Sand Mage of the Burnt Desert-Chapter 557
Chapter 557
While Zeon was dealing with Lamor, Tesserina had all her nerves on edge like a hedgehog.
For a while now, a chilling and ominous presence had been stimulating her.
She was Tesserina, a dragon in name.
Though she had switched to the body of a chimera, her strength itself had not disappeared.
It couldn’t compare to her true body, but she still possessed magical ability superior to any magic-type Awakened in Neo Seoul.
And yet, Tesserina was now feeling a sense of crisis.
It was the first time she had felt this way since being infected by the parasite.
“This presence… could it be?”
An old memory suddenly surfaced.
Tesserina hurriedly used flight magic and shot high into the sky.
In her eyes, she caught sight of a gigantic, mountain-like existence moving in the distance.
It was Behemoth.
Without thinking further, Tesserina flew straight toward Behemoth.
Boom!
Behemoth stopped walking and looked into the air. Behemoth had sensed Tesserina as well.
Stopping in front of Behemoth, Tesserina said,
“You are the Beast of Calamity, Behemoth.”
— …….
Instead of answering, Behemoth only stared intently at Tesserina.
At that reaction, Tesserina frowned.
“Have you not been awake for long? Are you incomplete?”
— Dra… gon?
At that moment, Behemoth’s voice was heard.
It wasn’t a sound made with his mouth.
The voice simply pierced directly into Tesserina’s mind.
Naturally, Taboaru and the Zela tribe who were luring Behemoth couldn’t hear Behemoth’s voice.
Taboaru noticed Tesserina floating in front of Behemoth’s eyes.
“Huuk! What is that woman? When did she appear?”
“It’s obvious Behemoth stopped because of her. We must kill her at once.”
The Zela tribe made a fuss and tried to use magic.
At that moment, Tesserina muttered and waved her hand.
“Annoying. Silence!”
Swaaah!
Taboaru and the Zela tribe’s voices were completely cut off.
‘What?’
‘What is this?’
Taboaru and the others made bewildered expressions.
They were the Zela tribe, a race of magic.
Their bodies were optimized for casting magic.
They could cast high-level magic as naturally as breathing, magic that humans couldn’t even imagine.
Of course, human magic wouldn’t work on them.
They thought Tesserina’s magic, cast in a human form, naturally wouldn’t work either. But contrary to their thoughts, Tesserina’s simple magic tightened around them.
They tried to dispel the Silence, but it was useless.
Their magic didn’t work on Tesserina.
In a case like this, there was only one explanation.
It meant Tesserina’s level of magic was far superior to theirs.
‘That can’t be. The only beings whose magic surpasses ours are dragons. Could that woman really be a dragon? No! I can’t feel the unique majesty of a dragon from her.’
Taboaru forcibly denied the thought that Tesserina was a dragon.
Leaving him and the Zela tribe to exhaust themselves trying to undo the spell, Tesserina focused on the Behemoth in front of her.
“Why did you awaken now? Beast of Calamity!"
— It is my mission to destroy that which has reached the end of its lifespan.
The clumsy voice grew clearer.
That was proof that Behemoth’s thinking and reason were rapidly recovering.
Behemoth was not a simple beast.
He was a beast that symbolized the end of an era.
When Behemoth appeared, whether one liked it or not, the clock of destruction began to move.
Whether Behemoth destroyed directly, or became the catalyst that induced destruction, something would inevitably vanish from the world.
It was the same in Kurayan.
Whenever Behemoth opened his eyes and became active, one kingdom would invariably fall.
Among them had been the most powerful kingdom in the world at the time, and also kingdoms on the brink of collapse due to division.
What mattered was that wherever Behemoth became the final destination, it always met destruction.
Behemoth possessed power equal to that of a dragon.
To stop Behemoth, even a dragon had to risk its life. But there was no reason for a dragon to risk its life for humans.
And Behemoth also didn’t go out of his way to provoke dragons and invite danger.
Thus, dragons and Behemoth merely watched each other like a cow and a chicken, without intervening to stop the other.
Each time Behemoth awoke, he only destroyed one or two kingdoms.
He didn’t destroy the world itself, so there was no reason to antagonize an unpleasant opponent.
When Behemoth appeared, dragons naturally thought another kingdom would fall again.
That level of damage would be fully restored after a few thousand years.
Humans, who lived extremely short lives, forgot the existence of Behemoth over thousands of years and lived each day as if there were no tomorrow.
Tesserina knew well by what standard Behemoth destroyed kingdoms.
‘The most splendid yet corrupted kingdom of the era.’
She didn’t know why he set such a standard.
Only that when Behemoth appeared, a kingdom that met destruction always emerged.
On Earth now, there was only one city that satisfied Behemoth’s criteria.
It was Neo Seoul.
Tesserina asked,
“For what reason are you trying to destroy Neo Seoul, Behemoth?”
— Neo… Seoul?
“It is the city that exists at the end of the road you are taking. The city of humans that alone has achieved civilization in this world turned to wasteland.”
— I don’t know such things. I simply go because the flow of this era guides me there.
Behemoth’s gaze turned toward Taboaru and the Zela tribe struggling beneath his feet.
Those who had appeared at just the right time were nothing more than guides.
They thought they were luring Behemoth, but that was only their own belief.
Behemoth was not a being that could be lured.
When he had just opened his eyes, that might have been possible. But now that his thinking and mission were clear, he was absolutely not influenced by the outside.
Even so, the reason Behemoth obediently followed them was because the flow of the era aligned.
If he just followed them, he could reach his destination easily, so there was no reason to go another way.
That was why Behemoth continued to follow them even after fully regaining his awareness.
The occasional attacks the beastkin or Zela tribe threw to lure him didn’t even itch.
There was only one kind of existence that made Behemoth pay attention.
A being with power just as immense as his.
But Tesserina didn’t fit his standards.
Not in her current state.
Compared to Behemoth, the power of Tesserina who had switched to a human body was markedly inferior.
Tesserina said,
“I will not allow you to advance any farther. Return to the place where you awakened. Behemoth!”
— Why do you block my path, one who was once a dragon? Weren’t we beings who each walked our own roads?
“On the road you’re taking lies my lair.”
— Have you made your nest in the world of humans? But that is not a reason for me to stop.
“I warn you one last time. Go back. This world has already perished once, and now it is sprouting the buds of hope again. I will not allow you to destroy such a world.”
— I refuse.
“Behemoth!”
— I refuse.
“How dare you!”
— You are not a true dragon. There is no reason for me to listen to you. Therefore, I refuse.
At Behemoth’s words, Tesserina’s anger exploded.
“Behemoth! The clock of destruction you turn will stop here. By me—Silver Dragon Tesserina Castlelow.”
Kwaaaa!
In an instant, tremendous magic poured down over Behemoth’s massive body.
Tesserina was carpet-bombing him with magic.
Kwakwakwabang!
Magic of tremendous power hammered Behemoth without pause.
There was no need to aim.
His body was as big as a mountain, so anything she threw would hit.
The problem was that her magical bombardment had absolutely no effect on Behemoth.
Bang! Bang! Kwakwabang!
Even under the continuous magical onslaught, Behemoth was completely unaffected.
It wasn’t simply that the attacks didn’t work.
It was as if the very existence called Behemoth was rejecting Tesserina’s influence.
In truth, that was exactly what was happening.
Only then did Tesserina realize.
Why the other dragons had never actively tried to stop Behemoth.
‘My attacks don’t reach him. He and I seem to exist in separate worlds. We are together, but not together. Causality does not permit contact with him.’
Behemoth looked at Tesserina with an indifferent expression.
— Do you understand now? You and I cannot affect each other. Just as I reject you, you also reject me.
“Stop! Behemoth.”
— I refuse. Unless one is a being of the same world as I, no one can stop me. Not even Krasias.
Boom! Kwoong!
Behemoth walked past Tesserina.
“If you go any farther, you will regret it, Behemoth!”
— I do not regret. I only fulfill my mission. Hm?
At that moment, Behemoth’s gigantic body lurched.
One foreleg had sunk deep into the sand.
Then the other foreleg was swallowed by the sand as well.
Both forelegs were buried deep in the sand, leaving him unable to move.
The advance of Behemoth—whom even Tesserina couldn’t stop—had been halted.
A cold smile formed at the corner of Tesserina’s lips.
“That’s right. I can’t stop you. That’s the law of this world. But he is different.”
— He?
“Yes. He is a resident of this world, and the chosen one.”
Tesserina’s gaze turned to the opposite side of Behemoth.
Kwaaaaah!
A massive sandstorm was blowing in.
It wasn’t a naturally occurring wind.
It was a sandstorm raised by a human infinitely smaller than Behemoth.
That human was Zeon.
He was riding the sandstorm and flying toward Behemoth.
— A human?
“Yes. The only Sand Mage of this land. From now on, he is the one who will face you.”
Gaaang!
The moment Tesserina finished speaking, the sand that had swallowed Behemoth’s forelegs began to spin violently.
Pakakakang!
Watching the sand and the force field collide and scatter sparks in all directions, Tesserina murmured,
“No matter how much you and I exert ourselves, we can’t harm each other. But his attacks work on you. That must be what this world wants. The master of a world that has faced destruction stopping destruction.”
It was then.
“No!”
Taboaru shouted loudly and hurled magic at Tesserina.
The other Zela tribe followed and attacked as well.
Kwakwakwakwang!
Countless spells poured down on Tesserina.
“Hmph! How dare mayfly-like things….”
Anger rose on Tesserina’s face.
The fact that beings who wouldn’t even dare look up at her face when she was in her true body were now attacking her head-on stoked her fury.
Already full of anger because of Behemoth, Tesserina did not hold back.
“I’ll kill every last one of you.”
As she swung her hand, countless silver grains formed in the air.
Like snow, the sparkling grains followed her gesture and fell toward the ground.
“Silver Flower of Heaven!”
The silver flowers blooming from heaven settled directly onto the heads and shoulders of the Zela tribe.
Taboaru and the Zela tribe forgot for a moment that they were in the middle of battle and stared blankly at the silver flowers.
They were that beautiful.
So beautiful that they stole one’s mind away for an instant.
In that instant, death came for them.
Kwakwakwabang!
The silver flowers that had landed on their shoulders and heads all exploded at once.
“Kraaagh!”
“Ah!”
The screams of the Zela tribe echoed within the silver inferno.
Tesserina murmured,
“How dare you act insolent in front of me. You are not Behemoth.”
She looked at Behemoth.
Kwaaaa!
At that moment, a gigantic sandstorm was already engulfing Behemoth.
