Sand Mage of the Burnt Desert

Chapter 79

Greed blinds people.

Madness deprives them of rational judgment.

That’s how the people in the arena were right now.

The lure of a hundred thousand Sols blinded them, and the collective madness robbed them of reason.

The spectators in the arena forgot that Zeon was the strong one.

Zeon thought they looked just like undeads.

“The hundred thousand Sols are mine.”

“I’ll kill Zeon.”

“He’s dead!”

The madness of the spectators filled the arena.

At that moment, Zeon moved.

Thud!

“Keuk!”

His blow struck the face of the one rushing towards him at the forefront.

Screams echoed as the spectators sank.

Despite witnessing their comrades fall before their eyes, the spectators paid no heed and rushed at Zeon.

Zeon swung his fist at the spectators.

Thud!

With each blow, the front lines crumbled.

There was no need to use his sand abilities or fire magic.

Zeon’s martial arts prowess surpassed that of most Awakened Martial Artists.

No one could withstand Zeon’s blows.

In an instant, half of the spectators fell.

Only then did the spectators regain their senses.

Fear brought them back to their senses.

“What… is this?”

“Ugh!”

“Shit!”

Half of the people who were laughing and shouting just moments ago now lay covered in blood, fallen.

Even those who were not in their right minds couldn’t help but feel fear.

Even an F-rank Awakened could take on dozens of ordinary people simultaneously.

Let alone Zeon, whose rank was B or higher.

Goran knew this well.

Yet he directed the spectators towards Zeon. There was a reason for that.

A cruel smile played on Goran’s lips.

“Boom!”

Kwaaang!

In an instant, one of the spectators under Zeon’s feet exploded.

Zeon was swept away by the explosion.

Even where Zeon had crashed, there were fallen spectators.

Even amidst the chaos, Zeon furrowed his brow.

No way?’

What seemed improbable became reality.

Kwaaang!

Another spectator, who seemed unscathed just moments ago, exploded.

There was truly no separate human bomb.

Zeon, thrown by the explosion, bounced away again.

Bang!

Zeon slammed against the walls of the arena.

The debris from the broken wall covered Zeon.

A sinister smile appeared on Ava’s lips.

“Boss’s abilities are indeed remarkable. He must have suffered significant damage from this.”

At that moment, pushing aside the debris of the broken wall, Zeon stood up.

Tap! Tap!

There was no sign of any damage on him as he brushed the dust off his robe.

The smile vanished from Ava’s face.

In contrast, Goran looked intrigued.

“As expected, this isn’t enough.”

The explosive power just now was powerful enough to blow away even a D-rank Awakened in an instant. The fact that Zeon emerged unscathed meant he was just that strong.

“Estimated ability of B-rank or higher… Truly annoying.”

The higher the Awakened rank, the stronger the pride.

Naturally, they don’t easily bow their heads to others. But making such individuals bow down is thrilling.

Zeon looked at Goran and spoke.

“You planted bombs in people’s bodies.”

“Hehe!”

Goran neither confirmed nor denied.

Zeon didn’t say anything more.

The time for resolving things with words already over.

Only a head-on confrontation remained.

Thud!

Zeon flew forward.

Though there were hundreds of stairs between him and Goran, he could easily leap over them in one go.

As Zeon almost reached the top floor…

Boom!

A tremendous shockwave struck Zeon.

It was Dolkan, the bald man standing behind Goran, who unleashed the shockwave.

All the windows of the arena shattered by the shockwave at maximum power, and the spectators collapsed with ruptured eardrums.

Dolkan was Goran’s right-hand man.

He had defeated numerous enemies with shockwaves before.

No opponent had ever remained unscathed before his shockwaves. Dolkan naturally thought it would be the same this time.

But Zeon landed safely on the upper floors, as if mocking Goran’s confidence.

Nowhere did he appear to be shaken by the shockwave.

Around Zeon, dozens of fireballs appeared.

Seeing this, Ava told the women under her.

“Protect the boss.”

Without hesitation, the women surrounded Goran.

At that moment, Zeon swung his hand, and the fireballs rained down on Dolkan and Goran.

“Wawoah!”

Dolkan charged forward like a bull, shielding his upper body with his right arm.

Most of the fireballs were blocked by his right arm.

His right arm was a mechanical prosthetic.

With Neo Seoul’s technology, the prosthetic could easily deflect most magical or physical attacks.

Some of the fireballs flew towards Goran, but the women defended him with their bodies.

The faces of the women struck by the fireballs contorted in pain.

But none of them screamed or flinched.

Instead, there was a look of honor in their eyes, as if they were willing to sacrifice themselves for Goran.

“Noom!”

Dolkan swung his mechanical arm at Zeon.

Zeon slightly tilted his head, evading Dolkan’s fist. Then, Dolkan’s defenseless side was exposed.

With flames engulfing his Inferno Gauntlet, Zeon struck Dolkan’s side.

Boom!

“Ugh!”

With a loud noise, Dolkan’s face twisted in agony.

His right arm was a mechanical prosthesis, but the other parts were still human flesh.

Naturally, he couldn’t help but feel pain when hit.

Amidst the unexpected agony, his body instinctively contorted.

Zeon didn’t miss the opportunity.

His arms seized Dolkan’s mechanical prosthetic, and he ripped it out.

Snap!

“Aaaargh!”

Dolkan screamed in agony as the mechanical arm was wrenched away.

Nerves and muscle fibers were attached to the prosthetic, torn out with it.

“Dolkan was defeated that easily?”

Goran’s expression, protected by the women, changed completely.

Dolkan was a strong pillar supporting him along with Theo, Ethan, and Ava.

He possessed tremendous strength, always being deployed where armed conflict broke out.

That Dolkan was defeated by Zeon in such a helpless manner that it was absurd.

It wasn’t that Dolkan was weak.

It was that Zeon’s strength exceeded Goran’s imagination.

“Shit! This is a pain in the ass.”

Goran blamed his impatience.

If he had known Zeon was this strong, he would have changed his persuasion tactics. But regrets always come too late.

Now wasn’t the time for regrets, but to find a way out.

Goran knew an easy way.

He shouted.

“Dolkan! Die for me!”

In an instant, Dolkan’s eyes changed.

As if possessed, his eyes rolled back, and he charged towards Zeon.

He wrapped his remaining arm around Zeon.

Zeon tried to free himself and escape, but Dolkan’s strength was beyond imagination.

Spitting out saliva, Dolkan said.

“We die together, Zeon!”

Zeon saw Dolkan’s eyes filled with madness turning red.

He knew what that meant.

‘Self-destruction?’

Zeon’s judgment was fast, and his actions even faster.

He released Exion at full force.

Swoosh!

Under the pressure of Exion’s release, a gap appeared in Dolkan’s hold.

Zeon slipped through the gap and curled his body as much as possible.

In an instant, Dolkan’s body exploded.

Baang!

It was a blast with incomparable power to the explosions of the spectators.

Columns shattered, walls collapsed, and the entire arena collapsed.

“What the hell is this?”

Zeon stood up, clearing the debris.

Today, he had been buried under debris twice and swept away by explosions three times.

If it weren’t for his robe made of Leviathan’s hide, Zeon would have suffered considerable injuries.

Zeon looked around.

Goran was nowhere to be seen.

It was evident that he had left the arena before the explosion occurred.

“It’s been a while since I got properly pissed off.”

Zeon brushed his messy hair with his hand.

He never dreamed that Dolkan would detonate himself with just one word.

Whether it’s a human or a monster, the most important thing is one’s own life.

Zeon couldn’t understand why anyone would so easily give up their life at a single word from another.

“A fanatic? Or is it brainwashing?”

This is a world that has already been destroyed once.

A new race known as Awakened humans had emerged, and numerous abilities had been developed.

There were mainstream abilities like martial arts, magic, and curses, combined with machines, but there were also those like Zeon who used non-mainstream abilities.

It was clear that Goran also used non-mainstream abilities like Zeon.

“Is it an ability related to mental restraint and explosions?”

During the brief moment he was held by Dolkan, Zeon confirmed that there were no explosives on his body.

Yet Dolkan exploded.

That meant Dolkan’s body itself was an explosive.

Though Zeon didn’t know how a human body could be turned into an explosive, if that was truly Goran’s ability, it was undoubtedly a significant threat.

“If I let him go, he’ll keep targeting me. I must deal with him today.”

Zeon immediately set off to track him down.

Goran was the kingpin of the slums.

He knew the geography of Sinchon well.

Zeon, too, was the same.

Even though it seemed like he had done nothing since he returned to the slums, he knew the terrain like the back of his palm.

No matter where Goran was hiding, Zeon was confident he could find him.

***

The Black Lion burst into Yoo Se-hee’s room, shouting.

“Something big has happened.”

“What’s going on?”

Yoo Se-hee glared at the Black Lion, who had interrupted her peaceful time.

If it was just something insignificant that had disrupted her peace, she would let it go. But her thoughts disappeared as soon as she heard what the Black Lion said next.

“The arena exploded.”

“The arena? Goran’s establishment?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“It seems to be related to Zeon.”

“Zeon?”

“Yes! Someone saw Zeon entering the arena.”

Yoo Se-hee’s expression hardened.

She was one of the few people who knew Goran’s true abilities.

Knowing Goran well, she could guess why the explosion had occurred.

“Did that terrorist use his abilities against Zeon?”

Among those in the underworld, Goran was known as the Terrorist.

He could enhance the talents of Awakened individuals using his blood and mana.

On the surface, it seemed like a blessing of an ability.

But beneath the blessing lay a curse.

Goran could make the mana of the Awakened he enhanced go berserk, causing them to explode.

That was Goran’s true ability.

Decades ago, Goran had seized control of Sinchon using this ability.

His ability wasn’t limited to Awakened individuals.

He could secretly inject his blood and mana into ordinary people and make them explode as well.

It was terrifying because no one could know who Goran’s victims were.

Goran used his ability to turn acquaintances of his targets into explosives, and they would detonate when they got close.

The continued existence of such unpredictable situations was unnerving.

Using his ability, Goran turned the families and acquaintances of his competitors into explosives and eliminated them.

The number of people killed at that time exceeded tens of thousands.

After killing so many people, Goran became the ruler of Sinchon.

Yoo Se-hee hastily said.

“Quickly track down Goran and Zeon. If we’re not careful, the entire Sinchon could collapse.”