Sand Mage of the Burnt Desert-Chapter 518

Chapter 518

Levin wiped the blood running from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand and stared straight ahead.

The Specter King was floating there.

Like an incandescent bulb on the verge of burning out, the Specter King repeatedly brightened and dimmed.

“Haah! Fuck. It’s disgustingly strong.”

“It won’t be much longer now. It’s at its limit too.”

Brielle walked up beside him and spoke.

“Yeah! I know. Do you know how badly that bastard beat me up?”

“I got beaten up too.”

“At least Liri took most of the impact for you. I just took it bare-bodied and got wrecked.”

“You’re not saying I should’ve taken those hits from the Specter King instead, right? If I had, I’d already be dead.”

“Of course not.”

Sensing Brielle’s killing intent, Levin hurriedly shook his head.

The two of them had truly been fighting tooth and nail.

The Specter King was disgustingly strong.

Not only did it have the same abilities as Levin, it was also unusually intelligent for a magical beast.

On top of that, whenever it was at a disadvantage, it split its body and mass-produced Specters.

Unless you’ve experienced it yourself, you can never understand the sheer terror of a Specter swarm.

That fear that comes crashing down like a tidal wave.

If Brielle and Liri hadn’t helped him, Levin might have already been gravely injured—or dead.

Its body was immune to physical attacks. But the same was true for his opponent.

What was funny was that despite that, they could still hurt each other.

It seemed that beings with the same attribute could inflict wounds on one another.

Because of that, Levin had suffered countless injuries.

If Brielle hadn’t immediately supplied healing potions every time, he would’ve died long ago.

Enduring through sheer force of will, Levin killed Specters again and again.

He’d lost count of how many times he’d detonated Giga Lightning.

As a result, his mana was nearly depleted. Still, his efforts hadn’t been in vain—he had wiped out all the Specters and inflicted heavy damage on the Specter King.

The Specter King, having reached its limit, could no longer split itself.

Now all that remained was to finish it.

Levin phased into ghost form again and flew toward the Specter King.

“Wait! Liri—”

“I’ll fight the last part alone.”

“Levin?”

“For some reason, it feels like I should. I think I’ll cross another threshold that way.”

“Alright! But if it looks dangerous, I’ll intervene immediately. Remember that.”

“Yeah!”

Levin turned his head slightly and smiled.

Pajijik!

Intense lightning began to burst from the Specter King’s body.

It was exactly the same ability as Levin’s.

Ghosting and lightning.

It felt like fighting a reflection of himself in a mirror.

Except for the appearance, that is.

The Specter King was stronger than Levin, and used its abilities far more freely.

With Liri and Brielle’s support, Levin endured while carefully observing everything about the Specter King.

His frontal lobe tingled.

Something felt almost within reach, yet remained vague.

It was as if fog were blocking his path.

Levin knew there was only one way to clear that fog clouding his vision—move forward himself.

“I’m going.”

Jjeo-eong!

Massive lightning erupted from Levin’s entire ghost-phased body.

The lightning struck the Specter King head-on. But as if it had taken little damage, the Specter King drifted toward Levin and fired lightning in return.

Bang!

Levin’s face twisted in pain as he was struck directly by the thick bolt of lightning.

It ended at this level only because Levin had powerful resistance to lightning. Had it been an ordinary awakened, their entire body would have exploded from that single strike.

Flash!

Enduring the pain, Levin fired Giga Lightning at the Specter King.

Under the overwhelming lightning, the Specter King’s entire body shone brightly like an incandescent bulb.

Levin noticed that the Specter King’s size had grown even larger.

Soon, as if nothing were wrong, the Specter King fired lightning back at him.

The moment Levin took the lightning head-on, he realized the reason.

Why the Specter King could remain unharmed even by his attacks.

‘It’s absorbing the lightning I release and using it as its own power source.’

Levin had only been releasing lightning at full output without thinking further. The Specter King, on the other hand, used Levin’s attacks to recharge its lightning power.

That was why, despite releasing lightning on a level similar to Levin’s, it felt far more vivid.

‘Release, absorption, conversion… is that how it works?’

The best way to untangle a tightly knotted ball of string is to cut through it in a single stroke.

That was exactly Levin’s situation.

The fog that had filled his mind was blown far away, as if swept off by a violent storm.

His once-clouded vision became clearer than ever before.

He felt no doubt about whether he could do what the Specter King did.

This was the first time he had felt such absolute confidence in himself.

Pajik! Pajijik!

Sparks flew from Levin’s body.

His ghost-phased form began to brighten and dim, just like the Specter King.

Sensing something ominous in Levin’s change, the Specter King let out a strange cry.

—Kiiiii!

“Too late, you bastard!”

Flash!

Levin released Giga Lightning at full power.

An amount of lightning incomparable to anything before slammed into the Specter King.

Just as it had done until now, the Specter King tried to absorb Levin’s lightning and make it its own.

It absorbed Levin’s lightning, converted it into its own power, and released it back toward Levin.

Pajijik!

Levin didn’t dodge the massive cluster of lightning bolts the Specter King fired. He took them squarely with his entire body.

His face twisted in agony from the tremendous pain.

It felt as though every muscle were tearing apart and his flesh were being cooked. He could feel the Specter King’s lightning flowing along his bones.

Yet Levin did not panic.

Calmly, he absorbed the Specter King’s lightning.

He could feel characteristics of the Specter King’s lightning that he hadn’t perceived before.

He broke it down piece by piece, understood its properties, discarded what was unnecessary, and absorbed only the refined core, fusing it with his own lightning.

All of this occurred in a moment lasting less than 0.01 seconds.

It wasn’t his mind adjusting things—his body itself controlled the entire process.

Levin added his own lightning to the Specter King’s lightning he had absorbed.

Papapapat!

With sparks, his ghost-phased body flickered more intensely and rapidly.

—Kiiiii!

At the moment the Specter King cried out, sensing danger, Levin unleashed his lightning.

“Giga Lighthein.”

Flash!

Pure white lightning that seemed capable of burning the world struck the Specter King.

As it always had, the Specter King tried to absorb Levin’s lightning and make it its own.

But everything has a limit.

The lightning Levin released this time was far beyond what the Specter King could possibly contain.

No matter how resistant the Specter King was to lightning, and no matter how great its ability to absorb it, it could not hope to endure this attack.

Pueobeobeok!

Explosions erupted in succession inside the Specter King’s body.

The explosions accelerated, eventually engulfing its entire form.

Kwaaang!

A particularly violent blast rang out as the Specter King exploded.

“Kgh!”

Caught in the blast, Levin was flung backward like a fallen leaf.

Just before he hit the wall, Liri caught him.

“Thanks!”

—Mm!

Smiling brightly, Liri set Levin down on the ground.

Levin released his ghost form and collapsed where he was.

“Guuuh!”

The scream he’d been holding back burst from his mouth.

Absorbing the Specter King’s lightning and making it his own had placed an enormous strain on his body.

In agony as if his blood vessels and muscles had been shredded into rags, he curled up like a shrimp.

“Idiot! Drink this.”

Brielle pulled a healing potion from the subspace of her conical hat and poured it into his mouth.

Unable to resist even once, Levin drank it all.

Brielle took out another healing potion and poured it over Levin’s wounds.

Bathing in the precious healing potion, his severe injuries gradually healed and the pain subsided.

Only then did Levin’s expression relax somewhat.

“Thanks.”

“Are you okay?”

“Thanks to you, I think I’ll live.”

“Then why fight alone so stubbornly? Are you an idiot?”

“Hehe.”

“Still, good work.”

“Yeah!”

At Brielle’s praise, Levin’s face lit up.

“Can you move?”

“It’s hard, but I should. I’m worried about Zeon and Tesserina too.”

“Then get up.”

“Yeah!”

Grabbing Brielle’s hand, Levin pulled himself to his feet.

The two left the space where they had fought the Specter King and went outside.

When they reached the surface, both of them froze in disbelief.

Before them lay lava still bubbling violently, as if a volcano had erupted.

They knew this phenomenon occurred when Zeon unleashed Sand Gehenna.

At the center of Sand Gehenna stood Zeon, Tesserina, and the massive corpse of a dragon.

Then it happened.

Pussss!

The dragon’s corpse, as huge as a mountain, suddenly began to crumble into dust and scatter.

“That is…?”

“A dragon that has reached the end of its lifespan is returning to the bosom of mana.”

“The bosom of mana?”

At Brielle’s explanation, Levin tilted his head.

Born on Earth, he didn’t realize how rare and sacred the scene before him was.

Even in Kurayan, almost no one had ever witnessed a dragon returning to the bosom of mana at the end of its life.

A dragon that had lived for thousands of years would end its life alone in a place no lair or being could dare approach.

Even among dragons, it was exceedingly rare to witness another dragon’s final moment.

There was no chance for elves or humans to ever see such a sight.

At this moment, Brielle was the first in all of elven history to witness a dragon returning to the bosom of mana.

Zururuk!

Large teardrops streamed down Brielle’s cheeks.

She knelt and offered a prayer to Siela.

“Lady Siela, at this moment a great dragon is returning all that it was to nature and going back into the bosom of the divine. Please, receive her warmly.”

In truth, dragons are perfect beings in and of themselves and are not influenced by the gods.

No matter how much Siela was the Goddess of Harmony, she could exert no influence over a dead dragon.

Even so, Brielle prayed to Siela because she earnestly wished for the dragon to return to the bosom of the divine.

Levin silently watched the dragon’s corpse disappear beside Brielle.

Though not to the same extent as Brielle, Levin too felt deeply moved.

The contrast between the dragon scattering like sand and Tesserina standing motionless before it struck a profound chord within him.

It felt as though he were witnessing death and birth at the same time.

And in truth, that was exactly what was happening.

Dragon Tesserina was vanishing, and Chimera Tesserina was being born as an even more complete existence.

Chimera Tesserina gazed at her own body returning to the bosom of mana with an expression filled with complex emotions.

At last, the colossal body that had stretched a hundred meters disappeared completely, leaving only Chimera Tesserina behind.

“Haah.”

The faint sigh that escaped her lips filled the empty space where the dragon had been.