Sand Mage of the Burnt Desert-Chapter 508

Chapter 508

Zeon blinked.

His mind froze for a moment—unable to process the answer he never could have imagined.

“You’re telling me… you were infected by a mere parasite? A dragon?”

“Of course it wasn’t an ordinary parasite. If it were, it would’ve burned to ash the moment it touched my mana.”

“Then what was it?”

“I don’t know its true nature. I don’t know when it entered me, or where it came from. All I know is that it entered my body in the form of a parasite… and gradually began seizing control of my nerves. Can you believe that? A dragon—of all beings—being overtaken by some parasite. But it’s the truth. Without my noticing, it slowly, little by little, took hold of my nerves. By the time I awoke and realized what was happening… it had already taken over too much. It was far too late to do anything.”

“So you created the chimera because of that?”

“That’s right. I used the parts of my body the parasite hadn’t seized yet to create the chimera and shared my consciousness with it. Thankfully, I still had enough strength leftover for that much.”

Tesserina sent her chimera outside the lair.

Since she couldn’t remove the parasite herself, she needed to search outside for another way.

Once outside, she happened to discover Neo Seoul.

Upon seeing the pinnacle of human civilization, she hoped she might find a method there to deal with the parasite.

And the one she met by fate there was Zeon.

While living with him, she searched in countless ways for a method to eradicate the parasite—but ultimately found nothing.

And while Tesserina spent time searching, the parasite slowly took over most of her body.

The only part that remained relatively intact was her brain—but even that was being claimed at an alarming pace.

At this rate, not just her body, but her brain and consciousness would eventually fall into the hands of that unknown parasite.

And the parasite had already partially invaded her brain, sharing her consciousness to a limited extent.

Suddenly, Zeon asked, as if something occurred to him:

“Then the monster wave was…?”

“It realized I brought you all here. So it drove the monsters and sent them to attack.”

Only the authority and majesty of a dragon could command that many monsters at once.

Shockingly, the parasite had gained the ability to use portions of Tesserina’s true body’s powers.

“Can you believe it? A tiny, worthless bug controlling my true body—over a hundred meters long—and using it.”

“Hm…”

“If it fully takes over my main body… something unimaginable will happen.”

Tesserina shuddered, as if the very thought was unbearable.

If her true body—turned into a puppet—went berserk, almost nothing in this world could stop it.

“If things go wrong… everything will be destroyed. The High Elf village, Neo Seoul… everything.”

“So that’s why you brought me—to remove the parasite.”

“At first, yes. I thought you might be able to find a way.”

“And now?”

“It’s too late. Once it seized part of my brain, no method can completely remove it anymore.”

The only reason she still retained consciousness was because she was a dragon.

Given a bit more time, even that would be lost—and she would become the parasite’s puppet.

Zeon frowned.

“Don’t tell me…”

“You’re right. Before my true body goes berserk… I want you to kill it.”

“You?”

“I’m sorry. But there’s no other way left. Under normal circumstances, it wouldn’t be easy—but my true body is weakened… terribly weakened.”

“…Haa.”

“I’m sorry. I know it’s a heavy request.”

Tesserina apologized when Zeon sighed.

“No… I’m just surprised. I never imagined something like this.”

To Zeon, dragons were beings that embodied the phrase “the strongest creatures on earth.”

Ancient Dragon Akaid, Half-Demon Dragon Nigel, and even Hyeltun—who died by Dyoden’s hand—all possessed overwhelming power beyond the reach of any other creature.

Zeon only killed Akaid because Akaid wanted to die.

Even Dyoden—who possessed the authority of death—burned everything he had simply to kill Hyeltun… and died in the process.

Dragons were beings that required the strongest mortal alive to wager their own life just to stand a chance.

Even for Zeon, fighting a dragon was burdensome. But as Tesserina said, allowing her parasite-controlled body to go berserk was impossible.

If that parasite invaded her true body’s brain, it might share her vision.

If so, it may already know about Neo Seoul and the High Elf village.

He didn’t know what it would do, but their safety was certainly compromised.

In the worst case, if it chose to attack either place, the damage would be catastrophically large.

Zeon, brows drawn tight, asked Tesserina:

“Is there no way to reclaim your true body?”

“I will try… but it won’t be easy. That’s why I asked you.”

“Fine. We’ll try first. And if it really seems impossible… then we switch to killing it.”

“Thank you. For agreeing to something so unreasonable.”

Tesserina expressed her gratitude once more.

Meanwhile, Levin and Brielle—listening the whole time—felt their hearts pounding like they were about to burst.

‘We might have to fight a parasite-infected dragon?’

‘Insane.’

They had followed Zeon through countless adventures and fought countless monsters.

Ordinary monsters didn’t even faze them anymore—but dragons were an entirely different realm.

Especially Brielle, who knew more intimately than anyone how powerful dragons were.

What kind of parasite could infect a dragon?

Even injured, a dragon’s body was absurdly strong.

Its bones and scales went without saying; even its muscles were stronger and more flexible than any material Neo Seoul’s science had ever produced.

A dragon’s flesh couldn’t even be scratched by simple weapons.

And its blood was saturated with mana—burning away impurities or pathogens instantly upon entry.

For a parasite to infiltrate and infect such a perfect body was unthinkable.

Whatever the parasite was, the fight ahead would not be easy.

‘Should I… make some kind of anti-parasitic drug?’

Brielle stared blankly at Tesserina, lost in such pointless thoughts.

Then Tesserina spoke:

“It knew we were returning together, so it sent those monsters. It will send more. So don’t let your guard down for even a moment.”

Her words proved true.

Before that evening even arrived, they encountered another massive army of monsters.

This time, the group was made of even larger and more savage beasts than the ones from the previous night.

As she surveyed them, Tesserina bit her lip.

“This time… there’s an S-rank among them.”

At the very rear stood a monster radiating overwhelming presence.

It had the torso of a shark and the legs of a lizard—a mutant monster. A sharp horn protruded from its forehead.

A powerful force field shimmered over its entire body.

Seeing such a creature for the first time in their lives, Levin and Brielle blinked.

“What is that supposed to be?”

“A chimera?”

Tesserina answered their doubt.

“It is a chimera.”

“Seriously?”

“It must have learned the method from watching me create one.”

Tesserina had extracted bone, muscle, and blood from her body to build her chimera.

The parasite must have observed that process and learned how to create one using her true body’s power.

“Wow… unbelievable. Now it’s making S-rank chimeras?”

It wasn’t the force field alone that marked it as S-rank.

The pressure and presence it emitted were unmistakable.

From Levin’s experience, only S-rank monsters had that kind of aura.

—KRUUOOOHH!

In that instant, the S-rank monster exploded with a fearsome roar.

Startled by its overwhelming intimidation, the monsters charged toward Zeon’s group.

Zeon unleashed Sand Mixer and Sand Storm in quick succession, halting the monsters’ charge, while Tesserina and Levin attacked from behind him.

FLASH!

Levin’s Giga Lightning fell in the center of the horde.

Dozens of monsters were roasted like rotisserie chickens, sending acrid smoke into the air.

Tesserina too unleashed spell after spell, bombarding the monsters.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Explosions erupted, scattering monster remains in every direction.

Bodies piled like mountains; blood drenched the desert red.

Then the S-rank monster, which had only observed until now, finally moved.

—KROOORR!

It dove underground like a sandworm, vanishing instantly.

Sensing its movement, Zeon shouted:

“Everyone stay sharp!”

CRASH!

The ground burst open beneath their feet as its head shot upward.

Right where Zeon’s group had been standing. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

Levin flew upward with Brielle, dodging the attack.

Tesserina, having already sensed its movement, evaded as well.

Thanks to that, they narrowly escaped its massive jaws.

Rows of saw-like teeth filled its mouth.

If a human were caught in those teeth, their body would be shredded like paper.

FWOOM!

Then a massive pillar of fire erupted from the S-rank monster’s mouth.

It fired a breath attack.

Taken off guard, Levin, Brielle, and Tesserina scrambled to dodge.

When the S-rank monster unleashed breath—something meant to be exclusive to dragons—Tesserina was stunned.

Some powerful monsters could breathe attacks, but dragonbreath was incomparable.

Yet this breath was frighteningly close to a dragon’s.

It had clearly stolen part of her authority and implanted it into the chimera.

Having her own power stolen so blatantly left Tesserina speechless.

Hatred and fear toward the parasite surged simultaneously within her.

In all her thousands of years, she had never felt this kind of emotion.

She was so shaken she even forgot to attack.

Zeon stepped forward in her place.

“Sand Mixer!”

GRAAAANG!

The sand around the S-rank monster swirled violently. But scraping an S-rank beast surrounded by a force field was no easy task.

Zeon didn’t expect this attack to harm it much.

He only needed to draw its attention—and his intention succeeded perfectly.

The S-rank monster turned toward Zeon.

As it prepared to use breath again, Zeon fired dozens of Sand Blasters into its mouth.

PABABABAK!

They struck its throat and fell into its stomach—but the monster showed no sign of damage.

It swallowed the massive quantity of sand without care and began preparing its breath again.

A cold smile curved Zeon’s lips.

“Sand Soldier.”

He summoned sand soldiers.

Not around the monster—but inside its stomach.

Within the sand the monster had swallowed, countless sand soldiers rose to their feet.

Not ordinary sand soldiers—but ones reinforced with rock.

“Destroy it.”

The moment Zeon gave the order, the sand soldiers rampaged inside the S-rank monster.

Slam! Slam! Slam!

They punched and crashed into everything in their path.

Its stomach tore apart, internal organs ruptured.

—GRAAAAH!

The S-rank monster shrieked.

Under attack from within, its protective force field vanished.

At that moment, the Sand Mixer fully activated.

KWAAK-KWAAK-KWAAK!

Its hide was shredded at terrifying speed.

In seconds, the thick skin disappeared, exposing raw red muscle. Fine grains of sand burrowed into the muscles, tearing them apart.

With simultaneous attacks from inside and out, the S-rank monster didn’t last long.

Its massive corpse collapsed and sank into the sand.

Zeon looked down at the blood-soaked dunes and muttered:

“Send as many as you want. I’ll grind them all down.”