Sand Mage of the Burnt Desert - Chapter 6

Chapter 6

It was incredibly dark inside the 972nd tunnel.

The light from the hat alone was not enough to completely illuminate the darkness of the tunnel.

Zeon stood facing the wall at the end of the tunnel.

Marks from pickaxe strikes were still visible.

They were traces left by the people who had entered before Zeon.

It seemed like a vivid image of miners laboring tirelessly in the sunless underground to dig through solid rock for precious stones.

Four miners had met their end in this place.

“Why?”

Miners wouldn’t have died without a reason.

There had to be something that led them to their demise in this place.

There was no such thing as an effect without a cause.

Zeon propped the pickaxe against the wall and began scrutinizing the interior of the tunnel.

“The mana concentration here is thick, but…”

There was a significant accumulation of mana inside the tunnel.

If it had been before he awakened, Zeon might not have noticed.

“Why is mana gathering only here?”

He recalled stories of the side effects prolonged exposure to mana had on ordinary individuals.

From cellular necrosis due to mana oversaturation to rapid organ aging, the side effects were numerous and severe.

If what he sensed was true, it was evident that the miners died due to the mana in this place.

Park Manho was also an Awakened individual, so if he had entered here, he would have surely sensed the excessive concentration of mana. But he had been immersed in gambling and hadn’t entered the tunnel for a long time. That was undoubtedly why he hadn’t noticed.

The issue was why mana concentrated only in this place.

Zeon glanced at the tunnel’s wall.

At this moment, the wall was the only suspicious point.

Zeon grasped the pickaxe and struck the inner wall of the tunnel.

Clang! Bang!

The pickaxe struck the wall and sparks flew everywhere.

With each swing of the pickaxe, rocks crumbled weakly.

Thud!

The pickaxe felt notably stuck at one point.

“What’s this?”

Furrowing his brows in puzzlement, Zeon struck the wall forcefully again.

Crash!

The wall collapsed with a loud noise.

In its place appeared an elliptical space, eerily dark and alien, much like the throat of a beast.

“What in the…?”

Swish!

In an instant, a powerful force pulled Zeon.

Before Zeon could resist, he was sucked into the dark space.

“Argh!”

The moment he entered the dark space, an enormous amount of pressure engulfed him.

Pain struck him as if his whole body was being crushed.

His mind went blank, pain overtook him, and he could not continue thinking.

All he wanted to do was get out of this moment quickly.

Fortunately, that moment came swiftly.

Boom!

The dark space expelled Zeon.

He tumbled on the ground a few times before swiftly getting back up.

“What the… this hellish landscape…”

Just a moment ago, he was undoubtedly deep underground in the tunnel. Yet now, an entirely different scene unfolded before his eyes.

In the distance loomed a colossal mountain.

Like obsidian, the black mountain spewed dark smoke and viscous lava. The sky was thick with volcanic ash, and rivers of molten lava flowed across the land.

All vegetation had turned to ash, and the air was laden with the scent of sulfur.

The intense heat from the solidified lava on the ground was overpowering. The heat of a desert paled in comparison.

In an instant, Zeon’s face reddened, sweat pouring down like rain.

His clothes were drenched with sweat in no time.

“A dungeon?”

Zeon glanced at the entrance of the dungeon that had expelled him.

As if its duty was fulfilled, the entrance was rapidly closing, leaving no trace behind.

“Shit, no!”

Zeon rushed toward it, but it was completely shut, leaving no trace of its existence.

“This is insane!”

Zeon scratched his head repeatedly.

Entering the dungeon was one thing, but he never expected to be so defenseless when he entered.

Even in Neo Seoul, when reading dungeons, everyone always prepared meticulously.

Assessing the dungeon’s scale to estimate its rank, forming a team of Awakened individuals accordingly—those were the usual steps.

Even with such thorough preparation, dungeons were places where significant casualties occurred. So, arriving unprepared in such a place was both bewildering and absurd.

“What a perfectly unlucky day. How could someone’s luck be this terrible?”

It was beyond ridiculous, bordering on mind-boggling.

From being swindled by old man Klexi for a cheap deal on the Mana Stone to his fateful connection with Park Manho, and now being abruptly dragged into the dungeon—everything was just perfect.

It all seemed orchestrated as if a divine force was controlling his fate itself.

Zeon reached into his pocket and retrieved the hourglass he had tucked away.

“Is this the only thing I have?”

Fiddling with the hourglass brought a bit of calm to his mind.

Only then could he think rationally.

“First, I need to check if my abilities work within this dungeon.”

Zeon bent down, sweeping his hand across the ground.

Black granules clung to his hand.

It was volcanic ash.

As he exerted his dominance, the sand in his hand slowly levitated into the air.

Thankfully, just like sand, the volcanic ash seemed to be under his control.

Zeon felt relieved.

Because if his primary weapon, the manipulation of sand, didn’t work here, he would have been in serious trouble.

The dungeon was filled with volcanic ash.

There are plenty of weapons for him to use.

Zeon sighed in relief.

At least, for now, it didn’t seem like he’d die immediately.

The next thing Zeon did was to check his backpack.

Fortunately, it contained several days’ worth of rations. It was fortunate that nothing had gone bad or damaged as he passed through the dungeon’s entrance.

“This should hold me for a few days.”

With the food situation settled, the only remaining task was to find the dungeon’s exit.

The problem was not knowing where the exit was in this vast space.

In such cases, there was only one way.

To walk around and look for it.

“There is a high probability that it will be near that volcano, right?”

From anyone’s perspective, it was evident that the center of this dungeon was the volcano.

So, there had to be a clue to escaping the dungeon near the volcano.

“Phew!”

Zeon took a deep breath.

His throat felt scratchy.

It was the volcanic ash suspended in the air, irritating his respiratory tract.

If he didn’t get out quickly, his lungs would be damaged by the volcanic ash.

Zeon retrieved a piece of cloth from his backpack.

It was a cloth he used as a makeshift mask to prevent inhaling dust when extracting mana stones.

Covering his mouth and nose with the cloth alleviated some of the irritation caused by the ash.

“Let’s go!”

Zeon headed towards the volcano.

***

The more he saw, the more astonished he became.

He knew dungeons were spaces beyond human understanding, but he never imagined a place as inhospitable as this.

The colossal volcano in the distance was no illusion or mirage.

It was a real volcano spewing out real lava and flames.

The scorching air and the heated ground were confirming that all of this was undeniably real.

Sweat poured down like rain.

Even though he was awakened, facing this environment for the first time, if an ordinary person had been sucked into the dungeon, they would undoubtedly have perished quickly.

“There is a way out, right?”

Zeon prided himself on being somewhat resilient, but in the face of such a harsh environment he had never encountered before, he couldn’t help but feel a bit intimidated.

Nevertheless, he had no choice but to move forward.

“Ugh!”

Zeon halted.

A massive river of molten lava blocked his path, despite still being at quite a distance, the intense heat made it feel as though his entire body would melt away.

The river of lava spanned dozens of meters in width.

It was beyond Zeon’s capabilities to leap across it in one go.

Zeon searched for a narrower section to navigate through.

After ascending for a while, a point with a width of about ten meters appeared. It seemed like a distance he could attempt to leap.

“Phew!”

Zeon paused momentarily, taking a deep breath.

Physically, he might have been capable of making the jump. However, if he made even the slightest misstep or lost balance in mid-air, he’d plunge into the river of lava, dissolving into it instantly.

He had no choice but to prepare for the jump.

Observing the river of lava for a moment, Zeon sprinted forward with all his might.

“Hyaa!”

Right at the edge of the lava river, he leapt with all his might.

Zeon’s body soared through the air, reminiscent of a bird in flight.

At that very moment, Zeon reached the peak of his jump.

Fwoosh!

Suddenly, something surged through the lava, shooting towards Zeon.

“What’?”

Zeon glanced down in terror.

A wide-open, gigantic maw.

Rough, scaly skin soaked in flames.

Short four legs attached to a snake-like long body.

It was a crocodile.

A gigantic crocodile lurking in the river of lava, hunting for prey.

Each tooth was as large as a human forearm.

If caught by those teeth, Zeon’s body would be torn apart instantly.

There was nowhere to escape in mid-air.

He attempted to use the Sand Blaster skill, but the sand was too far away. He’d surely lose his life before gathering the sand.

Twisting his body in mid-air while gathering sand instinctively, Zeon narrowly evaded the crocodile’s attack. However, he lost balance and was plummeting towards the river of lava.

The crocodile widened its massive jaws, ready to devour Zeon if he couldn’t prevent the fall.

In that moment, floating sand caught Zeon’s eye.

It was the sand he had gathered a while ago.

Instinctively, Zeon visualized creating a foothold with the floating sand.

His imagination became reality.

Underneath his falling body, a platform made of sand materialized.

Thud!

Without further thought, Zeon propelled himself off the sand platform, barely managing to reach the opposite side—not with his feet, but by landing on his back.

“Urgh!”

Zeon groaned from the shock that felt as if his entire body was being shattered. But he didn’t even have the time to feel pain from fall.

Swoosh!

The gigantic crocodile emerged from the river of lava, advancing towards Zeon.

“Shit! Such a monster…”

Zeon desperately stepped back, but the crocodile was closing in rapidly.

Its short legs were dwarfed compared to the massive body, yet they were thicker than most logs.

Naturally, it had an incredibly fast walking speed.

“Sand Blaster!”

Zeon launched the Sand Blaster. However, the high-pressure sand stream was futile against the giant crocodile and ended up melting before making contact due to the intense heat it emitted, almost equivalent to that of lava.

“Crazy!”

Zeon widened his eyes.

He never expected his attack to be so futilely blocked.

The crocodile lunged towards Zeon at an unbelievably swift pace.

As Zeon looked at the wide-open jaws, he found himself unable to react.

At that moment….

“Using sand, huh? Quite an interesting ability you’ve got.”

Suddenly, a rough and hoarse voice resonated in the air.

Zeon involuntarily looked towards the direction the voice came from.

Someone pierced through the volcanic ash, descending from the sky at a frightening speed.

In the person’s hand was a massive sword.

With the sword held forth, the person collided directly with the gigantic crocodile.

Kwaang!

Like a meteor crashing down, an explosive sound erupted, and an immense shockwave swept through the area.

The impact caused the lava that had been flowing calmly to splash in all directions.

“What?”

Zeon covered his ears with both hands, displaying an expression of disbelief.

The threatening gigantic crocodile was crushed like tofu. Atop the subdued crocodile was a huge old man.

The old man’s eyes emitted a gaze so terrifying that it was hard to perceive him as human.

The old man asked.

“What’s your name?”

His voice resounded in a menacing tone, and reverberated within Zeon’s stomach. It was more intimidating than the gigantic crocodile itself.

——————