Sand Mage of the Burnt Desert

Chapter 35

Whoosh!

Akaruk’s swordsmanship was truly refined.

With each swing of his sword, a tremendous force surged, attacking Dyoden.

Dyoden felt his blood boil.

Despite facing numerous monsters and Awakened before, Akaruk was the first opponent to make him feel this level of tension.

Although he was now an undead, Akaruk’s prowess as a knight in his past life was evident with just one strike.

He swept through space and the earth simultaneously.

Dyoden also confronted him, not avoiding the clash, and swung Kreion.

Kwaaang!

As the swords collided, a sound like a bomb exploding echoed, and a shockwave swept in all directions.

“Krrgh!”

The surging shockwave hit Zeon.

Fortunately, he managed to raise a sand barrier for protection, but had his reaction been slightly delayed, he would have tumbled violently.

Even with Zeon’s vision, he couldn’t keep up with Dyoden and Akaruk’s rapid movements.

Thud! Bang! Thud!

Zeon watched them closely without blinking as they clashed, roaming the noisy battleground.

Zeon instinctively realized that this might be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Dyoden, the strongest human he knew.

And a Death Knight that had discarded the flesh of a human.

Just watching their fight expanded Zeon’s perspective significantly.

Sometimes, merely observing could be a form of learning and enlightenment.

This was one of those moments.

While watching their fight, Zeon shuddered.

Compared to Dyoden and Akaruk, he felt he still had a long way to go.

The sense of achievement he felt from acquiring Exion and the Sand Soldier faded away heavily.

“Alright!”

In Dyoden’s eyes, facing Akaruk, madness emanated.

Between the corners of his lifted lips, white fangs appeared.

It was Dyoden’s smile that surfaced only when he truly enjoyed himself.

It seemed like the insane monster couldn’t bear the joy of fighting Akaruk.

“Ah, really, he’s completely mad.”

Even as Zeon shook his head, he couldn’t take his eyes off them.

Dyoden’s blow struck the towering structure after passing Akaruk.

Kwarr!

The impact caused the tower to collapse.

If things continued this way, the debris from the tower would cover Dyoden and Zeon.

Zeon waved his hand, and numerous Sand Missiles flew towards the debris.

Bang!

With a loud explosion, the debris that the Sand Missiles hit shattered. But, more surprisingly, something even more astonishing happened next.

The debris, turned to dust, returned to its original form as if time were reversed. Not only that, it returned to its original position.

The tower had become perfect again.

Zeon’s jaw dropped.

“This can’t be!”

It was physically impossible.

No, even with magic, it was equally impossible.

It was as if time had reversed.

In an instant, Zeon felt like he had been struck in the back of his head with a hammer.

“Did time rewind? No, what if time has stopped?”

In that case, it explained the rapid healing of the fatal wounds suffered by the undead just by stopping time.

The entire area, including the castle, was undoubtedly frozen in time.

“Who on earth could’ve done this?”

Neo Seoul had numerous Awakened, but none dared to tamper with time.

Even the mighty Dyoden couldn’t manipulate time.

It was an area forbidden to humans.

‘Then who else could’ve done it? A god?’

Zeon knew how absurd his thoughts were. However, at this moment, there were no other suspects left but a “god.”

He used not to believe in gods. However, witnessing Dyoden kill a god with his own eyes left him with no choice but to believe.

“Hah!”

Zeon sighed.

The more he thought, the more overwhelming the scale became.

Now, it was a challenge beyond the capacity of a D-rank Awakened.

Zeon raised his head, dismissing his contemplation, and watched Dyoden and Akaruk’s battle.

Bang!

With a thunderous sound, Akaruk’s shoulder fell off.

It was Dyoden’s strike that sliced through his shoulder. However, Akaruk neither faltered nor stepped back.

He was already a being of death.

Losing an arm didn’t inflict any pain upon him. Instead, the severed arm flew back and reattached itself seamlessly.

Dyoden wasn’t surprised at the sight.

“Hehe!”

He had already witnessed the undead knights resurrecting before.

Naturally, Akaruk, at the pinnacle of undead knights, surely possessed superior regenerative abilities.

Boom!

Akaruk’s side flew off. Yet, once again, both flesh and armor regenerated instantly.

A fierce glint intensified in Akaruk’s eyes.

“You, who cannot kill me… do not deserve to step forward.”

Swoosh!

Suddenly, a gray flame erupted from Akaruk’s sword.

Gray auras emanated as flames from the sword.

Thud! Baaang!

Kreion clashed with the gray aura, and a thunderous explosion ensued.

At each impact, it seemed like the castle would crumble any moment, but as if nothing had happened, it swiftly restored to its original state.

Shuaak!

A long gash appeared on Dyoden’s side from Akaruk’s sword.

Yet, even with a fatal wound, Dyoden didn’t flinch. In fact, he seemed to revel in the pain he hadn’t felt in a long time.

“Hehe!”

Somewhere along the line, he too no longer felt pain.

It wasn’t that he couldn’t truly feel pain, but rather, there was no longer anyone capable of causing him pain.

Whether it was an A-rank or S-rank monster, none became his match.

There existed no being capable of inflicting wounds on him, transcending human limits, he had slain even gods.

Akaruk, for the first time in decades, was the one who managed to wound him.

Purely in terms of swordsmanship, Akaruk was by no means inferior to Dyoden. Moreover, he possessed regenerative capabilities that swiftly healed any wounds he sustained.

Akaruk knew precisely how to wield these two weapons effectively.

Dyoden was truly impressed by the Death Knight.

The regenerative abilities weren’t even a concern for him.

What impressed Dyoden was Akaruk’s mastery of swordsmanship.

In each strike, there was no excess, overflowing with grace.

Savage yet not brutal.

Just observing that was enough for Zeon to imagine what Akaruk’s disposition might have been in his living days.

Akaruk unleashed the swordsmanship he had honed during his life against Dyoden.

Thud! Baaang!

Continuous explosions echoed.

The air in the vicinity heated up intensely due to their confrontation.

They unleashed everything they had learned against each other.

Their engagement resembled the dialogue of the finest swordsmen with their swords.

Zeon watched this spectacle without taking a deep breath.

That’s when it happened.

Suddenly, a pitch-black aura gathered around Kreion.

It emitted an ominousness not inferior to Akaruk’s gray aura.

“Ugh!”

The moment the pitch-black aura emanated, Zeon felt a pang in his heart.

Despite not directly confronting it, his heart was aching merely from witnessing it.

“Insane!”

Zeon hastily retreated, moving out of its sphere of influence. However, unlike him, the undead surrounding the area stood motionless before being affected by the pitch-black aura.

Psssh!

The exposed flesh of the undead suddenly turned to dust.

Even the decayed flesh and blackened bones turned to dust, yet the undead remained standing blankly.

Oooo!

Amidst the undead, a peculiar resonance erupted.

It sounded like a wail yet carried a sense of euphoria.

Zeon instinctively sensed that it was closer to euphoria.

Dyoden’s released aura was turning the undead back to nothingness.

Yet, the undead seemed to revel in it.

– At last!

– I can finally rest…

Zeon could almost hear their voices in his ears.

Dyoden’s voice rang out in a roar.

“Rest now. Death Knight!”

Shwahak!

Kreion surged with the black aura, striking Akaruk.

Thud!

Akaruk’s body split in two, his upper and lower halves rolling apart.

Just moments ago, Akaruk boasted formidable regeneration. But this time, his regenerative powers failed.

The severed parts turned slowly into dust.

The intense aura flowing from his helmet gradually vanished.

Thud!

Dyoden slammed Kreion into the ground, eyeing Akaruk.

Then came Akaruk’s voice.

“Death! Your power is death.”

Unlike before, it was a clear voice.

The curse that turned him into undead had been neutralized by Dyoden’s power. Despite facing death, Akaruk’s voice held no hint of regret; instead, a sense of relief prevailed.

He removed the helmet he had been wearing. Underneath, a face of someone in their early fifties appeared.

Though the facial flesh had decayed by half, distinct features still lingered, he could’ve been called quite handsome when he was alive.

He spoke.

“The power of death. That power, granted only to Krasias in Kurayan, has now come to you.”

“Krasias? Could it be him?”

“The Dragon of Destruction who made the world like this, we called him Krasias.”

“Krasias! So, that was his name.”

Dyoden gritted his teeth.

It had been a hundred years since the world had been ruined, and for the first time in all those years, he learned the name.

A hundred years ago, Dyoden was in New York.

New York, the capital of the world, the epitome of civilization.

Back then, Dyoden was traveling in New York with his wife, daughter, and his only friend.

Even though they had lived in a small neighborhood in Montana, they lived happily, enjoying the glamor of New York. But their happiness didn’t last long.

Something colossal tore through the sky of New York.

Measuring over three kilometers from head to tail with wings spanning ten, it resembled a dragon from legends or movies.

Yet everyone witnessing it knew it wasn’t a dragon.

Something resembling a dragon.

A god in the form of a beast.

Everyone who saw it thought so. And most who had seen the dragon couldn’t withstand the divine aura it emitted and perished on the spot.

In one swoop, half of New York was destroyed, and over five million people died.

It was truly the coming of calamity.

That was the day Dyoden’s wife and daughter died.

They were right there beside him.

Dyoden, who had lost his wife and daughter without even being able to lift a finger, vowed to take his revenge.

It happened over a hundred years ago, but Dyoden had never once forgotten those memories.

Dyoden asked Akaruk.

“Where is Krasias?”

“Don’t you know? He has returned to nothingness.”

“Gone? After turning the world into this?”

“The price of attempting to terraform another world is grand. Even the Dragon of Destruction, who consumed all anomalies and powers since the beginning, couldn’t handle it.”

“Arghh!”

Blood vessels emerged in Dyoden’s eyes.

Akaruk regarded Dyoden’s intense expression with pity.

“I understand your feelings.”

“Shut up! What does an undead like you know to speak so carelessly?”

“It was Krasias who turned me into an undead. Because I was the only one who opposed his decision…”

[TL/N: And the lore deepens owo… why do I feel like Dyoden’s only friend might be related to Zeon, hmmm…]