Chapter 49

Chapter 49

Zeon came out through the mouth of one of Kaeshu’s nine heads.

The gigantic monster, terrifying enough to make one’s knees buckle just by looking at it, lay stretched out over the sand.

Its nine heads were scattered in different directions, their tongues hanging far out.

There was no sign of life anywhere in Kaeshu.

It had definitely stopped breathing.

“So I really killed this thing?”

Zeon looked appalled.

Although he had used a trick rather than a normal method, it was still a gigantic monster he had killed with his own ability.

And one that was a dragon’s Guardian, close to Grade S.

No Awakened in Neo Seoul would have achieved such a feat.

He wanted to savor the lingering thrill of victory a little longer, but this was not the time to leisurely waste time.

Even at this very moment, Deioden was surely advancing toward the dragon.

There was no time to hesitate here.

Leaving Kaeshu’s enormous corpse behind, Zeon moved on. Then the sand spread across the floor rose like dust and moved after him.

The sight looked just like moths following a light.

In that way, Zeon moved with sand trailing behind him like a tail.

Grade A was different, without a doubt.

It was not only that the mana he could operate had increased drastically.

His senses, his control over sand, and the activation of his body had all risen beyond comparison to before.

In the past, he had forcibly squeezed out his strength in order to control sand, but now it felt as if the sand itself were desperately struggling to follow Zeon on its own.

It was as if the power dynamic had reversed.

That was what Zeon felt now.

Zeon suddenly looked ahead.

A terrible darkness blocked his sight. But Zeon could feel it.

The countless Chimeras hiding behind that dark passage.

They could not compare to a Guardian like Kaeshu, but there were still enough of them to pose a threat as they waited, using the darkness as cover.

In the past, he would not have sensed the presence of Chimeras hiding in secret. But after becoming Grade A, their presence felt vivid, as if he could see them with his own eyes.

“There’s nothing more foolish than charging in defenseless when you know enemies are hiding.”

Zeon had no intention of making such a foolish choice.

Fortunately, Zeon had a good option.

Zeon moved the sand that had been following him like moths.

GRRRRIND!

The sand rotated ferociously and flew into the cave.

It was an application of Sand Blender.

The sand filled the narrow cave and shot forward.

KRAAAK!

KIEK!

The desperate screams of the Chimeras came from ahead.

The sand had rotated at high speed and ground apart the Chimeras hiding there.

Zeon entered the cave the sand had swept through.

The walls and floor of the cave were littered with Chimera corpses that had been brutally ground to pieces.

SQUELCH! SQUELCH!

Each time Zeon took a step, the blood pooled on the floor made a sound like a scream.

At last, the sand that had dealt with every monster returned to Zeon’s side.

The sand swirling around Zeon like a cloud looked utterly natural.

If he had used a Skill with this level of power normally, his mana would have been rapidly depleted, and he would have struggled. But now he felt nothing.

It was no more than drawing several bucketfuls of water from a lake.

At this rate, it seemed he could freely use Skills as much as he liked without worrying from now on.

“Good!”

Zeon smiled in satisfaction and quickened his pace.

After walking for a long while, another enormous underground cavity appeared.

He did not know what kind of Guardian would be waiting this time, so Zeon entered the cavity while fully tense.

But the scene inside was quite different from what he had expected.

There was indeed a Chimera that appeared to be a Guardian.

The gigantic monster, which looked to be well over twenty meters from toe to head, was clearly an Ogre.

What was unusual was that unlike an ordinary Ogre, it had two heads.

Its official name was the Twin-Head Ogre.

The Twin-Head Ogre had eight arms attached to its torso, and even wings grew from its back.

It too was a Chimera born from fusion with other monsters.

Together with the Cyclops, a one-eyed giant, Ogres were classified as the most dangerous among bipedal monsters.

Armed with a gigantic body, powerful magic resistance, and tremendous strength, ordinary Awakened were nothing more than a meal for an Ogre.

The Twin-Head Ogre was several times stronger than an ordinary Ogre.

Since the Gold Dragon Haieltun had made it a Guardian, there was a high chance it too was a special individual.

Such a gigantic Twin-Head Ogre lay horribly dead.

Its skin, which boasted tremendous defensive power, had been split wide open, revealing red flesh beneath, and its two heads lay far away from the body.

There was no need to confirm who had reduced the Twin-Head Ogre Chimera to this state.

“Deioden!”

The only person who could kill a Twin-Head Ogre this easily, as if smashing a toy, was Deioden.

Deioden had clearly passed through here.

Zeon hurriedly passed the Twin-Head Ogre and entered the cave behind it.

Inside the cave lay the corpses of countless Chimeras.

This too was a trace of Deioden’s passage.

Deioden had crushed everything that stood in his way.

It was clear that no Chimera had managed to hold Deioden back even for a moment.

Zeon moved forward, following the Chimera corpses.

The deeper he went, the more the number of Chimera corpses increased exponentially.

The terrible stench and fishy smell flowing from the Chimera corpses made his head spin.

Even so, Zeon did not so much as frown and kept walking diligently.

After walking for a long time, another enormous underground cavity appeared.

In that underground cavity as well, a gigantic monster that looked like a Guardian lay horribly dead.

The thing dead there was, horrifyingly, a giant made of the corpses of all kinds of Chimeras fused together.

“A Corpse Golem?”

If Kaeshu and the Twin-Head Ogre Chimera were lifeforms made by combining monsters, the Corpse Golem was a monster Haieltun had created from nothing.

Gathering Chimera corpses and turning them into a single lifeform required several times more effort than making Kaeshu or the Twin-Head Ogre Chimera. But it was worth that much.

That was how strong it was.

But even such a Corpse Golem had failed to hold Deioden back.

A core could be seen in the Corpse Golem’s chest.

It was the same kind of Mana Stone as Kaeshu’s.

Haieltun had created the Corpse Golem by using a Mana Stone as its core. But unlike Kaeshu’s, the Corpse Golem’s Mana Stone was filled with evil energy.

If he tried absorbing the energy of such a Mana Stone, it was obvious only side effects would occur.

CRASH—!

Zeon detonated Claymore and blew the Mana Stone away.

The Mana Stone shattered into pieces and vanished, and the energy dwelling inside scattered like smoke.

It was when Zeon passed the Corpse Golem’s body.

RUMBLE—!

The entire underground space shook as if an earthquake had struck.

Cracks appeared in the ceiling and walls, and sand flowed in through the gaps.

RUMBLE! RUMBLE—!

The shaking did not end with just one time.

Even as Zeon walked, the underground space continued to shake, and a tremendous wind blew from ahead.

It was a fierce gale so violent it seemed it would crush his face and blow his entire body away.

He did not need to see it with his eyes to know what was happening ahead.

“Deioden is fighting the dragon.”

The proof was that the air and mana inside the underground cavity were surging like mad.

Even though he had not yet approached the place where they were, goosebumps rose over his skin, and cold sweat ran down his spine.

Zeon’s body was reacting to fear before his mind did.

Next came his head.

For an instant, he could not think at all, as if his brain had gone blank.

The dragon’s tremendous presence had blown the thoughts out of Zeon’s head.

Without realizing it, Zeon sank to one knee.

Even before facing the dragon directly, unbearable fear pressed down on him.

Zeon gritted his teeth.

Sweat streamed endlessly down the lines of his face.

‘So this is the power of a dragon?’

He felt as if he understood why dragons had existed at the summit of the world called Kurayan.

Even he was a Grade A Awakened, yet he was being affected like this merely by being in the same space.

An ordinary Awakened would already have vomited blood and died.

No matter how many Awakened of Grade B or lower gathered, it seemed impossible for them to damage a dragon.

“Damn it!”

Zeon spat out a curse and forced himself to stand.

He had shaken free of the dragon’s presence through sheer force of will.

His entire body was soaked in sweat, as if he had bathed in it.

“Who says I’m scared by something like this?”

Zeon muttered as if casting a spell on himself and moved forward.

WOOOOOO!

The farther he went, the stronger the wind blowing from ahead became.

The storm-like wind scattered the sand that had been following Zeon into pieces. Even so, Zeon did not stop walking.

After walking for a long while, Zeon finally reached an enormous underground cavity.

The underground cavity, so vast he could not even guess its size, was made entirely of gold.

In the middle of that enormous cavity, whose walls and ceiling were all gold, a Gold Dragon measuring no less than one hundred fifty meters in length and a single small human were locked in a fierce battle.

They were Haieltun and Deioden.

CRAAAAASH!

At the clash between the two, the vast underground space shook noisily, as if it would collapse at any moment.

It was holding only because it had been magically treated. Otherwise, it would have collapsed long ago.

“Insane!”

Zeon’s eyes widened when he saw the two beings fighting.

Haieltun moved his gigantic body lightly and cast Magic without pause.

Sometimes flames exploded in midair, and at other times bundles of electric current flew out. But Deioden leisurely avoided all those attacks and attacked Haieltun.

Deioden kicked off the walls and moved at a speed impossible to see.

TATAT!

With only a couple of kicks off the wall, Deioden approached within a hair’s breadth of Haieltun and swung Crayon with all his strength.

CRAAAAASH!

With an explosive roar, Haieltun’s enormous body slid backward.

Thanks to Absolute Shield, the absolute protective barrier, he was not wounded, but he suffered an impact he could not ignore.

At the powerful shock that shook Absolute Shield, Haieltun’s eyes flashed in surprise.

―How can a mere human possess such power?

“Don’t look down on humans, you lizard bastard!”

Deioden roared and swung Crayon. Toward him, Haieltun cast Reverse Gravity.

In an instant, gravity reversed, and Deioden’s body shot high into the air.

Unless one had wings, escaping reversed gravity was impossible. But Deioden had Crayon.

Crayon had the ability to fly.

Relying on Crayon, Deioden escaped Haieltun’s Magic.

“Haaah!”

With Crayon at the front, Deioden crashed into Haieltun with all his strength.

CLAAAAANG—!

Absolute Shield rippled violently, as if it would break at any moment.

Haieltun was greatly shocked by this.

Even when Deioden had defeated all the Guardians and reached this place, Haieltun had not thought he would become a major threat.

As the progenitor of Magic and the owner of the strongest body, he had no reason to fear a mere human.

To Haieltun, Deioden had been a slightly dangerous toy, nothing more and nothing less. But once he actually clashed with Deioden, his martial power exceeded Haieltun’s expectations by far.

He had the shape of a human, but the combat power and martial might contained within him did not belong to a human.

“Die, you crippled lizard!”

CRAAAAASH!

At Deioden’s powerful strike, Haieltun’s head snapped far back.

As Haieltun slowly returned to his original position, his golden eyes were filled with rage.

CRASHCRASHCRASH—!

At that instant, bundles of lightning poured down like rain throughout the entire underground cavity.

Lightning of tremendous thickness filled the inside of the underground cavity, leaving Deioden no room to dodge.

“Kahaha! You can’t bring me down with this much.”

But Deioden remained unharmed even after being struck directly by the lightning.

Releasing madness, he charged at Haieltun.

At Deioden’s berserker-like appearance, Haieltun wore an appalled expression without realizing it.

Zeon watched Deioden’s battle with his fists clenched tightly.

It was frustrating, but this was not a battle at a level he dared interfere with.

“Damn it!”

“There’s no need to be so frustrated. Before long, you’ll become as strong as Deioden, no, even stronger than him.”

At that moment, a sorrowful voice came from right beside him.

When he turned his head and looked, the spider woman lay on the floor with her upper and lower bodies separated, staring at him.

Zeon instinctively knew it was Deioden’s handiwork.

“Who are you?”

“Iblis Leonia. That was my name when I was human.”