Sand Mage of the Burnt Desert

Chapter 71

The man with tattoos on his face looked incredulous.

“You think this is funny? You’re laughing at this situation?”

“Can’t I even smile?”

“You’re one audacious bastard, crawling all the way here without a trace of fear.”

The man sheathed the dagger he was grooming his nails with and stood up.

The man’s stature was massive.

Zeon looked at the man with interest.

It was because of the peculiarity of his physique.

What caught Zeon’s attention was the man’s skin.

It was scaly like that of a crocodile.

Even at a glance, the texture itself was different from human skin.

The man spoke.

“Why, does my skin look strange to you? Spending too long in the sunless, damp places does this to you.”

“It’s not inherent but rather a natural transformation, huh?”

“That’s right!”

“It’s indeed quite intriguing. This is the first time I’ve encountered such a case.”

At Zeon’s naturally curious response, the man’s expression stiffened.

It was because his reaction differed from most people he knew.

Anyone who saw his skin and physique would recoil in fear and avoid eye contact, yet Zeon seemed to be looking at him with the gleam of interest, like he had stumbled upon an amusing toy.

This reaction was unprecedented.

“You’re an interesting one.”

“Then would you return the mana generator to me?”

“Sorry, but that’s not going to happen. That thing is quite a rare find, you know.”

“A rare find?”

“Yeah! It’s a special generator with an absurd output for its size. With just high-quality Mana Stones, it can supply an enormous amount of electricity reliably.”

“Why do you need electricity?”

“Why do you think? Because there are people here who need it. There’s no electricity supplied down here.”

“Are there many people living underground?”

“There are probably far more than you think.”

“I see.”

Zeon nodded his head thoughtfully.

“So give up. I’ll put it to much better use than you ever could.”

“Sorry, but that’s not going to happen. I’m somewhat possessive.”

“I’ve been blabbering nonsense all this while. Now I feel sick. Kyaak! Ptuh!”

The man spat disgustingly on Zeon’s shoe.

As Zeon looked down at the spittle on his shoe, the man laughed.

“Why, are you feeling disgusted?”

“It’s not pleasant.”

“Don’t be too disgusted. This is just the beginning.”

A mischievous smile spread across the man’s lips.

Zeon stared intently at the man’s face.

Scaly skin, and yellowish eyes.

“Truly like a *crocodile.”

[*“Alligator” will be changed to “Crocodile” after more context.]

“That’s why my name is Crocker.”

“It suits you well.”

Zeon nodded his head.

At that moment, Crocker kicked off the ground.

His fist pierced the darkness and surged towards Zeon’s face.

Bang!

Zeon’s body shook from the heavy impact. However, Crocker’s fist never touched Zeon’s face.

He blocked Crocker’s fist with his gauntleted right hand.

Despite his attack being blocked, Crocker didn’t wipe the smile off his face.

“You’re quite good.”

“You’re no pushover either. You’re at least C-rank, I suppose.”

“Hmph!”

Instead of replying, Crocker launched another barrage of attacks.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The air burst violently with his consecutive strikes.

As Zeon suspected, Crocker was a Martial Artist Awakened of at least C-rank.

He relentlessly pushed Zeon, but Zeon effortlessly evaded all his attacks.

Crocker was undoubtedly strong.

He had adapted perfectly to the environment of the underground waterway.

His eyes pierced through the darkness like it was broad daylight, and his skin was incredibly tough and resilient.

He could withstand considerable attacks without using skills. But this time, his opponent wasn’t just anybody.

Among those Zeon had faced, there was no one weaker than Crocker.

But Zeon saw through all his movements clearly.

No matter how much he attacked, Zeon effortlessly avoided them all.

Crocker’s face showed a hint of confusion as not a single hit landed on Zeon.

“You! How long are you going to keep dodging?”

That’s when it happened.

As if denying Crocker’s words, Zeon launched a powerful strike.

Crocker was unable to avoid the attack that came at lightning speed.

He had no choice but to cross his arms to block Zeon’s strike.

Boom!

“Kugh!”

With a muffled sound, Crocker groaned in pain.

His face turned pale as he was pushed backwards.

Both of his arms were broken and dangling.

Crocker couldn’t believe it.

His bones and muscles were much stronger than other Awakeneds. Yet he was unable to withstand a single blow from Zeon.

Only then did Crocker realize.

Zeon was a far more formidable Awakened than he had thought.

‘A Martial Artist, at least C-rank.’

Equal or even slightly stronger than him.

If he used the skills he had kept hidden, he might have a chance of winning. But his opponent hadn’t revealed proper skills either.

There was a chance he might lose.

His judgment was swift.

To fight such an opponent, he needed more preparation.

“Shit!”

His choice was to retreat.

Crocker had said the mana generator was important, but it was not as important as his life.

Crocker and his men hastily retreated towards the exit behind them.

Fortunately, Zeon didn’t pursue them any further.

Before disappearing, Crocker said.

“Because of you, countless people will suffer. If the people who could’ve been saved with the mana generator die, it’ll be on you.”

“That’s not because of me, but because of your incompetence. I hope you don’t blame me for your own responsibility.”

“Kugh!”

Zeon simply denied Crocker’s words.

Blaming Zeon for not obtaining the mana generator when they could have acquired it for a fair price was unjust; shifting that blame onto Zeon.

Zeon’s heart was not soft enough to be swayed by this kind of gaslighting.

“We will meet again, for sure.”

With those words, Crocker and his subordinates completely disappeared.

Zeon stood still, looking at where they had disappeared to.

A deeper and dirtier sewage flow continued into the darkness.

Zeon had no intention of going into that place.

He had spent a good eight years crawling through deserts and various dungeons.

Now he wanted to live in a slightly cleaner environment.

Although there were many items looted by Crocker and his subordinates in the underground space, Zeon paid no attention to them.

He immediately stored the mana generator and alarm device in his subspace and came out.

“Whew!”

Zeon, who came out of the sewer, took a deep breath for a moment.

As expected, the air outside was much better.

Zeon briefly looked around before returning home.

The problem was having to walk up to the eighteenth floor, but for Zeon, it was not a difficult task.

Fortunately, it seemed that there were no intruders while he was away from home.

Zeon immediately installed the mana generator in his house.

Looking at the pyramid-shaped mana generator for a moment, Zeon took out a Mana Stone from his subspace.

When he placed the fist-sized Mana Stone into the mana generator, a bright light burst out momentarily.

The mana generator began extracting electricity from the Mana Stone.

After a while, the intense light gradually faded. It was evidence that the electricity was being supplied steadily.

Zeon obtained the Mana Stone he inserted into the mana generator from defeating a C-rank monster.

It was much purer and contained more energy than canned Mana Stones from the mines.

Naturally, a stable electricity supply was inevitable.

“Nice!”

A satisfied smile appeared on Zeon’s face.

Now that he had found a stable electricity source, it was time for the next task.

Zeon took out a black gem from his subspace.

It was obtained from conquering a certain dungeon three years ago.

It looked ordinary on the outside, but in fact, this black gem was the core of the dungeon.

The dungeon itself was a powerful barrier.

It detected and blocked intrusion from the outside in advance.

Furthermore, it perfectly isolated the inside and outside, so that external shocks were hardly transmitted.

In a way, the interior of that dungeon was the safest space in the world.

Zeon stayed in the dungeon for a full three months to explore its secrets.

Unlike other dungeons, it could be forcibly penetrated with power.

But that would completely destroy the dungeon, which was not what Zeon wanted.

He wanted to have the full barrier of the dungeon.

So he investigated the weaknesses of the barrier and found a way to completely bypass it.

That period of contemplation lasted three months, and in the end, he was able to obtain the black gem, the core of the dungeon.

Then he finally understood.

The true nature of the black gem.

‘The Watching Eye.’

That was the official name of the black gem.

It was the core of the barrier used by the Kurayan Royal family.

It was mainly used in places like the royal palace or the king’s residence, at the core.

It was so difficult to make that there were hardly a few.

One of them had come to Earth without being destroyed.

The unfortunate part was that although the Watching Eye had been successfully transferred to Earth and turned into a dungeon, the items inside had disappeared and no longer existed.

Zeon placed the Watching Eye on top of the mana generator. Then the electricity generated by the mana generator was supplied to the Watching Eye.

As the power flowed in, a red line spread out from the Watching Eye.

The red lines filled Zeon’s house like rose stems.

Zeon stood in the middle of his house, watching the scene.

It was the process of the barrier recognizing the space.

The red lines that filled the house soon disappeared.

Although not visible, they definitely existed. And they perfectly protected the house, which he recognized as his space.

The only person who could enter this house was Zeon.

Now, as long as Mana Stones were supplied to the mana generator, the Watching Eye would perfectly protected this place.

Next, Zeon installed the alarm device on the door.

The door, reinforced with Vampire wood and Sand Angler hide, was added to the barrier of the Watching Eye.

Even a considerable Awakened would not be able to break the door, let alone make a scratch. Moreover, with the added alarm device, if there were intruders, Zeon would immediately notice even if he was outside.

A satisfied smile appeared on Zeon’s face.

“Now the house is complete.”

***

The Black Lion reported to Yoo Se-hee.

“He has returned home.”

“It was dawn when he entered the sewer, so he stayed inside for about three or four hours?”

“Yes!”

“What do you think, based on your observations? Did he find the mana generator?”

“According to the report, he returned empty-handed.”

“Empty-handed?”

“Yes! It seems that he couldn’t find the mana generator.”

“He went in with such momentum. It was a futile effort, after all.”

Yoo Se-hee caressed her chin with her fingertips.

The news of the mana generator being stolen by the Crocodiles had also reached her.

It was an incident of stealing from the Goblin Market.

Of course, she couldn’t help but be concerned.

If the opponent was not the Crocodiles, she would’ve already sent some force to retrieve the stolen items by now.

The problem was that the Crocodiles were entrenched in the underground waterways.

The slums’ underground was much more complicated than the surface.

There was no one who knew exactly what facilities were underground, or how complicated the waterways were.

Even Yoo Se-hee, who boasted of being the slums’ information network, knew almost nothing about the underground.

No Awakened was willing to venture into the smelly underground.

That’s why no one was able to find out about Zeon’s movements after he entered the sewer.

Old man Klex had assigned someone to monitor Zeon, but even they couldn’t overcome the foul smell and air and didn’t enter the sewer.

They had no choice but to wait for Zeon to come out of the sewer entrance.

A few hours later, when Zeon came out again, he was empty-handed, so it was judged that he did not recover the mana generator.

The Black Lion cautiously said.

“Recently, the Crocodiles’ movements have been unusual. The number of times they come up to the surface has noticeably increased. It is certain that someone is protecting them.”

“That seems to be the case.”

There is no such thing as an effect without a cause.

Yoo Se-hee ordered.

“For now, strengthen the alertness around the Goblin Market. Since it’s obvious where they’re going to target.””

“Understood.”

There was no prey as tempting as the Goblin Market in the slums.

All sorts of precious items were traded through the Goblin Market.

Countless groups had targeted the Goblin Market until now. However, there was a good reason why they weren’t able to seize the Goblin Market.

“I’ll show you what happens when you mess with the Goblin Market.”