"This is the Sahara all over again," Rakna grumbled dully as he walked on the dunes of sand.
"Sahara?" Evelyn tilted her head as she hovered next to him.
"When I was… I think thirteen? I went to a certain desert called the Sahara back on my planet with my uncle. It was for… let's call it a 'job'. I still remember the line that the old man uttered that day as if I had heard it a second ago. There is no way I could forget since it ruined the entire week that followed."
"A line?"
Rakna grunted and took on the most deadpan expression he could make. "'Ah, shit. It broke down. Guess we're walking now, kid…' That's what he said."
The succubus chuckled wryly and he abruptly stopped. "Hm? Something's wrong?"
"Perhaps…" He muttered and looked down at his feet as his ears twitched. Tyran jumped off from his shoulder as well and seemed to be wary of something. Even Pronos stuck his head out and his pupils glowed as he used his Echo Vision. "There's something lurking below us."
"Ah… those are-!" Before Evelyn could finish, geysers of sand erupted and the same number of figures emerged from them. They were nearly twenty meters long, had goldish skin, and a circular sectioned mouth skirted by sharp teeth.
"Golden Sand Worms…" Rakna muttered as his eyes flashed and read over their description. "So, that's what Allan meant."
"Yes, they are very common on the Tenth," Evelyn said as a black flame appeared in her hand. "It is very hard to notice them normally… but that is a moot point for you."
One of the worms roared and appeared to be about to lunge forward when a voice echoed, "[Star Hearth.]" The worm's midsection was suddenly pierced by a large sword releasing a cold mist. The same thing happened for all the others.
Rakna snapped his fingers with an indifferent gaze and the swords imploded, taking out with them a large chunk of their body. A reverse shockwave accompanied by cold air forced Evelyn to erect a barrier all around her.
When the volatile sand settled down, her eyes widened as she saw the worms' bodies collapse with massive holes in their bodies.
"H-how…?" She muttered and extinguished the Hell Flame in her palm.
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Lv.22 Golden Sand Worm killed.
Lv.24 Golden Sand Worm killed.
Lv.20 Golden Sand Worm killed.
…
Lv.22 Golden Sand Worm killed.
Your level is too high. No experience gained.
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"Hm?" Rakna looked at her after the kill prompt disappeared. "I just threw a few swords made of star energy and detonated them."
"Not that! These worms all have a core hidden inside their body that if not destroyed, will keep them alive no matter the injury. Their location is random from one worm to another. But you… hit all of them without fail," she uttered as she stared at the corpses of the worms. Some of them had holes near their 'head' while others had them far closer to their lower base.
"Ah, that. Yes, my Appraisal told me that. As for how I spotted them, it's because my Nirvana Skill has the handy secondary effect of allowing me to see the hearts of creatures," he said. "I guess my skill counted those cores as hearts."
Evelyn was speechless.
"I also am normally able to see their blood vessels but these seem to have none. What a weird physiology now that I think about it. Is their core something like an internal energy engine?"
"I can truly see now why everyone wanted to wait for you no matter what," the succubus muttered with a tired tone. "And your sense of priorities too…"
He shrugged. "More importantly, do you truly not know where this is?"
"Well, I've never been on this part of the Plateau. So, I wouldn't..."
Rakna raised an eyebrow. "Does that mean you don't have a map?"
She suddenly froze on the spot. She blinked several times and nervously looked to the side where a system window appeared. "I'm so sorry…. I forgot this was a feature. I never used it before," she said apologetically.
"It's all right. Can you tell me how far we have to go? The friend panel only points in directions."
"Let's see," she muttered and looked at somewhere in the distance. She spotted the location they were in on her map and checked the place she was last and came to a conclusion. "I think there is around five thousand kilometers from here to there?"
Rakna's expression twitched. "That's quite far… At a normal pace, it would take nearly 16 hours to get there. I could get that down to 9 hours though."
"Wait, what?" Evelyn did a double-take. She felt like she had heard something unbelievable. "Did you just say nine hours?"
"Yes," he casually replied and cracked his neck. He breathed in and his fangs grew. Immediately after, his transformation began and took no more than a second to finish. Evelyn looked dazedly at the maned wolf that now stood in front of her.
After shape-shifting, Rakna proceeded to use Gigantism until he was bigger than a horse. That meant he had to store Sonata inside his ring but thankfully, it didn't seem to make any change with the link it had with Evelyn. At the same time, Pronos climbed his neck and lied down in his mane, which was even more comfortable than the scarf.
Rakna then threw a look at the succubus and opened his mouth, "Get on."
"N-no, I'm fine! I can go on my own. A succubus' wings are more powerful than they look…"
Pronos and Tyran looked at her in confusion as she said that. Then, they realized why as Rakna spoke. "Ah, I haven't shown you yet, have I?" He uttered and she only had the time to blink when she saw two majestic black and silver wings sprout from the three-tailed wolf's back.
Her jaw dropped and Rakna just beckoned her again with his head. "Hurry up. We don't have all day. If the others start coming our way as well and if I use mana to boost my wings, we might be able to regroup within five hours."
Evelyn numbly nodded as floated up to his back. She straddled him and Tyran jumped in front of her to sit. "Don't hesitate to hold onto my fur or my mane. This might get rough for you. You can also use a barrier to redirect the wind resistance if you want. Of course, make it aerodynamic."
"R-right..."
"Don't fall off then," Rakna said almost too blankly and channeled mana into his wings. "Artzpul."
Evelyn wasn't able to hold back a yelp as they brusquely soared. She hastily grabbed his mane and made a barrier to cut off the wind hitting her. When she noticed the speed at which the scenery was shifting, she gasped. There was simply no comparison to be made with her flying speed.
"How fast are we going…?" She muttered out loud without really expecting an answer but Rakna was easily capable of hearing her even with the wind hitting his face.
"{We're close to Mach 0.5,}" he replied with the telepathy he had learned recently. He still needed to focus a bit to use it but he was quickly getting better.
"Mach?" Evelyn asked back. She wasn't that surprised that he could use telepathy.
"{Mach is a measure of the compressibility characteristics of fluid flow. It's an entry number made to classify the behavior of air based on a rapport with the speed of sound. In other words, Mach 1 equals the speed of sound. Mach 0.5 is simply half of that.}"
"…you could have just said the last part."
Rakna snorted. "{Anyhow. I'm going to accelerate, keep on holding.}"
"Eh? Faster than this?!"
"{Yes,}" he responded nonchalantly and used his mana to empower his wings. The effects were immediate as his speed suddenly doubled; a silver trail being drawn behind him. Evelyn couldn't believe her eyes. Was this truly a feat that a level 40 Host could accomplish?
'Well, I can only use this for about eleven minutes even with my soul core's reduction,' Rakna thought as he felt his mana pool decrease by one point every two seconds. 'But this can make us gain some time even if I can only use it for eleven minutes every hour and a half or so.'
Just like that, they traveled for more than three hours, mostly in silence. After Rakna used his mana flight for the third time, they surprisingly came across an oasis. The clear water and the verdure around were a pleasing sight after staring at a desert for hours but that wasn't his priority.
They had already passed by a settlement and a few unknown structures that could have either been dungeons or points of interest but he hadn't stopped for them and this wasn't an exception.
However, the choice apparently wasn't his. A few minutes after passing the oasis, they came upon it a second time. There was no doubt that it was the same as everything about it, down the smallest of details, was identical.
"Huh? Did we move in a circle?" Evelyn asked confusedly.
Rakna squinted his eyes and his instincts kicked in. Something was wrong. This time, instead of going past it, he tried to backtrack his path and leave in the opposite direction. And, as he feared, he found the oasis again.
'What is this? An illusion?' He thought and activated Fabled Sight but nothing looked amiss.
"{No, this isn't a mere illusion,}" Higure rebutted critically. "{This looks more like a displacement array. A very good one to boot.}"
'Displacement array?'
"{It's a special kind of spatial formation. Someone that is trapped inside of one and tries to leave its boundaries will be teleported in a way that they'll always face the center. And without them even noticing.}"
'Do you think someone cast this?'
"{Someone, something; I can't say. If I were in my prime, I could just break out but in this case, the only thing we can do is directly destroy or crack the foundation of the formation. That oasis seems like a good clue to finding it.}"
Rakna clicked his tongue. 'And here I thought I would be luckier this time.' He grunted as he flew in circles around the oasis. "Evelyn, we're landing. We have no choice but to inspect this place."
"Understood."
He folded his wings and used Flash Step to gently land on the ground. The second his claws made contact with the grass of the oasis, a notification sounded in both his and Evelyn's ears.
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You have discovered the Oasis of Brazwein!
A reactive ordeal will now begin.
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Ordeal: The Oasis of Brazwein
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Description: You have entered the displacement array of the oasis built by Fray Brazwein, The Exalted Quill. He was said to be a wizard of boundless talent, gifted with magic capable of all feats imaginable.
Objective: You have been trapped in the array. Find either the secret of the oasis or a way to exit the formation within half a day.
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Failure Penalty: The array will self-destruct and destroy everything within it.
Rewards: Unknown.
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"Oh, for god's sake."