Sand Mage of the Burnt Desert-Chapter 343

[Translator - Peptobismol]

[Proofreader - Demon God]

Chapter 343

“You came to see me?”

“That’s right. More precisely, I came to ask for your cooperation.”

“Cooperation… Regarding what, exactly?”

“From now on, you’ll be seeing a lot more of the Holy Knights in Sinchon.”

“Not exactly the most welcome news.”

“Oh, don’t misunderstand. They’re not here to proselytize this time.”

Johan had once tried to take control of Sinchon during Zeon’s absence. Even without that, Zeon didn’t trust the man in the slightest.

“No proselytizing? And I’m supposed to believe that?”

“You don’t have to. I’m not asking you to believe anything. I’m just informing you of the situation.”

“So basically, this is a one-sided notice.”

“From your perspective, I get that it’s not pleasant. I understand. But even so, it can’t be helped.”

A subtle smile spread across Johan’s lips.

“So what you’re saying is, even if I object, you’re going to keep sending Holy Knights into Sinchon?”

“For now…”

“And why is that?”

“There’s no need for you to know the reason.”

“Then I’m afraid I can’t cooperate.”

Zeon’s voice was cold.

Johan’s gaze turned equally cold in response to the unexpected reply.

“I think you’re misunderstanding something—I wasn’t making a request.”

“And if I refuse, what then? War?”

“If it comes to that.”

“Interesting.”

“It won’t be as fun as you think.”

“Then let’s see what happens. Go ahead. War it is.”

Zeon stared Johan down, provoking him.

Johan glared back with terrifying eyes.

Behind the lenses of his glasses, his small pupils swirled with hostility and murderous intent.

It was a gaze overflowing with madness—the kind that made most people's knees go weak.

But Zeon didn’t flinch in the slightest.

“A lot of people in Sinchon will die.”

“And even more in Dongdaemun.”

“Do we really have to take it this far?”

“You crossed the line and then came to inform me after the fact. What did you expect?”

“You're steeped in pride. It’ll be your downfall.”

“Before I break, your head will roll.”

“…Very well. Let’s do this instead. I’ll prohibit Holy Knights from entering Sinchon. But allow ten of the church’s lay followers to operate here.”

“Lay followers?”

“Yes. Just regular believers. If you allow them to move freely in Sinchon, I’ll keep the Holy Knights out.”

Zeon frowned.

He didn’t believe a word of it.

There was no way the people Johan was sending were ordinary followers.

They were almost certainly secret operatives raised in the shadows. Still, denying even them entry would mean full-scale war with Dongdaemun.

No matter how elite Johan’s agents were, with only ten of them, it would take time to gather meaningful intelligence.

It would buy Zetoya just enough time to grow stronger—and that alone made it worth it.

“Fine. But only ten. You get one month. If they stay past that, I’ll personally throw them out.”

“Agreed.”

Johan answered without hesitation.

And a smile spread across his lips.

He had achieved what he came for.

He never expected Zeon would allow Holy Knights to roam freely in Sinchon.

From what he had gathered, Zeon was a stubborn man—one who never bowed to anyone stronger.

Letting Dongdaemun’s Holy Knights walk freely through Sinchon, his own territory, was unthinkable.

So he provoked him on purpose.

First, he sent the church’s priests and knights to stir Zeon’s wrath—then offered a compromise.

And now Zeon had accepted it.

The one-month time limit was a bit of a nuisance, but it was still enough to extract valuable information.

The ones Johan planned to send were anything but ordinary believers.

They were the Dark Saints.

Saints of the shadows—those who protected the church from within the dark.

A secret weapon of Dongdaemun, comparable to the City Hall’s Numbers or the Punishers of the North District.

Until now, Johan had kept the Dark Saints completely hidden.

As literal secret weapons, they couldn’t be exposed lightly.

Deploying them now showed just how seriously Johan was taking this matter.

‘I must secure the Saint.’

It was the first time Johan had heard the voice of God since founding the church.

Until then, he hadn’t believed in God at all.

If God existed, the world would never have become so broken. So he had declared himself a god instead.

He claimed to serve God with his mouth, but in his heart, he believed he was the god of this new world.

But he had been wrong.

God was real.

What he heard was no delusion, no hallucination.

No one could imitate such a sacred voice.

God existed above the heavens, and through Johan, sought to reveal His will to the world.

And it began with the Saint.

With the Saint by their side, the church would flourish beyond imagination.

Zeon silently watched Johan’s twisted smile.

He could guess what the man was really after.

‘This should give me a good measure of Dongdaemun’s hidden forces.’

* * *

Chen Xi was the product of an extremely complex lineage.

A father born to a Chinese grandfather and a Korean grandmother.

A mother born to a Russian grandfather and a Czech grandmother.

Chen Xi was their child.

Before the Great Cataclysm, her heritage would have been considered exotic.

Such a mix of diverse bloodlines rarely created such beautiful offspring.

And Chen Xi was beautiful—strikingly so.

Her beauty could not be hidden even beneath a nun’s habit. Wherever she went, heads turned.

It had its inconveniences, but it also had its perks.

Chief among them: people were instinctively kind to her.

Especially men—none could resist.

All of them bent over backward to help her and answer her questions.

This made her exceptionally gifted at gathering information.

And that was why she had come to Sinchon.

Chen Xi was a member of the Dark Saints.

Her talent for intel-gathering made her the first one Johan sent into Sinchon.

Even now, she was chatting with a man, subtly probing for information.

“So you haven’t seen anyone particularly strange?”

“That’s right, Sister!”

“If you hear any unusual stories or rumors, would you tell me?”

“Of course! If I hear anything weird, I’ll come running to you first!”

“Thank you.”

Chen Xi offered a gentle smile.

It was far too enchanting to belong to an ordinary nun.

The man looked utterly spellbound by it.

Seeing no further use for him, Chen Xi turned away coldly. But the man couldn’t tear his eyes off her back.

Feeling his lingering gaze, Chen Xi’s expression turned frosty.

‘Disgusting pig…’

She fought back a wave of revulsion.

Just being stared at with such lust made her want to retch. But she endured it, thinking of it as a trial from God and Johan.

What truly mattered wasn’t the gaze of filthy men.

It was the mission Johan had given her.

Find the Saint.

That was the order given to her and the Dark Saints.

To fulfill it, the Dark Saints had spread across the slums, gathering intel from all directions.

But so far, nothing of value had turned up.

‘Will we really find any leads on the Saint in Sinchon?’

Chen Xi was skeptical.

Every zone opposed Dongdaemun, but Sinchon was particularly hostile.

Partly because of Zeon—but also because they had nearly been overrun by Dongdaemun once before.

The people here held a special kind of hatred for priests from Dongdaemun.

Only Chen Xi, with her looks, could manipulate men into talking. The others were facing difficulties everywhere.

It had been ten days of combing through Sinchon with no results.

She and the other Dark Saints were starting to consider pulling out.

“I wonder if the Saint is even on the surface…”

She muttered idly—and then her eyes changed.

She had spotted a heavy iron grate leading into the sewers.

“If she’s not on the surface… Could she be underground?”

The thought occurred to her.

She knew there were people living down there.

People who had nowhere else to go had burrowed into the earth to survive.

The poorest, most desperate souls of Neo Seoul.

Chen Xi approached the grate.

A foul stench wafted up from below.

Just smelling it made her dizzy.

A normal person would’ve turned back.

But Chen Xi was not a normal person.

She was a B-rank Awakener, specially gifted and baptized by Johan.

To her, the smell posed no threat.

Instead, she felt a strange sense of duty.

“Yes. Who else but me would go into such filth? Isn’t it always the dirtiest, darkest places where God descends?”

Crack!

She grabbed the padlock on the grate and twisted—it snapped effortlessly.

The grate creaked open.

Before descending, Chen Xi paused and looked over her shoulder.

“Weird… I thought I felt someone watching me.”

She looked carefully—but no one was there. Even after activating a detection skill, she sensed nothing.

“Must’ve been my imagination…”

She muttered as she stepped into the sewers.

As her figure vanished into the darkness, something stirred in the shadows of the alley.

A soldier made of sand—a Sand Soldier.

The Sand Soldier silently watched the direction Chen Xi had gone… and then crumbled back into sand.

* * *

“So they’ve found it after all.”

Zeon let out a bitter smile.

He had assigned a Sand Soldier to every Dark Saint operating in Sinchon.

The Dark Saints had never imagined Zeon would track them using Sand Soldiers.

Thanks to that, Zeon could sit at home and monitor their every move.

That’s how he had been gathering information on them.

“Fifty members in total. All baptized by Johan. Operate in the shadows. Normally intel-gatherers, but can act as assassins on command. The top ten are the real threats. The woman who just entered the sewers—Chen Xi—is one of them.”

That’s why he had been keeping an especially close eye on her.

Controlling Sand Soldiers remotely like this was a heavy burden even for Zeon.

They were made for combat, not surveillance.

So assigning one to Chen Xi took significant effort—but it paid off.

She had entered the underground sewers.

“Time to make a decision.”

Now that she was down there, it wouldn’t take long for her to uncover the Saint’s identity.

If the Saint fell into Dongdaemun’s hands, Zeon knew exactly what would happen.

They would weaponize her—and expand explosively.

The fragile order that had been maintained so far would be torn to pieces.

That was the last thing Zeon wanted.

He had two choices.

One: kill Chen Xi.

Two: kill—or hide—Remura.

Either choice came with enormous risks.

As Zeon’s thoughts spiraled—

Clunk!

The door suddenly swung open, and Brielle’s voice rang out.

“We’re back, Zeon!”

Brielle strode in confidently, with Levin and Zetoya in tow.

The moment he saw the three of them, Zeon made up his mind.

‘Dongdaemun… it’s time to bring this to an end.’

[Translator - Peptobismol]

[Proofreader - Demon God]