Lex had to admit, he didn't need to act nearly as much as he thought he would. The storm - the storm born not just of mixing temperatures and wind currents, but the chaotic flow of ambient spiritual energy, making it just that much more lethal - was actually quite hard to contain.
It wasn't just a matter of his weakened barrier, although that certainly didn't make things easier. The sheer imnsity of the power packed in that thing was far beyond what one could imagine. Winds at that speed, carrying those spiritually charged grains of sand, could literally rip any Nascent soul cultivator to shreds. Heck, it could probably even seriously harm Earth Immortals, and staying exposed to it for a long ti was definitely dangerous.
But it wasn't even just that. It was stopping the storm from expanding, from moving forward, that presented a whole lot more problems than Lex anticipated.
If Lex covered the whole damn storm in a barrier, which he was sure he could do, he would isolate it from absorbing energy from the underground current of spiritual energy in the planet. But he hadn't to make his abilities seem limited, and as a result the storm was growing stronger and wilder with each passing second.
Funnily enough, that increasing difficulty actually made his life easier, for he didn't need to act like he was struggling to contain the storm. With his power restrained and his barrier weakened and shortened, keeping the storm at bay was an impossible task. He had rely slowed it down, and even that was a struggle.
So, as Giselle watched what she considered a truly Oscar worthy performance, Lex was genuinely focused on keeping the storm restrained. It was like that ti he tried playing pingpong with his phone instead of a racket. It was incredibly hard, but the difficulty of it made it even more enticing.
"What's the plan, Giselle?" Lex scread at her. "I can't hold off the storm forever!"
"We… we need to get them off world!" Giselle yelled back after a mont of doubt and hesitation. "We cannot stop the storm, so they must leave!"
"That's not possible!" Lex yelled back. "There's no ship big enough to carry the population of the world, and there's not enough energy to teleport them all away."
That last line wasn't acting. It was genuine. Of course, they could all be sent to the Midnight Inn but Lex was seriously trying to act serious, and this was the most important part.
Giselle seed to struggle a bit as she looked at the strom, then at everyone else.
"We'll have to figure out a way to end the storm then," she said, not with desperation, but with conviction. This ti, she too was being serious instead of acting.
Whether anyone was watching their performance or not, it was important that they carried it out.
So, over the next few hours Giselle evacuated not only those near the storm, but anyone who would co in its path over the next few days, all the while coordinating with the local governnt to make preparations to end the storm.
Lex passed out instructions, and thousands of low level cultivators worked together to build a formation that would trap the storm for a few days at most, all the while limiting its access to the spiritual energy within the planet.
It was not an easy job, and took a few days even with Lex's guidance and Giselle's help, but the urgency of the situation forced everyone to work over and beyond. Once the formation was complete, Lex finally let go of his barriers and retreated to recover a bit before their attempt to end the storm.
Throughout this entire process, Giselle and Lex stayed alert, watching for any attempts at interference. There even were so, but from so strange monsters that were neither beast nor Profanites. They were pretty weak, so Lex and Giselle quickly took care of them. Unfortunately, there was no sign of the Defiler yet, not that they showed their disappointnt. They appeared entirely focused on their mission.
To be fair, dispersing the storm would be a genuine challenge. Lex had been studying it for a long ti, and for all intents and purposes, it seed to have ford naturally and organically. The problem with that was that world ending sandstorms don't just randomly appear every sunday.
Regardless, once Lex 'recovered' he and Giselle appeared before the storm, their expressions extrely solemn, as they should be. Entering the sandstorm was a very, very serious threat to normal Earth Immortals, and even for Lex, the danger of getting sand stuck in his eyes was great!
Since Lex himself could not laugh at his humor as he had to maintain a serious face, Jack, who was currently infiltrating a treasure room to 'study' for signs of the Nexus, and was not at all looting so bad guys, chuckled on his behalf.
"Let's go," said Lex as he summoned a barrier around them both before they flew into the storm.
Lex's barrier not only protected them from the storm, but also blocked all spiritual interference, so he and Giselle could finally chat through their spirit sense once more.
"I feel like I could have seriously pursued a career in acting," said Lex, admiring his own performance over the past few days.
"Were you always this chatty? I don't rember you being this chatty in the Temple of Frozen Dawn. We're on a mission. Focus."
Lex rolled his eyes.
"Back then I had so serious stuff to deal with, not to ntion death was around every other corner. Right now, we're strolling through nature, enjoying the breeze. The whole vibe is different."
Giselle paused, and turned to look at Lex.
"Did you just call an apocalyptic, world ending storm a breeze? Are you trying to brag?"
Lex could not help but smile as he was caught in the act.
"Hey, give a break. Normally when I do these kinds of things I'm either alone, or leading a whole group of people I'm responsible for into extrely dangerous situations. Now I'm not saying a Defiler isn't dangerous, but compared to my usual crowd…"
Lex held up his hands as he shrugged, causing Giselle to burst into laughter despite herself. This hunt… was not going the way she had expected.
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