The Butcher of Sargon (Renekton, The Butcher of The Sand in Arknight)

“What exactly happened?”

Saria woke up clutching her head.

She saw a female Cautus Rhine Lab Operator sleeping soundly in the backseat of the vehicle, just like herself.

When she checked her watch, she realized that only four hours had passed since she fell asleep.

According to their agreement, Garde would wake everyone up after they had slept for twelve hours. It was still far too early for that.

But for some reason, Saria felt that something was off about the scene in front of her.

For instance, Chris, the young Cautus Rhine Lab Operator sleeping beside her, was curled up in a corner with her head buried in the sofa, leaving only her round butt and agile long legs exposed.

In Saria’s memory, those legs should have been bitten off by something, yet here they were, intact, except for a slight twitch every now and then.

“We’re still alive,” Saria muttered to herself.

She felt like she had forgotten something, as if she had just awoken from a long, long dream, only to remember nothing upon waking.

Looking out the window, she noticed she wasn’t the only one awake.

Some operators were fully armed and standing guard outside the sand fort.

Saria opened the car door and stepped out, asking, “What are you doing?”

To her surprise, the operators’ faces lit up with joy when they saw her.

“Director?”

“Director Saria!”

“Director, you’re finally awake!”

“……”

Hearing their voices, Saria realized something must have happened while she was asleep, something she wasn’t aware of.

“What happened?” She grabbed one of the operators and asked.

“It’s the Nightzmora!”

The operator responded helplessly, “We were all trapped in the Nightzmora Knight’s dream. Mr. Garde was the one who woke us up.”

This operator couldn’t remember who exactly had awakened him.

He only recalled being in a nightmare, where a monster was dragging him away, and even Director Saria had given up on him.

Just when he was about to be devoured by the monster, something hit his head, and he suddenly woke up.

When he came to, he heard a voice say, “If you want to thank someone, thank that Adakrys.”

There was only one Adakrys in the team, and that was Garde, so the operator was sure it was Garde who had saved him.

When he woke up, he found that two other operators had also regained consciousness.

Apart from them, everyone else was still deep in sleep, no matter how much they were shaken.

Recalling what Garde had said before they slept, it wasn’t hard to deduce that something had gone wrong with the Nightzmora Tomb, dragging them all into a dream.

At this point, the operator felt a bit embarrassed.

How could he have dreamt that Director Saria abandoned him? How could she ever abandon them?

“Danny.”

“Huh?”

“No, it’s nothing.”

The missing memories slowly surfaced in Saria’s mind.

She remembered the Nightzmora she had, where she failed to lead the operator in front of her out of the land, causing them all to perish there.

Was it Garde who woke her up?

As she pondered this, Saria asked, “Where’s Garde? Where is he now?”

“Director, that’s what I wanted to tell you.” The operator’s face showed worry. “Mr. Garde is injured, and his injuries are severe. But it seems he’s lost consciousness—anyone who approaches him gets attacked, so we can’t help him.”

Garde is injured?

Upon hearing this, Saria immediately grabbed her shield and exited the sand fort.

She noticed that the surrounding landscape was completely different from when she had fallen asleep.

Everywhere, there were ruins and rubble, as if the very terrain had been altered.

Various mechanical limbs were scattered on the ground, along with the corpses of different disaster beasts, almost charred under the scorching sun.

Saria spotted a figure panting under the blazing sun.

The scales on the figure’s arm had all peeled off, revealing raw, bloody muscles.

One of his eyes was tightly shut, as if torn and infected, with black blood oozing out continuously.

His once-beautiful large tail had been severed, looking rather unsightly now.

Years worth of memories of the dream began to resurface, from both the nightmare, and the second life she had in the dreams.

In both her nightmare and dream world, the Adakrys in front of her always played the role of her protector.

Even in reality, it was the same…

“Director?”

When the operators saw Saria emerging from the building, they looked relieved.

“Mr. Garde…”

“I’ll handle it!”

Saria’s tone was firm, leaving no room for argument.

She discarded her shield and, carrying only a portable mini-staff, walked step by step toward Garde.

In the scorching desert, Garde was seated on the decapitated head of a dragon.

Upon hearing the sound of boots crunching on the sand, he turned his head.

“Director, be careful!”

The operators behind her cried out in alarm.

One operator had tried to approach Garde earlier, only to be struck and sent flying by Garde’s axe, and he still hadn’t woken up.

Now, seeing Saria getting closer, they were all on edge.

The unconscious Adakrys didn’t care who approached him—everyone was his enemy.

So, despite his severe injuries, when Saria got within a certain distance, Garde moved.

He swung his weapon at Saria without holding back.

Clang!

The sound of metal clashing against metal rang out as the weapon collided with Saria’s fist.

Her hand was covered in a calcium deposit as she blocked Garde’s attack.

Saria knew that if Garde weren’t injured, she wouldn’t have been able to block that strike.

But now, Garde’s strength was far weaker than usual, weak enough for her to withstand his blow.

“Garde, you’re badly hurt.”

Saria’s voice carried a hint of gentleness that would have shocked the operators if they heard it.

When had their director ever been gentle with anyone?

But they couldn’t see the softness in Saria’s expression.

They only saw her deflect Garde’s attack, knock his axe aside, and punch him in the face, sending him sprawling to the ground.

“You need to rest properly!”

Saria said seriously.

She originally intended to carry Garde back to the sand fort, but his size made that impossible, so she had to drag him by the tail.

Seeing the operators still standing around in a daze, Saria shouted, “What are you standing there for? Get over here and help!”

The operators finally snapped out of it.

In a daze, Garde opened his eyes. His mouth hurt.

Ptooey!

Garde spat out a tooth.