Sand Mage of the Burnt Desert Chapter 665

Chapter 665

There were giants walking through the desert.

With massive, menacing clubs slung over their shoulders, the one-eyed giants swaggering across the sands were Cyclopes.

Along with Ogres, Cyclopes belonged to the highest danger-tier group of monsters.

Their actual rank was only B-rank, but they were considered more dangerous than A-rank monsters.

A towering physique over seven meters tall.

Overwhelming physical strength.

Incredible magic resistance that could simply deflect most spells.

Above all, they walked on two legs and possessed the ability to think.

The Cyclops tribe was moving away from its territory.

A new monster had settled in the land they had once ruled.

An S-rank monster had established its nest there, forcing the Cyclopes to abandon their territory.

No matter how dangerous the Cyclopes were compared to A-rank monsters, they were no match for an S-rank.

To survive, they abandoned their old domain and searched for a new place to settle.

For the Cyclopes, it was a disaster, but within the ecosystem of monsters, chain migrations like this were not uncommon.

This time, the Cyclopes were simply the ones caught in it.

The Cyclops tribe had traveled a long distance in search of a new home.

As a result, their savagery had reached its peak.

They were exhausted and hungry.

They occasionally caught small monsters to stave off their hunger, but it wasn't enough to satisfy them.

—Kraaah!

—Kyaaah!

With their tempers stretched to the limit, the Cyclopes had begun snapping at one another.

They looked ready to swing their clubs at each other at any moment.

—Kwooo!

Just then, the leader Cyclops let out a roar and pointed ahead.

Where he pointed stood a massive canyon.

Delight filled the faces of the Cyclopes when they spotted it.

From experience, canyons made ideal habitats.

The only question was who owned it.

If it belonged to some insignificant monster, they would kill it and take the place.

But if it belonged to something stronger than the Cyclopes, they would either flee or make a wide detour.

The Cyclopes burned with fighting spirit.

Though they had been forced to flee their former territory without being able to put up much resistance, Cyclopes were still among the upper ranks of monsters.

That meant there were not many creatures in this desert that could stand against them.

Moreover, they traveled as a pack.

If more than a dozen Cyclopes attacked together, even formidable monsters usually turned tail and ran.

Just as the Cyclopes themselves had done not long ago.

—Kroooaar!

The leader Cyclops bellowed.

It was a cry that meant, ‘Kill them. Take it.’

The other Cyclopes answered in agreement.

Following their leader, they charged into the canyon.

But when they arrived, they could only wear puzzled expressions.

They had been certain another monster would be there, yet they couldn't sense the presence of a single living thing inside.

The canyon was narrower than it had appeared from outside.

Inside, between two cliffs shaped like the jaws of some beast, it was completely empty.

It was an ideal environment for monsters to inhabit, making the lack of an owner strange.

Unfortunately, the Cyclopes weren't intelligent enough to wonder why.

—Kraaaah!

The Cyclopes raised their clubs to the sky in celebration of claiming a new territory.

Whatever the reason, obtaining a new nest was worth celebrating.

The leader Cyclops, in particular, was overjoyed.

He believed that by expanding their territory from this canyon, they would one day regain their former glory.

—Kwooo?

Then the leader Cyclops noticed something strange.

The towering cliffs on either side of the canyon had moved ever so slightly.

At first, he thought he had imagined it.

But what he saw was neither an illusion nor a mistake.

Rustle!

Sand and pebbles tumbled down from the cliffs.

Proof that the cliffs were moving.

—Guu?

The leader Cyclops thought the shape of the cliffs resembled the jaws of a monster.

The other Cyclopes also sensed that something was wrong and looked around warily.

Then it happened.

Crunch!

The two cliffs snapped shut like lightning, swallowing the entire pack of Cyclopes inside in an instant.

—Kwooo!

—Kaaah!

The Cyclopes screamed as they struggled desperately to escape.

But there was no escaping the tightly closed cliffs.

Crunch! Crunch!

The cliffs began greedily chewing on the Cyclopes.

Their powerful bodies were torn apart and crushed.

The leader Cyclops had been right.

The cliffs were not cliffs at all.

What the Cyclopes had mistaken for cliffs were actually the jaws of a monster.

An unimaginably enormous monster that had rooted itself deep beneath the sand like a tree, leaving its canyon-shaped mouth wide open.

It possessed characteristics similar to a carnivorous plant.

It lured monsters searching for safe nests and devoured them like this.

That was why no monsters lived in this area.

Every monster that had wandered nearby had ended up digested inside its stomach.

After swallowing all ten Cyclopes, the nameless monster opened its mouth wide once more.

It opened its jaws to catch the next monster that would someday come.

Then—

Whoosh!

Suddenly, all the nearby sand rushed at once into the monster's canyon-like mouth.

Startled by the unexpected event, the monster hurriedly tried to close its jaws.

But by then, an enormous quantity of sand had already packed its mouth completely full.

Gaaang!

The sand filling the monster's mouth, along with all the surrounding sand, began spinning violently.

It was as though the entire desert had become a vortex.

Shrrrkk!

Its rocky outer shell was ground away by the sand, sending sparks flying.

The gigantic monster had lived for over a hundred years with its roots buried in the sand.

Those roots extended hundreds of meters underground.

Because of that, it had never been shaken by fierce sandstorms or damaged by outside impacts.

In terms of sheer weight and defensive power, no other monster could compare to this nameless creature.

Like Gaia and Arisedon, it was a unique monster that existed nowhere else in the world.

If not for this situation, its existence might never have been revealed.

Rumble!

The sand continued grinding away at the monster's outer shell.

Before long, the monster's mouth, which had looked like towering cliffs, had been reduced to less than half its original size.

At that point, it could no longer remain disguised as a canyon.

—Kwooo!

Roaring furiously, the monster rose above the ground.

After the canyon-like jaws, its long trunk, like a massive log, emerged.

Beneath its rocky body writhed countless tendrils resembling fine roots.

Its appearance was so grotesque it could hardly be called a normal living creature.

Then someone appeared above the monster's head.

Standing upon a stream of sand as he looked down at the ground was Zeon.

"A monster disguised as a canyon. I never would have believed it if I hadn't seen it myself."

Zeon clicked his tongue.

He had encountered and fought more monsters than anyone else, yet this was the first time he had seen one with such a bizarre form.

It was a monster hundreds of meters in size.

It had evolved in a unique direction.

Instead of walking on four legs like Arkelon and other monsters, it had rooted itself in one place like a tree.

Zeon had not discovered it by chance.

The Exion he had spread throughout the sand had detected something unusual and relayed it to him.

Over the past ten days, as he had become one with the sand, Zeon's power had grown explosively.

He had fully realized Exion's potential and learned how to use it efficiently.

As a result, he had detected the monster disguised as a canyon from dozens of kilometers away.

Only Zeon, a Sand Mage, could have sensed its presence.

Anyone else would have found it impossible.

Forced to reveal itself, the monster's fury was immense.

—Kwooo!

By instinct, it realized Zeon was the cause of everything.

The countless tendrils beneath its rock-covered body shot toward him all at once.

Stretching hundreds of meters, the tendrils moved faster than the speed of sound.

Boom!

As they broke the sound barrier, sonic booms exploded through the air.

Even while watching them approach, Zeon did not move.

Instead, the desert sand moved.

As if protecting him, countless streams of sand burst from the ground and intercepted every tendril flying toward him at supersonic speed.

Boom!

With a deafening explosion, every tendril aimed at Zeon burst apart.

Without even sparing the shattered tendrils a glance, Zeon looked at the monster.

Though it would soon become meaningless, he decided to give it a name.

‘Canyon.’

Since it had existed, it deserved at least a name.

Now it was time to destroy Canyon.

Rumble!

Suddenly, Canyon rose into the sky.

It was not of its own will.

The tendrils were weapons, not means of movement.

Its body was so unimaginably massive and heavy that the tendrils alone could never move it.

That was one of the reasons it had spent its life rooted in this place.

An overwhelming mass of sand was lifting Canyon into the air.

Rumble!

Every grain of sand in the surrounding area surged upward toward the heavens.

At the center of it was Canyon.

Lifting a creature weighing thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of tons with sand alone would have been impossible for the old Zeon.

But now that he had understood how to utilize Exion, it was entirely possible.

Scattered throughout the sea of sand, Exion exerted astonishing attraction and control.

It unleashed power dozens, even hundreds of times greater than when Zeon alone exercised his dominion.

Every grain of sand within dozens of kilometers was under his command.

Now Zeon no longer needed to shape his power into techniques.

From the moment he completely understood Exion, he could manipulate sand as freely as his own limbs.

What mattered was imagination and will.

Clearly envision the desired form in his mind.

Then manifest it through will.

Zeon accomplished the entire process in an instant.

—Kwooo!

Carried atop a colossal pillar of sand, Canyon soared high into the sky.

When it reached an altitude of two thousand meters, Zeon released his control.

Poof!

The sand that had been packed together as hard as concrete dispersed like mist.

Deprived of its support, Canyon plummeted at terrifying speed.

Boom!

It crashed straight into the sandy pit where it had once been rooted.

The tremendous impact shattered its rocky body into pieces and gouged the pit even deeper.

It was as though a gigantic meteor had struck the middle of the desert, creating an enormous crater.

At the center of the crater, something caught Zeon's eye.

A giant crimson gem was gleaming there.

The enormous red jewel, larger than several people combined, was Canyon's core.

Tremble!

Having lost its body, the core shook like a frightened child.

"Hoo..."

Seeing that, Zeon let out a faint sigh and landed inside the crater.

Its body had been completely destroyed, yet the core remained intact.

Around the core, fragments of shattered rock were slowly gathering.

He didn't know how long it would take, but if he left the core alone, Canyon would undoubtedly regenerate someday.

After briefly considering what to do with it, Zeon placed the core into his subspace.

He decided to think it over later.

After storing the core away, Zeon noticed something strange.

"That is...?"

The bottom of the crater created by Canyon's fall was damp.

Water had seeped out.

Zeon dipped a finger into it and brought it to his mouth.

After tasting it, he frowned.

The water was salty.

"Don't tell me...?"