Chapter 282

Chapter 282

Sand rose like a tidal wave.

The enormous mass of sand completely covered Moby Dick and the monsters, then began rotating at ultra-high speed.

GRRRRIND—!

The fine grains of sand scraped away at the monsters’ shells and hides with a spine-chilling sound.

Kieee!

Kraaaah!

The Ogre, the Giant Spider, and the Crimson Drake screamed in pain.

No matter how numb monsters were to pain, even they could not simply endure the agony of their surfaces being ground away.

At least the Grade A monsters were in somewhat better shape.

Their force fields held out to a certain degree.

The Grade B monsters were ground away along with their force fields in an instant.

It was Sand Blender unfolded at full power.

Its might was on a completely different level from what he had unfolded until now.

The Grade B monsters let out desperate screams.

The hides and outer layers that had protected them along with their force fields vanished in an instant, revealing their bright-red internal tissue.

FLASH—!

The exposed muscle tissue, now stripped of its defensive barrier, caught fire.

It was the flame Zeon had raised with the Ultra-Heat Gauntlet.

The ultra-high-heat flames burned through the Grade B monsters’ insides in an instant.

Sand attacked from the outside, and ultra-high-heat flames attacked from the inside at the same time, so the Grade B monsters evaporated in an instant.

The Grade A monsters belatedly came to their senses and tried to attack Zeon. But their attacks never reached him.

“Sand Gehenna!”

The sand beneath their feet melted and turned into lava.

The viscous lava swallowed their lower bodies in an instant.

It was like a swamp one could never escape after falling in.

The more they struggled, the deeper the Grade A monsters sank into Sand Gehenna.

The Gray Ogre and Giant Spider, both boasting formidable defensive power, screamed madly.

Only the Crimson Drake, born with the fire attribute, stubbornly endured even the flames.

The Crimson Drake stretched out its foreleg and seized the baby whale.

It was trying to replenish its strength by devouring the weaker baby whale.

Squeeee!

Caught by the Crimson Drake, the baby whale let out a sorrowful cry.

Moby Dick blinked its large eyes and looked at Zeon.

It looked exactly as if it were begging him to save its child.

Zeon nodded and said,

“Fine! I’ll protect your child, at least.”

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—!

No sooner had he spoken than dozens of streams of sand surged up from the ground and attacked the Crimson Drake.

BOOM, BOOM, BOOM—!

Under the indiscriminate bombardment of Sand Blaster, the Crimson Drake let go of the baby whale and was forced backward.

WOOOOR!

Zeon poured sand into the mouth of the Crimson Drake as it roared in fury. Once its belly was filled with sand, the Crimson Drake gagged and retched.

At that moment, Zeon gave the command.

“Claymore!”

BOOM—!

The sand inside the Crimson Drake’s belly exploded.

No matter how powerful the Crimson Drake’s defensive power was, it could not endure an explosion that occurred inside its stomach.

The Crimson Drake exploded, and its remains scattered in every direction.

Next came the Gray Ogre and Giant Spider.

At Zeon’s gesture, lumps of lava forced their way into the creatures’ mouths.

Kraaaah!

Kieek!

As the hot lava melted through their esophagi and entered, the Gray Ogre and the Giant Spider rolled wildly across the ground. They tried to vomit out the lumps of lava that had entered their bellies, but it was useless.

Zeon passed the final death sentence on the suffering Grade A monsters.

“Fire Rain!”

CRASH, CRASH, CRASH, CRASH—!

A rain of ultra-high-heat flames fell.

The Gray Ogre and Giant Spider, whose force fields had completely vanished, melted beneath the rain of fire.

“Crazy!”

Claire’s eyes flew wide open.

It had taken only about one minute from the moment Zeon appeared to the moment he completely cleared away the monsters.

In that short time, he had annihilated three Grade A monsters and the Grade B monsters.

It was a divine feat no Awakened in Neo Seoul could accomplish.

She wondered if the human before her was truly human.

She even wondered if he was only human on the outside, and in truth, a dragon that had Polymorphed.

That was how far Zeon’s martial force exceeded her common sense.

Just looking at Zeon made her body tremble, and her breathing quickened.

That was how overwhelming the fear she felt was.

Just then—

“Zeon!”

Lee Jung-ho, who had been sent flying far away in a defenseless state, was charging toward Zeon.

Lee Jung-ho’s face was filled with rage as he charged.

Being blown away by a pillar of sand and slammed into the ground had wounded his pride.

An Aura Blade had formed around Lee Jung-ho’s sword.

SWISH—!

The Aura Blade flew toward Zeon’s windpipe.

Zeon unfolded Sand Walk and avoided his attack.

Lee Jung-ho stuck close to Zeon and swung his sword again and again.

Swish, swish—!

In terms of cutting power, no weapon in the present era could surpass an Aura Blade.

If one was hit even once, the result would be at least a serious wound.

“Chaaat!”

Along with Lee Jung-ho’s shout, his sword drew a strange curve.

The blade flew in a low trajectory, like a swallow skimming over the surface of the water.

There was nowhere to dodge.

It was Lee Jung-ho’s own Skill, capable of changing its trajectory the moment Zeon tried to evade.

‘Swallow Blade Secret Sword.’

It was his own Skill, realized after training it thousands and tens of thousands of times.

The moment Zeon unfolded Sand Walk, the sword circled in midair and pursued him.

“Sand Blaster.”

At Zeon’s gesture, dozens of streams of Sand Blaster shot out.

An ordinary Awakened would have panicked under the high-pressure sand attack. But Lee Jung-ho was no ordinary Awakened.

“Chaaat!”

With a shout, he rotated his sword at terrifying speed.

The Aura Blade rotating with the sword blocked Lee Jung-ho’s front like a shield.

BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM—!

The Sand Blasters that struck the Aura Blade bounced off in every direction.

After neutralizing Sand Blaster in an instant, Lee Jung-ho closed in on Zeon.

Lee Jung-ho thrust his sword toward Zeon’s arm.

“If I cut off both your arms, guiding us should still be no problem, right?”

“Can you actually cut them?”

CLANG—!

Zeon answered coldly and deflected Lee Jung-ho’s sword with his gauntlet.

Even after deflecting the Aura Blade, not a single scratch appeared on the Ultra-Heat Gauntlet.

Zeon did not stop at merely deflecting Lee Jung-ho’s sword. He launched Vipers.

Dozens of sand snakes flew toward Lee Jung-ho like venomous vipers hunting prey.

SWISH—!

Lee Jung-ho swung his sword and cut down the sand snakes in a single stroke.

At that moment, a thick cloud of sand dust rose around him.

Zeon had made all the sand on the ground float into the air.

Sand entered Lee Jung-ho’s eyes, nose, and mouth.

Lee Jung-ho immediately closed his eyes and held his breath.

An ordinary Awakened would have felt fear at closing their eyes, but Lee Jung-ho had no problem.

After all, the eyes of his flesh were nothing more than ornaments to begin with.

To him, who saw the world through Mind’s Eye, a little sand entering his eyes was no problem at all.

When he focused on Mind’s Eye, the target called Zeon became even clearer.

He unfolded a secret technique toward Zeon.

‘One-Point Thrust.’

BOOM—!

Rather than “thrust,” “launch” would have suited the attack better.

His sword shot forward at terrifying speed, as if a bullet had been fired.

Its target was the space between Zeon’s brows.

Just before his sword arrived, someone appeared in front of Zeon.

It was a Sand Soldier.

CRASH—!

The Sand Soldier took Lee Jung-ho’s attack in his place and broke apart.

Lee Jung-ho’s sword pierced through the Sand Soldier.

However, Lee Jung-ho’s sword never reached the space between Zeon’s brows.

That was because another Sand Soldier was summoned and blocked Zeon’s front again.

Not just one, but three of them.

SQUELCH, SQUELCH, SQUELCH—!

Only after piercing through all three Sand Soldiers did Lee Jung-ho’s sword stop.

It was right before reaching the space between Zeon’s brows.

Lee Jung-ho’s face twisted.

His decisive strike had been blocked by mere soldiers made of sand.

Thinking Zeon was looking down on him, his anger exploded.

“How dare you!”

BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM—!

At that moment, the sand beneath his feet exploded.

Zeon had unfolded Claymore.

Under the tremendous shock, Lee Jung-ho’s body swayed like a reed.

He had at least instinctively unfolded Aura Shield at the moment of explosion and protected his entire body.

Aura Shield was the strongest protective measure a martial-type Awakened could unfold.

It had the drawback of consuming a great deal of mana, but it also had the advantage of not budging under most attacks.

Lee Jung-ho planned to release Aura Shield and attack Zeon as soon as the hellish sand explosions ended.

‘I will decide this with my strongest Skill, Meteor Cleave.’

A supreme Skill that embodied the energy and speed of a falling meteor.

Zeon was the strongest enemy he had ever faced, to the point that Lee Jung-ho had to unfold a Skill he had never once shown before others.

Lee Jung-ho watched Zeon’s movements through Mind’s Eye and waited for his chance. However, because all his attention was focused on Zeon, he failed to notice that his lower body had sunk deep into the sand.

He realized it only after hearing a spine-chilling sound.

WHIRRRR!

The sand was rotating fiercely around his lower body.

“What?”

It was Sand Blender.

He had seen Zeon use this Skill to grind monsters apart. Even monsters with powerful force fields and defensive power had been ground away by this Skill.

It was a terrifying Skill that could reduce an ordinary human body to powder in an instant.

He was only enduring for a brief time because he had unfolded Aura Shield. If time dragged on, it would certainly break.

Lee Jung-ho realized that he did not have much time left.

Even at this moment, his body was being sucked deeper and deeper into the sand.

If his head sank under like this, there truly would be no way to escape.

‘Fuck!’

Lee Jung-ho bit his lip hard enough to draw blood.

It felt as though all the blood in his body had gone cold.

Only then did he realize how much he had underestimated Zeon.

The very idea that he would far surpass Zeon in interpersonal combat had been a miscalculation.

Zeon was clearly very accustomed not only to fighting monsters, but also to fighting Awakened like him.

Otherwise, his current response made no sense.

WHIRRRR!

Even at that moment, Sand Blender rotated fiercely and scraped away at his Aura Shield.

Cracks appeared across the Aura Shield.

At this rate, he would be ground away by sand without being able to do anything.

If he was going to be helplessly defeated, it was better to take some kind of risk.

“Chaaat!”

Lee Jung-ho swung his sword with all his strength.

In that instant, the aura lingering around his sword exploded.

BOOM—!

The intense explosion pushed away the sand surrounding him.

In that moment, Lee Jung-ho escaped the sand and launched himself into the air.

“Meteor Cleave!”

Then he unfolded his hidden trump Skill.

His sword fell toward Zeon as if a meteor were crashing down to earth.

Lee Jung-ho and his sword were glowing red like a giant meteor.

It was a terrifying sight that made the flesh tremble.

If that attack landed, even Zeon could not remain safe.

‘If it lands.’

Of course, Zeon had no intention of allowing that attack to land.

If that side had a powerful single strike, then this side only needed to respond with wave tactics.

Fortunately, the desert held an infinite amount of sand.

Zeon intended to show him the ultimate form of wave tactics.

“Sand Blaster. Infinite Bombardment!”

Swish, swish, swish, swish—!

No sooner had he spoken than hundreds, thousands of Sand Blaster streams poured toward Lee Jung-ho.