Sand Mage of the Burnt Desert Chapter 687

Chapter 687

“It's... a success.”

“It broke through the mana field.”

Seong Hoyeon and Grain clenched their fists tightly.

The Divine Judgement had unquestionably broken through the mana field and ascended.

It had now left their hands.

Whether it could settle into the correct orbit was something only God and Jin Geumho knew.

Even if it safely entered orbit, it would still take quite some time before the Divine Judgement could function properly.

Until then, they had to protect Neo Seoul from the monsters.

They were currently falling from several thousand meters above the ground at terrifying speed.

No matter how extraordinary they were as awakened, if they struck the ground like this, they would be crushed into nothing more than well-tenderized lumps of flesh.

But Seong Hoyeon was not worried in the slightest.

Because the man carrying him on his back while they fell was none other than the ruler of gravity.

“Hup!”

As Grain exercised his authority, the force of gravity pulling them downward weakened.

Thanks to that, they slowly descended toward the ground like balloons.

The problem was that because their falling speed had slowed, they became targets for countless monsters.

To the flying monsters, the two men drifting downward as slowly as sloths were perfect prey.

Beginning with smaller monsters like the Blade Frigate Birds and continuing to larger monsters like wyverns, they all flew toward the two of them.

As a result, Seong Hoyeon's hands became busy.

He pulled two swords from subspace and swung them fiercely.

Grain also lent his strength whenever he could, defending against the monsters charging at them like mad.

But no matter how hard the two of them fought, there was a gap between them and the monsters that they simply could not overcome.

The sky belonged to the flying monsters.

The two of them had no wings.

As a result, they were gradually driven onto the defensive and suffered numerous wounds.

Even so, neither of them gave up, focusing entirely on defending themselves.

After a desperate struggle, they eventually realized that the monsters attacking them had disappeared.

Before they knew it, they had nearly reached the ground.

“Hoo...”

Only then did the two of them let out sighs of relief.

But it was still too soon to relax.

The moment they landed, something unbelievable happened.

Crack!

The Diamond Wall, which had endured the relentless assault of countless monsters, began to crack.

The cause was the gigantic monster visible beyond the wall.

A colossal gorilla over fifty meters tall had crashed into the Diamond Wall while wrapped in an aura barrier.

—KWOOOAR!

The giant gorilla raised both fists, wreathed in aura, high into the sky.

“Damn it! Everyone, get away!”

“Abandon the wall!”

The awakened atop the wall hurriedly jumped down.

At that instant, the giant gorilla's two fists crashed into the Diamond Wall.

KWAAAAANG!

With a deafening roar like a volcanic eruption, the Diamond Wall shattered into countless pieces.

Thus came the end of the Diamond Wall that had steadfastly protected the slums and Neo Seoul from the endless onslaught of monsters.

Thud! Thud!

Leading with the giant gorilla, the monsters surged over the ruined wall and charged triumphantly into the slums.

“Fuck!”

“Goddamn it!”

Expressions of despair spread across the awakened's faces.

Every defensive line they had built to protect Neo Seoul and the slums had fallen.

It was now impossible to stop the monsters from flooding into the slums.

They would have to use the slum buildings themselves as walls and cover while fighting the monsters.

The slums suffering catastrophic damage was now unavoidable.

As though venting their frustration over losing the Divine Judgement, the monsters released savage killing intent and charged madly into the slums.

The small and medium-sized monsters could still be held back somehow.

But the gigantic centipede with hundreds of legs was beyond the ability of ordinary awakened to stop.

Seong Hoyeon and Grain were occupied with holding back the S-rank giant gorilla and had no way to deal with the giant centipede.

Swinging its hundreds of legs like scythes, the giant centipede massacred every awakened in its path.

“Kraaagh!”

“Aaagh!”

The awakened struck by the giant centipede screamed as they fell.

Rampaging through the slums as though it owned the place, the giant centipede eventually arrived before the portal.

Numerous awakened had gathered around it.

Because it was Neo Seoul's most important facility, an especially large force had been assigned to defend it.

If the portal were destroyed, they would lose all contact with the Steel Fortress and the Forest of Beginning, leaving them completely isolated.

No matter the sacrifice, the portal had to be protected.

The awakened defending it steeled themselves with grim determination.

—KEKEKEKE!

The giant centipede raised the front half of its body and looked down at the awakened with contempt.

To the giant centipede, no matter how many awakened stood before it, they looked no different from ants.

Hissss...

Green smoke flowed from the giant centipede's mouth.

It was a poisonous mist condensed from the giant centipede's venom.

The moment the poisonous mist touched the buildings, their outer walls crumbled away.

They were corroded instantly by the terrible poison.

Seeing even the buildings melt away beneath the poisonous mist, despair filled the awakened's faces.

They realized there was no way for their abilities to stop the giant centipede's poison.

But they could not simply retreat without doing anything.

“Fuck! We only die once! Come on, you centipede bastard!”

“Come on!”

The awakened forced themselves to cast aside their fear and strengthen their resolve.

But they could not hide the trembling of their hands and feet.

Hissss...

Just as the terrifying poisonous mist rolled toward the awakened like a tidal wave—

The portal suddenly shone with brilliant light, and someone stepped out.

A man wearing a black robe.

And a young boy.

The robed man raised his head and looked at the approaching poisonous mist and the giant centipede beyond it.

The giant centipede also seemed to sense something unusual about the man, glaring at him fiercely.

“Insolent.”

A cold voice emerged from beneath the man's hood.

The man was none other than Damho.

He had returned to Neo Seoul together with Jetoya.

Jetoya looked up at Damho and spoke.

“Master, I'll head to the underground city.”

If this many monsters had invaded the slums, then the underground city could not possibly be completely safe.

There were many awakened in the underground city as well, but he could not help worrying about Lemura's safety.

Damho nodded.

“Go.”

“Yes, Master!”

Without looking back even once, Jetoya ran toward the underground city.

He did not worry in the slightest about leaving Damho exposed before an S-rank monster like the giant centipede.

Because the Damho he knew had already transcended humanity.

Though he wore the form of a human, Damho was a being who had long surpassed the limits of mankind.

There was absolutely no reason to worry about him.

Leaving Damho behind, Jetoya disappeared into the maze of streets.

Damho did not think Jetoya was being cold-hearted.

If their positions had been reversed, he would have done exactly the same.

Sssss...

The thick poisonous mist rolled forward, about to engulf Damho.

At that moment, Damho threw a punch.

BANG!

Like firing an enormous compressed shell, the wall of compressed air before Damho exploded outward with a thunderous blast.

A massive hole was blown straight through the poisonous mist that had been about to swallow him.

But the poisonous mist was still spreading widely, threatening the other awakened.

If this continued, their lives would be in danger.

“I wanted to avoid interfering if possible, but...”

This was not his world.

Not knowing what influence his existence might have on this world, Damho had intended to remain an observer.

But he could not simply stand by and watch the portal and the slums fall into danger.

Flash!

Damho kicked off the ground.

It was Chungbo, the movement technique he had created himself.

A footwork technique unique to Damho, charging forward in a straight line like a battering ram smashing through a fortress.

His clenched fist shot toward the giant centipede's head.

It was Breaking Star Hammer, the beginning and the end of the Poison Arts Style.

The moment he unleashed Breaking Star Hammer, an immense force of attraction erupted, drawing in and compressing the surrounding air and poisonous mist.

KWAAANG!

Damho's fist, containing the condensed poison, slammed directly into the giant centipede's head.

The awakened who witnessed the scene widened their eyes.

“My God!”

“No way...!”

Their mouths remained hanging open in shock.

The giant centipede's head had vanished without leaving behind even a trace after being struck by Damho's fist.

Having lost its head, the giant centipede convulsed violently before collapsing to the ground.

Thud!

The impact of the creature's enormous body, dozens of meters long, shook the surrounding area.

Yet not even a single hair on the awakened or the portal was disturbed.

“Waaaaah!”

“We're saved!”

The awakened who had survived the giant centipede's assault erupted into cheers.

Damho listened to their celebration without the slightest change in expression.

Just then, a woman wearing a robe approached him.

“If I'd known you were coming, there would've been no need for me to come myself.”

The woman was none other than Tesserina.

Tesserina had wanted to avoid interfering in the war against the monsters if possible.

But she could not simply stand by and watch the portal be destroyed.

The moment she sensed the portal was in danger, she had rushed over.

Yet before she even had the chance to act, Damho had appeared and instantly subdued the giant centipede.

Witnessing Damho's overwhelming might, Tesserina felt her heart tremble.

Even a dragon would have been astonished by the power Damho displayed, destroying an S-rank monster with nothing more than a single punch.

With a calm expression, Damho replied,

“It was nothing.”

“Thanks to you, many people survived. Thank you.”

“I told you, it wasn't anything worth thanking me for.”

“You really can't be honest, can you? Here, take this.”

Smiling faintly, Tesserina handed Damho a brilliantly shining jewel.

“What is it?”

“A Teleport Gem. The portal you just protected was created using one of these Teleport Gems.”

“So it's a gem that connects one space to another?”

“That's right! It's an item obtained from the great monster Behemoth.”

“Why are you giving this to me?”

“Because I upgraded it for you.”

“Upgraded it?”

“You said you wanted to return to your homeland, didn't you?”

“I did.”

“I upgraded it so it can locate a world with the exact same mana wavelength as yours and open a portal to it.”

“You're saying I can return home?”

“In theory, yes.”

“It sounds like there's a catch.”

“It requires an enormous amount of power to pierce the dimensional wall and open a path.”

“How much power are we talking about for you to sound this serious?”

“Enough power to destroy an entire world.”

“You're joking.”

Damho's expression hardened, and a terrifying killing intent flowed from him.

But Tesserina remained completely unfazed as she continued.

“You're violating the laws of the world to open a passage between dimensions. Only by exerting enough power to destroy an entire world can you even attempt it.”

“...”

Damho's brow wrinkled like crumpled paper.

He simply could not comprehend just how much power would be required to destroy an entire world.

Tesserina continued.

“As far as I know, there was only one being who possessed that level of power.”

“Krasias.”

The transcendent being that had forcibly opened the passage from Kurayan and attempted to terraform the Earth itself.

Without power equal to Krasias, it would be impossible to open a path back to Damho's homeland.

Damho clenched his teeth.

Even after hearing Tesserina's words, he did not despair.

Because, just as he always had, he believed he would surely find a way forward.

It was then—

BOOM!

A tremendous explosion echoed across the heavens.

Damho and Tesserina looked up to see Abyss, swaying violently as though it were about to fall from the sky.