The Worth of Modern Humans
“P-Please, spare me.”
The last survivor begged Dayton.
Her name was Eizlin.
She was a magic-type Awakener specializing in wind magic.
In Neo Seoul, she was nobility.
As an A-rank Awakener, she couldn't help but have a high nose.
Being fawned over by everyone had become a habit, and she truly believed herself a noble.
She had joined this raid team purely of her own volition.
To Neo Seoul's leadership, Dayton was something of a taboo word.
They all clamped their mouths shut at the mention of his name, as if it were forbidden. That bred resentment in her.
'You think you're so great? You're nothing but a relic from a bygone era.'
She wanted to prove it.
That modern Awakeners were far superior.
Or more precisely, that she was superior.
That was why she'd joined the raid on Dayton. And now, she bitterly regretted her decision.
Her face was hideously smeared with tears and snot, and her crotch was soaked with urine.
Dayton was terrifying. And horrific.
He seemed to embody the absolute limit of human strength.
He hadn't used a single proper skill. He'd just butchered the Awakeners attacking him with his fists and that massive greatsword.
Humans flying apart like scarecrows, blood spraying like fountains—Eizlin stared, dumbfounded.
As a magic-type Awakener, she rarely fought up close with monsters or humans.
She just fired off a spell now and then from a safe distance.
This was her first time witnessing such carnage right before her eyes.
Dayton, drenched in blood and flesh, didn't look human at all.
Everyone was dead. She was the only one left alive.
Eizlin dropped to her knees and pleaded desperately.
“I-I'm sorry. Please, just spare me.”
She couldn't even dream of resisting.
Dayton looked down at her with pity.
“Spare you?”
“Yes! If you just let me live, I'll do anything.”
“Anything?”
“Yes! Anything!”
“Then kill yourself.”
“Huh?”
“I don't need you. Die on your own.”
“I can't do that. Please, spare me.”
“Seeing they sent you tells me exactly what the mayor thinks of me. Message received.”
“Huh?”
In that instant, Dayton swung Clayon.
A thin red line appeared on Eizlin's neck as she wore a puzzled expression. Then, with a dull thunk, her head separated from her body and rolled across the ground.
“Hmph!”
Dayton snorted derisively and approached Zeon.
Zeon's face was twisted in distress.
He'd seen plenty of death trailing after Dayton.
Some had even been elves who looked just like humans. But they weren't human.
That psychological barrier had shielded his mind. But not now.
These were humans, even if enemies—countless corpses mangled and strewn about.
The mental shock was unavoidable.
Dayton spoke.
“Lift your head.”
“Yes!”
Zeon looked up.
“Look around.”
“Yes!”
Zeon surveyed the sprawl of corpses.
“That's the worth of humans in this modern age.”
“……”
“They strut around as Awakeners, but in the end, they're just tools for someone. Once they're used up, they're discarded like this.”
“So these were discarded once their use ran out?”
“Jin Geum-ho's always been a schemer.”
“Who's Jin Geum-ho?”
“The mayor of Neo Seoul.”
Zeon's eyes widened at the unexpected answer.
“Jin Geum-ho's a bureaucrat-turned-politician. He sent me this message while cleaning up his headaches.”
“These were Neo Seoul's headaches?”
“Awakeners are double-edged swords. Obedient ones make fine blades, but the disobedient are threats. So they stage events like this now and then to cull the numbers.”
“What's the message, then?”
“Don't even think of returning to Neo Seoul. Not that I planned to. Heh heh heh!”
Dayton laughed as if it were hilarious.
It had been decades since he left Neo Seoul.
He hadn't set foot there once in all that time.
To those from the old Korea and neighboring countries, it was the final bastion.
The last stronghold protecting humanity from monsters, the ultimate fortress.
But it meant nothing to Dayton.
Better to burn out in this savage desert, leaving no trace, than wither away pampered in a safe fortress.
This journey was for that purpose.
“Now that you've chosen to follow me, expect scenes like this ahead. If you get soft and start sniveling, I'll cut you down myself.”
“Who said I'm soft? Just felt off 'cause it's new.”
“You can't even afford that discomfort. It's the only way you'll survive this hellish world.”
“Got it.”
Zeon replied with a hardened expression.
It was advice bordering on threat from a man who'd lived over a century in the desert.
A bit grating to hear, but it sank into his bones and blood.
Engraving Dayton's words in his heart, Zeon asked cautiously.
“Anyway, mind if I scavenge a bit?”
“What for?”
Instead of answering, Zeon glanced at the Awakeners' corpses.
They'd been mobilized to catch Dayton.
Most were high-rankers.
Which meant their gear was likely valuable.
Dayton chuckled.
“Hyena, eh?”
“In the desert, everything's precious, right? Grab it while you can.”
“Do as you like.”
“Thanks.”
Zeon immediately began rifling through the corpses for usable items.
He felt no shame in it.
He'd done worse in the slums.
Looting bodies for survival was routine for him.
As he searched, Zeon's face twisted slightly.
'That damn old bastard!'
Not a single intact corpse, let alone gear.
Dayton had smashed everything, armor and all.
All he salvaged were a few weapons, rations and water from the buggies, and a large backpack.
They'd hunted plenty of monsters on the way here.
The backpack was stuffed with magic stones extracted from them.
Zeon shoved it all into his subspace and asked.
“What about the vehicles? They seem usable still.”
“They'll break down soon enough. Leave 'em.”
Desert sand eats machines.
They might hold now, but without maintenance, corrosion would claim them soon.
Wiser to abandon them.
“Then let's move.”
The two resumed their trek.
A sandstorm swept the spot they'd left.
The desert sands soon buried the Awakeners' corpses and vehicles without a trace.
Whoooosh!
Fierce winds whipped up the sand.
The sandstorm had intensified lately.
It blew relentlessly, strong enough to blind ordinary folk.
Zeon and Dayton weren't ordinary, so they endured—but anyone else would've lost their way and collapsed by now.
Zeon found it odd.
Deserts were unpredictable, sure, but days of nonstop storms like this? Unnatural.
He asked Dayton.
“Am I imagining it? The sandstorm's getting worse.”
“You're not. It'll only get fiercer ahead.”
“Even more from here?”
“Yes.”
Zeon felt a chill at Dayton's reply.
Even as a Sand Mage, it burdened him.
Dayton said,
“This area used to be an ocean.”
“Ocean? That vast place bigger than land, full of saltwater?”
“Right. The Pacific, to be precise.”
“Pacific?”
Zeon blinked at the unfamiliar word.
He'd never heard it, but it evoked immensity.
“Hard to believe? The deepest parts over ten thousand meters, big enough to swallow all the world's land—evaporated and filled with sand?”
Dayton scooped sand and let it slip through his fingers.
It poured away like water.
His eyes burned with rage at the ungraspable grains.
He still remembered vividly.
The endless blue sea.
Gulls wheeling overhead, dolphins leaping now and then.
The lost glory of that era, gone forever.
A century later, the memories hadn't faded—they'd sharpened.
Perhaps that's why his rage and madness grew with time.
Zeon silently watched Dayton seethe.
It had been two months since he slaughtered the raiding Awakeners.
They'd trekked east nonstop.
Dayton hadn't breathed a word of his past. Yet Zeon felt he understood.
He'd been born into this changed world, accepting it. But for Dayton, with clear memories of before, it must be hell.
That explained the gruffness, the madness.
Not that he pitied him.
Dayton was still a cantankerous old dog, tempering Zeon daily.
Then—
Zeon's senses picked up a stealthy presence approaching.
Rumble rumble!
Vibrations rose from below.
Zeon stared ahead wordlessly.
Fifty meters. Thirty. Ten…
It burrowed deep in the sand, right under his feet.
Zeon muttered,
“Sand Mixer.”
Suddenly, the sand beneath him spun at terrifying speed.
A vortex like a blender, centered on where he stood.
Greeeeen!
The grinding roar echoed like gears turning.
Kieeeek!
A shriek erupted from the sand.
The stealthy intruder was trapped and shredded.
Its tough shell wore down; sand invaded, grinding flesh to dust.
In agony unlike any before, it thrashed to escape. But Zeon's vortex held like iron walls, crushing relentlessly.
The sand underfoot turned red.
Blood from its body dyed the desert crimson.
Dayton watched silently.
The monster pulverized beneath Zeon was a sandworm, terror of the sands.
Feared for its stealthy sand ambushes. Yet here it died without a fight, minced by sand.
'Cheat ability, really.'
Traveling with Dayton had fully awakened Zeon's talent.
Not at peak power due to low rank, but his skill application and adaptability were unmatched.
At this age, Zeon surpassed Dayton's younger self.
Incredible growth.
Splat!
A massive explosion burst from the sand.
The sandworm's huge body finally ruptured in gruesome death.
Dayton's eyes gleamed.
'At this level, it's time to begin.'