*Tss~* *Tss~* *Tss~*
The sound of my walk on the sand is the only sound I could hear in this desolate empty place..
The First Floor of 'Ancient Tower of Hope'... The Trial of Hardships took place in the planet called 'Sydron'. This planet actually hosts intelligent creatures. They are similarly like humans in terms of body.
"Also this panel in front of me.. is quite annoying" I glanced at the uniquely eye catching screen in front of my eyes that is intangible.
[Quest: A Hard Heart Brings Hard Times But A Soft Heart Brings Disaster
Description: Planet 'Sydron' is a corpse of an once lively planet. But once it's 'God' died, the world divine supply had dried up. The only way to be able to save this planet is to access the 'World Tree' in the core of the planet to activate the 'Universal Supply'. But the 'World Tree' was currently being experimented on and the few people on this planet had realised that the 'World Tree' could save the world. But the higher governments are corrupt and evil. So the people who realised this spread their influence in attempt to Liberate and Save their world.
Mission: Find and Help The 'Liberation Army' to access the 'World Tree']
"Hmm.. what a tragic world" Their God must have been a really good God.. I do not want to see a world to be destroyed by their own influence.. but I also won't dwell deep in their troubles..
"*sigh*.. Well for now.. let's find a sign of civilisation.." I looked up to the yellow sky of 'Sydron'.
"Let's find some shelter before I stupidly die.." The common knowledge of this world had been implanted in my mind. This world suffers from a unique case of Sandstorm that covers the whole world in routine cycle..
This Sandstorm is caused by the disaster because of the lack of divinity inside this planet causing the whole world's surface to be covered in endless desert. So the people had adapted to be living in the underground.. but people still needs to go up to the surface to expand their living condition and find resources..
It is said that who were caught by the Sandstorm will mutate into one of the monsters that hid behind all of this desert.. slowly losing their sanity and mind. Then after they fully lost their mind they would become a monster forever.. infinitely roaming this endless desert while searching for their next prey to spread the curse of The Sandstorm..
".. This world is kinda like that one zombie game.." I commented while I kept on walking.. into the unknown of this world..
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"*sigh*.. This place is hot.." I was sweating like a waterfall because of how hot this planet's surface actually is.
"If I live in Australia I think this will be normal.." I said with a little chuckle.
"Hmm..? What is that..?" In the far, I saw a weirdly moving cloud of dust that is moving away from me it seems like..
".. Is that the Sandstorm..? or is that something else..?" I looked at it curiously.
"Well.. let's try approaching it."I decided to just satisfy my curiousity as it is better for me to know anyways..
"[Flash Arts: Lightning Speed]..!" I said as I got low and using my legs as a pivot I dashed forward towards the direction of the cloud dust.
'I certainly got a lot stronger..' I thought as I watched my surroundings flashed through me..
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"Hmm.. this is certainly amusing.." I said as I looked down from above and saw a horde. They looked like the zombie horde from those zombie films. But it seems like this one isn't that simple to clear.
Based on my knowledge, they are what this world's people called 'Sand Demons'. Those creatures are the creatures cursed by The Sandstorm. They are one with the desert, so they always knew where is the place with the most amount of people to spread their curse.
It seems like most of the horde's members are a Tier 2 Sand Demons. This is still the early stages of the curse and they are slow but move in numbers. There are 5 tiers to the Sand Demons curse progression. Here is the list of their characteristics:
[Tier 1 Sand Demons:
-Around 1 to 3 weeks after getting the curse
-Sentient and Intelligent
-Slightly deformed body parts
-Could not speak the human's language
-Slow and weak
-Abundance in numbers but typically moved alone
-No special abilities
-Weak to instant beheading
-Infects with bite]
[Tier 2 Sand Demons:
-Around 1 to 3 months after getting the curse
-Less Intelligent and had went crazy with madness
-Sometimes mumble in an unknown language
-Slow and weak but resilient
-Abundance in number but typically moved in group
-Resistant to normal weaponries
-Weak to special material found rarely in the depths of the dessert, Ammosium
-Infects with curse imprint]
[Tier 3 Sand Demons:
-Around 1 to 2 years after getting the curse
-Sanity completely gone and controlled by an unknown creature of the desert called, Set
-Fast but weak
-Moved individually and silently
-Stealth and camouflage ability to blend with the sand
-Weak to powders of Ammosium]
[Tier 4 Sand Demons:
-Around 3 to 9 years after getting the curse
-Increased intelligence and regained intelligent thoughts but served Set
-Very strong and quite fast
-Commands hordes
-Resistance to normal Ammosium weaponries, intelligence to use weaponries made by their flesh, and unnatural speed of regeneration
-Weak to high temperature Ammosium or nuclear-infused Ammosium]
[Tier 5 'Apocalypse of The Desert, Set':
-Around 2000 years after getting the curse
-Intelligence comparable to the smartest and wisest man in history of Sydron
-Unknown physical capabilities and limits
-Commands Sand Demons
-Resistance to every kind of Ammosium
-Unknown weakness, potential weakness includes:
•God's Remnants of Divinity
•World Tree's Blessing
•Unknown Powers]
"..This seems like a huge flag isn't it..?" I thought about 'Apocalypse of The Desert, Set'. He seemed to be big big trouble to my goal..
"*sigh*.." I sighed tiredly while looking down at the passing horde. They seems to be quite slowly moving but I think their numbers are quite troublesome..
"Well.. this could be the time to test that out.."
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[3rd PoV]
"Go! Go! Run! The 'Sand Demons' are coming!" A man that looked like he is in his 30's shouted over to his group of scavengers.. He looked around and spotted a child still trying to dig up some useful loots but looking over to the horizon he saw a horde of at least 100 of the 'Sand Demons' they mentioned.
"Oi! Brat! Do you want to die?!" He said running over to the child and picked him up and ran as far away as possible..
"Old Man! What are you doing..?! I almost digged up a fortune!!" But the child retaliated and tried to squiggle out of the man's grab.
"We could always come back here next time! But if we die, how can we dig it up..!" The man reprimands the child who had suddenly became silent.. but looking over the man found that the child had disappeared and ran back to the previous spot..
"Tsk! Oi! Brat! Come back here!" He immediately ran after the child trying to save him.. but he is too late.. the child suddenly stopped because he bumped into something.. someone..
"Eek!" The child tried to run away but found himself trap in the sand..
"BRAT!!!" The man tried to run faster but he is too late.. the one the child bumped into was one of the 'Sand Demon'.. it held the child up with one of it's deformed hand and with it's other glowing hand stretch out it's hand to curse the child..
"H-Help me, Old Man!" The child tried to retaliate but it's futile..
"NO BRAT!!" The man was too far.. but..
"Come! Sword That Pierces The Void, Kyo!" Suddenly a boy who looked like he is in his teenage years appeared right in front of the Sand Demon and swings his sword in a horizontal arc..
"No..! Normal weapons won't work on them..!" Despite the man's scream, the boy still attacked and surprisingly.. the Sand Demon was.. beheaded..! No..
"What..?!?!" Every Sand Demon of the horde had been beheaded..!
'Such speed..!' The man thought while he glances at the boy who saved the child and brought him back towards the man.
"Take care of your child better.." He said before getting ready to disappear into the desert once again but..
"Wait..!" The man stopped him to leave. The boy only sighed and looked back towards them.
"Do you need something..?" The boy asked the man.
"Where are you going?" He asked carefully. The man seemed quite cautious of the boy who could kill an entire horde of Sand Demons in a single flash..
"Hmm..? I am not necessarily going anywhere..?" The boy answered as if he is questioning himself..
"It's almost time that the Sandstorm hits this area. Why don't you go with us?" The man offered sincerely.
"..." The boy seemed to be silent in thought for a while but after a while he just sighed and nodded. And so the man smiled and led the boy to his and the child's home with the boy only resigning to his fate..
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[Genji's PoV]
'*sigh*.. It seems quite troublesome to stay at their homes..' I thought silently but I made sure to not let that thought be expressed.
"So what are you doing in the desert..?" I asked them about what they are doing in the middle of such dangerous place without any protections or weapons at least..
"Oh? You don't know? We are the 'Scavengers'" He said while showing his gears to me. His gears consists of something that looked like a metal detector, a shovel for sand digging, a multipurpose knife.. and a lot of.. and I mean a lot of water.
"'Scavengers'? So you guys went out to search for materials..?" I asked them once again while we're walking under the heat. The little child seemed to be drinking some water to not dehydrate..
"We are the groups of outcast in the kingdom.. and such our only source of income could only be from this.. or work for the scumbags.." He seemed to be spitting a little venom in the end of his sentence. He seemed to hate them quite a lot.. and I think he was referring to the nobles of the country.
"I see.. it must be tough.. eh?" I said with a little sympathy. There is nothing they could do either way..
"If you don't know about this stuff.. are you one of the higher ups..?" He asked cautiously once again but I just chuckled at him.
"Heh.. I'm not affiliated with any of them.. in fact I had never been in the country even once.." I said the truth laced with some sweet deceptions. I only said the truth but I worded it like it was something mysterious.. but in fact it's just because I had just arrived here..
"So where had you lived all this time?" Suddenly now the child is the one that asked me.
"Hmm..? I lived no where.. I just wandered around aimlessly.." I said with a little worry. I honestly don't want people to know that I am from another world.. after all it could have a bad consequences..
"Huh? But isn't it dangerous?" The child asked again innocently. It seems he is still a child and still innocent despite his stupid action back then..
"Hmm..? I'm pretty strong you know?" I said with a little chuckle while flexing my muscles.
"Huee.. but I'm stronger than you!" The child said with a mighty pose.
"*chuckle* Of course.. of course" I said while chuckling a bit. But then I realised that the man was silently staring at my interaction with his child..
"You seemed awfully mature aren't you?" He said with an amused face. I just tilted my head in a little confusion with what he meant by that.. I mean my actions are just the actions of a normal person..
"Hmm..? I am just still 17 you know..?" I said with a confused tone.
"Hmm, but still it seems like you are quite awful in social skills aren't you..? Or you are just very unaware of yourself.." He said with a little laughter of his.
"We're here now" We suddenly halted to a stop in front of a large dune of sand that rose higher almost a meter from us.. the man walked forward and took out a special card and pressed it against the dune and suddenly a trapdoor opened right next to it..
"Let's go, down here is our destination" He said while urging me to come but suddenly he halted a bit and looked at me back..
"Oh yeah! Come to think of it, we still haven't introduced ourselves" He said as if just realising it.
"My name is Xal Idrytís and this is my child Sotiras Idrytís" He said while pointing to himself and his child. Their names seems awfully hard to pronounce.. and also I seemed to only realised this now.. but I don't think I should say my original name.. as it probably would be weird here.. but what name should I use..?
"So what is your name?" He urged me to introduce myself. I took a deep breath and just took a name that was the name in my memories.. I think it was the name of the original one..
"My name is.. Zero.."
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[Author Note: Sorry for late upload]