Chapter 857: Land of Fire [4]

The pressure was intense.

Strong enough to make everyone stop as a large silhouette slowly emerged through the storm, its massive frame towering over us in every sense, barely visible through the swirling sand and wind.

Swooooosh—!

It’s first shot down in the direction of the others.

"Careful...!"

I wanted to reach them, but the distance was a little too far for me to cover. To make matters worse, because it was a monster, my Emotive Magic wasn’t as effective.

But thankfully, a figure blurred right before the incoming attack.

Holding tightly onto his sword, Leon’s entire body radiated a powerful pressure as his eyes turned an even deeper shade of black. He slashed forward with all his might.

SHIIING!

His sword came into contact with the fist head-on.

But—

"Akhh...!"

The fist completely avoided Leon’s sword, phasing right through it before striking him cleanly and sending him crashing back against the sand.

Thump!

"Leon!"

"...Shit, Leon!"

The impact sounded devastating, and when I looked in Leon’s direction, I saw him on the ground, blood dripping from his face as he struggled to get up.

The monster didn’t give him time to breathe.

Following the strong gale of the wind, the monster arrived before Leon in no time, its enormous frame shifting once more as it launched another attack. Its movements were so fast that hardly anyone could keep up with them.

To make matters even worse, the sandworms still attacked us from every direction.

I watched as Leon forced himself up to avoid the incoming attack, sand spraying in every direction as he pushed off the ground. In the next instant, he rushed forward and followed up with another attack, but just like before, the creature effortlessly phased through Leon’s strike and slammed into his body, sending him spiraling back across the sand.

BANG!

’How is this possible?’

It all happened incredibly fast, but I was still able to see everything as Leon looked similarly shocked.

’No, shit... I have to help him.’

With no time to spare, I drew several swords and shot them toward the enormous creature, using my version of

’Telekinesis’

granted by Owl-Mighty’s evolved skill.

Swoosh!

The swords cut through the storm rapidly, shooting at the creature from all directions.

But—

Swooosh! Swooosh!

The swords did absolutely nothing, passing through the colossus as it continued to charge in Leon’s direction.

To make matters worse, the sand beneath me split as several sandworms shot up at once.

"——!"

Dealing with one of the sandworms, I looked towards my shoulder where an owl appeared. I nudged in Owl-Mighty’s direction.

"Can you—"

"...That’s a Sand Titan."

The Owl cut me off before I could speak.

"It’s not something that I can deal with. It won’t fall for my illusions."

"Then..."

"Not even that cat will be able to do it. No physical attack will get to the Sand Titan. You might be able to deal with it if you combine forces with that woman named Anne, but it’ll take everything you have in order to do so."

BANG!

"Leon!"

Sand scattered in all directions as the Titan attacked once more, Leon’s body crashing onto the sand as blood seeped from every part of his body. Looking at him, he looked completely helpless as he struggled to get back up.

His dark pupils trembled further as he stared at the Titan, and despite his injured body, it was clear that he had broken several bones.

Mana started to accumulate around his sword.

Power surged through him.

He seemed to be getting ready for a powerful attack.

I looked around.

My eyes settled over to Anne.

She had managed to push past the numerous sandworms, shooting towards Leon just as the Titan’s frame expanded and it drove its fist down once more.

Leon screamed, slashing at the Sand Titan with all his might.

The attack was powerful. Enough to make me feel alarmed.

But—

The same situation occurred, the attack cleaving through the storm, but phasing right through the Titan as Leon’s eyes widened before he was engulfed by the massive fist, his body crashing down.

BANG!

"Leon...!!"

Leon’s body bounced off the sand, his face pale as he spat a mouthful of blood.

At the same time, a figure moved close to him.

Sand scattered in all directions once more, the harsh glare of the sandstorm making everything incredibly hard to see. Grains whipped through the air, stinging my skin and blurring the shapes around us until even nearby figures became little more than shifting shadows.

Nevertheless, through

[Mana Sense],

I was able to see that Anne had succeeded in rescuing Leon.

Her gaze shot in my direction.

"...We should leave!"

I clenched my teeth, looking at the enormous figure standing before us as a book materialized in my hands, and Anne’s speed increased. She wasn’t the only one. I boosted everyone else’s speed as I used my integrated domain.

"Leave!"

It was as Owl-Mighty had said.

There was no point in staying longer to fight the Titan. I didn’t know much information about it, and even if I did fight it, I’d have to risk my life in order to beat it.

I just didn’t think it was worth it.

Swooosh! Swoosh!

Thanks to the added speed, we were able to put more distance between ourselves and the Sand Titan as its enormous frame gradually disappeared into the sandstorm. Its outline became harder and harder to make out, until it was little more than a shifting shadow within the swirling sand.

But the worms continued to chase after us.

The ground trembled beneath our feet as they moved below the surface, the sand bulging and collapsing in rapid bursts before the creatures shot upward from all directions, forcing us to keep running.

My mana drained rapidly as a result of my actions, but it didn’t matter as I caught up with Anne and checked Leon’s condition.

"How... is he doing?"

"...I don’t know."

Anne replied as she held Leon’s body over her shoulder.

"He seems to have broken several bones. He also left his sword back there. I wasn’t able to get it for him. But... if things had gone on, then it would’ve been really bad for him. That Sand Titan was a really bad matchup for him. Only a powerful

[Elemental]

Mage would’ve been able to deal with it."

Cra Crack—!

Suddenly, bolts of lightning shot in all directions, hitting the sadnworms precisely, and sending them scattering back.

Anne looked in the direction of the lightning, mumbling, "Like that."

I also looked at Evelyn, but shook my head.

"There’s no point. She’ll have to go all out in order to do something meaningful to the Sand Titan, and by them she’ll waste all of her energy. I have a feeling that the Sand Titan is going to be the least of our problems over here."

Still...

I looked around.

Making sure that everyone was present, I activated

[Eye of Existence].

"———!"

It almost felt as though someone had smashed my head with a heavy hammer, my skull threatening to split as I activated the skill for all of us.

I just barely managed to keep myself from groaning as I nearly stumbled forward, the mana inside of my body dropping at an alarming rate.

But I was prepared for this.

Aware of just how much

[Eye of Existence]

consumed, and the fact that I had to use it on all of us, I knew of the risks that came with it. But it was worth it.

Looking around and seeing the sandworms stop, I looked at Aoife, who didn’t waste a single second and tossed each of us a sword. Hopping onto the sword, Aoife dragged us forward with her telekinesis, sending us shooting through the air at neck-breaking speed.

We zoomed past everything as I kept

[Eye of Existence]

active for as long as I possibly could have while she carried us forward.

Just as it was hard for me to use

[Eye of Existence],

it was also hard for her to control so many swords at once while carrying us through the desert as her face paled every second.

But we had no choice but to keep moving forward. I raised a hand to cover my face, feeling the sharp prickle of the sandstorm around us as grains lashed against my skin at our elevated speed.

I didn’t know how long we carried on like this.

It must’ve been for at least a dozen minutes as our speed gradually started to die down.

By now, I had long since cancelled

[Eye of Existence]

, my breath heavy as my mana was completely depleted.

There was nothing left in the tank.

Though the sandstorm still raged around us, we eventually dropped back onto the sand, slumping down as we took deep, heavy breaths.

"Haa... Haa..."

My lungs were on fire, and every part of me was exhausted.

It had been a while since I had felt like this while fighting something.

’I thought I had gotten a lot stronger, but it’s clear that the Mirror Dimension is no simple place. I’m starting to wonder how the people living here have managed to survive.’

This place was treacherous.

Looking at Anne and An’as, I started to have a newfound appreciation for the two of them.

But before that—

"H... how is heee... doing?"

I forced myself up as I looked at Leon.

Blood was still leaking out from his forehead, and staring at his twisted arm, it was obvious that it was broken. However, outside of those external injuries, he didn’t seem to be in any critical condition.

"...He should wake up in a bit."

Anne replied after carefully looking at him.

"I’m honestly quite surprised he didn’t sustain any more serious injuries than this. Considering monsters are usually stronger than humans of the same Tier, that creature was clearly a high-ranked Destroyer Rank. To only sustain this much, your friend over here is quite sturdy."

"I know..."

I sighed in relief after seeing that Leon was fine.

However, I didn’t smile.

Sitting back down in the sand to catch my breath, I looked around. The sandstorm still raged on, making it hard for me to see ahead.

But above all—

’I wasn’t able to detect a single thing.’

Be it

[Mana Sense]

or Emotive Magic, I wasn’t able to see the monsters coming before it was too late. Was it because they were underneath the sand?

Was that why I wasn’t able to sense them?

...Or was there more to it?

’I need to quickly think of a way to get into the main city. As strong as we are, it’s clear that this place is still too dangerous. We need to—’

I could barely finish my thought before I suddenly grew alarmed, feeling the sand around us begin to shift. The ground trembled slightly as the sand lifted and slid away, cascading down in thin streams.

Then figures began to emerge from beneath the surface. One after another, they rose out of the sand in all directions, until we found ourselves completely surrounded.

My heart sank.

What sort of dog shit luck was this?