Badge in Azure Chapter 511 - Black sandstorm (Part 1)

Chapter 511: Black sandstorm (Part 1)

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
While Saleen produced a spear for Wild Bear. Half of Lex’s mages had almost depleted all their magic chords in the production of scrolls. The other half continued producing more scrolls because of that. These mages did not rest, they were helping the swordmasters incubate the fish eggs.
The mages relied on self-recovery, the magic chords would take about three hours to be regained. The magic traps outside the camp kept getting triggered, so the mages could not rest at all. They had to accompany the swordmasters to investigate the traps.
The result was worrying. Most magic traps had been completely destroyed, but not a single corpse was found. The sand scorpions did not come. The magic beasts who came acted alone, but they were hundreds of times more powerful than the sand scorpions.
After falling into the magic trap, the magic beasts did not get enraged, instead, they backed away calmly. Such magic beasts possessed intelligence, so it would be harder to deal with them. Lex and her team had stopped at this location because they wanted to study the features of the fish beasts in order to avoid hysteria if they ran into a huge number of fish beasts.
The team could not possibly loiter around here to do research. The harsher the environment, the larger the variety of magic beasts. The magic beasts there were extremely different from normal magic beasts. If the team kept doing research, Saleen would eventually die of old age before he could even conclude the study.
Lex had a total of twelve warriors. If Wild Bear and Jola were included, then there would be fourteen warriors. The mages prepared twenty-four Fire Ring of Resistance scrolls for each person before continuing on the journey. This time around, Lex put away all the apparatuses of the camp compound, but she did not abandon them.
Saleen did not know how to create a Fire Ring of Resistance scroll, Eleanor had helped him to make almost a hundred of these scrolls though. After producing all these scrolls, Eleanor did not have many magic chords left, so she went to meditate in the chariot.
Saleen gave the scrolls to Nailisi. At the moment, Nailisi could release a scroll with a certain degree of proficiency. Saleen could not possibly bless the demons with magic during battle though.
Currently, Lex’s team had entered the Purgatory Desert for one and a half days already, but they had only advanced less than one-hundred miles.
The Spirit Snake Armor could provide appropriate protection for the warriors, but it would consume energy equivalent to that of a low level magic nucleus every hour. In the day, the temperature was not that high, only about fifty degrees, but the temperature in the evenings could reach negative twenty degrees. Normal metal armor could be deformed under such a huge temperature difference, it might even crack.
In general, this team would consume more than two-hundred gold coins worth of magic nuclei for every hour they spent in the desert. This was the reason why Lex only brought along ten swordmasters. If the team was huge, then this figure would have been multiplied several times. Even though Lex had very little manpower at the moment, each one of them could maintain their offensive powers at the highest level of stability.
The wheels of the magic war chariots were enveloped in a wide rubber ring. Such rubber, which was extracted from sea fish, was extremely durable. If the center of the rubber was mixed with metal particles, the rubber could last for three or more years. It was precisely because of these rubber rings that the wheels did not sink into the sand, it actually helped the chariots maintain a speed of twenty miles an hour.
The scenery outside the chariots’ windows was extremely dull. Whenever wind blew across the black desert, the dunes would give off a rustling sound, as though there were countless gophers chewing on something. It was very foreboding.
Trouble surfaced at this point in time. A two-yard long earthworm suddenly emerged from the sand, lunging at Wild Bear. Wild Bear removed his poleaxe from beside the saddle, swiping it at the earthworm. He was not familiar with the newly learned technique, but the earthworm weighed about three-hundred pounds, so it could not stop in time despite being in mid-air. As a result, Wild Bear’s poleaxe simply slashed into the earthworm’s brain.
As the cloud of blood dispersed, the earthworm slammed against the ground with a thud, still twisting its body.
From all corners of the black desert, dozens of black earthworms appeared, surrounding the team. Wild Bear bellowed, “The shell of this thing is really tough, they might be at least grade-5 magic beasts!”
“They are just grade-2 magic beasts, your armor will be able to resist their magic attacks.” Lex’s voice emanated from the helmet correcting him.
After hearing that, the swordmasters felt relieved. The grade of a magic beast was basically dependent on its magic nucleus, the main criteria was the level of their spells.
Unless the creature in question was something like a dragon, a magic beast could be overcome by outnumbering it with hunters, no matter how strong its body was. The rock lizard or the gray mountain bear were like that. They wielded unparalleled strength, but they could only cast low level spells. To the swordmasters who donned the Spirit Snake Armor, a grade-2 these magic beasts were not a threat at all.
The defense of a grade-5 magic beast was useless since everyone had a miniature alchemical crossbow. They would not even need to consume their Sword Aura to kill those magic beasts.
Suddenly, the earthworms began creaking in shrill voices. The largest earthworm stared daggers at Wild Bear as the other earthworms fled towards the south frantically.
The south was the periphery of the desert while the north was the hinterland of the desert.
At this point in time, buzzing sounds filled the air. At once, a mage decided to release a firewall. A black cloud flew over, it was a cloud of countless flying ants.
“They are rock ants, don’t worry.” Lex did not even need to give any instructions, the mages immediately blessed the swordmasters with the Potence spell.
Rock ants were considered more terrifying creatures, their razor-sharp teeth could devour sand and rocks. The rock ants had a lower resistance towards fire, however, even a grade-1 mage could kill them.
Since the swordsmen were clad in sealed metal armor, the rock ants could barely hurt them. The rock ants fed mainly on the microscopic creatures atop the sand particles, and they swallowed sand and rocks in order to develop their shells. Those earthworms were fleeing because they were afraid that their shells might be eaten by the rock ants. Even though the rock ants would not go for their flesh, the earthworms would still die.
The rock ants went around the firewall and pursued the fleeing earthworms. They could not even be bothered with Lex and her team.
Lex observed the flying rock ants, then said worriedly, “This is bad. Since there are so many rock ants, it must mean there was rain.”
“Let’s take a detour then,” Saleen suggested. There were actually no roads in the desert, one could only change their direction of travel. Lex nodded helplessly. There might be a torrential rain up ahead, which would cause a huge number of fish beasts to hatch. A young fish beast already had a tough exterior shell, they would become a food bank for the rock ants.
If there were no accidents, ten percent of the fish beasts would survive. After the battle with the rock ants, these fish beasts would mature.
Lex felt strange. No matter how weird this environment was, the mages should still be able to hear the sound of thunder even if they could not detect that there was a downpour.
The team veered east, they turned an additional twenty degrees and carried on moving, but they heard a humming sound in the distance.
“Sandstorm!”
“Viscountess, it is too huge, we won’t be able to avoid it!”
The mages then realized that danger was just a stone’s throw away. In at most one or two minutes, the sandstorm would descend upon them.
Lex exited the war chariot, taking out several items from the God’s Ring.
“Jola, use your strongest attack to bust a hole in the ground!” Lex had also lost her composure in the face of an oncoming sandstorm. It would be fine if the sandstorm only lasted for a short duration, but if it lasted for a long time, the magic war chariots might not be able to hold out.
This time around, Jola did not seek Saleen’s opinion. He simply took the new spear from Wild Bear and leaped dozens of yards into the air. He then ducked and stabbed the ground.
With a boom, a huge crater, with a diameter of half a yard and a depth of dozens of yards, appeared in the ground. The cutting edge of the Sword Aura was not seen.
After that blow, Jola became wobbly, he then tossed the spear aside. The swordmasters ignored him, they quickly went to Lex. A steel chain, which had an anchor-like metal piece on one end, was tossed into the crater. The swordmasters then expertly assembled the items which Lex had taken out from the God’s Ring.
A metal house was swiftly constructed. The four corners of this house had chains attached to them. These chains were in turn connected to the one in the ground. At the bottom of the hole, that anchor-like metal piece sprung open and countless of metal wires shot out. At the same time, dozens of openings appeared, blasting flames outwards.
The flames were melting the black sand, so that the black sand would fuse into one with the metal wires.
Wild Bear dragged the fatigued Jola into the metal house. Lex stored the magic war chariots while Saleen stored the skeletal warhorses. Then they proceeded to seek shelter in the house.
The width and length of the metal house were the same at six yards. The space in the room was even smaller while the walls were half a yard thick. Once everyone entered the house, the house seemed a little packed.
Placed in the middle of the metal room was a circular table, and atop the table was a fixed disc. The mages rotated the disc, drawing the chain underneath into the middle of the house, causing the house to sink into the ground.
Boom!
A thunderous crashing sound filled the air, as the metal house began to vibrate vigorously. Afterwards, the house gave off a noise similar to a war drum, as though there were infinite arrows pounding against it.
The faces of the mages turned pale, this sandstorm was much scarier than any of the ones they had come across. It must be noted that Lex’s metal house weighed about one-hundred-thousand pounds, and the chain underneath was still cemented deep underground by magic. Be that as it may, the metal house still shook violently following the assault by the sandstorm.
If a mage wielded a Magic Shield at this point in time, they would definitely be sucked into the sandstorm, moving with the wind. In the sandstorm, the black sand particles would strike the Magic Shield, which meant that there would be thousands of hits occurring every second. It was entirely possible that these grand mages would fully deplete their magic chords in a minute.
Those swordmasters would not survive either. Other than the horrifyingly immense air pressure produced by the sandstorm, the sand particles could also penetrate their magic armor too. When a mage wanted to cut metal, many of them would use water and sand to create a waterjet to spray against the metal.
The Spirit Snake Armor might be sturdier, but the sand particles’ attack frequency was too tough. It was akin to having tens of thousands people attacking a single target at the same time. Even if the attackers were very weak, the Spirit Snake Armor might not be able to put up a defense when all their powers were combined.
Even the four demons were appalled. They never expected the Myers mainland to have such a horrifying environment. No matter how strong a demon’s recovery ability was, they would still be ground to death alive.
Bain finally showed himself. At this point in time, given his powers, he would also not be able to survive in the desert. There was nowhere else to hide in the metal room. Bain stood beside Lex, looking pale as a sheet. Saleen did not need to look, he could identify Bain through his aura. Saleen had fought with Bain in the past, so he was very familiar with Bain’s aura. If it was any other person, they would have surely regarded Bain as a mere low grade assassin.