Sand Mage of the Burnt Desert-Chapter 123

[Translator – Peptobismol]

Chapter 123

Alexandro was furious.

He had come this far leading the caravan for the sake of a fair deal.

The goods he carried were like lifelines for the people of Yakutsk Colony, and Kim Jae-kyung and Brixton tried to plunder them with brainwashing skills.

It was an unforgivable act.

“You’re dead.”

Boom!

His fist struck Brixton’s chest.

“Ugh!”

Brixton’s face contorted in an instant.

An immense shock struck his whole body.

If it weren’t for the heavy armor, his chest would have been completely caved in.

It was truly a tremendous force.

Alexandro’s assault wasn’t over yet.

“Haaa!”

Another powerful blow followed.

Brixton hurriedly swung his hammer.

Boom!

The fist and the hammer clashed, producing a metallic clang.

Brixton’s body was pushed backward, and Alexandro staggered.

One wielded a weapon, a hammer, while the other used his bare fists.

Yet the one with the hammer was pushed back.

It was clear who had the upper hand.

But Brixton couldn’t admit it.

“A mere desert trader stronger than me? Impossible.”

In an instant, the pupils in his eyes disappeared.

It was a phenomenon that occurred when his skill, Berserker, was activated.

When the Berserker skill fully activates, the attack power more than doubles momentarily. However, one loses all sense and cannot distinguish friend from foe.

It had to be stopped before that happened.

Kim Jae-kyung shouted.

“Idiot! Don’t activate the skill. Now is the time to retreat.”

But her shout came too late.

The black in Brixton’s eyes completely disappeared, and the whites turned entirely bloodshot.

The Berserker skill had fully activated.

“I’ll kill you.”

Brixton, having lost his senses, charged at Alexandro with terrifying momentum.

Thud!

With a loud noise, this time Alexandro was pushed back.

Anger gleamed in Alexandro’s face, who suffered losses.

The moment his anger reached its peak, and he was about to give it his all.

“Step back.”

A youthful voice rang in Alexandro’s ears.

The moment he heard the voice, Alexandro immediately withdrew without hesitation.

At that moment, the youthful voice resounded again.

“Direction Disturb.”

A red light descended upon Brixton’s body.

Brixton, having lost his reason, couldn’t evade the light and was completely covered by it.

Instantly, Brixton’s senses were disrupted.

Although he clearly saw his opponent in front of him, he couldn’t judge how to approach.

A skill that disrupts the opponent’s senses, causing confusion.

For someone like Brixton who entered a Berserker state and couldn’t make proper judgments, its effect was multiplied.

The more Brixton tried to attack Alexandro, the further he seemed to get away.

“Captain!”

“Damn it!”

The warriors who came with Brixton called out desperately, but he had already left the fortress.

Kim Jae-kyung shouted.

“Everyone, retreat!”

In the end, the Dongdaemun Awakeneds suffered great losses and escaped with the caravan.

“You bastards!”

“Kaaak! Tuu!”

The victorious White Bear Caravan Awakeneds took deep breaths and spat.

Even though they achieved victory, their anger didn’t subside.

Unexpectedly, a young boy with an apparent smile consoled them.

“You all did well. Let’s calm down. After all, this level of disturbance was expected.”

Suddenly, as if under a spell, the White Bear Caravan Awakeneds regained their senses.

That was one of the powers the boy possessed.

Among the White Bear Caravan Awakeneds, he was the youngest, but he was a presence more reliable and trustworthy than anyone else.

The boy’s name was Damien.

Alexandro approached Damien and patted him on the shoulder.

“You did well.”

“It was nothing, really.”

Damien grinned, revealing his white teeth.

“You always know you can rely on me, right? I hope you continue to lead us well in the future.”

“Others might misunderstand if they hear that. You’re the leader of our caravan.”

“But everyone knows it’s you who actually leads us. We wouldn’t have come this far without you.”

“Don’t say that. There are others too.”

“Got it.”

Only then did Alexandro remember that there were other people inside the caravan.

His gaze shifted towards Zeon and his group who were watching from one side.

Naturally, Damien’s gaze also moved along with his.

The moment Damien’s gaze fell on Zeon, his eyes widened.

“Brother?”

An unexpected term slipped from Damien’s lips.

“Brother? What are you talking about?”

Alexandro, who was nearby, asked, but Damien didn’t answer. No, he couldn’t.

His gaze was fixed on Zeon.

Zeon spoke up.

“Damien, it’s you.”

“It really is you, brother. I thought I was seeing things, but it’s really you.”

“I thought it was an illusion too. You appeared out of nowhere.”

“Haha!”

Damien burst into laughter.

It was a laughter born out of both joy and disbelief.

He never imagined he would see Zeon here.

Damien knew that Zeon was from Neo Seoul.

But Zeon was traveling the world, and there was no certainty as to when he would return to Neo Seoul.

Naturally, Damien didn’t expect to meet Zeon either.

It was a completely unexpected encounter, so it felt strange and yet joyful.

Zeon approached Damien.

“You’ve grown a lot.”

“It’s been seven years already.”

“You’ve changed a lot.”

“Really? Everyone says I look the same.”

“In my eyes, you look different.”

“Then you must be right. Anyway, I’m so glad to see you like this. When did you return to Neo Seoul?”

“Not too long ago.”

“I see. That’s why I didn’t know.”

[Translator – Peptobismol]

Damien scratched his head.

At that moment, Alexandro approached Damien.

“Shouldn’t you introduce me too?”

“Oh! Let me introduce you. You remember the one I mentioned once? The one I met in the desert seven years ago.”

“Oh! So that’s him. Nice to meet you. I’m Alexandro Purtchenko, the leader of the White Bear Caravan.”

“I’m Zeon.”

Alexandro and Zeon shook hands.

Alexandro scanned Zeon up and down with sharp eyes. However, he didn’t notice anything special.

Damien asked Zeon.

“Are you here to buy things too?”

“I’m just here to look around following her.”

Zeon pointed to Brielle, who was with him. Upon hearing that, Brielle approached Zeon and greeted him.

“I’m Brielle. Nice to meet you!”

“Nice to meet you too. But for some reason, the atmosphere around you doesn’t feel quite ordinary.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s just a feeling…”

“You don’t seem ordinary yourself.”

“Then I guess the feelings mutual?”

Damien chuckled.

Meanwhile, Brielle stared at Damien with a gaze full of suspicion.

Fortunately, her gaze was concealed by her wide-brimmed hat.

‘This man is strange.’

She was a High Elf.

Although her senses had dulled considerably due to the drugs, she still retained the keen intuition typical of High Elves.

From Damien, she sensed an oddly unsettling aura.

As a High Elf by nature, there was hardly any possibility of her being mistaken.

At that moment, Damien spoke to Alexandro.

“Leader, just open up to the third floor for them. If they need anything, prioritize them and I’ll take care of it.”

“Understood. I’ll do as you say.”

Alexandro nodded.

Zeon said to Brielle.

“I’ll talk to him for a bit, you can go see if there’s anything useful.”

“Be careful!”

“What?”

“Damien. I have a bad feeling about him.”

“Got it.”

As Zeon nodded, Brielle walked away cautiously.

Zeon said to Damien.

“Shall we take a walk?”

“Sure.”

The two of them left the fort and walked on the sand together.

It was Zeon who spoke first.

“You came from Yakutsk Colony?”

“As you know, I couldn’t return to Kamchatka Colony. So, I had to find another colony.”

Damien was from Kamchatka Colony.

His father, Beloff, operated a caravan in Kamchatka Colony, and Damien grew up there.

However, due to threats from the otherworldly species, Beloff lured Dyoden and Zeon into a trap and ended up being killed by them.

He couldn’t return to Kamchatka Colony.

Eventually, Damien had to find another colony instead of Kamchatka Colony.

Damien wandered the desert alone.

After wandering for a few months, he finally arrived at Yakutsk.

When Damien arrived, Yakutsk was in ruins without hope or dreams.

The ramparts were on the verge of collapse due to continuous attacks by monsters, and everything was lacking, including food, weapons, and morale.

The collapse of Yakutsk Colony was only a matter of time.

The one who proposed a solution at that time was Damien.

He manipulated the caravan to trade with other colonies and brought in supplies to Yakutsk.

It was easy to say, but the process was incredibly difficult, beyond words.

Hardly anyone trusted a seemingly insignificant boy.

Moreover, the boy was not even born in Yakutsk Colony.

Naturally, people were suspicious of Damien.

The only person who believed in Damien was Alexandro, the leader of the White Bear Caravan.

At that time, Alexandro was the commander of the militia defending the colony against monster attacks.

Even when everyone was in despair, he fought against the monsters without giving up hope.

It was as if he believed that someone would find a breakthrough.

And that someone who appeared then was Damien.

Although everyone thought Damien’s words were grandiose, Alexandro strangely trusted him.

Eventually, Alexandro and Damien built the caravan together, marking the beginning of the White Bear Caravan.

Damien showed remarkable abilities.

Even in the desert where even a compass was useless, he could accurately find his way, and he was able to sense danger and avoid it ahead of time.

He was perfectly awakened as a Guide.

His abilities became stronger as time passed.

Eventually, he succeeded in finding another colony that survived far from Yakutsk.

“To be honest, it was difficult at first, but it wasn’t so difficult afterward. Fortunately, the other colony had quite a few things we needed, and our goods helped them too.”

After the first successful trade, trust in Damien soared.

The White Bear Caravan rapidly expanded, and consequently, the environment of Yakutsk Colony improved.

The defense wall was raised higher, weapons were placed on the walls to combat the attacks of monsters, and the residents became safer with a little more room in their lives.

“As things progressed, I wanted to expand the scale of trade a bit more. That’s when Neo Seoul came to mind. If we could trade with Neo Seoul, we could further develop Yakutsk.”

“The journey couldn’t have been easy, could it?”

“It was really not easy. The journey to Neo Seoul was on a completely different level of danger.”

“I suppose so.”

Zeon nodded.

There are no monsters near Neo Seoul. But once you go beyond the range where the anti-magic is effective, the situation changes.

Countless monsters lurk there.

Among them are enormous monsters that even high-ranking Awakeneds cannot handle.

Finding a safe path amidst all those monsters was almost impossible.

The boy who made the impossible possible was right in front of him.

Damien smiled as he looked at Zeon.

That smile felt strangely ominous.

[Translator – Peptobismol]

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