Chapter 32
The sandstorm blew fiercely.
They had walked for several days and nights, but far from weakening, the sandstorm raged even more violently.
Jeon and Deiodeun forged ahead, cutting through the storm.
Deiodeun covered his nose and mouth with cloth. Otherwise, he would inhale sand with every breath.
It was a situation that would weary not only Deiodeun but any traveler crossing the desert. But Jeon was the exception.
Unlike Deiodeun, Jeon walked with his bare face exposed.
The sand, flying as if to gouge out flesh, could not affect him in the slightest.
It was not that Jeon consciously protected his body.
It was a phenomenon that occurred naturally as his abilities rose and his talent blossomed.
He resonated with the sand as naturally as if he were breathing.
Though the whipping sandstorm limited his vision, Jeon knew the situation dozens of meters away as if reading his own palm.
Jeon sensed something foreign.
It was an object that was not sand.
‘What is it?’
Jeon made a puzzled expression. But Deiodeun walked straight toward it as if he knew exactly what was there.
What appeared before them was a massive pillar in the shape of a hexahedron.
Its black surface was covered in incomprehensible characters.
Deiodeun stroked the black pillar and murmured.
"So I see you again."
"Have you been here before?"
"I discovered it by chance thirty years ago. This is my first time back."
"What is this?"
"I don't know either."
"What?"
"I discovered it by chance."
That was the literal truth.
At the time, Deiodeun had been consumed by far greater rage than now.
He maintained some reason now, but back then he had none at all.
Madness ruled his mind. That was why he committed a massacre in Neo Seoul.
He slaughtered the other races living within Neo Seoul.
The people of the slums didn’t know, but other races had been living inside Neo Seoul.
Those who had strayed from their herds and settled in Neo Seoul for various reasons.
They had built their own territories and lived as members of Neo Seoul.
Their role had been immense in allowing Neo Seoul to achieve harmony between magic and science.
But for some reason, Deiodeun killed most of them overnight.
Not many of the other races survived.
Naturally, Neo Seoul was turned upside down.
It was because of this that Deiodeun earned the nickname "Butcher."
Neo Seoul placed an enormous bounty on his head and pursued him. But all who pursued him lost their lives.
After that, Deiodeun wandered the desert and eventually came here, discovering by chance the massive pillar exposed above the sand.
"This pillar is the center of the barrier."
"Barrier? What kind of barrier?"
"Do you think this sandstorm is normal? No matter how much a desert it is, does the wind blow without rest like this?"
"Hmm!"
Jeon looked around.
Violent wind blew without pause, so fierce that he couldn’t see an inch ahead.
Only because it was Deiodeun, who had surpassed human limits, and Jeon, who had Awakened as a Sand Sorcerer, could they endure it. An ordinary Awakened would lose their sense of direction, wander, and collapse.
"This certainly isn't natural."
"Indeed. It is clear the barrier is preventing humans from approaching any further."
"Then we must destroy that pillar to break the barrier."
"Physical attacks do not work on that pillar. It is both the center of the barrier and a dungeon."
"A dungeon?"
"Yes. It is also the reason I brought you here."
"What?"
"You will understand naturally once we enter."
Deiodeun infused mana into the massive pillar.
In an instant, the characters carved into the pillar began to glow, and soon the entire pillar blazed with light.
The light swallowed Deiodeun and Jeon.
A moment later, Jeon cautiously opened his eyes.
"Where is this?"
"Yes! It's a desert."
Deiodeun, who was beside him, answered.
Just as he said, the landscape spread before Jeon's eyes was a desert.
The only difference was that here, the sandstorm did not blow.
"So the dungeon's environment is a desert."
"Yes! It's exactly the same as the outside."
Deiodeun knew not how absurd he had found it when he first entered.
He had finally found a dungeon and entered, only to find a desert.
Like this, he couldn't tell what was different from the world outside.
"What is inside here?"
"I don't know."
"What?"
"If there is one thing different about this desert from the one outside, it is that your senses are disrupted and you cannot fix a direction."
"Hmm!"
Jeon looked up at the sky.
But he could not see the sun.
Even though he could clearly feel the scorching heat just like in the outside desert.
The only way to distinguish inside the dungeon from outside was the presence or absence of the sun.
"There is definitely something here. But I cannot find it."
Deiodeun's instincts were whispering.
That what was inside was extremely important.
The problem was that they had to find and destroy the boss or item that served as the dungeon's core within seven days.
Otherwise, on the eighth day, they would be transferred outside.
He had challenged it many times, but each time was no good.
He had feared no demonic beast, no matter how fearsome. But inside this unidentified dungeon, Deiodeun had been powerless.
"We must conquer this dungeon. Only then can we advance beyond that barrier."
The barrier outside had also rejected Deiodeun.
If he simply passed the black pillar, he would wander in the sandstorm and before he knew it, return to where he started.
Only then did Deiodeun realize.
That unless he conquered this dungeon, there was no place for him to advance.
Jeon was the only hope of conquering this dungeon.
This dungeon filled with sand was the optimal environment for Jeon to display his abilities.
If he could not find the dungeon's core, no Awakened in the world could conquer this dungeon.
"From now on, you take the lead. I will follow behind you."
"Hoo! My responsibility is heavy. If I find the core, will you stop calling me a cripple then?"
"I shall call you a slightly capable cripple."
"You old dog."
Jeon grumbled and took the lead.
Though he spoke like that, his expression was more serious than ever.
It was a dungeon that not even Deiodeun under heaven could conquer.
Of course, it was said to be due to compatibility rather than ability, but still, he couldn't help but feel secretly excited to take on a dungeon that even Deiodeun couldn't solve.
Jeon raised his dominion to the maximum. Then his senses stretched out through the sand.
"What?"
Jeon was startled.
Because the domain his senses reached was hundreds of meters.
His domain had rapidly expanded recently, but it had never been this overwhelming.
It was likely due to the dungeon's influence.
While he was at it, Jeon checked on Eksion as well.
Its activity level was clearly different from outside.
'What is this dungeon? Is it related to the Sand Sorcerer?'
Deiodeun had once said.
That occasionally dungeons appeared linked to specific Awakened classes.
He had said that it was several times more difficult for other Awakened to conquer such dungeons than normal ones.
Perhaps this dungeon was one related to his class, the Sand Sorcerer.
'I'll know when I get there.'
Jeon unfolded his Sand Steps and moved forward.
He had traveled with Deiodeun for several months, but this was the first time he took the lead.
Deiodeun followed behind with his arms crossed.
It meant he was leaving all decisions to Jeon.
'There's no use charging forward blindly. I need to fix a direction first.'
He had no need for something like a compass.
If this dungeon was truly related to him, the sand would tell him the direction he needed to go.
Whoooosh!
Fine sand particles flowed out from his entire body and floated around him.
Jeon, wrapped in Eksion, looked like a black ghost.
After floating about freely for a moment, Eksion soon began to ripple toward a certain direction.
Jeon unfolded his Sand Steps in the direction Eksion pointed, and Deiodeun followed.
When he activated Eksion, Jeon's senses expanded even further.
He could even detect the movement of sand nearly a kilometer away.
Though it was clear this sensation would disappear once he left the dungeon, in this moment it was quite exhilarating.
It felt as though he had become the god of this dungeon.
Jeon advanced, fully savoring his elation.
He walked like that for a full two days.
The desert was so vast it was hard to believe it was a world inside a dungeon.
It felt as though he were walking not inside a dungeon but in the outside world.
No matter where he looked, there was only sand.
It was a featureless terrain.
There was not a single element to fix one's direction.
Not just Deiodeun, but any Awakened who entered here would have their senses disrupted and be forced to wander.
Jeon stopped his Sand Steps and murmured.
"It seems this is the place."
Eksion no longer indicated a direction and floated around his body.
As if its task was done.
Jeon reabsorbed Eksion and looked around.
It was a scenery no different from where he had walked until now.
But it was different.
Though Deiodeun couldn't sense anything strange, Jeon felt the difference on his skin.
The flow, color, and even the particles of the sand were all different.
"Huuu!"
Jeon took a deep breath and raised his dominion.
Swoosh!
In that instant, ripples formed beneath his feet.
The sand surged in circles and spread out around him.
"Hmm!"
Deiodeun watched Jeon with an expression of interest.
Because the sand seemed alive.
As the surrounding sand was pushed outward, Jeon's body slowly sank underground.
He had opened paths to dungeons a hundred meters underground before, but it was incomparable to now.
Jeon was already sinking hundreds of meters underground.
The amount of sand pushed aside was enormous.
Even if all the heavy equipment of Neo Seoul were mobilized, they couldn't excavate this much sand in such a short time.
A massive cavern appeared hundreds of meters below where the sand had been pushed away.
Without a moment's hesitation, Jeon walked into the cavern, and Deiodeun followed.
The moment they disappeared into the cavern, the displaced sand flowed back and returned to its original state.
Deiodeun clicked his tongue.
"No wonder I couldn't find it no matter how much I wandered."
No matter how great Deiodeun was, he couldn't grasp the situation hundreds of meters underground.
If it weren't for Jeon, no matter how many times he entered, he wouldn't have found such a space.
It was certainly a dungeon for a Sand Sorcerer.
"What could be inside?"
He had cleared countless dungeons until now.
Among them were dungeons with S-rank bosses. But no demonic beast could match Deiodeun.
Deiodeun had obtained every useful thing from dungeons. Growing stronger and stronger, he had achieved the mighty power he wielded today.
If this was truly a dungeon for a Sand Sorcerer, whatever appeared would surely be helpful to Jeon.
It was then.
Swoosh!
Suddenly, the sand on the cavern floor surged up and began to clump together.
In an instant, the sand clumped together and formed a human shape.
Because it was made of sand, it wasn't precise, and everything was crude.
Eyes, nose, mouth, fingers, and toes—all were unbearably rough.
Though no one had told him, the moment he saw the sand human, Jeon realized its identity.
"Sand... Soldier!"
A sand soldier—a Sand Soldier.
As if it had heard Jeon's voice, the Sand Soldier attacked.