End Online: Volume 5 (14 page)

We encounter a new group of ‘Blue Scorching Scorpions’ every
five to ten minutes. Occasionally just two or three appear and we easily get
rid of them. Other times there are as many as eight or nine, causing us to
adopt a fighting retreat to prevent us from being surrounded and swarmed by the
mob. The ‘Cobalt Glass Shards’ that form from the sand after the fire have next
to no weight, so I don’t hesitate to collect as many of them as possible.

My level has also been steadily increasing. The scorpions give
an extremely generous amount of experience when they are killed. I open my
stats window to inspect my character.

Just after I close my character window and climb an especially
large sand dune, I notice a familiar shape in the distance. It is a pyramid, a
tomb created by a specific ancient civilization. There isn’t only one, but six
or seven spread out with a mile or two in between each.

“Hey, how about we go there?” I ask everyone with brimming
enthusiasm.

“I would like to,” Mason seems to be conflicted, “but we really
need to find a water source first.”

“Perhaps there is one inside.”

“That’s impossible. The pyramid will be a dungeon similar to a
tomb. There is nothing inside of a tomb except for bones, dust, and sand.”

Everyone else is completely unable to decide whether or not to
go. Everyone wants to explore a new, uncharted dungeon, but argues that we have
a greater priority at the moment.

We log off to get some rest but my thoughts are fixated on the
pyramids and prevent me from having peaceful rest. I log back on the following
day, weary from a lack of sleep.

***************************************************

We come across a few different kinds of monsters. ‘Sand Wraiths’
which are immune to physical attacks and highly resistant against fire.
 Small fox-faced humanoids about half the size of an adult wielding
various bows and covered with sand-stained rags. My creature analysis reveals
that they are called ‘Sahar Tribesman’.

I am completely useless against the ‘Sand Wraiths’ but the
‘Sahar Tribesman’ are easy to kill. They are numerous, with a single group
easily having twenty to thirty of them. Despite having a strong coordination
amongst themselves, they have low defense and health.

A day later, when our water and food supplies are beginning to
run out, I spot an oasis surrounded by several palm trees from the peak of a
large sand dune.

Trembling with excitement, I don’t even consider that it
may be an illusion in the desert. It is far too lifelike to be caused by the
refraction of light. Focusing my eyes, I even see several different types of
enemies patrolling the oasis.

As soon as everyone else is aware of the oasis, they begin
rushing toward the water, drawing weapons to slaughter any enemies in the way.

Fen stops beside me, a deep thirst showing in her eyes. She
hasn’t drunk much water this entire time, but I thought that may be because her
nature is that of ice. Clearly, she was only restraining herself for my sake.

“Fen, let’s get there first,” I say enthusiastically to the wolf
next to me.

Getting ready to sprint away and overtake everyone, I feel an
icy breath on the back of my neck. Before I can react, the endless blue sky
fills my vision as I am thrown up in the air. Gravity then takes hold and I
begin to fall.

I land on a soft surface, completely unlike the sand I expect. I
grab onto a few tufts of pure white fur and realize I am on top of Fen. The
wolf crouches down and I have a flashback of riding Grael.

She construes my grabbing onto her tighter in a panic as a
signal to move, loping forward at maximum speed. The massive sand dune in front
of us, which we would normally follow along to find a point where we could
climb it, proves to be nothing against her size and speed. She easily climbs up
the nearly vertical slope and reaches the top in less than a second.

Behind us, I see a large cloud of sand kicked up by her paws.
The cloud is enormous, actually similar to a sand storm.

“Fen, we need to get everyone else too,” I remark sternly while
she pauses at the top of the dune.

The wolf snorts and ignores me but I press the matter and she
eventually listens.

“Lost! There you are!” Mason exclaims as he sees Fen descend the
sand dune with me on her back.

“Hah, sorry, we were just scouting the area,” I lie, not wanting
to tell him we nearly abandoned them. “Everyone, get on. We will rush to the
oasis and get water before the others do!”

Mikhail’s group has already left us behind, scampering up the
sand dune and disappearing over it to get to the water source as soon as
possible. CaptainGordon, however, was still with us. I don’t know what the
other party members’ thoughts are, but I accept him as a part of our group.

Fen crouches down next to them to allow everyone to get on top,
but they seem a little reluctant. One by one they eventually climb on. The last
person is Verde, who Fen glares at but still allows her to get on.
 Verde’s face suddenly becomes terrified, and it looks like she operates
an invisible menu as if she is about to log off, but stops just as
unexpectedly. I give her a puzzled look and she climbs onto Fen with extreme
hesitance.

Knowing how fast Fen is, Sir Laurence grabs some fur to brace
himself. Everyone else follows his example and holds on to some fur or the
person in front of them.

With everyone sitting on her, Fen’s movements are slightly
slower than before. The weight is clearly not that much to her as she easily
ascends the sand dune again, which none of us could have done. I may have been
able to get to the top with a long running start, but I would most likely end
up hitting the wall of sand or falling backwards where it is nearly vertical.
Fen’s ability to climb the impossible slope is unmatched.

From the top of the slope, I can see Mikhail’s party not too far
away fighting a small group of ‘Sahar Tribesmen’. We completely ignore them and
rush forward.

The hot, sandy wind blows into my eyes, causing me to squint and
be unable to see properly.

‘Everyone else is probably in the same situation,’
 I think to myself while trying to turn my head and check
but failing as my vision is still blurry.

Fen’s speed drastically increases when running downhill, but
slows down enough to see clearly as she climbs up another impassable slope.
Whenever we reach a group of enemies, scorpions, the Sahar, or sand wraiths,
Fen summons ice walls to hold them back as we pass by like a flash.

I can only imagine what Mikhail and his party are thinking,
seeing us taking an impossible path atop a great white wolf to rush toward the
oasis. I silently chuckle to myself, mentally picturing his dumbstruck stare.

“Fen, Stop!” I shout at the wolf, hoping she will hear me over
the rushing wind.

She does, and fortunately stops atop the last sand dune before
the oasis. There is a hundred meters between the water and us, but the ground
is completely flat. No matter how I look at it or think about why it is so
flat, I can’t help but see this as a trap.

We all dismount the wolf and carefully proceed. With the second
step on the flat surface, all the sand starts to quiver. Several small
sinkholes appear, but rather than being there to catch us and drag us under,
they start to spit out monsters. ‘Blue Scorching Scorpions’, ‘Sahar Tribesmen’,
‘Sand Wraiths’ and something new: a swarm of flying creatures, several tens of
thousands strong.

“Creature Analysis,” I bark tersely, glaring at the unknown
flying creature.

Taking up a defensive formation, we proceed cautiously. All the
monsters seem to notice us at the same time, charging as a single unit. The
‘Desert Locusts’ are the first to reach us, attacking with their vast
superiority in numbers.

From within the swarm of locusts, small glows of green begin to
shine like gemstones. All of a sudden my instincts about the locusts make
sense.

“Be careful of the green lights! It’s the locusts using a poison
sacred art!” I shout out to warn the party.

Fortunately, the locusts giving off the emerald light move
relatively slowly and are easy to avoid if one is careful. I only need to be
careful with my speed so that I don’t rush toward one while trying to avoid
another.

A single slash takes down several locusts when placed properly.
Sir Laurence and Matrix have the advantage with their larger swords, cutting
down tens of locusts with a single strike. Fen attempts to make more numerous
but smaller ice bolts, but apparently she can only make them so small.

The rest of the monsters finally catch up to the locust swarm
and attack us from all sides. The most deadly are the poisonous scorpions. Tens
of arrows fly through the swarm of locusts from a score of ‘Sahar Tribesmen’
with bows.

Fen saves the day, creating a wall of solid ice to protect from
the arrows and even taking out a small section of the locusts.

“The locust attacks do next to no damage!” Verde calls out in a
melodic voice, singing praise to my ears. “Focus on the larger enemies!”

I don’t know why, but something about Verde reminds me of her
old self. The connection is somewhere in the back of my mind, but I can’t quite
put my finger on it. Before I can figure it out, our situation suddenly turns
from bad to worse.

Fen’s ice wall doesn’t last anywhere near as long as I had
hoped. Cracks form along the surface like a spiderweb before the countless
monsters forcibly break through.

Seeing the small army in front of me, anxiety and hopelessness
takes over my thoughts. In my heart, I know there is no possible way to survive
this.

I turn to Fen and plead, “Fen, please, escape from here. You
cannot die here. You cannot die, ever.”

The rest of the party looks at me strangely, but I do not care
about their opinions at the moment.

In response, Fen begins to glow with an ice-blue aura as a
crystalline ball of ice forms in the sky. As we watch, several sharp points
begin to emerge from within the ball. As soon as the ball is no longer round
but shaped like a clove of needles, a thunderclap sounds.