Sand Mage of the Burnt Desert-Chapter 308

[Translator - Peptobismol]

[Proofreader - Demon God]

Chapter 308

Even as he spoke with Hassim, Zeon’s sharp gaze scanned the Awakened members of the Helbrin Mercenaries.

Among them, one figure in particular stood out to him, Alton.

Though Alton tried to maintain a calm expression, to Zeon’s eyes, he looked as tense as a sniper with his finger hovering over the trigger.

The moment Zeon focused on Alton, the explosion erupted.

It was then that he realized the truth, Alton was the one responsible for the explosion that had ravaged the survivor village in the desert when he and Brielle had arrived there.

That’s why he had taken Alton out first.

In some ways, Alton was even more dangerous than Hassim because of his abilities.

“You bastard!”

“Die!”

The Awakened mercenaries, enraged by Alton’s death, charged at Zeon with fury burning in their eyes.

These were people who had lived their lives without fear, but now, for the first time, they were cornered, by Zeon.

Having already been hunted through the desert, they had now been pursued all the way into the sewers. Their desperation had reached its breaking point.

A cornered rat will bite a cat, as the saying goes.

But these weren’t rats, they were Awakened.

Awakened who had honed their skills through years of human hunting.

They were butchers, experts in the art of killing.

Now, consumed by rage, they launched a ferocious assault on Zeon.

The martial-type Awakened engaged in close combat, while the few magic-type Awakened unleashed an array of destructive skills.

Boom! Boom!

The clash between Zeon and the Helbrin Mercenaries shook the underground sewer, threatening to bring the entire structure crashing down.

Their teamwork was flawless, a result of years of working together.

The martial-types aimed simultaneous strikes at Zeon’s vital points, creating openings that were hard to defend against, while the magic-types supported them with precise bombardments.

Their coordinated attack was so seamless that even in Neo Seoul, few raiding parties could match their level of precision.

It was a display of skill that could only come from extensive experience.

Many Awakened had fallen victim to their combined assaults, even those of higher ranks.

“He’s just human!”

“Damn it! We can kill him!”

“Uwoooaaah!”

The faces of the mercenaries were twisted with madness as they attacked Zeon.

It was a sight that would terrify most people, but Zeon’s reaction wasn’t what they expected.

“Tch.”

Zeon clicked his tongue, his eyes colder and heavier than ever.

True madness wasn’t something like this.

Loudly displaying emotion and attempting to intimidate others was nothing more than child’s play.

True madness was cold, rational, and sharp, with anger burning fiercely beneath the surface.

That was the kind of madness Zeon had mastered.

Shhh!

A black subspace opened behind Zeon, and from it poured an enormous amount of sand, spilling out onto the ground.

The sight made the Awakened mercenaries’ eyes widen in shock.

“What the hell is that?”

“Where did all this sand come from…?”

Whirrr!

The sand beneath Zeon’s feet began spinning rapidly.

The fine grains of sand rotated at high speed, shredding everything they touched.

The turbans on their heads and the deshadas on their bodies were the first to disintegrate into powder.

Next, their skin began to peel away.

“Damn it!”

“Aaaargh!”

The mercenaries screamed in agony as their bodies were torn apart.

Even when they infused their auras to resist, it was useless.

The sand particles slipped through the cracks in their torn skin, ripping through flesh and muscle alike.

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In an instant, one of the mercenaries was completely disassembled, reduced to particles smaller than the grains of sand themselves.

“What the hell… what is this…?”

Zetoya, who had arrived with Brielle and was watching from behind, widened his eyes in disbelief.

There wasn’t supposed to be much sand in the sewers.

Though some had trickled in from the surface and gathered in small piles, there wasn’t nearly enough to fill the area like this.

But where all this sand had come from wasn’t even the most shocking part.

What left him speechless was the sight before him, the surface invaders who had massacred his crew were being ground to dust by the sand.

The screams of the mercenaries were fading.

Most of them had already lost their vocal cords, shredded along with the rest of their bodies.

“Arghhhh!”

“You demon bastard!”

A few mercenaries with particularly durable bodies and defenses managed to push through the sandstorm, attempting a counterattack.

Their armor had been half-destroyed by the sand, and their exposed skin was nearly flayed, but they endured the pain and swung their weapons at Zeon.

However, their attacks never reached him.

Thud!

Instead, humanoid figures made of sand suddenly appeared and intercepted their strikes.

“Shit!”

“What the hell is this?!”

The Awakened, already drained from pushing through the sandstorm, were stunned by the emergence of the sand soldiers.

The sand soldiers absorbed the mercenaries’ attacks with their bodies and then pushed back with overwhelming force.

“No… no!”

“Damn it!”

The mercenaries, overpowered by the sand soldiers, were shoved back into the spinning sandstorm.

Awaiting them was the high-speed whirlwind of sand particles.

“Aaaaagh!”

“S-save me…”

The mercenaries, along with the sand soldiers, were ground to dust.

Zetoya stood trembling as he watched the scene unfold to its conclusion.

“W-what is this? Is he controlling the sand? How is this something a human can do…?”

“Yes! Zeon is a Sand Mage. The only one in Neo Seoul, or even on Earth, for that matter.”

“A Sand Mage?”

“Yeah! The master of sand, that’s who Zeon is.”

Brielle’s eyes sparkled with admiration as she gazed at Zeon.

When she had first made a soul contract with him, it had been for her survival. But now, she respected him more than anyone else.

She had witnessed his journey up close and knew better than anyone the extent of his strength and resolve.

With his abilities, Zeon could easily aspire to rule Neo Seoul. Yet he had no such ambition.

Some might criticize him for being irresponsible, considering the power he possessed. But Brielle didn’t see it that way.

She understood how difficult it was for someone with such overwhelming strength to maintain balance in their life.

Even as the mercenaries were shredded into blood and sand right before her eyes, Brielle felt no sympathy for them.

She had seen firsthand the atrocities committed by the Helbrin Mercenaries on their way here.

And above all, they were the ones who had kidnapped her.

Had it not been for them, Brielle’s life wouldn’t have taken such a drastic turn.

Though she had been saved by Zeon and her life had greatly improved, memories of making drugs to survive in the sewers still haunted her.

‘The world is better off without human hunters like them.’

The swirling sand that had filled the underground chamber slowly began to dissipate.

Zeon was withdrawing it back into his subspace.

As the sand returned to the subspace, the once-cloudy air became clear again.

“Ah…”

Zetoya let out an involuntary gasp of amazement.

The air wasn’t just clear, it was too clear.

Moments ago, the chamber had been filled with Helbrin Mercenaries, but now, not a single one of them remained.

It was as if they had been erased from existence.

If he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, Zetoya wouldn’t have believed it.

But he had no choice but to believe, it was his own eyes that had witnessed it.

Zeon, however, didn’t look pleased.

Noticing his mood, Brielle carefully asked.

“What’s wrong, Zeon?”

“He escaped…”

“Who escaped?”

“The leader. Hassim.”

“Really?”

Brielle’s eyes widened in surprise.

This was a sealed space. There were no exits other than the one Zeon was blocking. The idea that Hassim had escaped seemed impossible.

“He must have had an item related to spatial movement.”

“Spatial movement?”

“I felt his presence vanish suddenly, like a candle being snuffed out. He’s gone, along with someone else.”

Zeon’s instincts told him that a man like Hassim wouldn’t be the first to get caught in the sandstorm and die.

“If he had such an item, why didn’t he use it the first time we started chasing him?”

“There were probably limitations, on how often it could be used, how many people it could transport, or how far it could go. He must have saved it for a moment like this.”

“That makes sense.”

Brielle nodded in agreement.

Zeon’s explanation was the only one that fit the situation.

She remembered hearing stories in the High Elf village about items in Kurayan capable of instantaneous long-distance travel. However, even in Kurayan, such items were rare and mostly designed for short-range use.

When Kurayan fell, most of that knowledge and technology had been lost forever.

“Haa.”

Zeon let out a soft sigh.

He regretted not finishing Hassim off when he had the chance.

Zeon knew all too well that people like Hassim needed to be eliminated completely to avoid future complications.

“Now that I know he has a spatial movement item, I won’t let him escape next time.”

The first failure was because he didn’t know.

If he failed again despite knowing, he’d only have himself to blame.

Brielle asked.

“What will you do now? Are you going to keep chasing him?”

“It’s too late to track him now. I don’t know where he went.”

“That’s true.”

“For now, I’ll clean up this place.”

Zeon had only destroyed the Awakened members of the Helbrin Mercenaries with his sandstorm.

There were still residents of the sewer alive here.

“Ugh…”

“Is that… really a human…?”

The residents stared at Zeon with fear in their eyes.

The Helbrin Mercenaries had been terrifying, but Zeon, who had annihilated them so effortlessly, was even more so.

Some of the residents were trembling so much that they didn’t even realize they had wet themselves.

Zeon now took a closer look at them.

The residents were in a pitiful state.

It wasn’t just because of the massacre by the Helbrin Mercenaries.

Their entire existence was a picture of poverty and suffering.

Their hair was matted and shiny with grease, as though it hadn’t been washed in weeks.

Their skin was covered in sores from the lack of hygiene.

Their eyes had degenerated to the point where even a small amount of light caused them to leak pus.

Their bodies were emaciated like dried twigs, their overgrown nails resembling those of primitive humans or apes.

It was hard to believe that such a subhuman existence could exist beneath Neo Seoul, a city of ultra-advanced civilization.

“How could things get this bad…?”

Brielle clasped her hands over her mouth in shock.

She had thought she understood the conditions of underground life, having spent a long time living there herself. But now she realized how wrong she had been.

What she had experienced was just the tip of the iceberg.

The Croker gang, who had once enslaved her to make drugs, were at the top of the underground ecosystem.

That was why she had never encountered the people living at the very bottom.

She had thought her life was miserable, but now she knew better.

These people were the true bottom dwellers, struggling to survive in the depths beneath the mega-city of Neo Seoul.

Zetoya approached them and said.

“Now you understand, don’t you? Why we need a mana generator.”

“I do.”

Zeon said with a nod.

This was why he had avoided delving too deeply into the affairs of the underground.

He knew that once he learned about their plight, he wouldn’t be able to walk away without helping.

The world was vast, and there were as many unfortunate people as there were grains of sand.

Zeon couldn’t help them all.

He believed in stepping in only to a reasonable extent. But when things became this personal, it was a different story.

“Brielle.”

“Yeah?”

“You’re going to have to make that mana generator.”

“Got it.”

The dawn of modern civilization had begun with electricity.

And now, Zeon was about to plant the seed of civilization in the darkness of the underground.

[Translator - Peptobismol]

[Proofreader - Demon God]