Sand Mage of the Burnt Desert-Chapter 569

Chapter 569

Zeon and Tesserina gazed ahead with grave expressions.

Less than a hundred meters away from them, the massive remains of a magical beast lay scattered.

Not a single shred of flesh remained of its main body; only its hardened shell lay broken into pieces across the sand.

“This is?”

“It’s the remains of an Ironclad Drake. Its back shell looks like this.”

Tesserina instantly recognized the identity of the dead magical beast.

True to its name, the Ironclad Drake’s back shell was made of iron armor.

Thanks to that, it possessed overwhelming defensive power.

Unlike other drakes, its disposition was gentle, but because of its tremendous defense, it was treated as an S-rank magical beast.

“The Ironclad Drake almost never attacks other magical beasts. It’s lazy. The only time they move is when they’re hungry. Once they fill their bellies, they immediately hide and stop moving.”

“It seems it was attacked by Behemoth.”

“That seems likely. No matter how lazy it is, when its life is threatened, it will display the majesty befitting an S-rank magical beast.”

Fierce traces of battle remained around the Ironclad Drake’s remains.

One could tell just by looking at the marks left on the ground.

That gigantic magical beasts had clashed.

Only Behemoth could leave such deep footprints in the earth.

Looking toward the eastern sky, Zeon said,

“It is steadily heading toward Neo Seoul.”

“It’s unnecessarily devoted to its mission. It must know we are chasing it, yet it continues advancing toward its destination.”

“If we keep chasing it like this, we’ll only keep falling behind.”

“Then?”

“I think it would be better to go ahead and wait.”

“That would certainly be better.”

Tesserina nodded.

Behemoth, despite its enormous size, was adept at concealment.

If it truly set its mind to hiding, it was impossible to find.

To wander aimlessly searching for Behemoth, which repeated concealment and hunting while heading toward Neo Seoul, was inefficient.

“In any case, its final destination is Neo Seoul. If we guard the path, we will inevitably encounter it.”

“Let’s do that.”

Tesserina agreed with Zeon’s opinion.

The best method would be to find and eliminate Behemoth before it reached Neo Seoul, but if that was not possible, seizing the path in advance was effective.

The two rose into the sky.

Zeon moved riding the sandstorm, and Tesserina flew using flight magic.

Perhaps because of Tesserina’s presence, the flying magical beasts that usually rushed at them like moths did not even approach.

Thanks to that, the two were able to fly comfortably.

Suddenly, Tesserina asked Zeon,

“How high have you gone?”

“Up into the sky?”

“Yes!”

“To where the sandstorm can reach.”

“So you’ve never gone higher than that.”

“That’s about right.”

Zeon nodded.

No matter how light sand was, there was a limit to the height it could rise upon the wind.

The lower troposphere.

At most, about two to three kilometers above the ground was the maximum height he could reach.

If he wanted to go higher, he could ascend at any time with Gaia’s help, but he had never felt the need.

Zeon asked Tesserina,

“What is different up there?”

“It’s different.”

“What is?”

“You can only understand if you feel it yourself.”

At Tesserina’s meaningful words, Zeon furrowed his brow. But soon he relaxed his expression and said,

“Will you take me?”

“Gladly.”

Tesserina grasped the hand Zeon extended.

She led him higher.

Leaving himself to Tesserina, Zeon looked down at the ground.

The world, which had already looked small, now appeared no larger than the palm of his hand.

It was a height that would make an ordinary person’s mind go blank.

Fortunately, Zeon was not ordinary, so he did not feel dizzy.

The higher they went, the lower the temperature dropped, and the thinner the air became.

It seemed they should stop at this point, yet Tesserina continued upward.

He wondered why they were going so high, but Zeon did not ask.

He believed that when they reached the intended height, Tesserina would naturally tell him.

He did not know how long they ascended.

It was when they reached a height where even the clouds lay far below them.

“Hm?”

Zeon felt something strange and looked up at the sky.

As if she had expected it, Tesserina said,

“You feel it, don’t you?”

“This is?”

“That’s right! It’s a mana field.”

“My goodness!”

“Can you believe it? That a mana field like this is spread at such a height.”

“Is it only here?”

“No!”

“Then does that mean the entire Earth is covered by this kind of mana field?”

“That’s right.”

Tesserina nodded.

Zeon made a disbelieving expression.

He had never imagined that at such a distant height above the sky, a mana field like a net would be spread.

And that it extended across the entire Earth.

“Then humanity?”

“No different from fish trapped in a fishbowl. Not just humanity, but all living beings.”

“Was it like this from the beginning?”

“Of course not. It became like this during the Great Cataclysm.”

“Then it must be the influence of terraforming.”

“I think so too.”

“Hoo!”

Zeon let out a sigh.

He had thought that after mastering the authority of a Sand Mage, he was freer than anyone else, but that was not the case.

In truth, although he would never need to rise to this altitude, there was a difference between choosing not to go and being unable to go because something blocked you.

Tesserina said,

“To become truly free, this mana field must be removed.”

“How?”

“I don’t know either. You must find the answer yourself.”

“That’s difficult.”

“The Earth after the Great Cataclysm is an unknown world that even dragon knowledge cannot fully comprehend.”

At Tesserina’s words, Zeon silently nodded.

After awakening, he had experienced countless things.

He had gone to places others could not, and fought magical beasts beyond imagination. So he had thought there would be nothing left to surprise him. But he realized how arrogant that thought had been.

There was a reason Tesserina had deliberately brought him to such a height.

It was to tell him not to become complacent.

Zeon expressed his gratitude to Tesserina.

“Thank you. Because of you, I learned something I did not know.”

“That is enough.”

Tesserina smiled.

For a person to develop, they must face their limits.

By showing humanity its confined space, Tesserina hoped Zeon would recognize that limit.

Because Zeon was not someone who would experience a limit and give up.

For now, he might feel overwhelmed, but he would strive to break free of this boundary, and someday he would surpass it.

Because Zeon was that kind of human.

Tesserina descended with Zeon back to the lower troposphere.

Landing upon the sandstorm, Zeon looked up at the sky where they had just been.

In that place, which human feet could never reach, there existed an invisible net confining humanity.

Zeon bit his lip.

He had thought himself a free being.

Since awakening as a Sand Mage, there had been no place he could not go.

He could enter dangerous places untouched by human footsteps without difficulty.

Magical beasts were not a great threat to him.

Because the entire desert was his weapon.

So he had mistaken himself for the freest person in the world.

Without knowing he was trapped in an invisible net like this.

‘It was I who was the frog in the well.’

Zeon did not know why that phenomenon had appeared.

If even Tesserina, a dragon, did not know, there was no way he could.

But there was one thing he knew for certain.

Until that mana field was removed, humanity could never have true freedom.

At present, Zeon did not have the ability to break through that mana field and ascend.

The altitude he could reach with his authority was only a few kilometers.

To go higher, he would need the ability to fly on his own, like Tesserina.

Fortunately, Zeon had a friend who could take him to that high sky.

Gaia. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

When Gaia returned someday, they would rise to that sky together and seek a way to break through the mana field.

Until then, he needed to grow stronger.

Tesserina glanced sideways at Zeon.

The corners of her lips rose.

Even without his words, she knew how he felt.

Some, when they encounter a wall, grow frustrated and give up. Others try by any means to break it down or climb over it to reach the other side.

Zeon was the latter.

From him, clenching his lips, an overwhelming fighting spirit could be felt.

That was Zeon’s greatest weapon.

‘Perhaps it is the trait of the human species….’

Now that he had seen his limit, Zeon would grow stronger to surpass it.

That was the reason Tesserina had deliberately revealed the existence of the mana field to him.

This world needed a stronger Zeon.

＊＊＊

Neo Seoul had several entrances.

The gate most widely known to people was the one near the slums.

So many entered Neo Seoul through that place that everyone knew of its existence.

Dungeon raid parties and magical beast hunters primarily used that entrance to head into the desert.

On the other hand, there were also a few entrances that were secretly concealed.

These gates were rarely used in ordinary times.

Gates that almost never opened except in special circumstances. Yet today, one of them was quietly opening.

Srrrng!

The opening of this gate meant that a special event had occurred in Neo Seoul.

As the gate opened, massive vehicles lined up inside and heavily armed Awakened came into view.

At their forefront stood Seong Hoyeon, leader of the Numbers.

Behind him, including Grain, all members of the Numbers stood in formation.

It was not only the Numbers who radiated a murderous aura.

Mechanized Awakened equipped with various enhancement parts, elf and heteromorphic warriors, soldiers armed with heavy weapons, and Awakened with bodies trained to the extreme stood together with them.

They were elites drawn from each district.

Recognizing the gravity of the situation, the rulers of each district had decisively joined City Hall’s mobilization.

No matter how much they fought among themselves, if Neo Seoul fell, their power would mean nothing.

Only if Neo Seoul survived could the struggle for hegemony within it continue.

Thus, the moment they heard that Behemoth was heading toward Neo Seoul, they immediately dispatched their finest.

Xiaolun, the ruler of the Southern District, had tried even then to avoid sending his true elites.

But his attempt was thwarted by Seo Taeran.

Because Seo Taeran had grasped even the number and abilities of the elite Awakened Xiaolun had carefully concealed.

“Do you wish to wage war with City Hall before waging war with Behemoth?”

No one knew how murderous Seo Taeran’s gaze had been when she looked at Xiaolun.

In the end, under Seo Taeran’s threat, Xiaolun had no choice but to send out the elites he had hidden.

It was strength gathered with difficulty.

Setting aside their complicated interests until now, they united as one to protect Neo Seoul.

Seong Hoyeon, leader of the Numbers, cracked his neck left and right as he spoke.

Crack!

“Let’s go. To where we belong….”

The battlefield to protect Neo Seoul.

That was the place most fitting for the Awakened.