Ch.233233. Voyage (3)

The Desert of Death. This desert, which can be seen as the remnants of an ancient fallen empire formed around the beginning of the mythical age, even before the ancient empires of the Western Continent…

As I’ve mentioned before, it’s a demonic realm where the expression “living hell” couldn’t be more fitting.

Almost no life forms can be found, and not even a single oasis exists in this desert.

The high concentration of necromantic energy, enough to cause undead to naturally spawn throughout the area, creates an extreme environment where ordinary people couldn’t survive even 10 minutes inside.

Despite these conditions, the Desert of Death receives tens of thousands of visitors annually, and the reason is the various treasures within the desert.

The desert, once an ancient empire that collapsed overnight as divine punishment, contains treasures symbolizing its past glory, as well as various assets created with ancient technology that simply cannot be replicated with today’s methods.

Particularly valuable are the magical tools used in this ancient empire—despite deteriorating over thousands of years, they still produce effects comparable to modern equivalents.

Because of this, it’s no exaggeration to say that it’s practically inevitable for all sorts of money-hungry groups, their eyes fixed on these valuable items, to naturally gather in this desert…

And as people gathered, the adventure city of “Iztel” was born.

Built on the coast where necromantic energy density is particularly low due to geographical features, even among the outer regions with lower necromantic energy concentration, this city was one of the few safe zones in this desert, just like its sister cities.

Cities established on safe zones where necromantic energy doesn’t exist, formed based on sacred artifacts “donated” by the pantheon. Iztel was one of them…

And in the streets of Iztel, I was exploring this port city where we had briefly stopped, listening to the chatter of animal friends echoing in my head.

The ship was scheduled to depart after completing its resupply the next day. Thanks to this, I had some free time and wanted to enjoy sightseeing alone around the city for the first time in a while.

[There are more people than I expected…]

[That’s right, rookie. It’s always like this!]

As Corin answered Won-sul’s question, I, who had been thinking the same thing as Won-sul, felt quite amazed that the city’s population exceeded my expectations.

In truth, this city is in an extremely unstable environment to be considered merely as an economic entity.

The desert environment, already barren enough, combined with necromantic energy, means they cannot obtain food through farming or livestock raising, which exacerbates these trends.

They can catch fish from the sea where necromantic energy has less influence than on land, but even these fish are weak and small, unable to escape the effects of necromantic energy transmitted from the land.

Therefore, they must rely solely on treasures “collected” from the desert outside the city to purchase food from external sources, and naturally, in such situations, the exemplary merchants of this era conspire to charge prices beyond mere profiteering, reaching extortionate levels.

When even food, essential for human survival, is like this, other resources also depend on imports, making the city one that appears wealthy yet is characterized by poverty.

Moreover, the threat of undead hordes, drawn to attack by the life force of the nearly 10,000 people residing here, or orc pirates who simply love fighting and rush to any place where blood is shed, cannot be ignored.

The horrifyingly cruel orc pirates are sea madmen with both formidable combat power and numbers, while the undead armies led by mid-level… sometimes high-level undead are incredibly persistent enemies that never retreat.

Yet despite all this, the fact that nearly 10,000 people gather in such a city suggests that the value of the desert’s treasures is not to be underestimated.

‘…Is it like a gold rush?’

This reminded me of gold mining crises that occurred on Earth, and I was about to return to the ship, thinking I didn’t need to concern myself with it.

“…Hmm?”

That is, if I hadn’t suddenly felt something intense.

-Dong—dong—dong—dong—dong—dong—dong—!!!

As the magical bronze bell hanging from the giant bell tower in the center of the city rang out a warning, hundreds of life forces rushed through the crowd, shouting something as they ran throughout the city.

Of course, the distance between them and me was considerable, and with a bustling market in between, I shouldn’t normally have been able to hear their voices…

[Orcs are coming! The orcs are coming! Everyone who can fight, to the harbor! They’re coming!]

‘…I see.’

My body, altered by the influence of wild magic’s primal power, had senses sharp enough to pick out just those voices from among the noisy sounds and whisper them into my ear.

‘Why do these things always happen to me?’

Honestly, at this point, it was truly unfair.

How is it that wherever I go, these things happen? It was enough to make me want to lament.

※ ※ ※

From the edge of the horizon, more than dozens of ragged vessels—junk ships—approach the city of “Iztel.”

Sharp poles with severed heads or decapitated skulls stuck on them like tanghulu protrude everywhere, and the impressive design features ship figureheads replaced with corpses or skeletons… a design that seems straight out of Mad M■x.

These vessels, beyond mere rags and almost chimera-like in appearance, varied in both bulk and size.

Some are insanely huge yet unbalanced wrecks, while others stand out with surprisingly sophisticated and elegant designs among the garbage ships.

And as the finishing touch, flags displayed throughout—flags shaped like shark teeth—reveal their identity as the Sharkbite Clan.

And as I felt a sense of frustration and constriction in one corner of my heart while watching this scene…

“O descendant of Neptunus…”

“While I’m not actually his blood relative, I could be considered a descendant-like being, so I’ll assume you’re addressing me. Yes, Captain. What is it?”

“Is it possible for you to use that miracle you performed yesterday against them?”

I couldn’t give a proper answer to the exploration ship’s captain, who was looking at me with a gaze like one might look at a religious leader, pleading with desperate sincerity.

Because…

“Captain. That miracle was the product of Neptunus coincidentally responding to me. If I dare to treat a god’s power as my own, would he possibly leave me be?”

“…My thinking was shallow, O child of the divine one.”

“Don’t be too disheartened. Besides… there’s another reason why I cannot step forward now.”

“Pardon?”

The captain asked, seemingly unable to understand my meaning, but instead of directly answering, I extended my hand to point at the vessels beyond…

“There’s a high-level one over there.”

“…What?”

When it comes to high-level beings in the orc pirate fleet, the Sharkbite Clan, there is only one.

The strongest pirate alive, the sea god-blasphemer who pollutes and insults the sea. The evil orcs’ shaman-boss. The calamity of the green sea.

High-level orc shaman, “Grum Sharkbite,” the founder of the Sharkbite Clan.

This legendary orc who first introduced the concept of orc pirates, Grum Sharkbite, who must be at least 200 years old by now, is a cunning and evil enemy.

To be honest, I don’t think for even a tiny moment that he’s stronger than El-Temur, but his experience and cunning might make his danger level comparable to El-Temur’s.

So, as the atmosphere rapidly cooled, I tried to calmly consider and seek the captain’s opinion.

“…Captain, can we flee?”

“If there really is a high-level being in that fleet, it would be difficult. They are orcs, after all.”

“Orcs… meaning they’ll be obsessed with and charge at strong humans.”

If it were a regular pirate fleet attack, it might be possible to break through the encirclement and escape quickly, but these are orcs—a race obsessed with fighting and battle.

To break through the encirclement to escape, I would need to display my power as a high-level being, but the moment they see that, these battle-crazed orcs would naturally target me.

In the end, trying to escape to save our lives might actually force us to fight in an even more disadvantageous situation, making it difficult for me to easily choose the option of fleeing.

So as we were contemplating our future and slowly observing the situation…

“…They’re moving!”

Just as one sailor had said, movements that seemed intended to block the fleet began to occur on the city’s shoreline.