Chapter 481

Chapter 481

The moment Zeon tore out the core, Croanos’s body convulsed violently.

With only fragments of bone and muscle left intact, its trembling form looked grotesque beyond words.

Croanos lifted his head and looked at Zeon.

But this time, the look in his eyes was different.

All traces of malice were gone.

His expression, his gaze, seemed almost peaceful.

Croanos’s lips moved faintly.

―Th-thank… you. For taking… away the pain…

Croanos truly meant it.

Having inherited the Queen’s curse in full, his entire existence had been nothing but suffering.

Not a single day, no, not even a single moment, had ever been free of pain.

To remain sane under such agony was simply impossible.

From the moment he was born, Croanos had begun to go mad.

And madness was the only way he could endure.

He had longed for death countless times, but could not die.

That was the curse of immortality.

Now, that curse was gone.

At last, he could end the life that had been soaked in torment.

Fsssshh!

The bones and muscles that had barely held their shape turned to dust.

―Free… at last… I’m… free…

Those were the final words Croanos left to the world.

Then he vanished completely, as if he had never existed at all.

Zeon looked down at the Blood Crystal in his hand.

The sinister crimson stone pulsed faintly with light.

Just gazing at it made his heart pound and his head ache.

Croanos was dead, yet the curse he bore was condensed within this crystal.

Had an ordinary person touched it, they would have gone insane instantly.

Only someone like Zeon could maintain sanity in its presence.

“This is something that must never be released.”

If the Blood Crystal ever fell into another’s hands, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Fortunately, Zeon had a way to deal with it.

‘Gaia.’

She was away now, traveling with Brielle to the High Elf village, but Zeon knew she would one day return to his side.

If anyone could handle the Blood Crystal, it would be Gaia, the evolved weapon born from absorbing the Reaper’s Scythe, the very embodiment of curses.

Zeon slipped the Blood Crystal into his subspace.

Tesserina watched him, brow slightly furrowed.

“You’re not going to destroy it?”

“If I destroy it, the curse inside will scatter. Better to leave it to an expert.”

“An expert?”

“There’s someone I know. She’ll know exactly what to do.”

“If you say so, I’ll trust you.”

Tesserina didn’t ask further.

In truth, she couldn’t. She was still too stunned by what she’d witnessed.

She had always known Zeon possessed tremendous power, she could feel the vast mana within him.

Other than dragons, she had never encountered a being who held such enormous mana.

That was why she’d been drawn to him, and once she realized he wasn’t inherently cruel, she had wanted to grow closer.

But she had never imagined his power was this overwhelming.

‘A Sand Mage… who would have thought?’

She couldn’t have guessed it.

No such power had ever existed in Kurayan.

In a land blessed by the gods, there was no need for one who commanded sand.

The earth was fertile, and only a few barren deserts remained.

That was why no Sand Mage had ever been born, and even if one had, they would never have wielded such might.

Earth, however, was different.

After Krasias’s reckless terraforming, most of the planet had turned to sand.

It was the perfect environment for a Sand Mage to thrive.

Had Earth been rich and fertile, such power could never have been born, nor could it have ever reached this level.

‘The whole planet is his weapon…’

Of course, there were limits to how much mana a human could contain; Zeon couldn’t possibly move every grain of sand on Earth. But even with the power he could wield now, few beings could stand against him.

‘Terrifying!’

What frightened her most wasn’t Zeon’s strength itself.

It was the fact that someone with such power could live among others, indistinguishable from an ordinary human.

That meant his will was unshakable, strong enough to restrain his own overwhelming might.

And Tesserina knew well how terrifying it was, when someone with such a steadfast heart finally became angry.

Then Zeon spoke.

“Let’s head to the Queen’s lair.”

“Right.”

The two entered the passageway on the opposite side of the cavern.

The tunnel was filled with traces of destruction, shattered traps, broken magic circles, and collapsed barriers.

“This must be Grain’s work.”

Zeon examined the marks carefully.

Even from remnants like these, one could infer an opponent’s power.

Grain wasn’t an enemy, but he wasn’t an ally, either.

After what had happened, that much was clear.

Now Zeon knew exactly where he stood.

The deeper they went, the clearer the destruction became.

It was as if a massive golem had trampled through, every object flattened beneath impossible weight.

The floor itself had sunk much lower than before.

‘The Ruler of Gravity…’

Another power that defied common sense, just like his own.

To manipulate gravity at will… That was a godlike ability.

Of course, Grain wasn’t an actual god. There had to be limits. Still, it was terrifying nonetheless.

The narrow tunnel soon opened into a vast chamber.

A cavern nearly a hundred meters wide.

And it, too, was thoroughly devastated.

Zeon’s eyes sharpened as he studied the destruction.

‘There’s a pattern.’

First, a wide-area spell. The spread of destruction was about fifty meters in diameter.

Only traces remained, vampires crushed into the ground.

At first glance, it looked as though he had simply increased gravity across that fifty-meter range to kill them all instantly. But Zeon could tell that wasn’t the case.

The depth of the impact varied.

Within the fifty-meter zone, a ten-meter section was pressed deeper, and the very center even deeper still.

There was only one conclusion.

Grain had adjusted gravity three separate times.

First, he crushed the lower vampires with a fifty-meter-wide field. Then he focused gravity to a twenty-meter radius for the stronger ones.

Finally, he concentrated it into a narrow zone to eliminate the most powerful.

From this alone, Zeon could tell that Grain could control gravity in at least three tiers.

Zeon himself never revealed his full power in Neo Seoul, Grain must be the same.

“If he’s shown three levels, then he must have at least two more.”

The smaller the area of focus, the greater the explosive power,

that much was obvious.

Then Tesserina spoke.

“A Graviturge, huh? That’s a rare ability to awaken.”

“You know about them?”

“Who doesn’t? Everyone’s curious about such a unique gift. It’s devastatingly strong, but it devours mana like crazy.”

“So it’s that mana-hungry.”

“Exactly. That’s why he didn’t use wide-area spells consecutively, each one drains enormous mana.”

“Hmm.”

Zeon nodded.

The greater the power, the greater the mana cost.

Back when he first awakened, Zeon hadn’t been able to use his stronger skills freely, either.

Now, thanks to his vast mana pool, and that broken artifact, , Elura’s Tear, , the strain was manageable. But even so, he still had to watch his reserves.

Unless Grain possessed some artifact like , Elura’s Necklace, , his power usage had clear limits.

Even here, in this underground complex, hundreds of vampires lay dead.

If he had killed that many, Grain’s mana must be nearly exhausted.

Zeon and Tesserina passed through the second cavern, continuing down the corridor.

Soon, a massive iron gate appeared before them.

Its defensive barrier was shattered, the doors hanging loosely on their hinges.

They entered with ease.

Another vast chamber opened before them, as large as the one where Croanos had fallen.

The walls were red, and the floor gleamed dark crimson, as though soaked in blood.

But what drew their eyes most was the enormous throne at the chamber’s center.

Carved from blood-red gemstones, it gleamed ominously.

And upon it sat a woman.

A beautiful woman.

Her glossy black hair cascaded down to her waist,her pale face radiating nobility.

Even the black dress she wore couldn’t hide the perfect curves of her body, nor the striking redness of her lips.

Anyone who saw her would have called her beautiful.

But now, her face was twisted in agony.

“Ughhh…”

A strained moan escaped her lips.

Her delicate brows were drawn tight, veins bulging across her forehead, clear signs of excruciating pain.

A crimson aura coiled around her body like storm clouds, yet it was being suppressed, confined within an invisible barrier.

Standing before her was a man Zeon and Tesserina both recognized.

Grain, the Ruler of Gravity.

His face, too, was contorted in pain.

Zeon and Tesserina understood immediately.

The two were locked in a contest of power.

Grain was compressing gravity around her, and the woman was pushing back with her own blood aura.

There was only one being in this dungeon who could match Grain in power.

“The Queen.”

“Correct. The Queen of the Undying.”

Tesserina confirmed his words.

The Queen of the Undying.

The immortal one.

The cursed one.

She had many names, but they all meant the same.

She was the progenitor of vampires.

The First Vampire, the being at the very peak of their race.

And yet, Grain was overwhelming her.

Under his crushing gravity, the Queen of Vampires couldn’t even counterattack.

All she could do was defend.

Her face twisted in rage.

“Damn it… If I could just drink blood freely, someone like you would never be my equal…”

She had been sealed for over a thousand years, her power weakened beyond recognition.

She had starved all that time.

The only blood she’d tasted recently was from the awakened ones guarding the dungeon’s entrance, and even that, she hadn’t drunk fully.

She had needed to spare enough to enslave them.

To restore her full strength, she would have needed at least a thousand humans.

But in the middle of a desert, that was impossible.

And so, she couldn’t display her true power, leaving her at a disadvantage against Grain.

“Ughhh!”

Her face contorted further as the gravity intensified.

All traces of grace vanished.

But Grain wasn’t much better off.

He had fought countless vampires to reach this point, his mana nearly drained.

Now he was burning the last of it, forcing gravity to its limit.

The power he had once spread over fifty meters was now concentrated on a single being, the Vampire Queen.

The strain was immense.

Even for an S-rank Awakened, this level of output would ravage both body and mind.

But Grain didn’t stop.

He couldn’t.

What mattered most was completing Jin Geumho’s order.

“Haaah!”

Without a second thought, he poured every last drop of mana into suppressing the Queen.

CRRRAAACK!

“Gahhh!”

The gravity spiked, tens of times stronger in an instant.

The Vampire Queen coughed blood and fell, her body crumpling like a tin can crushed underfoot.