Exion
“Fuck! Heh heh heh!”
When the pain was too much or it felt like he was going insane, laughter came out.
That was Zeon's state right now.
Zeon was leaning against the wall, slumped down.
He didn't even have the strength to stand on his two legs; all he could do was lean there, gasping for breath.
His face was battered and torn in places, blood streaming down, and his body bore sinister wounds all over.
It was only thanks to the breastplate made from the queen wolf ant's corpse and the robe from sand jaw leather protecting his body that he'd survived with just this much damage.
If even one of those had been missing, Zeon's life would have ended long ago.
“Haa!”
As the pain subsided somewhat, breathing became a bit easier.
Zeon took a deep breath and looked around.
The dark space was filled with finely shattered stone chunks.
They were the remains of the centaur golems.
Zeon had fought with everything he had.
Dodge, punch, evade again, punch.
Flee, turn and ambush, slip out like a loach when surrounded—repeating it all.
In his mad frenzy of battle, when he finally came to his senses, all the golems resembling centaurs lay defeated.
“Goddamn! This hurts like hell.”
Zeon grabbed his trembling legs and forced himself to stand.
After fighting enemies like these, his rank should have gone up, but there was no change in his rank badge.
Probably because he hadn't used any sand.
Zeon muttered as he trudged forward laboriously.
“Isn't there a potion that restores stamina if I drink one?”
This was a temple, after all; surely they had something like that.
Even if they did, it wouldn't be in a corridor like this.
It was more likely near a statue or altar.
Not knowing when more centaur golems might appear, Zeon advanced as cautiously as possible.
Then, a massive door appeared before him.
It dwarfed the door from the passage where the centaur golems had emerged.
“Goddamn!”
He didn't need to check with his eyes to know.
Behind that door was a golem incomparably larger than anything before.
From experience, the door's size was proportional to the golem's.
Turning back now wasn't an option.
“Hoo!”
Zeon took a deep breath, then pushed the door open with all his strength.
The space beyond was enormous.
It was hard to believe such a vast area existed inside the temple.
The room was over a hundred meters across and more than thirty meters high.
In the center of this gigantic space stood a statue.
At what seemed to be the head, two massive horns reminiscent of a water buffalo protruded.
The five-meter-tall colossal statue exuded immense pressure.
He didn't need to confirm it.
That thing was the master of this room.
The giant golem hadn't noticed Zeon enter; it didn't even twitch.
Zeon's gaze shifted to the small door behind the giant golem.
That looked like the exit.
If I dash in before it notices, I might make it...
Zeon figured the golem would be as slow as its massive bulk suggested.
Golems' movements were inherently sluggish by nature.
Except for ones like the centaur golems designed for mobility.
Pop!
Zeon kicked off the ground and sprinted with everything he had left, desperate resolve fueling him.
In an instant, he blew past the giant golem and nearly reached the opposite door.
Joy lit up Zeon's face.
“Got...”
Boom!
With an explosion, Zeon's body was hurled backward.
And there, right in front of him, stood the giant golem.
“Cough!”
Zeon spat blood and barely lifted his head.
The giant golem blocked the door like a gatekeeper.
Zeon hadn't even noticed such a huge thing moving. That meant it had moved stealthily.
Without a single footstep sound, at that.
A black force field emanated from the giant golem's entire body.
There was only one thing that meant.
“B-rank or higher?”
Even a C-rank would be too much; a B-rank was unthinkable.
Dayton tore B-rank beasts apart like toys, but that was only because Dayton was an outlier among Awakeners.
Zeon was barely E-rank.
And with his main ability forcibly sealed.
Fighting that colossal golem in this state was suicide.
If he could at least use sand, it wouldn't feel this hopeless.
Zeon wiped the blood from his mouth and stood.
He knew he couldn't win, but he couldn't just sit and wait for death.
“Fine! Let's do this. Die once, die twice—what's the difference.”
One thing he'd learned from Dayton: never give up, no matter what.
If you endure somehow, an opportunity will come.
The question was surviving until it did—and seizing it when it arrived.
“First, find its core.”
The first golems had theirs in the neck; the centaur ones in the center of the chest.
He had to locate the core somewhere on that giant golem's body.
Then.
Flash!
A burst of light erupted from the giant golem, and suddenly it was in front of Zeon.
“Blink?”
Zeon's eyes widened.
Now he understood how the giant golem had attacked him earlier.
The golem was using Blink freely—the skill to teleport anywhere in sight.
Zeon rolled desperately across the floor.
Whoosh!
The giant golem's fist passed just a hair's breadth over his head.
If his reaction had been a split second slower, he'd have been smashed to pulp.
Cold sweat ran down his spine.
In that moment, a human voice emanated from the giant golem's mouth.
―Gigarein, eliminate intruder.
“Gigarein? That's your name?”
Zeon asked, but Gigarein didn't answer and attacked.
Another flash burst, and its massive form appeared before Zeon again. But this time, Zeon wasn't taken completely off guard.
He'd flung himself aside the moment the flash erupted.
Zeon had realized that a flash preceded Gigarein's Blink.
If you knew when the Blink was coming, dodging wasn't so hard.
As Zeon predicted, Gigarein appeared exactly where he'd been standing.
Zeon struck its torso with a blow.
“Hya!”
Clang!
His all-out strike bounced off with a metallic ring.
Gigarein's hardness was on another level from any golem Zeon had fought before.
And with the black force field protecting it, not even a scratch appeared on the surface.
Zeon despaired.
He had no idea how to fight a monster like this.
This must have been how the beasts felt facing Dayton.
Whoosh!
Gigarein's fist flew at Zeon again.
One fist was nearly Zeon's size.
A direct hit would end him.
Zeon flattened himself to the floor to dodge, then rolled to his feet.
He poured mana into his gauntlet and attacked Gigarein.
Kang!
Again, no damage.
Not a single stone chip fell.
Insane durability.
Kakakakang!
Zeon unleashed a flurry of strikes after that.
Like an egg against a rock.
Still, he didn't give up, probing for the core while attacking.
He didn't find the core, but he discovered a weakness.
The giant golem's vulnerability was the knee joint axle.
Being so huge and heavy, every movement put massive strain on the knees.
That must be why it used Blink—to minimize joint stress.
Then.
Crackle!
Sparks suddenly flew from Gigarein's massive horns.
Zeon knew what that meant.
Attack skill?
It was a B-rank beast, after all.
Weird if it didn't have one.
Zeon focused intently on the horns.
Bolts of lightning poured from Gigarein's horns.
Chain Lightning, spreading like a net.
It filled the vast underground chamber.
Zeon instinctively knew he couldn't dodge.
He pulled his robe over himself and curled up.
All he could do was trust the sand jaw leather robe's protection.
Kwarung!
The massive electric net slammed into him.
“Grr!”
Even shielded by the robe, the shock and current hit hard.
Zeon gritted his teeth against the agony.
Finally, the eternal-seeming moment ended.
Zeon's revealed form was wretched.
The robe was mostly burned or torn, exposing his flesh.
The sand jaw leather had excellent regeneration, but it couldn't withstand damage beyond its limits.
The torn robe had lost all function.
Still, sacrificing it saved his life. But even then, he wasn't unscathed by the lightning.
Currents the robe couldn't absorb or deflect struck him. Only his Awakener body's toughness and will kept him enduring.
Thud thud!
Gigarein approached.
Zeon couldn't move.
His nerves were paralyzed by the electricity.
It was easing bit by bit, but not enough to act.
Goddamn!
Zeon clenched his teeth.
Gigarein drew near.
Approaching slowly on foot, as if no need for Blink against easy prey.
Watching it come, unable to move, filled Zeon with despair and rage.
If I could just use sand...
He gathered his last mana to heighten his control.
He knew there was no sand in the temple, but he couldn't give up yet.
Then.
He faintly sensed sand somewhere.
What?
There wasn't a single grain in the temple. Yet sand was reacting.
Zeon focused on the faint presence.
Surprisingly, it came from his pocket.
Pocket? No way...
The hourglass he'd gotten from the magistone mine dump.
It had never reacted before, yet now, of all times.
As Zeon focused on the hourglass, Gigarein arrived.
It stared at him briefly, then kicked.
Kwaaang!
With a roar, Zeon's body flew.
He slammed into the opposite wall like an arrow.
Zeon's state was horrific.
Even the queen wolf ant shell breastplate shattered, his body crushed like under a tank.
Amazing he was still breathing.
Thud thud!
As Gigarein closed in to finish him.
A handful of sand spilled from Zeon's pocket.
The golem's kick had broken the hourglass inside.
Sizzle!
The fine sand particles suddenly absorbed into Zeon's pores.
All vanished into him in an instant.
That was when the change hit Zeon.
Crack crack!
Wounds healed instantly, broken bones reset.
All thanks to the sand absorbed into his pores.
No one had taught him, but Zeon knew what it was.
“Exion!”
The finest sand particles on Earth.
The Sand Mage's exclusive weapon: Exion.