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Chapter 25

The disappearing black light was slowly being absorbed into Kreion.

As Kreion absorbed the black light, an even more ominous aura emanated from it.

Zeon asked cautiously.

“Is that the owner of this temple?”

Dyoden replied as he retrieved Kreion.

“It’s nothing more than a remnant of a god who has lost its divinity. A mere shadow incapable of wielding even ten percent of its original power.”

“So, is it really a god? Is it possible to kill a god?”

“I’ve told you. It’s nothing but a shadow that has lost its divine status.”

“But…”

“It’s not of this Earth, it’s just a fragment of Kurayan trapped within this dungeon, barely clinging to existence. Even if it wasn’t me, eventually, it would have disappeared on its own. So, don’t make a fuss about it.”

Zeon sealed his lips at Dyoden’s words, yet his face still held a glimmer of confusion.

The notion of an existing divine being was hard to believe, let alone the mention of a strange word like ‘Kurayan.’

Zeon thought he understood Dyoden to some extent, but now he realized that he knew nothing at all.

Dyoden’s strength surpassed his imagination.

He said to Zeon.

“Nevertheless, you managed to survive without faltering. There wouldn’t have been any sand.”

“I just barely survived.”

“Humph! As long as you didn’t die, that’s what matters.”

Tsssh!

Finally, the remnants of the divine black light were completely absorbed by Kreion.

Dyoden looked at Kreion with a satisfied smile.

“Now, at least the minimum preparation is done.”

“What preparation are you talking about?”

“…”

That’s when it happened.

Kukukuku!

Suddenly, the temple began to shake.

As the owner of the temple perished, the dungeon itself was collapsing.

The gigantic pillars fell powerless, and the ceiling was crumbling down.

Space was swallowing up the temple itself.

The world was vanishing.

Dyoden observed without a word, but Zeon was overwhelmed.

Zeon witnessed the world collapsing.

In that moment, both their bodies were enveloped in a halo of light and disappeared.

After a while, the two reappeared right at the entrance of the stone door that had formed the dungeon’s entrance.

As soon as they were thrown out, the stone door vanished without a trace, as if it never existed.

Their venture into the dungeon felt like a distant dream, but it was neither a dream nor an illusion.

The Exion absorbed into his body testified to that fact.

Absorbing Exion and ascending another rank seemed to massively increase his dominance.

Dyoden was the first to jump out of the sand pit, a hundred meters deep.

Zeon used Sand Stride.

The sand automatically pushed Zeon out of the massive pit.

As they emerged from the pit, they were greeted by the dazzling sunlight.

Although he didn’t know how much time had passed in the dungeon, it was morning in the real world.

The flow of time within dungeons varied greatly.

In some dungeons, a day in reality turned into ten days, while in others, time mirrored reality.

This made it impossible to know how much time had passed in the real world before checking.

However, neither Zeon nor Dyoden were interested in such matters.

What mattered to them was conquering the dungeon hidden deep beneath the desert.

In this recent dungeon, Zeon had completely absorbed Exion.

Now he had acquired a minimum means for self defense even in places without any sand.

Fortunately, Exion, which was running wild, had stabilized after he defeated Gigarain.

Now, he could use Exion whenever needed.

As Zeon’s level increased, the power of Exion would also rise.

He glanced at Dyoden.

When Zeon himself had become this strong, he wondered just how much stronger that old man had become.

Godslayer.

Zeon had slain Gigarain, the guardian deity, while Dyoden had slain a god,

Albeit a weakened god devoid of its divinity.

He knew the enormity and grandeur of this achievement.

‘I thought I had caught up with him quite a bit, but I have a long way to go.’

Nevertheless, Zeon wasn’t disappointed.

Dyoden was old, while Zeon was young.

With plenty of days left to live, he believed he could eventually catch up if he persisted.

As he followed Dyoden, Zeon noticed his personality and mindset gradually resembling him a lot.

Dyoden continued his pace without resting.

Zeon also used his Sand Stride.

Thanks to his advancement to D-rank, his ability to manipulate sand had improved drastically, allowing him to move at a pace almost matching Dyoden’s.

Without rest, Dyoden walked in the direction where the sun was rising.

Quietly, Zeon followed behind.

After walking for several days towards the east, an unfamiliar landscape appeared.

Initially, Zeon thought it was a hallucination or illusion.

That’s how much the scene before Zeon’s eyes surpassed his expectations.

“Oh my goodness! A forest.”

He was clearly looking at a vast forest.

A huge forest spread out in the middle of the barren desert.

It was his first time seeing a forest made of trees after the world had been ruined to this extent.

Although trees and forests also existed within Neo Seoul.

They were shielded perfectly from the arid climate of the outskirts by the barrier. But people in the slums could never witness that scenery, because of the high barrier that separated the slums from Neo Seoul.

Zeon had only heard stories of trees and forests; this was the first time he had seen it firsthand.

His pace quickened, even surpassing Dyoden, driven by the intense desire to see the trees up close.

Yet, the closer Zeon got, the more he noticed that something about the forest was strange.

There were clusters of trees forming the forest, but there was no vibrancy of green.

There were no leaves at all, and the stems and branches were all blackened.

It looked vastly different from the image of trees he had heard about as a child.

“Are these trees?”

“They’re charred remains, their shape is the only thing left. Their life as trees ended long ago.”

Dyoden gazed at the charred forest with cold eyes.

“People call this place the Black Forest.”

“People? Are there people living here?”

“There are fools who stubbornly cling to living here.”

Dyoden spoke curtly and sat beneath a large tree.

Though only stems and branches remained, they provided enough shade to shield from the sun.

Perhaps due to blocking the scorching sun, a refreshing coolness pervaded within the Black Forest.

“Woah!”

Zeon exclaimed involuntarily at the chilling coldness.

Other than inside dungeons or underground spaces, he had never experienced such coldness anywhere else before.

Zeon stared blankly at the Black Forest.

Black trees covered the entire sky.

He felt a pang of regret, wishing they were real living trees, not charred remains.

Then, it happened.

Whoosh!

A faint sound reached Zeon’s ears.

It was the sound of something small flapping its wings.

Instinctively, Zeon erected a sand barrier right in front of him.

Bang!

Immediately after, something flew in, collideding with the sand barrier, and exploded.

Fortunately, the explosion’s range wasn’t extensive, and Zeon remained unscathed.

That’s when Dyoden spoke up.

“Don’t venture deeper. Inside the Black Forest is the territory of the Exploding Bees.”

“Exploding Bees? Are you saying that the bees explode?”

“That’s right. When an intruder enters their territory, they launch themselves at the intruder and self-explode.”

Zeon glanced at the ground. The remnants of the Exploding Bees were scattered around. From the debris, he could deduce their original size was that of a child’s fist.

“Is the entire area inside the territory of these Exploding Bees?”

“Yes, as long as you don’t cross that line, you’ll be fine.”

“Could it be because of these Exploding Bees that people don’t live here?”

“You’re quick to catch on. That’s right.”

“Wouldn’t it solve the issue if we exterminated all the Exploding Bees?”

“If it were that easy, I would have dealt with it long ago. No matter how many Exploding Bees you kill, if the Queen Bee is still alive, they’ll reproduce quickly and form another colony. So don’t waste your energy on pointless endeavors. Rest here for now.”

“Yes!”

Dyoden’s insistence made Zeon feel like it wasn’t an ordinary nuisance.

It felt more like him avoiding out of annoyance rather than fear.

Since it was something unrelated to him anyway, Zeon sat beneath a tree near Dyoden.

For now, he just wanted to forget about all of his troubles and enjoy the scenery.

Leaning his back against a charred tree, Zeon gazed ahead.

Unlike the shade provided by the Black Forest, the scorching sun blazed fiercely in the desert, radiating intense heat.

Even for Zeon, crossing the desert bare-bodied would be madness.

‘I need to get a new robe… Ah!’

Suddenly, Zeon remembered that there were extra robes in his subspace.

During his encounter at the destroyed Elf village, along with a bow, he had packed several items, including robes.

Opening the subspace revealed the elves’ robes.

Zeon took out one of the robes and put it on.

Although not as good as the robe made from the Sand Angler’s hide, the elves’ robes also blocked out the heat to some extent.

‘For now, this robe will do.’

Though Dyoden detested this particular race, he didn’t utter a word against Zeon using the elves’ item.

Dyoden once again fixed Kreion in place and engaged in a low conversation.

Zeon had witnessed that sight countless times.

At times, he had tried to listen in to understand what Dyoden was talking about, but the voice seemed muffled, even blocked.

From then on he gave up eavesdropping.

At such times, it was much more beneficial for him to check out his newly acquired abilities.

‘Thanks to Exion, my dominion has been strengthened further.’

According to his observations outside, using Exion to boost his dominance made controlling the sand much easier.

Before, he could only manipulate sand around ten meters of him, but now it had expanded to dozens of meters.

If he continued to grow like this, he felt like he would eventually be able to control all the sand within his sight.

‘I had a hard time since my compatibility with the Golems wasn’t great. I was lucky to win this time, but I need to research more thoroughly.’

As Dyoden mentioned, the deity of that temple had lost its divinity and become weakened, so it was clear that even the Guardians, Gigarain, had been significantly weakened as well.

If Gigarain had been in its optimal state, there’s a high chance he would have been defeated even if he used Exion.

Reflecting on the battle with Gigarain, Zeon figured out the issues.

Reflecting on the battle like this was a great help in improving Zeon’s skills.

‘Blink and Chain Lightning, both were powerful. If I encounter an Awakened who freely uses these two skills, my chances of winning will be very low.’

The key difference between Golems and humans lay in the flexibility of their thinking.

Golems followed predetermined actions, while humans could adapt flexibly to situations.

Zeon was currently specialized in facing monsters in large-scales.

Following Dyoden and consistently dealing with these monsters had honed his skills in that direction.

If he ever intended to return to Neo Seoul, focusing on developing skills for one-on-one confrontations from now on was the right choice.

Absorbed in thought, his consciousness naturally drifted away.

‘Hmm!’

Zeon sat cross-legged, letting his thoughts engulf him.

He didn’t realize how much time had passed.

When Zeon opened his eyes again, dawn was breaking far in the distance.

He had spent the entire night sitting there.

“Phew!”

Zeon got up and stretched his legs.

His body ached from sitting motionless all night.

“Huh?”

As Zeon relaxed his stiff body, he suddenly looked ahead.

There was movement sensed on the sand far away.

Thinking it might be the Exploding Bees, he peered closely and saw an entirely different being.

‘A child?’

In the distance, a girl who looked to be around twelve years old was lying face down on the sand, looking at Zeon and Dyoden.

That’s when Dyoden spoke up.

“A mongrel from the Goya Tribe.”

“What?”

“A filthy mixed-breed born in a tribe of fools who try to do the impossible. She’s grown that much since then. I should’ve killed her back then.”

In Dyoden’s gaze upon the girl, there was a strong sense of contempt.

“This child is not a mongrel. She’ll be the future of this land.”

At that moment, a middle-aged man appeared beside the girl, speaking calmly.

The middle-aged man had a traditional hunter’s attire, with a large bow and arrows slung over his back.

Even with the sudden appearance of the middle-aged man, Dyoden didn’t show surprise and spoke bluntly.

“You’re still spouting nonsense. Did that bitch tell you that?”

“She passed away not long ago.”

Sadness filled the middle-aged man’s face as he answered. But in Dyoden’s eyes looking at him, there was still a coldness.

“She’s dead? I should’ve killed her with my own hands.”

“You haven’t changed at all, Dyoden. How long will you disdain them, treating them like enemies? It was never their intention for the land to have become like this…”

“Enough. If you blabber any more than that, it won’t be just you and your mongrel kid, the entire tribe will die.”

Dyoden’s killing intent surged.

Seeing his murderous aura, the child jumped up and hid behind the middle-aged man.

That’s when Zeon saw it.

The girl’s ears were shaped differently from regular people’s.

“An Elf?”