Shane looked down from the sand ridge, his gaze quickly sweeping over the seven figures in the distance, and let out a sigh of relief.
Thankfully, he had arrived in time. Not a single one was missing; they were all alive.
But this brief moment of relief lasted less than half a second. The earth stinger not only broke free from the constraints of the two skeletons but also used its giant pincers and tail hook to tear them completely to pieces.
“Tsk!”
Shane furrowed his brows.
Seeing the sand scalers in danger, he hadn't thought too much when summoning them. Now, it seemed that without the boost of equipment, human skeletons were not even as useful as skeletal hounds.
Without a second thought, he waved his hand. The sand beside the earth stinger bulged once more, and three skeletal hounds lunged out from within.
They targeted the joint at the base of the earth stinger's tail hook, the gaps between its side carapaces, and its front legs, preventing it from moving quickly.
At the same time, Shane shouted to the dazed sand scalers, “While you have the chance, this way! Hurry!”
Although they were quite far away, the sand scalers clearly heard him. However, they did not move immediately upon hearing his call.
Instead, they looked at each other, their eyes filled with hesitation.
Clearly, this suddenly appearing human was the necromancer they had just mentioned—the kind rumored to eat people.
Combined with other bizarre rumors, even though they knew the necromancer was helping them, they could not bring themselves to make a decision.
Just then, Ksaz moved. He glanced at the earth stinger, then looked at Shane in the distance and said in a deep voice, “Go!”
With that, he set off, sprinting in Shane's direction.
Seeing that their leader, Ksaz, had made a decision, the others stopped hesitating and followed close behind.
However, they could no longer run fast. Running for so long had nearly depleted their stamina, and they were moving entirely on their sheer desire to survive.
This made their journey to reach Shane take much longer.
Shane watched this with anxiety. Looking past the sand scalers toward the earth stinger, he saw the three skeletal hounds still tangling with it, but one of them only had half its body left, struggling to crawl on the ground.
Left with no choice, Shane cut off the mana to that skeletal hound and summoned three more to replace it.
“Shane!”
As time passed, Elon crested the sand ridge on his camel. His short green hair was slightly disheveled by the wind, but his eyes lit up when he saw the figures running toward them.
“Any casualties?”
“No, all seven are here.”
After a brief exchange with Elon, Shane kept his eyes fixed on the earth stinger. “The problem now is that thing. If we run, will it pursue us?”
Following Shane's gaze, Elon squinted and spoke rapidly, “Earth stingers have almost no natural enemies in the Golden Sea. They have hard carapaces and a troublesome petrification ray.”
“But they are actually quite timid by nature. If they judge that their opponent is too strong, they will actively retreat.”
Shane glanced at Elon, the questioning look in his eyes obvious, silently asking if they were considered strong in the beast's eyes.
Elon's answer was honest: “Not really.”
The two looked at each other, falling into a brief silence.
“Let's retreat.”
Since that was the case, there was nothing more to say. Seeing the sand scalers arrive before them, Shane immediately chose to withdraw. “Back to the pool. There are more people there, which should give the earth stinger pause.”
“I think so too.”
Elon nodded. At the same time, he raised his hand, directing the circling owl phantom overhead to dive straight at the distant earth stinger to buy them some time to escape.
Then, he shouted down the sand slope to the approaching sand scalers, “Hurry! Follow us! There is water, and it's safe!”
His pronunciation was distinctly different from the Imperial tongue. It was likely a language unique to the desert tribes, prompting Ksaz and his people to quicken their pace.
But just then, the ground trembled once more.
Boom!
With a sudden explosion of sand, an even more massive dark-brown figure burst out from the ground.
It was another earth stinger. Its carapace gleamed darkly in the sunlight, and its body was nearly twice the size of the first one.
“How can this be...”
Facing the sudden appearance of another earth stinger, Elon's voice sank, and his expression grew solemn. “Earth stingers are supposed to be solitary creatures. Could it be...?”
Elon looked at the first earth stinger in the distance, a look of realization flashing in his eyes. “It's the breeding season. Only during the breeding season do two earth stingers travel together.”
“This is trouble. Earth stingers are much more aggressive and persistent during their breeding season.”
Just as he finished speaking, Shane turned his head as if sensing something. The first earth stinger in the distance had already crushed all the skeletal hounds around it into powder.
It scurried toward them on its thick legs.
Before long, they would be caught in a pincer attack from both front and back.
In this critical moment, Shane's mind raced. He asked Elon, “I should be able to stall the one in front for a moment, probably for about a minute. How far can we run in a minute?”
“Far enough to get out of the first wave's attack range.”
Elon raised his hand to summon another owl phantom, then continued, “I already notified Her Highness before I set out. She should be on her way, so we just need to meet up with them.”
With Elon's assurance, Shane calmed his mind. He raised his hand and pointed his index finger at the closer earth stinger, death magic condensing at his fingertip.
Meanwhile, Elon took the opportunity to speak rapidly to the sand scalers.
Hearing his words, Ksaz's face immediately turned solemn, but he did not panic. He nodded silently, turned around, and barked a harsh command to his tribesmen behind him.
The remaining sand scalers looked tense. Without stopping, they actually quickened their pace slightly.
“Are you ready?”
Elon looked at Shane and asked. The latter nodded slightly, then shot the dark-green light from his fingertip at the earth stinger.
Instantly, the earth stinger's charging momentum faltered. The eerie green light condensing on its tail hook also dimmed.
Following that, its compound eyes rolled uneasily, and it began to emit a low clicking sound from its mouth, filled with obvious fear.
“Run!”
Shane barked. He was the first to urge his skeletal warhorse forward, with Elon's camel close behind, and Ksaz leading his six tribesmen right after them.
After running about fifty meters, a shrill shriek echoed behind them.
Shane glanced back. The other earth stinger had already crawled up to the larger one. Sensing its mate's abnormality, it let out a sharp shriek and gave chase at an even more ferocious speed.
Left with no choice, Shane pointed his index finger again, and a Ray of Senility shot out, miraculously striking the joint of the earth stinger's front leg.
The earth stinger's speed instantly slowed.
The consecutive spellcasting made Shane's temples throb, and his vision grew slightly blurry. He had to take deep breaths of the scorching air to stabilize himself.
Fortunately, they did not have to run for long.
A few minutes later, figures appeared on the crest of the sand dune ahead. The princess and her guards stood ready.
Alicia stood at the very front, her fiery red hair whipping in the wind. Behind her stood a neat formation of guards with longswords drawn.
Seeing Shane and the others appear, Alicia took a deep breath and shouted, “Prepare to engage!”
Seeing the princess's squad nearby, Shane's heart finally began to settle.
However, he failed to notice the sand beside him suddenly swelling. In the next second, the earth stinger's massive, multi-meter-long body burst from the dust once more.
This time, however, its tail hook was already raised high, the green light at its tip solidifying into a beam.
Hum...
The petrification ray shot directly toward Shane.
Rate on N.U.
