Chapter 71
The man with tattoos on his face made an incredulous expression.
“You’re laughing? You actually find this situation funny?”
“Am I not even allowed to laugh?”
“You’ve got guts, bastard. Well, I guess that’s why you crawled all the way in here without fear.”
The man put away the dagger he had been using to trim his nails and stood up.
His size was massive.
Zeon watched him with interest.
It was because the man’s body was unusual.
What caught his eye was the man’s skin.
It was rough and bumpy like a crocodile’s.
At a glance, its texture was completely different from human skin.
The man spoke.
“What, does my skin look strange? If you live long enough in a damp place where not a single ray of sunlight reaches, you’ll end up like this too.”
“So it’s not something you were born with—it changed naturally.”
“That’s right!”
“It’s definitely interesting. This is my first time seeing something like this.”
At Zeon’s nonchalant reply, the man’s expression stiffened.
It was different from how most people reacted.
Anyone who saw his skin and body would usually shrink back in fear and avoid his gaze, but Zeon instead looked at him as if he’d found an amusing toy.
This was a first.
“You’re an interesting one.”
“Then will you run the mana generator?”
“Sorry, but I can’t do that. That thing’s pretty hard to come by.”
“A rare item?”
“Yeah! Even though it’s small, its output is insane. As long as you feed it high-quality magic stones, it can supply a massive amount of electricity steadily.”
“Why do you need electricity?”
“Isn’t it obvious? Because there are people who need it. There’s no power supply down here.”
“Are there a lot of people living underground?”
“Way more than you’d think.”
“I see.”
Zeon nodded.
“So just give up. I’ll make far better use of it than you.”
“Sorry, but that won’t work. I tend to be a bit possessive.”
“So I’ve been talking nonsense this whole time. Damn, that pisses me off. Hah—ptooey!”
The man spat a thick glob of phlegm onto Zeon’s shoe.
As Zeon looked down at it, the man grinned.
“What, does that disgust you?”
“I wouldn’t say I like it.”
“You can’t be getting disgusted over something like that. We’re only just getting started.”
The smile at the corner of the man’s mouth deepened.
Zeon stared straight at his face.
Bright yellow eyes. Rough, bumpy skin.
“You really do look like a crocodile.”
“That’s why my name’s Croker.”
“It suits you.”
Zeon nodded.
At that moment, Croker kicked off the ground.
His fist tore through the darkness and slammed toward Zeon.
Boom!
With a thunderous crash, Zeon’s body shook—but Croker’s fist never reached his face.
Zeon had blocked it with his gauntleted right hand.
Even though his attack had been stopped, Croker didn’t lose his smile.
“You’re pretty good.”
“You’re not bad yourself. At least C-rank, I’d say.”
“Hmph!”
Instead of replying, Croker attacked again.
Bang-bang-bang!
The air exploded violently with his continuous strikes.
Just as Zeon had guessed, Croker was a C-rank martial-type awakened.
He pressed forward like a storm. But Zeon deflected all his attacks without much effort.
Croker was definitely strong.
He had perfectly adapted to the underground waterways.
His eyes could see through the darkness as clearly as daylight, and his skin was extremely tough and resilient.
It was strong enough to withstand most attacks even without using skills.
But this time, his opponent was unfortunate.
Among all those Zeon had faced, there was no one weaker than Croker.
Croker thought he was attacking with dazzling speed, but in Zeon’s eyes, every movement was clearly visible.
No matter how much he attacked, he couldn’t land a hit, and panic began to show on Croker’s face.
“You bastard! How long are you going to keep dodging?!”
Right then—
As if to deny his words, Zeon threw a powerful punch.
The attack struck like lightning, and Croker couldn’t avoid it.
Left with no choice, he crossed his arms to block.
Boom!
“Urgh!”
With a thunderous crash, a groan burst from Croker’s lips.
As he slid backward, his face turned deathly pale.
Both of his arms were broken, hanging limp.
Croker couldn’t believe it.
His bones and muscles were far stronger than those of other awakened, yet he couldn’t withstand a single blow from Zeon.
Only then did Croker realize—
Zeon was a far more formidable awakened than he had thought.
‘Martial-type… at least C-rank.’
Someone equal to him, or perhaps slightly stronger.
If he used the skill he had been hiding, he might be able to win. But his opponent hadn’t revealed any real skills yet either.
Which meant… he could lose.
His judgment was quick.
To fight someone like this, he needed more preparation.
“Damn it!”
His choice was to retreat.
The mana generator was important, but not as important as his life.
Croker and his subordinates hurriedly retreated toward the exit behind them.
Fortunately, Zeon did not chase them any further.
Before disappearing, Croker spoke.
“Because of you, many people will be put in danger. If those who could have been saved by the mana generator die, it’ll all be your fault.”
“That’s not because of me—it’s because of your incompetence. I’d appreciate it if you didn’t shift your responsibility onto me.”
“Grr!”
Zeon easily dismissed Croker’s words.
Instead of blaming himself for failing to obtain the mana generator through proper means, Croker was trying to pass that responsibility onto Zeon.
Zeon wasn’t soft enough to fall for such gaslighting.
“We will definitely meet again.”
With those final words, Croker and his men completely vanished.
Zeon stood still, staring at the place where they had disappeared.
A sewer, where deeper and filthier waste flowed, stretched into the darkness.
Zeon had no intention of going in there.
He had spent a full eight years struggling through deserts and various dungeons.
Now, he wanted to live in a somewhat cleaner environment.
Although there were many items looted by Croker and his men in the underground space, Zeon didn’t even glance at them.
He stored only the mana generator and the alarm device in his subspace and came outside.
“Whew!”
As he stepped out of the sewer, Zeon took a deep breath.
The outside air was definitely better.
After briefly looking around, Zeon returned home.
The only problem was having to walk up to the eighteenth floor, but for Zeon, it wasn’t difficult at all.
Fortunately, it seemed no one had intruded while he was away.
Zeon immediately installed the mana generator in his home.
After briefly observing the pyramid-shaped mana generator, Zeon took out a magic stone from his subspace.
When he inserted the fist-sized magic stone into the generator, a burst of intense light flared for a moment.
The mana generator had begun extracting electricity from the magic stone.
After a while, the intense light gradually faded. It was proof that the electricity was being supplied stably.
The magic stone Zeon had used came from defeating a C-rank magical beast.
It had far higher purity and contained far more energy than those mined from veins.
Naturally, stable electricity supply was guaranteed.
“Nice!”
A satisfied smile appeared on Zeon’s lips.
Now that he had secured a stable power source, it was time for the next task.
Zeon took out a black gem from his subspace.
It was something he had obtained three years ago after conquering a dungeon.
At first glance, it looked ordinary, but in truth, this black gem was the core of that dungeon.
The dungeon where he obtained it had been very unusual.
The dungeon itself had been a powerful barrier.
It could detect and block intrusions from the outside in advance.
It also perfectly isolated the inside from the outside, preventing external shocks from being transmitted inward.
In a way, the inside of that dungeon had been one of the safest spaces in the world.
Zeon had stayed there for a full three months to break through it.
Like other dungeons, he could have forced his way through with brute strength.
But that would have completely destroyed the dungeon.
That wasn’t what Zeon wanted.
He wanted to obtain the barrier intact.
So he studied its weaknesses and found a way to dismantle it perfectly.
That process had taken three months, and in the end, he was able to obtain this black gem—the dungeon’s core.
Only then did he realize what the gem truly was.
‘Watching Eye.’
That was its proper name.
It was the core of a barrier once used by the royal family of Kurayan.
It was typically used only in key locations, such as royal vaults or the king’s residence.
It was that difficult to create, and only a few existed.
One of them had crossed over to Earth without being destroyed.
However, there was one unfortunate detail: while the Watching Eye itself had safely transferred and become a dungeon, the items inside had been lost and no longer existed.
Zeon placed the Watching Eye on top of the mana generator.
At once, the electricity generated by the mana generator began flowing into the Watching Eye.
As power entered it, red lines extended outward from the gem.
The red lines spread like rose vines, filling Zeon’s house.
Zeon stood in the middle of the room, watching the scene.
It was the process of the barrier recognizing the space.
Soon, the red lines that filled the house disappeared.
They were no longer visible, but they definitely existed—and they would perfectly protect this house, which had now been recognized as its domain.
The only person who could enter this house was Zeon.
As long as magic stones continued to supply power to the mana generator, the Watching Eye would perfectly defend this place.
Next, Zeon installed the alarm device on the door.
The door, reinforced with vampire wood and sand ogre hide, was now further enhanced by the barrier of the Watching Eye.
An ordinary awakened wouldn’t even be able to scratch it, let alone break it.
With the alarm device added, even if Zeon was outside, he would immediately know if an intruder appeared.
A satisfied smile formed on Zeon’s lips.
“Now my house is finally complete.”
＊＊＊
The Black Lion reported to Yoo Sehui.
“He has returned home.”
“He went into the sewer at dawn, so he stayed there for about three or four hours?”
“Yes.”
“What do you think? Does it seem like he found the mana generator?”
“According to the observer, he came back empty-handed.”
“Empty-handed?”
“Yes. It seems he failed to find the mana generator.”
“He went in so confidently—I thought maybe he’d pull it off. But I guess it was too much after all.”
Yoo Sehui stroked her chin with her fingertips.
She had also received the report that the mana generator had been stolen by the crocodiles.
It was an incident involving goods taken from the Goblin Market.
Naturally, she couldn’t ignore it.
If the culprits hadn’t been the crocodiles, she would have already dispatched forces to recover the stolen goods.
The problem was that the crocodiles were operating within the underground waterways.
The underground of the slums was far more complex than the surface.
No one knew exactly what facilities existed beneath the ground they stood on, or how intricately the waterways were intertwined.
Even Yoo Sehui, who prided herself on being an information hub of the slums, knew almost nothing about the underground.
No awakened was willing to enter the filthy, foul-smelling depths below.
That was also why they couldn’t track Zeon’s movements after he entered.
Even the spy sent by old man Clexi couldn’t bring himself to enter the sewer because of the stench and air.
In the end, he had no choice but to wait at the entrance for Zeon to come back out.
When Zeon emerged hours later empty-handed, they concluded he had failed to retrieve the mana generator.
The Black Lion spoke cautiously.
“Recently, the crocodiles’ movements have been unusual. They’ve been coming up to the surface far more frequently. It’s clear they have someone backing them.”
“That would make sense.”
There is no result without a cause.
Yoo Sehui gave an order.
“For now, strengthen security around the Goblin Market. It’s obvious where they’ll strike.”
“Understood.”
There was no more tempting prey in the slums than the Goblin Market.
After all, all kinds of valuable goods were traded through it.
Countless people had targeted the Goblin Market until now. But there was a reason why no force had ever managed to take control of it.
“If they touch the Goblin Market, I’ll make sure they understand exactly what happens.”