will it take to walk back?”
“We’ll dry up and die before we even get there.”
The surviving Awakeners collapsed, faces filled with despair.
Giselle, Aiden, and Mountain gathered around Jang Yongbeom.
Despite having killed the most orcs, they didn’t look particularly exhausted.
Aiden asked,
“What do we do now?”
“We return to Neo Seoul.”
“The vehicles are gone.”
“Our legs are still fine. We walk.”
“The others won’t make it.”
“Why should we care about them? Let them survive on their own.”
“I wasn’t worried about them anyway.”
Aiden smirked.
Though they had come together under the same mission, he didn’t consider the others allies.
The only ones that mattered to him were Jang Yongbeom, Giselle, and Mountain.
The rest could live or die—it didn’t matter.
Giselle and Mountain felt the same.
In this cruel world, only they were each other’s family.
Jang Yongbeom gave an order.
“Search the wrecked vehicles. Take anything useful. It’ll help us survive.”
“Yes!”
Aiden and Giselle immediately scavenged through the buggies.
All the gathered supplies were loaded onto Mountain, and Jang Yongbeom’s party left the area.
By the time the other Awakeners came to their senses, nothing useful remained.
“Son of a—! They took everything!”
“Hurry! Follow those bastards!”
The Awakeners rushed to chase after Jang Yongbeom’s group.
***
The sun was setting.
As the western sky turned red, Zeon’s group settled beneath a sand dune.
Zeon pulled out a black lump from subspace.
It was dried dung from a magical beast—rich in oils, making it excellent fuel for fire.
Zeon lit the magical beast dung, creating a campfire.
Meanwhile, Levin pulled food out of his subspace backpack and handed it around.
“Today, we’ve got something special—food I brought from old man Clexi’s shop.”
“You still had this left?”
Eloi looked surprised.
Time didn’t flow inside subspace.
In theory, food stored inside could be preserved forever without spoiling.
The only limitation was space—it wasn’t infinite.
Levin had bought a large amount of food from the goblin market and Clexi’s shop and stored it in his subspace backpack.
“There’s still plenty left. We just didn’t have a chance to take it out before.”
“That’s a relief. I was getting sick of magical beast meat.”
Eloi smacked her lips and accepted the food.
It was a steak made from cultured calf meat.
Steam rose from the freshly heated steak.
“This is insane.”
Brielle’s eyes widened in delight.
Levin handed one to Zeon as well.
“This one’s yours, hyung.”
“Thanks.”
“It’s all thanks to Brielle for making the subspace backpack.”
Levin grinned, patting the bag.
The four of them smiled as they began eating.
As Brielle cut into her steak, she muttered,
“Eating like this… it feels like we’re on a picnic.”
“A picnic in hell is still a picnic.”
Eloi threw in a sarcastic remark, and soon the two elves began bickering.
It was a daily occurrence, so Zeon and Levin paid no attention.
Even while arguing, they never crossed the line—
In fact, they were growing closer through it.
“Mmm! It’s still delicious.”
“Well, it’s made by old man Clexi himself.”
“Suddenly makes me miss him.”
“Same here. He nags a lot, but his cooking is unbeatable.”
“I wonder how he’s doing.”
“He’s probably fine. Who in the slums would dare mess with him?”
“True…”
Zeon nodded.
Clexi’s granddaughter, Yoo Sehui, was the head of the Goblin Market, and he himself led the information organization Eye of Argos.
Within the slums, he was someone with immense influence.
It was hard to imagine anyone harming him.
***
As the sun set, countless stars filled the sky.
After cleaning up and storing the dishes in subspace, the four of them looked up at the night sky.
“The stars are really clear tonight.”
“Yeah! That’s rare. It’s usually hazy because of the sand.”
“Enjoy it while you can. Who knows when we’ll see it like this again.”
Having eaten well, they were all relaxed enough to enjoy the moment.
But their peace didn’t last long.
“There’s a light over there.”
“Shit! Someone’s out there.”
“Could be scavengers. Stay alert.”
Voices echoed from the distance.
In an instant, the smiles vanished from their faces.
“People.”
“What is it?”
They quickly stood up and prepared for battle.
In this vast desert, the chances of encountering people were extremely low.
Unless someone approached with intent, it was almost impossible.
Then—
A group of figures appeared over the sand dune.
They were the Awakeners who had survived the orc attack.
At the front was Jang Yongbeom’s party.
“Looks like there really are people here,” Jang Yongbeom said.
“Humans lighting a fire in the desert without fear… aren’t they afraid of magical beasts?”
Aiden clicked his tongue as he looked at the campfire.
The desert night belonged to magical beasts.
Creatures that hid from the scorching sun during the day became active at night.
Lighting a fire so boldly made no sense to him.
Zeon stepped forward.
“That’s far enough.”
“What?”
“This area is already occupied by us. Do not come any closer.”
“How ridiculous. Since when does the desert have boundaries?”
Jang Yongbeom’s voice turned cold, an ominous chill spreading toward Zeon’s group.
But Zeon showed no change in expression.
“Do you not know? There’s no one you can trust in the desert. How are we supposed to know if you’re scavengers?”
“That’s fair. Fine—we’ll identify ourselves. We’re Awakeners dispatched from Neo Seoul. We came to investigate the desert’s situation but were attacked by pig-like magical beasts and lost our vehicles.”
“You’re from Neo Seoul?”
“That’s right. My name is Jang Yongbeom. I’m a registered Awakener in Neo Seoul. The same goes for them.”
“Jang Yongbeom…”
A flicker of recognition appeared in Zeon’s eyes.
Jang Yongbeom was the one who had once saved Zeon from a sandworm when he was on his way to the mana stone mine.
Meeting him again in the middle of the desert was completely unexpected.
Suppressing his surprise, Zeon calmly asked,
“You said you were attacked by pig-like magical beasts?”
“Yes. They destroyed our vehicles.”
“Then you must have encountered an orc unit.”
“So that’s what they’re called.”
“That’s right. You may come closer.”
Zeon lowered his guard.
To Jang Yongbeom, Zeon had been nothing more than a passing stranger.
But to Zeon, he was a life-saving benefactor.
Even though a long time had passed, a debt was still a debt.
Jang Yongbeom stared at Zeon intently.
The sudden shift in his attitude seemed suspicious.
“Do you know me?”
“I do.”
“How?”
“We traveled together a long time ago. You probably don’t remember.”
“Is that so? Well, it’s convenient that you do. Saves us the trouble of proving ourselves.”
If Zeon had continued to refuse, Jang Yongbeom had been ready to subdue him by force.
Looking at the campfire, Jang Yongbeom said,
“Still… are you fearless or just reckless? Lighting a fire like this will attract magical beasts.”
“There are no magical beasts nearby.”
“How do you know that?”
“I’ve already confirmed it. You can stay here safely.”
“Is that so? That’s a relief.”
Jang Yongbeom let out a sigh.
Though he didn’t show it, he had been under a lot of stress dragging along the other Awakeners.
It was both frustrating and burdensome that people who called themselves Awakeners relied entirely on him.
As Jang Yongbeom sat down by the fire, the other Awakeners also relaxed and approached.