Sand Mage of the Burnt Desert

[Translator - Peptobismol]

[Proofreader - Demon God]

Chapter 350

Johan’s mouth twisted.

He too knew that the Sand Soldiers were one of Zeon’s signature skills.

These soldiers made of sand had become a symbol of Zeon for quite some time now.

The fact that Zeon had summoned them meant only one thing: he had no intention of backing down—he was going to fight.

Johan, aware of this, did not hide his hostility.

“Kill Zeon, all of you.”

“Wooooaaah!”

“Attack!”

At Johan’s command, the paladins charged at Zeon.

Hundreds of heavily armored knights surged forward in unison—it was an overwhelming sight.

Johan spread both arms wide and murmured,

“May the grace of God descend upon them…”

In that moment, a radiant glow fell from the sky onto the paladins.

Their heavy armor shimmered faintly, and the aura around them surged explosively.

Zeon instantly recognized what the light was.

“A buff?”

It was a skill that temporarily boosted the target’s stats and abilities. That was Johan’s specialty.

Johan was an S-rank buffer.

His own combat capabilities weren’t particularly formidable, but he could amplify the strength of his allies severalfold at will.

That was Johan’s secret.

The power gap between paladins who received his buff and those who didn’t was like heaven and earth.

The buffed paladins roared with an uncontrollable rush of adrenaline.

“Uwooooh!”

“Waaaaah!”

They looked more like berserkers than holy knights.

At that moment, the Sand Soldiers behind Zeon launched forward.

Unlike the paladins, they didn’t shout or try to rouse their spirit.

They moved like precision machines, executing the mission assigned to them.

Their objective: stop the paladins.

The Sand Soldiers fearlessly stood in the paladins’ path.

Paladins swung their swords and maces, shattering the sand warriors.

“Out of my way, sand freaks!”

“I’ll crush them all!”

Boom!

Thud!

With explosive crashes, the Sand Soldiers were smashed apart.

Grains of sand burst in all directions as the soldiers crumbled.

Blocking buffed paladins with mere Sand Soldiers had never been realistic. But Zeon wasn’t disappointed. He had anticipated this much.

After all, the Sand Soldiers weren’t exceptionally strong.

Even a C-rank martial-type Awakened could handle one. And the paladins present here were all C-rank or higher. On top of that, Johan’s buffs had inflated their combat power by multiple folds.

There was no way sand-made soldiers could stop them.

Bang!

Crash!

Paladins tore through Sand Soldiers, reducing them back to sand.

Dozens were dismantled in an instant.

The paladins broke through the wall of Sand Soldiers and reached Zeon.

They were close enough to strike—within melee range.

The paladins swung their swords and maces without hesitation. But their weapons never touched Zeon’s body.

Thud!

Smash!

Newly summoned Sand Soldiers intercepted the attacks with their own bodies.

Sand Soldiers were undoubtedly weaker than paladins, but as long as Zeon had mana, he could summon them endlessly.

In other words, they were cost-effective.

Zeon summoned Sand Soldiers like pressing out fish-shaped buns.

They were destroyed under the paladins’ blows, only to be revived even faster than they were defeated.

No matter how many were crushed, more sprang back up—an endless wave that even the paladins began to grow weary of.

They were so close to Zeon but couldn’t advance even a single meter. It was maddening.

Then it happened.

Shoooo!

A squad of priests leapt into the air.

They were the Dark Saints—Dongdaemun’s secret strike force.

From above, they launched attacks at Zeon.

Just before the attacks landed, a sandstorm whipped up.

A dense cyclone of sand erupted around Zeon, deflecting every one of the Dark Saints’ attacks.

Boom boom boom!

Their spells and weapons shattered as they collided with the sandstorm.

The Dark Saints and paladins couldn’t hide their shock.

They had never encountered anything like this before.

Then,

“Do not fear, for I am with you. No hardship or trial shall stand in your way.”

With Johan’s intonation, a red light descended on the paladins and Dark Saints.

In that instant, fear vanished from their hearts, and courage surged up.

“Lord Johan is with us!”

“Glory to Lord Johan!”

Empowered with fervor, paladins and Dark Saints pounded at the wall of sand and the Sand Soldiers.

At that moment, Zeon murmured,

“Sand Viper.”

Ssshhh!

The moment he spoke, countless snakes burst from the sand.

Hundreds of sand serpents shot forth at terrifying speed, sinking their fangs into the paladins and Dark Saints.

“Not a chance!”

“Holy Shield!”

The paladins conjured holy barriers to block Zeon’s attack.

Against the holy radiance, the sand serpents lost cohesion and crumbled into dust.

Then Zeon whispered again.

“Claymore.”

BOOM! BOOM!

The sand particles detonated.

In a massive explosion, the Holy Shields shattered.

“Graaaagh!”

“Ugh!”

Paladins and Dark Saints were flung back, screaming.

The paladins, clad in heavy armor, fared better.

Though they suffered heavy impacts, their armor protected them from fatal wounds. But the unarmored Dark Saints sustained serious injuries.

“Damn it!”

“You cursed Sand Mage!”

The paladins rose, cursing, their bodies mostly unscathed thanks to their innate toughness, reinforced armor, and Johan’s buffs.

Brimming with killing intent, they charged again.

Swoosh!

Greatswords and maces sliced through the air toward Zeon. But once again, their weapons did not reach him.

Sand Soldiers took the hits with their bodies.

Thud!

Smash!

The sand warriors shattered, returning to grains of sand.

Then those particles transformed into sand serpents that attacked the paladins again.

After delivering their strikes, the serpents turned back into sand, reassembling into Sand Soldiers that intercepted the paladins’ counterattacks.

When the Sand Soldiers were destroyed, their scattered sand exploded again.

It was the infinite cycle of sand.

Unless all the sand in the world disappeared—or Zeon’s mana ran out—this cycle would never end.

“You satanic bastard!”

“Die!”

While the paladins were being battered by the sand, the partially recovered Dark Saints resumed their assault on Zeon.

A downpour of spells and attacks rained upon him.

Zeon evaded with Sand Stride.

BOOM!

A mace slammed into where he had just been, carving out a massive crater.

Had it struck, it would have crushed every bone in his body.

Swoosh!

A greatsword grazed past his back by a hair’s breadth.

“Strike of Judgment!”

At someone’s shout, a beam of holy light fell from the heavens toward Zeon.

He hastily conjured a sand barrier above his head.

BOOM!

The divine light struck the barrier.

The impact shattered the sand shield, but that was enough—it bought Zeon the time to dodge.

Crackle!

The beam scorched the spot where he had been.

It was a paladin skill that summoned divine light from the sky to smite a target.

Once one paladin cast it, others followed.

BOOM! BOOM BOOM!

Beam after beam of divine light rained down on where Zeon had stood.

It looked like a storm.

Johan murmured,

“Finally, he’s caught.”

Strike of Judgment was a universal skill among paladins.

All of them could use it.

Its true power shone when hundreds cast it simultaneously.

Countless rays rained down like divine hail.

There was no way a human could dodge all of them. Nor could they block them.

Perhaps a few could be fended off, but surviving hundreds? Impossible.

And even if Zeon somehow survived, the Dark Saints were waiting around the perimeter.

There would be no escape.

BOOM BOOM BOOM!

Explosions erupted as the beams fell.

The ground was torn apart, and clouds of dust filled the air.

The sheer force was apocalyptic.

No living being could possibly survive inside that chaos—or so it seemed.

But Johan didn’t let his guard down.

This was Zeon.

The only Sand Mage on Earth.

The power he had demonstrated thus far wasn’t something that could be ended by a barrage like this.

Johan gave the next order.

“Deploy the Inquisitors.”

Clink!

Before he even finished speaking, masked priests appeared.

Each held a massive chain sickle.

These were the Inquisitors—battle priests raised to hunt heretics.

Standing behind Johan, Joshua’s eyes twitched.

He too was an Inquisitor, but due to his external duties, he didn’t use such grotesque weapons.

He had to maintain public image.

But these others were different.

They almost never showed their faces in public.

Like the Dark Saints, they operated entirely in the shadows.

Murderers who found joy in killing the Church’s enemies—that was the Inquisitors.

Without hesitation, they hurled themselves into the battlefield, where Strike of Judgment still rained down.

“Annihilate the enemies of the Church!”

“Die, heretic!”

Countless chain sickles tore through the space where Zeon had been.

BOOM! SLASH! WHIRRR!

Explosions and slicing sounds erupted nonstop.

No living being could possibly survive this battlefield—or so it seemed.

But neither Johan nor Joshua loosened their guard.

Johan was quietly preparing his ultimate skill.

No matter how many paladins, Inquisitors, or Dark Saints were thrown at him, in the end, it had to be Johan who finished Zeon off.

Only then would his authority be solidified, and he could prove to Neo Seoul that he was the savior chosen by God.

“I’ll show you why God chose me, Zeon!”

Pure madness flickered in Johan’s eyes.

The opposite of blessings was curses.

If one could bestow buffs to allies, one could just as easily rain curses upon enemies.

A true buffer did both.

Johan understood his powers well.

“Let the angels of hell drag your feet downward—fall into the deepest abyss, unbeliever!”

With those words, all sorts of negative curses—decay, withering, thirst, aging, corruption—rained down on the battlefield where Zeon clashed with paladins and Inquisitors.

The curses had no effect on Johan’s buffed allies.

But for Zeon, they were catastrophic.

Zeon’s body staggered under the weight of the curses.

At that moment, the paladins, Dark Saints, and Inquisitors launched their coordinated assault.

BOOM BOOM BOOM!

A massive explosion ripped through the slums—enough to level entire blocks.

Dust filled the air.

A smile crept onto Johan’s lips.

“It’s over.”

He had mobilized Dongdaemun’s full might.

No one could survive such an onslaught.

No one that Johan knew of, at least.

As he trembled in euphoric anticipation, it happened.

“My Lord Johan!”

Joshua called out urgently.

Irritated, Johan turned to glare.

“What is it?”

“Th-the ground…”

“What about it?”

Johan glanced down casually—and his face cracked.

Ssssss!

At some point, the sand on the ground had begun to melt—turning into something like molten lava.

Then, from the swirling dust, Zeon’s voice echoed low and ominous.

“Sand Gehenna.”

[Translator - Peptobismol]

[Proofreader - Demon God]