Chapter 47
Eksion changed its shape freely from Jeon’s fist.
At times it became an awl to pierce through the chimera snakes, and at other times it became an axe to behead them.
He wasn’t given even a moment to catch his breath.
Jeon knew well that the moment his chain of attacks broke, it would mean death. Therefore, he desperately struggled to ensure Eksion’s flow did not cease.
Flash!
At that moment, lightning flew in again.
A special entity had attacked.
It was a skill called Lightthein, which gathered lightning to strike a single point.
Lightthein persistently targeted Jeon.
Jeon created a shield with Eksion and blocked Lightthein.
The scales of white lightning were stopped by Eksion and scattered in all directions.
Kieeeek!
Kuek!
The chimeras were electrocuted, their flesh bursting apart or burning black.
‘Oho!’
Jeon’s eyes lit up.
A good idea had come to him.
Fighting by moving himself wasn’t the only right answer.
Using the enemy’s power was also a valid method.
At that moment, the special entity unleashed Lightthein once more.
Jeon formed Eksion into a shield and tilted it diagonally.
Crackle!
The lightning struck Eksion’s shield and scattered in all directions.
Jeon adjusted the angle so the lightning would spread even further.
The battlefield became a scene of carnage in an instant.
Far more chimera snakes died than when Jeon fought by moving himself.
After its own attacks had killed the chimera snakes several times over, the special entity realized it was being used by Jeon. But by then, a path had already opened between the special entity and Jeon.
Jeon closed the distance in an instant and reached the special entity.
“Die!”
Jeon concentrated Eksion into his gauntlet and struck.
Thwack!
The special entity’s head burst apart.
Jeon moved to find the next special entity.
After finding and destroying the special entities in this manner and sweeping away the surrounding magical beasts, before he knew it, Jeon was standing all alone.
“Hah! Hah!”
Jeon leaned against a wall for a moment and caught his rough breath.
He had poured out all his strength in a short span of time, so exhaustion washed over him. But he couldn’t afford to rest leisurely and recover his stamina and mana.
Even at this very moment, Deiodeun would be advancing toward the Dragon.
To be of even a little help to him, Jeon had to keep moving without rest.
Jeon moved again.
The passage stretched on as if it had no end.
Fortunately, no chimeras appeared this time. Even so, he didn’t make the mistake of letting his guard down.
This was the lair of a Dragon, after all.
There was no way guardians were composed of chimeras of merely this level.
Something bigger and more powerful was clearly waiting up ahead.
Jeon checked his physical condition once more.
Fortunately, his condition wasn’t bad.
He had more stamina left than expected, and though slowly, his mana was steadily recovering.
At this rate, he wouldn’t be helpless no matter what enemy he encountered.
Jeon walked with his senses heightened to react at any time if an enemy appeared. Yet it was strangely quiet.
It was not that the enemy wasn’t moving; they seemed not to exist at all. Still, Jeon moved carefully without letting his guard down.
After walking for quite some time like that, a wide space suddenly appeared before his eyes.
It was a massive circular space, like an ancient Colosseum.
What filled the space, dozens of meters high and hundreds of meters in diameter, was, unexpectedly, sand.
‘What is this?’
Jeon furrowed his brow.
As a sand sorcerer, he should naturally have welcomed his greatest weapon being strewn all around him, but Jeon knew well that things in the world were never that easy.
There had to be a reason the floor of this Colosseum-like space was filled with sand.
Just as Jeon raised his dominion to grasp the situation within the sand—
Rustle!
Something suddenly appeared, parting the sand.
“What?”
Startled, Jeon tried to move the sand. But in the next moment, his body stiffened as if afflicted by a curse.
He hadn’t actually been cursed.
It was simply that the being emerging from the sand was so unexpected.
“A woman?”
And not just any woman, but a naked one without a single scrap of clothing.
Her hair rippled like mysterious blue seaweed, and her snow-white skin, as if dusted with snow, emitted a subtle radiance.
Her large eyes and lips shone red, as if ground rubies had been mixed into them.
The woman exuded an overflowing sensual allure.
Jeon’s face turned red in an instant.
Jeon had never even been near a woman in his life.
He had been too busy surviving to date women, let alone hold a hand.
He had absolutely no resistance to women.
Moreover, the woman who had suddenly appeared was a perfect naked beauty without even a rag to cover her.
Jeon’s eyes wandered frantically, losing anywhere to settle.
“U-uh!”
His mind went white as if truly cursed, and he couldn’t think of anything.
Even then, the naked woman was approaching Jeon.
The woman smiled at Jeon.
She was captivating Jeon with languid eyes and a seductive expression.
The red hue in the woman’s eyes deepened, and Jeon stared at her with his mouth agape.
To a boy not yet a man, a naked woman was far too intense a temptation.
His lower abdomen unconsciously tensed, and his lips went dry.
His hands floundered in the air, lost.
“Hoho!”
The woman laughed at Jeon as if he were cute.
That appearance drove Jeon even madder.
He couldn’t think of anything.
An intense desire to embrace that woman filled his entire head.
He had never felt such an intense desire before.
Jeon reached out his hand.
The woman smiled sweetly and took it.
In that instant, it felt like an electric current flowed through his whole body.
His desire grew stronger, and the urge to bite and suck on the woman quickly tormented him.
As if to tease Jeon, the woman circled around him for a moment. Jeon turned his body to follow her.
His gaze had already lost focus.
Only then did the woman approach close to Jeon.
Close enough for their faces to touch.
The woman gazed carefully at Jeon’s face, then moved toward his lips.
Her sweet breath stimulated Jeon’s sense of smell.
Just before the kiss, focus suddenly returned to Jeon’s eyes.
The smell coming from the woman’s breath had awakened his mind.
A faint fishy stench that one might smell from dead insects.
It was definitely a smell he had encountered not long ago.
“It’s a chimera!”
Jeon shouted furiously and threw a punch at the woman’s chest.
Boom!
Accompanied by an explosion, the woman who had been moments from kissing him slid backward. Her face was savagely contorted.
“How dare a mere human….”
“Fuck! I almost did it with a chimera. My first time, with something like a chimera… Ugh!”
Jeon trembled all over.
Just imagining it was horrifying.
It was only because no one was around; if anyone else had been present, he would have become a laughingstock for life.
“I won’t forgive you!”
Jeon erupted in anger.
The woman was equally furious.
“I’ll kill you.”
Shwack!
The woman’s body shot up into the air. Then her hidden true form was revealed.
“What? Is that for real?”
Jeon’s eyes went wide.
What had revealed itself, breaking through the sand, was a magical beast Hydra with nine heads. The part Jeon had believed to be a woman was actually the Hydra’s tail.
It was a massive chimera created by combining a Hydra and a Succubus.
The chimera’s name was Kaesyu.
It was one of the three great guardians that the Gold Dragon Haielteun had poured heart and soul into creating.
Haielteun had placed the three great guardians at the vital points of his lair.
Kaesyu boasted powerful regeneration, poison, and tremendous physical strength as one of them.
The scales surrounding its body possessed tremendous anti-magic power, granting it resistance to magical attacks.
The Hydra was a magical beast classified as A-rank.
It was not something Jeon, who was merely C-rank, could hope to handle.
“Hah! This is crazy!”
No matter how rapidly his abilities had developed recently to reach C-rank, he couldn’t even reach the feet of A-rank.
The gap between A-rank and B-rank was greater than the gap between C-rank and D-rank.
Moreover, his opponent was A-rank, while Jeon was merely C-rank.
An enormous gap existed that could never be bridged by effort or tenacity alone.
Furthermore, by merging with a Succubus, it had even gained outstanding intelligence and a skill called Charm.
The reason Jeon had lost his reason and been swept away by desire moments ago was because he had been afflicted by the Succubus’s Charm.
If not for the characteristic fishy stench of chimeras, Jeon would have had all his vitality drained and lost his life.
Though the Hydra was A-rank through its fusion with the Succubus, it possessed tremendous power close to S-rank.
He had no idea how to fight such a being.
“Die!”
At that moment, Kaesyu attacked.
Its nine heads spewed venom.
“Tch!”
Jeon bit his lip and urgently dodged.
Sizzle!
The sand touched by the venom melted instantly.
If struck directly by the venom, Jeon would have ended up the same way.
Just imagining it sent chills down his spine. But on the other hand, he saw a glimmer of hope.
He recalled that this massive underground cavity was completely filled with sand.
The place where Kaesyu, the fusion of Hydra and Succubus, stood was right on top of the sand.
Sand was his essence and his weapon.
Although there was a tremendous difference in rank, with this, the story changed.
“Good! Let’s give it a shot.”
Snap!
Jeon snapped his fingers.
Gaaang!
Sand began rotating at high speed around the Hydra.
He had unleashed Sand Mixer.
Screech!
Rough sand particles scraped across the Hydra’s surface at terrifying speed. But not a single wound appeared on the Hydra’s scales.
A barrier field that only magical beasts B-rank or higher could possess was protecting the Hydra.
Sand Mixer failed to wound the Hydra; rather, it only fanned the beast’s anger.
Kwooooo!
The nine heads vied to attack Jeon.
Jeon detonated Cremoa in front.
Kwa-boom!
Along with the explosion, thousands of sand beads clumped like iron balls struck the Hydra’s heads.
It was a skill with the power to send an ordinary Awakened to their death in a single blow. But it was insufficient to stop the Hydra.
Kuuuu!
The Hydra’s heads pierced through the scattering sand dust.
“Damn it!”
Jeon urgently unleashed Sand Step.
Tak!
One of the Hydra’s heads bit the spot where he had been standing.
If he had dodged even a moment slower, he would have been torn apart by those massive fangs.
The nine heads vied to attack Jeon.
Jeon unleashed Sand Missile and Cremoa in succession.
Kwa-kwa-kwang!
Thick dust rose with the explosions.
But on Kaesyu’s massive heads, there wasn’t a single scratch.
‘What should I do?’
Jeon desperately dodged Kaesyu’s attacks while racking his brain.
It was a hopeless situation, but he believed that if he didn’t give up, there would somehow be a way to turn the situation around.
“Hoho! Die.”
The Succubus fused to the Hydra’s tail sneered at Jeon.
In that instant, Jeon’s eyes lit up.
‘Would that woman possess the same toughness as the Hydra?’
The Hydra was covered in scales of tremendous hardness, but the Succubus was nothing more than a naked body without any protection.
‘If so….’
Jeon revised his target.
From behind the Succubus, sand soldiers rose silently.
While Jeon drew the attention of the Hydra and the Succubus, ten Sand Soldiers moved.
The Sand Soldiers covertly attacked the Succubus.
“Kyaaaak!”
At the unexpected attack, the Succubus let out a scream.