Chapter 48

The succubus suffered fairly deep wounds from the Sand Soldiers’ attack.

For a monster, she was surprisingly sensitive to injury.

Perhaps it was because she had the form of a woman.

Either way, for Zeon, this was the perfect opportunity.

Now that he had confirmed the succubus was Kaeshu’s only weakness, it was time to focus all his attacks on her.

“Chaah!”

Zeon fired Sand Missiles at the succubus and detonated Claymore. In response, Kaeshu coiled its massive body, shielding her.

Puh-buh-buh-buk!

Zeon’s attacks were blocked by Kaeshu’s hardened scales and rendered useless.

But Zeon wasn’t disappointed.

He had already expected this.

If there was one thing he had learned most from following Deioden, it was how to draw a bigger picture.

To already envision how a battle would end from the very beginning—and execute each step accordingly.

Thanks to Deioden’s trials, Zeon had mastered the art of steering combat in his favor.

‘First step—block the vision of those nine heads.’

Fwoosh!

In an instant, the sand beneath Kaeshu erupted upward into the air.

A thick cloud of sand dust rose, obscuring Kaeshu’s sight.

Though its body was protected by a force field, the sudden cloud instinctively made it shut its eyes.

At that moment, Zeon vanished.

This was the second step of his plan—concealment.

He swam through the sand, moving into the inner coil of Kaeshu’s body.

Even then, Kaeshu failed to notice his movement.

The Sand Soldiers outside continued attacking, distracting its attention.

That was the third step.

Srrrk—

Zeon quietly emerged from the sand.

He was now inside Kaeshu’s coiled body.

The succubus’s eyes widened in shock at his sudden appearance.

At that instant, Zeon unleashed Claymore.

Boom!

Countless sand pellets exploded outward, slamming into the succubus.

“Kyyaaaah!”

She screamed under the powerful blast.

For a brief moment, the protective field covering her body flickered and dispersed.

Zeon did not miss that opening.

He immediately activated Sand Blaster.

A high-pressure stream of sand—deadly in confined spaces—fired in a concentrated point.

Fwoosh!

The compressed sand struck her directly.

A massive hole was blasted through the succubus’s abdomen.

Yet even so, she did not die.

Thanks to Kaeshu’s monstrous regeneration, her wound began healing at an incredible speed.

Lifting her head, she snarled viciously,

“Do you think something like this can kill me?”

“I know it won’t.”

“What?”

Zeon’s voice came from right in front of her.

When she raised her head, Zeon was already standing there.

After firing Sand Blaster, he had used Sand Step to close the distance instantly.

That was the sixth step of his plan.

And now—the final, seventh step.

Zeon activated Sand Mixer together with Exion.

Sand Mixer alone was powerful—but combined with Exion, its destructive force multiplied.

While Exion couldn’t be spread over a vast area indefinitely, concentrating it on a small target like the succubus changed everything.

Gaaaaang!

Sand infused with Exion began spinning at terrifying speed.

“KYAAAAAH!”

The succubus let out a desperate scream.

Her flesh was ground away by the sand.

Her smooth skin vanished instantly, exposing raw, red tissue beneath.

She tried to regenerate with the hydra’s monstrous healing ability—

but Sand Mixer gave her no time.

Kuwaaah!

Only then did Kaeshu’s nine heads sense the crisis and rise.

They surged forward at terrifying speed to protect the succubus.

At that moment, Zeon snapped his fingers and muttered,

Snap!

“Self-destruct. Sand Soldiers.”

In an instant, the ten Sand Soldiers exploded simultaneously in midair.

This was another technique Zeon had recently mastered.

After realizing that self-detonation could deal significant damage to monsters, he had trained relentlessly—and this was his first time using it in real combat.

BOOOOM!

Kuwaaargh!

The explosion was so powerful that even Kaeshu’s massive heads were blown away in different directions.

In that brief opening, Zeon continued grinding the succubus down to the bone with Sand Mixer.

She screamed desperately, but her voice was drowned out by the roaring storm of sand.

Zeon’s face turned pale.

He had expended all his mana in an instant.

Sand Mixer, Sand Soldier summoning and detonation, Claymore—each consumed massive amounts of mana.

Using them in succession had drained him completely.

But Zeon still had one trump card—

Elura’s Tear.

An overpowered item that restored all mana once per day.

Using it, Zeon instantly replenished his depleted mana.

Kwagagak!

In the blink of an eye, the succubus was erased.

Kaeshu’s nine heads—blown away by the Sand Soldiers’ explosions—now turned toward Zeon.

Though forcibly fused by Hieltun, the succubus had been both body and mind to Kaeshu.

Her death was enough to enrage it completely.

Each of its nine heads began glowing with different energies.

‘Round two.’

Calling it that sounded nice—but in truth, the real battle was only beginning now.

The only thing Zeon could hope for was that, with the “brain” of the succubus gone, Kaeshu might not react as swiftly as before.

But contrary to his expectation—

the heads moved in perfect unison.

Kuuuuung!

Suddenly, the air grew heavy, and an overwhelming pressure crushed down on Zeon.

Even the clouds of sand that had been floating in the air were forced straight down to the ground.

“…Gravity control?”

Zeon’s expression twisted.

Among countless skills, gravity manipulation was one of the hardest to use—and one of the most powerful.

Even in Neo Seoul, only a handful of awakened could handle it. And none of them could compare to Kaeshu.

Kaeshu was increasing gravity across the entire underground cavern.

To Zeon, it felt like three to four times the normal pressure was bearing down on him.

At that moment, one of Kaeshu’s heads gathered flames in its mouth.

Zeon instantly recognized the skill.

“…Breath?”

It might not be as powerful as a dragon’s, but it was more than enough to reduce him to ashes.

Zeon frantically searched for a solution.

Then something caught his eye—

Kaeshu’s severed tail.

The very place where the succubus had been fused moments ago.

Without hesitation, Zeon launched himself toward it.

The crushing pressure weighed him down, but with Exion protecting him, he managed to move.

The moment he reached the tail—

A blazing breath engulfed the spot where he had just been standing.

KWAHHH!

The intense heat melted the sand beneath Kaeshu instantly.

Without a second thought, Zeon burrowed into the severed tail.

Kwagagagak!

He spun Exion around his body like a drill.

From the inside, Kaeshu’s flesh was torn apart.

Wracked with immense pain, Kaeshu began to thrash violently.

Boom! Crash!

Its nine heads slammed into the cavern walls, tangling with one another.

Even as a chimera, Kaeshu was not immune to pain.

Hieltun had prided himself on creating the perfect fusion—but merging it with a succubus had ultimately introduced a fatal weakness.

In agony, Kaeshu lashed its tail wildly, smashing it against the walls.

Zeon was thrown around along with it—but he never lost his balance, maintaining control of Exion.

KWAHHH!

He pushed deeper inside at even greater speed.

Unable to endure the pain, one of Kaeshu’s heads bit into its own tail.

Crunch!

Massive fangs pierced through the flesh.

Even its protective field was useless—

it was injuring itself.

In that moment, Zeon slipped past the jaws and burrowed even deeper.

Now he had moved beyond the tail and entered the main body.

Even Kaeshu’s nearly impenetrable scales could no longer protect it from within.

Kwagagagak!

Zeon spun Exion with all his remaining strength.

His mana was draining rapidly, but he gritted his teeth and endured.

If he failed here, he would die.

As a mere C-rank, the only way to defeat a near S-rank monster like Kaeshu was to destroy it from the inside.

This was Zeon’s final step.

The pressure intensified.

Kaeshu contracted its muscles, trying to crush him.

Still, Zeon pushed forward.

Blood vessels burst in his eyes, and his muscles twisted under the strain—

yet he did not stop.

He didn’t know how far he had gone.

But now, Zeon had reached his limit.

The mana he had restored with Elura’s Tear was gone once again, and even his hardened body was beginning to fail.

The once-ferocious rotation of Exion slowed, and his movements became sluggish.

Still—

he did not stop.

His body was breaking down from excessive mana usage and physical strain.

On top of that, Kaeshu’s blood was highly toxic, accelerating his deterioration.

Flesh rotted away, exposing bone, and unbearable pain flooded his body.

Just moving was agony.

And yet—

he did not give up.

As long as he could breathe, he could move.

And if he could move, stopping was not an option.

Step by step, he pushed forward—

until something suddenly caught his eye.

A massive, round object—glowing brilliantly—about the size of an adult torso.

Zeon instantly realized what it was.

“…The hydra’s mana stone?”

Though rare, monsters could also possess mana stones.

Unlike those mined from veins, mana stones from monsters sometimes carried the creature’s essence.

Occasionally, awakened individuals could even gain skills by absorbing such stones.

The higher the monster’s rank, the greater the chance—

though in reality, that chance was extremely low.

Zeon didn’t know if this stone held any skill.

But he had no other choice.

He reached out toward it.

The moment he touched it—

an unimaginable pain surged through him.

“GRAAAAH!”

He screamed and convulsed.

Through his hand, an overwhelming energy flooded into him like a tidal wave.

A scorching force tore through his body.

He no longer had the strength to control such foreign energy.

“GAAAAH!”

His eyes rolled back as he screamed.

It felt as if his entire body was burning.

He tried to pull his hand away—

but it wouldn’t budge, as if magnetized.

Still clutching the stone, Zeon lost consciousness.

Even after he passed out, the mana stone continued pouring immense energy into him.

Time passed—

he didn’t know how much.

Eventually, the mana stone dimmed, and the flow of energy ceased.

Zeon lay motionless, like a corpse.

Then—

his body began to change.

Rotten flesh fell away, and new flesh grew in its place.

The blackened color of his face faded, returning to normal.

His stopped heart began beating again.

Gasping for air, Zeon opened his eyes.

“Gah! …I’m not dead?”

Still lying on the ground, he quickly checked his condition.

His mana was fully restored.

The wounds that had exposed bone were completely healed.

More than that—

his entire body overflowed with vitality.

A tingling sensation spread from his wrist.

Zeon removed his gauntlet.

There, on the sixth mark of his rank insignia—

a light was shining.

“What…? I skipped B-rank and went straight to A-rank?”

He stared in shock at the unbelievable change.

It felt as though a volcano raged inside his body.

Where his mana had once been like a lake—

now it felt like an ocean.

This had been a hydra chosen as a guardian by the Gold Dragon Hieltun.

Naturally, it was a special specimen—equipped with abilities like extreme regeneration, gravity control, and breath attacks.

Among those, Zeon realized he had gained—

regeneration.

The fact that his body had completely recovered was proof.

He hadn’t obtained gravity control or breath—they likely weren’t compatible—

but regeneration alone was more than enough.

“…So this turned into a blessing in disguise?”