Chapter 32

Chapter 32

The sand-laden wind blew fiercely.

They had walked for days and days, but far from weakening, the sand-laden wind only raged more violently.

Zeon and Deioden pushed forward through the sand-laden wind.

Deioden covered his nose and mouth with cloth. Otherwise, he would inhale sand every time he breathed.

It was a grueling situation not only for Deioden, but for any traveler walking the desert. But Zeon was the exception.

Unlike Deioden, Zeon was walking with his bare face exposed.

The sand flying at him as if to gouge into his flesh had no effect on him at all.

It was not that Zeon was consciously protecting his body.

It was a phenomenon that had occurred naturally as his ability rose and his talent bloomed.

He resonated with the sand as naturally as breathing.

His vision was limited because of the raging sand-laden wind, but Zeon knew the situation dozens of meters away as clearly as if he were looking at the palm of his hand.

Within Zeon’s senses, he felt something foreign.

It was an object that was not sand.

‘What is it?’

Zeon wore a puzzled expression. Yet Deioden walked straight toward it, as if he knew what was there.

What appeared before them was a gigantic six-sided pillar.

The surface of the black pillar was covered with characters whose meaning he could not understand.

Deioden stroked the black pillar and murmured,

“So I see you again.”

“Have you been here before?”

“I found it by chance thirty years ago. This is the first time since.”

“What is this?”

“I do not know either.”

“What?”

“I found it by chance.”

That was exactly what he meant.

At the time, Deioden had been far more filled with rage than he was now.

Now he at least maintained his reason, but back then, not even that remained.

Madness had ruled his mind. That was why he had carried out a massacre in Neo Seoul.

He had slaughtered the nonhuman races inside Neo Seoul.

The people of the slums did not know this well, but nonhuman races lived inside Neo Seoul too.

Those who, for whatever reason, had fallen away from their own groups and settled in Neo Seoul.

They had built their own territories and lived as members of Neo Seoul.

Their role had been immense in allowing Magic and science to harmonize within Neo Seoul.

But for some reason, Deioden had killed most of them in a single night.

Not many nonhuman races survived.

Naturally, Neo Seoul was thrown into an uproar.

This was also why Deioden gained the nickname Massacrer.

Neo Seoul placed an enormous bounty on Deioden and pursued him. But everyone who pursued Deioden lost their lives.

After that, Deioden wandered the desert, came all the way here, and by chance discovered a gigantic pillar exposed above the sand.

“This pillar is the center of the barrier.”

“A barrier? What kind of barrier?”

“Do you think this sand-laden wind is normal? No matter how much of a desert this is, wind is blowing nonstop like this.”

“Mm!”

Zeon looked around.

A fierce wind so strong that he could not see an inch ahead was blowing without pause.

They could endure this much only because they were Deioden, who had surpassed human limits, and Zeon, who had awakened as a Sandmancer.

Most Awakened would have lost their sense of direction, wandered, and collapsed.

“It definitely isn’t natural.”

“That is right. It is clear that the barrier is preventing humans from approaching any farther.”

“Then we have to destroy that pillar to bring down the barrier.”

“Physical attacks do not work on that pillar. That pillar is both the center of the barrier and a dungeon.”

“It’s a dungeon?”

“Yes. It is also the reason I brought you all the way here.”

“What?”

“You will know once you enter.”

Deioden infused mana into the gigantic pillar.

At that instant, the characters carved into the pillar began to light up, and before long, the entire pillar shone brightly.

The light swallowed Deioden and Zeon.

A moment later, Zeon carefully opened his eyes.

“Where is this?”

“Yes! It is a desert.”

Deioden, who stood beside him, answered.

Just as he said, the landscape spread before Zeon’s eyes was a desert.

The only difference was that no sand-laden wind blew here.

“So the environment inside the dungeon is a desert.”

“Yes! It is exactly the same as the scenery outside.”

When Deioden first entered this place, he had been utterly dumbfounded as well.

He had gone through the trouble of finding a dungeon and entering it, only to find a desert.

With this, he could not tell what made it different from the world outside the dungeon.

“What is inside?”

“I do not know.”

“What?”

“If there is one difference between this desert and the desert outside, it is that your senses are disturbed, so you cannot determine direction.”

“Mm!”

Zeon looked up at the sky.

But the sun could not be seen.

Even though he could clearly feel heat as hot as the desert outside.

The only thing that distinguished the inside of the dungeon from the outside was whether the sun existed or not.

“There is definitely something here. But I cannot find it.”

Deioden’s instincts were whispering to him.

They told him that what was inside this place was extremely important.

The problem was that within seven days, they had to find and destroy the boss or item that served as the dungeon’s core.

If not, on the eighth day, they would be transferred outside the dungeon.

He had challenged it several times, but each time, the result had been mercilessly the same.

No matter how terrifying a monster was, he did not fear it. But inside this unidentified dungeon, Deioden was powerless.

“I must conquer this dungeon. Only then can I move beyond that barrier.”

The barrier outside also rejected Deioden.

If he simply passed by the black pillar, he would wander through the sand-laden wind and, before he knew it, return to the same place.

Only then had Deioden realized it.

Unless he conquered this dungeon, there was nowhere he could advance.

Zeon was the only hope for conquering this dungeon.

This dungeon, filled with sand, was the optimal environment for Zeon to display his ability.

If he could not find the dungeon’s core, then no Awakened in the world could conquer this dungeon.

“From now on, you lead. I will follow behind you.”

“Phew! That’s quite a heavy responsibility. If I find the core, you won’t call me a cripple anymore, right?”

“I will call you a slightly better cripple.”

“Dogshit old man.”

Zeon grumbled and took the lead.

He spoke that way, but his expression was more serious than ever.

This was a dungeon even Deioden of all people had failed to conquer.

Of course, it was because of compatibility rather than ability, but even so, he could not help feeling faintly excited at the thought that he would be handling a dungeon Deioden had been unable to resolve.

Zeon raised his control as much as possible. Then his senses extended through the sand.

“What the hell?”

Zeon was startled.

That was because the range of his extended senses reached several hundred meters.

Recently, his range had expanded rapidly, but it had never been this absurd.

It seemed to be because of the dungeon’s influence.

While he was at it, Zeon also checked Exion.

Its activity was definitely different from when they were outside the dungeon.

‘What is this dungeon? Is it connected to Sandmancers?’

Deioden had once told him.

Occasionally, dungeons connected to a specific Awakened class appeared.

He said conquering such dungeons was several times more difficult for other Awakened than ordinary dungeons.

Perhaps this dungeon was connected to his own class, Sandmancer.

‘I’ll know once I go.’

Zeon used Sand Walk and advanced.

He had traveled with Deioden for several months, but this was the first time he was taking the lead.

Deioden followed behind Zeon with his arms crossed.

It meant he would leave everything to Zeon’s decision.

‘It’s useless to just move forward blindly. First, I need to determine the direction.’

He did not need something like a compass.

If this place was truly a dungeon related to him, then the sand would tell him the direction he needed to go.

SSSSHHH!

Fine grains of sand flowed out from his entire body and floated around him.

Zeon, who had wrapped Exion around himself, looked like a black ghost.

Exion floated at random for a moment, then soon began rippling toward one direction.

Zeon used Sand Walk in the direction Exion indicated, and Deioden followed behind him.

Once he activated Exion, Zeon’s senses expanded even further.

He could even detect the movement of sand almost one kilometer away.

Once he left this dungeon, the senses he felt now would surely disappear as well, but at least for this moment, it was quite intoxicating.

It felt as though he had become the god of this dungeon.

Zeon fully savored that exhilaration as he advanced.

They walked that way for a full two days.

The desert was so vast it was hard to believe it was a world inside a dungeon.

It felt as though they were walking through the outside world, not inside a dungeon.

No matter where he looked, there was only sand.

It was terrain with no distinguishing features.

There was not a single element that could determine direction.

Not only Deioden, but any Awakened who entered this place would have their senses disturbed and be forced to wander.

Zeon stopped using Sand Walk and murmured,

“It looks like this is the place.”

Exion no longer pointed the way and floated around his body.

As if saying its task was finished.

After absorbing Exion back into his body, Zeon looked around.

The scenery was no different from the place they had walked through until now.

But it was different.

Deioden felt nothing strange at all, but Zeon could feel with his skin that something was different.

The flow, color, and even particles of the sand were all different.

“Phew!”

Zeon took a deep breath for a moment and raised his control.

Sssshhh!

At that instant, ripples spread beneath his feet.

The sand rippled outward in circles, spreading around them.

“Hmm!”

Deioden looked at Zeon with an interested expression.

That was because it looked as if the sand itself had come alive.

As the surrounding sand was pushed outward, Zeon’s body slowly sank underground.

He had opened a path to a dungeon one hundred meters underground before, but that could not compare to this.

Zeon was already sinking several hundred meters underground.

The amount of sand he was pushing aside was just that tremendous.

Even if every piece of heavy equipment in Neo Seoul were mobilized, they would not be able to scoop out this much sand in such a short time.

Several hundred meters underground, where the sand had been pushed away, a large cave appeared.

Without the slightest hesitation, Zeon walked into the cave, and Deioden followed behind him.

As soon as they disappeared into the cave, the sand that had been pushed aside flowed down again and recovered its original appearance.

Deioden clicked his tongue.

“No wonder I could not find it no matter how much I wandered.”

Even Deioden could not grasp the situation several hundred meters underground.

If not for Zeon, he would not have been able to find this space no matter how many times he entered.

It was certainly a dungeon for a Sandmancer.

“What could be inside?”

He had gone through countless dungeons until now.

Among them had even been dungeons with Grade S bosses. But no monster had been a match for Deioden.

Deioden had obtained everything useful from dungeons. By becoming stronger and stronger that way, he had achieved the tremendous martial power he possessed today.

If this place was truly a dungeon for a Sandmancer, then whatever came out would surely help Zeon.

That was when it happened.

Sssshhh!

Suddenly, the sand on the cave floor rose and began clumping together.

In an instant, the sand gathered and formed a human shape.

Because it was made of sand, it was not refined, and everything was blunt.

Its eyes, nose, mouth, fingers, and toes were all crude beyond measure.

No one taught him, but the moment Zeon saw the sand human, he realized what it was.

“Sand...... Soldier!”

It was a sand soldier, a Sand Soldier.

As if hearing Zeon’s voice, the Sand Soldier attacked.