Hans spat out a piece of meat.

It was chewy, and bland with a hint of an earthy flavor. He would not recommend it as it hurt his jaws chewing with the meat being more like gums than flesh, giving it a weird texture and having little to no flavor.

"Bah," Hans grunts, leaving the camel's corpse alone to rot and be eaten by other monsters. Still, it didn't ruin his mood, as he was still quite pleased about the levels he gained from killing it.

Said good mood was quickly ruined as Hans narrows his eyes.

Something was wrong, very wrong.

"Why the hell are they sending these crazy fucks," Paring mutters.

"I don't know and I'm sure Sales agrees with you. Just don't say it in front of them," Darly said. "Because the last thing I need is for you to somehow offend them and get us all killed." Paring threw a quick glare at him before turning her attention back toward the [Execution Knights] and the prisoners.

Though, Darly couldn't blame her for her reaction.

[Execution Knights].

Knights who were notorious for being guards to the most dangerous of criminals in Zerzura, most of them being on death row, with the [Execution Knights] personally executing them when their time comes. Faces hidden behind dark steel, etched in a permanent state of anger or sadness, in armors as dark as the night sky, with skills above most as they patrol the street.

They were the symbols of fear and death in Zerzura, the blade that rests above the people of Zerzura, ready to come down at any time.

And they were his backups, along with the prisoners that they bring.

What the hell did he do to offend the gods for them to see fit to punish him like this? Darly just inwardly sighs as one of the [Execution Knights] made their way toward them while the rest stay behind.

"You are Darly Amore, from the 6th Bureau of Secret, and the Office of Heart, sent here to investigate the disturbances that have occurred beyond the Bloodsoaked Walls of Zerzura and in Eternal Desert, am I correct?" The knight stated, their head turned directly at him, staring deeply into his soul with that frozen expression of theirs.

"Yes...That would be me," Darly replied.

The knight brought both of their hands to their weapon, a halberd, then slam the blunt half of their weapon down into the sand with a thud. "I am Caceris Morris, Captain of the Eternal Desert Escort Squad, here to assist with your effort of investigating the disturbances!" He bellows in a deep reverberating voice. "Behind me, you can see prisoners sent from Skeletal Cage Prison. You may be wondering why they're here, why it's..."

Even though he was wearing a helmet, Darly could see that the man was smiling.

"...They have been granted the chance to repent for their crimes with a chance of them being pardoned of their crimes! If they survived that is."

Darly just nodded, it was probably the only safe thing he could do as he was reminded of another reason he hated [Execution Knights], they were fanatics, their obsession being with laws and order, with quite the dim view of anyone committing a crime no matter how minor it was.

Something as small as stealing a loaf of bread could get your arm cut off by them.

"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, Caceris," Darly says. "Behind me are Paring and Sales, who I assume you already know of."

Caceris nods. "I do."

"Then I guess we can skip the introductions and get down to business."

"That would be the best yes."

Dodging a bite from a lizard, Hans slams his claw into its face.

You have slain [Rockhead Lizard - Lv. 9]!

Ducking under a lunge by an opportunist jackalope, Hans slashes it with his tail blade before grabbing it and throwing it into the path of another jackalope, right onto its antlers, skewering it.

You have slain [Jackalope - Lv. 4]!

You Have Leveled Up! [Sandstream Scorpion - Lv. 13 —> Lv. 14]!

Hans then rams his claws into the bloodied jackalope before it could process what was going on, crushing bones, and rending flesh.

You have slain [Jackalope - Lv. 6]

That was fun.

Agree.

Unfortunately, while cleaning blood off his claws with the sand, the gnawing feeling that something was wrong still hasn't gone away. In fact, it would seem that the feeling had gotten worse.

And he doesn't know why, which only made him even more paranoid.

It wasn't caused by any monsters, since there weren't any weird or dangerous monsters roaming around causing havoc, with the few new monsters that appeared not being the cause of the feeling of danger.

It was even causing him to be ambushed! A fucking acid spitter snuck up on him when he tries to find a source of the danger while a rat nearly ambush him before he notice its presence through the vibrations.

The sooner he can find out what's behind the source of danger, the sooner he can—

I̶̡̦̪̦̙̹͠n̷͚͚̍͌͝ṯ̴͚͉͕͓̅̽̒͆r̴̡̺̦̎̽̚̚͝û̵̻̥̞̂̚͘ḍ̷̰̪̃̀͊͛́͠ę̵͈̜̘̱͕͌̍́́͒͂r̴̛̳̖̒̐͐́̒

̴̻̲͕̏̏̉̕

An intense pressure weight upon his mind. Something wasn't right, it was all wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongkillkILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLTHEINTRUDERKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLTHEINTRUDERKKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLTHEINTRUDERKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILL—

██████ temporally grant Skill: ████████ ████

What was he doing?

Where is he?

Why was he so angry?

Why is the voice going insane?

KILLKILLKILL—

Hans turns his head around. He saw hordes of monsters, unblinking, and roaring with bloodlust as they rush forward toward something, the ground below him rumbling and shaking.

What the hell was going on?

Huh. So that's how you enter the Eternal Desert.

"Something's wrong."

Darly turns his head toward Sales. "How so?" Sales stare at him, eyes narrowed and alarmed.

"The spirits are nervous and scared," Sales says. "They're warning me to be careful and to leave this area immediately." He turns to face the desert, staring into the distance. "If we don't...There is a high chance we'll die."

"Shit. You're sure we can't just back out of this mission and leave the country while we're at it," Paring grumbled before eyeing the [Execution Knights]. "Although I guess they won't let allow that happen. Goddamned higher-ups, next time I see them, I'll strangle them to die." She grouches, muttering the last past to herself.

Well damn, that sucks, but he sure as hell can't do anything about that, unless he wanna risk dying.

"We don't get much of a choice but to enter the Eternal Desert cause we sure as hell can't leave with the [Execution Knights] being nearby which is probably why they were sent as our backups in the first place. So, try your best to stay alive and stay close," Darly said.

A creaking sound could be heard as the entrance to Eternal Desert closed behind them.

"Because it's gonna be a while before we get a chance to leave."