Chapter 8
Jeon hurriedly entered the portal, following Deiodeun.
Once again, tremendous pressure crushed down on him, but having experienced it once before, he didn't lose his grip on his sanity.
“Where is this?”
It was the middle of a desert, blazing under the hot sun.
Just moments ago, he had been in a space where volcanoes were erupting, but as if by magic, the surrounding landscape had changed.
No matter how much he looked around, all he could see was scorching hot sand.
There was nothing in sight that could be used to identify his location.
Jeon asked Deiodeun.
“Where is this place?”
Snap!
Instead of answering, Deiodeun grabbed Jeon’s wrist and twisted it.
“Why… are you doing this?”
“I don’t see a rank insignia on your wrist. I clearly saw you using sand.”
“Grrgh!”
Jeon groaned in agony as his wrist felt like it was being crushed.
It felt as if his arm were caught in a massive press.
Jeon tried to pull his arm free with all his strength, but it was no use.
Deiodeun’s strength was far beyond what he could handle.
Jeon fell to his knees under the excruciating pain.
He finally understood the saying that when it hurts too much, even a scream won’t come out.
Deiodeun released Jeon’s arm, which he had been gripping tightly, and spoke.
“Well, there are many Awakened these days, so I suppose it’s not strange to find a freak like you.”
“Hurk!”
Only then did Jeon let out the groan he had been suppressing. Even so, the pain did not subside.
Jeon lost his temper for a moment and shouted.
“You old bastard! You almost broke my arm!”
“You really are frail as a cripple.”
“Argh!”
Unable to contain his anger, Jeon unleashed his Sand Blaster.
Boom!
Sand fired at high pressure slammed into Deiodeun’s chest. But not a single scratch appeared on Deiodeun’s chest.
Deiodeun brushed the sand off his chest and laughed.
“So you’ve definitely awakened the ability to control sand. Hehe!”
“So what? Did you do anything to help?”
“From now on, you’ll come with me, cripple!”
“My name is Jeon. Not cripple… you crippled old man.”
“If you’re weak, you’re a cripple.”
“You……”
“If you say one more word, I’ll tear your mouth apart.”
“Kuk!”
Jeon clamped his mouth shut without even realizing it.
Only then did his reason return.
The old man before him was a monster who had hunted the Crimson Drake, the dungeon’s final boss.
He was not someone who operated by common sense.
Jeon had lost his temper and talked back for a moment, but he had never been a match for Deiodeun from the start.
In Deiodeun’s eyes, Jeon was less than an ant.
A worthless existence that could be crushed with a single finger.
No matter what Jeon did, he could not even resist.
Deiodeun suddenly looked at Keureion and spoke.
“Yes! He seems to be only about F-rank now. It’ll take a long time before he’s useful.”
“…….”
“Hehe! I’ll work him hard. If he doesn’t die, he’ll get stronger.”
The sight of him muttering to himself while looking at Keureion didn’t look sane at all.
‘I’ve really gotten caught by a proper crazy old man.’
It was a desert without a single place to hide.
Escape was beyond even dreaming about.
Until he grew stronger, he had no choice but to accompany Deiodeun.
Deiodeun spoke.
“Follow me.”
“Yes!”
Jeon sighed and followed Deiodeun.
‘Lacking strength is a sin. A sin!’
＊＊＊
Deiodeun seemed unable to feel the heat.
Even as he walked across a desert without a single patch of shade, he showed no sign of fatigue or struggled with the heat.
Meanwhile, Jeon, who followed him, was at death’s door.
The sand, which sank heavily up to his ankles with every step, gnawed away at his stamina, and the blazing sun tormented him.
His entire body had long since been drenched in sweat.
“Huff… huff!”
His breathing grew rough on its own, and his steps slowed.
It was then.
“Hmph! You are quite the fool. To think you can’t even properly utilize one percent of the ability you possess.”
“What do you mean?”
“Haven’t you gained the ability to control sand?”
“So what?”
“Then use the sand. Why walk so laboriously?”
“Do you think it’s as easy as it sounds? I only awakened the day before yesterday.”
“What of it?”
“Damn it!”
Jeon bristled. Then Deiodeun stopped and turned around.
The look on his face as he gazed at Jeon was clearly one of contempt.
At that gaze, Jeon felt his eyes burn once more.
“I’m telling you, I’m F-rank. I’m not a high-ranking Awakened like you.”
“That’s why you’re a cripple. So what if you’re F-rank, and so what if someone is S-rank? Do you think anyone is born S-rank? Of course, there might be such bastards. Those guys are born blessed. But just because you weren’t blessed, are you going to give up and live like that? To others, you probably look plenty blessed yourself. So stop whining and think hard about how you can use your ability. What good is an intact body when your head is a cripple?”
“Can you please stop saying cripple?”
“If you don’t like the word cripple, you need to break that thick skull of yours first. Until then, you are the greatest cripple among cripples.”
In the end, Jeon couldn’t even win the argument and had to shut his mouth.
Deiodeun turned back and spoke.
“It’s your ability. Of course, you should know it best. So you must figure out how to grow it and how to use it.”
“And if I can’t figure it out?”
“You’ll die.”
“What?”
“Either I’ll kill you, or that sun will. One of the two.”
“…….”
With those words, Deiodeun began walking again.
Two long lines of footprints trailed behind where he had passed.
Jeon glared at the back of Deiodeun’s head.
‘Cripple? Break my thick skull?’
Something surged up from deep within his chest.
It was rage.
Rage toward Deiodeun, and rage toward himself.
The two fused together and blazed fiercely.
Jeon clenched his teeth.
‘Fine! I’ll do just that. I won’t let you call me a cripple ever again.’
Jeon steeled his resolve and followed Deiodeun. And he thought:
‘What I have is the ability to control sand. So I have to utilize the sand.’
Even though he had awakened as a sand sorcerer, he hadn’t actually grasped the extent of his ability.
He had merely used it on an ad-hoc basis to escape crises as they came.
This was the chance to clearly understand his limits. And he had to think intensely about how far he could utilize it.
Jeon moved his mana. Then, the sand in the vicinity was drawn to him and moved.
Like iron powder drawn to a magnet, the sand was pulled toward Jeon.
‘Roughly five meters in all directions from me?’
The closer sand moved quickly, while the distant sand moved slowly.
He could move it, but the reaction was slow.
This was also a problem he needed to contemplate.
But Jeon pushed this concern to the back of his mind.
Because there was something he needed to solve first.
Thud! Thud!
The sand sinking up to his ankles was the problem.
Every time he lifted his foot, it consumed an enormous amount of stamina. If he couldn’t solve this, Jeon would clearly be left behind in the desert.
‘If I compact the sand to harden the spot where I step?’
It was the method he had used when crossing the river of lava.
Jeon immediately hardened the sand beneath his feet.
Walking became much easier.
It took no more effort than walking on a stone-paved floor.
But there was a problem.
It was that the mana consumption was extreme.
Every time he hardened the ground beneath him, a chunk of mana drained away.
At this rate, he wouldn’t make it a few dozen meters before his mana was completely depleted.
Jeon gave up on this method.
Because he could clearly see what would happen to him after his mana ran out.
‘Either I’ll be baked dry by the sun and become a mummy, or I’ll become food for a demonic beast before that.’
The mere thought was horrifying.
Jeon thought of the next method.
‘My mana pool isn’t large yet. With this kind of reckless consumption, I can’t survive in the desert. So I have to think of an efficient way to reduce mana consumption.’
The next thing Jeon thought of was concentrating mana in both legs.
Just concentrating mana made his steps lighter and significantly reduced stamina consumption.
However, Jeon had to scrap this method as well.
Although it was useful for the moment, it wasn’t a method that utilized his ability—sand.
He was a sand sorcerer.
Then he had to hone his ability to utilize sand.
It would be hard right now, but it couldn’t be helped if he thought about the future.
The third method Jeon chose was moving the sand.
Moving the sand that touched the soles of his feet.
‘About the size of my foot, and roughly one centimeter thick.’
Jeon focused his mind.
Concentrating his control over such a limited space was harder than spreading it wide.
As the mana focused excessively, the sand instead lost its cohesion and scattered futilely.
Each time, Jeon also lost his balance and plunged into the sandy ground.
“Ngh!”
Fortunately, since he plunged into soft sand, he wasn’t injured, but he ended up with his mouth full of sand.
“Ptui, ptui!”
Jeon spat out the sand and got up.
His mouth was already dry because he hadn’t drunk any water, and the sand made it even more parched.
“Hah!”
Exhaustion was clearly visible on Jeon’s face.
Deiodeun was visible far ahead.
He hadn’t looked back even once.
As if he had no interest whatsoever in whether Jeon lived or died.
That sight made Jeon even angrier.
“Who’s fault is it that I’m in this state?”
Fury surged up again.
He thought that if it weren’t for Deiodeun, he would be comfortably resting in the mana stone mine by now.
Because it was so difficult and painful, his resentment and anger toward Deiodeun were so great that he couldn’t make rational judgments.
Jeon felt that he was gradually going mad.
It was clear that if he didn’t find a way quickly, he would truly go crazy.
‘Again!’
Jeon focused on the sand beneath his feet again.
The sand supporting his body slowly began to move.
Like the wheels of a train rolling along rails.
Only, the speed was extremely slow.
It was because Jeon was not yet accustomed to handling mana.
If his concentration wavered even slightly, the sand lost its movement and scattered futilely.
Each time, Jeon plunged headfirst into the ground.
He grew more and more tired, but Jeon did not give up.
He got up again and again and focused on the sand beneath his feet.
His efforts were not in vain.
He gradually grew accustomed to controlling the sand.
The sand carrying Jeon moved forward much more smoothly.
Srrrrk!
In a way, it seemed as if the sand was moving his body on its own.
But this was the culmination of Jeon’s efforts.
It was a movement made possible because he had fallen countless times and contemplated deeply.
However, there was still quite a lot of wasted mana.
At this rate, he wouldn’t be able to endure for very long.
Jeon focused and tried to use his mana efficiently.
Thanks to that, his mana was barely maintained, and Jeon was able to move across the sand much more comfortably.
Even without looking back, Deiodeun noticed Jeon’s condition.
The flow of mana, the movement of air, and the sound of Jeon’s breathing conveyed much information to him.
He could tell what kind of situation Jeon was in now without even needing to look.
Deiodeun muttered.
“He’s become a somewhat useful cripple.”
By his standards, Jeon still fell short.