Sand Mage of the Burnt Desert-Chapter 550

Chapter 550

For a moment, a light of wariness rose on Levin’s face.

It was because Liala’s gaze and atmosphere were not ordinary.

‘She’s strong.’

Instinctively sensing the other’s strength, Levin prepared himself to fight at any moment and stared at Liala.

Noticing his guarded attitude, Liala let out a small laugh.

“You don’t have to be that wary. We have no intention of harming Neo Seoul.”

“I’m not naive enough to believe that at face value.”

At Levin’s refusal to lower his guard, Liala nodded.

“A good attitude. There’s nothing more foolish than dropping your guard against someone you happen to meet in the desert.”

“You know that well.”

“Well, I’ve been through a lot of things lately.”

“Same here. So until I know your purpose, I can’t tell you anything.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes.”

Even at Levin’s firm answer, Liala didn’t get angry.

Instead, a smile appeared on her lips.

It had been a long time since she had met a human with a proper mindset.

Originally, she had only cared about the humans in El Harun.

She hadn’t even been interested in the humans living in the desert or in Neo Seoul. But after going through a big incident recently, the way she looked at Earth’s humans had changed.

Liala spoke the name of the human who had changed her like that.

“I’m looking for a man named Zeon.”

“Zeon?”

“That’s right. I came all the way here to find him.”

“Why are you looking for Zeon hyung?”

“It seems you know him.”

“Stop with the extra talk and tell me your purpose.”

Crackle!

Sparks flew from Levin’s tightly clenched fist.

If she was looking for Zeon with impure intentions, he intended to settle it at his own level.

“You seem to be close to Zeon.”

“You still haven’t answered.”

“As I said earlier, my name is Liala. I came from a city far away called El Harun. I met Zeon there.”

“El Harun?”

“That’s right.”

“Wait! El Harun, Liala….”

Levin searched his memory.

Because after Zeon had been to El Harun, he had briefly told him about what happened.

“Liala, Liala! Are you by any chance the Head of the Hall of Guardians of El Harun?”

“It seems you heard about me from Zeon. That’s right! I am Liala, Head of the Hall of Guardians.”

“I see. Nice to meet you, Lady Liala! I’m Levin, Zeon’s younger brother.”

“So you are Levin. Zeon mentioned you in passing before he left El Harun. He said you were an extremely strong awakened.”

“Haha! Zeon hyung said that about me?”

“He did.”

“Nice to meet you, Lady Liala! But why are you looking for Zeon hyung?”

“There is a reason I must meet him. I will tell him the details.”

“Then come with us. We’re on our way back to Neo Seoul too.”

“That’s good. I was at a loss, actually.”

A smile rose on Liala’s lips.

She knew Neo Seoul was somewhere south of El Harun. But actually finding the way was another matter.

In this vast desert, there weren’t many guides who could accurately find a specific place.

Levin’s gaze turned to the people behind Liala.

“And they are?”

As soon as he finished speaking, they flipped their hats back. Then the faces of men with strong impressions were revealed.

“I’m Uslan. I met Lord Zeon in the desert and traveled with him to El Harun.”

“I’m Jupiro.”

“Alonso.”

“Creeden.”

They each introduced themselves.

Levin smiled and greeted them.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Levin, Zeon’s younger brother. And this is Jetoya, Zeon’s and my younger brother.”

While he was at it, Levin introduced Jetoya to them.

Jetoya greeted them with a flustered expression.

“Hello, I’m Jetoya.”

“Nice to meet you, boy! If you’re Lord Zeon’s brother, you‘re not a stranger.”

Uslan looked at Jetoya with a pleased expression.

Levin said to Liala and Uslan,

“Instead of standing around here, let’s go to Neo Seoul together. We’ll guide you.”

“Thank you.”

They got on their respective means of transport and headed for Neo Seoul.

Following the vehicle that Levin and Jetoya were riding, Liala and Uslan talked.

“We’re lucky. To meet Lord Zeon’s brother here of all places.”

“It seems the heavens haven’t abandoned us yet.”

Liala looked up at the sky with a heavy expression.

Meeting Levin and the others in the middle of the desert was truly by chance. If they hadn’t been blessed with incredible luck, they would never have met them.

Uslan spoke carefully.

“But will Lord Zeon really help us?”

“He will. He’s not the kind of man who turns away from an acquaintance in trouble.”

Liala answered in a confident voice.

＊＊＊

“Is that Neo Seoul?”

“Mm!”

At the distant view of Neo Seoul, Uslan and his men let out low groans.

They had always lived with the pride that El Harun was the center of the world.

Because no matter where you went in the desert, there was no city as prosperous as El Harun. But that pride melted away the moment they saw Neo Seoul from afar.

Countless buildings and walls soaring as if to pierce the sky. And even the slums on the outskirts.

A super-gigantic city they had never seen in their lives was displaying overwhelming might.

They had thought El Harun was big, but compared to Neo Seoul, it looked insignificant.

Levin said to them proudly,

“This is Neo Seoul, the pinnacle of human civilization.”

“How many humans live in Neo Seoul?”

“As far as I know it’s over twenty million.”

“Twenty million? Mm!”

At the overwhelming number, Liala swallowed a groan.

Even if you gathered all the races of El Harun, it would only be a few hundred thousand at most.

Yet so many humans were gathered living in that one city—it was hard to believe.

“The humans of Earth are truly amazing. To build such a huge city on sand.”

Liala couldn’t help but admire the potential of Earth’s humans.

She knew of Neo Seoul as a name, but seeing its scale with her own eyes, all she could think was how incredible it was.

She even felt awe toward the humans who had built this city.

Levin said to them,

“Let’s go. I’ll guide you to Zeon hyung’s house.”

“Mm!”

Liala, Uslan, and the others followed Levin into the slums.

As soon as they entered, Levin said to Jetoya,

“You go into the underground city first. I’ll take them to Zeon hyung.”

“Okay, hyung!”

“And….”

“Their existence is a secret, right? I know. I’ll make sure to keep other people’s mouths shut too.”

“Not bad.”

“Hehe! Whose brother do you think I am? See you later, hyung!”

“Yeah. Go safely.”

Levin waved to Jetoya.

Watching Jetoya head toward the underground city with the awakeneds, Levin turned his body.

He headed to Zeon’s house with Liala and the others.

“Levin hyung!”

“Hello, hyung!”

The moment Levin entered the slums, many children recognized him and greeted him.

“It’s been a while. Have you all been well?”

Levin accepted each of their greetings as he walked.

Seeing Levin's presence, Liala was impressed.

“You have great popularity.”

“It’s nothing. We’ve all known each other for a long time, that’s all.”

“Their eyes when they look at you are full of trust. Gaining that kind of trust from people is never easy.”

“Well….”

Feeling shy, Levin quickened his steps.

Thanks to that, they reached Zeon’s house quickly.

Opening the door, Levin said,

“Hyung, I’m here.”

“Levin?”

Zeon, who happened to be at home, greeted him.

“I came with guests.”

“Huh?”

“This is Lady Liala. She came from El Harun.”

“Lady Liala?”

Zeon couldn’t hide his surprised expression.

He never thought he would hear her name in Neo Seoul.

From behind Levin, Liala and Uslan and the others appeared.

“It’s been a while, Zeon!”

“Lady Liala!”

“So we meet again.”

“Uslan too? What is going on?”

“We came to find you.”

“Me? Please, come inside first.”

Zeon brought them into the house.

“Mm!”

“This is a nice house.”

After looking around the inside, Uslan and his men couldn’t hide their admiration.

Zeon’s house in the slums was far better than their houses in El Harun.

In particular, the various electronic products made in Neo Seoul caught their eyes. They were things you couldn’t see in El Harun.

After seating them, Zeon brought out water.

“I didn’t prepare anything, so I only have water to offer.”

“We didn’t come to eat, so don’t worry about it.”

“You said you came to see me?”

“We came to ask for your help.”

“What is it about?”

“Hoo….”

Instead of answering, Liala let out a sigh.

It was because it was a story she didn’t want to tell. But she had to.

Coming to ask for help and not talking about El Harun’s internal situation made no sense.

“The World Tree… is dying. Because of that, the Pankrena Volcano has begun to erupt.”

“That’s a big problem.”

Zeon grasped the seriousness of the situation at once.

If the World Tree died, El Harun would collapse as well.

Faced with El Harun’s crisis, it was easy to predict what choice Del Roa would make.

Even so, Zeon asked Liala,

“What order did Del Roa give?”

“Del Roa thinks that another World Tree has been born, so El Harun’s World Tree is rapidly dying. So he plans either to find that other World Tree and bring it back, or to migrate to where the World Tree is.”

“How do you know another World Tree was born? The World Tree in El Harun was already dying anyway, wasn’t it?”

“Originally, only one World Tree can exist in a world. So they judged that another World Tree was born and that El Harun’s World Tree is rapidly losing its vitality.”

“I see.”

Zeon nodded.

Amazingly, Del Roa’s guess was the truth.

A new World Tree had been born in the High Elves’ village, and even now it was growing day by day under the devoted care of the High Elves.

Unlike El Harun’s World Tree, a true World Tree born from a seed.

If only one World Tree could exist in a world, then only the true one would survive.

Zeon asked Liala,

“So you’re asking me to find the true World Tree?”

“No.”

“Then why did you come to find me?”

“I came to ask you to stop them from trying to find the other World Tree.”

“Why… are you making such a request?”

“We already destroyed one world. To save ourselves, we turned Earth into this state. But this time too, we can’t destroy the place where another World Tree was born just to save ourselves again, can we? Given Lord Del Roa’s disposition, he will surely try to take it even if he has to kill all the life there.”

Guilt filled Liala’s face as she spoke.

Her guilt had grown even stronger after entering Neo Seoul.

Because she thought about how much better these people would have lived if it weren’t for them.

Liala said firmly,

“Please! Help us not commit another sin against the lives of this land.”