Sand Mage of the Burnt Desert

Chapter 264

The Shadow Unit was composed of four main teams.

Team 1 gathered information about Neo Seoul, Team 2 focused on gathering intelligence in the slums, Team 3 formulated strategies based on the gathered intel, and Team 4 specialized in military operations.

Of course, even the information-gathering members of Teams 1 and 2 were all Awakened.

Though they were only D-rank in terms of power, every member possessed stealth-related skills, and with the help of specialized items, they could fight on par with C-rank Awakened.

The people tasked with monitoring Zeon were from Team 2, the team responsible for keeping tabs on the slums.

Ever since Zeon had been designated a high-risk individual, they had been watching him from a distance. The method was simple.

They bought up houses near Zeon’s residence and along his usual routes and turned them into safehouses.

By living as though they were ordinary residents, they were able to observe him without being noticed. Naturally, Zeon hadn’t picked up on their presence.

Team 2 had successfully carried out their mission until now.

It was thanks to them that City Hall had learned of Zeon’s contact with Duduyan and Aslan.

As such, they knew better than anyone just how dangerous Zeon was. In an environment with sand, he was practically invincible. And since most of the Earth was covered in sand, it was as though the entire planet was his weapon.

When the sandstorm began to blow, it was only natural that Team 2 would immediately think of Zeon.

And when a sand figure appeared in the shape of a human, they didn’t hesitate to follow their prearranged plan.

They scattered in all directions, fleeing.

They abandoned the safehouses they had secured and made their way toward Neo Seoul.

No matter how powerful Zeon was, he couldn’t recklessly commit murder inside Neo Seoul. That wasn’t his domain.

‘I just need to make it to Neo Seoul.’

‘I need to take the shortest route…’

They sprinted with all their strength, following the escape routes they had scouted in advance.

Rather than zigzagging to try to lose Zeon, running at full speed gave them the best chance of survival.

As Robinsona, a member of Team 2, ran, sweating, he muttered to himself.

“Damn it! How did he figure it out? We were so careful. Could it have gone wrong during the interrogation?”

The only possibility he could think of was that something had gone wrong during the questioning.

“I told them to be cautious…”

Swoosh!

Suddenly, the swirling sandstorm swallowed Robinson whole. But he was too focused on running to notice.

Thud! Thud!

The first sign that something was wrong came when he heard footsteps beside him.

Someone was running alongside him, matching his pace.

When he turned his head to look, he saw a sand figure running next to him.

It was a Sand Soldier.

“What the—?”

Before he could react, the Sand Soldier slammed into him.

It was just a simple body check.

But with the heavy weight of the sand combined with the speed at which they were running, the impact was tremendous.

Crash!

“Argh!”

The Sand Soldier crumbled into sand upon impact, but Robinson was sent flying by the force, as if he had been hit by a car.

No matter how strong a D-rank Awakened might be, recovering from that kind of blow wasn’t easy.

While Robinson was briefly knocked unconscious, the swirling sand enveloped him and carried him away.

“Ugh!”

“Ahh!”

All across the slums, similar cries echoed.

They were the screams of Team 2 members being taken down by Sand Soldiers.

In an instant, most of Team 2 had been neutralized.

The only one left was their leader, Boyd.

As the team leader, Boyd was a C-rank Awakened.

Naturally, he was far stronger than the other team members.

Boom! Crash!

The Sand Soldiers attacking him were being destroyed instead.

The shattered Sand Soldiers turned back into piles of sand.

The problem was that there was an endless supply of sand, and Zeon had the ability to recycle even the broken Sand Soldiers.

As Boyd watched the destroyed Sand Soldiers rise up again, he cursed.

“Damn it! This is cheating. It’s like recycling resources.”

Even so, he couldn’t afford to give up. He unleashed his attack skills and shattered another Sand Soldier.

Smash!

The sand exploded outward as the Sand Soldier was destroyed.

But soon enough, it reformed, as if mocking Boyd.

The bigger issue was that the number of Sand Soldiers attacking him was steadily increasing.

That could only mean one thing.

His teammates had all been defeated.

The more of them that fell, the more Sand Soldiers there were to attack him.

Now, twenty Sand Soldiers surrounded him—the exact number of people in Team 2.

Boyd wasn’t stupid. He knew what it meant that the Sand Soldiers assigned to each teammate were now all focused on him.

‘They’ve all been taken down.’

The opponent was too strong and too fast.

The Shadow Unit was known for creating opportunities in unfavorable situations, but this time, they couldn’t even mount a proper response.

Wham!

All twenty Sand Soldiers attacked him at once.

They used their heavy bodies to slam into him or threw simple punches.

Their attacks were terrifyingly fast and efficient, but Boyd could handle them.

He was, after all, a C-rank Awakened.

The problem was that there were twenty Sand Soldiers, and they didn’t feel fear.

Crash!

The leading Sand Soldier was blown apart by Boyd’s punch, and the second was sent flying by a powerful knee strike.

But there were still eighteen left.

They had no concept of fear or loss, so they charged at Boyd relentlessly, unaffected by the destruction of their comrades.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

The Sand Soldiers launched a collective assault.

Boyd did his best to defend against their onslaught, but no matter how strong his fists were, he couldn’t fend off thirty-six fists with just two of his own.

His skin tore, his muscles ruptured, and blood splattered everywhere.

One of his arms broke, and his knee joint was shattered, leaving him unable to put weight on it. Yet Boyd resisted with all his might.

In the end, he managed to destroy ten more Sand Soldiers. But that was his limit.

“Argh!”

With a final gasp, Boyd collapsed, coughing up blood.

As soon as he fell, the sand surged forward like a tidal wave and swallowed him whole.

When the sand receded, Boyd was gone.

And just like that, all of Team 2 had disappeared from the slums.

* * *

“What do you mean by that?”

“We’ve lost contact with the entire Team 2.”

“The entire team?”

At the report from the Team 3 leader, Ho Cheong-yeon furrowed his brow.

“What about the team leader?”

“He’s gone dark as well.”

“They should have had emergency communication devices.”

“They did. But no signals came through.”

“They didn’t even have time to send a message?”

Ho Cheong-yeon’s voice grew low and grim.

As the Captain of the Shadow Unit, he had been responsible for monitoring numerous high-risk individuals.

He had experienced countless dangerous situations. Yet, he had always survived, eventually becoming the leader of the Shadow Unit.

The key to his survival had been his exceptional ability to sense danger.

His instincts, far sharper than those of most people, were now warning him of a serious threat.

“How many safehouses do we have in the slums?”

“Seven.”

“Shut them all down. We’re pulling out.”

“Captain? What about Team 2?”

“They’ve all been taken down by Zeon.”

“Then we should abandon any rescue attempts.”

The Team 3 leader, much like Boyd, was known for his quick judgment.

They were shadows, meant to stay hidden from the world.

The moment the Shadow Unit’s existence was exposed, their reason for being vanished.

Even in death, they had to go quietly.

Leaving behind a single name or trace of their existence was against the unspoken rules of their world.

Ho Cheong-yeon bit down hard on his lip.

Hot blood trickled down, but he didn’t care.

“Why did Zeon attack so suddenly?”

“Maybe he found out about what we did with Aslan and is seeking revenge.”

“How could he have known?”

Ho Cheong-yeon questioned the Team 3 leader’s suggestion, but then quickly shook his head.

This was a man who defied common sense.

That meant using logic to make sense of his actions was pointless.

Just as the Team 3 leader had said, the only reason Zeon would suddenly target the Shadow Unit was likely because he had discovered what they had done to Aslan.

“We were careful to cover our tracks. How did he figure it out?”

Even Aslan hadn’t realized he had been drugged with a truth serum.

The serum itself left no trace, disappearing from the body within a day. And yet, Zeon had not only uncovered the truth but had already retaliated against the Shadow Unit.

It was a terrifyingly decisive response.

“We underestimated him.”

Up until now, Zeon had always acted with restraint, so they had expected him to do the same this time.

But they were wrong.

“He’s letting us know that he’s capable of striking back, and if we provoke him, he’ll retaliate.”

“We’ll need to change our surveillance methods.”

“Agreed.”

Ho Cheong-yeon nodded.

There was no point in sticking to a failed strategy.

While they didn’t yet have a new plan, he was confident they would come up with something by putting their heads together.

But for now, it was time to retreat.

After all, they were still in the slums.

The only saving grace was that they were in Dongdaemun, a district outside of Zeon’s immediate influence.

No matter how powerful Zeon was, he wouldn’t recklessly invade Dongdaemun.

Stirring up trouble here would only give Johan a reason to retaliate.

A member of Team 3 rushed in and reporte.

“We’ve destroyed all the data and completed preparations for evacuation.”

“Then let’s move out,”

Ho Cheong-yeon ordered without hesitation.

Team 3 began to retreat through the safehouse’s emergency exit.

Whoosh!

Suddenly, a powerful gust of wind blew through.

It was a sand-laden wind.

In an instant, Ho Cheong-yeon’s face turned rigid.

“A sandstorm? It’s him.”

Boom!

A deafening explosion followed.

Fortunately, the Shadow Unit members had prepared for an attack, so they didn’t feel the full force of the shockwave.

“What was that?”

“What’s going on…?”

None of them could make sense of what had happened.

The dense sandstorm continued to obscure their vision, making it impossible to see anything clearly.

Ho Cheong-yeon narrowed his eyes.

“What on earth…”

As the sandstorm gradually began to clear, the cause of the explosion became apparent.

A massive boulder, formed from tightly compressed sand, now stood before them.

Sweat ran down Ho Cheong-yeon’s back.

No one needed to tell him; he instinctively knew that this was Zeon’s doing.

But the real question was: what was this massive rock?

It wasn’t just a simple pile of sand. Zeon wouldn’t have gone to the trouble of sending them something like this without a reason.

There had to be a purpose behind it.

“Zeon…”

After a moment of hesitation, Ho Cheong-yeon suddenly punched the boulder. He had heard breathing coming from inside.

Boom!

The giant rock shattered into pieces, sending fragments flying in all directions. As the debris cleared, what had been hidden inside was revealed.

It was the entire team from Team 2.

The team that had been dispatched to directly monitor Zeon was now lying inside the crushed boulder.

“This is unbelievable!”

“That bastard! He trapped them in there!”

Thankfully, the members of Team 2 were still alive.

Had Ho Cheong-yeon been even a little slower in destroying the boulder, they would have suffocated to death.

Team 3 stared in horror at Zeon’s merciless method.

“We’ve been utterly humiliated.”

If Zeon had simply killed all of Team 2, it might have fueled a desire for revenge. But by sparing their lives and sending them back, Zeon had sent a message to Team 3: ‘This could happen to you too.’

Now that they had tasted real fear, it would be impossible for them to remain calm and focused while keeping an eye on Zeon in the future.

“How unfair. Not only does he possess a unique ability on Earth, but he’s also frighteningly intelligent.”

For the first time, Ho Cheong-yeon felt the presence of an insurmountable wall.

A wall called Zeon.

———