The sand grains beat against Nathan, but to his surprise, he didn’t feel a single thing touch him. It was as if they were bouncing off an invisible shield, unable to affect him. He turned to see Omarn, Zayen, and Fuge looking equally unaffected.

Nathan nodded at them. They nodded back. He reached into his pack and pulled out his new fishing rod and his harpoon. Both weapons seemed to glimmer in the distant sun, the flashes of the Dustend’s lightning illuminating the metal with a purple glow. Nathan squeezed both weapons tightly.

Then the reality of the situation hit him.

He was about to fight the weather using a harpoon and a fishing rod. With him was his mushroom woman marshal, a teenage desert king, and said desert king’s uncle.

When exactly did my life go so far off the rails?

Before Nathan could contemplate his unfortunate situation any further, a loud boom echoed out, and a flash of lightning shot straight for him.

In a split second, Tidal Bulwark flickered in front of him. It barely had time to halfway summon itself before the lightning crashed into it.

I really hope this thing holds up!

Heat blasted against Nathan like a furnace. He grimaced from the pain and kept up the shield. The lightning disappeared with nothing more than a crackle.

The storm roared like a lion, louder than before. If Nathan didn’t know any better, he’d swear the wind had picked up even more than it already had.

Nathan squinted as he stared into the heart of the Dustend.

Where is it? Where is it?

It took the form of a humanoid. Red eyes—that was the marker. Where was it?

“We need to flush it out!” Nathan yelled.

“And how exactly do you propose doing that?” Fuge shouted.

“If only Mara were here,” Nathan muttered. “Then we could just blow the entire desert and turn it into glass.”

Before they could contemplate the situation further, a loud boom erupted, and a lightning strike slammed into the ground to their left.

“Oh my gods!” Zayen shouted.

Nathan turned his attention back to the Dustend. There had to be something they could do to expose the core. In the past, he’d seen those red eyes approach him when he was alone. Maybe that was the trick?

“I’m going to head deeper in!” he said. “I’ll keep its attention on me. Hopefully it understands human speech.”

“Wait, Nathan—”

But Nathan couldn’t even tell who said that. He was already moving deeper into the center of the Dustend. The sand continued to beat against him, the smell of ozone and magic intermingling in the air. Despite the potion they had used, it didn’t help with his vision problems. He could barely see where he was going.

“Come on, you yellow-bellied bastard!” Nathan yelled. “Are you really that much of a pansy?!”

The storm roared even louder. In the distance, Nathan caught sight of those familiar red eyes.

Gotcha.

Nathan reared back his harpoon and threw it straight toward the figure. His harpoon lit up with magic, an angry blue glow surrounding it. Water ejected from behind the harpoon, propelling it forward faster than Nathan had ever seen. In its wake, for a split second, the sand of the Dustend storm dissipated around it.

Then it crashed into the figure. The world lit up with light, and the storm began to die down.

Nathan furrowed his eyebrows.

“Did you get them?!” Omarn yelled in the background.

“Not sure!” Nathan said. “I hit something, but—”

He watched as the sand of the Dustend shifted. No, it wasn’t slowing down—it was redirecting. The sand was gathering together toward the area Nathan had hit with his harpoon.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

In front of them, a swirling phantom of sand and magic began to rise from the earth. It was gargantuan, towering over Nathan like a skyscraper. At the very top, two red eyes blazed with fire, filled with hatred and malice.

Nathan took a step back. “Oh, that’s not good.”

Behind him, he heard the sound of footsteps running up to his side.

“I think we found the core,” Zayen said.

“I’m beginning to suspect this was a poor idea,” Fuge said.

“Remind me again why we didn’t bring the entire army along with us?” Nathan asked.

“Most of them are still in training. And realistically, do you think five more warm bodies from the special ops team would’ve made much of a difference here?”

Before Nathan could respond, the towering desert monster let out a high-pitched screech. Nathan winced from the sound.

Without thinking, he scanned the monster.

[The Dustend] - Lv. 55

Is it a storm? Is it a monster? Wrong! It’s both! Meet the Dustend, scourge of desert civilizations everywhere. Tired of your ordinary, boring life as a random person subsisting off well water and wheat? Well, have I got an offer for you! The Dustend is a living magic storm so strong it will rip you to atoms. And guess what? You just pissed it off.

Out of the corner of his eye, Nathan caught sight of his harpoon. He broke into a sprint toward it, fishing rod in hand, its hook dangling behind him.

He barely had a moment’s warning before a blast of lightning struck the ground in front of him. He abruptly stopped, dug his feet into the sand, and pivoted to the right.

A moment later, another lightning strike hit where he had been standing a split second ago.

He dove forward and grabbed his harpoon, rolling to his feet in one fluid motion. He aimed at the monster’s head and threw again. Like before, the harpoon sailed through the air with a high-pitched whistle, slammed into the head of the monster and went straight through.

A hole formed where the harpoon had struck, then reformed as if nothing had happened.

“It’s all just sand,” Nathan muttered. “Go figure.”

He sensed a magic flare-up beneath him. He jumped to the right, dodging a spike of sand that erupted from the ground. He turned his head to see a humanoid figure made of sand staring at him just a few yards away. It raised its hand, and he felt another magic flare. He leaped aside, dodging the attack.

He gripped his fishing rod and aimed at the monster. Suddenly, the sound of steel cutting through air filled his ears. The sand creature shattered and exploded. Behind it stood Zayen, his cutlass gleaming in the desert sun.

“Come now, Nathan. Were you expecting all the fun to be left to you?” he said.

Nathan shot him a grin and turned back toward the Dustend. In the background, he saw Omarn tossing water at smaller sand creatures while Fuge protected him from incoming threats.

Zayen ran up beside Nathan and looked up at the towering Dustend.

“I do hope you know what we’re supposed to do,” Zayen said. “Because this is far beyond what any of the scientists simulated.”

“Honestly, I was kind of expecting it to go like this. Every single one of these circle things has ended in some kind of big battle against a giant monster. The System needs new material.”

Zayen gave him a confused look before shaking his head. “Has your experience fighting these things given you any insight?”

“Yeah, just one,” Nathan said. “Don’t die. Oh, and protect your limbs.”

Nathan was joking, but internally, he was trying to find a solution.

Anime logic says there’s probably a big red orb at the center that’s the weak point... but do I really want to risk our lives on TV show logic?

I mean, this whole situation is ridiculous anyway, so…

“Zayen, do you have a way to get airborne?” Nathan asked.

“I don’t, but Omarn might. Why?”

“There’s a 20% chance there’s a big red orb in the center that just happens to be its weak point,” Nathan said. “I want you to get in there and hit it hard.”

Zayen went pale. “Is that strictly necessary? That seems quite dangerous.”

“No, it won’t.”

“How?!”

“Because I’m gonna draw attention.”

Zayen shot Nathan a grim look. "This plan of yours had better work!"

He whistled sharply, the sound cutting through the storm's roar. Omarn spun toward them, palms already glowing with blue magic. With a heave, the man slammed his hands into the sand, sending a geyser of water erupting beneath Zayen's boots. He rode the surging column upward, cutlass raised like a lightning rod.

I had no idea he was that strong!

For one glorious moment, Nathan saw it—a pulsating crimson sphere nested within the Dustend's swirling chest.

I was right!

But something about the situation felt off. Nathan’s heart sunk for reasons he didn’t understand.

Zayen's blade came down in a silver arc... and sparked violently against an invisible barrier six inches from the core. The backlash sent him tumbling backward, saved only by Omarn whipping the water geyser into a spiraling catch-net.

Spears of sand formed from the monster and aimed toward Zayen. Nathan launched his fishing rod’s hook forward and it slammed against all of them, shattering the attack before they could land.

"Again!" Nathan yelled.

Zayen leapt higher on a twin geyser, blade sheathed in Omarn's swirling water magic. The cutlass struck true—and shattered with an ear-splitting crack. Shards of enchanted steel ricocheted into Zayen's shoulder as the barrier flared red. He fell screaming, blood mixing with the artificial rain.

Nathan moved before he thought. Riptide Mastery ignited in his veins as he ripped moisture from the air. A blade of liquid fury coalesced in front of him. With a cry, he swung his arm forward.

The water saw sliced through the Dustend's torso, parting sand and magic alike. For three precious seconds, the storm stilled. There it hung—the blood-red core, now crackling with visible energy... and completely unmarred.

Then the world exploded.

Nathan had half a heartbeat to see the core pulse before the Dustend disintegrated in a supernova of sand. The shockwave picked him up like a doll. He caught a final glimpse of Zayen's limp form tumbling through the air, Fuge's sword flying through the air, Omarn's desperate scream swallowed by the maelstrom—

Then nothing but howling darkness and the coppery taste of failure.