Chapter 10.2
It’s always the calm before the storm that’s the most terrifying.
Kang Min Hyung, silently following behind, was clearly in a bad shape too.
His face was beet red with fever, and he was panting heavily.
If only a breeze would blow at times like this…
‘…Wait.’
The sand is moving.
Even without a single gust of wind.
The moment I noticed, I grabbed Kang Min Hyung’s wrist.
I don’t know what expression I had, but his face, initially shocked from looking at me, turned pale with fear.
We ran.
To get as far away as possible.
The sand, which had been bubbling up, exploded into pillars with loud ‘boom!’ and ‘crash!’ sounds.
‘Sand soldiers.’
Class C humanoid beasts, not particularly strong in attack or defense.
The problem is, true to their name as soldiers, they move in organized groups, unlike other monsters, and are adept at handling weapons.
And.
‘Undead.’
They don’t die from ordinary attacks.
***
My sword sliced off a soldier’s neck.
Shussh!
The severed head of sand scattered into pieces.
And the dispersed sand once again crawled up the body…
‘It regenerates.’
No matter how many times they’re cut, there seems to be no end.
I wonder if a general, facing the enemy alone, felt like this.
“Ah!”
“Try dodging instead of just getting hit!!”
“If I could do that, I wouldn’t be hit!”
That’s quite right.
A painfully correct statement.
Kang Min Hyung, clutching his head in pain, cried out pitifully.
I deflected the downward strike of a soldier’s blade with a shield.
Both the sword and shield were seized from the sand soldiers.
They wielded various weapons, but while I deflected all the swords, I left the bludgeoning types alone.
They hurt but wouldn’t kill in one hit.
‘First, I need to get out of this death trap.’
Being large in size, Kang Min Hyung was acting like an impromptu tank. I handed him a health potion and gritted my teeth.
Even flowing weak mana into my sword only delayed their regeneration by a few seconds; it wasn’t a fundamental solution.
The weakness of sand soldiers is water.
It would take a deluge, drenching them thoroughly before a strike to ensure their complete demise.
‘But where can I find water here?’
All I had was fire, and the compatibility of fire with sand was atrociously bad.
No matter how much I used my skills, my body just trembled, barely feeling like my attacks were effective.
I was almost considering spitting at them as a last resort.
Moreover, it seemed like they were dividing or multiplying, as their numbers kept increasing.
At this rate, it wouldn’t be just a squad I’d be fighting against but an entire army of sand.
A metallic taste began to form in my mouth.
Despite being battered all over, I stubbornly made my way.
The sound of erupting sand columns, falling debris, and sand, sand, sand crunching inside my entire body…
Rumble.
“!”
A sound as if the earth’s axis was breaking echoed through the sky.
The ground shook violently.
A bad premonition is never wrong.
【MISSION】
▷ Survive the sandstorm.
– Category: Floor
If successful, receive an additional 2,000 diamonds.
If failed, death.
‘Of all times.’
My heart sank looking at the chilling mission window that popped up in front of me.
There was no time for despair as the ground began to drag me in.
“Run!!”
I shouted looking back.
The sand soldiers already swept by the massive storm were disintegrating without leaving any trace.
The swirling center resembled a tornado.
Before I knew it, my body, sunk up to my knees, struggled painfully.
Naturally, the quicksand was pulling me down faster than I could run.
‘That’s f*cked up.’
I didn’t want my end to be a sandy grave.
With all my might, I gritted my teeth and crawled forward.
My dream is to die peacefully in a soft bed, not to be discovered as a desiccated mummy in a place like this.
‘If only I had a dash!’
A thousand escape skills flickered through my mind, but they were all just pipe dreams.
I shut my eyes tight and forged ahead.
The only thought left was survival, seemingly fueling an adrenaline rush.
Frantically clawing at the sand, I took a step forward.
‘There’s… ground.’
It seemed I had reached the edge of the quicksand.
“Kang Min Hyung…!”
I hastily got to my feet.
Full of relief and joy at having survived, I turned around.
His sleeve was loosely hanging, lifelessly swinging at his wrist.
“….. F*ck.”
My mind went blank.
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