Chapter 219
Jang Yongbeom frowned.
A vicious pain surged from his left shoulder where his arm had been severed.
Although he had treated the wound with a healing potion, it hadn’t erased the pain itself.
More than anything, what troubled him most was his sense of balance.
Humans are accustomed to living with two arms.
Now that one was suddenly gone, he had to adapt to an unfamiliar body—but it was far from easy.
No matter how strong an A-rank Awakener he was, it would take time to adjust.
“…Hoo.”
After walking for a while, Jang Yongbeom let out a sigh.
Giselle, worried about him, asked,
“Are you okay, Captain?”
“As soon as we get back to Neo Seoul, I’ll need to find a decent prosthetic arm.”
“I know a good magi-engineer. It won’t be as optimized as what mechanized Awakeners use, but they can make one good enough for daily life.”
“That’s more than enough. I can swing a claymore just fine with one arm anyway.”
“If it’s you, Captain, you’ll overcome it.”
“Of course.”
Jang Yongbeom grinned.
Losing an arm like this was painful, but a mechanical prosthetic was a viable replacement.
And recently, he had been feeling something stirring deep within his chest.
Like a chick pecking desperately at its shell before hatching, something inside him was pushing outward with all its strength.
This strange sensation, impossible to fully describe, excited him.
Before becoming an A-rank, he had felt something similar several times—though never this intense.
It felt like something was about to change.
The question was when.
Just like a chick breaking out of its shell,
No one knew when that moment would come.
It could be immediate—or far in the future.
‘If I fight another strong opponent… maybe I can break through…’
He wanted to fight someone powerful like Kangkara again.
Even if it meant risking his life.
‘It’s been a long time since I’ve felt this kind of excitement.’
A smile had unknowingly spread across his lips.
His gaze shifted to Zeon’s back.
As always, Zeon led the group from the front.
Even while facing the sandstorm head-on.
The sand parted to either side before him, allowing those behind to move forward without inhaling it.
‘No matter how I look at it, that’s a ridiculously overpowered ability. I never thought I’d envy someone else’s power.’
With Zeon, it felt like they could survive in the desert for years.
Something no Awakener in Neo Seoul could accomplish.
‘And that guy’s just as strange.’
His gaze then moved to Levin, who floated in ghost form.
That ability—completely immune to physical force—was just as absurd as Zeon’s.
In fact, it seemed even more versatile.
If the power players in Neo Seoul learned of it, they’d scramble to recruit him.
With Levin’s ghostification, there was no information he couldn’t extract—and even assassination would be effortless.
How could anyone possibly stop someone who could phase through any defense and infiltrate like a ghost?
No matter how strong someone was, if they were ambushed in their sleep, they would die just the same.
‘It’s an ability perfectly suited for assassination. And on top of that, there’s that kid who can use alchemy, plus even a supervisor from Neo Seoul following him. This is practically a small faction-level force.’
The most important point was this—
All of them followed Zeon with absolute loyalty.
There was no way to sway them.
‘Life’s unfair. It took me years to gather my team, and he did it in less than one…’
He wanted them badly.
If he could just recruit Zeon, the rest would follow like beads on a string.
Then Jang Yongbeom’s party would instantly become the strongest in Neo Seoul.
The problem was—that possibility was nearly zero.
From what he had seen, Zeon was not someone who would stand above others—
But neither was he someone who would stand beneath them.
Trying to force someone like that would only backfire.
The reason Jang Yongbeom understood Zeon so well was simple—
He was the same kind of person.
So he cleanly abandoned the idea of recruiting him.
Just as he finished organizing his thoughts—
“Aaaaargh!”
A desperate scream echoed from somewhere.
“What was that?”
“Damn it!”
The Awakeners, already on high alert, immediately took battle stances.
Levin spoke first.
“I’ll go ahead.”
In his ghost form, he could move faster than anyone.
He shot toward the source of the scream at terrifying speed, with Zeon and the others following behind.
Naturally, Levin arrived first.
What he saw—
Elves being slaughtered by orcs.
The rangers who had fled to lure the orcs away from their village had finally been caught.
The elf rangers were skilled warriors.
They had killed quite a number of orcs, but in the end, they couldn’t overcome the overwhelming numbers and were cut down one by one.
Only two elves remained.
Seina and Lafyuna.
But even they were gravely wounded, on the verge of collapse.
Levin didn’t hesitate for a second.
“Damn it!”
Crackle!
He instantly closed the distance and unleashed Purple Lightning.
“Kyiit!”
“Kkeeegh!”
The orcs struck by the violet current collapsed, shrieking like pigs being slaughtered.
“Are you okay?”
Levin hurriedly checked the two elves.
But their condition was dire.
Both had suffered fatal injuries beyond recovery.
“Please… save our village.”
“Please…!”
Even in that state, they were still worrying about their village.
Levin hesitated for a brief moment—
And their breaths stopped.
“…Hoo.”
As Levin let out a heavy sigh and rose to his feet—
Swoooosh!
A sharp tearing sound split through the air.
Sensing danger, Levin instantly turned into his ghost form.
Shuuuk!
A massive spear pierced straight through where he had been.
A chill ran down Levin’s spine.
If he had reacted even a moment later, that spear would have skewered him.
He looked toward the direction it had come from.
Orc warriors wielding spears were charging toward him.
They were swarming in numbers so vast they darkened the desert.
Levin quickly retreated toward Zeon and shouted,
“It’s an orc army!”
At that moment—
Swoooosh!
Another piercing sound rang out.
Thud!
“Aaagh!”
One of the Awakeners failed to dodge and was struck head-on by a spear.
The spear pierced through him and continued flying, embedding itself deep into a sand wall behind.
Its power was terrifying.
The sudden tragedy left the Awakeners speechless.
Then Jang Yongbeom shouted,
“What are you doing just standing there? Snap out of it or you’ll all die!”
“Ah!”
“Damn it!”
Only then did the Awakeners come to their senses and prepare for battle.
Mourning the dead was a luxury they couldn’t afford.
They had to focus on surviving first.
By now, orcs were closing in from all directions.
The sight of them rushing forward like a swarm of ants covering the desert made everyone grit their teeth.
Jang Yongbeom spoke to Zeon,
“Looks like we’ve run into the main force of the High Warchief.”
“It seems so.”
Zeon nodded as he observed the orcs.
The ones they had encountered before wore mismatched gear and weapons.
But these—
These orcs were uniformly equipped with heavy armor, spears, and large swords.
That meant one thing—they were elites.
Elite units among orcs were rare, which meant these were likely the direct subordinates of the High Warchief.
“Getting out of this won’t be easy.”
“Looks like we’ll have to kill them all to escape.”
At that moment—
A particularly massive orc appeared atop a distant sand dune.
Jang Yongbeom’s eyes trembled.
‘How can a mere orc have such presence… Is that the High Warchief?’
Even from hundreds of meters away, his skin prickled and his heart throbbed as if stabbed by needles.
That was how overwhelming the creature’s aura was.
Its killing intent reached all the way to them.
As he suspected, the giant orc was Orca.
Orca’s gaze was fixed solely on Zeon.
“Found you… nemesis of the orcs.”
“He must be killed, Warchief.”
The shaman also recognized Zeon and trembled.
Instinctively, he realized that Zeon was the one who had annihilated both the Red Hammer and Iron Orc tribes.
The tattoos etched into his body writhed on their own—
A sign that they had detected a threat first.
Orca stepped forward and spoke,
“He is mine. Deal with the rest yourselves.”
“As you command.”
The shaman bowed his head.
Then he shouted to the orcs,
“Kill every human here. Bathe in their blood and feast on their flesh!”
His voice carried a power that stirred the orcs’ excitement and killing intent.
With just his words, he granted them a buff.
“Uwoooah!”
“Kill them!”
“Charge!”
The frenzied orcs rushed toward Zeon’s group.
“Damn it… Looks like this might be where we die.”
“Fine! Even if I die, I’ll drag at least ten orcs down to hell with me!”
“If I die, I won’t become orc food!”
Resolved, the Awakeners charged forward.
Slash!
A fierce battle erupted between humans and orcs.
The Awakeners unleashed skill after skill as they fought desperately.
Jang Yongbeom gripped his claymore and said to Zeon,
“There’s no point killing the small fry. We need to take down the leader. I’ll handle the High Warchief.”
“That’s impossible.”
“What?”
“Sorry, but with your strength, you won’t be able to touch even a single hair on him.”
“…Tch!”
Jang Yongbeom’s face twisted in frustration.
But he couldn’t argue.
He knew it himself—
He wasn’t a match for the High Warchief.
Zeon looked at Orca and said,
“You take the one beside him. He seems like some kind of shaman—the feeling I get from him isn’t normal.”
“Got it.”
“But first, we need to open a path.”
Shrrr—
Zeon’s body rose into the air.
The sand swirled and lifted him upward.
Soon, he stood dozens of meters above the ground—
Now at eye level with the High Warchief.
Orca stood with his arms crossed, staring at him.
His entire demeanor exuded the composure of a superior being.
Zeon didn’t like that.
“Let’s see how long you can keep that composure.”
Too many orcs stood between them.
He had to clear them first.
Snap!
“Sand Wave.”
With a flick of his fingers, Zeon murmured the skill.
Instantly, the sand rose up like a massive wave and surged toward the High Warchief.
The wave stood over ten meters tall and stretched fifty meters wide.
Rooooar!
The massive wave devoured everything in its path as it rushed forward.
It carried immense mass and destructive force.
No matter how tough the orcs’ bodies were, they couldn’t withstand it.
“Gweeegh!”
“Aaagh!”
The orcs’ screams were swallowed by the sand.
It was a wave of death.