Inside what looked like ruins subrged beneath bloody red dunes, Thoren observed the surrounding scene with a knitted brow.
"Why do I feel like I am walking in an ancient city?" he mused while his eyes wandered across the vast desert ruins.
Ancient rooftops buried beneath crimson sand stretched endlessly across the horizon. So dunes sloped downward while others rose high into the air, exposing broken walls, shattered towers, and fragnts of forgotten buildings hidden beneath the desert.
This place looked unlike any ruin he had ever encountered before.
Most ruins preserved traces of ancient civilizations. Broken temples remained standing while old statues still resisted the passage of ti.
But this place was different.
Everything had been swallowed completely by the desert.
The endless sea of crimson sand had buried history itself beneath countless layers of blood colored dunes.
Silence filled the subrged city.
Only the low howl of desert wind echoed faintly through the air, carrying grains of bloody sand across the ancient wasteland.
Suddenly, the two undead Echo Scarabs hovering beside him began vibrating violently once again. Their transparent wings released faint humming sounds while ripples spread through the air.
Turning his head slightly, Thoren stared at the two undead insects before shifting his gaze toward the northern side of the ruins.
Without hesitation, he began walking toward that direction.
His boots climbed over collapsed rooftops and shattered structures, leaving soft crunching sounds behind him as red sand shifted beneath every step.
Behind him, the undead Guild Captain followed closely like a living sentinel guarding its master.
The massive black heavy broadsword rested firmly in its skeletal hands while pale soul fire burned fiercely inside its hollow eye sockets.
Thoren descended from one broken rooftop carefully. The mont his feet landed on the next dune, the ground before him exploded violently.
Boom!
Crimson sand scattered everywhere as a massive creature burst out from beneath the buried ruins.
A gigantic scorpion revealed itself before him.
Its dark crimson carapace glead beneath the bloody moonlight while two enormous pincers snapped loudly in the air.
Shriek!
The creature released a piercing scream before lunging toward Thoren at terrifying speed. Its deadly pincers attacked from both sides simultaneously, aiming to crush him into pieces instantly.
Before the monster could reach Thoren, the undead Guild Captain stepped forward coldly and swung its massive heavy broadsword horizontally.
Bang! Bang!
The enormous blade crashed violently against the incoming pincers.
Cracks spread instantly across the scorpion’s hardened shell before both pincers were severed cleanly from its body.
Dark red blood splattered across the surrounding dunes like flowing rivers.
The scorpion released a miserable shriek filled with agony. Its small crimson eyes burned with madness and fury as its enormous tail whipped through the air.
The deadly poisonous stinger descended toward the undead Guild Captain like a spear of death.
Instead of retreating, the undead Guild Captain stepped forward fearlessly.
Its cloak fluttered wildly beneath the violent desert wind while terrifying soul fire erupted fiercely from its hollow sockets.
The undead raised the black heavy broadsword vertically and welcod the incoming attack head on.
Clang!
Bright sparks exploded violently as the poisonous stinger collided against the enormous blade.
The surrounding air distorted violently beneath the terrifying force of impact.
Without giving the scorpion ti to recover, the undead Guild Captain launched a brutal counterattack imdiately.
Its skeletal figure leaped onto the creature’s carapace with overwhelming montum.
The heavy broadsword rose high into the air before descending rcilessly.
Boom!
The terrifying force behind the strike twisted the surrounding air violently. The massive poisonous tail was severed completely from the creature’s body.
Dark blood erupted into the sky while the detached stinger flew through the air before crashing heavily onto the dunes.
Shriek!
The scorpion scread miserably once more.
Now deprived of both pincers and its deadly stinger, fear finally appeared within the monster’s crimson eyes.
Its enormous body trembled violently as it attempted to burrow back beneath the desert sands.
Unfortunately, it was already too late.
Pu!
Before the creature could escape, the black heavy broadsword pierced directly through one of its eyes.
The massive blade penetrated deep into its skull before destroying its brain completely. The scorpion froze instantly. Its gigantic body trembled several tis before collapsing lifelessly onto the bloody sand with a thunderous crash.
Silence.
The battle was over.
Although the battle looked fierce and took a lot of ti, everything had happened within less than thirty seconds.
Thoren stared calmly at the dead creature before clicking his tongue softly.
"This must be one of the dominant beasts inhabiting the inner region," he muttered quietly.
Back in the Scorched Outskirts, there had been no ntion whatsoever of giant desert scorpions.
That alone confird one thing clearly.
These creatures only existed within the inner region.
More importantly, the information he learned previously from the Jackal Chief suddenly resurfaced within his mind.
The destination he sought was called the Carapace Clan.
And now, seeing the scorpion creature before him, everything finally started making sense.
However, another detail attracted his attention far more than the creature itself.
[Lesser Sand Scorpion]
[Level: 31]
"Level Thirty One..." Thoren whispered softly.
A flash of anticipation appeared inside his deep blue eyes imdiately afterward.
"This is only the outer layer of the inner region, yet creatures here already exceed Level Thirty."
"Then what terrifying monsters exist deeper inside this desert?"
Excitent surged within him rapidly.
To ordinary awakeners, encountering such a monster would an certain death.
But for Thoren, powerful enemies ant valuable experience points.
Without hesitation, he stored the scorpion corpse and detached body parts inside his inventory carefully.
Thanks to the Abyssal Market, absolutely nothing would go to waste anymore.
Every corpse possessed value.
Every body part could be sold.
He rely glanced at the experience points gained from the kill before continuing deeper into the subrged ruins.
"Hopefully, there are many more of these scorpions hiding here," he muttered with a faint grin.
While most people feared creatures like the Lesser Sand Scorpion, Thoren actually looked forward to encountering more of them.
Unfortunately, after walking for nearly ten minutes, he failed to detect another beast. Everything remained strangely silent.
No vibrations erged from beneath the sand.
No growls echoed nearby.
The deeper he traveled into the subrged city, the stranger the atmosphere beca. Broken statues protruded partially from the dunes like corpses buried beneath oceans of sand.
Collapsed towers leaned sideways while gigantic cracks split ancient walls into pieces. The entire buried city looked like a forgotten graveyard swallowed by ti itself.
"Do not tell that scorpion was the only creature living here," Thoren muttered beneath a frustrated sigh.
Standing atop the head of a broken stone statue, he scanned the surrounding ruins carefully once more.
Still, he found absolutely nothing.
Shaking his head lightly, he decided not to dwell on the matter further.
"I suppose it is ti to leave this place," he said calmly.
However, before he could finish speaking completely, a loud shout suddenly echoed from sowhere deep within the subrged city.
"Do not think you can escape from us!"
The furious male voice reverberated loudly through the silent ruins.
"We will hunt you down no matter where you run!"
"Stop resisting while you still have the chance!"
The mont the voice echoed through the buried city, Thoren narrowed his eyes slightly.
Tension surfaced quietly within the silent desert atmosphere once again.
***
AN: I’ve decided not to show the stats, traits and skills of the various beasts and creatures. Unless it is important to the story plot.
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