Sand Mage of the Burnt Desert

Chapter 24

Exion wasn’t an element of Earth.

It was something that had crossed over to Earth along with the other beings when the planet underwent such a transformation.

However, no one knew of its value, and it was treated as a simple hourglass.

The hourglass, unnoticed and ignored by all, found its way into Zeon’s hands as if guided by destiny.

Exion could be stored within the pores of one’s body and summoned whenever needed.

It was the ultimate weapon, compensating flawlessly for a Sand Mage’s weakness, who are completely rendered powerless when devoid of sand.

From the moment Exion was absorbed into him, Zeon sensed the latent heat processing within his body.

Exion was not able to integrate properly, burdening his body, causing a typical runaway reaction.

Without undergoing the proper assimilation process, it led to this runaway reaction.

Quickly restoring Zeon’s body to normal, yet risking collapse if left unchecked.

There was only one way to stabilize the overflowing energy: to expel the runaway energy.

Zeon asserted control, causing Exion, previously absorbed into his pores, to flow out.

Exion rippled around Zeon’s body like a cloud, each particle felt vividly connected to his nerves.

It was at this moment that Gigarain, sensing an unusual atmosphere, launched an attack on Zeon.

Flash!

Once again, a chain of lightning unfolded, filling the room.

Despite the intense surge of electricity capable of blinding a human, Zeon remained unfazed.

He manipulated Exion, creating a small dome around his body, shielding himself.

Zap!

The chain lightning struck Exion, yet Zeon within it remained unaffected by any shock.

Sand inherently didn’t conduct electricity.

Exion, the exclusive weapon of the Sand Mage, possessed a much greater resistance than ordinary sand.

As the chain lightning that filled the room dissipated, Zeon released Exion’s dome shape.

“Whew! This is amazing.”

Zeon marveled at Exion’s prowess.

To be so perfectly protected amidst such intense electrical currents—confirmed its potential as a powerful weapon based on its utility.

Thud! Thud!

When chain lightning didn’t work, Gigarain charged directly.

With Gigarain’s colossal body gaining speed, it was a truly terrifying sight.

But Zeon didn’t succumb to fear.

He had bravely confronted Gigarain even without using Exion. Having obtained Exion, he couldn’t imagine cowering in fear.

Thud!

Zeon propelled himself towards Gigarain.

Exion wrapped around Zeon’s trail like a meteor.

A sensation of abundance and vitality filled his body.

“Take this!”

Zeon extended his fist.

In response, Exion followed his fist and spun violently like a drill, exploding into Gigarain.

Bang!

A thunderous explosion, unlike anything before, rocked Gigarain’s massive body, causing it to tremble.

Despite the giant’s sturdy physique, a significant gash appeared, but it didn’t cease its movement.

The greatest advantage of a golem was its inability to feel pain.

With no fear, it ignored most minor injuries.

Zeon was well aware of this fact, having faced numerous golems on his way here, learning their weaknesses.

‘Its weak point is its joints. Especially the knees.’

Concentrating intensely, Zeon launched Gigarain.

He visualized a picture.

A picture of Exion being condensed into something as thin as a thread.

Now it was time to infiltrate Exion into Gigarain’s joints. But a challenge still remained.

The black barrier enveloping Gigarain’s entire body acted as a shield—an energy field.

it mitigated and blocked both physical and magical attacks to a certain extent.

For those who deviated from the standards like Dyoden, it would be nothing more than tearing apart a piece of paper, but for a low-rank Awakened like Zeon, it was an insurmountable wall.

Yet Zeon had a plan.

‘Focus everything on one point. Then rotate it to maximize its destructive power.’

Zeon concentrated all his mana into Exion.

Zoom!

Exion, transformed into a thread-like shape, fiercely rotated, penetrating Gigarain’s energy field.

Resembling a slender serpent, Exion laboriously traversed the energy field, finally infiltrating Gigarain’s knee joint.

The golem’s joints were vulnerable to sand.

Crack!

A sound of something splitting echoed from Gigarain’s knee joint.

Ordinary sand might have not caused much obstruction, but Exion wasn’t ordinary sand.

It could change its form to practically anything, based on Zeon’s will.

Once Exion breached the joint, it coalesced into rough particles.

Zeon visualized Exion rotating within the golem’s joint.

“High-speed rotation!”

Swoosh!

At that moment, Exion rotated at an extremely high speed.

The coarse sand particles gnashed at Gigarain’s joints.

When grinding against the surface of an inherently strong metal, sand is forcefully expelled at a high pressure.

The Sand Blaster skill worked based on the same principle.

Rapidly rotating sand had the worst compatibility with joint areas.

The joints sprayed dust and debris.

As Exion spun rapidly, rocks were ground out.

Despite the joint’s abnormality, Gigarain tried to move.

Crack!

In that moment, accompanied by a cracking sound, Gigarain’s body contorted abnormally.

The knee joint, unable to withstand the load, finally collapsed.

Thud!

Gigarain dropped to its knees.

The giant Golem tried to raise its body, but supporting its massive weight with one leg was not an easy task.

Had Gigarain been capable of any foresight, it might have chosen a different approach.

However, being an artificial lifeform that functioned only within predefined parameters, it lacked the improvisation to handle unforeseen circumstances, operating solely as programmed.

Zeon seized upon this weakness.

He injected Exion into the opposite knee joint.

Similarly, with high-speed rotation, Gigarain’s other knee joint was completely destroyed shortly after.

Thud!

Gigarain’s colossal body toppled to the ground.

Yet, Zeon remained vigilant.

High-rank Golems such as Gigarain possessed self-recovery capabilities.

Although severely impacted at the moment, it would surely attack Zeon once again after recovering the damaged parts.

Gigarain needed to be completely destroyed before that.

‘I need to find the core quickly.’

Destroying the core would stop the Golem’s movements.

The problem was locating the core within this massive body.

There was only one way to check.

Using Exion.

Zeon moved Exion inside through Gigarain’s knee joint.

Despite being a Golem made of stone, it required mana from the core in order to move. Hence, there should be a kind of passage through which mana flowed in.

Called the ‘mana circuit’.

It was so subtle that the mana circuit could not be detected using any reasonable method. However, Exion was finer and more potent than the mana circuit.

Exion quickly scanned the inside of the Gigarain and was finally able to locate the mana circuit.

Zeon concentrated his mind and infiltrated Exion into the mana circuit.

Then it happened.

Boom!

With a chilling sound, Gigarain’s broken joints began to recover.

Shattered fragments and dust began returning to their original places as if time were rewinding.

Zeon furrowed his brow at this sight.

Gigarain’s knee was almost fully restored.

The creature was slowly rising.

A red light emitted from its eyes.

Zeon presumed it was anger.

For an emotionless golem to express anger was impossible, but Gigarain was at least a B-rank monster. It wouldn’t be improbable for it to display emotions.

He had to end this before the creature’s anger turned against him.

Zeon intensified his use of Exion.

Exion went up the mana circuit at high speed.

From the knees to the hip axis, reaching the chest, the core still wasn’t detected.

Meanwhile, Gigarain had fully recovered from its injuries, standing tall again.

Boom!

The massive Golem stood upright.

The distance between Gigarain and Zeon was barely a meter.

Gigarain raised its arms high, intending to crush Zeon completely.

Zeon also saw the impending doom clearly, but he couldn’t dodge.

If he dodged now, he’ll be distracted and all his efforts would have been in vain.

Crash!

Gigarain struck down both its fists, which were raised high in the sky.

Even at this moment, Zeon was concentrating with all his might.

‘Found it!’

As Gigarain’s fist was about to crush him, Zeon finally located the core using Exion.

He attacked the core with Exion.

Boom!

At that instant, the core exploded, and Gigarain’s movements ceased.

Gigarain’s fists halted just above Zeon’s head.

He survived by just a few hair lengths.

“Ha!”

Zeon’s legs became weak and he collapsed to the ground.

He had done it himself, but he couldn’t believe it.

Even though he absorbed Exion, the fact that he had taken down a B-rank monster didn’t seem real.

“Did I really defeat this Golem? Haha! Unbelievable…”

It was so absurd that he burst out laughing.

However, Zeon knew.

The reason he was able to defeat Gigarain was not due to sheer skill, but was largely due to the difference in compatibility.

Displaying such strength against other B-rank monsters would have been impossible.

Tssss!

Exion, which had destroyed Gigarain’s core, flowed back and was absorbed into Zeon’s body.

As Zeon was lying on his back, breathing heavily.

Suddenly, an orange light emitted from his wrist inside the gauntlet.

Zeon was taken aback and removed the gauntlet, to see light emanating from the rank insignia on his wrist.

The third line was shining.

It was clear that he had advanced to D-rank.

“I’ve become D-rank?”

Pride swelled within him.

This achievement was accomplished solely through his own strength, without any aid from Dyoden.

He felt a sense of accomplishment.

As he advanced to D-rank, his stamina and mana were also fully recovered.

“Haa! Looks like I won’t die anytime soon.”

Zeon got up and looked at Gigarain he had defeated.

Gigarain remained frozen in the same position as it had attempted to strike him with both fists.

The golem with its core destroyed was nothing more than a lump of stone.

There was no part of it that Zeon could use, unlike the Sand Angler’s hide or the Queen Wolf Ant’s carcass.

Setting aside his regret, Zeon headed towards the door on the opposite side.

Now was not the time to worry about the golem he had defeated.

He needed to get to Dyoden quickly.

Fortunately, after Gigarain, no other golems appeared.

Thanks to this, Zeon could safely reach the dead-end of the passage.

There was a larger door than the chamber where Gigarain resided.

Zeon swallowed nervously.

‘If the door is this big, how big will be the thing that’s inside?’

Suddenly, fear came flooding back. However, Zeon resisted the feeling of fear and continued.

“I’ve already come this far, I can’t turn back now. Let’s go.”

Zeon exerted his strength to push the massive door.

The door opened unbelievably smoothly.

Upon glimpsing inside, Zeon widened his eyes.

The sight that unfolded before him was unbelievable.

A massive cluster of light was dissipating.

In front of it stood Dyoden, holding the Kreion.

Zeon didn’t need to ask. He knew.

The fading light was the owner of this temple.

‘Did he kill the god?’

A shiver ran down Zeon’s spine.

At that moment, Dyoden turned his head towards Zeon.

“You’re late, idiot!”

Gulp!

Instead of replying, Zeon swallowed his dry saliva.