Chapter 176

Chapter 176

Just as the exploration team had said, the ancient castle could be seen far in the distance.

A faint force field shimmered around the ancient castle.

“It really is an ancient castle.”

“I’ve never seen that style before.”

The Awakened who saw the ancient castle murmured among themselves.

A dungeon was a place where anything could exist, but this was the first time any of them had seen an ancient castle built in such a style.

Levin asked Zeon,

“Is it possible for a castle like that to exist inside a dungeon?”

“It exists because it is possible.”

“Haha! Even so, that’s......”

“Human common sense doesn’t apply in dungeons. A dungeon is a place where everything humans imagine can become reality.”

“That’s......”

“So don’t let your guard down for even a single moment. Not if you want to leave alive......”

Gulp!

At Zeon’s grave tone, Levin swallowed dryly instead of answering.

Briel also grew tense along with him.

Right now, Zeon was feeling a powerful sense of déjà vu.

‘It’s similar to Akaruk’s ancient castle.’

The Death Knight Akaruk.

The ancient castle where he had been the master had given off a similar atmosphere.

Even the appearance of undead was the same.

If so, the master of this place might also be a being similar to Akaruk.

‘Whatever it is, the fact that it’s dangerous doesn’t change.’

Zeon looked at Lee Ji-ryeong.

Lee Ji-ryeong must already know that this dungeon was far from ordinary. Even so, confidence still showed on his face.

It was an expression only someone who had cleared and conquered countless dungeons could wear.

But before that, there was something they had to do first.

They had to cross the vast shifting sands blocking their path.

Ssssss!

A faint sound that could never be heard unless one concentrated every nerve reached their ears.

It was the sound of shifting sands flowing.

The sight of those exquisitely fine grains of sand flowing like a great river was more than enough to make the Awakened feel fear.

At that moment, one of the Awakened said,

“But wouldn’t this be enough to jump across?”

At his words, several Awakened’s eyes lit up.

The width of the shifting sands was roughly two hundred meters.

For an outstanding martial-type Awakened, or someone with a Skill like leaping, that much distance could be jumped across.

The Awakened who had spoken stepped forward.

“I’ll jump across first.”

He was a Grade C martial-type Awakened.

Though his grade was low, he possessed a Skill called Triple Jump, so he was confident he could cross two hundred meters in one go.

‘If I jump over the shifting sands, everyone will notice me.’

He had joined as a mercenary.

His goal was to stand out here and be recruited by the Pegasus Raid Team.

To do that, he needed to show his presence.

No one stopped him.

Since he was volunteering to test it on his own, there was no reason to stop him.

Under everyone’s attention, the Awakened stepped forward.

Ssssss!

The sound of flowing sand was terrifying, but he forced himself to look calm.

‘Whew! I can cross it. This much is nothing. I’ve crossed wider places than this before.’

After steadying his breathing for a moment, the Awakened sprinted several dozen meters and leaped in front of the shifting sands.

Fwoosh!

His body flew lightly over the shifting sands like a bird.

After flying nearly seventy or eighty meters, the Awakened began falling in a gentle arc. At that moment, his Skill, Triple Jump, activated.

As if there were an invisible foothold, he stepped on the air and leaped once more.

“He did it.”

“He can cross it easily.”

The Awakened clenched their fists as they watched him.

To anyone watching, it looked like success.

It was then.

“Urgh!”

Suddenly, the Awakened groaned and staggered in midair. Then he began falling at terrifying speed.

“Wh-what?”

“What the hell? Why is he suddenly doing that?”

The Awakened who saw it shouted in shock.

The falling Awakened activated his Skill again to leap once more.

‘Triple Jump!’

The Skill definitely activated. Even so, he continued falling.

That was because a tremendous invisible force from the shifting sands zone was dragging him down.

As if he had been caught in a snare, he could not exert any strength.

The tremendous pressure prevented Triple Jump from unfolding.

‘Fuck! What is this? What the hell is this?’

THUD!

In the end, the Awakened crashed onto the shifting sands.

At least the soft sand saved his life, but that was not the problem.

“Ugh!”

The Awakened’s body was being sucked into the sand.

He flailed and tried to crawl out, but the more he struggled, the faster he sank into the sand.

“Damn it! Throw a rope.”

“Hold on just a little longer.”

The other Awakened moved frantically to save him.

It was then.

“U-uaaaargh!”

Suddenly, the Awakened’s desperate scream echoed out.

Startled, they looked over and saw something pitch-black covering the Awakened’s body.

“What is that?”

“There’s something strange in the sand.”

“Fuck! They’re leeches.”

The things covering the Awakened were leeches the size of a human forearm.

No one knew how many leeches had crawled out. Dozens of meters around the Awakened were covered in leeches.

They sank their teeth into the Awakened’s skin and sucked his blood.

Each time the leeches sucked blood, the Awakened’s body shriveled, and before long, he turned into something like a mummy.

That was the Awakened’s end.

“Good heavens!”

“To think monsters like that were hiding in the sand.”

“If we had just crossed......”

The other Awakened trembled.

Just imagining it was horrifying.

The leeches that had sucked the Awakened’s blood dry in an instant hid themselves back inside the sand.

Lee Ji-ryeong groaned.

“So it wasn’t just shifting sands. Monster leeches were hiding inside.”

“If we’d gone in without knowing, we’d have ended up like that too.”

Gesling, the exploration team leader, stroked his chest.

If they had recklessly tried to cross the shifting sands, they would have ended up the same way.

“It seems we must give up on jumping across the shifting sands. An invisible force is at work.”

“Whether it’s attraction or gravity, something is definitely pulling people into the shifting sands.”

RUMBLE!

Suddenly, a cluster of lightning fell from the sky into the shifting sands zone.

Lee Ji-ryeong had used his ability.

CRACKLE!

The sand burned black under tens of millions of volts of lightning.

It was truly terrifying power.

But even such lightning could not stop the flow of the shifting sands.

As soon as the current disappeared, leeches emerged from within the sand.

As if checking what had happened, they looked around, then soon vanished into the sand again.

They seemed completely unharmed by the lightning.

“As expected, we cannot pass through this place by ordinary means.”

Lee Ji-ryeong bit his lip.

His pride had been wounded by the fact that his ability did not work.

The problem was the sand.

It dispersed the lightning, preventing the leeches from taking any damage.

It was the worst possible compatibility.

After Lee Ji-ryeong poured out a cluster of lightning, the other Awakened each used their Skills.

All kinds of magical attacks struck the sand. But the leeches took no damage at all.

A single leech was not that frightening.

At best, it was around Grade E or Grade D.

As long as it came out of the sand, even the mercenaries could kill it easily.

The problem was that they had no intention of coming out of the sand, and no one knew how many were hiding beneath it.

Gesling looked at Zeon.

“It has to be him after all.”

“Mm!”

Lee Ji-ryeong nodded.

His pride was slightly wounded, but Zeon was the only one who could break through the current situation.

Lee Ji-ryeong approached Zeon.

“You saw that?”

“Yes.”

“Monsters are hiding in the shifting sands. If we are to deal with them, it will take no small amount of time and effort.”

“If it were me, I could deal with them more easily than you could.”

Zeon stared straight at Lee Ji-ryeong as he answered.

Lee Ji-ryeong did not avoid Zeon’s gaze either and said,

“That is why I am asking you. Here, no, on Earth, only you can open a path through the shifting sands zone.”

“If I do that, I will use up even the rest of my mana.”

“So you cannot do it?”

Lee Ji-ryeong’s gaze as he looked at Zeon was intense.

Anyone could see he was provoking Zeon.

Zeon gave a faint laugh.

“Understood. I’ll open a path.”

If he was being provoked this much, he naturally had to respond.

He walked past Lee Ji-ryeong and approached the shifting sands.

“Whew!”

Zeon stood before the shifting sands zone for a moment, steadied his breathing, and raised his control.

SHAAA!

His senses stretched out through the sand.

Thanks to the senses spreading out like countless nerve networks, the situation inside the sand was as clear as the lines of his own palm.

Leeches as numerous as grains of sand were spread throughout the entire shifting sands zone.

It was truly a hellish environment.

But that was not a problem for Zeon.

After briefly glancing at Lee Ji-ryeong, Zeon closed his eyes.

He was using his control in earnest.

RUMBLE, RUMBLE, RUMBLE!

At that instant, the shifting sands shook violently as if an earthquake had struck.

The force that made the sand flow and Zeon’s control had collided.

Because of that, the sand churned even more violently.

ROOOOAR!

Sand was pushed out of the shifting sands zone. The leeches hiding in the sand were dragged out with it.

“Aaaargh!”

“Leeches! Fall back.”

The nearby Awakened panicked and retreated.

“You leech bastards......”

“Die!”

A few Awakened who managed to keep their wits attacked and killed the leeches.

They had been frightening while hiding inside the sand, but once they came out, they were not especially fearsome.

SPLAT!

The leeches burst under the Awakened’s attacks.

The problem was the leeches’ blood.

The leeches’ blood splattered onto the Awakened.

Sssss!

“Aaaargh!”

“Save me!”

The areas splashed by the blood melted as if dipped in strong acid.

The other Awakened who saw it widened their eyes.

That could have happened to them too if they had stood near the leeches without knowing.

The Awakened splashed by the leeches’ blood rolled across the ground and screamed in pain. The nearby Awakened tried to treat their wounds by pouring Healing Potions over them, but it was useless.

In the end, their bodies melted away, and they died.

“Insane!”

“Those things were swarming inside the sand?”

The faces of the Awakened who had seen their comrades die turned pale.

Their gazes focused on Zeon.

The success or failure of the dungeon clearing now depended on Zeon.

If Zeon could not open the shifting sands zone, they would not even be able to attempt to clear the dungeon.

RUMBLE, RUMBLE, RUMBLE!

Even at that moment, the shifting sands were churning violently.

Zeon’s figure standing before the shifting sands looked precarious.

Zeon was operating his control with his entire mind focused.

Neither the surging sand nor the leeches hiding within it could break Zeon’s concentration.

At the moment the churning of the shifting sands reached its peak, Zeon opened his eyes.

Zeon’s eyes, filled with raised control, looked exactly like red sand.

Zeon’s two hands slowly moved to either side as if parting the sand.

As though the Red Sea were splitting, the shifting sands parted at his gesture.

Lee Ji-ryeong clenched his fist tightly.

“A path...... is opening.”

“Waaaah!”

The Awakened burst into cheers.

Before them, a path leading to the ancient castle was opening.

It was a miracle created by Zeon, the only Sandmancer in the desert.