Chapter 22

Deioden bared his white teeth and smiled.

The moment he stepped inside, he knew.

The ones guarding this temple were golems.

He didn't know who the master of the temple was, but using golems as guardians wasn't unusual.

A temple was, quite literally, a place that served a being with divinity.

And a being with divinity could be considered a god in itself.

"A god?"

Deioden's eyes gleamed with madness.

For over a hundred years, he had wandered the desert, conquering countless dungeons.

He had slain many so-called S-rank magical beasts, but never—not once—had he entered a dungeon where a god resided.

If there truly was a god here, then this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

A chance to kill a god.

"Heh heh!"

A crazed laugh slipped from between his lips.

Kiiii—

At that moment, something blocked his path.

A massive lifeform made of stone.

A golem.

A golem as large as a giant boulder stood before him, its eyes glowing ominously.

Deioden didn't need to wonder what that gaze meant.

"Come at me, you rock-headed bastard."

He pulled out Crayon.

Thud! Thud!

Then more golems joined from behind the massive one.

The madness in Deioden's eyes deepened.

A black force field shimmered around their bodies.

It was identical to the traits possessed by humans fused with machines.

"Heh… that brat might actually die."

He had realized it the moment they entered the dungeon.

This was a dungeon with the worst possible compatibility for Zeon.

As befitting a place that served a god, there wasn't a speck of dust or a single grain of sand inside the temple.

It was clearly maintained by cleansing magic.

For a sand mage like Zeon, it was the worst possible environment.

Without sand, he had no choice but to face the golems with his true strength alone.

It was a truly desperate situation.

But he had to get used to fights like this.

Even though most of the world had turned into desert, there were still exceptions.

A prime example was Neo Seoul.

That city beyond the walls—where the poor could never enter—was protected by a force field, leaving almost no dust or sand.

An environment similar to this temple.

To survive in such places, one had to learn how to fight without sand.

"If you die just because there's no sand, then you never deserved to live in the first place."

Either overcome the limitations of a sand mage—

—or fail and die to the golems.

Those were the only two choices Zeon had.

From the beginning, Deioden had no intention of helping him.

Zeon had to grow stronger and survive on his own.

That was the minimum condition for him to keep traveling with Deioden.

"Try your best to stay alive, you idiot!"

＊＊＊

"Why the hell did I follow that crazy old man…?"

Zeon muttered as he rolled across the ground.

Boom!

A golem's fist slammed into the spot where he had been just moments ago.

Had he been even a little slower, he would have been turned into a lump of crushed flesh.

Thud! Thoom!

The golems closed in on him.

Dozens of them had recognized Zeon as their enemy.

The only saving grace was that their movements were somewhat sluggish. If they had been even slightly more natural and faster, Zeon would have died long ago.

But he couldn't keep dodging forever.

Even though awakening had granted him far superior stamina than ordinary humans, he was still human—he had limits.

Once his stamina ran out, only a horrific death awaited him.

He had to find a solution before that happened.

'Aside from sand… what weapons do I have?'

Zeon quickly checked his equipment.

A gauntlet on his right hand. And the weapons of the elves stored in his subspace.

He ruled out the elven weapons immediately.

He didn't even know how to use a bow, and in this cramped space with enemies swarming him, it was impractical anyway.

The same went for the daggers.

No matter how sharp they were, he doubted they could cut through stone golems.

In the end, the only thing left was the gauntlet Keily had made for him.

'So I only had one choice from the start. Makes things simple.'

Zeon clenched his gauntleted fist tightly.

If there was no choice, then all he could do was make the best of what he had.

Dodging a golem's attack, Zeon struck its torso.

Boom!

With a thunderous impact, the massive body of the golem trembled—but aside from a few bits of stone dust falling off, it remained completely intact.

He threw several more punches, but the result was the same.

Ordinary attacks couldn't deal any real damage to the golems.

'Normal attacks won't work!'

His fist throbbed as if it were about to shatter.

Even with the gauntlet, the impact of striking solid stone couldn't be completely absorbed.

Zeon realized he wasn't using the gauntlet to its full potential.

If he understood the problem, then he could fix it.

'I need to concentrate mana to increase the destructive power.'

Whoosh!

Even as he thought, a golem's fist grazed past his head by mere centimeters.

He had nearly had his skull crushed.

And yet, Zeon remained calm.

It was thanks to the countless experiences he had gained following Deioden.

He had learned how to stay composed and think rationally in any situation.

Slowly, steadily, Zeon began focusing his mana into the gauntlet.

Vmmmm—

"Hm?"

At that moment, a powerful resonating sound burst out from the gauntlet.

Caught off guard, Zeon showed a brief look of confusion. But he quickly realized what had happened.

This was how the gauntlet was originally meant to be used.

The gauntlet, crafted from the skeletal structure of an ironclad starfish mixed with adamantium, was optimized for condensing and amplifying mana.

If Zeon had been a martial-type awakened, he would have figured that out much earlier.

'At least I know now. It's not too late.'

Dodging a golem's attack, Zeon drove his fist into its torso.

Boom!

With a thunderous explosion, the golem's torso burst apart.

Even with half its body blown away, the golem continued attacking Zeon without hesitation.

It was possible only because it was an artificial lifeform incapable of feeling pain.

In cases like this, the core had to be found and destroyed.

The problem was that there was no way to tell where the core was. But Zeon solved it simply.

He grabbed a single golem and started smashing it relentlessly.

Boom! Boom!

With explosive impacts, its shoulders were torn off, and its limbs fell apart.

He was burning through mana at an extreme rate to increase his destructive power in such a short time, but he had no choice.

Eventually, Zeon found the core.

In the neck of the golem—its head already blown away—there was a glowing blue magic stone.

Despite being no larger than a fingernail, it radiated intense mana.

It was clearly the golem's core.

Crack!

Without hesitation, Zeon crushed it.

The golem, which had been moving endlessly, came to a halt.

Now that he knew its weakness, it was time to deal with them efficiently.

Dodge the attack.

Destroy the head.

Then shatter the core in the neck.

It sounded simple—but in practice, it was anything but.

It required the brain to predict and evade the golem's attacks, the reflexes to support that movement, and precise mana control.

There was too much to prepare for in even a single action.

And the real problem was that all of it had to be done in an instant.

If he thought first and acted later, it would already be too late.

Boom!

Zeon's fist slammed into a golem's head.

The head shattered into pieces.

Just as he moved to destroy the core, another golem attacked.

Thud!

"Ghk!"

Zeon groaned as he was sent tumbling across the ground.

The blow to his waist felt like it might have broken him in half.

But he didn't even have time to complain about the pain.

A barrage of golem fists rained down.

Crash! Crash! Crash!

Zeon rolled across the ground, narrowly avoiding the attacks.

Barely escaping the coordinated assault, he took a brief moment to catch his breath.

'My movements are too big. Cut out the unnecessary parts—make everything as simple as possible.'

He analyzed his own flaws in real time.

The reason he had taken that hit earlier was because his motion to destroy the core had been too large.

"Huff… Huff…"

After taking a short breath, Zeon charged back into the golems.

One rushed straight at him.

Its massive stone body was itself a deadly weapon.

If he struck it with any part of his body that wasn't protected by the gauntlet, his bones would shatter and his muscles would tear.

At the last possible moment, Zeon dodged and hooked its leg.

A heavy golem wouldn't fall just from that.

With his unarmored left hand, he pressed down on its chest.

Thanks to his control of mana, he was able to topple it with relative ease.

As the golem struggled, he smashed its head with his gauntleted fist.

Boom!

The head shattered instantly.

He followed up by striking the exposed core in its neck once more.

Only then did the golem stop moving.

The entire process took no more than a single breath.

Just the time it took Zeon to inhale and exhale once.

At that moment, more golems attacked.

Spin!

Zeon rolled his body and slipped out of their assault.

It wasn't something he had been taught—it was pure instinct.

Thanks to that, he narrowly escaped their encirclement.

Zeon targeted the golem at the outermost edge.

He attacked its knee joint to destroy its axis of movement, or tripped it to bring it down.

Then he shattered its head and destroyed the core in its neck.

He repeated the same process over and over.

As he continued fighting, his movements grew more refined and more powerful.

The golems were the perfect opponents for Zeon to develop his martial combat skills.

He couldn't use skills like true martial-type awakeners, but he was finally learning how to properly utilize the gauntlet.

Clatter!

The remains of the last golem fell apart.

"Haa… Haa…"

Zeon panted heavily.

His entire body was drenched in sweat.

The battle with the golems had pushed his body to its absolute limit.

His legs trembled, and his breath came ragged and shallow.

Bruises and injuries from the golems' blows were scattered all over his body. Even though he had tried to minimize the impact, the pain was immense.

But he didn't have the luxury of sitting down and resting just because he was hurt or exhausted.

Even now, Deioden was probably still advancing.

If he rested here, the gap between them would only widen.

Zeon pulled out a piece of jerky and bit into it.

After slowly chewing and swallowing it, a bit of strength returned to him.

"Alright. Let's go."

Zeon began moving again.

His eyes had now fully adapted to the darkness.

He no longer had to fumble around like when he first entered the corridor.

After fighting the golems earlier, Zeon had gained confidence.

Golems were certainly terrifying opponents.

Unlike organic lifeforms, they felt no fear, and their destructive power was immense. But their movements were slow, and they lacked creativity—meaning their weaknesses could be found if one stayed calm.

If all the golems were at this level, he felt he could handle them.

"Maybe I've actually got talent as a martial fighter?"

Just as Zeon smirked—

Thud! Thud!

Heavy footsteps echoed once more.

The smile vanished from his face as he readied himself for battle.

"Come at me. I'll take you all down."

At that moment, figures emerged from the darkness.

But these golems were different from the ones before.

They had the upper bodies of humans and the lower bodies of horses.

"Centaurs?"

The golems looked exactly like centaurs.

Thud-thud-thud!

They charged at full speed.

It was like an ancient cavalry unit storming forward.

"Damn it! That's just unfair."

Zeon wanted to smack his own mouth for getting cocky just moments ago.

Stronger and faster than before, the golems surged toward him like a raging storm.