Cain let gravity carry his body down a slopping hill of sand.


    ''Damn it! This thing is everywhere!''


    The sand had gotten into every nook, cranny, and crevice of his body. It had somehow managed to make its way into his armor. How that happened, he had no idea.


    Picking himself up in a second, he managed to evade the giant falling body aimed at his head.


    He clicked his tongue, ''Persistent little bastard!''


    While the {Horned me Lizard} was persistent, it was by no means little. Its huge reptilian body with rippling muscles and sharp fangs and ws.


    A beast of pure violence and death. Add hunger to that and you get a very terrifyingbination.


    Cain realized that even if this beast was intelligent, at the end of the day, it was a beast. A ve to its own desires.


    Humans were beastlike as well, but not in the same way as these creatures. In a way, he felt hypocritical for thinking that way, but it was just reality.


    Cain sighed to himself. Having these thoughts whilst in a death pursuit wasn''t very healthy.


    ''Almost there...''


    Dodging again behind a dune, another explosion rocked the world. The Horned me Lizard} took this as an opportunity to dash forward.


    ''Crap!''


    Before he knew it, a sea of mes washed over the area he was supposed to be at.


    ''Red Shift!''


    Luckily for him, he had a number of escape skills. ording to Boulder, he would be considered engaging inbat the moment he threw a blow. So long as he evaded, not even block or counter an attack, he would still be safe.


    All he had to do for now, was evade and lead the creature to certain death.


    Running forward a little he ran through a rather narrow crevice between tworger dunes.


    The shadows here were deeper, as the light of the moon had no way to get past the hills of sand.


    Cain slid across the ground, barely dodging a sweeping w, straight into the crevice.


    In a matter of seconds, the sandy mountains were falling apart as the Lizard struggled to reach him. In its frustration, the Aether Beasts opened its mouth and belched out a roaring sea of mes. They ckened the ground with their heat, headed straight for Cain.


    Cain''s body was enveloped in a dazzling red light, specs of blue fire burning at the soles of his feet. In an unexpected burst of speed, he dashed out of the long and narrow crevice.


    The {Horned me Lizard} kept pushing its way through the dunes, causing both of them to crumble.


    Turning around, Cain reached his mind out to the explosives nted within the dunes. He has ced more than a hundred of them within each hill of sand.


    With but a thought, all were activated simultaneously.


    There was a brief dy before it happened. Cain knew the lethality of his bombs. Back when he had been transported to that otherworld in an attempt to save Hunter, he had used them against the {Chaos Goblins} and {Chaos Trolls}. Although they worked well, they weren''t as powerful in enclosed spacespared to in open areas such as this ce.


    The reason being theck of oxygen.


    In an enclosed area, there is naturally less oxygen in the air to fuel the magical mes the bombs would spew forth.


    The {Dark Eggs} primary function was releasing all of the energy within a fire elemental mana shard all at once to produce a terrifying burst; an explosion.


    Elements couldplement each other. Just like how enough of the water element could douse a mes, the right amount of the wind element could fan a me and make it more robust.


    Although the windy, arid air of The Sandsea was cold to the point of being frigid, it didn''t contain any water element at all. Instead, it was all just dry, but very cold air. Air rich in oxygen to boot.


    The moment the mes began to spread, it was like the Cataclysm all over again.


    A huge mushroom cloud of mes erupted into the sky, reducing the coolth that permeated through the Evernight for a moment.


    The resulting explosion was even more terrible. Thousands of tons of sand was blown back. Cain was forced to drop his body to the ground and cover his eyes.


    Eventually, the roaring mes died out, as there was no fuel left to be consumed, and the sand was quick to cut off the oxygen supply.


    When Cain opened his eyes, he was appalled to see what was left of the Horned me Lizard}.


    As a creature of fire, it was supposed to be more resistant to mes than most so while it was affected by the mes, they weren''t what did it in.


    The force produced by all the {Dark Eggs} going off all at once was a cmity,parable to a force of nature itself.


    The creature was turned into a pulpy mess of blood, viscera, tender flesh, and bones. Nothing could remain whole.


    Cain shivered. If he had been forced to endure even a fraction of that, he was certain his body woulde out worse. He might not even be able toe back from the dead due to how badly damaged his body would be.


    Cain turned back to the corpse, or rather, what bits and pieces he could differentiate from bloody sand.


    Surprisingly, the part of the creature that remained unscathed, was its head. The rest of its body has be one with the desert.


    Most of the flesh on its head was charred, and its eyeballs had popped right out of its sockets, leaving two bloody holes behind. Besides that, it was in rtively decent shape, especially the horn on its forehead.


    Ignoring the system''s congrattory messages, he activated {Eye of General Observation} as he broke the horn off the head of the creature.


    ***


    {Elyndri Ivory}:


    Description: Material frowned from the deposition of elemental residue by the body of the Horned me Lizard.


    ***


    Cain touched the horned and realized that it was rather warm to the touch.


    He raised a brow, ''Elemenat Residue?''


    The horn was ck with deep grooves running through it, giving the object a rather antique and prehistoric look, straight out of a collectors archive.


    Cain held it close to his both. The warmth seeped through his armor and into his skin, flesh, and bones, warming him up.


    He let out a groan. The cold had been torture for him. Finally, he had found something that made him feel again.


    ''This is the stuff. But how do I get it around?''


    Before he knew it, he was already going about making something to hold the horn to his body. Using metal braces to secure it to his back, Cain cojod feel the spirit of the ancient humans talking to him, showimg him theirnway of life once forgotten...


    Shaking away those thoughts, he quickly traced his way back to the Boulder and the rest.


    ***


    Lucia stared at the dusty Cain carrying a strange looking horn at his back with a frown,


    "So it was you causing all thatmotion, just because of a single Aether Beast?!"


    Cain nodded, "Of course. Although I can admit I used way more explosives than was necessary. I''ll take that into future consideration."


    Lucia turned to stare at Boulder with wide eyes.


    Boulder shrugged, "He managed to do it, so I have noints. As long as things don''t get too messy."


    Khan wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes,


    "I''ll be needing a few bombs from you, Cain."


    Cain grinned, "You can have as many as you''d like. I have a whole bunch of them here."


    Boulder chimed in, "I''d like to get for every one of us, if that would be possible."


    All together, there were about twenty-five people gathered here to make the journey to Valestorm.


    With more people to assist him inying the traps down, they would be able to lure more mutant creatures to their death, getting out of the Sea of Sands rather quickly.


    This way, they would be out of dangerous territory on no time. And because most of the Aether Beasts here were territorial and would not step into another beast''s territory unwarranted, which made traveling through this ce much easier.


    Besides ces like Death''s Barrow, most creatures in the Sea of Sands weren''t pack animals. Taking them out one by one would be a breeze.


    Cain nodded and wasted no time distributing as many of the explosives with him to Boulder and the rest.


    In a few minutes, they were set to continue their journey.


    They ran into another creature a few hourster, defeating it the same way as he had done the {Horned me Lizard}.


    It was slow and mostly uneventful, as they encountered these beasts at most every few hours.


    The journey was a long one. After more than twelve hours of walking, Boulder finally gave them the okay to rest.


    Hiding behind arge dune of sand, the group began making camp.


    Cain swiftly activated {Eye of irvoyance} to make sure no Aether Beasts were lurking or sleeping nearby.


    Once he made sure the coast was clear, he finally rxed. Thanks to the horn of the {Horned me Lizard}, he was able to regte his body temperature. Still, he was absolutely exhausted.


    He wanted absolutely nothing more than to enjoy a hearty meal and have a moment or two to rest his worn body.


    Before he could do that though, he had a few things to take care of...