If it weren’t for Glaustro’s tracking device, we would have been lost to the desert sands.
Lagyel was a world of great beauty in a select few places. Most of it, however, was nothing more than a collection of countless, ever-shifting dunes. They did their very best to devour us, or at least soften us up for the defenders we would eventually face.
It was working.
All of us were steadily growing more and more tired and grumpy. Ironically, the demons had it far worse than me and Mia. They could take the heat easily, but the sand was a relentless threat to their mana-based bodies.
The only thing they could do in response was bundle up.
A few days in, the demons of Glaustro’s unit almost resembled mummies or wraiths moving through the sandstorm. Those most desperate to protect themselves wore several layers of clothing covered by large, bulky coats. Not even demonic physiques could prevent all these clothes from slowing them down a little, but I wasn’t complaining. This actually helped moderate the overall unit’s possible speed, which gave us mere mortals a bit more breathing room.
In contrast, Mia and I were getting better by the day.
With my breakthrough in the shield spell, I was able to start working on improvements for my body strengthening and refinement techniques. The former was still mostly useless against the sand, but the latter was getting a solid workout. The repetitive damage to my skin made the healing and refining cycle of the technique more effective than ever. After nearly a week of trekking through the endless dessert, the sand’s effects had been reduced from a constant grating ache to a constant mild sting.
I had real potential to shed my weakness to this aspect of Lagyel’s environment completely, which was exciting.
To be fair, Mia was doing even better than I was. She started out with a tougher body, and all the work she constantly put into her training wasn’t failing her either. A week into our journey, she could almost ignore the sand, having to protect only the most vulnerable areas of her body.
This made us the target of some deeply envious looks from a few demons.
It was a very small minority that obviously resented the two mortals for having an easier time, but I still made sure to pay extra attention to them. For all the progress we had made, I didn’t feel quite ready to tackle a real conflict with a demon.
Thankfully, Bronwynn also noticed the threat.
He tended to stick close to Mia and me anyway, occasionally chatting to help distract us all from the monotony of travel. When he first picked up on the resentful stares, he broke into a tirade of quiet curses. He did nothing at the time, but once we made camp that night, I did notice him stalking off in the direction of the relevant demons’ tents.
There was some shouting and a couple pained screams. When Bronwynn returned a while later, he had a satisfied smile on his face.
I didn’t see any envious glares the following day, or the day after that. Still, I kept my eyes open. I wasn’t foolish enough to assume all was well.
The journey settled into a painfully boring rhythm. We marched for days, Lagyel fighting us every step of the way. Dunes stretched in every direction. There wasn’t even a smudge on the horizon to vary the stark landscape.
Then, finally, we came across a large rock formation.
It might once have been a mountain, but the sand and the winds had whittled it down considerably. The winds, in particular, had acted like a river, carving channels through the stone.
We actually heard this monument to the wonders of nature before we saw it. The wind whistled and howled through the carved passages, producing a melody as loud as it was haunting. The sound resembled the moaning of some massive beast, accompanied by the screams of the damned.
Not the friendliest of worlds, Lagyel.
Still, that didn’t mean we refused to take advantage of the natural wonder. Constant noise or not, the channels in the rock formation did a wonderful job of blocking at least a portion of the swirling sands and winds. The demons all but forced themselves into these passages, letting out breaths of relief.
Then someone discovered natural caverns in one of the ravines, and commotion ensued.
“We are in a hurry,” Glaustro insisted, though his voice betrayed his own exhaustion and annoyance with Lagyel’s environment. “We can’t call an early halt just because we found a decent place to camp.”
“Oh please, it’s almost evening anyway! We’re not losing days of progress. It’s just a single afternoon,” a bear-like demon snapped, then froze and hurried to add, “with all due respect, commander.”
Glaustro stared at him for a few long seconds. I really had to wonder if I was about to see my commander rip someone’s spine out.
Thankfully for the rash demon, the good sergeant just sighed. “Why are you so set on this, anyway?” he asked, addressing the entire group of demons who had approached him with the request to stop for the day. “The tents are specially treated to resist these sandstorms. They keep the blasted stuff out perfectly, regardless of where we put them up.”
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“Well, yes, but not having to dig ourselves out of almost a foot of sand every morning would be nice,” a crystalline demoness quipped, drawing a round of muttered agreement.
I had to admit that was true enough. While the tents could withstand anything the storms threw at them, they couldn’t ward off the simple accumulation of sand. The first morning of our journey, I had carelessly unzipped my tent only to have a deluge of sand stream right on in.
Practically swimming out of my tent was not fun.
It seemed like even Glaustro suffered from the same issues, earth magic or not. He grimaced in resignation. “Fine. You do have a point. We’ll stop here for the day, but I’m setting a brisk pace tomorrow.”
No one cared about his threat. Instead, a cheer went up, and I heartily joined in. Even Mia couldn’t hide her smile.
A few minutes later, we were exploring the biggest cave we could find. Once we were sure it was empty, we quickly began setting up our tents. The mood was festive. After so many days out in the open, the simple act of making camp in a sheltered, relatively quiet space felt like a luxury.
Best of all, Mia broke out her cooking travel kit.
She hadn’t used it in a long time. The raging sand made it impossible outside, and neither of us was foolhardy enough to set a fire in our tents. It had been ration bars all the way for every meal.
Mia was ecstatic at the chance to cook something better. She didn’t show it, of course, but the light purr humming from her lips and the happy flicking of her ears gave her away.
Our meal was simple fare, just a quick goulash, but it was delicious. Mia’s spices and cooking skills were excellent as always, and we savored every last scrap of it. We even shared a bowl with Bronwynn. He enjoyed it, though he declined a second helping, since demons didn’t draw any sustenance from mortal food.
It was just as I was settling in with my grimoire for some extra study time that it happened.
Mia suddenly shot up from where she was stretched out next to me, eyes wildly scanning the cavern. Her claws came out a second later, which was a surefire way for me to know something was wrong.
I stood up, shoved my grimoire inside my dimensional pouch, and drew my sword.
“Mia, what is it?”
“Shhhh,” she hissed, then froze in place again.
From the corner of my eye, I noticed the bear demon was having the same reaction as Mia. Other demons were also picking up on the behavior of the two beastfolk, which sent a wave of tension through the camp.
These were demons, though. Instead of panicking, they fetched weapons or took up battle stances. Then everyone waited, eerily still as Mia and the bear carefully evaluated our surroundings.
Mia’s eyes widened. Falling to her knees, she pressed an ear to the ground.
“They’re under us. I don’t know what they are, but they’re in the ground,” the cat beastfolk growled, just as the vibration of the cavern floor grew tumultuous enough for me to feel it.
Moment by moment, the sensation intensified, until the ground was visibly shaking. Mia was back on her feet now. Her claws flexed as we pressed closer to each other, ready for whatever was coming.
The first creature surfaced several yards from us, pincers leading the way as it tried to bisect a nearby demon. Said demon was more than agile enough to respond. With a roar, he brought a large hammer down on the creature’s carapace.
There was a crunch, and a piercing shriek like the grinding of metal on metal. But while the creature was stunned for a second, it didn’t go down in one strike. This was enough to catch the demon by surprise. His distraction only lasted a second, but it gave another emerging scorpion-like thing the chance to pinch him.
To everyone’s surprise, a spray of blood erupted from the demon’s leg. The creature’s pincer didn’t sever the limb, but it definitely penetrated a couple inches into the tough demonic flesh.
Curses and exclamations of shock erupted around me as more critters emerged.
The creatures were shaped roughly like scorpions, but the resemblance was only passing. Each was the size of a large dog. They had three tails curling over their backs instead of one, four pincers in front, eight legs that stabbed through the air like lances, and a mouth that belonged on an industrial shredder rather than a living creature of any description.
Of course, ‘living creature’ was almost overselling their appearance. Rather than flesh and blood, the scorpions appeared to be made of rock and crystal. Most of their bodies were see-through. I spotted golden liquid circulating through channels carved within their frames, but no recognizable organs.
Worst of all, the creature’s armor had a rocky shine that reminded me a little too exactly of Lagyel’s infamous sand.
My suspicions were confirmed when a demon angrily cast a fire spell. Most of its force dispersed uselessly against the creature’s defenses.
“Physical attacks only!” Glaustro roared, forcing order onto the panicking demons. “Try to fight in groups, and don’t let them catch you from behind!” Then, a second later: “Dammit, Norfest, that doesn’t mean you should fight with your back to the wall!”
I spared a glance in Norfest’s direction. Despite the attacking creatures’ obvious ability to move through the ground, the demon had pressed himself against the cavern wall. Two scorpion nightmares were now attached to his back, and he was failing in his wild attempts to get them off.
I didn’t concern myself with his fate. I had my own battles to worry about. Five of the creatures were close enough to target me and Mia, and they didn’t hesitate to do so.
Flaring my mana as hard as it would go into my body strengthening technique, I surged forward.
My first strike landed on a creature’s carapace, pushing its head down and effectively warding off its pincer strike. The impact sent pain shooting through my hand and up my arm. I nearly dropped my sword, but managed to hang on and aim my second strike directly at another creature’s mouth.
The effect was shocking.
My blade sheared right through, splitting crystalline flesh and spilling golden blood all over the place. The creature gurgled and flailed, catching one of its brethren in its rampage. The second scorpion responded by stabbing the first viciously with all three of its tails.
As the two fell into their own battle, I hopped back. Glancing at Mia, I found her expertly chipping away at the two remaining creatures. This gave me a split second to breathe.
I stared at the infighting scorpions, then at my blade.
What the hell was that?
It didn’t take me long to find an answer.
I hit its armor the first time, but that’s not really part of its body. Whatever these things look like, they ARE living creatures. And all living creatures have souls, so…
I grinned a feral grin, then ripped into the scorpions.
Of all the soldiers gathered in that cavern, I was perhaps best suited for slaughtering the annoying creatures. While the demons struggled against the scorpions’ natural defenses, my sword carved through the beasts like butter. I just had to be sure to target a ‘living’ part of their bodies.
As I finished off my three opponents, two with remarkable ease because they were still busy with each other, I relished the feeling of souls getting deposited into my purse. No moral qualms here. For the first time in forever, I had perfectly acceptable targets I could profit from.
I eyed the rest of the cavern with avaricious delight.