Chapter 44
“Keuk!”
Jeon coughed up blood.
His complexion was pale as a sheet of paper.
His right arm, clad in a gauntlet, hung limp with a compound fracture, and the impact of the fall from a hundred meters in the air had shattered both legs as well.
Even so, Jeon smiled.
Because his gauntlet-clad fist was touching Deiodeun’s face.
Deiodeun’s head had turned slightly to the side, and where the gauntlet had struck, a small wound had formed.
For a life-or-death gamble, the result was paltry, but Jeon was satisfied.
Because he had finally landed a hit on Deiodeun’s face.
“D-don’t underestimate me.”
With those words, Jeon collapsed.
Deiodeun silently watched Jeon, who had collapsed so unseemly, for a moment.
This was the first time he had allowed Jeon to land a strike.
Even Deiodeun, the greatest under heaven, had not anticipated an attack from a hundred meters in the air.
Thanks to that, he had received a very small wound on his face, but he didn’t feel bad about it.
Because Jeon had reached the level he desired.
This was how an Awakened should be.
If there was even the slightest possibility, one had to throw oneself boldly to find a breakthrough.
Most of the Awakened from a hundred years ago had thrown themselves like this to find possibility and develop their skills.
“Kek! Kuhk!”
Jeon let out rough, ragged breaths.
The price of throwing his body was that his breath was about to give out.
Deiodeun opened his subspace.
He took a potion from his subspace and had Jeon drink it. Then he took out another potion and poured it over Jeon’s entire body. At that, Jeon’s condition rapidly stabilized.
The potion he had used on Jeon was a highest-grade healing potion made in Neo Seoul.
Made with incredibly precious ingredients and with a difficult creation process, it was a precious item of which even Neo Seoul had only a few bottles.
It was a miracle elixir that could heal any wound in an instant, so long as one still drew breath.
Deiodeun’s subspace held a few more such healing potions.
“Haa!”
Shortly after, Jeon let out a breath and came to his senses.
Jeon, who had returned from the threshold of death, lay blankly for a moment.
It took some time for his mind to return to reality.
Once he had completely gathered himself, he opened his mouth.
“I’m still alive?”
“If you died from a mere wound like that, you wouldn’t be worth keeping alive.”
“Good grief…”
Jeon shook his head and raised himself up.
His whole body was sore, but it wasn’t to the point where he couldn’t move.
Compared to the price of a life-or-death gamble, this much pain was bearable.
Deiodeun looked at Jeon and spoke.
“Now you’re finally somewhat useful.”
“Should I say thank you?”
“Forget it. Take these.”
Deiodeun took a few items from his subspace and tossed them to Jeon.
They were clothes, leather armor, and a robe.
The clothes were ones he had obtained in Neo Seoul, and the armor and robe were items obtained from a dungeon.
Both the armor and the robe were items from an A-grade dungeon, far from ordinary.
The armor was made from leather of an unidentified demonic beast and was covered in incomprehensible characters.
“It’s somewhat weak against physical force, but in exchange, it’s an item with high magic resistance. It will be a great help to a weakling like you now.”
“You’re not going to wear it yourself?”
“Armor is for weaklings like you; I have no need for it.”
“Dammit!”
Jeon’s face crumpled sharply.
The fact that he couldn’t refute Deiodeun’s words saddened him.
*I’ll get stronger if only out of spite.*
Jeon changed his clothes and donned the armor over them.
The moment he put on the armor, a refreshing energy was felt throughout his body.
It seemed to be due to some magical treatment.
Jeon put on the robe over the armor.
The robe was similar in color to sand.
From afar, it was indistinguishable from the sand itself.
“Camouflage?”
Jeon flipped up the hood attached to the robe.
Deiodeun spoke.
“If you’re done dressing, let’s go.”
“Yes!”
The two left the Valley of Death, where they had stayed for several months.
During their stay, the Valley of Death had been destroyed to the point of being unrecognizable.
The great natural monument had collapsed unsightly, and sand was piling on top of it.
By the time they returned, this place would likely be covered in sand without a trace.
*If we could ever return, that is.*
***
Jeon and Deiodeun walked silently across the endlessly stretching desert.
The blazing sun tormented them relentlessly, but neither uttered a single complaint.
Deiodeun had lived in such a desert for a hundred years, and Jeon too had grown accustomed to life in the desert.
“Hm?”
Suddenly, Jeon stopped.
Deiodeun silently watched him.
During the months spent in the Valley of Hell, Jeon’s sense and control over sand had risen dramatically.
Now, when it came to senses in the desert, even Deiodeun could not match him.
The fact that Jeon had stopped like that was proof he had sensed something.
Shortly after, he opened his mouth.
“I sense a water source. It seems an oasis will form near here.”
“Is that so?”
The moment Deiodeun made an expression of interest, moisture suddenly rose from the sand.
At first it was slightly damp, but as time passed, the amount of water pooling on the ground gradually increased.
Before long, the wet sand sank deep into the ground, and a fairly large oasis formed.
“Ho!”
Just as Jeon had said, the oasis had formed in an instant, and Deiodeun was slightly surprised.
Desert oases are like mirages.
They appear suddenly one day and disappear again.
They don’t disappear completely but move to strange places by riding the desert currents.
Humans cannot predict that change.
Yet Jeon had sensed the oasis forming here in advance.
It was an ability an ordinary Awakened could hardly imagine.
Jeon asked Deiodeun.
“It’ll be here too, right?”
“You mean the Sand Angler?”
“Yes!”
“It will. These drifting oases that move with the currents always have one.”
“As expected.”
Jeon nodded.
The oasis that had appeared suddenly had already grown to the size of a pond.
Jeon peered into the oasis.
Deep within, a faint light could be seen.
The bewitching lantern that mesmerized those who looked at it was precisely the Sand Angler.
A C-grade demonic beast that lured and devoured people or beasts who came to the oasis.
Jeon had nearly been devoured once before.
Had it not been for Deiodeun, he would have been devoured and vanished from this world without a trace.
That didn’t mean he held any special feelings toward the Sand Angler.
This was that kind of world.
Eat or be eaten.
A place where anything was permitted in order to survive.
The Sand Angler mesmerized to survive, and Jeon too sought to catch the Sand Angler to survive.
Jeon leaped right into the oasis.
The Sand Angler, sensing him, rapidly approached.
The lantern grew clearer, and behind it, a gigantic maw.
Perhaps thinking Jeon was already caught prey, it approached at top speed without a hint of wariness.
Jeon waited for the Sand Angler to approach and swung his right fist.
Exion condensed over his gauntlet.
He shoved the Exion, clumped like a drill, straight into the Sand Angler’s mouth.
“Puhwack!”
Like a fish pierced by a harpoon, the Sand Angler thrashed violently, its palate pierced.
Ordinary sand lost its cohesion underwater and crumbled helplessly, but Exion was different.
Exion, a weapon exclusive to Sand Sorcerers, maintained whatever form Jeon desired even underwater.
*Now!*
Jeon rotated the Exion he had shoved into the Sand Angler’s mouth.
“Grrang!”
Exion instantly crushed the Sand Angler’s brain.
That was the end of the C-grade demonic beast, the Sand Angler.
The Sand Angler floated to the surface, belly-up.
Jeon dragged the Sand Angler out.
*Not bad!*
The corner of Deiodeun’s mouth rose slightly.
Water was the greatest enemy of sand.
Yet Jeon was freely wielding Exion even underwater.
It was proof that he had a good grasp of how to utilize his abilities.
Jeon began dismantling the dragged-out Sand Angler.
First, he skinned it.
He had taken the hide first because he knew its soft, elastic texture would demonstrate the best performance if made into a robe.
Next, he cut the meat by parts.
Not a single piece of the Sand Angler’s meat was worth throwing away.
It had almost none of the toxic energy usually found in demonic beast meat, and its taste was quite good.
The best part among them was the gallbladder.
When they had caught a Sand Angler before, Deiodeun had made Jeon eat the gallbladder first.
Jeon handed over a gallbladder the size of an adult’s torso to Deiodeun.
“Here, eat this.”
It was a precious medicine rarely found under the heavens.
There was nothing better than a Sand Angler’s gallbladder for strengthening the bones and muscles.
Jeon knew well how effective it was, having already taken it before.
But Deiodeun refused Jeon’s offer outright.
“I don’t need it.”
“If you’re going to fight a dragon, shouldn’t you prepare your body in advance?”
“Do you think something like a Sand Angler’s liver could affect my body? A weakling like you should scarf it down.”
“Tch! You just had to put it that way…”
Without replying, Deiodeun picked up another part of the Sand Angler.
“Fwoosh!”
Flames soared above his hand.
It was fire made of mana.
The soft meat of the Sand Angler cooked in an instant.
Deiodeun chewed the well-cooked meat slowly and thoroughly.
Jeon, who had been watching him for a moment, also began to eat the Sand Angler’s gallbladder.
The gallbladder was most effective when eaten raw.
Once again, an intense heat was felt.
But unlike last time, no dramatic change occurred.
It was because he had already consumed a Sand Angler’s gallbladder before, and his body had developed accordingly.
Even after devouring an entire Sand Angler gallbladder the size of an adult’s torso, Jeon’s stomach remained the same.
He felt satiated, but his stomach didn’t bulge or feel uncomfortable.
He had experienced it once before, but it was no less wondrous.
The two ate their fill for the first time in a while.
As they had done before, they intended to stay here until they had eaten all of the Sand Angler’s meat.
Jeon lay back against a sand dune.
Lying like this, he had nothing to envy in the world.
At first, he had followed Deiodeun by force.
It had been an unavoidable choice to survive.
But after growing stronger to some degree, he accompanied Deiodeun purely of his own will.
Swept away like a raging current, he had wandered the desert mindlessly and somehow ended up here.
*A battle with a dragon? Crazy! No, is this success? I really don’t know.*
A worthless boy who had struggled day by day in the slums of Neo Seoul had come to where a dragon was.
It was something no one could have imagined.
Even Jeon, who had awakened as a Sand Sorcerer.
Each day felt like a dream.
But Jeon’s sentimental time didn’t last long.
“Thud!”
Footsteps could be heard from afar.
*A demonic beast?*
Jeon hurriedly sat up, and Deiodeun was already staring intently in the direction of the footsteps.
But Deiodeun’s expression was unusual.
His face, which never tensed no matter what demonic beast he faced, was hard as stone.
He looked ready to swing the Keureion stuck in the ground at any moment.
Jeon tensed up as well.
Finally, the owner of the footsteps revealed itself.
*A human?*
The one who appeared was, unexpectedly, a human.
With surprisingly lush, glossy blonde hair and skin that was pure white as if it had never seen sunlight, yet without a single wrinkle, he gave off a bizarre atmosphere.
His eyes were red as though blood vessels had burst, and between thin lips, sharp fangs were visible among his impressively white teeth.
He opened his mouth upon seeing the two.
“Greetings.”