Glenn squinted, observing the enemy campsite from afar. Javier crouched next to him, his bow drawn and ready to be used. From the map's description, this oasis had been occupied for a week or so, and there had already been an attempt from an INK-ATT team to clear the place out. Glenn glanced at the whitened bones half-buried in the black sand and shook his head. It didn't end too well for that team.
"Let's hope we won't suffer from the same fate..." Nelg muttered a short prayer. Diamanes scoffed as Glenn kept on watching over the camp. There were two dozen tents, all well-illuminated by standing torches and guarding patrols were making sure no intruders had infiltrated the camp. The camp was protecting the north side of the oasis, but they had visibility on their entire surroundings. An ambush would quickly get spotted. Glenn clicked his tongue and turned back, sliding down the dune he was hiding behind.
Sahro and the others watched him coming down, Javier on his trail.
"So?" Milena asked while sharpening her dagger. Glenn sat in the black sand and bobbed his head with uncertainty.
"There are at least thirty enemies? I'm not sure, I couldn't tell from that far. All if not most of them are Aura users, from what I've seen with my Mana Sight. There's no way we can ambush them unless we somehow manage to create a big distraction. It will be a head-on fight or nothing."
Liara fastened her belt, tightening the loop that maintained her sword's scabbard. A spear was hanging off her back, ready to be thrown and pierce her enemies. The Black Heiress continued to verify her equipment while Glenn was talking.
"What are we waiting for, then?" Sahro asked, grinning wickedly as he flexed his mechanical left arm, sending a pulse of crimson Aura coursing through it. Javier stood rigidly, his bow hanging on his back as his empty eyes went from face to face.
Glenn rubbed his chin, "Well, I'd like to push more odds in our favor, but I don't see what else we can do but attack. Maybe I throw an Infernal Blackhole at them and see how they deal with it...?"
Milena sheathed her dagger and smiled proudly, "I have an idea that might help us. Thanks to dear Javier, we have the perfect distraction to let us ambush them."
Sahro glanced at Javier with a raised eyebrow, who didn't react when his name was called, "What are you thinking of?"
Liara climbed up the dune, taking over to keep watch on the enemy camp. It wouldn't do any good if the team were attacked by surprise by a patrol after all. Milena's smile grew even wider as she pulled out the bag containing the Snakions' eggs. Glenn paused, before grinning widely too.
"Oh, I like this plan."
Sahro blinked confusedly, "What? Did I miss something?"
Milena shook her head and gave the bag to Glenn, who wondered how much Mana he was going to need to make sure the bag would reach the enemy camp safely.
"Just watch. Thank Onnea that Glenn can finally think with a little more cunning. It's tiring, having to explain such simple plans."
The Black Heir rolled his eyes and turned away, joining Liara in watching over the enemy camp. Glenn moistened his lips and nodded.
"That should do it." He made the bag hover with Gravity Manipulation and turned to the others, "...Everyone has their Recorder actives?"
The team replied positively, the small technological pearls floating around while capturing everything. Glenn made sure to flash a handsome grin at the Recorder before climbing on top of the dune and readying the eggs bag. He used a hand as a visor to protect himself against the sun, making sure he wouldn't miss. The bag hummed with a vibrating sound as Glenn readied the shot.
"...Game is on..." He muttered as the bag shot out with all the eggs it contained. It landed perfectly in the camp's center, the eggs breaking with a distinct sound. The enemy camp came to a standstill, before exploring in alarms and beastly roars. A gust of wind from the camp brought a terrible scent of rotten eggs to Glenn's team, forcing a grimace on their faces.
"...No shot..." Sahro snorted as he realized what Milena's plan had been. The lady smirked and clenched her dagger tighter, "Let's bring hell on these bastards."
The black sand rumbled under their feet, almost as if an earthquake was about to happen. Liara unsheathed her sword and lowered her position, her eyes darting around to find the source of the tremors. Glenn was about to open his mouth to warn them, but Sahro stopped him and pointed at the ground. The black sand slithered and moved as a massive creature passed under the team, somehow not disturbing their foothold. A dozen of such creatures slithered under the black sand, heading for the enemy camp. Glenn and the others watched silently as the black sand moved like waves, waves that grew enough to be considered tsunamis. The enemy camp screamed in warning, and Glenn even managed to catch the glint of Aura blades flying out to face the sand tsunami, but to no avail.
Glenn's team slowly but surely backed down, watching in horror as the black sand devoured the enemy camp and buried the oasis, giant slithering bodies barely noticeable in the shadows of the dunes. Glenn grimaced and turned back, motioning at the others to follow him. Milena was pale, while both Sahro and Liara couldn't keep their jaws from hanging.
"T...that's not what I was expecting," Milena whispered before glancing back, "...I thought the monsters from earlier would show up and give us an opening, not..." She shivered, "...whatever those things were."
Sahro drew a short breath and shook his head, "...I think we met the children back at the ruin, and those were the angry parents. Glenn..." He turned to the team's leader and paused. Glenn glanced at him and froze in his steps as well. Without a word, the same thought passed in their minds.
"Do you think we...we can take them on?" Glenn hesitantly asked, making sure he and Sahro were thinking of the same thing. Sahro slowly nodded, his mechanical left arm filling up with crimson, destructive energy. Milena stopped, her eyes darting between the two of them.
"...Wait, you're not serious, are you? You want us to fight...those things? They're—they're fucking massive!" She blurted out, shocked. Liara nodded slowly, agreeing with her friend's words. Only Javier seemed to have a neutral opinion, but then, Javier never seemed to have any of those anyway. Milena stared at the two men with wide eyes, before shaking her head vigorously.
"No. No—nope, I don't agree with this plan. We're all going to get killed, and for what? We won't even get a reward, won't we? They don't pay us to clean the Ink Dunes up, so no, I refuse—"
The ground trembled, interrupting Milena's categorical refusal. Glenn grinned tensely as Mana flowed out of his hands, "I don't think they're giving us a chance, Milena!"
Liara suddenly jumped in the air and threw her spear at the spot she was standing on, a pure white Aura covering the blade. An adult Snakion the size of a transport truck jumped out from the black sand, opening its massive jaws and mandibles to try and get a taste of the Black Heiress. The only thing it ate was Liara's spear which cleanly pierced through the monster's mouth and came out on the other side of the body. The spear flew out and returned to Liara's hand as she jumped through the air, already dashing toward the next Snakion.
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Sahro cursed and readied himself, only for the jaws of a similarly massive Snakion to close up on him. Glenn gritted his teeth and used Gravity Manipulation to force the monster's jaws open, but it was no use. A red strike of lightning suddenly pierced through the monster's skull and reached the sky, dissipating with an intimidating crackle. Milena gasped and hurriedly dodged to the side as another Snakion came out of the black sand and tried to devour her alive. She narrowly avoided it, her body sliding alongside the dark chitin. She muttered through her teeth, before slamming her hand on the monster. Glenn conjured Nelg in its double-bladed axe form, ready to use Cleave & Exponentiate to carve the beast to pieces, but the creature suddenly froze. Milena sighed in relief and jumped on the monster's back, riding it as it went to hunt its kin.
"She could do that?" Diamanes blurted out, surprised. Glenn paused, before shaking the surprise off and jumping in the air with the help of Gravity Manipulation. He activated Mana Sight at the same time, tracking the movements of the Snakions under the desert's surface.
"Target acquired!" Nelg exclaimed excitedly. Glenn grinned widely as he dismissed Nelg, and conjured two Solar Flares, one in each hand.
"Let's see what a Magi's Mana can do then!" He roared as he hurled the spells at two massive beasts hiding under the black sand, waiting for an opportunity to lunge at their prey. Only, that was a mistake. Glenn and his teammates were no prey.
They were the damned predators.
The two Solar Flares dug through the sand effortlessly, carving through the Snakions and incinerating them alive. Glenn laughed wickedly, unable to believe that using two Solar Flares barely diminished his Mana reserves.
“HAHAHA, FUCK YOU!!!” He let out a mad roar as he fired more Solar Flares in multiple directions, cooking half a dozen Snakions alive. From time to time, he noticed streaks of crimson light or arrows covered in black energy, respectively proof of Sahro and Javier's efforts. Liara and Milena were also doing their bit, the Black Heiress expertly destroying the monsters' weak points, while the fallen noblewoman continued to convert other monsters to her cause.
The Recorders continued to hover around them, undisturbed by the battle and capturing every moment of it. The black sand turned into a bright orange liquid, then cooled to volcanic glass, dotted here and there with ochre and reddish spots. Glenn inhaled deeply and wiped the sweat from his eyebrows. The last Snakion stood proudly, howling in pain at the death of its fellows, its scorpion tail raised high. Sahro scoffed and dashed forward in a trail of red thunder, slicing the Snakion in two. His mechanical arm hissed, clouds of steam billowing from it, brass and steel heated to incandescence.
Milena patted the back of the Snakion she had converted before sliding down its back and joining the others on the melted glassy black sand.
"That—phew—that went better than I expected," She admitted as she drew a gourd from her dimensional pouch and quenched her thirst. Liara calmly cleaned her sword's blade before sheathing it, flashing a satisfied smile at Glenn. The latter dusted the sand off his shoulders, before putting his hands on his waist as he looked at the carnage. They had a dozen smoldering, bleeding, carved-out, rotting...? carcasses to deal with now. Or they could just leave them there.
'...You totally are leaving them here,' Diamanes laughed. Glenn rubbed the back of his head and shrugged.
"Well, all that ended quite well. I do have some questions, though—" Milena's Snakion shrieked as it buried itself in the ground and only left the tip of its head revealed, rubbing it against Milena's leg. Glenn paused looked at the creature and nodded slowly, "—Yeah, mostly about that? Since when could you control monsters, Milena? And...large monsters such as those Snakions?"
Milena frowned, "Snakions? What a lame name. And..." She tapped her chin in wonder, "I don't know, I just tried it on the moment and it worked? It needs physical contact, though, so don't expect me to do that with every monster we meet."
Sahro grunted as he pulled a chunk of flesh from the cogs of his mechanical arm and threw it away, "Hmf, I sure hope it won't turn against us at some point. What about the other ones? I saw you bewitch more than one of these monsters."
Milena patted the Snakion's massive head and shrugged, "All dead. And don't worry, I've planted a magical switch in its brain. If I somehow lose control of it, just a flick of my fingers and..." She mimicked an explosion with her hands. Glenn shivered, wondering about when Milena became such an insane person.
“Hasn't she always been crazy?” asked Nelg curiously. Glenn paused for a moment, before wisely choosing not to continue the conversation. Looking at the gory massacre they'd just performed, he could only believe that no one on this team was sane or normal. Him first. Diamanes laughed mockingly, his laughter echoing in his host's mind like a reminder of what he risked if he lost his mind.
Insanity led to Corruption, and Corruption always led to death. From what he had observed from all the Corrupted anyway. Liara curiously dug her boot into the glassy sand, smiling as it crackled under her weight. Milena glanced at her and at the destruction, Glenn had single-handedly caused and snorted, "Speaking of things we didn't share, since when could you fire off so many high-tier spells? This looks like a huge expense of Mana."
Glenn nodded in agreement, "It is. But being a Fourth Circle means that much Mana, it seems. I'm barely halfway through my reserves."
Sahro whistled in awe, "Darn, that's a hell of a jump. I need some rest before heading off into another battle like this one, I'd have to admit."
Glenn grinned, "Well, you're only a cute rank 3 after all. It's not because you can use both Mana and Aura that you get to break through the wall, haha!"
Liara laughed silently, before calling up her Recorder and checking the map. Sahro rolled his eyes and sheathed his sword, before stroking his mechanical arm with a satisfied look. Javier was going through the battlefield, picking up the arrows that were still usable. Milena sighed and did the same as Liara, joining her to discuss what their next targets could be. Glenn rubbed his chin before deciding to go back to the now-buried oasis. Perhaps he could find some information on their enemies, some intel on their logistical routes, or something. The oasis was supposed to be an important place, even though it wasn't protected by a high-tiered individual.
"I'll let you find our next target, Liara, Milena," Glenn exclaimed to the two, who nodded back in response. He jumped in the air and floated above the battlefield, using Gravity Manipulation to fly. Well, it was more like he was floating around and pushed in the directions he wanted to go in, but it was still some kind of flight. After a few minutes of search, he found the buried camp, thanks to the presence of a date palm tree barely poking through the black sand.
"What are you going to do, lift all the sand?" Diamanes mocked, before pausing. Glenn looked at his left, purple hand, and grinned widely. He drew a deep breath and clenched his teeth, before casting Gravity Manipulation on the entire area. The black sand rose in the air slowly, pulled up by particles of mystical, deep blue light, revealing the camp and corpses buried underneath it. Glenn hissed through the effort and moved all the sand further away, before crashing down on the sand.
"Phew...That took a lot..." Glenn muttered as he wiped the sweat off his forehead. Manipulating that much mass was a considerably more important effort compared to just throwing spells around. He took a moment to catch his breath and then pushed himself up to explore the destroyed enemy camp.
"Hmm...hmm..." He hummed, stopping in front of sand-filled tents and checking uncovered weapons out. He did take some time to observe their enemies' corpses; they were humanoid, with the single difference that they had sharp, pointed teeth, and thick, green skin. Oh, and they were all strangely muscular—wait. Glenn paused and took a closer look at the body.
"Isn't that..." Nelg muttered hesitantly, "...the perfect cliche of an orc?"
Glenn grimaced in disbelief and crouched down beside the orc's so-called corpse, "...I sure hope they're not like the orcs I know about. Their camp didn't appear like a barbaric, unorganized mess, though. Maybe we will find some interesting intel. Or maybe not."
The corpse didn't have much armor on, besides a tanned leather vest and a Roman-like kilt. An empty sword's sheath was hanging off its side.
"Hmm..." Glenn grunted and dusted his hands off, heading off to try and find the biggest crumbled tent around. It didn't take long to locate it; it was in the center of the destroyed camp after all. He straightened the tent with a quick use of Gravity Manipulation and pushed away all of the black sand. He coughed as a few grains entered his mouth and eventually entered the tent. There was a large table shattered into, with a dozen corpses that had died from asphyxia, crushed under the sand without any oxygen.
"A pitiful end for Aura users..." Glenn muttered as he looked through the orcs' corpses, trying to find anything interesting. They didn't seem to possess the same kind of technology as Munirp, with no magical maps attached to a Recorder or similar devices. Or perhaps they self-destroyed when their owners died, who knows?
What mainly interested Glenn was a rolled-up scroll that had somehow survived the attack. A rolled-up scroll with a very, very interesting seal. The wax was melted in a symbol Glenn could recognize anywhere in the world.
The Thorn's Cult's symbol.