Sand Mage of the Burnt Desert-Chapter 537

Chapter 537

Pa-pa-pak!

A black shadow was racing across the rooftops of Neo Seoul’s buildings at a terrifying speed.

Leaping across rooftops separated by dozens of meters at a time, the one moving like that was the very sniper who had wounded Jin Geum-ho.

With the sniper rifle he had used to assassinate Jin Geum-ho slung across his back, the sniper moved at high speed.

“Catch him!”

“Damn it!”

Dozens of City Hall’s awakened were chasing the sniper.

They were all B-rank to A-rank awakened.

Naturally, their physical abilities were far superior to those of ordinary awakened. But even they were struggling to catch up to the sniper.

It was because of the sniper’s special ability.

Pop!

They thought they were just about to catch him, when suddenly the sniper vanished without a trace.

He reappeared on the rooftop of the building across the way.

“He used spatial movement.”

“Damn it! It’s Blink.”

Blink was a spatial movement skill that let you instantly move to anywhere within your line of sight.

The distance you could move wasn’t very far.

At most, only a few dozen meters.

But even that was enough for the sniper to shake off his pursuers at critical moments.

The sniper was running toward the East District, using Blink intermittently.

“We have to stop him now. If he crosses into the East District, it won’t be easy to track him.”

Since it was an emergency, City Hall’s awakened wouldn’t be stopped from entering the East District. But unlike the Central District, which was mapped out in detail, the geography and environment of the East District were unfamiliar in every way.

Because of that, if he hid in some secluded place in the East District, he wouldn’t be easy to find.

The sniper used Blink repeatedly and reached the boundary of the East District.

Now, with one last leap, he could hide himself among the tangled buildings of the East District.

Just as he planted his foot on the rooftop and hurled himself forward—

Bang!

Suddenly, with a thunderous explosion, the sniper was blasted backward.

The sniper, who had been thrown back onto the rooftop, quickly pulled out his rifle and aimed in the direction the attack had come from.

There stood a man.

Wearing sand-colored fatigues and a tactical vest, his entire body was festooned with countless weapons.

A large anti-demon-beast sniper rifle was slung across his back, and in his hand was a massive revolver.

There was even a long sword hanging at his waist.

And besides that, many more weapons were hidden all over his tactical vest.

Bang!

The sniper quickly fired his rifle.

At the same moment, the man in the tactical vest also fired his revolver.

Boom!

An explosion erupted in midair.

Astonishingly, the man in the tactical vest had shot down the sniper’s bullet with his own.

Shaken by the unbelievable sight, the sniper wavered.

The man didn’t miss that opening and fired his revolver again.

Bang! Bang!

The bullets fired from the anti-demon-beast revolver mercilessly slammed into the sniper.

The sniper’s body shook violently, but he didn’t fall.

Just before collapsing, the sniper barely regained his balance and tried to escape from the man in the tactical vest’s grasp by activating Blink.

At that moment, the corners of the man’s mouth twisted.

“You think you can escape from my hands? From the hands of Seong Ho-yeon…?”

The man’s name was Seong Ho-yeon.

The first member of Numbers.

His ability was All Weapon Master.

A warrior who could use any weapon freely.

Among the Numbers, his nickname was the One-Man Battalion.

The monster who could display the firepower of an entire battalion all by himself was Seong Ho-yeon.

In Seong Ho-yeon’s eyes as he stared at the sniper was pure fury.

That a mere sniper had dared to wound the body of Jin Geum-ho, whom he respected most.

Sensing Seong Ho-yeon’s strength, the sniper tried to flee again by using Blink. But he couldn’t deceive Seong Ho-yeon’s senses.

The sniper had no way of knowing it, but at that very moment, high-frequency waves were being emitted from Seong Ho-yeon’s entire body.

The waves radiating in all directions didn’t miss even the slightest movement within a hundred meters around him.

He was like a human radar.

The most basic skill that had made Seong Ho-yeon into an All Weapon Master was precisely Radar.

Seong Ho-yeon’s radar caught the space where the sniper had moved to with Blink.

Bang! Bang!

Seong Ho-yeon pulled out his sniper rifle and fired.

The large-caliber bullets fired from the anti-demon-beast anti-materiel rifle tore through space and struck the sniper’s body as he appeared.

The sniper’s body staggered from the impact.

At that instant, Seong Ho-yeon’s eyebrows shot up.

“You… you’re not human.”

If he were human, he could never have been unharmed by his bullets.

Because he had applied his skill, Angel’s Song, to the bullets.

When Angel’s Song was applied to bullets, their penetration and destructive power increased more than tenfold.

They gained power enough to pierce even a demon beast’s force field like cotton.

Enduring bullets enhanced with Angel’s Song with a human body was impossible.

Even an S-rank martial-type awakened would have their whole body riddled with holes if hit by Seong Ho-yeon’s bullets.

But the sniper had only staggered from Seong Ho-yeon’s bullets and hadn’t fallen. There wasn’t even a trace of blood.

Instead, fragments flew from where the bullets had struck.

Metal fragments.

“A mechanized awakened?”

Seong Ho-yeon immediately slung his sniper rifle onto his back and drew the sword at his waist, swinging it.

Sgak!

His blade sliced across the sniper’s neck.

He had moved at high speed and swung so fast the sniper couldn’t even perceive it.

Just like the bullets, this time too his sword was imbued with the skill Devil’s Song.

When Devil’s Song was activated, cutting power and speed were amplified tenfold in an instant.

It could tear through even the metallic skeleton of a mechanized awakened like paper.

And indeed, the sniper’s neck was severed in a burst of sparks.

Thud! Roll!

The sniper’s head, separated from his body, rolled on the ground like a ball.

The problem was that even after losing its head, the sniper’s torso was still attacking Seong Ho-yeon. But Seong Ho-yeon didn’t panic and swung his sword again.

White flames erupted from his blade.

It was one of Seong Ho-yeon’s skills: Plasma Blade.

Slash!

He split the black sniper, wrapped in white flames, cleanly in two.

Only then did the sniper’s movements stop completely.

Thud!

The sniper’s torso, split in two, collapsed.

Seong Ho-yeon sheathed his sword and muttered,

“Not a mechanized awakened?”

Even mechanized awakened whose entire bodies were made of machines had exactly one part that couldn’t be replaced with machinery.

The head.

The human brain had such a complex mechanism that it couldn’t dare be replaced with machines.

Even Kim Hyun-soo, who had a mechanical body built with the West District’s top technology, still had a human head.

So mechanized awakened were neutralized if you destroyed or severed the head. But even after its head had been cut off by Seong Ho-yeon’s blade, this sniper had still moved and tried to attack him.

It was something Seong Ho-yeon couldn’t understand.

Seong Ho-yeon approached the corpse of the sniper and took off the hat covering its head.

“What? It wasn’t human?”

The head revealed under the hat resembled a human’s, but was also different.

The entire head was made of some unknown metal.

The torso that had been split in two was also metal.

Rip!

Seong Ho-yeon tore apart the clothes the sniper had been wearing.

Then he saw magic circles densely engraved all over the surface of the torso.

With an incredulous expression, Seong Ho-yeon muttered,

“A golem… sniping as precisely as a human, and using Blink?”

No matter how precisely you made a golem, compared to a human’s movements it would inevitably be crude.

But the golem he had just taken down moved smoothly like a human and used skills as precisely as a magic-type awakened.

It was impossible by Seong Ho-yeon’s common sense.

“Captain!”

“Did you catch the sniper?”

Old Go and the twin sisters joined Seong Ho-yeon belatedly.

They were startled when they saw the golem wreckage scattered at Seong Ho-yeon’s feet.

“What? Why is there a golem here?”

“Don’t tell me this golem was the one who sniped the Mayor?”

They were just as shocked as Seong Ho-yeon.

Just then—

Shrrk!

Suddenly, the magic circles engraved on the golem’s surface began to glow, and the metallic body started to heat up red-hot.

Picking up the sniper rifle the golem had used, Seong Ho-yeon shouted,

“It’s in self-destruct mode. Everyone, fall back.”

“Damn it!”

“Shit!”

Just as Numbers hurriedly threw themselves away, the golem exploded.

Kwaaaang!

The entire rooftop was engulfed in crimson flames, and the golem vanished without a trace.

All that remained was the sniper rifle in Seong Ho-yeon’s hand.

Seong Ho-yeon recognized the rifle’s origin at a glance.

“This one was made in the East District too.”

“What in the world is going on? The sniper was a golem?”

“For now, we should take this weapon back to City Hall. It looks specially made, so if we investigate it, something should turn up.”

“Mm.”

“Old Go, take care of the cleanup.”

“Leave it to me.”

“Twins, help Old Go.”

“Yeah! Captain.”

“Got it.”

The twin sisters answered at the same time.

Leaving Old Go and the twins behind, Seong Ho-yeon leaped toward City Hall.

I will find everyone involved in this and kill them all.

Seong Ho-yeon swore a bloody vengeance.

---

“Ugh…”

With Jin Geum-ho’s groan, his eyebrows trembled.

“Are you conscious?”

At that moment, Seo Tae-ran’s voice was heard.

Jin Geum-ho barely opened his eyes and muttered,

“Looks like I’m still alive.”

“You almost died.”

“But I lived, so that’s enough.”

“And you think that’s something to say? I really thought you were dead.”

“It was worth risking my life, wasn’t it? Isn’t that right?”

Unlike someone who had nearly died and survived, there was a faint smile on Jin Geum-ho’s lips.

Seo Tae-ran said with an annoyed expression at him,

“Is that something you should be saying right now?”

“Just answer me, Tae-ran.”

“Yes.”

“Then that’s enough. Help me up.”

“Honestly…”

Seo Tae-ran shook her head and carefully raised Jin Geum-ho’s upper body, letting him lean against the wall.

“You’re not fully healed yet. Remura says you need two more treatments.”

“Remura?”

“The girl who treated you, Mayor. An A-rank awakened healer. She saved your life.”

“So the saintess John was looking for was here.”

“Yes. A saintess was born in the Crocodile’s den.”

“Heh heh! Pure beings are always born in the filthiest places.”

As Jin Geum-ho smiled crudely, the door opened and Remura and Jeon came in.

Seeing Jin Geum-ho sitting up, Remura was startled.

“Oh! Grandpa, you’re awake. But you still shouldn’t move. Lie down quickly.”

“Grandpa?”

“Huh? Aren’t you Grandpa?”

“Grandpa. Hahaha!”

Jin Geum-ho burst into laughter without realizing it.

Not knowing why he was laughing, Remura just blinked her eyes.