Shadow Author
Chapter 98 [Bonus ]78. Desert

Baking under the sun my body began to burn.

As I trekked through the seemingly endless sea of sand, the heat upped its toll.

I was thankful that I had more than enough water stored in my ring to keep me alive but it didn't help in protecting me from the sun.

The sun was scorching, and there was no shade in sight as I was forced to move forward praying that the terrain would come to an end.

Yet hours passed and there was no change in the environment.

At that time I was kicking myself for not bringing anything to protect myself from the sun.

Although I knew a good bit about the dungeon it was impossible for me to know everything inside of it.

That was until I studied the scriptures outside the portal where I was able to fill in the blanks.

Two environments that I hadn't accounted for made themselves known so I hoped that I wouldn't come across them.

However, I seemed to be down on my luck as the desert was one of those very terrains.

The other was a snowy mountain which I absolutely didn't want to deal with.

The heat was bearable because of the water I had but surviving the cold would be an impossibility.

But I didn't have time to think about such things as up ahead there was finally a change.

Although it wasn't the one I wanted.

… a sandstorm was approaching and quickly at that.

Seeing how the dust was rising higher into the sky I knew it would only be a matter of time till I was enveloped by it.

Cursing that I had no way of protecting myself I tore a piece of fabric off from the bottom of my shirt and wrapped it around my face.

The biggest problem though was that I had no way of protecting my eyes without losing my sight.

I could cover them with the cloth but doing so would blind me.

Unfortunately, that seemed like the best option.

Annoyed that I kept losing the ability to see within the dungeon I made a note to buy goggles of some sort when I made it back to the academy.

Hunkering down for the meantime I used Nightfall as a shovel to dig a pit in the sand for me to lay.

Getting down I turned my body away from the storm and waited for it to swallow me.

It didn't take long until the harsh winds mixed with grains of sand scraped up against my body.

Knowing that it would be a long couple of hours I tried my best to distract myself by making use of Mana Breath.

When the storm finally rolled over me I brought the cloth up over my eyes and mouth and did my best to survive.

The winds themselves weren't too bad and I was thankfully able to stand my ground but the worst part was all the sand that got picked up and thrown into the air.

As it moved at high speeds the gaps in my clothing where my skin was unprotected were brutally cut.

It also didn't help that most of that skin was sunburnt which increased the pain many times over.

When the storm finally passed I was writhing in anguish.

Covered in multiple lays of sand I slowly stood up and brushed off all the sand that I could.

If I had a mirror I knew I wouldn't be able to recognize myself.

My uniform was completely ripped up, my wrists and ankles were bleeding, my hair was full of sand, and it looked like I had been surviving in the wilderness for years.

But I didn't let the pain get to me as I immediately lowered the cloth, drank some water, and continued onward.

After another hour of traveling and only coming across different bits of sand, I was beginning to lose my mind.

By that point, I was actually somewhat hoping for a monster to appear so that I would have something to do — not actually though because I was in really bad shape.

Nonetheless, the world seemed to answer my first calling as the ground started to shake.

By this point, since I hadn't seen any monsters until this point so I expected it to be an earthquake of sorts but I was sorely mistaken when a large head shot up from the ground.

'Shit.'

Making its way out of the sand was an extremely large worm.

Its body was snake-like but its head was the most terrifying.

Towering over me the creature looked down at me but rather than seeing eyes its entire head was its mouth.

Thousands of razor-sharp teeth appeared before me as the monster roared out menacingly.

Saliva flew out of its enormous mouth while layers of its mouth opened up revealing even more teeth hidden within its flesh.

Disgusted by its appearance I dodged out of the way to avoid the saliva hitting me.

Although I looked as if I'd gone through hell I wasn't at the point that I'd let monster goo cover me.

However, it seemed that my decision to dodge held more merit when the saliva that touched the sandy ground began to crackle and pop.

"Venomous saliva too? Your breath must smell horrible!"

As if able to understand me the giant worm let out another ferocious roar.

Expecting the fight to begin I took a warrior's stance but when the ground under began to quake a foreboding feeling enveloped my body.

Knowing I had to get away as fast as possible I immediately turned my back to the giant worm and began running as fast as I could.

Yet it was far too late, before I could put some distance between myself and the shaking ground, the cause of it emerged.

Blowing a hole open a second monstrous worm was revealed.

But unlike with the first one where I was a safe distance away this time I was directly under its path.

When it popped up I was sent flying along with waves of sand and even some sandstone that acted as shrapnel.

Unsure of my wounds, I was carried by the built-up momentum and forced to roll across the desert floor.

Laying spiraled out I sighed in relief that I survived.

However, when the ground under me started shaking for the third time I openly cursed as I knew I wouldn't get lucky twice in a row.