Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Deioden bared his white teeth and smiled.

The moment he entered this place, he knew.

The things guarding this temple were Golems.

He did not know who the master of the temple was, but using Golems as Guardians was not particularly strange.

A temple was, literally, a place that enshrined one who possessed divinity.

If someone possessed divinity, it was safe to see them as a god in and of themselves.

“A god?”

Deioden’s eyes gleamed with madness.

For more than a hundred years, he had roamed the desert and conquered countless dungeons.

He had hunted many monsters called Grade S by the world, but not once had he entered a dungeon where a god resided.

If there truly was a god here, then this was a perfect opportunity.

A chance to kill a god.

“Heh-heh!”

Mad laughter leaked through his lips.

Creeeeak!

Then something blocked his path.

A gigantic living creature made of stone.

It was a Golem.

The Golem, as large as a huge boulder, had both eyes shining ominously.

There was no way Deioden did not know what those eyes meant.

“Come at me, stonehead.”

Deioden took out Crayon.

THUD! THUD!

Then other Golems joined the giant Golem from behind.

The madness in Deioden’s eyes deepened by the same amount.

A black force field hung over their bodies.

It was the same trait possessed by humans fused with machines.

“Heh-heh! That brat might die.”

The moment he entered the dungeon, he knew.

This was a dungeon with the worst possible compatibility for Zeon.

As befitting a place that enshrined a god, there was not a speck of dust or a single grain of sand inside the temple.

It was clearly being kept clean by Clean Magic.

For a Sandmancer like Zeon, it was the worst environment.

Since he could not use sand, he had to face the Golems with nothing but his own strength.

It was truly a desperate situation.

But he had to grow accustomed to fights like this.

Most of the world had changed into desert, but places that had not also existed.

The representative example was Neo Seoul.

The city beyond those walls, which the poor could never enter, was protected by a force field, so there was almost no dust or sand.

It was an environment similar to this temple.

To survive in such an environment, he had to learn how to fight without sand as well.

“If he dies just because there is no mere sand, then he has no right to live.”

Either he overcame the limits of a Sandmancer, or he failed to cross them and died to the Golems.

Zeon had only two choices.

From the beginning, Deioden had no thought of helping him.

He had to become strong on his own and survive.

That was the bare minimum condition for Deioden to take Zeon along.

“Try surviving well, cripple!”

---

“Why the hell did I follow that dogshit old man?”

Zeon muttered as he hurriedly rolled his body.

CRASH—!

The Golem’s fist struck the spot where he had been only moments before.

If he had dodged even a little later, he would have become a well-pounded lump of meat.

THUD! THUD!

The Golems narrowed their encirclement around Zeon.

Dozens of Golems had recognized Zeon as an enemy.

At least the Golems’ movements were sluggish. If they had been even a little more natural and fast, Zeon’s life would have been cut short long ago.

But he could not keep dodging forever.

No matter how much Zeon had awakened and gained stamina far superior to an ordinary person’s, as long as he was human, there was bound to be a limit.

Once his stamina ran out, all that awaited him afterward was a horrifying death.

He had to find a method before then.

‘What weapons do I have besides sand?’

Zeon hurriedly checked his equipment.

First was the gauntlet on his right hand. After that, there were the elves’ weapons stored in his subspace.

He excluded the elves’ weapons for now.

He did not know how to use a bow, and it was unsuitable for a situation like this, where many enemies were packed into such a narrow space.

The dagger was the same.

He did not know how sharp the elves’ dagger was, but he did not think it could cut Golems made of stone.

In the end, the only thing left to Zeon was the gauntlet Kaylee had made for him.

‘So there was only one choice from the start. Nice that I don’t have to think too hard.’

Zeon clenched the fist wearing the gauntlet.

If there were no other choices anyway, then he had no choice but to do his best with what he had been given.

Zeon dodged a Golem’s attack and struck its body.

CRASH—!

With an explosive roar, the Golem’s heavy body jolted. But only a little stone dust fell, and the Golem was unharmed.

After that, he punched the Golem’s body several more times, but the result was the same.

Ordinary attacks could not inflict proper damage on the Golem’s body.

‘Normal attacks won’t work!’

The fist wearing the gauntlet hurt as if it might break.

No matter how well he was wearing a gauntlet, it could not completely erase the impact of striking a lump of stone.

Zeon realized that he was not using one hundred percent of the gauntlet’s marvelous functions.

Once a problem was recognized, it could be corrected.

‘I have to condense mana and increase the destructive power.’

WHOOOM!

Even while he was thinking, a Golem’s fist passed only a few centimeters above his head.

It was a moment when his head had nearly been smashed apart.

Even so, Zeon maintained his reason.

It was thanks to the countless experiences he had accumulated while following Deioden.

He had learned how to stay rational and cold-headed in any situation without becoming excited.

Zeon calmly concentrated mana into the gauntlet.

VMMMM!

“Huh?”

At that instant, a strong resonance hum burst from the gauntlet.

At the unexpected situation, Zeon looked puzzled for a moment. But he soon realized what had happened.

This was how the gauntlet was originally meant to be used.

The gauntlet, made by mixing the frame of an Ironclad Starfish with adamantium, had been optimized to condense and amplify mana.

If Zeon had been a martial artist-type Awakened, he would have realized that fact long ago.

‘It’s not too late, now that I know.’

Zeon dodged the Golem’s attack and threw a punch at its body.

CRASH—!

With an explosive roar, the Golem’s body burst apart.

Even though half its body had been blown away, the Golem attacked Zeon without caring at all.

That was possible because it was an artificial lifeform that could not feel pain.

In cases like this, he had to find the core and destroy it.

The problem was that he did not know where the core was. But Zeon solved that simply.

He grabbed one Golem and beat it at random.

CRASH—! CRASH—!

With explosive roars, the Golem’s shoulder was blown away, and its arms and legs fell off.

Because he was trying to raise his destructive power in a short time, his mana consumption was extreme, but there was no helping it.

Zeon finally found the core.

In the neck of the Golem whose head had been blown off, there was a blue Mana Stone.

An intense mana could be felt from the Mana Stone, which was only the size of a fingernail.

It was clearly the Golem’s core.

CRACK!

Zeon mercilessly destroyed the core.

Then the Golem, which had been moving without pause, stopped.

Now that he had discovered the weakness, it was time to attack efficiently.

Dodge a Golem’s attack, then blow off its head.

After that, destroy the core located in the neck.

It was easy to say, but actually doing it was never easy.

A mind capable of predicting and dodging the Golem’s attacks, reflexes to support that movement, and the operation of mana.

There were far too many things to prepare for even a single movement.

The problem was that all of it had to be done in an instant.

If he thought first and acted afterward, it would be too late.

CRASH—!

Zeon’s fist struck the Golem’s head.

The Golem’s head shattered to pieces.

Just as Zeon was about to destroy the core, another Golem attacked.

THUD!

“Ghk!”

Zeon groaned and rolled across the floor.

His waist, struck by the Golem, hurt as if it might break.

But he was not even given the time to leisurely complain of pain.

That was because the Golems’ fists rained down.

CRASH! CRASH! CRASH!

Zeon rolled across the floor and dodged the Golems’ attacks.

After escaping the Golems’ combined assault by a hair’s breadth, Zeon caught his breath for a moment.

‘My movements are too big. I have to cut away the waste and make them as simple as possible.’

He grasped his own problems in real time.

The reason he had allowed the Golem’s strike moments ago was also because his movement when trying to destroy the core had been too large.

“Phew! Phew!”

After breathing roughly for a moment, Zeon charged back among the Golems.

A Golem rushed at him from the front.

Its heavy body made of stone was itself no different from a massive weapon.

If he struck it with a part not covered by the gauntlet, his bones would break instead, and his muscles would tear.

Zeon dodged the Golem’s attack by a hair’s breadth and tripped its leg.

There was no way a heavy Golem would fall just because he had barely hooked its leg.

With his left hand, which was not wearing the gauntlet, he pressed down on its chest.

Thanks to operating mana, he was able to knock the Golem down easily.

He struck the struggling Golem’s head with the fist wearing the gauntlet.

CRASH—!

With an explosive roar, the Golem’s head shattered to pieces.

He threw another punch at the exposed core in its neck.

Only then did the Golem stop moving.

The time it took until then was only about one breath.

It was merely the brief moment it took Zeon to inhale and exhale once.

Then another Golem’s attack rained down.

SPIN!

Zeon rolled his body and escaped the Golems’ attacks.

It was not something anyone had taught him, but an action based on instinct.

Thanks to that, he was able to slip out of the Golems’ encirclement by a hair’s breadth.

Zeon attacked the Golem on the outermost edge.

He attacked its knee joint to damage its drive axis, or hooked its foot and knocked it down.

After making a Golem lose its mobility that way, he repeatedly blew off its head and destroyed the core in its neck.

As he fought the Golems like that over and over, his movements gradually became simpler and more powerful.

The Golems were the perfect opponents for Zeon to learn martial arts.

He could not use Skills like real martial-type Awakened, but even so, he was able to properly learn how to use the gauntlet.

CRUMBLE!

The remains of the final Golem fell to the ground.

“Haa! Haa!”

Zeon breathed roughly.

His entire body was soaked in sweat.

The fight with the Golems had squeezed his body to its limits.

Both his legs trembled, and his breath rose to the tip of his throat.

Wounds from being struck by the Golems remained all over his body. He had tried to reduce the impact to a minimum, but the pain was still enormous.

But he did not have time to sit around and rest just because he hurt or because he was tired.

Even now, Deioden would be advancing.

If he rested here, the gap between them would widen even further.

Zeon took a piece of jerky from his clothes and put it in his mouth.

After slowly chewing and swallowing the jerky, a little of his strength returned.

“Good! Let’s go.”

Zeon started walking again.

Now his eyes had fully adjusted to the darkness.

Thanks to that, he no longer had to grope his way along as he had when he first entered the passage.

After dealing with the Golems moments ago, Zeon had gained confidence.

Golems were clearly fearsome opponents.

Unlike organic lifeforms, they felt no fear, and their destructive power was also tremendous. However, their movements were slow, and they had no creativity, so if he became just a little calmer, he could grasp their weaknesses.

If all the other Golems were at this level, he felt he could deal with them as much as needed.

“Maybe I’ve got talent as a martial artist?”

It was when Zeon smiled faintly.

THUD! THUD!

Once again, heavy footsteps reached him.

Zeon erased his smile and took up a battle stance.

“Come as much as you want. I’ll bring all of you down.”

At that instant, Golems revealed themselves from the darkness.

But the form of the Golems that appeared was different from before.

The upper body had a human shape, and the lower body resembled a horse.

“Centaurs?”

The Golems looked exactly like Centaurs.

THUDTHUDTHUD!

They charged at full speed.

The sight was exactly like an ancient cavalry charging forward.

“Damn it! This is cheating.”

Zeon wanted to smack his own mouth for running it so excitedly moments earlier.

The far stronger and faster Golems swept over him like a storm.