Sand Mage of the Burnt Desert-Chapter 567

Chapter 567

“Khuhuhu!”

Urtian laughed.

With his face smeared bright red with blood, there was a chilling madness in the sight of Urtian laughing.

“Heh heh! That was nothing.”

“You bastards! Come at us as much as you want. We’ll kill you again.”

The Awakeneds of the Steel Fortress were also laughing, just like Urtian, drenched in blood.

It was after a desperate bloodbath.

Below the Steel Fortress, countless corpses of other races lay scattered.

They had blocked the frontal charge of the Giants, who had rushed forward relying on their powerful bodies, and had repelled the attempts of the Giant Dwarves and Beastfolk who had climbed up from both sides.

It had been such a fierce battle that they had exhausted all the traps and weapons they had installed.

A great many of the Steel Fortress Awakened had also died or been wounded.

There had been several moments when it nearly fell.

Each time, the Awakened endured through sheer will.

They used the bodies of their fallen comrades as shields and squeezed out every ounce of strength, fighting to the death.

They fought with the thought that if they were breached, the families behind them would all die.

Thanks to that, they were barely able to prevent the other races from entering the Steel Fortress.

The reason they were laughing now was not because they were happy.

They were so consumed by fury that laughter burst out on its own.

Urtian shouted inside,

“They’ll come again. Hurry and restore the traps, and scrape together every remaining weapon.”

“Yes!”

The residents of the fortress moved busily.

Meanwhile, the Awakened took brief rests while carefully watching the situation of the other races.

In their sight, they saw a human woman confronting Lamor.

She was Liala.

Lamor was terrifyingly strong.

He displayed such overwhelming physical ability that even Urtian did not dare claim he could block him.

When he climbed toward the Steel Fortress, it had truly felt as if their hearts would drop.

Even when they dropped massive stones and bombarded him with magic, he endured through sheer physical power.

He had the presence of a heavy tank from the days when civilization was intact.

Just before he entered the fortress, the one who stopped him was Liala.

With her powerful strike, Lamor had rolled down the mountain.

Thanks to that, the Steel Fortress was able to overcome the crisis safely.

After Lamor rolled down, Liala confronted him, and the battle fell into a brief lull.

Lamor glared at Liala with fearsome eyes and shouted,

“You side with humans? Do you dare betray El Harun?”

“Why is a human siding with humans betrayal?”

“Are you not a member of the Council? Then you should naturally help us.”

“When you treated me like dog food, when was that? And now you claim we are on the same side?”

“Do you deny that you belong to El Harun?”

“When El Harun does not treat me as human, what do you expect me to do? If you are telling me to continue enduring humiliation, I decline.”

“So you side with humans?”

“I am not siding with humans. I stand in the way because it is wrong. Do you truly believe luring the awakened Behemoth to Neo Seoul and attacking the Steel Fortress is the right thing to do? We have committed an unforgivable sin upon this land. How can criminals attempt to massacre the original inhabitants of this land and seize even the last remaining territory?”

“Shut up! You traitor!”

Lamor, whose excuses had grown thin, shouted loudly.

His face was flushed red.

Not from guilt, but from shame.

Lamor stomped toward Liala.

“I will kill you and make an example of you to the humans of El Harun.”

“Lump.”

“What?”

“Even Lord Krudu, leader of the lumps, did not dare say such things to me. Whether one is big or small does not matter. What decides the match is who has the fiercer fist. With a watery fist like yours, you cannot do anything to this older sister.”

“How dare you!”

Properly provoked, Lamor roared and charged at Liala.

“Hoo!”

Liala let out a faint sigh and put strength into her small fist. The leather bracer on her wrist responded.

Soul of Steel.

An S-grade item brought from Kurayan.

It was the secret that allowed her small frame—less than a quarter of Lamor’s size—to exert equal strength.

‘I have to buy time for the fortress to be fortified somehow.’

That was the reason Liala had deliberately provoked Lamor.

Kwaaa!

Lamor’s enormous fist shot forward like a cannonball.

His fist was the size of Liala’s torso.

If struck by that fist, Liala’s small body would burst like a balloon.

If it hit.

Liala swiftly moved to the side like a squirrel and delivered a strike to Lamor’s flank.

Kwaang!

A tremendous explosion rang out, hard to believe it came from such a small fist.

“Keugh!”

Lamor’s face twisted in pain.

Even though that area was protected by light armor, he felt immense pain.

If it had not been light armor painstakingly crafted by a Dwarven master, his ribs might have shattered entirely.

“Aaaah! Die!”

Lamor picked up the greatsword that had fallen to the ground and swung it.

Swaeaeak!

With a sharp tearing sound, the massive greatsword aimed for Liala’s neck.

Liala snapped her fist upward and struck the flat of the blade.

Clang!

With a metallic clang, the trajectory of the greatsword changed.

Even as she watched the blade miss her by a hair’s breadth, Liala did not blink.

Bang! Kwaang!

While evading the greatsword, Liala pummeled Lamor’s entire body.

Thanks to his overwhelming defense, he did not die or suffer severe injury, but it was more than enough to rattle his senses.

Liala knew.

To completely incapacitate Lamor with her own strength would take an extremely long time.

It was not because she was weak.

It was because Lamor’s defense was unimaginably formidable.

This was not a battle to win.

It was a battle to endure. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

The longer she endured, the more time the Awakened of the Steel Fortress would have to repair.

“Lump! I will show you the tenacity of humans.”

Liala truly squeezed out every last bit of strength to endure.

Their attack power was similar.

The problem was defense.

Lamor could withstand several of Liala’s blows, but for Liala, a single punch from Lamor could be fatal.

Though she wore Lautra’s Armor and would not be driven that far, she could not help but consider the worst case.

It was an unavoidable difference in size.

To make up for it, she had no choice but to move faster and more diligently than Lamor.

Such intense movement inevitably consumed Liala’s stamina.

Both Lamor and Liala knew this.

The longer the fight dragged on, the more disadvantageous it became for Liala.

Liala fought and endured with fierce persistence.

Because of that, her body was completely drenched in sweat.

Her solitary struggle moved the Awakened within the Steel Fortress.

Those who had until now considered her an outsider accepted her as true family.

Urtian shouted,

“Hurry and repair!”

“Make haste. Lady Liala is enduring like that.”

The Awakened of the Steel Fortress moved even more busily to help Liala.

At that moment—

Bang!

“Keugh!”

With a thunderous sound, Liala was flung backward.

A look of bewilderment appeared on Lamor’s face.

It was not his attack.

The one who had approached stealthily and delivered the strike was the Beastfolk, Repo.

Lamor shouted,

“What are you doing? How dare you interfere in a one-on-one duel?”

“You seem mistaken, Lamor.”

“What?”

“We are not engaged in an honorable duel. We are waging war to seize that fortress. The longer the war drags on, the more disadvantageous it is for us. To fall for her delaying tactic and engage in a one-on-one duel is no different from pushing the entire group into crisis.”

At Repo’s cold words, Lamor’s expression twisted. But he could find no proper rebuttal.

Repo approached the fallen Liala and said,

“Why do you think I went through the trouble of luring Behemoth to Neo Seoul? It was all for El Harun.”

“You crazy… bastard!”

Liala spat out a curse as she struggled to her feet.

Thanks to Lautra’s Armor, she did not suffer serious wounds, but she had taken considerable shock. Even so, her eyes and fighting spirit were not yet broken.

Repo looked at Liala as if she were an insect.

“I disliked you humans from the beginning. Acting as if you alone are civilized, as if you are the masters of this world—you probably never realized how ridiculous you were.”

“That does not become a reason to massacre the humans of this land, tiger head!”

“What do I care? I will massacre you because I dislike you. Lord Del Roa will not rebuke my decision.”

“You are mad. Mad!”

“Yes! I am mad. So what? In the end, the world belongs to the victor. No one remembers the defeated and the dead.”

It was when Repo revealed his sharp fangs and laughed.

“I truly cannot listen to this anymore. Even without a brain, to say you will kill all humans?”

A cold voice was heard from behind the ranks of the other races.

The owner of the voice was a woman.

Repo and Lamor turned back with puzzled expressions.

A beautiful female Elf parted the other races and stepped forward.

Both Repo and Lamor knew her.

“Hera! How are you here?”

“I still hoped. That it could not be true. But it was.”

The female Elf who let out a deep sigh was Hera.

After hearing the location of the Steel Fortress from Zeon, she had run without rest, and the first thing she saw was Liala confronting Lamor.

She could have intervened immediately, but Hera chose only to watch. Because of that, she confirmed that everything Zeon had said was true.

“And you call yourselves proud warriors? Even a dog would not do what you are doing.”

“Hera!”

“Do not make excuses. I heard with my own ears what you said. Repo! How could you devise such a filthy plan? Instead of stopping Behemoth, you lured it to a human city? You have dragged the honor of the Beastfolk into the dirt.”

“So what do you propose? Will you stand with the humans like that woman?”

At Repo’s words, conflict flickered across Hera’s face.

She was different from Liala.

She was not human but an Elf, and could never abandon El Harun.

As she clenched her teeth, Repo said,

“If you will not stand with humans, then step aside.”

“I cannot do that.”

“So you will help humans?”

“I cannot fully take their side, but a temporary alliance should be acceptable.”

At Hera’s words, Repo’s expression hardened.

He had not expected such an answer.

Hera stood beside Liala.

The Elves followed her.

Seeing the Elves form a wall between themselves and the Steel Fortress, Repo’s brows twitched.

“You really want to try?”

“There is no reason not to.”

“Eek!”

“Return, Repo! Go and carry out the mission Lord Del Roa gave you. Our mission is to find the World Tree, not to seize a human city.”

“You will regret today, Hera!”

“Perhaps. But I will not add any further stain to my life.”

“Damn it!”

“If you wish to capture that fortress, you will have to step over the corpses of us Elves.”

Hera showed no sign of taking even a single step back.

At that moment, Taboaru grabbed Repo’s shoulder.

“Let us give up.”

“What nonsense are you—”

“Then will you kill the Elves as well?”

“Why would I not?”

“And what will remain if you kill the Elves? Lord Del Roa will not tolerate it. We Zela will withdraw here.”

“Eek!”

“We will withdraw as well.”

The Giant Dwarves, who had been watching cautiously, also stepped back from the battlefield.

In the end, only the Beastfolk led by Repo and the Giants under Lamor remained.

Repo shouted,

“Cowards, all of you, withdraw. We will never retreat.”

“Foolish…”

Hera shook her head.