Sand Mage of the Burnt Desert-Chapter 573

Chapter 573

Kwagagagak!

The fine grains of sand rotated fiercely, gnawing away every internal organ inside Behemoth’s body.

Organs as large as ordinary buildings were finely ground down by the spinning sand particles.

At this moment, even Behemoth’s super regeneration was useless.

His body had been paralyzed by the Giga Lightning Levin had unleashed, preventing his super regeneration from activating.

“Die!”

Flash! Flash!

Levin consecutively dropped Giga Lightning.

Because of that, Behemoth could not move and had to endure the attacks from both inside and outside without resistance.

Kwagak!

At last, the sand particles reached Behemoth’s heart.

—How can this be! I have yet to fulfill my mission.

Behemoth attempted to escape this place by teleporting.

Inside his body was an organ that enabled teleportation.

It was an organ with round jewels hanging in clusters like a bunch of grapes.

When mana was infused into this organ, it allowed him to teleport to a desired location.

Zeon sensed the existence of this organ.

It was possible because a massive amount of sand had entered Behemoth’s body.

Instinctively, Zeon realized that if this organ activated, Behemoth would shift through space and flee.

And if Behemoth were allowed to escape, there was no telling how strong he would become when he returned.

He had to prevent the worst-case scenario of Behemoth devouring other magical beasts to recover his wounds.

“Sand Soldier!”

Zeon summoned Sand Soldiers inside Behemoth’s body.

Several Sand Soldiers separated from the Sand Mixer.

The Sand Soldiers tore the grape-like jewels, which had just begun to emit light, away from Behemoth’s body.

—N-No!

Behemoth screamed as his final means of escape vanished.

A Sand Soldier that had seized the jewels from Behemoth’s body approached Zeon.

“So this is the teleport item.”

The moment he grasped it, he immediately discerned the jewel’s true nature.

Zeon stored the teleport item into his subspace at once.

A vicious light rose in Behemoth’s eyes as he lost his teleportation ability.

He had sensed his end.

—Do you think I will perish alone? Even if I perish, my mission will be fulfilled.

Behemoth’s pupils glowed red, and he fired a destructive beam.

Kwaaaah!

A destructive beam of tremendous thickness grazed past Zeon and shot far beyond the horizon.

“Don’t tell me…?”

Zeon urgently turned around.

In the direction the destructive beam had flown lay Neo Seoul.

The distance from here to Neo Seoul exceeded one hundred kilometers.

Even Zeon could not know whether the destructive beam would reach Neo Seoul at such a distance.

Kuuung!

After that final struggle, Behemoth’s massive body collapsed to the ground.

At last, his breath was severed.

At Behemoth’s death, the Awakened wore expressions of disbelief.

They had never imagined they would bring down such a colossal magical beast with their own strength.

Of course, Zeon held the absolute share of the contribution, but it was undeniable that all of them had earned a certain measure of merit.

“Waaah!”

“We got him!”

Realizing the reality, thunderous cheers erupted from the Awakened.

Their roar was so immense that the surrounding sand soared high into the sky.

The sense of accomplishment from achieving what had seemed impossible elevated the Awakened.

Even upon seeing it again, it was hard to believe.

The fact that they had hunted a gigantic magical beast one hundred meters tall.

“Ha ha! This is insane….”

“We actually killed that.”

They shook their heads with expressions of disbelief.

“Hoo!”

Zeon let out a deep sigh and descended to the ground.

Levin approached his side.

“Hyung! Are you okay?”

“I’m dying. You?”

“I think I’m dying too.”

Levin dropped to the ground and shook his head.

To assist Zeon, Levin had squeezed out every last bit of his strength to his limit.

He did not even have the power to move a finger, and his entire body felt as if it were breaking apart.

It was even harder because not a single drop of mana remained.

“You worked hard.”

“You worked harder. We really killed that monster. Haah!”

Levin shook his head with an expression that still could not believe it.

Even in death, Behemoth still emitted overwhelming pressure.

Just then—

Pasasasa!

Suddenly, Behemoth’s massive body began to crumble into powder. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

“What?”

“Why is it…?”

Expressions of bewilderment appeared on the Awakened’s faces.

The sight of a colossal body over a hundred meters long turning into powder and scattering in the wind was too unreal.

“Fuck!”

“No!”

The strike captains screamed.

To kill Behemoth, countless Awakened had died and equipment had been destroyed. Even so, they had barely maintained their composure because if they brought Behemoth’s corpse back to Neo Seoul, they could more than make up for their losses and still gain tremendous profit.

But as Behemoth turned into powder, it became forever impossible for them to recover their losses. Their screams were only natural.

Seong Hoyeon, the leader of the Numbers, shook his head.

“Damn magical beast! Even at the end, it refuses to do humans any good.”

“It would have been a problem even if the corpse had remained intact. How would we bring that to Neo Seoul, and how would we divide it?”

Grain said with an expression that suggested it was better this way.

Seong Hoyeon let out a faint laugh.

“That’s true. Each district would have caused an uproar trying to claim a larger share.”

“And yet the one who contributed the most shows no greed at all.”

The two men’s gazes turned toward Zeon, who was conversing with Levin.

Zeon looked calmly at the sight of Behemoth’s corpse turning into powder and disappearing, as if it were not particularly surprising.

As if he had anticipated this outcome from the beginning.

At that moment, the image of Behemoth firing a destructive beam toward Neo Seoul just before his death flashed through Grain’s mind.

“Will Neo Seoul be alright?”

“It will be fine. Neo Seoul has a protective barrier.”

“The slums…?”

“That I cannot guarantee.”

A brief silence fell between them.

It was then.

“Neo Seoul will be fine.”

Someone interjected into their conversation.

When they looked toward the source of the voice, they saw a beautiful woman walking toward them.

It was Tesserina.

At Tesserina’s words, the two men wore puzzled expressions.

“What do you mean?”

“I saw the destructive beam disappear midway.”

“Is that true?”

When Seong Hoyeon asked with disbelief, Tesserina smiled and replied,

“I saw it clearly with my own eyes. The destructive beam definitely vanished midway.”

“That’s a relief.”

Only then did Seong Hoyeon let out a sigh of relief.

He did not know Tesserina’s true identity. Even so, he was aware that she was a woman who traveled with Zeon.

There was no reason for one of Zeon’s companions to lie, so he believed her.

Tesserina passed by Seong Hoyeon and approached Zeon.

“You worked hard.”

“You said the destructive beam vanished?”

“Yes.”

“How? Because of causality, you and Behemoth cannot interfere directly in each other’s acts.”

Zeon was certain that Tesserina was the one who had extinguished the destructive beam. Otherwise, there was no reason for it to disappear so suddenly.

Tesserina smiled and said,

“I cannot intervene directly, but indirect interference is possible.”

“Then how?”

“I captured a mid-sized magical beast and placed it in the path of the destructive beam.”

“Ah!”

“Exactly. I didn’t use my power directly. It collided with the mid-sized magical beast and was extinguished.”

“Smart.”

“If my timing had been even slightly later, I might not have been able to stop it. I was lucky.”

Zeon nodded.

They were truly fortunate.

Zeon suddenly looked toward the western sky.

“By the way, I wonder what happened to the Iron Fortress.”

“Indeed.”

Tesserina nodded and looked in the same direction as Zeon.

＊＊＊

“Khuhuhu! You damned….”

Refo, covered in blood, stared ahead with bloodshot eyes.

Countless beastmen lay as corpses across the ground.

They were all his subordinates.

Those who had killed the beastmen were the Awakened of the Iron Fortress led by Urtian.

The Awakened of the Iron Fortress had also suffered heavy casualties, but in the end, they had managed to defeat all the beastmen.

At the center of it stood Urtian.

Urtian’s condition was no less miserable than Refo’s.

He had suffered such severe wounds that it was hard to find a single spot uninjured. Yet he stood firm, enduring.

Refo ground his teeth.

“You elf bastard! How can you do this to us? To those of us who crossed over together from Kurayan….”

“You idiot tiger-head. Of course I can. You expect me to just let bastards who try to take the home of me and my family do as they please?”

Urtian bared bloodstained teeth as he laughed.

He had truly fought with everything he had.

When his weapon, the shamshir, shattered, he picked up someone else’s weapon from the ground and continued fighting. When even that broke, he bit into his enemy’s throat with his teeth.

In his life, he had never fought a battle this fierce.

In his scavenger days, he had fought to steal from others, but this time he fought to protect his precious family and residents.

Naturally, a fight to protect was far more desperate.

Urtian and the Awakened of the Iron Fortress had truly fought with all their might.

Knowing that if they retreated or fell, their families would die, they clung on viciously.

When one person fell, two filled the place. When a comrade died, they took revenge without fail.

It was to the point that even the beastmen, who were said to know no fear, recoiled and retreated in horror.

Refo’s face twisted.

The wound inflicted by Urtian caused immense pain.

His side had split open, exposing his internal organs.

Only thanks to the beastmen’s uniquely powerful bodies and regeneration was he still standing; if he had been an ordinary Awakened, his breath would have already been severed from such a fatal wound.

Refo felt his body gradually stiffening.

His physical body had reached its limit.

Even standing upright was now burdensome.

Urtian’s attack had inflicted an irreparable wound not only to his body but to his soul.

He was merely barely holding on; his death was a foregone conclusion.

“Damn… it!”

“You shouldn’t have coveted this place from the beginning.”

“Bullshit! What’s wrong with coveting land fit to live on? That’s how everyone survives.”

“Even so, we didn’t drag magical beasts into the fight just so our own race could live.”

“Fuck! That plan should have succeeded….”

“I’ve heard enough.”

Slash!

Urtian shook his head and swung his sword at Refo’s neck.

Refo’s severed head rolled across the ground.

“Haah! Haah!”

Only then did Urtian collapse where he stood, gasping for breath.

Though less severe than Refo’s, he too had suffered considerable injuries.

He had endured through sheer willpower; his body had long reached its limit.

Thud!

At that moment, a heavy sound reached his ears.

Turning toward the source, he saw a large giant warrior lying fallen.

Before the giant warrior’s corpse stood two women.

They were Liala and Hera.

The fallen giant warrior before them was Lamor.

The two women together had defeated the giant commander Lamor.

Liala raised her fist toward the sky and shouted,

“It is our victory!”

“Waaah!”

The Awakened answered with cheers.