Alex knew he was in for a beating when the two others appeared. One would be challenging, but three? Would he even be able to fight them? Luckily, he hadn’t run into the trio first, he had been able to grind out some additional levels. The Djinn were sitting right around level 70, but Alex had already achieved level 75. He just had to hope his higher level was enough to even the odds.

Alex felt like he was good in a straight on fight, but anytime there was a numbers difference he seemed to struggle. It had already happened a few times by now, with each time resulting in a near loss or defeat. He had been lucky so far, but if Alex had learned anything about himself, it was that he was inherently unlucky.

Best not to leave his life in the hands of luck.

He remembered that he had done well against larger numbers when he had been with his team in the tutorial. He couldn’t rely on that however. Alex had no way to know how often he would be in a team setting. If he became too reliant on them, he could be crippled when he found himself in a situation like this one. He made a mental note to work in solitude most of the time, only allowing himself to work with the team when occasion dictated. What the others chose to do, was entirely up to them. Alex just didn’t trust himself to not let them become a crutch. He hated his time alone in the desert and did not wish to repeat that anytime soon, so he would need to find some sort of middle ground.

Alex watched as the Djinn started moving towards him. They didn’t move quickly, even though Alex knew they could probably move fast if they wanted to. He got the impression they were waiting for him to make the first move so they could gauge his strength. He sent a quick shot through his fingers at one of the Djinn. All three of the Djinn scattered at his sudden attack.

The first thing that Alex noticed was that the energy seemingly passed straight through the creature without causing any damage whatsoever. He fired off a quick volley at another of the Djinn, this time watching more carefully as the energy phased through. This time he was able to see that the Djinn actually shifted its body around. It looked like the finger lasers were just passing through a dust cloud. The second the energy was through, the sands shifted back in place.

Well that’s going to complicate things.

He could see out of the corner of his eye, one of the Djinn forming what looked like a sand drake out of sand. It wasn’t as large as the Great One, but still around the size of a passenger plane. It soared into the air and Alex looked up with trepidation. In his peripheral vision, he saw another sandy formation being created, this one looking like a chain. From the other side, another chain. Both were sent flying at him to hold him in place. The sand drake started to dive on him, mouth wide.

Quick on his feet, Alex blasted himself up and to the side. It was enough to evade one of the chains, but the other was able to clip his feet as he flew out of danger. It knocked him off balance, sending him careening out of control. He landed just at the edge of the eye of the storm. The entire distance of the eye was about one hundred feet in diameter which put him at roughly forty feet from the closest Djinn. That was until it dove into the sand, disappearing from sight. Alex got a sinking feeling in his stomach when he realized what the Djinn was doing.

The sand erupted around Alex as spikes of sand shot upward. They closed in on Alex, puncturing him multiple times in the chest and legs. The Djinn appeared shortly after, another spike of sand in its giant hand. It thrust it towards Alex’s chest, but a focused beam of light shot out of his eyes splitting the spike down the middle. The area that Alex had been focusing on however, was super heated and had congealed into a glassy tendril. It stung as it punctured his ribcage. He could feel it slice along the edge of his heart, which would have no doubt killed him if he were a normal human. Luckily, he had stepped into an almost entirely different realm of existence.

Alex brought his arm down to shatter the glass spike. It sent a pang of shock through his body, but he was able to grit his teeth and force the shard the rest of the way out. His breathing was ragged for few seconds as his body started to recover. After a few moments he could tell that, while still injured, he had healed enough to continue fighting.

During his brief respite, the other two Djinn hadn’t been idle. The sand drake that had crashed into the ground was already reforming and on its way to Alex, this time powered by two Djinn. He didn’t know what effect that would have on the conjuration, but it couldn’t be good for him. The drake flapped its mighty wings, momentarily disrupting the still air in the eye of the storm. In seconds it was right on top of Alex. Its mighty head reared back and launched a blast of air and grit. Alex quickly manifested a shield of Eonsteel to block the attack. He could feel himself being forced deeper into the desert sands. They climbed higher up his leg until the attack stopped, at which point he was buried past his knees.

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Alex blasted himself upwards and out of the sand in time to come face to face with one of the Djinn. It batted him away with a quick flick of its wrist. Alex braced himself as he went tumbling into the sand once more. He recovered quickly and was instantly on his feet again. Two spikes of sand flew at him at once, but he dodged them both. He charged up a death ray as he rolled out of danger. With both palms pressed together, Alex forced the powerful energy out aimed at one of the Djinn’s chest.

It mostly passed through like his finger guns, but this time the Djinn wasn’t quick enough to completely divert its mass. It shrieked in pain, giving Alex an unwelcome reminder of the deranged Zotari’s howl. It was almost a physical attack and Alex recoiled. The Djinn, unhappy with the attack formed blades of sand that it launched at Alex in quick succession. Alex was able to dodge the first few and obliterated the last with a quickly charged death ray. Alex charged another death ray aimed at the Djinn’s head. The results this time were underwhelming. It had occurred much like the finger guns from before, passing through without much resistance.

Now that’s not even fair. No wonder no one has ever caught these things, they are basically ghosts.

Alex continued to be peppered by lances and blades of sand with the occasional sand drake making its appearance which he, for the most part, was able to dodge. He had surprisingly taken only a few hits, but with each hit, he was more susceptible to another.

Alex charged up yet another death ray expecting the same result. It collided with the creature’s chest which was followed by another shriek from the Djinn in question. Most of the projectiles Alex launched were met with cold silence, but twice now he had that same reaction. He couldn’t find the connection aside from the location of the attack—the chest.

He began testing various locations on the Djinn to test his theory. He fired all along the midsections and upper torsos, but only received a reaction from one place—the chest. The middle of the chest to be exact.

Just as Alex’s excitement started to bubble, a lance caught him off guard puncturing him through his thigh. He screamed in pain, then screamed again as it was torn out. He turned his head and launched his own attack at the Djinn.

A rapid explosion shot Alex into the air firing straight at the Djinn. It began to dissipate and that was when Alex saw it. A small, crystalline shard barely larger than a pen cap. From far away, there was no way he would ever see it. From just a few feet, however it was no problem. The shard was a rich blue color that stuck out against the red backdrop of the desert. It was normally covered by a thick layer of sand and obscured by motion, but when the Djinn started to disperse, it left the shard exposed. Alex wasn’t entirely sure what the shard’s importance was, but there had to be a reason why it was inside the Djinn. It wasn’t just anywhere either. It was housed directly in the middle of the creature’s chest.

Before Alex could get too excited, the Djinn formed just behind him and with a quick flick, Alex was sent flying away once more. He landed with gritted teeth, the sharp pain in his leg reminding him that he was losing blood still. He popped a health bomb into his mouth and pressed Eonsteel against the wound.

No wonder I couldn’t really land a hit with anything except my death rays. That target is impossible to hit.

Now all Alex had to do was expose that shard and somehow destroy it.

That was easier said than done. That had been the first time he had even gotten into melee range with one of the Djinn. If he could only land an attack on the crystalline shard, he would have a hard time hitting it from far away.

Yet again, Alex attempted to close the distance between himself and one of the Djinn. It dove into the ground this time, disappearing from sight. It floated back up fifteen feet behind him a moment later. Alex blasted himself back and the Djinn evaded once more underground. This time Alex charged up a death ray and launched it at where he expected the creature to pop up. The energy blast soared through the clearing, passing harmlessly past the Djinn only a couple feet off.

This is the world’s worst game of whack-a-mole.

Alex charged energy into both of his hands and spun in a circle. He held the beam as long as he could, but was only able to turn a quarter turn before losing control. The beam passed through two of the Djinn, but made contact with the final one. Alex wasn’t sure if he was hitting all of the Djinn or if he was hitting the same one. The only Djinn that could readily distinguish from the others was one controlling the sand drake. It constantly had its arms outstretched guiding the conjuration wherever it went.

He knew he had hit that one and at least one more of the Djinn. He had only landed a few hits, and Alex knew this wouldn’t be enough. He needed to concentrate his fire on one of them and take it out of the picture. Since the sand drake controlling Djinn was the only one he could distinguish, Alex decided to focus on that one first.

Alex began running, his hands glowing with energy. On more than one occasion, Alex had to evade spikes of sand coming up from the ground and being thrown at him. He vaulted and slid making it look like he was running through a practiced obstacle course.

When he was within ten feet of the Djinn, he unleashed the two focused streams of energy. The Djinn started to phase out and Alex made a split second decision to launch his Eonsteel forward. It wrapped around the shard.