Sand Mage of the Burnt Desert-Chapter 493

Chapter 493

Levin looked around.

The black soldiers and priests who had surrounded the black cocoon containing Brielle had all vaporized, leaving not even a trace behind.

“Haa… I can’t do that twice.”

Emptying himself with that full-power attack had left him on the verge of collapse.

But he had no time to rest.

The thought that Brielle was suffering inside the cocoon even at this very moment made his heart race.

Levin hurried toward the cocoon.

“Just wait a little longer, Brielle! I’ll get you out right now.”

Vwoong—

The cocoon holding Brielle resonated.

Levin placed his hand against it.

An immense surge of energy pulsed from it.

The membrane forming the cocoon was entirely made of mana—yet its nature was wrong.

Unlike ordinary mana, it was saturated with darkness.

He had never felt mana like this before.

If he recklessly interfered, there was no telling what kind of harm Brielle might suffer inside.

“What do I do…?”

Just as Levin hesitated—

Boom.

The cocoon suddenly swelled massively, as if rejecting his touch.

The force pushed Levin backward.

“What the—?”

As he stared in shock—

Kwoooom!

The cocoon, which had expanded violently, now contracted just as fearsomely.

As if squeezing the Brielle inside.

It pulsed—expanding wide, then tightening—like a beating heart.

It wasn’t hard to imagine the pain Brielle must be enduring inside.

Levin pounded the cocoon and shouted:

“Brielle! Are you okay?!”

Of course, her voice didn’t reach him.

But Levin felt her emotions.

Brielle was in agony.

Not mere physical pain—her very soul was shaking.

“Damn it!”

---

Tamulrana’s lips curled upward.

A cold sneer spread across her face.

“A diversionary tactic, is it?”

The minds of the black soldiers were linked to her soul.

Any disturbance among them became known to her instantly.

Thus she immediately sensed the destruction of the black soldiers guarding Brielle.

She glared at Zeon with murderous intensity.

Even now, Zeon did not resist the black soldiers’ merciless blows—he simply took the beating in full.

The black soldiers rained down strikes on him with all their strength.

No matter how much a martial-type awakener had trained their body, this level of violence would leave anyone shattered.

Zeon curled his body like a shrimp and didn’t move.

Tamulrana laughed at him.

“You really came up with a cute idea. Distracting my attention while sending others to rescue Brielle. But your attempt will never succeed. Do you know why? Because the barrier imprisoning Brielle contains the power of a god. Neither a mere High Elf nor a human could possibly break a barrier created from a divine relic. And if you touch it carelessly, all you’ll do is intensify her agony and hasten her death.”

The relic that formed Brielle’s cocoon was called Bark’s Prison.

Once trapped inside Bark’s Prison, escape through one’s own power was impossible.

The moment one was enclosed within it, the body hardened like stone, leaving only consciousness intact.

The body itself became a cage locking the mind.

Since the imprisoned could not move, they could never escape on their own.

Nor was external rescue any easier.

If anyone unauthorized touched the cocoon, Bark’s Prison inflicted unbearable torment upon the one trapped within.

Not upon the body, but upon the soul and mind—pain no human or High Elf could withstand.

Resistance was also impossible.

The slightest attempt to struggle resulted in soul destruction, reducing the victim to a husk—or killing them outright.

Tamulrana chattered excitedly.

Her aim was to humiliate the foolish human who had dared to infiltrate her domain.

“Hmph!”

Just then, a soft sigh came from between the black soldiers.

The black soldiers never released such emotion-laden breaths.

Created by divine power, they had no emotions.

BOOM!

In the next instant, the black soldiers exploded.

Literally shattered into pieces—scattered everywhere.

Their broken remains melted like jelly thrown onto sand.

A pure white flame devoured the remnants of the black soldiers.

Tamulrana’s eyes flew wide open, stretched to their limits.

“Impossible…!”

What was happening defied everything she understood.

The black soldiers were creations granted to her by the god—made from divine power.

Ordinary attacks could never kill them.

Yet the dissolved black soldiers were not regenerating.

They had suffered complete, irrecoverable death.

Among the white flames, Zeon rose to his feet.

Dusting off his clothes, he looked so unscathed it was hard to believe he had been beaten so savagely moments ago.

Zeon wiped the blood from his face with his sleeve.

Once the blood cleared, his face bore not a single wound.

Tamulrana muttered in disbelief:

“How? I clearly saw you wounded.”

“Super-regeneration. Most injuries recover quickly.”

That was the reason Zeon remained intact despite the black soldiers’ brutality.

The super-regeneration he had gained during his time with Deoeden had saved his life more than once.

On top of that, he wore a robe made from Leviathan hide.

The odds of the black soldiers killing Zeon were essentially nonexistent.

They would have needed to stab his throat with blades instead of punching him.

Only then would even his regeneration have struggled to keep up.

Tamulrana screamed:

“Super-regeneration?! How can a human possess such an ability?!”

“There’s no rule saying humans can’t.”

“You are a bringer of calamity. If you live, the High Elves will suffer endlessly.” 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

“Who do you think is more of a curse to the High Elves? Me… or you?”

“Silence! Everything I do is for our High Elf race. Even if humans find it irrational, this is my best.”

“No High Elf would ever want you to do this.”

“Not now… but in time, they will. When I bring Lady Ciela down to this land, the High Elves will no longer live in misery.”

Thick veins bulged along Tamulrana’s forehead and neck.

Her eyes were bloodshot with madness.

Though no wind blew, the cloth covering her face and her garments flapped violently.

Snap!

The cloth covering her face tore away and flew off—revealing her true appearance.

Her face, swollen with protruding veins, was grotesque.

Not the face of a High Elf high priestess who had guided her people for so long.

Zeon’s gaze dropped to her neck.

With the cloth gone, a necklace was revealed.

But its shape was unnatural.

It looked like a crushed lump of black slime—and a blood-red radiance pulsed from its core.

The moment Zeon saw it, a chill ran through him.

Very few items in the world could give him such a feeling.

That’s the problem.

He instinctively realized the necklace was the source of Tamulrana’s power.

A necklace imbued with divine power—

A relic.

Thunk!

Tamulrana stomped the ground.

The shock made the temple tremble violently.

Flames of rage burned in her eyes.

“Anyone who interferes with me will not be forgiven.”

Kwoooaah!

A storm-like force surged around her.

A razor-sharp black current filled the interior of the temple.

Swish!

Zeon’s cheek split open as if cut by a blade.

Through the wound, he felt the invasion of dark mana.

“Tch.”

Zeon clicked his tongue and poured mana into the Scorching Gauntlet.

A blazing heat erupted, burning away the invading darkness instantly.

Fire was the natural enemy of all corrupted energies.

There was a reason purification flames existed.

Kwoooom!

A red barrier formed around Zeon.

It was a Fire Shield created through the Scorching Gauntlet’s power.

The dark mana radiating from Tamulrana crashed into the Fire Shield—pushed back or burned away.

Crackle! Crackle!

Sparks scattered around the shield.

Zeon’s power and Tamulrana’s power collided without yielding an inch—pulsing violently as if trying to devour each other.

BOOOOM!

The temple walls and roof burst apart under the pressure.

But none of the debris touched Zeon or Tamulrana.

Their energies pulverized the fragments to dust.

Tamulrana glared at Zeon and shouted:

“You cannot defeat me. Do you know why? Because the god stands with me!”

“The god you serve is Lady Ciela, isn’t she?”

“Yes. Lady Ciela, goddess of the elves, is the only one who can lead us to glory.”

“But your aura doesn’t feel like it belongs to her.”

“You dare doubt me? Doubting me is blasphemy against Lady Ciela!”

Tamulrana was consumed by madness; rational conversation was impossible.

Zeon shook his head, tired of her looping arguments—

“That aura belongs to Bark.”

A voice came from behind.

Zeon turned—and saw Teserina standing with Lemura.

Behind them stood a group of High Elves.

The very High Elves Tamulrana had subdued and taken hostage.

Their complexions were pale.

They had endured harsh suffering while imprisoned.

The middle-aged High Elf woman—clearly the eldest—looked as though she might collapse at any moment.

If not for Lemura’s healing, she would have died when they found her.

Lemura had exhausted all her mana treating her and the others.

Zeon asked Teserina:

“Bark?”

“One of the Twelve Great Gods of Kurayan—an evil god.”

“An evil god?”

“Yes. A deity once worshipped by the dark clans. It seems the high priestess fell to the allure of his relic.”

Teserina’s eyes sank heavily.

Relations between dragons and gods in Kurayan had always been poor.

Gods disliked the unruly dragons, and dragons regarded gods with distaste.

The god dragons most feared was the evil god Bark.

Bark presided over the evils of Kurayan. Wherever he intervened, extreme chaos and war followed.

Everything swept into his influence met with misfortune.

The necklace on Tamulrana’s neck was a relic symbolizing Bark.

And not just any relic—one imbued with Bark’s strongest power.

“It seems the high priestess stumbled upon Bark’s relic by chance… and had her mind overtaken.”

“Is there a way to restore her sanity?”

“None! Once someone is infected, Bark’s consciousness burrows deep into their marrow. They can never return to what they were.”

Teserina looked at Tamulrana with deep regret.

Even her true ancient self could not restore Tamulrana.

Such was the overwhelming dominance of a god’s will.

“Right before Kurayan’s collapse, Bark must have embedded his will and power into relics and sent them to Earth.”

Kurayan and Earth were different worlds.

A Kurayan deity could not exert full power on Earth.

Even if they crossed over by chance, their divinity would weaken.

So this must have been their method.

At that moment, the middle-aged High Elf cried out:

“High Priestess! Get a hold of yourself!”

She was the leader of the High Elf clan—

Latricia.

Brielle’s mother.