Chapter 691

By the time Zeon and Tesserina arrived at the lair, Raikas and Nigel had already left.

Instead, Levin came out to greet Zeon and Tesserina.

“Hyung!”

“Are you all right?”

Zeon hurriedly picked Levin up in his arms.

Even though Nigel had blocked the attack midway, Levin had suffered serious injuries and collapsed.

It was the first time he had been so badly injured since acquiring the ability to become incorporeal.

His face was deathly pale, without a trace of color, and his breathing was unstable.

If he were left like this, it seemed as though he might stop breathing at any moment.

Zeon poured a potion that Brielle had made into Levin.

“Haa!”

Only after emptying an entire bottle of potion did color return to Levin’s face.

Zeon asked Levin,

“Did Raikas come?”

“Yes! He came looking for us after transforming into a human.”

“What about Sir Nigel?”

“He left with Raikas.”

“Hmm!”

Zeon let out a low groan.

What he had feared had happened.

If they had bought time by fighting in Neo Seoul, Zeon and Tesserina could have helped them, but Nigel had ultimately chosen to face him alone.

Apparently, a dragon’s pride would not allow him to flee with his tail between his legs twice just because he had lost once.

“You don’t know where they went?”

“No!”

“You go to Lemura and get treated for now.”

“What about you, Hyung?”

“I have to find them.”

“I’m sorry. I couldn’t be of any help.”

Levin answered with a dejected expression.

He had barely survived the crisis, and his physical condition was far from normal.

He was discouraged because he could not turn incorporeal and search the surrounding area.

Zeon comforted Levin.

“No. You’ve already helped me a lot. Go and get yourself completely healed. That way, you’ll be able to help me again.”

“Yes, Hyung.”

Levin nodded and immediately headed toward the underground city.

Zeon asked Tesserina,

“Can you tell where the two of them are right now?”

“I’ve been looking for them this whole time, but I can’t sense them at all.”

“If even your abilities can’t find them, they must have moved very far away.”

“They must have gone at least several hundred kilometers away.”

Just then, a familiar figure appeared in front of Tesserina’s lair.

It was Damho.

He frowned and said,

“I definitely sensed an enormous presence here. Is it just the two of you?”

When Raikas had come here, Damho had been somewhere else rescuing people buried beneath the ruins of buildings.

He had sensed the tremendous energy released when the two dragons faced each other.

Startled by the tremendous energy unlike anything he had ever felt on Earth, he had rushed here.

Zeon said,

“Raikas came here.”

“Was it a dragon?”

“Yes! The strongest being among dragons.”

“He didn’t come here for anything good, did he?”

“No. If we fail to stop him, the human world may face its end.”

“Then we must stop him.”

Damho’s expression hardened at Zeon’s words.

Damho had staked everything on returning to his homeland, the Central Plains.

But that would only come after Neo Seoul and Earth were safe.

“I’ll go with you.”

“Please do.”

Zeon nodded.

There was no reason to refuse when a powerhouse like Damho offered to help.

One Damho would obviously be more useful than a hundred mediocre Awakeners joining them.

“You two wait here for a moment. I’ll go to City Hall.”

“Why City Hall?”

Tesserina looked puzzled.

She could not understand why he intended to stop by a place like City Hall when every second mattered.

Zeon smiled and pointed toward the sky.

“We have a good means at our disposal.”

“Oh, Divine Judgement!”

“Exactly! If we use Divine Judgement, we should be able to find them more easily.”

“That makes sense.”

Tesserina nodded.

Divine Judgement was equipped with ultra-high-resolution lenses made from a dragon’s retina.

Using them, it could even detect a tiny ant moving on the ground.

Naturally, a large dragon would be even easier to find.

* * *

“Hoo!”

“Haa!”

Latrisha and Floa sighed simultaneously.

Their entire bodies were drenched in blood and sweat.

Both elves were completely exhausted, without even enough strength to move a finger.

The other elves they had brought with them were the same.

Everyone was utterly spent after giving their all to hold back the monsters.

Serian, the queen of the northern district, thanked them.

“Thank you all for helping us. Thanks to you, we were able to save Neo Seoul.”

“We only did what we had to do.”

“That’s right. We’re allies.”

Latrisha and Floa answered with smiles.

Having fought together against the same enemy, their bond was stronger than ever.

Although they belonged to different groups, right now they felt like one family.

The other elves felt the same.

High Elves, Dark Elves, and ordinary elves alike sat leaning against each other, enjoying the joy of victory.

The elves who had been at odds for so many years had finally become one.

Humans might not know it, but for the elves, this was a historic moment.

Latrisha watched the other elves laughing and chatting with a pleased smile.

‘Now we can reveal the World Tree Village to the world.’

They still could not open it to humans, but a deep enough bond had been formed among the elves that they could interact with one another.

If they opened the World Tree Village, the elves living in Neo Seoul would also be able to encounter and commune with the World Tree.

Imagining how happy they would be, a smile naturally appeared at the corners of Latrisha’s mouth.

Just then.

The smile suddenly vanished from Latrisha’s face.

Serian noticed the change in Latrisha’s expression and asked with a puzzled look,

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s just…”

“The World Tree is telling us to return quickly.”

“What does that mean?”

“It seems something serious is happening. We’ll return to the World Tree Village first.”

Latrisha immediately called the High Elves together.

Floa gathered the Dark Elves and said,

“Then we’ll go with you. I don’t know what happened, but we’ll be able to help if we go.”

“Thank you.”

Latrisha thanked Floa.

Serian also sensed the unusual atmosphere and said,

“I don’t know what’s happening, but we’ll head over as soon as we finish dealing with things here.”

“Thank you, Lady Serian!”

“Go quickly.”

“Yes!”

Latrisha and Floa immediately led their respective people toward the World Tree Village.

Left alone, Serian’s face showed none of the joy of victory.

It was none other than the World Tree itself that had called Latrisha.

The World Tree, located an immense distance from Neo Seoul, must have pushed itself quite hard to convey its voice to Latrisha. Something serious enough to make it go to such lengths had clearly happened.

“Hoo!”

Serian sighed.

Just when she thought they had barely overcome one crisis, another had appeared.

“Let’s deal with Neo Seoul first and think about it afterward. If they need our strength, they’ll contact us.”

Serian thought as rationally as possible.

This cold-headedness was precisely the secret to her successfully ruling the northern district for a hundred years.

* * *

“Is everyone all right?”

Lemura walked around the underground city, checking on everyone.

“We’re fine!”

“Everyone here is safe.”

The survivors who had made it through safely answered Lemura.

“Haa!”

Only after checking on everyone one by one did Lemura finally let out a sigh of relief.

The monsters that had invaded the slums had eventually made their way into the underground city as well.

The Awakeners guarding the entrances and passages of the underground city fought against the monsters, but they were outmatched.

Eventually, the passages were breached, and monsters poured in like a rising tide.

There could have been heavy casualties, but fortunately, the Awakeners of the underground city stepped forward to confront the monsters.

In the meantime, the Awakeners of the underground city had grown considerably stronger through dungeon raids and monster hunting.

When the underground city faced a crisis, they stepped forward without hesitation and fought fiercely.

But it was impossible for them alone to hunt down every monster that had infiltrated the slums.

Several monsters eventually broke through the Awakeners’ defensive line and stormed into the residential areas.

That was when Zetoya appeared.

The Zetoya who had returned was not the Zetoya they had known.

Bang!

Crack!

With a single punch, a monster’s head shattered like a watermelon, and its torso burst apart.

His movements were incomparably simple, while his destructive power was extreme.

No monster could withstand even one of Zetoya’s blows.

Like an incarnation of destruction, Zetoya slaughtered every monster that had invaded the underground city.

Thanks to him, civilian casualties were kept to a minimum.

Covered in the blood of monsters, Zetoya left a powerful impression on everyone.

“Hoo!”

Zetoya stood in the plaza and looked at his fist.

His fist, deeply hardened with calluses, resembled a war hammer.

While fighting countless monsters in the mana stone mine, his fists had been broken and healed countless times.

In the process, his fists had become harder than steel.

Even after punching countless monsters to death, they did not bear so much as a scratch.

When he had first been thrown among the monsters, he had not been without resentment toward his master, Damho.

But now, he no longer felt that way at all.

He had become stronger thanks to Damho, and because of that, he had been able to protect the underground city from the monsters.

Lemura approached Zetoya.

“You worked hard, Oppa!”

“You worked hard too.”

“Thanks to you, I’m alive. Hoo!”

Lemura leaned against Zetoya’s shoulder and let out a deep sigh.

Zetoya silently put an arm around her shoulders.

He could not imagine how much anxiety and fear young Lemura must have felt while he was gone.

Others revered her as a saintess, but to Zetoya, she was nothing more than a young girl he had to protect.

Protecting Lemura and the underground city would remain Zetoya’s responsibility.

Zetoya had no intention of avoiding that responsibility.

He had learned and realized many things while being with Damho.

The greatest realization of all was that the weak could never protect their family.

Only the strong could protect what was precious to them and assert their rights.

To protect Lemura and the underground city, he had to undergo even harsher training.

Fortunately, Damho had engraved the methods of cultivation deep into his bones.

So that he could train even on his own.

Just then.

“Lemura!”

Levin came running into the underground city, calling out to Lemura loudly.

“Oppa!”

“Hyung!”

“You’re all safe, right?”

Levin first checked on their well-being.

“Yes!”

“We’re fine.”

“Thank goodness. Lemura.”

“Yes?”

“Treat me right away.”

“You’re hurt?”

“Yeah! Hurry and treat me. I have to help Zeon hyung.”

At this moment, there was only one thought in Levin’s mind.

He had to help Zeon.