Sand Mage of the Burnt Desert-Chapter 491

Chapter 491

“Haah…”

Brielle exhaled the breath she’d been holding.

Before her stood a woman in a black robe.

The hood was pulled low, the lower half of her face hidden behind a black veil, and from her emanated a suffocating, ominous aura.

Just looking at her made Brielle’s whole body shrink, made her lungs tighten as if refusing to draw air.

This must be how a mouse feels before a serpent.

The fear radiating from the woman was no trivial thing.

Even Brielle—who prided herself on her resolve—felt herself momentarily overpowered.

The woman’s name was Tamulana.

The High Priestess of the High Elf village.

Around her stood priests in robes much like her own.

Brielle’s eyes were filled with sorrow as she looked at them.

The High Priestess and her priests—at least the ones Brielle had known—had been more compassionate than anyone.

She could not understand how they had changed so completely.

Tamulana spoke.

“Has your answer still not changed?”

“I’ve told you again and again. I will never hand Riri over.”

“Foolish child.”

A murderous chill entered Tamulana’s voice.

The killing intent was so overwhelming that Brielle felt goosebumps surge over her entire body, but she did not look away from Tamulana’s eyes.

When Brielle had collapsed after passing all three Trials of Coolon, Tamulana had attacked her without warning and subdued her.

Unable to resist, Brielle had been dragged into the chambers beneath Tamulana’s dwelling and imprisoned.

It was as if she were a silkworm wrapped in a cocoon, only her head exposed.

The black force binding her prevented mana from moving at all.

Because of that, Brielle could not move a single inch.

She was not allowed even the twitch of a finger.

“You poor foolish child. The more you resist, the more you will suffer.”

With that eerie voice, high-voltage current struck Brielle.

Crackle!

“Aaaagh!”

Her scream tore from her throat as if her entire body were being burned alive.

“You gain nothing by holding on. Hand over the sylph.”

“Ri… Riri is my friend. I’ll never give her up.”

“Pitiful child. Do you know why the word ‘inevitable’ exists? Because there are things that cannot be overcome by will alone. Your situation is such a thing. No matter how strong your resolve… how long can it last?”

Crackle!

Another surge of current struck her before the words even finished.

“Aaaaagh!”

Brielle screamed until her voice nearly split.

Tamulana tortured her for a long time—slowly, cruelly.

Yet Brielle’s will never broke.

“Stubborn thing. Unlike your mother, your resolve is truly formidable.”

Clicking her tongue, Tamulana looked down at the unconscious Brielle.

In all her centuries of teaching countless High Elves, she had never encountered one as stubborn as Brielle.

Such fierce tenacity was rare even among High Elves.

“This too must be filth rubbed onto her from the human world. Humans bring nothing but stain. They must be eradicated.”

A feverish gleam lit Tamulana’s eyes.

Barely lifting her head, Brielle met that mad gaze and spoke.

“How did you fall this far? The teacher of all High Elves—how did you become like this?”

“Silence! What do you know to utter such drivel? All I have done, I have done for the sake of our people! Hand over the spirit. Then the High Elves will once again stand as rulers of this world.”

“The High Elves have never once ruled the world. Did you forget? We are the first children of Lady Ciela, goddess of harmony. You, who are meant to guide us, would break that harmony?”

“The world has changed. We must change with it. How long will you cling to the days of Kurayan?”

“I wasn’t even born in Kurayan. It’s you who remains trapped there.”

“You insolent brat… your tongue is all you have.”

“And everything I’ve said is true.”

Brielle refused to back down a single step.

Defeated in words, Tamulana’s brow twitched tightly.

Even veiled, Brielle could imagine her expression clearly.

Like a wicked god or fiend… how did she become this way?

Brielle felt only sorrow at Tamulana’s fall—and curiosity.

Why did she so desperately desire Brielle’s spirit?

The moment Tamulana had seen Riri, madness had filled her eyes.

Whatever drove that obsession, Brielle could not guess.

Tamulana leaned in, bringing her covered face close to Brielle’s.

“Whether you wish it or not, you will hand over that spirit.”

“That will never happen. Riri is my friend. I will never abandon my friend.”

“Hmph. We shall see.”

With a cold snort, Tamulana stepped back.

She ordered her priests:

“Guard her well. Do not let her escape.”

“Yes, High Priestess!”

“Not that she could leave even if she wished. Bahuma!”

As she chanted the strange spell, the black cocoon encasing Brielle rose and swallowed her head as well.

In an instant, Brielle was plunged into a prison of darkness—no sight, no sound.

Anyone else, no matter how strong, would have succumbed to despair in such a place.

But Brielle had Riri.

Riri’s voice whispered gently in her mind.

—Gaia has returned.

‘Then… Zeon oppa came too, right?’

—Yes. Gaia told me to tell you to be careful.

‘Don’t worry. I only need to hold out a little longer.’

If she could, she didn’t want Zeon’s help.

She wanted to stand on her own.

But Tamulana’s fall had shattered everything.

Whatever had happened, Tamulana had grown far too strong.

Strong enough to subdue Latricia—Brielle’s mother and leader of the High Elves—within moments.

Haah… I will never fall.

Grinding her teeth, Brielle endured.

＊＊＊

Tamulana walked toward her dwelling.

That dwelling was the temple dedicated to Ciela, goddess of harmony.

Compared to the great temples of Kurayan, this one was shabby, but never once had Tamulana considered it lacking.

The size and splendor of a temple did not matter.

What mattered was divinity.

Divinity—

The sacred essence of the gods.

Within the temple lay a sacred relic.

Where the relic rested—that was Ciela’s dwelling.

On the way to the inner chamber, Tamulana paused.

“Hm?”

She lifted her head, staring up at the sky.

The barrier she had extended using the relic.

Her gaze sharpened strangely.

“There’s nothing wrong… and yet something feels off.”

The barrier looked perfectly intact.

Had anyone interfered, she would have sensed it immediately.

She had layered an alarm spell into the barrier itself.

Yet no alarm had reached her.

But her instincts told her otherwise.

Tamulana trusted her own senses above any magic.

It was like chewing food and suddenly feeling a strand of hair against your tongue—subtle, alien, unmistakably wrong.

The intuition and insight of a High Elf who had lived over a thousand years were sharper and deeper than any ordinary elf could imagine.

She spoke.

“My soldiers.”

At her words, black soldiers appeared from every shadow.

From head to toe they were black, armed with blades and spears.

They stood silently, waiting.

After a brief moment, Tamulana gave her order.

“Search the entire barrier. If anything unusual is found… eliminate it.”

Fwoosh!

Instantly, the black soldiers scattered in all directions.

Left alone, Tamulana murmured,

“No one would dare enter this place… but even if they did, they could not possibly overcome my soldiers.”

These were no ordinary warriors.

They were soldiers of the gods—extensions of divine will.

A gift from the god she served.

Tamulana glanced around the village.

The crude homes of stone and sand pained her heart.

“Only I can make the High Elves the rulers of the world once more. They may not understand now… but if they follow me, they will bask in glory.”

The aged priestess continued toward the temple.

Inside, it was larger than it appeared.

She had excavated downward, expanding underground.

Like a pyramid, the deeper it went, the wider the chamber became and the lower the ceiling grew.

Tamulana approached the wall bearing murals of Ciela.

Before it stood a small altar—and upon it, the sacred relic.

A crown of laurels.

“To think I would find a relic beneath the earth where the Dark Blooms grew…”

Looking back, it had been fate.

One day, she had heard the voice of her god.

Sweet, holy, overwhelming.

The first divine voice she had heard since crossing into Earth.

Tamulana had wept.

Then she followed the voice’s guidance—to the caverns where the Dark Blooms grew—and there she found the relic.

“Through the relic, the god shall descend into this world.”

The Dark Blooms were merely the preliminary offering.

What mattered was Earth’s purest energy—newly born spirits.

If she sacrificed a spirit upon the altar adorned with Dark Blooms, the god could anchor themselves in this world.

When the god descended, the High Elves would rise anew.

The barren earth would transform into a land flowing with milk and honey, and the High Elves would prosper eternally.

“He promised… that He would return the World Tree to us.”

Without the World Tree, Elves were incomplete.

Only with it could they be whole.

“Why do they refuse to understand my intentions?”

Tamulana resented the High Elves who rejected her vision—but quickly steadied herself.

One day, when the god descended and the World Tree sprouted anew, they would worship her.

Because of that belief, she had no hesitation in using the black soldiers to crush her own people.

Then—

Ziiiing.

Her senses flared—someone had opened the temple door.

Rage twisted Tamulana’s face.

“Who dares enter without permission? My soldiers!”

In an instant, hundreds of black soldiers materialized around her.

She commanded them:

“Seize the defiler of this sacred place and bring them before me!”

The soldiers charged toward the entrance.

A chilling smile curved Tamulana’s lips.

Boom! BOOM!

Explosions thundered from the entryway.

The soldiers had found the intruder and begun their work.

Tamulana’s smile deepened.

The soldiers granted by her god never hesitated. Never questioned.

They obeyed. Always.

With them at her side, she feared nothing.

Boom! BOOM!

The explosions continued—then, abruptly, silence.

The brief yet violent clash had ended.

Soon, the black soldiers returned, dragging a bloodied figure.

They had beaten the intruder mercilessly.

At a flick of Tamulana’s finger, one soldier yanked the man’s head up by the hair.

The face revealed—

Zeon.

Tamulana stared at his blood-covered face.

“Who are you?”

“Zeon.”

“And how did you breach the god’s barrier? How many of you entered?”

Zeon’s answer was—a fire missile.

BOOM!

The blazing projectile exploded directly against Tamulana’s face.