Sand Mage of the Burnt Desert

[Translator - Peptobismol]

[Proofreader - Demon God]

Chapter 278

When Zeon opened his eyes, he saw Phantsy staring at him with a shocked expression, his mouth hanging open.

It was the same position he had been in while casting the curse on Zeon.

Zeon had thought he had spent a long time fighting Dyoden, but in reality, only about a second had passed.

Their gazes met.

Phantsy, seeing the focus return to Zeon’s eyes, shouted in disbelief.

“H-how? I know the Chaos Prison landed perfectly!”

The Chaos Prison was a curse that trapped the target’s mind in a chaotic prison. The victim couldn’t escape unless the caster lifted the curse. If someone fell into this curse, they would never regain consciousness, and their body would eventually wither and die.

But such a curse came at a heavy cost for the caster as well.

Curses were like a double-edged sword.

The world wasn’t so forgiving as to allow someone to cast such a powerful curse without consequence.

To use a proper curse, the caster had to pay a price too.

Phantsy had sacrificed his youth to cast Chaos Prison.

As a result, his face had become deeply wrinkled, and his skin had turned dry and brittle.

It was as if decades had suddenly passed him by.

The Chaos Prison was a curse that came at a great cost.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Naturally, Phantsy had believed there was no way Zeon could escape it so easily.

His plan was simple: while Zeon was trapped in the curse, Bessie would devour him. But before Bessie could even free itself from the sand, Zeon had broken through the curse and regained consciousness.

“You, you…?”

Phantsy stammered, unable to finish his sentence, stunned by the unexpected turn of events.

Zeon glanced at his arm.

The Inferno Gauntlet was still intact.

It was proof that he had returned to reality and escaped the curse.

In the real world, he saw a panicked Phantsy and Bessie struggling to pull itself free from the sand.

Bessie was still half-buried, thrashing desperately.

During the brief moment Zeon’s mind had been elsewhere, Bessie’s hide, which had been shredded by the Sand Mixer, was already regenerating.

Its regenerative ability was truly incredible.

If left alone, it would soon regain its full strength.

But Zeon had no intention of letting that happen.

“Sand Gehenna.”

He unleashed the same skill he had used in his mental battle with Dyoden.

Combining the powers of the sand and the Inferno Gauntlet, Zeon turned the sand around Bessie into molten lava.

The sand melted in an instant, bubbling and boiling like magma.

Screeeech!

Bessie shrieked in agony as its body was engulfed by the searing heat.

It struggled frantically, trying to escape the lava. But Zeon wasn’t about to let it get away.

“Sand Mixer!”

Grrraaaang!

The molten sand began to spin violently.

It was, quite literally, Sand Gehenna.

There was no escape, no hiding.

The high-temperature lava spun ferociously, grinding away at Bessie’s hide, cooking it from the outside in.

No matter how many monsters’ traits had been fused into this chimera, it couldn’t withstand such an attack.

Screeeech!

Bessie’s lower body began to melt.

The pain from having its flesh roasted off was on a whole different level from the damage before, and Bessie let out a massive howl.

“Aaaargh!”

Phantsy, who shared a bond with Bessie, screamed as well.

Thwip!

In a final desperate attempt, Bessie lashed out with its tentacles, trying to strike Zeon. But the tentacles never reached him.

“Fire Rain!”

Zeon unleashed a rain of fire, intercepting the tentacles.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

With explosive sounds, the tentacles approaching Zeon were consumed by flames.

Bessie thrashed wildly, overwhelmed by the agony of its burning body. But once the fire had taken hold, it refused to go out.

“B-Be… Bessie!”

Phantsy stood frozen, staring blankly at Bessie.

His precious Bessie was dying right before his eyes.

He had attacked Archelon to save Bessie, but in the end, he had only shortened its life.

“Am I really going to lose Bessie like this?”

Phantsy bit his lip until it bled.

Without Bessie, Phantsy was nothing.

His reputation as an A-rank curse user had only flourished because of Bessie.

If Bessie died, he would return to the miserable, powerless life he had lived before.

“I can’t let that happen!”

Phantsy screamed and ran straight toward the burning Bessie.

The extreme heat from the flames immediately latched onto Phantsy.

Bessie, as a chimera, could endure the flames for a short time, but a human like Phantsy couldn’t.

His body began to melt in seconds.

And yet, Phantsy laughed.

“I’m staying with you until the end, Bessie! We’ll become one forever.”

Zeon, watching Phantsy’s descent into madness, couldn’t help but shake his head in disbelief.

Then, as if understanding Phantsy’s words, Bessie coiled its tentacles around him.

For a brief moment, it seemed like they were becoming one before Bessie’s enormous body exploded.

Boom!

A mushroom cloud of dust rose up from the middle of the desert, as though a bomb had gone off.

The blast left a massive crater, several hundred meters wide, as if a meteor had struck.

Even Zeon, knowing he couldn’t withstand the explosion, quickly burrowed into the sand and hid underground. But even there, the shockwave pounded his entire body.

The force felt like it was ripping him apart, and Zeon felt his mind start to blur. But he gritted his teeth and held on.

Moments later, when the shockwave had finally passed, Zeon emerged from the crater.

There was nothing left where Bessie had exploded.

The sheer force of the blast had vaporized everything, leaving no trace behind.

Zeon stared at the explosion site for a moment before turning away.

His eyes focused on Moby Dick’s territory.

“I’ve wasted too much time. I need to catch up.”

Without hesitation, Zeon headed into the darkness that lay ahead.

* * *

“It’s like being in the deep sea.”

Pavilsa muttered as he looked around inside Moby Dick’s territory.

Hearing his comment, Claire responded almost instinctively.

“The deep sea?”

“Kids born today wouldn’t know. Back when the Earth was still intact, there was something called the ocean. It was made of saltwater, and all sorts of fish and creatures lived in it. The deep sea was the part of the ocean where no light could reach, always shrouded in darkness like this. Down there, it was…”

“Enough with the pointless talk.”

It was Lee Jung-ho who interrupted Pavilsa.

His nerves were on edge.

From the moment they had entered Moby Dick’s territory, he had been gripped by a sense of danger.

That anxiety made him snap at Pavilsa’s musings.

Pavilsa quickly apologized.

“My apologies. I didn’t realize I was rambling. Must be the tension getting to me.”

“I understand, but right now, we need to focus.”

“I know.”

Pavilsa nodded, fixing his gaze ahead.

Thud! Thud!

Archelon’s heavy footsteps echoed as he trudged forward, struggling with each step.

There was no need for Pavilsa to direct him.

Archelon was walking forward as if something was pulling him, guiding him instinctively.

“Archelon!”

Pavilsa called out to him, but Archelon didn’t respond. It wasn’t that he was ignoring him—he didn’t seem to hear him at all.

Archelon’s eyes were vacant, as if he had been entranced by something.

“He won’t answer. He’s completely captivated by the song.”

“Song?”

“Can’t you hear it?”

“Now that you mention it…”

Pavilsa strained to listen.

A faint sound had been tickling his ears for some time now.

It was a soft, almost melodic sound, like the cry of a whale. To some, it could indeed be heard as a song.

Claire spoke up.

“It’s Moby Dick. That sound is definitely coming from it.”

“Mmm.”

“It’s so mysterious.”

Her face went blank as she gazed in the direction the sound was coming from, completely entranced.

‘It really does sound like a whale’s cry.’

Pavilsa had lived for as long as Jin Geum-ho, so he was one of the few people who had heard the sound of a whale’s cry.

Although he had only heard it on video, the sound was unmistakably the same.

‘Could Moby Dick actually be an evolved whale? Like Archelon?’

It wasn’t an impossible thought.

The world was far from normal these days.

Thud! Thud!

Even as these thoughts ran through Pavilsa’s mind, Archelon continued marching toward the source of Moby Dick’s song.

Then, suddenly—

Flap!

The sound of wings flapping echoed from the darkness.

It was a sinister sound, growing louder by the second.

In an instant, Lee Jung-ho swung his sword toward the front.

Swish!

With a flash of light, something was sliced in two and fell onto Archelon’s back.

Pavilsa jumped back in shock as he saw what it was and shouted.

“A Vampire Bat!”

The creature had a wingspan of over a meter, with fangs as large as the molars of a typical beast sticking out of its mouth.

It was unmistakably a Vampire Bat, a creature known for never letting go once it had sunk its teeth into its prey, draining them dry.

The real problem was that Vampire Bats never traveled alone.

They were notorious for attacking in swarms.

Whoosh!

Pavilsa’s fears were soon realized.

A swarm of Vampire Bats tore through the darkness, heading straight for Archelon and the group.

Under normal circumstances, they wouldn’t have been a threat. Archelon’s defenses were strong enough that bats like these couldn’t even scratch him.

But the problem was that Archelon was severely weakened.

Unable to deploy his protective shield, Archelon had to endure the bats’ attacks with only his bare skin.

The bats sank their fangs into Archelon’s hide, but even their large teeth couldn’t fully penetrate his thick skin.

Frustrated, they shifted their attention to the humans.

“Damn it! Get behind me, old man.”

Kailey pulled Pavilsa back and raised a long staff.

Boom!

The staff shot out a dazzling burst of fire.

It wasn’t just any fire.

The flames contained white phosphorus, a material that wouldn’t extinguish easily once it ignited.

It was an item Kailey had crafted.

With one charge of mana, it could be used ten times.

Bang! Boom!

Kailey fired off the flames in rapid succession.

Each time, the Vampire Bats caught in the flames fell from the sky.

But there were still far too many bats left.

Kailey’s weapon was powerful, but it wasn’t enough to handle an entire swarm of Vampire Bats.

“Hey, calm down!”

Claire shouted, trying to use her powers to calm the bats, but it didn’t work.

Unlike the Thunder Buffalo, these bats had no affection toward humans.

Naturally, Claire’s words had no effect.

At that moment—

“Get down!”

Lee Jung-ho’s sharp voice cut through the chaos.

Without hesitation, Claire, Pavilsa, and Kailey dropped to the ground.

Shwiing!

A terrifying sound sliced through the air, skimming just above their heads.

When they lifted their heads, they saw Lee Jung-ho, sword in hand, charging into the swarm of Vampire Bats.

His swordsmanship was swift and deadly, slashing through the air and sending out flashes of light as it cut down dozens of bats at once.

With his Mind’s Eye, Lee Jung-ho could sense the bats’ movements in advance, and the way he wielded his sword was both terrifying and beautiful.

The three of them watched in awe as Lee Jung-ho moved through the swarm like a force of nature.

It took less than ten minutes for the swarm of Vampire Bats that had covered him in darkness to vanish completely.

Slash!

After slicing through the final bat, Lee Jung-ho sheathed his sword.

“Not very efficient.”

He muttered, clearly dissatisfied with how long it had taken. Battling swarms of small creatures wasn’t his strength—he preferred fighting a single, large opponent.

Roar!

Kraaaang!

At that moment, monstrous roars echoed from all directions.

The beasts that had entered Moby Dick’s territory were now fighting amongst themselves.

Lee Jung-ho sighed heavily.

“What a mess.”

[Translator - Peptobismol]

[Proofreader - Demon God]