Episode 24
Exion was not an object from Earth.
It was an object that had crossed over together with other races when the Earth changed like this.
However, since no one knew its purpose, it had simply been treated as an hourglass.
The hourglass that no one had paid any attention to passed through countless owners before coming into Jeon’s hands, as if by fate.
Exion could be stored inside his pores and taken out for use when needed.
It was the ultimate weapon that perfectly compensated for the weakness of a Sand Sorcerer, who could not wield power without sand.
From the moment he absorbed Exion into his body, Jeon felt a raging heat within.
Exion had failed to properly fuse and was placing a burden on his body.
They were the symptoms of a typical rampage.
Because it had been absorbed without going through the proper process, it was rampaging.
Thanks to that, Jeon’s body had recovered to normal in an instant, but if left like this, it might instead collapse.
There was only one way to stabilize the overflowing energy.
That was to pour out the rampaging energy.
Jeon raised his control. Then, the Exion that had been absorbed into his pores flowed out from his pores.
Exion billowed around Jeon’s body like a cloud.
He could feel each and every particle as vividly as if they were connected to his nerves.
Then, Gigarein, sensing the unusual atmosphere, attacked Jeon.
Flash!
Once again, Chain Lightning unfurled.
A web of electricity spread out, filling the room.
Even amid the blindingly intense display of current, Jeon did not panic.
He moved Exion, forming a small dome around his body.
Crackle!
The Chain Lightning struck Exion. But not a single shock reached Jeon inside it.
Sand essentially does not conduct electricity.
Exion, the exclusive weapon of a Sand Sorcerer, possessed far more powerful resistance than that.
As the web of electricity filling the room disappeared, Jeon also dissolved the dome of Exion.
“Whew! Amazing.”
Jeon marveled at Exion’s power.
To think it could protect him so perfectly from that fierce wave of current.
He confirmed that depending on how it was used, it could become a powerful weapon.
Thud! Thud!
When Chain Lightning proved ineffective, Gigarein charged directly.
The sight of Gigarein, which already possessed a massive frame, accelerating as it charged was truly terrifying.
But Jeon was not consumed by fear.
This was the same Jeon who had fought bravely against Gigarein even when he couldn’t use Exion. Now that he had even obtained Exion, the thought of cowering in fear was unimaginable.
Pow!
Jeon kicked off the ground and dashed toward Gigarein.
Exion trailed behind like a shooting star and enveloped him.
Elation and vitality surged through his body.
“Ha-at!”
Jeon threw a punch.
Then Exion followed his fist, rotating fiercely like a drill, and slammed into Gigarein.
Boom!
An explosion of a different dimension from anything before erupted, and Gigarein’s massive body shook.
A large scratch had formed on Gigarein’s hard body. But it wasn’t enough to halt its movements.
A golem’s greatest advantage was that it could not feel pain.
Without fear either, it ignored most ordinary wounds.
Jeon knew that as well.
He had grasped their weakness while fighting countless golems on his way here.
‘Its weakness is the joints. Especially the knees.’
Jeon focused his mind as he faced Gigarein.
He drew a picture in his mind.
A picture of condensing Exion until it was as thin as a thread.
Now it was time to penetrate Gigarein’s joints with Exion. But one obstacle remained.
That was the black field draped over Gigarein’s entire body.
The field was a kind of protective shield.
It mitigated or blocked physical impacts and magical attacks to a certain degree.
To those who transcended the standard like Deiodeun, it would be nothing more than tissue paper, but to a lower-tier Awakened like Jeon, it was an insurmountable wall.
But Jeon had an idea as well.
‘Focus everything on a single point. Then rotate it to maximize destructive power.’
Jeon focused all his mana into Exion.
Whir!
Then Exion, now transformed into a thread-like form, rotated violently and dug into Gigarein’s field.
Passing through the field with difficulty like a serpentine thread, Exion finally bored into Gigarein’s knee joint.
The joints of machines and golems were vulnerable to sand.
Crunch-crack!
A grinding sound flowed from the golem’s knee joint.
An ordinary grain of sand would be easily ignored as a minor obstruction, but unfortunately, Exion was no ordinary sand.
It could change its form freely according to Jeon’s will.
Having penetrated Gigarein’s joint, Exion clumped together and transformed into coarse particles.
Jeon drew a picture of Exion rotating inside the golem’s joint.
“High-speed rotation!”
Vrrrrooom!
In an instant, Exion began to rotate at high speed.
The coarse sand particles gnawed away at Gigarein’s joint.
Originally, sand is blasted at high pressure to scrape away the surface of strong metal.
A sandblaster worked on the same principle.
High-speed rotating sand had the worst compatibility with joint areas.
Stone powder burst from the joint.
The stone was being ground away by the rapidly rotating Exion.
Gigarein tried to move, ignoring the abnormality in its joint.
Snap!
In that moment, with a bursting sound, Gigarein’s body bent grotesquely.
The knee joint, unable to endure the load, had finally been destroyed.
Thud!
Gigarein fell to one knee.
The massive golem struggled to rise, but supporting its heavy weight on one leg was by no means easy.
If Gigarein had possessed even the slightest capacity for thought, it would have chosen another method.
But unfortunately, Gigarein was an artificial lifeform that acted only according to its programming.
It lacked the intelligence to improvise when unexpected situations occurred. Thus, it moved only in predetermined ways.
Jeon exploited that point.
He sent Exion into the opposite knee joint.
Likewise, making it rotate at high speed, it wasn’t long before Gigarein’s other knee joint was completely destroyed.
Thud!
Gigarein’s massive frame collapsed onto the floor.
Still, Jeon did not let his guard down.
Golems of a high rank like Gigarein possessed self-regeneration.
Though destroyed by great shock for the moment, given time, it would certainly recover its broken parts and attack Jeon.
He had to completely destroy Gigarein before that.
‘I have to find its core quickly.’
A golem would cease to operate if its core was destroyed.
The problem was where the core was hidden within this gigantic body.
There was only one way to find out.
That was to use Exion.
Jeon moved Exion inside through Gigarein’s knee joint.
Although it was a golem made of stone, it needed to receive mana from its core in order to move. That meant there existed a kind of pathway through which mana flowed.
This was called a ‘mana circuit.’
It was so minute that it couldn’t be detected by ordinary means. But Exion was even finer.
Exion swept through Gigarein’s interior at high speed and was finally able to locate the mana circuit.
Jeon focused his mind and infiltrated the mana circuit with Exion.
It was then.
Grind!
Along with a spine-chilling sound, Gigarein’s destroyed joint began to recover.
The shattered stone fragments and dust slowly returned to their places.
Jeon furrowed his brow at the sight, as if time were being reversed.
Gigarein’s knee had almost fully recovered.
It began to rise slowly.
Crimson light burst from its two eyes.
Jeon thought that it was enraged.
For an emotionless golem to feel rage was impossible in itself. But Gigarein was a monster of at least B-rank or higher. Perhaps feeling emotion was not entirely impossible.
He had to finish it before its rage was directed at him.
Jeon focused even more on controlling Exion.
Exion traveled up the mana circuit at high speed.
Starting from the knee, it reached the waist, and then the chest. Still, the core could not be sensed.
In the meantime, Gigarein had fully recovered from its injuries and risen.
Grind!
Its massive body finally stood upright.
The distance between Gigarein and Jeon was barely two meters.
It was close enough to reach out and touch.
Gigarein raised both arms high.
It intended to bring them down and completely smash Jeon.
Jeon saw the sight clearly as well. But he could not dodge.
If he dodged now, his concentration would scatter, and all his efforts so far would come to nothing.
SMASH!
Gigarein brought its two fists, raised high to the sky, straight down.
Even in that moment, Jeon focused his whole mind.
‘Found it!’
At the very instant Gigarein’s fists would crush him, he had finally located the core.
Jeon attacked the core using Exion.
KZZZZT!
In an instant, the core burst, and Gigarein ceased operation.
Gigarein’s two fists stopped right above Jeon’s head.
He had saved his life by barely a handspan.
“Hah!”
Jeon lost strength in his legs and sat down on the spot.
It was something he had done himself, but he simply couldn’t believe it.
No matter that he had absorbed Exion, the fact that he had taken down a B-rank monster didn’t feel real.
“Did I really catch this golem? Haha! Crazy…….”
He burst out laughing in disbelief.
But Jeon knew.
That catching Gigarein was due more to the difference in affinity than pure skill.
It was impossible to display this level of prowess against other B-rank monsters.
Zzzt!
Exion, which had stopped Gigarein’s core, flowed out again and was absorbed into Jeon’s body.
Jeon was sprawled out on his back, catching his breath.
Suddenly, an orange light flowed from his wrist inside the gauntlet.
Startled, Jeon removed the gauntlet, and light was flowing from the rank insignia on his wrist.
The third line was glowing.
He had clearly been promoted to D-rank.
“I’m D-rank now?”
His chest swelled with pride.
It was an achievement accomplished through his own power, without Deiodeun’s help.
He was proud of himself.
Upon becoming D-rank, his stamina and mana had completely recovered.
“Whew! Guess it’s not that easy to die.”
Jeon got up. And he looked at the Gigarein he had felled.
Gigarein remained frozen in the posture of bringing both fists down on him.
A golem with a destroyed core was nothing more than a lump of rock.
Unlike the skin of the Sand Angler or the carcass of the Queen Wolf Ant, there were no parts that Jeon could use.
Jeon set aside his disappointment and headed toward the entrance on the other side.
Now was not the time to worry about the fallen golem.
He had to hurry to Deiodeun.
Fortunately, no other golems appeared after Gigarein.
Thanks to that, Jeon was able to safely arrive at the end of the passage.
There was a door larger than the room where Gigarein had been.
Jeon gulped dryly.
‘If the door is this big, how big must the being inside be?’
Fear suddenly flooded in. But Jeon forced the feeling away.
“I’ve come all this way; I can’t turn back now. Let’s go.”
Jeon pushed the massive door with all his strength.
The door opened unbelievably smoothly.
The moment he saw the scene inside, Jeon’s eyes widened.
An unbelievable sight was unfolding.
A huge mass of light was vanishing.
In front of it stood Deiodeun, holding a crayon.
He could tell without asking.
That the vanishing light was the master of this temple.
‘Then did he kill a god?’
A shiver ran across Jeon’s entire body.
Just then, Deiodeun turned his head and looked at Jeon.
“You’re late, dumbass!”
Gulp!
Instead of answering, Jeon swallowed dryly.