## Chapter 1636 – 1636. God’S Atlantis
Over a hundred sand soldiers advance towards us.
I looked around. The warriors gathered here outnumbered the sand soldiers by at least two to one. However, all the warriors, including Callas, were overwhelmed by Set.
In short, they were scared shitless of Set.
“You morons! Get a grip! The Set in front of you isn’t a real god! It’s a manifestation! Just a divine avatar! He’s not perfect yet! We can kill him with our strength!”
I punched the air.
Heavenly Demon Divine Art (天魔神功) Dragon Fist (竜拳).
The energy released from my fist shot towards the advancing sand soldiers. Over twenty sand soldiers instantly turned into ordinary sand and spilled onto the desert floor.
“See! They’re nothing!”
By showing my power directly, the morale of the soldiers, who had been overwhelmed by Set, began to rise little by little.
“Ahmad!”
“Yes! Heavenly Demon Lord!! Give the order! The Wind Demon Corps is ready!”
Ahmad, with his fiery red hair and red eyes, replied. Behind him, the elite Wind Demon Corps, who had mastered the Wind Demon Divine Art, exuded a menacing aura.
“I’ll take that beast-man’s head! You guys take care of the sand soldiers!”
I stood at the very front.
Atlantis gives rewards commensurate with the achievements made. Killing a god is a feat that everyone acknowledges.
‘I’m going to kill that bastard!’
Personal grudges. And rewards. I’ll take them all.
“Warriors of the desert! Will you continue to hide behind the Heavenly Demon?! We must protect our oasis with our own hands! Even if he is a god, he has no right to take our oasis! Charge!”
Callas’s voice boomed. Immediately after, the desert warriors began to charge towards the sand soldiers, following behind the Wind Demon Corps.
A sand soldier blocked my path.
“I’m past the age of playing with sand. Get out of my way. I have no interest in the likes of you!”
Heavenly Demon Divine Art (天魔神功) Heavenly Demon Sovereign Step (天魔君臨步) Wave Form (波形).
I stomp on the ground, channeling Heavenly Demon energy.
A shockwave rippled out. The shockwave spread in all directions, reaching the sand soldiers. The soldiers staggered as if they had been hit by the shockwave. The Wind Demon Corps did not miss the opportunity and rushed at the sand soldiers to attack.
The sand soldiers did not retreat and continued to attack. As they were not human, the sand soldiers did not retreat even when their arms were cut off or swords were embedded in their heads. They did not feel fear or pain.
Heavenly Demon Divine Art (天魔神功) Dragon Fist (竜拳).
I thrust my fist forward.
There was no way a sand soldier could block my attack. A path opened up in front of me. I dashed through the open path. At the end of the path was Set.
There was no need to drag out the battle.
‘I’ll kill you, Set!’
Whoosh!
Black flames erupted in both my hands. Despite the threatening flames, Set didn’t even bat an eye.
“Foolish one.”
Sand surged in front of Set. The sand turned into a giant soldier over 10 meters tall. The soldier swung a spear at me.
“You’re the foolish one. Do you really think you can stop me with a mere sand soldier like that?”
Whoosh.
The black flames grew in size and swallowed the sand soldier. The black flames even melted the sand into a gooey mess.
‘He can’t block me now. He’s seen the Dragon Fist, so it won’t work. I’ll use the Heavenly Demon Palm to surprise him.’
I was preparing my Heavenly Demon energy to use the Heavenly Demon Palm when it happened.
The effect of the Heavenly Heart ended.
「The curse of the desert descends upon you.」
「The monsters of the desert are hostile to you.」
「You cannot consume the water of the oasis.」
「You will suffer from thirst.」
「All your stats are reduced by 20% while in the desert.」
The effects of the curse enveloped my body again. My body became heavy rapidly.
‘I should have lifted the curse with the Heavenly Heart…?!’
Did Set curse me again? No. Set was looking at me with a puzzled expression.
“You’ve suddenly slowed down. Are you playing tricks?”
Set doesn’t know my current state. This curse isn’t from Set, it’s the system’s doing. The system doesn’t recognize the effects of the Heavenly Heart.
“System! This isn’t right!! I lifted the curse with my own ability!”
「The system acknowledges your ability.」
“You acknowledge it? Then lift the curse right now!”
「The system cannot intervene in this situation.」
I bit my lip. The system can’t intervene? That means the system sees no errors. The divine seat didn’t intervene, and there’s no problem in terms of causality. That means there’s another cause.
‘The source of the curse hasn’t disappeared.’
The source of the curse was right in front of me. The ruined temple and Set, the ‘master of the oasis.’
Set raised his staff high and then swung it at me. A massive slash of power flew towards me.
[Using Instant (刹那). Remaining stacks: 6]
I used Instant to dodge to the side. If I hadn’t had Instant, my body would have been cut in half.
[Using Instant (刹那). Remaining stacks: 5]
Heavenly Demon Divine Art (天魔神功) Black Flame Demon Dragon (黑炎魔龍) Explosion (爆).
I waved both hands towards Set. Black flames flew towards Set and caused an explosion.
KWAANG! BANG! KWAKWAKWANG!
Set was unharmed in the explosion. The sandstorm had protected Set from the explosion.
I moved forward and summoned a sword in my hand. A dark sword aura surged from the sword.
Heavenly Demon Divine Art (天魔神功) Heavenly Demon Sword (天魔劍) Rotation (回天).
The rotating sword slash cut through Set’s body. Instead of blood, sand sprayed from Set’s body.
I grimaced.
‘I’ve been tricked! From the beginning, that bastard wasn’t real, he was a sand clone!’
-You humans have powerful strength. But it is nothing compared to a god.
Sand hit my ankle.
It’s the wind. The wind is blowing, forming a whirlwind.
-Those who dare to rebel against me! Listen! I will give you ten days! Offer me 10,000 sacrifices! If you do not, the desert will rise and sweep you away!
“You bastard! I’ll find you and kill you within ten days!”
-You! Did you call yourself the Heavenly Demon? Impious one! You will have to offer 100,000 sacrifices!
Annoyance surged. I opened my mouth to curse, but sand mixed with the wind entered my mouth. I just closed my mouth.
The whirlwind was getting stronger. I had to get out of here.
-This sandstorm is my final warning!
The whirlwind turned into a massive sandstorm before I could even react. Before I could do anything, my body was caught in the sandstorm and spun around. I tried my best to hold on, but my head hit a rock that was part of the temple, and I passed out.
• • •
“Kuhhhhh!”
When I came to, I was buried in sand. I jerked my upper body up and retched, trying to get the sand out of my mouth. When that didn’t work, I summoned some bottled water and rinsed my mouth. I looked around. It was just desert. Nothing but sand.
‘How far did I get blown away by the sandstorm?’
I didn’t know where I was. Of course, it wasn’t a serious problem. I had a space-movement scroll, so I could go back right now if I wanted to.
‘I’d have to go back and then come back again to kill the master of the oasis. That’s annoying, so let’s take a look around here first.’
Maybe I could find something new.
‘The guys who got caught in the sandstorm… some of them will be okay.’
Even if the others weren’t, Ahmad, the leader of the Wind Demon Corps, wasn’t weak enough to die in a sandstorm.
The same went for Callas. There was no way a ruler of a region would die from just a sandstorm. He seemed to be hiding some power, so he would be alive.
‘I’m thirsty.’
Feeling a burning thirst, I summoned bottled water and gulped it down.
I felt a sensation as if cool water was spreading through my whole body through my mouth.
It wasn’t as good as sex, but it felt pretty good. But that was only for a moment. After drinking all the water, I felt thirsty again. I took out a new bottle of water and drank it.
Gulp, gulp.
I emptied a 2-liter bottle of water in one go.
The thirst still didn’t go away. I walked through the desert while drinking water.
Gulp, gulp, gulp.
A 2-liter bottle of water was gone in an instant. Yet, I still felt thirsty. I threw away the empty bottle and summoned a new one.
Gulp, gulp, gulp.
It felt good while drinking. The pleasure of quenching the terrible thirst was unbearably sweet. The problem was that I became thirsty again after drinking the water.
Gulp, gulp, gulp.
As I was drinking water, I felt nauseous. I could feel the water sloshing around in my stomach even with the slightest movement.
“Sh, shit…”
A clear liquid flowed from my mouth. It wasn’t saliva, it was water. I had drunk so much water that my stomach was bloated. It was hard to move. I wanted to lie down on the ground and rest right now.
‘The thirst isn’t going away!’
I felt like I was going to throw up from drinking too much water. But there was no sign of the thirst disappearing.
‘This isn’t normal. Why is it like this… Damn it. It’s because of the curse.’
「The curse of the desert descends upon you.」
「The monsters of the desert are hostile to you.」
「You cannot consume the water of the oasis.」
「You will suffer from thirst.」
「All your stats are reduced by 20% while in the desert.」
You will suffer from thirst.
The curse, which I hadn’t thought much about, was quite painful.
‘I want to drink water! I don’t want to drink water, but I want to drink water!’
If I drank water now, I would 100% throw up.
‘…I can just throw up and drink again.’
I curled up the corners of my mouth at the brilliant idea. I drank water, and I threw up water. I repeated that while walking through the desert. The places I had passed were filled with empty water bottles and sand soaked with water.
‘Shit. What am I doing?’
I had an existential crisis after throwing up about seven times. No matter how much water I drank, the thirst wouldn’t go away.
‘Full recovery.’
I used the full recovery that I had been saving.
The thirst disappeared. In the moment of feeling joy, the annoying notification window popped up.
「The curse of the desert descends upon you.」
「The monsters of the desert are hostile to you.」
「You cannot consume the water of the oasis.」
「You will suffer from thirst.」
「All your stats are reduced by 20% while in the desert.」
“……”
Curses rose to the tip of my throat.
‘To get rid of this thirst, I have to lift the curse. But even though I used full recovery, the curse came back. That means I have to get rid of the source of the curse… Wait, the curse?’
There was a way to solve this curse.
