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Chapter 33

The Sand Soldier’s attacks were straightforward.

Looking at it from Dyoden’s level, it’d be enough to make one yawn. But Zeon was on his wits end.

‘The sand control doesn’t work.’

Whether it was because they were the same sand, or because of some special force at play, attacks like the Sand Blaster or Sand Mixer didn’t affect the Sand Soldier.

Instead, the more Zeon attacked it using sand, the more it absorbed and grew in size and strength.

‘This is…’

Zeon wore a bewildered expression.

Clearly, the Sand Soldier, like Zeon, used sand as its power.

‘Then what about Exion?’

Zeon hastily used Exion to attack the Sand Soldier.

Boom!

With Exion infused into his fist, he struck, shattering the Sand Soldier’s shoulders. Previously, it would quickly recover from injuries by absorbing sand, but now, it was not regenerating.

‘As expected, they can’t absorb Exion.’

Unlike other sands, Exion seemed to be seamlessly integrated with him. Hence, it was evident that the Sand Soldier couldn’t absorb it.

Zeon condensed Exion around his gauntlet.

Thud!

With a single punch, the Sand Soldier shattered into pieces. But there was no time for celebration.

Swoosh!

A new Sand Soldier emerged.

This time, there were two.

“Alright, let’s do this.”

Zeon extended his Sand Strides toward the Sand Soldiers and applied Exion in his attack.

Boom! Boom!

With a series of explosions, the Sand Soldiers were destroyed.

A perplexed gleam shimmered in Zeon’s eyes.

This time, four Sand Soldiers appeared instead.

“What’s this? Every time I defeat them, they double in number, is that it?”

If his hypothesis was correct, defeating these Sand Soldiers would inevitably lead to eight appearing next.

His prediction soon turned into reality.

Indeed, eight Sand Soldiers materialized.

The problem lay in the fact that unlike the initial Sand Soldier, these new ones moved more smoothly and lethally.

“Ah! They are learning?”

Dyoden exclaimed in admiration.

The newly appeared Sand Soldiers seemed to compensate for the shortcomings of the previous ones, almost as if learning from encounters with Zeon.

Dyoden watched Zeon’s fight with keen interest, but there was absolutely no intention to intervene.

If it was a dungeon for Zeon, he’d have to break through it on his own, just like he had done so far.

Boom! Boom!

As the defeated Sand Soldiers crumbled, more emerged behind them.

They attacked Zeon with heightened ferocity.

Zeon bit his lip.

“Alright! Let’s see who comes out on top.”

By this point, his determination surged.

He fought the Sand Soldiers with all his might.

They shattered into sand, only to reform into Sand Soldiers again.

It seemed like an endless battle.

Both the Sand Soldiers and Zeon were learning.

Through the fight, Zeon refined the use of Exion, honed his skills, and studied the Sand Soldiers.

Thus, Zeon and the Sand Soldiers rapidly grew stronger, studying each other.

There was one difference between Zeon and the Sand Soldiers.

It was the presence of Exion.

While Zeon could employ Exion for diverse attacks, the Sand Soldiers seemed confined to engaging in close combat.

“Haaa!”

Boom!

With a resounding blast, more than a dozen Sand Soldiers shattered.

Zeon dashed toward the cavern behind the Sand Soldiers.

Even as he raced along the cave, the Sand Soldiers kept appearing endlessly, attacking Zeon.

Zeon kept defeating every Sand Soldier in his path.

Eventually, amidst the endless run, he found himself in a vast underground chamber.

In the center of the underground chamber stood a grand altar.

The altar was adorned with an unidentified cluster of light hovering above it.

It was undoubtedly the item that served as the core of this dungeon.

“Phew!”

Zeon instinctively sensed that there was an item related to himself within that radiant cluster.

Humming!

At that moment, the cluster emitted an even brighter light, causing intense vibrations. Suddenly, the underground chamber was filled with an overwhelming number of Sand Soldiers.

Roughly estimating, there seemed to be over a thousand.

“Damn it!”

Zeon’s face contorted.

He had finally reached his destination only to face more Sand Soldiers than he had encountered so far.

Curses involuntarily spilled from his lips.

Then, Dyoden’s voice came from behind.

“You idiot, are you giving up?”

“Who said I’m giving up?”

Zeon snapped.

If he were going to give up, he wouldn’t have struggled to come this far. He would’ve returned to Neo Seoul long ago.

Zeon took a deep breath.

‘I can do this. No, I will.’

At that moment, the Sand Soldiers attacked Zeon.

Their rush towards him, flooding the enormous underground chamber, resembled a tidal wave.

Tiny particles swirled around Zeon’s entire body as he rotated Exion in a hemisphere while using it.

It was an extremely mana-consuming technique.

With his current mana, he couldn’t sustain it for long. Nevertheless, he used it because he believed in the Elura’s Tear.

An item that miraculously restored all mana once a day.

In that state, Zeon hurled himself into the midst of the Sand Soldiers.

Crash!

The swirling Exion stormed through the Sand Soldiers, shredding them apart.

The split Sand Soldiers crumbled into sand.

Despite numerous Sand Soldiers being destroyed, the remaining ones didn’t hesitate to assail Zeon.

Thud! Thud!

The Sand Soldiers pounded the spinning Exion with all their might.

It seemed as if Exion would shatter at any moment.

Each strike dealt a considerable blow to Zeon.

Blood now trickled from the corners of his mouth. Nonetheless, Zeon didn’t cease using Exion.

When he had annihilated around three hundred Sand Soldiers, Zeon’s mana depleted entirely.

At that moment, the Elura’s Tear performed a miracle.

Instantly, it replenished all of Zeon’s mana.

The momentarily faltering Exion resumed its fierce rotation once again.

Clash!

Zeon charged forward in a straight line.

His target was the altar.

To stop Zeon, the Sand Soldiers threw themselves at him.

There were far more charging Sand Soldiers than those splitting away. Consequently, Zeon was quickly buried under the Sand Soldiers, becoming invisible within their midst.

As they were made of sand, the Sand Soldiers felt no fear unlike humans.

Even if their arms were torn off or their legs shattered, they relentlessly charged toward their target.

Zeon, armed with the miraculous item Exion, fared better. But had he been an ordinary Awakened, he might have vanished without a trace, swept away by the wave.

Zeon fought as if he was on the brink of insanity.

Eventually, as his mana became too low to utilize Exion in a storm-like rotation, a significant number of Sand Soldiers had been eliminated.

From then on, it became a close combat confrontation.

Using minimal Exion manipulation, Zeon engaged in hand-to-hand combat.

Thankfully, he had learned unarmed combat during his battles with the Golems in a nameless dungeon.

It wasn’t a formal skill, nor was it structured martial arts, but because Zeon had learned it firsthand, it unfolded naturally.

Boom!

The head of a Sand Soldier shattered.

Without a moment to breathe, Zeon struck another Sand Soldier’s torso with his knee.

He fought like a beast amidst the Sand Soldier.

Watching the spectacle, Dyoden muttered to himself.

“What a mess! Still, not too shabby.”

One had to maintain such a mindset in such chaos.

Without teeth, one should bite with their gums if need be.

Having no mana or the inability to use skills and spectate or retreat is tantamount to flaunting one’s incompetence.

To survive, one must do whatever it takes.

Even minimal resistance or struggle is a duty to life.

Dyoden had lived in such a ruthless world with that mindset.

Neo Seoul, with its high walls and protection from Awakened, at least had some semblance of rules. But in this wasteland, there was none of that.

Surviving was up to oneself.

The fight was gradually coming to an end.

Boom!

The last Sand Soldier returned to sand.

“Haa! Haa!”

Zeon breathed heavily, as if he might collapse at any moment.

His body was already in shambles. It was astonishing that he still stood on both legs.

He staggered but continued walking towards the altar.

The cluster of light on the altar seemed to ripple as if welcoming Zeon.

Zeon reached out his hand towards the cluster of light.

In an instant, as if waiting for him, the cluster of light was absorbed into Zeon’s hand.

He didn’t react in surprise but accepted the light. Then, his battered body was suddenly healed, and his depleted mana was replenished.

Finally, Zeon’s breathing steadied.

Zeon kept his eyes closed for a long time.

Dyoden silently waited for him to awaken.

“Phew!”

Finally, Zeon exhaled and opened his eyes.

Dyoden asked him.

“So, did you get something useful?”

“Would you like to see?”

Zeon manipulated his mana.

Suddenly, two Sand Soldiers appeared on either side of him.

“You can control these Sand Soldiers now?”

“I just got a grasp of the principle. I can only summon two due to my current mana, but as my skills improve, I’ll be able to summon more.”

“Soldiers made of sand? Could be useful in some tactics.”

It would probably be impossible to summon a thousand Sand Soldiers at once like the dungeon.

The dungeon was optimally structured for summoning Sand Soldiers.

Outside, summoning just two at the same time would be Zeon’s current limit as he had to rely solely on his own mana.

A tattoo had appeared on Zeon’s left arm, which hadn’t existed before.

It was two crossed spears rising resembling coiled serpents.

It was the cluster of light absorbed by Zeon that had transformed into a tattoo.

Dyoden asked.

“Any other information?”

“None.”

Zeon shook his head.

There was no information about who had created this dungeon or for what purpose.

At that moment.

Crack!

Suddenly, the entire underground chamber began to tremble.

It was a sign that the dungeon was collapsing.

Since Zeon had absorbed the core item of the dungeon, it started to collapse.

Snap!

A crack appeared in the space where the two were standing, like a crack in glass. Then, the images of the two disappeared as if erased with an eraser.

A while later, the two reappeared at the entrance of the dungeon, now transferred outside.

The entrance they had entered had disappeared without a trace. Still, the two weren’t surprised.

Since, this was always the end of a dungeon that had been conquered.

Dyoden looked around and was surprised.

“The sandstorm has stopped. The barrier is also gone.”

The dense sandstorm that had obstructed Dyoden’s path had completely ceased. The barrier had been broken.

Now, they could finally move forward.

“Let’s go!”

Dyoden started walking.

Zeon looked at him with a slightly puzzled expression.

After going through so much in the dungeon, it wouldn’t hurt to rest for a day, leaving immediately was ridiculous.

“Well, I’m the only one who suffered. He must have plenty of energy since he didn’t even lift a finger. Really…”

Suppressing the urge to yell out ‘damn you, old bastard,’ Zeon followed Dyoden.