Chapter 400: Chapter 46 Desert Remnants
A group of people strolled on the yellow sands.
The closer you got to the Death Desert, the more ma.s.sive the sandstorm you would encounter. Sometimes, there would be terrifying sandstorms. The sand might bury even strong professionals like Soran after the sandstorm. Energy radiation changed not only the environment but also the abnormal climate in the desert area. Although the arborists have worked hard for hundreds of years, establis.h.i.+ng some oases and plantation defense lines in the desert area. Still, in the end, it was quickly destroyed by the terrifying sandstorms.
Sometimes, when the wind blew the sand from the Death Desert, it was like a rainstorm, which could directly bury a river.
Of course, this was not even the most terrifying thing.
What was even more terrifying was the desert tornado, which was the real nightmare.
The huge tornado would sweep everything nearby, and if any caravans encountered it, they would find it hard to survive as well. The tornado was caused by the energy radiation’s mutation. When the tornado strength exceeded level 5, it might cause energy chaos in the nearby area. That was also the so-called “Dead Magic Area” and “Chaotic Magic Area.” In this area, the Wizard’s spells were likely to fail. In that scenario, there was no place to escape. Soran had seen giant tornadoes with a range of more than 15 kilometers, from the sand below to the clouds in the sky, as if the whole world would be sucked in as well. (Note: Giant tornadoes could be encountered about once every three years.)
He remembered coming here for the first time with the other teams.
At that time, they found something. It was that the terrifying natural climate sometimes gave the people more headaches than the powerful monsters.
The team was moving very slowly because they have prepared more than 30 camels with a lot of resources on them. Although the real Adventurer team consisted of only five people, it needed a huge amount of logistical supplies. When Soran first came to the desert to explore the ruins, their whole team was a bit stunned when they arrived at the place because there was no way in at all. The poor Dwarven Juggernaut had to dig for two days because of his high physical strength; only then did he managed to open up a pa.s.sage into the ruins. However, they encountered a sealed wall afterward, and eventually, everyone had to go back to prepare more tools.
And even later after that, when exploring this kind of long-standing underground remains, the adventurers a.s.sembled a team of thirty to forty people.
Then, the party went on for three days.
On the way, Soran also learned a lot about the others. For example, the Dwarven Juggernaut was a gossiper. Of course, when he was not drinking, he was rather quiet.
Dwarves had little resistance to good wine. The others had been drinking water all the way. Whereas, this guy had been drinking alcohol.
If it was not for his amazing physique, this guy would have been wasted long ago.
The Dwarven Juggernaut, Zoro – Dunedin, was a very young Dwarf. He was only 46 years old this year with a thick beard and a strong body.
He has Dwarven lineage from Helm’s Deep, and his body could be slightly hardened as if he had used Stoneskin. (The bloodline of the Hill Dwarves.)
The name of the Oriental Ronin was Zil.
He was an advanced Ronin from the East Seas. There were many islands there. Many Ronins were professionals that were advanced pirates. This guy was very quiet. He had been wiping his blade all the way. His strength should be quite good, but to Soran’s surprise, this guy used his sword with his left hand.
A left-handed Ronin Swordsman!
As for the other Desert Warrior, he was a more famous adventurer in the region. His name was Muhammad-Nord.
A Desert Warrior of professional-level 15 or so, he had the advanced grade of a Fighter. He was also good at fighting with dual-weapons, just like Soran. The weapons were similar to the Persian curved swords.
His dress was similar to that of Persians! (Note: an advanced Desert Warrior was similar to a Northern Fighter. It belonged to a regionally advanced profession and has received special regional combat training.)
As for the last person who was an Oriental Dancer.
She should be the only professional who Soran did not know the depth of. He could only be sure that her professional level was above 16, she was proficient in magical abilities, and she also mastered Mirror Image.
On the afternoon of the third day, Soran and the others had finally arrived at the destination, where there was a landmark building, which was a broken and tattered obelisk.
It was unknown as to what the use was.
But it was buried underground in the ruins of the desert. Many large ruins had such obelisks.
“We’re here!”
Soran looked up at the sky and said in a deep voice: “This is the place. Let the workers get ready to work.”
He walked quickly to the bottom of the obelisk and then began to move in the direction of the sun. Soran counted the steps and walked about 150 meters. Then he went about 50 meters to the North. Finally, he squatted down, reached out and touched a handful of sand on the ground, and said in a deep voice: “Starting digging from here. Dig a pa.s.sage of about three meters in diameter.”
There were many dangerous places under ancient ruins. If one dug in the wrong place, they might end up with an accident.
Moreover, the whole city was buried under the sand. At that time, there were no residents that once lived in the city surviving after the disaster. In this case, there was a high possibility of undead creatures appearing inside the city!
Nearly a hundred workers started to get busy.
It was not so easy to dig out a pa.s.sage with a diameter of three meters, because it was a desert area, with sand at the top and even a possibility of quicksand at the bottom. It was difficult to dig a pa.s.sage in the sand, which required cleaning up the surroundings and even using many tools. Having nearly a hundred people seemed to be a lot, but they did not really work that fast. Relying on them to dig pa.s.sages shoveling one after another, they could only slowly do it bit by bit.
The sky was slowly getting dark.
Soran supervised the workers for a while, got up, and walked around to see if there was anything unusual.
“Ah!”
At this time, there was a shrill scream from the other side of the excavation site, and then all the professionals at the scene rushed over.
Soran also came quickly. Before he got close, he saw the worker fall to the ground and started twitching. He spat out white foam from his mouth, and soon after, he had no breaths left. He placed his hand on the handle of the knife and said in a deep voice: “What happened?”
The one who answered Soran was the Oriental Ronin. There was a yellow scorpion pierced by his blade. He said in a serious voice: “It’s a sand scorpion! It’s very poisonous! ”
No sooner had the work begun, and a man had died.
This was a considerable blow to the morale of the workers, many of whom were starting to get timid while doing their work.
However, Soran could only helplessly let the Oriental Ronin supervise at the side and deal with the possible sand scorpion when it appeared. The speed of this guy’s sword was very fast. Just now, he had already killed three sand scorpions in a flash.
Night fell.
A group of people set up tents near the construction site, and the workers gathered to sleep, whereas the professionals took turns to watch the night.
It was windy at night.
Fortunately, it only lasted for a while. It was quiet all around, and occasionally one could hear a slight rustle. Soran sat by the campfire, meditating, and occasionally turned his head to look at the hole that had been dug because there was more to it than just poisonous scorpions. Behind him came some light footsteps, and then he saw the Oriental Dancer sitting in front of him with a broad cloak.
“What are you worried about?”
The Oriental Dancer met Soran’s line of sight, and her expression was as if she noticed something: “Ever since you came here, you seem to be a little worried.”