Sand Mage of the Burnt Desert

Chapter 34

Dyoden scanned the surroundings with a sharp gaze.

“The air feels different.”

“What do you mean?”

Zeon looked at him puzzled.

Dyoden didn’t respond.

Though Zeon’s expression contorted, he remained indifferent.

Explaining everything from start to finish wouldn’t aid growth.

It’s in feeling, questioning, and pondering that one truly grows.

Dyoden had grown that way and applied his method to Zeon as well.

Zeon had been keeping up well so far, but there was still room for improvement.

He needed to ponder more intensely to become much stronger than he was now.

Despite being in the heart of the desert, the air remained scorching, yet it carried a dark energy within.

Having traversed the desert for a long time, this peculiar sensation was a first for Dyoden.

After a while, Zeon seemed to sense something odd, tilting his head.

Dyoden thought Zeon’s reaction wasn’t bad.

This unfamiliar territory was unlike any Dyoden had explored before.

While deserts might seem identical, they held distinct characteristics.

Some had endless valleys, while others were filled with quicksand where sand flowed like a river.

Just by observing these traits, one could roughly guess the location. Yet, Dyoden swore he’d never encountered a place with these characteristics among the regions he’d roamed.

It felt as though the very air was hostile toward humans.

Grumble!

Kreion’s scabbard vibrated.

Dyoden nodded in response.

“I know. My friend!”

It was thanks to Kreion that he did not feel lonely even though he had been wandering the world for over a hundred years.

Kreion’s presence prevented Dyoden from succumbing to madness, allowing him to maintain his sanity.

Crunch!

The sand underfoot crumbled finely and dispersed in the wind.

Certainly, this sand felt different from any Dyoden had trodden before.

The desert sand lacked cohesion. It shouldn’t crumble with just a bit of pressure; yet, this place was different.

Everything here was distinct.

Without letting his guard down, Dyoden continued walking. However, his vigilance faded as nothing eventful happened for several days.

Suddenly, an unusual sight caught Dyoden’s eye.

“What’s that?”

Far in the distance, a reddish-brown terrain stood out.

It was noticeably different from the sandy color of the desert they’d traversed.

Having lived in the desert for a hundred years, Dyoden had never seen a place with this hue.

Far beyond the reddish-brown terrain, something towering stood, reminiscent of the castles seen only in storybooks.

“A castle in the middle of the desert?”

Dyoden’s gaze became deeply absorbed.

He had seen various colonies, including Neo Seoul Colony, with his own eyes.

None of the colonies he’d seen resembled a structure like this castle.

There was nothing more to ponder.

Dyoden set the castle as his destination and started walking towards it.

He sensed Zeon diligently following behind.

Just removing the barrier that had been hindering him was all he needed Zeon to do.

Yet, Dyoden didn’t tell Zeon to turn back.

If they had come this far together, seeing it through to the end together was the right thing to do, just as Zeon had said.

Whatever the outcome might be.

After a full day’s walk, they finally reached the reddish-brown terrain.

The moment their feet touched the reddish-brown ground.

Thud!

Suddenly, something pierced through the ground, revealing itself.

It was an arm.

Flesh rotten, bones exposed, the arm emerged from the ground and pulled up a body.

What surfaced from the reddish-brown terrain was clearly a corpse.

A corpse clad in armor.

Though the flesh seemed halfway decayed, exposing the bones vividly, somehow, the creature was moving, alive.

Dyoden immediately recognized the identity of the corpse.

“Is it undead?”

A phenomenon where corpses would move for some peculiar reason, despite having heard about it in stories, seeing it first hand was a first for him.

There was not just one undead.

Following that, numerous undead burst through the ground.

Cloaks and armor fluttering in the wind, swords held in hand—the sight resembled medieval knights.

Dyoden scanned the surroundings, wondering if he had unwittingly entered a dungeon.

If it were a dungeon, such occurrences wouldn’t be surprising at all.

Anything was possible within a dungeon—a fragmented piece of reality, a dimension warped beyond human imagination.

However, this wasn’t a dungeon.

It was undeniably reality.

Undead rising in reality.

“Not a dungeon, yet phenomena similar to one. Seems like I’ve stumbled upon something proper.”

Dyoden grinned.

Unknowingly, a glint of his characteristic madness sparkled in his eyes.

“Come at me! Those who haven’t found peace.”

His maniacal shout was the detonator.

Roar!

The undead knights charged at Dyoden in a straight line.

Their bodies decayed, yet their former skills hadn’t diminished, making the undead knights’ movements disturbingly agile when facing Dyoden’s formidable presence.

Clang!

Dyoden’s sword clashed with the undead knights’, creating a cacophony of metal.

***

The battle between Dyoden and the undead knights was fierce.

Displaying skills reminiscent of their former living selves, the undead knights’ prowess were remarkable.

They managed to keep the fight somewhat equal against the colossal being known as Dyoden. But it was only possible because Dyoden allowed it.

Crack!

One of the undead knights was cleaved in half by Dyoden’s strike.

From waist down, the cleaved undead knight collapsed gracelessly.

For a regular person, it would have been a fatal blow resulting in immediate death. But the undead knights were already dead.

A being that had died once, couldn’t die again.

Slither!

The halves of the undead knight’s body rejoined seamlessly in an instant.

Zeon muttered.

“This is what being undead means?”

He was observing but did not directly participate in the battle

It was Dyoden’s battle.

Just like Dyoden had watched him in the sand dungeon, it was Zeon’s turn to observe this time.

His role ended with removing the barrier blocking their path.

From now on, he had to watch as a bystander.

Unless Dyoden wished otherwise.

“Hehehe!”

Dyoden’s maniacal laughter echoed, he seemed genuinely pleased.

Despite being deceased, they were also knights.

Warriors wielding swords.

Their once-learned swordsmanship was being manifested through their decaying bodies.

It had been a very long time since he had engaged in a true sword battle.

Dyoden faced the undead knights purely with swordsmanship, not using any mana. Still, the undead knights couldn’t match him.

Slash!

Every swing of Kreion made the undead knights fall in halves. However, they quickly recovered and charged back at Dyoden.

Since they were already dead, they felt no fear and experienced no pain.

In some ways, they were akin to the Sand Soldiers that Zeon had faced.

Another similarity was their numbers.

Thud! Thud!

More undead knights continued to emerge from the ground.

The number of undead knights seemed to easily surpass several hundred at a glance.

The undead knights charged madly at Dyoden, ignoring Zeon’s presence nearby and focusing solely on attacking Dyoden.

Dyoden cut through the undead knights, advancing forward towards the distant visible castle.

Now, it was clearly visible.

The castle bore the semblance of a medieval stronghold. Yet, it wasn’t entirely identical.

It possessed an elegance and sharpness beyond comparison.

The walls were adorned with inscrutable symbols.

Although now faded into a deep gray, they must have been vibrant and vivid when they were initially crafted.

Strangely, the patterns etched on the walls seemed familiar to Zeon.

Digging into his memory, Zeon soon pulled out a book from the subspace—an item he had taken from the elf village Dyoden had annihilated.

As he flipped through the book, he discovered identical symbols engraved on the castle walls.

“Is this related to the elves?”

However, considering it as the elves’ architectural design seemed odd.

Based on what he had witnessed in the elf village Dyoden had annihilated, they lacked the capacity to construct such massive structures.

More than anything, the undead knights who were currently obstructing Dyoden were all human.

If the castle truly had connections to the elves, the undead knights would have been composed of elves, not humans.

The undead knights threw themselves at Dyoden, yet he was akin to a colossal tsunami, destroying and sweeping away everything blocking his path.

Despite the undead knights’ bodies being shattered and recovered repeatedly, the outcome remained the same.

Dyoden crushed and moved forward relentlessly until he finally reached the castle.

Bang!

He shattered the castle door and stepped inside. Instantly, the undead knights who had been obstructing him ceased their attacks.

Zeon glanced at the undead knights with a puzzled expression.

The undead knights remained motionless, as if all their functions had ceased like a switched-off machine.

“What’s going on?”

Yet, thanks to this, Zeon could enter the castle without difficulty.

Dyoden plunged Kreion into the ground and shouted.

“Come forth! The master of this castle.”

His shout echoed like a storm, shaking the massive structure.

Then, it happened.

As if responding, a bright light emerged from the castle floor.

The light turned into lines, sketching a picture on the floor in an instant.

The completed picture depicted a circular fortress enclosed by several rings. In between these rings were densely packed elven characters.

“Is this a magic circle?”

The intense glow from the magic circle revealed something within it.

Standing taller than the undead knights by at least twice the size, adorned with a helmet sporting three horns and a suit of metal armor of unknown origin.

Draped across the shoulders was a torn gray cloak, and at the waist hung a sword as massive as Kreion.

Within the knight’s helmet, a crimson glow flickered, while an ominous darkness cloaked its entire body.

He was the master of this castle.

Dyoden bared his white teeth and grinned.

“What’s your name? Knight!”

Zeon naturally assumed the knight wouldn’t be able to respond, considering the decay of his vocal cords, rendering him unable to make any sound.

However, the outcome differed from Zeon’s expectations.

“Ah… ka… ruk!”

Sounds akin to cave echoes emanated from the knight’s mouth.

Dyoden stated.

“My name is Dyoden. Akaruk!”

“Dy… o… den! Kill me and break this curse…”

Suddenly, the knight’s voice ceased.

In its place, a sinister gray aura emanated from the knight’s entire body.

The gray aura flickered like a living being, enveloping the cloak.

Whoosh!

The gray aura even enveloped the knight’s gigantic sword.

Swoosh!

The castle trembled as if an earthquake had occurred.

Dyoden gripped Kreion firmly and declared.

“Akaruk! I’ll end this curse of yours. Former knight…”