Chapter 24

Chapter 24

Exion was not an object from Earth.

It was an object that had crossed over together with the nonhuman races when Earth changed like this.

However, no one had known its use, so it had simply been treated as an hourglass.

The hourglass no one had paid attention to had passed through countless owners and ended up in Zeon’s hands, as if by fate.

Exion could normally be stored inside the pores and taken out when needed.

It was the finest weapon, perfectly compensating for the weakness of Sandmancers, who could not use their strength without sand.

From the moment he absorbed Exion into his body, Zeon felt a terrifying heat inside him.

Exion had not fused properly and was placing a burden on his body.

It was a typical runaway symptom.

Because it had not been absorbed through the proper process, it was running wild.

Thanks to that, Zeon’s body had recovered to normal in an instant, but if he left it this way, it might instead collapse.

There was only one way to stabilize overflowing energy.

It was to pour out the energy running wild.

Zeon raised his control. Then Exion, which had been absorbed into his pores, flowed back out.

Exion shimmered around Zeon’s body like a cloud.

Each particle felt vivid, as if connected to his nerves.

Then Gigarein, having sensed the unusual atmosphere, attacked Zeon.

FLASH!

Chain Lightning unfolded once again.

A net of lightning spread out, filling the room.

Even before the blindingly intense display of electric current, Zeon did not panic.

He moved Exion and shaped it into a small dome around his body.

CRACKLE!

Chain Lightning struck Exion. But no shock reached Zeon inside it.

Sand, by its nature, did not conduct electricity.

Exion, the dedicated weapon of a Sandmancer, possessed resistance far more powerful than that.

When the net of electric current that had filled the room vanished, Zeon also released Exion’s dome shape.

“Phew! This is incredible.”

Zeon marveled at Exion’s power.

To think it had protected him so perfectly from that violent wave of electric current.

He confirmed that depending on how he used it, it could become a powerful weapon.

THUD! THUD!

When Chain Lightning did not work, Gigarein charged directly at him.

Gigarein already had a gigantic body, and the sight of it increasing its speed as it charged was truly terrifying.

But Zeon was not consumed by fear.

Even when he could not use Exion, Zeon had faced Gigarein bravely and fought. Now that he had even obtained Exion, he could not imagine shrinking back in fear.

TAP!

Zeon kicked off the floor and charged at Gigarein.

Exion wrapped around Zeon, trailing like a meteor.

A sense of elevation and vitality filled his body.

“Haaah!”

Zeon thrust out his fist.

Then Exion followed his fist, spinning fiercely like a drill, and struck Gigarein.

CRASH—!

An explosive roar on a completely different level from before burst out, and Gigarein’s massive body shook.

A large scar had been left on Gigarein’s hard body. However, it was not enough to stop its movement.

A Golem’s greatest advantage was that it could not feel pain.

It had no fear either, so it ignored most wounds.

Zeon knew that as well.

He had grasped that weakness while dealing with countless Golems on his way here.

"Its weakness is the joints. Among them, the knees.’

Zeon focused his mind and sent Exion flying.

He drew a picture in his mind.

An image of condensing Exion as thinly as a thread.

Now it was time to infiltrate Gigarein’s joints with Exion. But there was still one obstacle left.

The black force field covering Gigarein’s entire body.

A force field was a kind of protective barrier.

It relieved or blocked physical impacts and magic attacks to a certain degree.

To someone beyond the standard like Deioden, it would be nothing but a sheet of paper, but to a low-grade Awakened like Zeon, it was an impassable wall.

But Zeon had an idea too.

‘Concentrate everything on a single point. Then rotate it and maximize its destructive power.’

Zeon focused all his mana into Exion.

WHIIIR!

Then Exion, which had become like a thread, spun fiercely and dug into Gigarein’s force field.

Like a thread snake, Exion struggled through the force field and finally dug into Gigarein’s knee joint.

The joints of machines and Golems were vulnerable to sand.

GRRRIND!

A grinding sound came from the Golem’s knee joint.

If it had been ordinary sand, that level of obstruction would have been ignored easily, but unfortunately, Exion was no ordinary sand.

It could change its form as much as Zeon willed.

Exion, which had dug into Gigarein’s joint, gathered and turned into rough particles.

Zeon pictured Exion rotating inside the Golem’s joint.

“High-speed rotation!”

GRAAANG!

At that instant, Exion began rotating at high speed.

The rough sand particles scraped away at Gigarein’s joint.

Originally, when the surface of strong metal was being scraped down, sand was sprayed at high pressure.

Sand Blaster operated on that same principle.

Sand rotating at high speed had the worst possible compatibility with joint parts.

Stone dust burst from the joint.

The stone was being ground away by the high-speed rotating Exion.

Gigarein tried to ignore the abnormality in its joint and move.

CRACK!

At that instant, with the sound of rupture, Gigarein’s body bent grotesquely.

The knee joint, unable to withstand the burden, had finally been destroyed.

THUD!

Gigarein fell to one knee.

The giant Golem struggled to raise its body, but supporting its heavy weight with one leg was never easy.

If Gigarein had been capable of even a little thought, it would have chosen another method.

But unfortunately, Gigarein was an artificial lifeform that only acted according to what had been set.

When an unforeseen situation occurred, it had no intelligence capable of improvisation. So it moved only according to its fixed method.

Zeon dug into that point.

He sent Exion into the opposite knee joint.

Likewise, when he made it rotate at high speed, it was not long before Gigarein’s knee joint was completely destroyed.

THUD!

Gigarein’s enormous body sprawled on the floor.

Even so, Zeon did not let his guard down.

A high-grade Golem like Gigarein possessed something called self-recovery ability.

For now, it had been destroyed by a heavy shock, but if time passed, it would surely recover its broken parts and attack Zeon.

He had to completely destroy Gigarein before that.

‘I have to find the core quickly.’

If he destroyed the core, a Golem would stop moving.

The problem was where the core was hidden in that enormous body.

There was only one way to check.

Using Exion.

Zeon moved Exion into the interior through Gigarein’s knee joint.

It was a Golem made of stone, but to move, it had to receive mana from its core. In other words, there had to be a kind of passage through which mana flowed.

This was called a mana circuit.

It was so fine that ordinary methods could not detect it. But Exion was even finer and more delicate than the mana circuit.

Exion rapidly swept through Gigarein’s interior, and finally, it was able to find the mana circuit.

Zeon focused his mind and made Exion infiltrate the mana circuit.

That was when it happened.

GRRRRIND!

Together with a spine-chilling sound, Gigarein’s broken joints began recovering again.

The shattered pieces and powder of stone slowly returned to their places.

At the sight, which looked exactly as if time were being reversed, Zeon furrowed his brow.

Gigarein’s knees had already almost recovered.

It slowly raised its body.

Red light exploded from its two eyes.

Zeon thought it was angry.

A Golem without emotions being angry was impossible. But Gigarein was a monster of at least Grade B or higher. Perhaps it was not entirely impossible for it to feel emotion.

He had to finish it before its rage turned toward him.

Zeon concentrated even more on operating Exion.

Exion rapidly traveled upstream through the mana circuit.

Starting from the knee, it reached the waist axis, and then the chest. Even so, he could not feel the core.

Meanwhile, Gigarein had completely recovered from its injuries and raised its body.

GRRRRIND!

Its massive body finally stood upright.

The distance between Gigarein and Zeon was only about two meters.

It was close enough to reach if either stretched out a hand.

Gigarein raised both arms high.

It intended to bring them down and completely crush Zeon.

Zeon saw that sight clearly as well. But he could not dodge.

If he dodged now, his concentration would scatter, and all his efforts until now would come to nothing.

CRAAASH!

Gigarein brought down the two fists it had raised high into the air.

Even at that moment, Zeon focused all his mind.

‘I found it!’

Just as Gigarein’s fists were about to crush him, he finally found the core.

Zeon used Exion to attack the core.

CRAAACK!

At that instant, the core burst apart, and Gigarein stopped moving.

Gigarein’s two fists stopped above Zeon’s head.

He had saved his life by barely a handspan.

“Haa!”

The strength left Zeon’s legs, and he sank down where he stood.

It was something he himself had done, but he could not believe it at all.

Even though he had absorbed Exion, the fact that he had caught a Grade B monster did not feel real.

“I really took down this Golem? Haha! Insane......”

A laugh burst out because it was so absurd.

But Zeon knew.

The fact that he had defeated Gigarein was not entirely due to his own skill, but greatly because of the difference in compatibility.

It would be impossible to display this level of force against other Grade B monsters.

SSSSHHH!

Exion, which had stopped Gigarein’s core, flowed out again and was absorbed into Zeon’s body.

Zeon was lying spread-eagled and breathing in ragged gasps.

Then, suddenly, orange light flowed from the wrist inside his gauntlet.

Startled, Zeon took off the gauntlet, and light was flowing from the Rank Insignia on his wrist.

The third line was shining.

It was clear he had been promoted to Grade D.

“So I became Grade D?”

His chest swelled with pride.

It was an achievement he had accomplished with his own strength, without Deioden’s help.

He was proud of himself.

Upon becoming Grade D, his stamina and mana fully recovered.

“Phew! I guess the world isn’t completely set on killing me.”

Zeon rose to his feet. Then he looked at Gigarein, whom he had defeated.

Gigarein had stopped in the exact posture of bringing both fists down toward him.

A Golem whose core was destroyed was nothing but a lump of stone.

There was not a single part Zeon could use, unlike the Sand Angler’s skin or the Queen Wolf Ant’s corpse.

Leaving his regret behind, Zeon headed toward the entrance on the opposite side.

Now was not the time to pay attention to the Golem he had defeated.

He had to get to Deioden quickly.

Fortunately, after Gigarein, no other Golems appeared.

Thanks to that, Zeon was able to reach the end of the passage safely.

There was a door even larger than the room where Gigarein had been.

Zeon swallowed dryly.

‘If the door is this big, how large is the being inside?’

Suddenly, fear surged over him. But Zeon forced down the feeling.

“I can’t turn back after coming this far. Let’s go.”

Zeon pushed hard against the enormous door.

The door opened with unbelievable smoothness.

The moment he saw the scene inside, Zeon’s eyes widened.

An unbelievable sight had unfolded before him.

A gigantic cluster of light was fading away.

Before it stood Deioden, holding Crayon.

He knew without needing to ask.

That fading light was the master of this temple.

‘Then did he kill a god?’

Goosebumps rose all over Zeon’s body.

Then Deioden turned his head and looked at Zeon.

“You are late, cripple!”

Gulp!

Instead of answering, Zeon swallowed dryly.