Chapter 31

With his Entrance, Kyle ended up surprising Renya due to his appearance. His hair was a shade of grey, his eyes red and his skin being a healthy shade of brown, despite the fact that he looks well over the age of 50. He wore a simple brown apron on top of his clothes with a few stains here and there.

“I’m already aware as to how difficult this task is. But this will affect all of us eventually, helping you out now won’t make much of a difference. Though keep in mind that I’m not what I used to be…”

“It’s fine old man, just tell us what we need to be cautious of.”

Renya replied abruptly, making Kyle narrow his eyes a bit before speaking in a solemn tone.

“Although confidence is good, it’s best you don’t underestimate the desert. Mere words cannot amount to experience. Bring me along.”

“Alright, I’m fine with that. What about you Renz?”

He said, glancing at him.

“I’m fine with it. Though I’m a bit worried-“

“Of my age? Don’t worry, worst case is you leave me for your sorry hinds haha!”

Kyle cut off as he gave a vigorous laugh.

“Then it’s settled. We leave as soon as we-“

*RUMBLE*

A powerful earthquake occurred, cutting Renya off. It continued for a while, causing some of the food on the table to fall off before ending.

“I believe that that’s a sign that we should start moving as soon as we can. The sooner we get to your tribe the better.”

Renz said as he glanced at Renya and Kyle before continuing.

“Alright, gather your supplies and meet up on the western gate before dawn.”

Renya and Kyle nod before going on their ways.

Renya, together with Nabila and Little White left the inn to get ready but before they could, Renya had his clothes pulled by Nabila.

“What is it?”

“We haven’t finished eating…”

Hearing this made Renya froze as Little white nods in agreement on his shoulder. Wondering how to deal with this, he comforted the two as he searched for a stall that sold food and luckily enough, there was one selling meat skewers.

With the two little gluttons satisfied, he went around the city gathering supplies that they might need before storing everything in the inventory. After doing so, they head for the inn and went to sleep.

••••

An hour before dawn, Renya and Nabila were already getting ready to set off. Nabila wore a thick white robe one top of grey colored clothes to protect herself from the heat and wind. Renya wore the same set as before, making his clothes match Nabila’s. Little White remained the same as ever as she rested on Renya’s shoulder.

After doing so, they immediately head for the western gate. There they saw Renz and his group together with Kyle. As they drew near, Renz couldn’t help but comment.

“You’re rather late.”

“I can also say that you’re rather early.”

Renya snappily replied back. Renz’s group that totaled 14 stared at the rather short Nabila in disbelief, but decided not speak out their thoughts considering Renz hasn’t either.

“Well, now that you’re here we can set off.”

Kyle said, beginning their journey.

The began heading west, towards the Dark Sector, towards where Renz’s tribe is at. Doing so, they encountered a few desert beasts along the way. However, the further they go, the more they realized something.

“The attacks are becoming more frequent, they’re all coming from the same direction as well. There’s something that’s forcing them to flee!”

Kyle replied in shock, making the other’s, excluding Nabila and Renya, to somewhat darken.

“It must be that thing in the sandstorm then.”

Renya said as he and Little White glanced at Nabila beside him, who happen to be glancing towards them as well. Furrowing his brow, he whispered.

“You know something about that thing?”

“…”

Silence, but her expression showed it all. Her look of worry was something she could not hide.

“It’s fine, if you don’t want to say then don’t. I don’t mind that much.”

He replied with a smile, caressing her head as a means of comforting her, before turning back with Little White Hooting a bit towards her as if saying that it’s fine as well. However, as the two did so.

“I know where it came from…”

“Where?”

Renya could not help but ask.

“The Ancient Era…”

“Ancient Era?”

Hearing an unfamiliar term, he could not help but repeat her.

“Un…”

“What do you mean by that?”

“The Ancient Era… They call it the reign of gods.”

“Gods?...”

Hearing her words made him dumbfounded as well as making Little White tilt her head. This made him remember a certain event in the past, when he tried using the gold from the original game to that currency exchanger. Realizing the connection, he went silent for a moment. This sudden act of his made Nabila confused as to what she did wrong. Only after realizing what he was doing did he clear his thoughts.

[Quick recap since I haven’t updated in a while, when Renya was exchanging his coins, the currency exchanger said how the coin he gave was from an Ancient empire.]

“Do… Do you know?”

“Maybe. But I’m not too certain.”

Renya replied with a wry smile.

“Oi, we’ve got to get moving now.”

Renz shouted at them with a hint of annoyance.

“Yeah I know, a few things just came up. Nothing too serious though.”

“Is that so? Well, let’s get a move on.”

With that their group continued on their way. Encountering even more and more desert beast along the way.

By midday, they saw sight of an ominous raging sandstorm that covered half the sky in the distance. Although it looked fierce, it did not move at all, staying in place as a few faint flashes of light, presumably lightning, formed every now and again.

“This is… This was not what it was like a few days ago..”

Renz uttered, causing Renya to ask.

“What do you mean?”

“It was a lot calmer then, I don’t remember it being this strong… Can we even get through it?”

A hint of worry flashed in his eyes as he saw the storm in the distance, thinking about his tribe did not make his expression grow any better. The same goes for his subordinates, they shared the same sullen look as Renz.

“No use getting depressed over things we’re not sure of. Who knows, they might still be fine on the other side of that storm you know?”

Hearing his words, he nodded his head in agreement, wiping his worry away temporarily.

“Yeah, let’s quicken our pace!”

With that, the group made their way to the sandstorm.

By the time they reached the edge of it, the sun began to be blotted out of the sky as an eerie green glow replaced it in its stead.

“This is…”

“Dungeon Break? At such a huge scale too.”

Commented Renya, having seen such a phenomenon before.

“What do you mean? A Dungeon break?”

Renz asked as his brows furrowed deeply.

“It’s when a Dungeon remains unchecked for a long period of time, when it does, the monsters begin to swarm out of it due to the excess build up…. Or so they say.”

Renya explained as he was baffled by the sight as well.

(A Dungeon Break… Wasn’t this just an excuse they made just to get the players to go run the less popular dungeons as well?)

He thought to himself, glancing at his back he saw a pair of clear blue eyes staring intently at him in shock as she whispered incomprehensible words.

“You know…”

Confused, Renya could only raise an eyebrow as to what she said.

“Dungeon Break you say? But I don’t remember there ever being a dungeon around here.”

Kyle said in disbelief, wondering where this dungeon could be. Causing Renya to ask.

“Are you sure about that?”

“Yes, I’ve hunted in this desert for all my life, I’ve never encountered any dungeon, a few ancient ruins here and there but never a dungeon…”

“No use wasting time now, its best we confirm it ourselves-“

*RUMBLEE!!!*

Before Renz could finish, an earthquake, even more powerful than anything they’ve encountered before occurred, causing a few of them to land on their backs. Even Little White is not spared as she became a bit flustered due to the quake.

“This is!”

“Let’s go!”

Kyle shouted as he urged the rest of them.

Not wasting anymore time, their group ran through the sandstorm. Although the wind was strong, they wore thick robes that helped protect their body from the violent winds. As for Little White, being a high leveled being meant that it could endure the winds as if it were the spring breeze, causing a few of them to wonder in curiosity.

Soon, their group reached the depths of the storm, and along with it, the tremors of the ground became more and more obvious. In the distance, an enormous figure could be seen, slowly heading towards their way.

“It’s heading our way!”

The moment those words escaped Renz’s mouth, a swarm of desert beasts flooded their way. The group immediately took on their battle stance, with Renya being the one to charge at the vanguard after sending Little White out to keep a look out.

He went forward, plucking the string of his bow with every arrow taking two to three demon beasts down at once, without pausing his march, he outpaced everyone in the fight, being a few meters ahead of everyone else with Nabila following behind.

[Little White has confirmed the mob count: 47]

[Little White has confirmed the mob count: 43]

[Little White has confirmed the mob count: 49]

[Little White has confirmed the mob count: 52]

“There’s no end to them!”

Renz shouted as he realized the number of beasts out number them. Although Renya didn’t need his reminder, he activated a few skills to speed things up.

“[Arcane Shot]!”

Renya shouted as a blue streak of blue light lit up the area it passed through, slaughtering an endless number of them as it shot through effortlessly.

“This!!!”

Someone shouted in surprise.

“[Arcane Barrage]!”

Soon a bolt of blue shot to the sky before splitting into a large number of blue light and like rain falling from the sky, it fell down like lightning, killing countless desert beasts.

“Haha! Amazing! I didn’t expect you to be this strong! Come one, let’s show our worth!”

Renz exclaimed in excitement after seeing Renya’s display of might. Eventually his vigor spread amongst his mean as they all shouted with all their might as they began killing at an even quicker pace.

“Goodness, the youths nowadays are too vigorous.”

Kyle said as he let out a laugh that is as vigorous as them, shooting his bow precisely at an absurd pace.

“…”

As for Nabila, she was situated behind Renya, protecting his rear just in case, but him being ate the front meant that she face just as many beasts as Renya himself. Despite the fact, she showed her prowess with his comically enormous sword, with each swing cleaving a beast or two in half.

[Little White has confirmed the mob count: 30]

[Little White has confirmed the mob count: 24]

[Little White has confirmed the mob count: 11]

“Good! Just a few more!”

Renya shouted.

“RUMBLE!!!!!!!!!!!*

A powerful earth quake occurred, as the rest looked into the distance. The figure, more obvious than ever, gazed at them with its bright and powerful gaze as it remained unhindered by the desert storm. Nearly everyone in the group froze as they saw this ghastly sight, a few of them felt their knees go weak even.

“It saw us!”

“Of course it did!”

Renz rebutted his subordinate.

“Finish up the rest of the beasts! We’ll worry about the big guy later!”

Renya shouted as he let out another barrage of arrows.

“OU!”

Renz and the others replied as they cleaned up.

The moment they did, the felt the tremors in the earth become even stronger, only to realize that the giant figure was getting closer.

“How do we deal with that thing?!”

Renz started to become nervous as he realized that the figure is even bigger than what he thought it to be.

“We should run away and head for the tribe immediately.”

Kyle suggested as his brows remained furrowed.

“No, it’ll follow us to the tribe if we do that.“

Renya declined, causing Renz to grow frustrated.

“Then what do we do?!”

“I’ll distract it, you go straight to the tribe and ensure they’re safe.”

“What! Are you mad?!”

“I’m confident that I’ll be able to out run something that moves that slow, plus I believe my attacks are showy enough to catch its eye, in fact it might’ve been attracted to us because of it in the first place.”

“Are You sure about this child?”

Kyle said with worry in his eyes.

“This, I’ve faced worse situations before. This is nothing new.”

Renya replied confidently as he smiled, though it was hidden behind the cloth mask.

“Alright, you can entrust Nabila to us.”

“No… I stay with him…”

She decisively said.

“This…”

Hearing her words made Renya hesitate, but seeing her look, he decided to let her stay. After recalling Little White, they quickly made plans on how they’ll handle things.

Renz marked the location of the village on his map, before he, Kyle, and his group took a somewhat roundabout way in order to avoid getting seen by the giant. But before they did so, Renya gave them a few dozen potions just in case. Although they were reluctant at first, they accepted his good will in the end.

“Alright then.”

With that, Renya pulled his bow, as he shot a dozen [Arcane Shots] towards the giant in the distance to get its attention.

“GUHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!”

An loud and mechanical shout resounded through the desert, causing the already violent wind to blow even stronger. Seeing this, Renya glanced at Nabila who was beside him before asking.

“Hey, tell me about the Reign of Gods.”

“This…”

“Can you tell me?”

“You… Won’t believe… Ridiculous…”

“Really? I’ve had my fair share of ridiculous events. With the things I’ve experienced I doubt that there’s much that can surprise me.”

“Okay…”

Reluctantly, Nabila began telling him about the Ancient Era. But before they could even begin.

*RUMBLE!!!!*

The figure came into view. It stood at a monstrous height of 150 meters, mostly made of Obsidian like rock that is littered by enormous blue runes all around. It stood on its two legs, its head had a pair of eyes and three enormous spikes protruding out of its back, making it look all the more sinister.

“Egg…”

“Eggs? Hungry?”

Nabila asked in a confused manner. Realizing that he used an inappropriate term, he corrected himself.

“Evil God Guardian.”

“Eh…?”

Her eyes widen in shock at what she heard. After all, even the lowest leveled Evil God Guardian still belongs to the upper 120s. And this one in particular is a level 140. As to what an Evil God Guardian is, they are sub-boss category enemies that you encounter before being able to fight the actual Evil God itself. They are usually in a group of 3-4s, which is making Renya rather worried that another two or three pops out along with this one.

“This is going to be troublesome.”

“You do know…!”

“Know what?”

“Ancient Era!”

She exclaimed as her gaze became more frantic.

“I’m not sure! But let’s put this off for later. Let’s take care of the big guy first.”

“Un..”

With that, they shifted their gaze to the Guardian that’s heading their way.