Owen summoned all of them at once. 3 were 1-Star, 1 was 2-Star, and the last was a 4-Star.

The 4-Star miner was a small human man around 5 foot 5 with an incredible physique. He sprouted a long, curling moustache. Topless, he, along with the others, bowed the moment they arrived.

“Bron,” Owen said, “Please stand.” Bron stood up and Owen continued, “First off, it’s a pleasure to have you here. As for my aims, this will be your mission for now.” Owen pointed down the passage. “I want a tunnel as far as you can go. A man named Rehan will arrive later, notifying you of where to stop.”

Bron slammed his chest. “I can do that, my Lord.”

Owen smiled. “If you need any water, there are cacti outside. If you’re hungry, we also have fruit. But since you’ll be physically active, there’s meat outside the mountain we’re in. Just head over to the wall and there'll be someone there to help you out.”

Next up, Owen tore open the Administrator Ticket and the warriors/hunters he had gained from before. All were low Stars, so Owen turned his attention to the Administrator. Out stepped a demon-like man in an exquisite black three-piece suit. His skin was a deep scarlet, and a single, broken horn jutted from his forehead, suggesting a past altercation.

"My Lord," said Balthus, bowing gracefully. "How may I be of assistance?"

Owen smiled. “As you can see, our forces are growing. I’d like you to become an intermediary.”

Balthus nodded understandingly. "Delegation is key, my Lord. With my assistance, we can ensure that your realm runs efficiently, freeing you to concentrate on more strategic matters."

"Perfect," Owen said with relief. "Let’s get started, then."

Balthus bowed again, a confident gleam in his eye. "As you wish, my Lord. I am at your service."

Draed was still busy explaining things to the new Warriors, so Owen briefed Balthus what was happening.

“We really do have our backs to the wall, don’t we?” Balthus asked, noticing the lack of buildings.

“We do,” Owen replied with a grim expression. “But we’ll make it.”

Watching as the Miners got to work, swinging their pickaxes, Owen left the mountain. He noticed that the warriors and hunters were all up and ready to get fighting. Owen wished he shared the same enthusiasm. All that he had was an anxiety weighing on him, their lives in his palm. But there was nothing he could do about that. They all just had to fight and get on with it.

Owen gathered the warriors, everyone including Rehan, Gorath, and Mirian.

It was time to do some Levelling. Once everyone had their next Class Tiers, his fighting force would improve by leaps and bounds. Lome was evidence of that.

They got out of the dome and started trudging through the sands. Owen, Draed, and Roa—one of the Hunter’s with a bow, were on the back of Shelldon. Lome was leading in the front along with Rehan who was scouting, while Mirian was hiding amongst the sands, ready to pounce at whatever they faced.

Around 20 minutes had passed or so, and Owen was honestly surprised about the monsters he had faced so far. It was meant to be a lot more difficult than this. When Ansel—the main character—had entered the Cursed Lands, he had to face enormous monsters. Owen seemed to be lucky in the regard. Oh how he wished he didn’t think that at all.

Bursting out of the sands was a crab of monstrous proportions. Its shell was scarlet red and when it snipped the air with its pincers, trying to cleave Rehan in half, Owen’s ears hurt.

Owen’s troops acted instinctively. Lome met the monster with raw strength, cleaving its shell with his massie axe. Sparks flew from the savage impact, but other than that, didn’t do anything at all. A little chink in the armour, and that was it.

As his fighters met with the monster, Owen was in no doubt that it was one of the first monsters Ansel had met. And he knew exactly how to take it down.

“Target it’s stomach,” Owen yelled out his command. “Its armour is weak there.”

Everyone listened, getting into formation. Lome tried to target the stomach, but the crab’s agile pincer smashed him to the ground, rolling to a stop. Draed fired a highly powered arrow, piercing one of the monster’s eyes. It screeched something horrible and thrashed. Sand splattered everywhere and Rohan—one of the warriors—got caught in its raging path. Blood spurted, his body rag dolled across the sands.

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Owen grit his teeth and ordered Shelldon to charge with a mental command. Draed leapt off and Cedric took his place. Shelldon tore through the desert and collided against the crab with a sickening crunch. The sand monster was about to snip Shelldon’s leg when Owen quickly told him to retract his limbs. In an instant, Shelldon retreated into his shell. With its target gone, the colossal crab’s incredibly powerful pincers slammed against Shelldon’s shell. A resounding clang pierced across the sands.

But Cedric was ready. He somersaulted off Shelldon’s back, rolled on the sand, then fired a spectral blade at the underside of the monster’s belly. The creature screeched in pain, but Owen didn’t see any blood stain the sands.

Not deep enough, Owen thought grimly.

He needed Mirian, knowing her armour piercing ability. “Rehan, is there a scout nearby?” He shouted to his scout.

“Two of them nearby,” he replied, pointing over to a dune. “Same direction.”

Owen nodded, a plan was forming. “Lome, erect a bone wall,” he raised his voice. “Mirian, wait until the walls have formed, then get underneath!”

Lome acted the moment he heard the command. A tall bone wall emerged from the sands as he commanded the bones hiding underneath. Then came Mirian. She hurried under the guise of the wall, and darted underneath the thrashing crab. Her blade shone a dark black light, and then she fired it into the underside of the crab. Blood splashed, and the crab entered a frenzy.

Mirian darted to Shelldon, hiding inside his shell. Lome arrived unarmed. He grabbed one of the monster’s legs in a bear hug, then pulled. The crab stumbled, falling onto its side. Draed fired a mighty arrow, and the sands swept up as it shot through the air. It thudded into the crab’s bloody wound, boring a devastating hole straight through.

And yet the crab still wouldn’t fall.

It took all of their teamwork and manpower to finally whittle the beast down over the course of an extra 15 minutes. If not for Mirian breaking through its weak armour, the fight may have gone differently.

Finally, the creature fell into the sand, seeping red into the golden desert.

Your subordinates have defeated a Scarlet Crab x1 (Level 28)

| Your subordinates have levelled up!

| Your subordinates have gathered Summoning Tickets.

| Draed and Cedric are ready for a Class Evolution!

Owen ignored the messages and rushed over to Bohar. Upon seeing his condition, Owen inhaled a sharp breath of hot air. Both of his arms had broken. His shield was barely visible, sticking out of the sand a few metres away. His sword was gone. Blood gushed from his mouth. Owen quickly hopped off Shelldon and fed him a health potion. Or he tried to. But the Warrior coughed it up, unable to get it down his throat.

“Shit,” Owen said, hands trembling. He looked at Draed, who was the closest to him, and continued in a panic. “What do we do–”

He wasn’t given time to receive an answer. Bursting out of the sand was what appeared to be a Sand Hound, but this was larger. It had scales and its long tail was finned and powerful. Almost at the same time, one of the orcs on the dunes fired an arrow. Owen thought nothing of it, as it was so far away. But that was a devastating mistake. The arrow arrived in seconds. Rehan shouted out in warning, but it was too late.

Owen barely dodged, leaping off the back of Shelldon, but the arrow changed trajectory at the last moment. Owen’s eyes widened as a horrible sensation tied around his throat. He was going to die. If it wasn't for his new Skill: Devil’s Reflexes, he’d have perished already. In the last second, all he saw was Cedric appear before him. The arrow, which was aimed at his own life, struck Cedric instead. The arrow was so powerful that it entered one side, and left the other. More orcs screamed, ready to pounce.

“Retreat!” Owen screamed, grabbing hold of Cedric’s limp body. He was alive, he felt a heartbeat, thank god.

Rohan had other ideas.

“My Lord, we can defeat them,” he said, dodging the attack of the Sand Hound, carving his blade into its shoulder.

Lome was quick to react, he snapped a kick to the Sand Hound, sending it tumbling back. He grabbed his axe in one swift motion, then leapt back to the hound, cleaving into its body. Then, the bones of the fallen crab snapped onto him. Lome roared, low and guttural. He moved again, faster this time, and swung his axe in a savage arc, lopping the beat’s head off its shoulders.

Owen calmed down. His heart was smashing against his chest. He realised that they could indeed win. Were the orcs hoping to test his leadership? Whether he would flee? Banking on the hopes he'd panic? It was a fact that he would lose more men if he ran. The archer would pick them off.

At least 8 orcs charged. More joined them. If he decided to run, people, his people, would die here today. He couldn’t let that happen. The orcs had forced his hand.

Anger surged. He was sick of this shit. “Kill them all,” Owen roared.

Draed unleashed his arrows on the closer orcs, one of his arrows slammed through an orc warrior's heart. The orcen sharpshooter fired another arrow, clearly aimed at Owen. He felt it now. The danger creeping at the back of his neck. Focused on the arrow wholly, Owen grit his teeth. He stepped to the side, then again. When the arrow changed directions, Owen tilted his head and the arrow glanced past his cheek. Dune’s Crest blocked the damage.

Gorath finally acted once the orcs had clumped together. He had picked the perfect timing. His lighting tore through the first ranks, scorching them to death.

Mirian, shrouded by the confusion of battle, reaped the orcs' lives with her dagger amongst the chaos. They didn't know they had an assassin, and it would be there undoing.

Lome went from one orc to the other, splitting them in half. With even thicker bones, he shrugged off the strikes of orcen axes.

And then Owen joined.