Chapter 623

“Kgh!”

Grinding his teeth, Osolo forced himself back up.

If his body had not been made of shadow, that single lightning attack would have burned him to ashes.

Fortunately, a body made of shadows possessed a certain degree of immunity to this type of magical attack, and above all, the robe he wore had helped immensely.

The robe brought from Kurayan was layered with countless defensive enchantments. At the moment of crisis, the defensive magic activated and weakened the power of the lightning.

Thanks to that, he had survived, though he still suffered considerable damage.

But it was too early to feel relieved.

This was Neo Seoul, enemy territory.

Countless awakened of Neo Seoul were staring at him.

There was no room for excuses.

Everyone present had seen him attempt to destroy the portal.

“Damn it!”

He glared at Levin with eyes full of resentment.

If not for Levin, he might already have achieved his objective.

Whistling, Levin spoke.

“Good thing I listened to hyung and guarded this place. I had a bad feeling, and sure enough, you really tried to destroy the portal.”

For the past few days, he had practically been eating and sleeping near the portal.

When Osolo entered, he had been disguised as Lee Yeolsan, so Levin hadn’t noticed him. But there was no way he could fail to notice someone trying so openly to destroy the portal.

“You dare interfere with my undertaking.”

Roaring furiously, Osolo attacked Levin.

The frustration and resentment of failing his mission were all directed toward Levin.

Levin muttered with a dumbfounded expression.

“What a ridiculous old man. You’re the one who did something wrong……”

Flash!

Another Giga Lightning descended from the sky and struck Osolo.

The tremendous impact forced Osolo backward.

Having bought a moment of time, Levin looked at Zeon.

He was asking what they should do.

Zeon said to him,

“I’ll leave him to you.”

“And you, hyung?”

“I’m going to the Steel Fortress.”

“Got it.”

Levin nodded.

Levin was now unquestionably an S-rank.

Osolo was powerful, but Levin was more than capable of handling him.

Above all, this was Neo Seoul—specifically, the slums.

There were plenty of people around who could assist Levin.

If Levin was ever in danger, they would step in.

So there was no need to worry about his safety.

“A mere human dares look down on me? I’ll kill you all!”

Listening to their conversation, Osolo exploded in rage.

Among the many demi-human races of El Harun, the Shadow Tribe possessed abilities strong enough to rank among the top five.

And among them, Osolo’s abilities were unquestionably outstanding.

Although circumstances had forced him to sneak into Neo Seoul like a rat, he was by no means someone who deserved to be treated this lightly.

Seeing Zeon and Levin converse as though he were already defeated made his anger erupt.

Shhhhaaa!

Osolo’s body expanded explosively.

His enlarged form resembled a black curtain.

The body transformed into a curtain was sharper than blades.

Shiaaaak!

Spinning his body like a storm, Osolo charged toward Levin.

The awakened standing between him and Levin were mercilessly sliced apart by Osolo’s blade-like body.

Shushushuk!

“Kgh!”

“Keugh!”

There was no time to block or evade.

Everything touched by the shadow blades was cut apart.

Powerfully trained bodies and sturdy armor were useless.

The shadow blades created from Osolo’s own body boasted power and sharpness surpassing even Aura Blades.

Shadow Blade.

It was the strongest skill that only the leader of the Shadow Tribe could wield.

In the brief instant Osolo flew toward Levin, numerous awakened were killed or injured.

Sparks flashed in Levin’s eyes.

“You son of a bitch!”

Crack!

There was no reason left to think or hesitate.

Levin immediately transformed his body into Lightning God Form.

With a peal of thunder, Levin’s body itself became lightning.

“Whoa!”

“Holy shit!”

The awakened seeing Levin’s Lightning God Form for the first time stared in shock.

Crackle!

A rain of lightning poured down around the portal area.

It truly looked as though a Thunder God had descended.

Levin carefully controlled the lightning to avoid hitting the portal or the people nearby.

Boom!

The King of Shadows and the Thunder God collided in midair.

The two beings, who had surpassed the limits of humanity, fought fiercely as they rose high into the sky.

“Strengthen security around the portal!”

“Request reinforcements from Neo Seoul!”

The awakened who belatedly regained their senses surrounded and defended the portal.

But by then, Zeon had already passed through the portal and crossed over to the Steel Fortress.

“Huh? Zeon?”

“Oh! The Sand Mage is here.”

Urthian and Seong Hoyeon of Numbers, who happened to be at the entrance, looked at Zeon with puzzled expressions.

Urthian tilted his head.

“You came without notice. Did something happen?”

“There’s chaos in Neo Seoul right now.”

“Chaos?”

“One of El Harun’s demi-humans launched an attack.”

Zeon briefly explained everything that had happened.

After hearing the story, Urthian and Seong Hoyeon’s expressions turned grave.

“They tried to brainwash the Queen of the North District and stab us in the back.”

“And when they failed, they tried to destroy the portal? Those crazy bastards really want war?”

Seong Hoyeon, the leader of Numbers, immediately tried to return to Neo Seoul through the portal.

Zeon stopped him.

“You don’t need to worry about that side. Levin is handling it, and countless awakened are gathering there already.”

“Hmm!”

Only then did Seong Hoyeon regain his composure.

No matter how strong the leader of the Shadow Tribe was, he could not fight all of Neo Seoul’s awakened.

If they hadn’t known about him, it would be different, but now that they had identified and prepared for him, defending the portal would not be a problem.

The real issue was here.

“The fact that they tried to destroy the portal means……”

“It’s proof that the attack is imminent. Send scouting parties throughout the area.”

Seong Hoyeon immediately understood the meaning behind Zeon’s words.

“For now, gather all troops and have them stand by.”

“Then what about the scouting?”

“I’ll handle it.”

“Understood. Then I’ll gather the troops immediately.”

Seong Hoyeon and Urthian immediately ran toward the interior of the Steel City.

Left alone, Zeon immediately rode a sandstorm high into the sky.

After briefly surveying the surroundings from midair, Zeon discovered massive clouds of dust rising from the northern horizon.

The dust was so far away that he could only spot it because he had risen two or three kilometers into the sky.

Without hesitation, Zeon immediately flew toward the rising dust.

After flying dozens of kilometers, the true nature of the dust cloud came into view.

At least hundreds of thousands of demi-humans were on the move.

Just as Zeon had suspected, the demi-humans of El Harun were advancing toward the Steel Fortress.

But the demi-humans were not the only ones heading toward the Steel Fortress.

—Kwoooaar!

—Kraaah!

Countless magical beasts, both large and small, moved ahead of the demi-humans while letting out monstrous cries.

There were all kinds of magical beasts.

From small beasts like Flame Wolves to medium-sized beasts like Ogres and Cyclopes, and even giant beasts dozens of meters tall, they were all mixed together.

By Zeon’s common sense, such a thing should have been impossible.

Magical beasts never tolerated other magical beasts entering their territory.

Small magical beasts would flee from medium-sized ones, and medium-sized beasts would never even dare enter the territory of giant beasts.

When another magical beast entered their domain, magical beasts fought to the death.

The fact that such beasts had gathered in one place like this was itself impossible.

The very occurrence of this situation meant it was far from normal.

Zeon carefully examined the magical beasts.

The moment he saw their eyes, he immediately understood what had happened.

“They’re enthralled.”

The magical beasts’ eyes lacked focus.

It was proof they had lost their reason.

Some enormous power had clearly seized control of their minds and was manipulating them.

No tamer could ever dominate the minds of this many magical beasts at once.

Especially giant-type magical beasts—their mental strength was so powerful that taming them was nearly impossible.

Only dragons could control giant-type magical beasts.

But as far as Zeon knew, there were no dragons in El Harun.

Then only one possibility remained.

“An… item?”

Someone clearly possessed an item capable of controlling magical beasts.

The question was who possessed such an item and controlled them.

Just as Zeon descended toward the ground to find the one controlling the magical beasts—

Screeeech!

With a sharp tearing sound through the air, something flew toward Zeon.

A flying-type magical beast that attacked faster than sound itself.

Blade Frigate Birds.

Zeon immediately intercepted the Blade Frigate Bird with Sand Blaster.

Boom!

The Blade Frigate Bird exploded in midair with a thunderous blast.

But it was too early to relax.

There wasn’t just one or two Blade Frigate Birds attacking Zeon.

Shushushuk!

Dozens of Blade Frigate Birds filled the sky and charged toward Zeon at terrifying speed.

“Tch!”

Clicking his tongue, Zeon immediately erected a sand wall before him.

Boom boom boom boom!

The Blade Frigate Birds collided with the thick sand wall and exploded.

Countless Blade Frigate Birds perished in the sky as deafening explosions rang out.

The forces of El Harun on the ground heard the sound and looked up.

“Ze……on!”

Among them, Del Roa recognized Zeon and furrowed his brow.

Zeon also discovered Del Roa.

But Del Roa’s appearance had changed.

He had already looked grotesque when he had become one with the World Tree, but now he looked even more bizarre.

He wore clothes made of tree bark, and over them he was adorned with countless items.

A helmet made of wood, a necklace made of bones, and dozens of black metallic ornaments hanging from his arms and legs.

Rather than the leader of El Harun, he looked more like the chieftain of some primitive tribe.

The bark clothing and helmet he wore were made from the remnants of the World Tree.

The necklace around his neck and the ornaments on his limbs were treasures brought from Kurayan.

When he had become one with the World Tree, he had no need for such items, but now that the World Tree was gone, he wore every item he could to strengthen his abilities.

A murderous aura filled Del Roa’s eyes as he stared at Zeon.

“You dare stand in my way?”

“You’re heading to the Steel Fortress?”

“I am going to punish the humans and elves who betrayed El Harun. You have no justification to stop my rightful vengeance.”

“How do I have no justification? There are countless humans in the Steel Fortress besides them.”

“If they shelter El Harun’s traitors, then they deserve to die as well.”

“Why not just be honest? You simply covet the Steel Fortress.”

Zeon sneered at Del Roa.

At that, Del Roa’s eyebrows twitched violently.

But he did not refute it.

No matter how he tried to justify it, he could not hide the fact that they desired the Steel Fortress and intended to seize it.

'We just have to win and take it. Once Osolo destroys the portal, Neo Seoul will no longer be able to exert influence over this side.'

At that moment, the bone necklace hanging around Del Roa’s neck emitted a powerful light.

—Kraaaah!

—Kieeeeh!

Suddenly, flying-type magical beasts including griffins appeared in the sky and attacked Zeon.

As Zeon retreated, he thought,

'So that was the item controlling the magical beasts.'

He had confirmed everything he needed to confirm.

There was no need to fight them here right now.

Avoiding the attacks of the flying magical beasts, Zeon retreated backward.