Chapter 351
Under the immense heat, the sand on the ground softened and melted.
The molten sand bubbled like lava.
It was one of Zeon’s skills—
Sand Gehenna.
A living inferno of molten sand.
The boiling sand swallowed the awakened ones surrounding Zeon.
“Ghk!”
“Damn it!”
“Run!”
The Holy Knights and Inquisitors recoiled in horror and tried to escape Sand Gehenna’s domain.
But Zeon did not let them go.
Krrrsh!
The sand swirled violently, trapping those who had attacked him within the center of Sand Gehenna.
The Dark Saints and Inquisitors, whose bodies were lighter, managed to leap free from the molten sand.
But the heavily armored Holy Knights could not.
The enormous weight of their armor dragged their legs deep into the lava-like sand.
The defensive power of their heavy armor and Holy Shields protected them from the heat for a short while.
Using that brief opportunity, the Holy Knights struggled desperately to escape.
But the more they thrashed—
The deeper they sank.
Ssssss!
Their heavy armor began to melt.
No matter how powerful their protection was, it could not endure superheated lava forever.
Eventually, the joints of the armor melted apart, allowing scorching molten sand to pour inside.
The lava seeped into the armor and melted their flesh and bones.
“GRAAAAH!”
“S-save me!”
In the agony of their bodies melting alive, the Holy Knights forgot all dignity and screamed desperately.
Ssssss!
Even to their own ears, they could clearly hear the sound of their flesh melting inside their armor.
The horrifying sensation of hearing one’s own flesh and bones dissolve—
It was something no one could understand without experiencing it firsthand.
No matter how fanatically devoted to God they were, no Holy Knight could endure such pain.
It would have been kinder if death had come instantly.
Then they wouldn’t have had to suffer such unbearable agony for so long.
Because awakened ones possessed life force far beyond ordinary humans, they remained conscious through pain that would have already killed normal people.
“GRAAAAAH!”
“AAAAAAH!”
The desperate screams of the Holy Knights echoed continuously throughout Sand Gehenna.
The Dark Saints and Inquisitors who had escaped stood frozen in terror, unable to say a word.
Something horrifying was unfolding within the violently rotating sandstorm.
Because it was hidden within thick clouds of sand, they couldn’t see clearly.
And that only stimulated their imagination further.
The agonized screams leaking through the storm made the horror feel even more vivid.
“This can’t be…”
“My God…”
Even the Dark Saints and Inquisitors shuddered.
These were not people who feared others.
They were the ones who made others afraid.
Yet now, they trembled involuntarily in fear.
Their shaking would not stop.
The tiny hairs on their bodies stood on end.
None of them had ever experienced such a feeling before.
“Oh Lord…”
“Lord Johan!”
The desperate cries of the Holy Knights caused Johan’s expression to harden.
He didn’t even need to see it.
He knew his followers were dying within that storm of sand.
Johan slowly spoke.
“How…?”
He couldn’t understand it.
He had unleashed every curse he possessed.
No matter how powerful an awakened one was, such curses should have weakened them.
Yet Zeon was displaying his full power without any sign of impairment.
“Does he possess an item capable of blocking curses?”
Johan bit down hard on his lip.
Blood dripped from the torn flesh, but he didn’t even have the mental composure to feel pain.
Because the screams of the Holy Knights continued drilling into his ears.
Johan shouted at the Dark Saints and Inquisitors.
“What are you doing?! Save the Holy Knights at once! Rescue your comrades from Satan’s grasp! God’s blessing shall protect you…”
The faces of the Dark Saints and Inquisitors, frozen by the Holy Knights’ horrific screams, reignited with fighting spirit.
For a brief moment, they had been overwhelmed by Zeon’s monstrous might.
But they were fanatics willing to throw away their lives for Johan’s command.
Ashamed of having cowered even briefly before Zeon, their shame transformed into rage.
And to vent that rage, they willingly threw themselves into the sandstorm.
“Die, unbeliever!”
“UOOOOOH!”
Shrrrack!
They pushed through the sandstorm and advanced toward Zeon.
Then they saw it—
The horrifying sight of Holy Knights submerged and melting within the lava.
Most had already lost their lives, their bodies half-melted away.
But some still clung to life, groaning in unbearable agony.
“May you reach heaven.”
“Damn it…”
The Inquisitors and Dark Saints swallowed back tears as they ended the Holy Knights’ suffering.
It was an act of mercy.
Even while being killed by their own allies, the Holy Knights showed no resentment.
Instead, they welcomed death with gratitude.
“AAAAAAH! Zeon! I’ll tear you apart!”
“You cursed sand sorcerer! You will never die peacefully!”
Stepping over the dissolving corpses of the Holy Knights, they advanced toward Zeon.
At the eye of the raging sandstorm, Zeon stood holding a massive scythe.
It was the Reaper’s Scythe he had once obtained after killing the Grim Reaper.
Thanks to the Reaper’s Scythe, he had been able to erase all the curses Johan unleashed.
But the price of using it was brutal.
A tremendous backlash assaulted Zeon.
Enduring the pain, Zeon quickly shoved the Reaper’s Scythe back into subspace.
It was not an item that could be used for long.
Once the scythe was sealed away, he was finally somewhat freed from the backlash.
Shuaaaak!
At that moment, the attacks of the Inquisitors and Dark Saints poured down upon him.
Chain-sickles and countless skills rained like a storm.
There seemed to be nowhere left for Zeon to escape.
Then—
Zeon’s body shot upward into the sky.
The sand beneath him had launched him upward.
Thanks to that, he escaped the relentless assault of the Inquisitors and Dark Saints.
High in the air, Zeon looked down upon them.
At that moment, he resembled either a god—
Or a demon.
The Inquisitors and Dark Saints kicked off from the corpses of the Holy Knights and hurled themselves toward Zeon.
Swaaaaeek!
They closed the distance at terrifying speed.
In midair, their gazes collided with Zeon’s.
Within their eyes, Zeon saw monstrous killing intent.
An overwhelming determination to kill him no matter the cost.
But Zeon’s eyes contained no emotion at all.
The cold, numb gaze with which he looked upon them—
As though they were objects rather than humans—
Sent chills crawling through the bodies of the Inquisitors and Dark Saints.
Then Zeon spoke in a low voice.
“Sand Storm.”
KWAHHHH!
In an instant, the sandstorm swirling around Zeon expanded and rotated several times faster.
The sand piled throughout the slums was drawn into the storm Zeon created.
Not only that—even the sand from the desert beyond the slums was sucked in, increasing the storm’s size.
Everyone’s mouths fell open at the monstrous scale of the sandstorm, which grew several times larger in an instant.
KWOOOOOO!
The massive storm darkened the sky as it spun, swallowing whole the people attacking Zeon.
“Tch! It’s only sand…!”
The Inquisitors reinforced their Holy Shields.
They believed the shields would protect them even within the sandstorm.
But their faith shattered instantly.
Crack!
Unable to withstand the terrifying pressure of the storm, the Holy Shields shattered like glass.
After breaking through the shields, the sandstorm ground down the Inquisitors and Dark Saints beneath overwhelming pressure.
Without their Holy Shields, the Inquisitors and Dark Saints could not endure the fine sand particles burrowing into their flesh.
Their skin tore apart.
Their muscles were shredded.
The agony forced horrific screams from their throats.
“O God!”
“GRAAAAH!”
They desperately called for God—
But no answer came.
The Inquisitor at the front was reduced to bloody sand and vanished without a trace.
Seeing that, the Inquisitors in the rear hurled their chain-sickles with all their strength.
Even if they died, they intended to drag Zeon into hell with them.
Swaeek! Shugaaak!
Countless chain-sickles flew like flashes of lightning.
At that moment, Zeon raised his right hand clad in the superheated gauntlet toward the sky and muttered,
“Fire Rain.”
Fwoooosh!
The moment the words left his mouth, a rain of fire descended from the heavens.
BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!
The fiery rain intercepted every chain-sickle—
And struck the Inquisitors and Dark Saints directly as well.
Already being shredded apart by the sandstorm, they could no longer endure once the blazing fire rain exploded upon them.
“GRAAAAH!”
“AAAAAH!”
Like flies sprayed directly with insecticide, the Inquisitors and Dark Saints fell from the sky.
Thud! Crack!
They crashed into the ground at terrifying speed, their bodies crushed so badly that their original forms were unrecognizable.
Hundreds of lives vanished just like that.
Even then, those standing near Johan still did not fully understand what had happened.
Because the sandstorm blocked their view.
Shuuuu—
Then, as though it were a lie, the massive sandstorm slowly began to disappear.
The enormous clouds of sand that had blackened the sky were blown back toward the desert—
Revealing Zeon floating in the air.
Not a single Inquisitor or Dark Saint who had charged him with such terrifying momentum remained.
Even the final traces of their existence had been buried beneath the sand.
But just because nothing remained visible did not mean people failed to understand what had happened.
Johan.
The surviving forces of Dongdaemun.
Even the people watching from the slums.
All of them knew.
Something horrifying had occurred within the sandstorm Zeon created.
Holy Knights, Inquisitors, and Dark Saints had vanished without leaving behind even a proper corpse.
And all of it had happened in less than ten minutes.
Only one person could accomplish something so monstrous.
The man standing alone in the sky atop the sand—
Zeon.
The corners of Johan’s eyes twitched violently.
“You beast… the reincarnation of Satan.”
Not even Johan had expected that even after mobilizing the Holy Knights, Dark Saints, and Inquisitors—
They still would not be enough to stop Zeon alone.
Worse still, Zeon floating in the sky didn’t even appear injured.
After devouring so many lives, he himself hadn’t suffered even the smallest scratch.
That sight terrified Johan.
For the first time in his life, Johan felt fear.
He had never imagined he would feel such an emotion toward another human rather than a god.
Goosebumps spread across his body.
Every hair stood on end.
His trembling would not stop.
His breathing quickened as though he might vomit at any moment.
Even so, Johan forcibly suppressed those physical reactions.
Though trembling in fear, he was still the master of the cult.
If the central pillar known as the cult leader collapsed, the remaining members would scatter like loose sand.
And Dongdaemun would be finished.
At the very least, he had to prevent that worst-case outcome.
Because even though he had lost nearly all his forces through a single mistake in judgment—
As long as he survived, Dongdaemun could be rebuilt.
With great difficulty, Johan opened his mouth.
“Let us negotiate.”
“Negotiate?”
“Yes! Let’s resolve this through conversation like civilized people.”
Johan looked up at Zeon with an anxious expression.
Looking down upon Johan, Zeon found the sight laughable.
The so-called representative of God looked utterly pathetic.
His trembling fingertips.
His ragged breathing.
They revealed just how desperate Johan truly was.
Zeon slowly shook his head.
“I may be civilized, but I have absolutely no intention of speaking with you.”