Sand Mage of the Burnt Desert-Chapter 515

Chapter 515

Dantal raised the flat of his massive greatsword, shielding his head and upper body. Above him, the Sand Spears fell down mercilessly.

Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwaang!

“Kgh!”

With the thunderous explosions, Dantal’s body shook violently.

Each individual Sand Spear was nothing special, but when dozens—hundreds—hammered the same spot, it was a different story.

An enormous amount of impact accumulated on Dantal’s body.

An ordinary awakened would have already dropped to their knees or spat blood.

But Dantal was far too powerful an elf to be injured by an attack of this level.

“Kraaa!”

With a savage roar, he burst through the Sand Spear bombardment and shot toward Zeon.

Shugaak!

His greatsword traced a wide arc as it targeted Zeon.

It looked as though he would split Zeon cleanly in two in a single strike.

But instead of dodging, Zeon muttered,

“Summon! Sand Soldier!”

In that instant, countless sand soldiers burst forth from the sand, forming a shield in front of Zeon.

Puh-buh-buh-bung!

The Sand Soldiers that took Dantal’s greatsword head-on were blown apart mercilessly.

In the blink of an eye, more than a dozen Sand Soldiers were destroyed. Yet Dantal’s expression darkened.

His greatsword had been stopped right in front of Zeon.

A single reinforced Sand Soldier was blocking his blade with its entire body.

Even with the greatsword embedded halfway through it, the Sand Soldier did not collapse and continued to hold.

“How dare you!”

His eyebrows shot up in fury.

The fact that his sword had been stopped by nothing more than a soldier made of sand wounded his pride.

Puh-eong!

He poured mana into his greatsword, and the reinforced Sand Soldier exploded.

But by then, dozens of reinforced Sand Soldiers had already surrounded him.

Puh-buh-buh-buk!

The Sand Soldiers launched a relentless assault.

In the meantime, Zeon prepared his next attack.

“Flame Cannon!”

Shuwaaang!

A beam of flame shot toward Dantal.

Zeon thought it might hit, since the Sand Soldiers were partially blocking Dantal’s vision and senses. But Dantal’s perception and reactions exceeded his expectations.

“Not a chance.”

At Dantal’s shout, a hemispherical black barrier enveloped his entire body.

An Aura Shield.

Unlike the Aura Shields of other awakened, his did not merely defend—it deflected the enemy’s attack and sent it back.

The Flame Cannon struck the Aura Shield and ricocheted in all directions.

Puh-buh-buh-buh-bung!

The Sand Soldiers were blown apart.

Dantal adjusted the angle of his Aura Shield, using it to strike the Sand Soldiers.

Even as the Sand Soldiers turned back into sand and scattered in all directions, Zeon showed no sign of panic.

He had never believed Sand Soldiers alone could handle a transcendent warrior like Dantal.

Simply disrupting Dantal’s vision and senses meant the Sand Soldiers had already fulfilled their role.

While grappling with the Sand Soldiers, Dantal lost his momentum and landed on the ground.

From the impact of the landing, his ankles sank into the sand.

Zeon immediately activated the skill he had prepared.

“Sand Mixer!”

Gaaaang!

The sand beneath Dantal’s feet began to spin at a ferocious speed.

Pa-ka-ka-kang!

Sparks flew as sand collided violently with Dantal’s armor.

Thanks to the armor, he wasn’t injured, but the overwhelming power of the Sand Mixer was more than enough to chill him to the bone.

If not for the armor, his ankles would have been ground away entirely.

Dantal sensed the danger.

His opponent was a Sand Mage.

Sand was his battlefield.

Fighting on the enemy’s battlefield, he was bound to be at a disadvantage.

‘This is no time to conserve my authority.’

Tsuuu!

An ominous black haze began to rise from his greatsword.

Dantal kicked off the ground and hurled himself toward Zeon.

The Sand Mixer clung to his ankles until the very end, but he shook it off with ease.

Shuuuu!

His greatsword once again targeted Zeon.

At that moment, a column of sandstorm surged up from the ground.

Zeon had unleashed a Sand Tornado.

The sandstorm swallowed Dantal whole.

The Sand Tornado possessed power comparable to the Sand Mixer.

Inside the Sand Tornado, which rotated at a terrifying speed, immense pressure was generated.

Because of that, even powerful magical beasts would be shredded to pieces.

Of course, Zeon did not believe an awakened of Dantal’s caliber would die to a Sand Tornado.

The armor Dantal wore was clearly an extraordinary item.

That much was obvious just from the fact that it had not suffered a single scratch from the Sand Mixer.

Still, Zeon believed he could at least deal some damage. The Sand Tornado had that level of power.

That was when it happened.

Kwaaa!

The center of the Sand Tornado split apart as if by a lie.

Dantal had cleaved it with a single strike.

The real problem came next.

The sand that Dantal had cut instantly discolored and scattered into the air.

The pitch-black sand emitted a vile stench.

As it dispersed, the sand melted away in an instant.

Naturally, Zeon’s dominion no longer applied to it.

Zeon’s eyes widened.

‘Corroded?’

At that moment, Dantal swung his sword once more.

Zeon raised a massive sand wall in front of him to block the attack.

Kwaang!

With a deafening explosion, the sand wall burst apart.

It didn’t merely shatter—it corroded and vanished.

“So you possess the authority of corrosion?”

“That’s right. My authority is corrosion. I’ll corrode you as well.”

Shuaaa!

Dantal swung his blade, imbuing it with the authority of corrosion.

Unable to meet it head-on, Zeon leapt backward, firing Flame Cannons in succession.

Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwaang!

But Dantal advanced while swinging his greatsword, blocking all of Zeon’s attacks.

Now the distance between Zeon and Dantal was no more than a dozen meters.

Dantal had closed in at a terrifying speed.

For awakened like them, ten meters was practically point-blank range.

Shuwaaak!

As Dantal swung his sword, aura infused with the authority of corrosion stretched out nearly ten meters, threatening Zeon.

Zeon leaned his head back to evade the attack.

Pussss!

At that moment, part of Zeon’s hair corroded away and vanished.

He had been exposed to the authority of corrosion.

The corrosion was spreading along his hair.

Zeon gathered flames in his hand and burned away the corroded hair.

Only then did the corrosion stop advancing.

But Zeon wasn’t even given time to sigh in relief.

Dantal’s relentless offensive continued.

Shiaaak!

Dantal swung his greatsword in sweeping cross patterns.

Each time, beams of energy imbued with the authority of corrosion shot out like rays of light, attacking Zeon.

Zeon retreated while firing Sand Blasters to intercept the corroded energy.

Puh-buh-buh-buh-bung!

The two forces collided, triggering chain explosions in midair.

Dantal and Zeon sprinted across the desert, unleashing skill after skill.

Each time they clashed, the desert sands overturned, reshaping the terrain.

The authority of corrosion possessed by Dantal was as terrifying as Dayoden’s authority of death.

Before the authority of corrosion, everything melted away.

Even parts of Tesserina’s corpse had dissolved.

The authority of corrosion was lethal enough to melt even dragon flesh.

Dantal drew forth that dreadful power without limit. But Zeon was no less formidable.

Using sand, Zeon blocked or diverted Dantal’s attacks while seeking an opening to cut off his breath.

Then Dantal pulled a disc from his chest and hurled it at Zeon.

Caught off guard by the unexpected attack, Zeon leapt aside to avoid the disc.

But as the disc skimmed past just beneath Zeon’s feet, chains suddenly shot out from it.

The thin chains wrapped around Zeon’s ankle in an instant and yanked him hard.

Kwa-dang!

Zeon was slammed into the ground before he could resist.

The disc Dantal had thrown burrowed deep into the earth, chains still attached.

“Kgh!”

Zeon strained to snap the chains binding his ankle, but it was useless.

“Don’t waste your strength. It’s a dungeon item. You’d be better off cutting off your ankle.”

A cold smile crept across Dantal’s lips.

The name of the item binding Zeon’s ankle was Earth’s Restraint.

Once caught, breaking free by one’s own power was no easy task.

Of course, it couldn’t hold an awakened like Zeon for long.

With his abilities, he could destroy the item and regain his freedom in a few minutes. But Dantal only needed that much time.

“Net of Death. Cast the curse of time upon my enemy…”

In an instant, the authority of corrosion spread from Dantal’s greatsword like a net and covered Zeon.

A net formed entirely of the authority of corrosion.

The slightest contact would allow the corroding energy to engulf the entire body.

The Net of Death spread wide and flew toward Zeon, leaving him no room to escape.

At the brink of death, a dazzling radiance erupted from Zeon’s entire body.

He had activated the Ring of Purification on his finger.

The radiant light collided in midair with the pitch-black Net of Death.

Pashsss!

The authority of corrosion melted away before the Ring of Purification.

Freed from the crisis, Zeon used the Inferno Gauntlet to melt the chains binding his ankle.

The chains melted and flowed like water. But before they could fully dissolve, Dantal’s second attack arrived.

An Aura Blade imbued with the authority of corrosion.

Shigaaak!

The Aura Blade flew at an incredible speed.

There was no time to leisurely wait for the chains to finish melting.

“Fire Wall.”

Using the Inferno Gauntlet, Zeon created a massive wall of fire. But the Aura Blade Dantal had launched sliced through the fire wall like paper and struck Zeon directly.

Bang!

“Kuh!”

With a tremendous explosion, Zeon was blown backward.

He flew dozens of meters before crashing down beside Tesserina’s corpse.

An overwhelming pain clouded his consciousness.

His robe, made from Leviathan hide, was torn open, leaving a massive wound in his abdomen.

The wound was deep enough to expose his organs, but the bigger problem was the corroding energy that had invaded through it.

Pashsss!

The corroding energy began to rapidly rot Zeon’s wound and internal organs.

In response, his Ultra Regeneration activated.

Ultra Regeneration and the authority of corrosion clashed fiercely.

Neither force could overpower the other, causing decay and regeneration to repeat over and over. As a result, Zeon was subjected to even greater agony.

Enduring the pain, Zeon forced himself to stand.

He had no luxury to lie there and rest just because it hurt.

Even in that moment, Dantal was continuing his assault.

Dantal was a seasoned warrior.

Even before crossing over from Kurayan, he had fought countless battles, and after arriving on Earth, he lived days of constant struggle without a single day of rest.

Because of that, he knew better than anyone— 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

When you have seized the advantage, you must never give your opponent time to recover.

His attacks swept toward Zeon like a storm.

Kwa-gwa-gwa-gwa-gwang!

Aura Blades imbued with the authority of corrosion bombarded Zeon.

Zeon used sand and flame to defend against Dantal’s attacks as much as he could, but he couldn’t block them all.

He allowed several hits in succession.

The authority of corrosion penetrated more deeply, overwhelming Zeon’s Ultra Regeneration.

Already a formidable authority, it had grown even stronger after Dantal obtained the crystal imbued with Krasias’s will.

In an instant, the aura of death cast a shadow over Zeon’s face.

That was when it happened.

—Zeon!

An unexpected voice reached him.

‘Tesserina?’

—Absorb my heart. The dragon heart.

‘What?’

—Hurry! There’s no time.