Sand Mage of the Burnt Desert-Chapter 329

[Translator - Peptobismol]

[Proofreader - Demon God]

Chapter 329

“Shit! The front line is collapsing! Hold the damn line!”

“Form the second row, now!”

A woman’s voice rang out like a war drum in the massive underground cavern.

Wielding a blood-soaked spear, she shouted orders at the desperate survivors.

That woman was Eloy.

Hundreds of people moved in sync under her command.

Among them were Levin and his friends, Aaron and Dominic.

Levin turned to them and shouted.

“Get ready!”

“Yeah!”

“Got it!”

Aaron and Dominic responded, their expressions grim.

Their entire bodies were stained red with blood, exhaustion carved into their faces.

It was no surprise.

Ever since they had fallen underground, they hadn’t had a moment to rest—

Constant battle had been their only reality.

And now, they were completely surrounded.

Their enemies lurked in the darkness—

The dead.

Corpses had risen as zombies, a horde of the reanimated dead.

Some had been rotting for centuries.

Others had only just died.

The worst part?

Many of them were people they once knew.

Aaron and Dominic’s entire raid team had been wiped out—

And now, their fallen comrades were attacking them.

It was traumatizing.

Seeing the very people they had fought beside only days ago return as mindless undead was unbearable.

They couldn’t even bring themselves to look them in the eye.

The only reason they had survived this long—

Was Levin.

Without him to guide and encourage them, they would have fallen long ago.

He had saved them countless times.

But there was no time to rest.

The zombie horde came in relentless waves.

Every hand was needed on the front lines.

“Damn it!”

“See you on the other side.”

Leaving Levin behind, the two of them charged toward the crumbling defenses.

“You have to survive.”

Levin, his eyes bloodshot, watched them fight.

He wanted to be down there with them—

But his enemy was elsewhere.

Gritting his teeth, he looked up.

Phantom-like creatures hovered in the air, their transparent bodies gliding silently through the cavern.

Specters.

They were similar to Levin—

Ghostly beings without a physical form.

But unlike him, they had always been that way.

The specters circled overhead like vultures, waiting for the right moment to strike.

The Awakened were too preoccupied with the zombies to notice.

Which was why so many had already fallen—

Only to rise again as undead, adding to the endless cycle of carnage.

If they had just been ordinary zombies, it wouldn’t have been so bad.

But these weren’t just reanimated corpses.

They retained some of the abilities they had in life.

Their skills weren’t as refined as before, but the fact that they could still use them—

That was enough to be a problem.

Levin’s role was clear.

He was the only one who could deal with the specters.

Ssssshh!

A specter dove from above, heading straight for an Awakened who was too busy fighting zombies to notice.

Just as it was about to strike—

Levin moved.

His body blurred as he shot forward, intercepting the specter midair.

Their ghostly forms tangled together—

And then—

Crackle!

A surge of purple lightning erupted from Levin’s body.

Bzzzzzt!

The specter burned away, unable to even scream before it vanished.

But Levin’s face remained grim.

There were too many of them.

And now—

They were actively avoiding him.

To take out multiple specters at once, he would need to unleash a large-scale attack—

But that would mean electrocuting his allies as well.

He had no choice.

He had to take them down one by one.

While Levin hunted specters, the others continued to suffer.

More specters swooped down, targeting the distracted Awakened.

“Damn it!”

Levin pushed himself harder, racing to intercept them.

Bzzzt!

One by one, he managed to take them down—

But there were still so many left.

And the battle was far from over.

‘I just have to hold out until Zeon gets here.’

He clenched his fists.

If there was one thing he knew—

It was that Zeon would come for him.

The question was whether they could last that long.

Scanning the battlefield, Levin saw the defenses breaking apart.

In every weak spot, Eloy would rush in, trying to hold the line.

So far, they had barely managed to hold their ground.

But it was clear—

They wouldn’t last much longer.

“Shit! I’m gonna die at this rate!”

“Just hold on! If we break, we’re all dead!”

“Damn it all!”

“Arghhh!”

Desperate cries filled the air.

Every warrior was pushing themselves beyond their limits.

The battle had raged for hours.

Countless injuries.

Countless deaths.

And the worst part?

Anyone who died—

Simply joined the enemy ranks.

Watching their fallen comrades return as zombies—

It shattered the minds of the weaker Awakened.

“Aaaaah! We’re all going to die!”

“We have to run!”

“Please! I don’t want to be a zombie!”

Panic spread like wildfire.

Terrified Awakened abandoned their positions, leaving massive gaps in the defenses.

“What the fuck are you doing?! Get back here!”

“Swing your damn swords, you cowards!”

“If you run, we all die!”

But their shouts meant nothing.

The front lines collapsed.

Eloy clenched her teeth so hard she nearly cracked them.

They had held on for so long—

Only for everything to crumble in an instant.

If this continued, the zombie numbers would become impossible to manage.

And once the scales tipped, total annihilation was inevitable.

Levin and Eloy might survive—

But no one else would.

And then the undead would move on.

They would find more Awakened.

More victims.

3,400 people fell into this place.

If they all turned into zombies…

Eloy’s face turned pale at the thought.

Zombies never tired.

They never stopped.

Eventually, they would wander out of the underground—

And when that happened, their first target would be the most densely populated city.

Neo Seoul.

The city’s high walls might hold—

But the slums wouldn’t stand a chance.

And once the slums fell, even Neo Seoul wouldn’t be safe.

“What the hell is in here that’s turning corpses into zombies?!”

Eloy scanned her surroundings, trying to find the source.

But she was too exhausted.

Her legs felt like they were weighed down by iron shackles.

“Huff… huff…”

Her breath came in ragged gasps.

Just moving was a struggle.

A zombie noticed her weakness.

Graaahhh!

It lunged—

One that had been an Awakened in life.

Faster than normal zombies.

Unpredictable.

Too fast for Eloy to react.

“Shit!”

She instinctively shut her eyes.

Boom!

A powerful shockwave erupted in front of her.

Her body jolted—

But there was no pain.

Opening her eyes, she saw the zombie collapse.

Its head was gone.

“…Who?”

Eloy spun around, searching for her savior—

And when she saw him, her eyes widened in disbelief.

“Zeon!”

Beyond the crowd, familiar faces appeared.

The ones who had arrived just in time to save them.

Tears welled in Eloy’s eyes.

She barely held them back as she shouted—

“Reinforcements are here! Fight!”

Her voice echoed across the battlefield.

“Wooooahhh!”

“Support has arrived!”

“Hold the line!”

The moment they realized they weren’t alone, morale soared.

Zeon’s expression was grave.

“…So many are already dead.”

“The losses are immense. We need to act quickly.”

“First, we need to separate the zombies from the living. Can you do it?”

Old Man Go grinned.

“Can I? Boy, I’m Go Cheon-soon. A member of the Numbers.”

Go Cheon-soon was the real name of the old man.

At Zeon’s words, he had unconsciously let his real name slip out.

The old man, focusing his mind as he watched the humans tangled with zombies, was interrupted by the twin sisters who each placed a hand on his shoulder.

“We’ll help.”

“Stay strong!”

Using telepathy, the twin sisters intervened in the old man’s thoughts.

They artificially enhanced his focus.

Thanks to them, the old man’s concentration was instantly multiplied several times.

Whoooosh!

A translucent barrier erupted from the old man’s body and rapidly expanded.

“Double barrier. Protect the righteous, repel the evil.”

The barrier, expanding to fill the underground space, pushed the zombies outward. It had no effect on the Awakened, though.

The Awakened stood still in their places, while only the zombies were forced outside the barrier.

The double barrier was like a net.

It detected only those with corrupt, unholy energy, like zombies, and pushed them out.

Thanks to this, the Awakened were able to breathe a sigh of relief, escaping the zombies’ relentless assault.

Kwoooah!

The zombies struggled to resist, but it was futile.

Even with the twins’ help, the old man’s barrier was something specters or zombies could not overcome.

Boom! Boom!

Eventually, the zombies were pushed back to the wall, and the specters found themselves trapped between the barrier and the ceiling.

Despite their predicament, their aggression didn’t diminish.

The zombies tried to tear through the barrier, while the specters released negative energy and wavered in the air.

The barrier wobbled dangerously, as though it might break at any moment.

The old man shouted to Zeon.

“It’s your turn now.”

“Yes!”

Zeon stepped forward, raising his dominance. The sand particles that had piled up on the ground began to float and were pushed out of the barrier.

Rrraaang!

The sand spun rapidly between the barrier and the wall.

Kkwaaang!

With a chilling sound, the zombies were shredded apart.

Even the zombies’ grotesque shrieks were swallowed by the sand.

Zombies were not invincible.

Zombies died if their heads were severed.

The zombies that died this way would never be resurrected. But Zeon wasn’t just removing their heads; he was grinding their entire bodies into particles smaller than the sand.

The Awakened, who had been threatened by the zombies, watched in shock as the zombies were reduced to dust in an instant.

“Insane!”

“He just grinded the zombies like that?!”

“What the hell have we been doing until now?”

It was so absurd that it felt hollow.

In the end, the Awakened, their legs giving out, collapsed where they stood.

Outside the barrier, the specters were still intact.

Without physical forms, they were immune to the sand grinder. However, their fate was not to last much longer.

Levin entered their midst and unleashed Purple Lightning.

Zzzt!

Levin’s fury-infused lightning burned every specter outside the barrier to nothing.

Meanwhile, the Awakened inside the barrier were completely unharmed and safe.

Having eliminated all the specters, Levin landed and immediately hugged Zeon tightly.

“Hyung!”

“You’re safe.”

“I knew you’d come.”

“Glad I’m not late. You held on well.”

Zeon patted Levin’s shoulder, now fully in his physical form again.

A smile spread across Levin’s face.

“Of course, you’re my brother.”

[Translator - Peptobismol]

[Proofreader - Demon God]