Chapter 30 - Yellow Sand Dunes
This place was a barren desert. As Zwei looked around, all he could see was yellowish-brown scenery. Even the plants growing here had seemingly been dyed this color; they didn't have even a speck of green on them.
The sun hanging high in the sky also radiated its scorching rays without holding back in the slightest, turning the desert into a piping hot steamer. In fact, the terrifying heat even distorted Zwei's view of the surroundings. It felt like he was observing the world through a translucent curtain.
Occasionally, Zwei saw animal skeletons decorating the desert, the pale bones looking very conspicuous against the yellow background. Seeing these skeletons also filled him with greater frustration.
This place was none other than the Yellow Sand Dunes dungeon.
The activation condition for this dungeon was a B-rank evaluation for clearing Night Forest's Outskirts and the completion of the Teaching Block building. It was a dungeon that had appeared together with the Noisy Beach.
As the Basic Trial quest had instructed him to prepare himself before entering the Honing Tower's First Floor, he couldn't help feeling a little uneasy. Hence, he decided to enter the Yellow Sand Dunes first and secure its clear reward.
Zwei wiped away the sweat on his forehead. Normally, ordinary people would've collapsed from dehydration after walking in this scorching heat for half an hour. Fortunately, the dungeon supplies he received this time included the Sunstroke Prevention Potion. The effects of this alchemy product allowed him to maintain his body temperature at normal levels, preventing him from passing out due to the terrifying heat.
However, the dungeon supplied him with only three of these convenient potions. Also, while each potion theoretically lasted 20 minutes, in reality, its effects would start to weaken after ten minutes. Hence, Zwei was sweating profusely right now. If he didn't wish to become the human version of a dried fish, then he needed to kill the Boss within an hour and clear the dungeon.
"Easier said than done…" Zwei panted heavily as he sat down on something that looked to be a mammoth's ivory. As he gazed at the endless desert before him, he complained, "Didn't the previous dungeons all have fixed routes? Where's the path here? Without a day, how am I supposed to find the Boss in this damn desert?!"
He had already spent over 40 minutes inside this dungeon, expending two Sunstroke Prevention Potions in the process. In order to avoid wasting his last potion unnecessarily, he had decided to bear the heat and consume the potion only when he really needed it.
However, conserving his potion didn't help him solve the crux of his problem. If he couldn't locate the Boss, he wouldn't be able to clear the dungeon. In that case, he would leave with only the items he harvested from some dungeon mobs, not the Boss's treasure chest and the clear reward, which were the true jackpots. If he left without acquiring these two rewards, he would've wasted his daily raid opportunity—an unacceptable outcome.
Just as Zwei was looking at the vast desert at a loss, the sand nearby suddenly shifted as if something was quietly approaching him from underground.
However, before this thing could get within ten meters of Zwei, a blue sphere struck the unnaturally raised sand.
This blue sphere was none other than the Ice Bullet, a first-circle water magic Zwei had learned recently. Although this desert environment significantly weakened the spell's power, the Ice Bullet was still extremely effective against creatures living here.
After the Ice Bullet struck the sand, a two-meter-long creature with the body of a Komodo dragon and the head of a horned desert viper emerged from underground.
The prospecting lizard, a monster belonging to the reptile species, had a hunting level of Level 4, and its specialty was freely "swimming" in sand. Honestly, it wasn't particularly powerful. However, although the golden lizard didn't have any venom, its mouth contained a lot of bacteria. On the off chance a person got bitten by it, they would die if their wounds weren't properly disinfected.
Since Zwei left the base camp until now, he had killed close to 20 prospecting lizards already.
It seemed that, aside from the Level 2 Desert Slimes that could disguise themselves as stones, the only monsters in this dungeon were the Level 4 Prospecting Lizards.
After another Ice Bullet and a Magic Bullet, Zwei quickly dispatched the prospecting lizard. Using Mage Hand, he picked up the corpse, which weighed well over a hundred kilograms, and brought it before him. He then used Collection on it.
Monsters of the prospecting lizard's caliber did not possess a mana core. Hence, even with Lady Luck's favor, he wouldn't obtain any elemental shards from it. From what he had seen thus far, the prospecting lizard only dropped Rough Lizard Skins and Prospecting Claws.
This time, however, Zwei collected a strange material called the Prospecting Lizard's Antipathy.
"What's this thing?" Zwei curiously read the item's introduction.
…
[Prospecting Lizard's Antipathy (Special)]
Special/Temporary Item
Your hands are soaked in the blood of the Prospecting Lizards. The resentment of the dead Prospecting Lizards shrouds you and will soon summon a great disaster upon you!
…
"…"
Zwei fell speechless as he stared at the black, tooth-like object in his hand.
What do you mean by soaked in the Prospecting Lizards' blood? I killed those lizards from afar using magic! Wait, no, that isn't the important part. What do you mean "great disaster"?! Not to mention, I've killed far more goblins than I have lizards! If anyone's going to take revenge, shouldn't it be the goblins?! This is illogical!
Despite his complaints, Zwei also came to understand something—the Boss of this dungeon might not have a fixed location!
After further thought, Zwei found his conjecture plausible. After all, this desert was simply massive. Seeking the Boss here was akin to looking for a needle in a haystack. Hence, if he wished to fight the Boss, then he would most likely have to take a different approach.
For example, killing a certain number of prospecting lizards.
After thinking up to this point, Zwei decisively drank his last Sunstroke Prevention Potion. He then tightened his grip on the Prospecting Lizard's Antipathy, shattering the tooth like an expended elemental shard. As soon as he did so, he noticed a sand dune rapidly approaching him from afar. Although there was still quite some distance between them, the sand dune's height of several meters made it very conspicuous.
Zwei launched an Ice Bullet at the approaching sand dune. Unsurprisingly, the latter dodged it. Moreover, it had done so without slowing down in the slightest, dodging the Ice Bullet by using a drifting maneuver!
At this time, Zwei also got a clearer look at his opponent, or at least the exposed part of his opponent's body. It was a triangular fin resembling that of a shark.
"A shark's fin, this speed, and possibly a lizard, like the prospecting lizards… Ah, so it's that." Zwei snapped his fingers in realization. Based on the traits he mentioned, he could roughly guess his opponent's identity already.
Meanwhile, seeing as he couldn't beat his opponent with speed, he might as well fight using raw power. He immediately spread his palms and created a ball of light between them. Subsequently, the light ball repeatedly grew and shrank in a rhythmic pattern, looking like a beating heart.
When the shark fin got within 20 meters, Zwei waved his arm and released the charged Magic Bullet in his hands.
Along with a loud boom, the Magic Bullet exploded in the sand like a high-yield bomb. The explosion set off a wave of sand over ten meters tall, and the spreading shockwave swept the surrounding sand into the air. Some of the flying sand felt more like pebbles, and they inflicted a lot of pain on Zwei when they hit his body. A moment later, the sand shot into the sky on the updraft, forming a mushroom cloud of sand and dust. After another few seconds passed, the mushroom cloud gradually dissipated, revealing a five-meter-deep hole in the ground, thoroughly demonstrating the tremendous power of the explosion.
Inside the crater was a large, four-legged sailfish-like lizard with the fin of a shark. It had a long, jagged nose up front, reminiscent of a sword. With its streamlined body and fine scales, the lizard could easily traverse the sand. Its four powerful legs, which resembled those of the prospecting lizards, provided it with the propulsion required to move in the sand.
The sword shark lizard, another monster belonging to the reptile species, had a hunting level of Level 8, and it traveled incredibly rapidly underground. It boasted the Gravity Skeleton, a first-circle earth spell that allowed the user to form an earth element energy field around their body. Aside from reducing the difficulty of traveling under the sand, the energy field also served as a defense against magic attacks.
Although the sword shark lizard was only a Level 8 monster, the combination of its speed and defensive capabilities made it a natural enemy for many Basic Magicians. After all, even if a Basic Magician could keep up with its speed and landed a first-circle spell, the power of the spell wouldn't be sufficient to injure the monster. Casting second-circle magic was also impossible, as the sword shark lizard wouldn't give the magician the opportunity to do so.
Fortunately, Zwei had charged a Magic Bullet beforehand, allowing his spell to have a destructive power and range to rival second-circle spells. Otherwise, he would definitely have a headache dealing with the sword shark lizard now.