Chapter 46: Desert Ruins
A group of people slowly advanced through the swirling yellow sand.
The closer they got to the Death Desert, the stronger the wind and sand became, and sometimes they would encounter terrifying sandstorms. Even a powerful professionist like Soren could be buried in the yellow sand after a sandstorm. The energy radiation had altered not just the environment but also the unusual climate of the desert. Although the Arborists had spent hundreds of years creating some oases and plant defenses in the desert, they could still be easily destroyed by dreadful sandstorms.
Sometimes the winds and sands kicked up from the Death Desert felt like torrential rain, capable of completely burying a river.
Of course, that wasn’t the most terrifying thing.
What was even more fearsome was the desert tornado, which was the real disaster, or one might say a nightmare.
The massive tornado swept away everything in its vicinity; any merchant caravan it encountered was hardly able to escape unscathed. The giant tornado was a mutation caused by energy radiation, and when its strength exceeded level five, it could cause energy chaos in nearby areas. These were the so-called “Death Magic Zone” and “Magic Chaos Region,” where spells cast by wizards were highly likely to fail, leaving no place to escape. Soren had seen a giant tornado with a radius of over fifteen kilometers, extending from the sands below to the cloud layers above, as if the whole world was about to be sucked in. (Note: Giant tornadoes occur roughly once every three years.)
He still remembered the first time he collaborated with another team to come here.
At that time, they discovered something; sometimes, the terrifying natural climate was more headache-inducing than powerful monsters.
The team moved slowly.
They had prepared over thirty camels, loaded with a lot of supplies. Although the real adventurer party consisted of only five people, the required logistical supplies were still quite enormous. When Soren first came to the desert to explore the ruins, his entire team was dumbfounded upon arrival because there was no road to enter. The poor Dwarf Heavy Armored Warrior, being physically strong, had to dig for two whole days to clear a path into the ruins, but after encountering a sealed wall, everyone ultimately had to return to prepare more tools.
Later on, exploring such ancient underground ruins required adventurers to form teams of thirty or forty people.
And so, the group advanced for three days.
During the journey, Soren learned more about the others. For example, the Dwarf Heavy Armored Warrior was quite the talkative one, though he stayed relatively quiet when not drinking.
The Dwarf had little resistance to fine wine, while the others drank water; this guy was always drinking alcohol.
If it weren’t for his astonishing physique, he would probably be incapacitated.
The Dwarf Heavy Armored Warrior’s name was Saron Tardanding, a very young dwarf, only forty-six years old, with a thick beard and a sturdy body.
He had the bloodline of a dwarf from Saint Helm Valley and could petrify his body slightly, as if augmented by the Stone Skin Spell. (Bloodline of Hill Dwarves.)
The Eastern Wanderer’s name was Shadow Concealment.
He was an advanced wanderer from the eastern seas, where there were numerous islands, and many wanderers were professionists who evolved from pirates. He was a very silent guy, continuously polishing the blade of his sword. His strength seemed quite good, but what surprised Soren was that he wielded his sword with his left hand.
A left-handed wanderer swordsman!
As for the other Desert Warrior, he was a relatively well-known adventurer locally. His name was Hammed Nord.
He was about a level 15 Desert Warrior, an advanced profession of warriors, and like Soren, was adept at Dual Wielding, with weapons resembling Persian curved blades.
His attire was somewhat similar to that of Persians! (Note: The advancement of Desert Warriors is quite similar to that of Northern Region Warriors, belonging to regional advanced professions, having undergone special combat training specific to the region.)
As for the last one, the Eastern Dance Maiden.
She was the only professionist whose abilities Soren was unsure of; he could only confirm that her profession level was above sixteen, adept in illusion abilities, and also mastered the Mirror Image Spell.
On the afternoon of the third day.
Soren and the others finally arrived at their destination, which had a distinctive structure—a broken obelisk.
It was unclear what its exact purpose was.
However, many large ruins buried underground in the desert had such obelisks.
“We’re here!”
Soren looked up at the sky and said in a deep voice, “This is the place; let the workers get ready to work.”
He quickly walked to the base of the obelisk and, facing the direction of the sun, began to advance. Soren counted his steps and walked about one hundred fifty meters, then veered about fifty meters north. Finally, he squatted down, reached out to touch the yellow sand on the ground, and said in a deep voice, “Start digging from here, digging a tunnel approximately three meters in diameter.”
There were many dangerous places beneath ancient ruins; digging in the wrong spot could lead to accidents.
Moreover, the entire city had been buried in yellow sand, and when the disaster struck, there were hardly any survivors among the residents inside. In this situation, the possibility of undead creatures appearing inside was extremely high!
Nearly a hundred workers started to get busy.
Digging out a three-meter diameter tunnel was not easy, because this was a desert area, with sand on top and possibly quicksand below; it was quite difficult to dig a tunnel in the sand. This required cleaning the area thoroughly and using plenty of tools. Though it seemed like there were near a hundred people, the actual work progressed slowly; they could only dig the tunnel bit by bit.
As night began to fall.
Soren supervised the workers and then got up to wander around nearby to see if there were any unusual occurrences.
“Ah!”
At that moment, a piercing scream came from the construction site, and all the professionists rushed over.
Soren hurriedly approached and saw a worker lying on the ground, convulsing and frothing at the mouth; soon, he ceased to breathe. Soren pressed his hand on the hilt of his sword and asked in a deep voice, “What happened?”
The Eastern Wanderer responded, his sword embedded with a dusty yellow scorpion, and said, “It’s a sand scorpion! Very poisonous!”
Only just starting work, and they had already lost one person.
This was undoubtedly a huge blow to the morale of the laborers; many of them became a bit timid while working.
Left with no choice, Soren could only let the Eastern Wanderer supervise while also dealing with potential sand scorpions. This guy drew his sword very quickly; he had just pinned down three sand scorpions in an instant.
Night fell.
The party set up tents near the work site, with laborers gathering to sleep while the professionists took turns keeping watch.
The wind was strong at night.
However, fortunately, it only lasted for a while; the surroundings fell silent, occasionally broken by faint rustling sounds. Soren sat by the campfire, lost in thought, glancing back at the pit they had dug because there was more than just highly venomous scorpions underneath. Behind him came light footsteps, and soon the Eastern Dance Maiden, wrapped in a flowing cloak, sat in front of him.
“What are you worried about?”
The Eastern Dance Maiden met Soren’s gaze and, with a knowing expression, said, “Since we arrived here, you seem to be a bit worried.”
………………(To be continued ~^~)
