Chapter 44

Chapter 44

“Ghk!”

Zeon vomited blood.

His complexion had gone as white as paper.

His right arm, the one wearing the gauntlet, was dangling from a compound fracture, and the impact from falling from one hundred meters in the air had broken the bones in both his legs as well.

Even so, Zeon laughed.

That was because his gauntleted fist was touching Deioden’s face.

Deioden’s head had turned slightly, and a tiny wound had appeared where the gauntlet had touched.

For an adventure on which he had risked his life, the result was pitiful. But Zeon was satisfied.

Because he had finally landed a blow on Deioden’s face.

“Don’t...... look down on me.”

With those words, Zeon collapsed.

Deioden silently looked at the fallen Zeon for a while.

This was the first time he had allowed Zeon to land a blow on him.

Even Deioden of all people had not expected Zeon to throw himself down from one hundred meters in the air to attack.

Thanks to that, he had suffered a very small wound on his face, but he did not feel displeased.

That was because Zeon had reached the level he wanted.

An Awakened ought to be like this.

If even the slightest possibility existed, one had to boldly throw oneself forward and find a breakthrough.

The Awakened of a hundred years ago had mostly thrown themselves forward like this to discover possibilities and develop their Skills.

“Hrk! Hrrk!”

Zeon exhaled rough breaths.

He was about to die as the price for throwing himself forward.

Deioden opened his subspace.

He took out a potion from his subspace and made Zeon drink it. Then he took out another potion and sprinkled it over Zeon’s entire body. At that, Zeon’s condition rapidly stabilized.

The potion he used on Zeon was the highest-grade Healing Potion made in Neo Seoul.

Because extremely precious ingredients went into it and the process of making it was not easy, it was a rare item of which only a few bottles existed even in Neo Seoul.

It was an elixir that could heal any wound at once as long as the breath had not stopped.

Deioden had several more of those Healing Potions in his subspace.

“Haa!”

A moment later, Zeon let out a sigh and regained consciousness.

Having returned from the threshold of death, Zeon lay there blankly for a while.

It took a little time for his mind to return to reality.

Once he had completely gathered himself, he opened his mouth.

“So I’m still alive?”

“If you die from wounds of that level, you have no value being alive.”

“Honestly......”

Zeon shook his head and rose.

His whole body was sore. But it was not to the point that he could not move.

Compared to the price of an adventure in which he had risked his life, this much pain was bearable.

Deioden looked at Zeon and said,

“You have finally become somewhat usable.”

“Should I say thank you?”

“No need. Take these instead.”

Deioden took several items from his subspace and threw them to Zeon.

They were clothes, leather armor, and a robe.

The clothes were something he had obtained in Neo Seoul, while the armor and robe were items obtained from a dungeon.

Both the armor and robe were items obtained from a Grade A dungeon, and they were far from ordinary.

The armor, made from the hide of an unidentified monster, was covered in characters whose meaning could not be understood.

“It is somewhat weak against physical force, but it has great magic resistance instead. If you wear it now, it will help you greatly.”

“You’re not going to wear it yourself?”

“Armor is for weaklings like you. I do not need it.”

“Damn it!”

Zeon’s face crumpled.

The fact that he could not refute Deioden’s words made him sad.

‘I’ll become stronger, even if it’s only because this pisses me off.’

Zeon changed his clothes and put the armor on over them.

The moment he wore the armor, he felt a refreshing energy throughout his body.

It seemed to have been magically treated.

Zeon put the robe on over the armor.

The robe was similar in color to sand.

From a distance, it was difficult to distinguish it from the sand.

“Protective coloration?”

Zeon pulled up the hood attached to the robe.

Deioden said,

“If you are done dressing, let’s go.”

“Yes!”

The two left the Valley of Death, where they had stayed for several months.

During their stay, the Valley of Death had been ruined so badly that its original form could no longer be recognized.

The great work of art created by nature had collapsed miserably, and sand was piling up over it.

By the time they returned, this place would be buried beneath sand until no trace could be found.

‘If we can return, that is.’

---

Zeon and Deioden walked silently through the endless desert.

The blazing sunlight beat down on them persistently, but neither of them complained even once.

That was because Deioden had spent a hundred years in this desert, and Zeon too had grown accustomed to life in the desert.

“Hmm?”

Suddenly, Zeon stopped.

Deioden silently looked at Zeon.

While staying in the Valley of Death for several months, Zeon’s senses and control over sand had risen dramatically.

Now, when it came to senses within the desert, even Deioden could not match him.

The fact that Zeon had stopped like that was proof that he had sensed something.

A moment later, he opened his mouth.

“I can feel a water source. It looks like an oasis will form nearby.”

“Is that so?”

The moment Deioden wore an interested expression, moisture suddenly rose from the sand on the ground.

At first, it was only slightly damp, but as time passed, the amount of water pooling on the ground grew larger and larger.

A moment later, the water-soaked sand sank down, and a fairly large oasis formed.

“Oh!”

When an oasis formed in an instant just as Zeon had said, Deioden looked slightly surprised.

An oasis in the desert was like a mirage.

One day, it would suddenly appear, then vanish again.

It did not disappear completely, but moved to some unexpected place on the desert’s shifting sands.

Humans could not predict that change. Yet Zeon had sensed in advance that an oasis would form here.

It was an ability ordinary Awakened could not dare imagine.

Zeon asked Deioden,

“It should be here too, right?”

“You mean a Sand Angler?”

“Yes!”

“It should be. An oasis that moves along shifting sands like this always has one.”

“As expected.”

Zeon nodded.

The oasis that had suddenly appeared had already grown as large as a pond.

Zeon looked into the oasis.

Deep inside, he could see a faint light.

The identity of the bewitching lamp that enchanted those who looked at it was the Sand Angler.

A Grade C monster that bewitched and devoured people or monsters who came to an oasis.

Zeon had once almost been eaten by one as well.

If not for Deioden, he would have been eaten then and vanished from this world without a trace.

That did not mean he had any special feelings toward the Sand Angler.

This was that kind of world.

One ate, or one was eaten.

A place where anything was permitted in order to survive.

The Sand Angler bewitched in order to live, and Zeon tried to catch the Sand Angler in order to live.

Zeon jumped straight into the oasis.

The Sand Angler, sensing him, approached at high speed.

The lamp grew clearer, and behind it, a gigantic mouth came into view.

Perhaps thinking Zeon was prey already caught, it approached at full speed without the slightest sign of caution.

Zeon waited for the Sand Angler to approach, then swung his right fist.

Exion condensed over the gauntlet.

He drove Exion, clumped together like a drill, straight into the Sand Angler’s mouth.

PUHAK!

Like a fish pierced by a harpoon, the Sand Angler, whose palate had been pierced, struggled violently.

Ordinary sand lost its cohesion once it entered water and would collapse uselessly, but Exion was different.

Exion, the exclusive weapon of a Sandmancer, maintained the form Zeon wanted even underwater.

‘Now!’

Zeon rotated the Exion he had driven into the Sand Angler’s mouth.

GRRRRIND!

Exion crushed the Sand Angler’s brain in an instant.

It was the end of the Grade C monster Sand Angler.

The Sand Angler surfaced with its belly exposed.

Zeon dragged the Sand Angler outside.

‘Not bad!’

The corner of Deioden’s mouth lifted slightly.

Sand’s greatest enemy was water.

Yet Zeon was freely using Exion even underwater. It was proof that he understood very well how to use his ability.

Zeon began dismantling the Sand Angler he had dragged outside.

First, he peeled off its belly skin. He knew that because it was soft and elastic, it would perform best if made into a robe, so he secured it first.

Next, he cut the meat by part.

There was nothing to throw away from the Sand Angler’s meat.

It contained almost none of the poison usually present in monster meat, and it tasted good as well.

Among all its parts, the best was the gallbladder.

When they had caught a Sand Angler before, Deioden had made Zeon eat the gallbladder first.

Zeon handed Deioden the gallbladder, which was as large as an adult’s torso.

“Eat it.”

It was a precious medicine without equal under heaven. There was nothing like a Sand Angler’s gallbladder for strengthening the bones and muscles.

Having already taken one before, Zeon knew very well how effective it was. But Deioden refused Zeon’s offer at once.

“I do not need it.”

“If you’re going to fight a dragon, shouldn’t you prepare your body in advance?”

“Do you think something like a mere Sand Angler’s liver could affect my body? A frail cripple like you should eat as much as you can.”

“Come on. The way you say things......”

Without responding, Deioden picked up another part of the Sand Angler.

WHOOSH!

Flames rose over his hand.

They were flames made with mana.

The tender Sand Angler meat cooked in an instant.

Deioden slowly chewed and ate the well-cooked Sand Angler meat.

After watching him for a moment, Zeon began eating the Sand Angler’s gallbladder.

The gallbladder was most effective when eaten raw.

This time too, he felt intense heat. But unlike last time, there was no dramatic change.

That was because he had already consumed a Sand Angler’s gallbladder once, and because Zeon’s body had developed that much.

Even after eating the entire Sand Angler gallbladder, which was as large as an adult’s torso, Zeon’s stomach remained the same.

He felt full, but his stomach did not bulge or feel uncomfortable.

He had already experienced it once before, but it was still fascinating all the same.

The two ate their fill for the first time in a long while.

As before, they planned to stay here until they had eaten all the Sand Angler meat.

Zeon lay down with his back against a sand dune.

Lying like this, he felt as if there was nothing in the world to envy.

At first, he had been forced to follow Deioden.

It had been a choice he could not avoid in order to survive.

But after he had grown somewhat stronger, he traveled with Deioden purely of his own will.

As he wandered the desert in a daze, as if swept away by a torrent, he had somehow come all the way here.

‘A battle against a dragon? Insane. Or did I make it big? I really don’t know.’

A worthless boy who had struggled day by day to survive in Neo Seoul, and in the slums at that, had come all the way to where a dragon existed.

It was something no one could have imagined.

Not even Zeon, who had awakened as a Sandmancer.

It felt as if every day were a dream.

But Zeon’s sentimental time did not last long.

STEP.

That was because the sound of footsteps came from somewhere far away.

‘A monster?’

He hurriedly rose, and Deioden was already staring intently toward the place where the footsteps were coming from.

But Deioden’s expression was unusual.

Deioden, who had never grown tense no matter what monster he met, had an expression hardened like stone.

He looked ready to swing Crayon, which he had planted in the ground, at the slightest provocation.

Zeon grew tense along with him.

At last, the owner of the footsteps revealed himself.

‘A human?’

Unexpectedly, the one who revealed himself was a human.

He had astonishingly abundant and glossy blond hair, skin so pale it seemed never to have seen sunlight, without a single wrinkle, and an uncanny atmosphere.

His eyes were red, as if the capillaries had burst, and between his thin lips, white teeth with sharp fangs were visible.

He looked at the two and opened his mouth.

“Greetings.”