Edward continued to wander within the sandstorm searching for the wisp causing it. All he could hear was the whistling of the wind as waves and waves of sand flew in front of his eyes. He couldn’t see anything past five meters and he was utterly alone from what his aura was telling him. There was only sand and more sand. The luminosity was so bad that Edward could have thought it was nighttime, except everything was basked in an orange glow due to the omnipresence of sand.

The grains of sand hitting his armor were slowly draining his aura, but at this pace, he could still hold on for a long time. He circled the city entirely once without noticing anything. The surroundings were devoid of life, the only movement was the sand swirling in the air.

This complicates things. Either this monster is not near the city, or it is unnoticeable within the sandstorm. I really hope that it’s the first case, there is not much I can do otherwise.

I should evaluate the size of this sandstorm first. When I arrived, it seemed like a wall blocking the sky, but I should be able to climb higher. This storm can’t extend up to space. I doubt I could survive space, but with my aura protecting me I should still be able to hold on for some time even high in the sky with freezing temperature. As for air, at my level, my body can hold for some time without breathing. Let’s try it. It will be better than searching blindly in this pea souper.

Edward teleported the way he came from until he stood outside the sandstorm. You can only understand the dimension of this shit when you are on the outside. It seems to gobble up everything. I have seen mountains smaller than this.

He waited for some time, recovering until he was in optimal condition. Then he teleported upward more than seven hundred meters at once. He formed a platform under his feet, preventing him from falling, and summoned his aura armor before teleporting upward again. The temperature change was sharp, from forty degrees Celsius in the desert he went to ten degrees. He teleported upward once more, reaching two kilometers in height, the sandstorm was still facing him with no end in sight.

Edward wasn’t discouraged and continued to teleport higher. I rarely used it this way, but teleportation sure is great to get higher. I’m going more than seven hundred meters higher with each teleportation, how many steps would I have to climb to reach the same height?

He continued to teleport higher as the air cool down around him, soon he sensed that the temperature had decreased below zero degrees, and yet the sandstorm was still there. How tall is this thing? This is crazy. I’m what four kilometers high already?

But he could still endure and climbing higher didn’t take much time for him with a delay of only two seconds between teleportation. The temperature continued to decrease as he got higher, ice formed above his aura as his arms and legs became stiff. Edward glared at the sandstorm, his continuous presence a provocation to him.

It was only when he reached ten kilometers of height with temperatures approaching minus fifty degrees that he was able to overlook the monster that was this sandstorm.

From the ground, it appeared limitless and insurmountable, but from his current height, Edward was able to estimate its dimension. It spread over hundreds of kilometers and actually, Nagh Kuldohr was only in its periphery.

No wonder I didn’t manage to find the wisp responsible for this. It must be in the center and it’s not even close to where I was. I could have spent days searching with no results.

Edward thought about the best way to reach the sandstorm’s center. If I investigate from the ground, I risk getting lost in something that size. However, at this height, I can’t sustain such a freezing temperature for long. He smiled. My clones don’t have that problem.

He summoned a clone and ordered it to position itself above the center of the sandstorm to give him a point of reference. His clone couldn’t teleport nor use his acceleration, but based on the physical body at the patriarch level its speed wasn’t slow either. It would take less than an hour for it to cross the close to a hundred kilometers separating it from the tempest’s center.

With this matter taken care of, Edward teleported downward, he hesitated for one moment to let himself freefall but his teleportation retained his momentum and he had no parachute. Falling from ten kilometers of height, he didn’t know which speed he would be able to reach. His body was strong but he doubted he would be able to endure a fall at close to two hundred kilometers per hour. Moreover, he wasn’t there to have fun, injuring himself before hunting a powerful monster would be stupid. If he survived the Andherian’s attack he would have plenty of time to play with his powers later.

The more time he spent thinking about it the more ludicrous his idea of searching for the wisp at ground level became. The sandstorm was titanic, close to ten kilometers in height and several hundred kilometers of surface. There was no guarantee that the wisp would be at ground level. Restraining himself to search in the desert at ground level would be akin to someone saying an orange was only composed of its skin.

Edward stopped at two kilometers in height, this high the temperature had returned to around zero degrees, it was something that his body could now endure without problems. He stood there, alone standing in the air and facing the swirling sand without an end in sight. He was waiting for his clone to get in position while he shook the ice that had accumulated over his aura armor. The sand offered a mesmerizing sight, it was twirling continuously seemingly without pattern. However, where a sandstorm should have been blown away in a clear direction this one stayed stationary.

After close to one hour, his clone reached its position. With everything in place, Edward teleported right in. His teleportation was severely limited in range due to the flying sand disturbing his aura so to increase his speed he ran as well during the delay between two teleportation. He went straight in and didn’t lose any time searching around. No point wasting time here. I’m far from the center there is no way the wisp is in this area and the sand is slowly straining my aura. There is no speed to waste my strength here, I have a long distance to cross. Edward wasn’t seeing much due to the sand flying everywhere, and his aura was not doing much better, but he was relying on his clone position, acting like a beacon, to orient himself.

As he delved deeper into the sandstorm conditions worsen. Visibility deteriorated until Edward was barely able to see his own hand in front of him, his aura had trouble pushing back within the literal wall of sand flying in front of him and his teleportation had stopped working. There wasn’t enough space available for him to teleport forward, everything was filled with sand. The strain on his armor had increased in consequence as well. Edward continued forward.

I wouldn’t be able to keep a direction if I hadn’t my clone’s position as a reference. The storm is so bad that I wouldn’t even be able to read a compass. No matter how I think about it I feel like this wisp has no intention to destroy Nagh Kuldohr. With so much power available it would be a simple matter for it to level a city, nothing can survive in such a storm. I think that it’s not even aware of the city’s existence. I’m not sure that monster has any kind of objective. It simply is, just like an ocean or a mountain. Something so vast that it is hard to conceive for a human mind.

Edward started to worry about the situation, he had only crossed through forty kilometers and already his teleportation was rendered ineffective, and the storm had become so strong that the drain on his aura was not negligible anymore. With my teleportation out of play, it will be hard for me to go back if something goes wrong. And the sandstorm will only worsen as I grow closer to its source. I have to pick up speed.

Edward used his acceleration, the grains of sand around him slowing down to the pace of falling snow in slow motion. He passed through the curtains of sand without pausing, creating whirlwinds behind him.

Once sixty kilometers inside he started to slow down again, the grains of sand were so dense that he wasn’t sure anymore if he was still in the air or underground. It felt as if he was swimming through the sand rather than running through a sandstorm.

This is not enough to stop me but I still have a lot of distance to cross. I need to preserve my strength. It’s already fortunate that my mana reserve has grown enough for me to sustain my acceleration for a greater length of time.

It had already been some time since Edward was delving inside the sandstorm and he had picked up a few things. Until now he had rushed straightforwardly ignoring the sand completely. However, he had noticed that the sandstorm had its own current. He adjusted his trajectory following the sand currents rather than forcing his way through. He accompanied the sand trajectory while adding his own movement forward. Even though his path became longer, the current making him deviate, he had to exert a lot less strength to move forward and even his armor had to use less energy to resist the sand hitting it.

This is not a question about keeping one’s course anymore, in this situation, there is no way to judge one’s position. Without my clone acting as a reference, I would have been lost long ago.

This new tactic helped him to cross an additional twenty kilometers before he experienced difficulties again. He had been inside the sandstorm for more than one hour already.

One hour to cross eighty kilometers. With my teleportation, it would usually take me less than five minutes to travel this distance.

What Edward was inside couldn’t be called a sandstorm anymore, it was more akin to trading through giant quicksand vortexes.

Just twenty more kilometers to cross.

The pull on his aura armor had increased so much that Edward had to divert most of his energy to maintain it. The sand was acting as a shredder, the sand currents having a shear effect on his armor that was particularly destructive.

At this rate, I don’t know if I will be able to make it. And I’m already so far in. I’m not sure I can cross back sixty kilometers of this storm, I think my aura is around forty percent capacity.

Edward continued forward, thinking of ways to improve his situation. He had already figured out how to flow with the current rather than crossing through it, he was certain there were similar ways he could decrease his energy expenditure.

More than the speed at which the sand is impacting me, it’s the shear effect that is causing problems. The sand is grating against my armor.

I can’t change anything to the sand movements but maybe I can adapt just like I did for the sandstorm’s currents.

I’m already following the sand’s currents. Maybe my armor can do the same.

Edward had never tried to fine-tune his control over his armor, but he had trained his aura manipulation regularly. He had become more adept at manipulating aura and he knew how versatile it was. He focused on his armor, he discovered that he could control part of it independently from the others. First, he adjusted his aura flow so that it prioritized the damaged parts of his armor while ignoring the rest, slightly decreasing the strain on his aura. The effect wasn’t that noticeable since the sand was indiscriminately targeting his armor as a whole.

Then he adjusted the aura forming his armor so that it mimicked the sand currents. The aura constituting his armor flowed in the same direction as the sand, reducing the stress that his armor had to endure. This was an active ability as Edward had to keep track of the sand currents in real-time and adjust the flows of his aura accordingly. Edward transformed into a slippery eel, the sand flowing on top of him without restraining him. Even without wishing it, Edward instantly made a bounce forward, the resistance he was facing drastically reducing.

He couldn’t help but laugh, his armor preventing his mouth from getting full of sand. He knew the sandstorm wouldn’t be able to stop him now.