Sand Mage of the Burnt Desert-Chapter 513

Chapter 513

A towering mushroom cloud rose high into the sky, and the ground shook as if struck by an earthquake.

Centered on the spot where Tesserina had crashed, the desert sand surged like waves.

A shock far greater than a meteor strike pierced through the earth, overturning the entire region.

“Kh…!”

Zeon let out a groan as he pushed himself up. His whole body was soaked in blood.

Right before hitting the ground, Zeon had thrown himself clear.

Fortunately, the sand caught his body, absorbing much of the impact.

He still took a heavy blow, but at least he survived.

Tesserina, on the other hand, was in a disastrous state.

Her long neck was bent in the opposite direction, and both wings were broken.

Even for a dragon, it was impossible to endure the impact of falling from extreme altitude.

But as the strongest lifeform on land, her breath had not stopped.

On top of that, the wounds she had received in the fall were already healing at a terrifying rate.

Crack!

With the clacking of bones, her torn wings slowly began to return to their original form.

And her grotesquely twisted neck gradually started to move.

Given a little more time, she would completely recover.

He had to pull the parasite out before that happened.

Zeon climbed back onto her neck and once again drove the Sand Wire inside.

Ssshhhk!

Merged with Exion, the Sand Wire plunged through Tesserina’s blood vessels without hesitation.

The parasite must have been disoriented from the impact of being slammed into the earth, for it barely resisted.

Zeon realized this was a chance that would never come again.

‘I’ll drag it out completely in one go.’

Zeon drove the Sand Wire with all his strength.

The Sand Wire pierced through the parasite as it advanced.

Dozens of meters in, and still it had not reached the true body. But Zeon didn’t stop.

The rain that had fallen over the area after Tesserina’s descent had already stopped.

The moisture had drained from the sand, and it had dried soft and powdery again.

Thanks to that, Zeon no longer needed to pull sand from his subspace; he could use the desert sand around him freely.

The Sand Wire pierced through blood vessels hundreds of meters long and reached Tesserina’s brain. There, he felt the parasite’s true form.

Its body, covering nearly half of the brain, formed clearly in Zeon’s mind.

Disgustingly, the creature had sunk its roots deep into Tesserina’s brain tissue.

It was attempting a full merger with her brain.

Even now, the parasite dug its roots deeper into her mind.

If it fully fused with Tesserina’s brain, separation would become absolutely impossible.

This moment—before the fusion completed—was the last chance to remove it.

Zeon reshaped the tip of the Sand Wire into a surgeon’s scalpel.

It was something normal sand could never do.

It was possible only because of Exion.

The finest sand particle in existence could freely change form according to Zeon’s will.

Tuk! Tuk! Tuk!

The Sand Wire slashed through the roots embedded in Tesserina’s brain.

Even a small injury to the brain could be fatal for her. But hesitation or wasted time would only bring greater disaster, so Zeon acted decisively.

Scrrch! Scrrch!

The fused sections detached significantly under the Sand Wire’s assault.

Then the parasite’s counterattack began.

Its body suddenly hardened, becoming as tough as the Sand Wire itself. With that strengthened body, it pushed back.

Zeon was shocked.

The parasite had absorbed the Sand Wire’s advantages and applied them to its own flesh.

Clang! Clang! Klaang!

A war raged inside Tesserina’s brain.

And it was a war unfavorable to Zeon.

He had to fight while protecting Tesserina’s brain as much as possible.

He could not see it with his eyes, nor hear it with his ears.

He could only fight by instinct, relying solely on the information transmitted through the Sand Wire and Exion.

It was several times harder and more exhausting than fighting with his physical body.

Grrrrk!

Even then, Tesserina continued to regenerate.

Her broken neck had almost reattached, and her torn wings were nearly restored.

If given any more time, the parasite would move her body and tear Zeon apart.

He had to finish this brutal battle first.

Zeon pushed his dominion to the extreme and strengthened the Sand Wire. But even that was not enough to fully pull free the parasite fused to her brain.

The creature was continuously adapting, evolving countermeasures even now.

‘What if I imbue the Sand Wire with the power of flame?’

Zeon had already merged sand with flame before.

That was Sand Gehenna.

Sand Gehenna—turning sand into molten magma—was one of Zeon’s main skills.

And like many of his skills, Sand Gehenna had been created on the battlefield.

This was one of those moments.

To subdue the ever-changing parasite, a new skill was needed.

Zeon infused the Sand Wire with the power of flame.

Too much heat, and both the sand and Tesserina’s blood vessels would melt; too little, and it would be ineffective.

He had to find the balance point.

The Sand Wire glowed red-hot.

Ssshhhaa!

The parasite’s roots touching the Sand Wire melted away.

―Kraaaagh!

Tesserina let out a tremendous scream of pain.

The parasite’s agony was being transmitted directly to her brain.

Overwhelmed by the unbearable pain, she tried to thrash.

Zeon spoke softly.

“Hold on… I’ll free you from this pain soon.”

As if it were a lie, Tesserina’s movements stopped.

Zeon was certain.

She was hearing his voice. And as he severed the parasite’s fused sections, she was regaining control of her own body.

Chiii! Chik!

The parasite’s roots were almost completely severed by the flame-empowered Sand Wire; only the true body remained.

Sensing the danger, the parasite chose to retreat deeper into Tesserina’s brain.

It squirmed forward like a mass of slime. But Zeon did not allow it.

Zeon pictured the scene in his mind—

The Sand Wire breaking apart into finer strands, spreading like a net.

A skill was the act of turning imagination into reality.

Of course, immense talent and awakened power were required.

Thankfully, Zeon had both.

Shhhhaa!

The Sand Wire split finely and spread like a net.

The net unfurled inside Tesserina’s skull and wrapped around the parasite’s body.

He could feel the creature struggling.

Zeon tightened the net so it could not escape. Then he began dragging it out of her brain.

The parasite flung tendrils in all directions, resisting.

It knew.

If it was pulled out of Tesserina’s body, it would die without question.

Until now, it had been cautious in order to take full control of Tesserina’s body. But now it had no room for restraint. It whipped tendrils everywhere, trying to anchor itself.

Even a dragon would suffer irreversible damage from major brain injury.

Zeon moved a separate strand of Sand Wire and sliced off all the tendrils spreading outward.

While neutralizing the parasite’s resistance, he pulled.

Zeon’s entire body was drenched in sweat.

But he did not stop pulling the Sand Wire.

After a long struggle, Zeon finally saw part of the parasite’s true body.

A portion of it had emerged from her body.

It was smooth and long, like a giant earthworm.

A body as thick as Zeon’s torso kept sliding out endlessly.

Dozens of meters had already been extracted, yet the true core still hadn’t appeared.

Its length was monstrous.

And because of that, pulling out the full body was extremely difficult.

—Zeon!

Suddenly, a familiar voice echoed inside Zeon’s head.

‘Tesserina?’

—Yes! It’s me.

‘You regained consciousness?’

—I’ve been conscious the whole time. I simply lost control of my body.

‘And now?’

—Thanks to you, I’ve regained a portion of it.

‘If I pull the parasite out completely…?’

—The damage is too great. Even then, it will take a long time for me to recover.

A brain, once harmed, never fully heals.

Only because she was a dragon could she even hope for recovery. But even Tesserina didn’t know if she would ever return to normal.

No dragon had ever had its brain overtaken by an unknown parasite.

Tesserina was the first.

There were no guarantees for anything.

—Just in case, I need to transfer my consciousness into my avatar.

Tesserina’s avatar could only use about twenty percent of the main body’s power. Being a chimera, it had many limitations.

The same applied to consciousness.

It did not possess an independent mind; it shared the main body’s. So when the parasite took over her brain, the link severed, and the avatar stopped functioning.

Cut off from the outside world, Tesserina had pondered deeply.

Her conclusion was to use the avatar not as a relay, but as a vessel to store the main body’s consciousness.

Of course, the avatar couldn’t contain the full ego and mind of a dragon. But even storing part of it would make it a valuable backup for situations like this.

Zeon asked,

‘Is that even possible?’

—We won’t know until I try. But I have to try. Aaagh!

Tesserina suddenly screamed.

The parasite had lashed out, inflicting immense pain on her.

Her voice cut off abruptly.

Grinding his teeth, Zeon pulled the Sand Wire.

Grrrrk! 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

The blood vessels in Tesserina’s neck bulged grotesquely.

He didn’t need to see it. He knew the parasite’s true body was passing through.

Pwoosh!

In the next moment, as if a floodgate had burst open, the massive body was yanked outside.

The force of it caused Tesserina’s colossal body to jolt upward.

The exposed parasite was horrifying.

Like a gigantic slime, with a single violet glowing eye embedded in the center and countless tendrils writhing around it.

The problem was that one unusually thick tendril remained buried inside Tesserina’s blood vessel.

The body had been pulled out, but the tendril held on, anchoring it inside.

The parasite glared at Zeon with its violet eye and screeched.

―Kyeee!

“Urgh!”

Zeon staggered.

The ultrasonic scream bypassed his eardrums and struck his brain directly.

No matter how strong his mental power was, the ultra-high frequency that shook his brain nearly knocked him unconscious.

But Zeon forced himself back with superhuman will.

When the ultrasonic attack failed to incapacitate him, the parasite immediately changed tactics.

Its violet pupil locked directly onto Zeon’s eyes.

Zeon’s mind spun.

His consciousness blurred, and phantom voices echoed around him.

By instinct, Zeon realized the parasite was trying to dominate his mind.

He fortified his mental barrier and pulled harder.

Grrrrrk!

―Kiiii!

The parasite resisted to the very end.

It used the tendril still inside Tesserina to hold on. But its resistance was meaningless.

Zeon had already dragged out nearly all of it.

The end was clearly in sight.

Just as Zeon squeezed out his final strength—

Kwoooom!

A black mass of light suddenly dropped from the sky toward him.

Zeon recognized it as a person wrapped in black radiance.

In that person’s hand was an unbelievably massive sword.

“Raaaah!”

With a beastly roar, the sword slammed down on the spot where Zeon stood.

Slekk!