71 An Omnious Bomb in the Sand

Not knowing the worry of the ones leading them, a group of warriors was bringing all the expensive stuff they paid a heavy price where brought in front of their feet. Like all the camps, and due to the nearly criminal price, only three bombs were stored in this location. But that wasn't what mattered, only the spells contained by those devices were relevant at the present moment. Looking at the female magus, Adin raised an eyebrow, prompting to finally describe what he was seeing.

"Oh, forgive me. Well, we obviously have some lower quality bombs than your base that was the deepest inside the desert, but it should still be enough. One [Burning Hand] nearly at the level of a [Demonic Flame]. I say nearby because it is still only a 5th Circle spell in the end, just expect a very nice explosion. This one … forget it. It was more created to target the djinns and disperse their limbs with a strong wind. At the same times, it would be used to easily repulsed any attack from those vultures above our heads."

The magus then approached the very last bomb, that was completely painted with black. She only heard about this last invention recently, and that was supposedly using a type of magic so dark that rumors about a cooperation with some cultists spread like fire in summer. Because it was still very unstable and not tested and approved, that bomb was currently here for an experiment the next month. Jiggling a bit about using something that scared even the nagging elders, she thought about the fact that she will be the one doing it.

"As for the last bomb, it was provided by the White Hand, for the humble sum of 1 gold coin."

"1 GOLD COIN!?" "ONLY ONE?!!" The two commandants immediately shouted their surprise about that price, and also their total incomprehension. Most of the time, the annual salary of all the soldiers under their orders was the cost of just one bomb. One bomb was worth more than an entire base of warriors.

But they were used only to deal against threats coming from the deepest holes inside the desert, things that should be contained immediately. The desert was far too big to permanently secure its border, and while some Skorpus could still escape, nothing as threatening as that snake was allowed to do that. Using the cover of reducing the territory of the djinns, the forward bases served also as the first line of defense inside the desert.

"Yes, only one gold coin. To be honest, I only heard it recently, and magus Khala may have more information. What I only know is that there is a certain fear of this thing blowing up automatically, even without an external factor."

"AND YOU SAY THAT ONLY NOW!" The commandant shouted those words so loudly that all the soldiers stopped what they were doing to watch him. Regaining his self-control under the numerous stares, he began to massage his eyes, visibly shaken. He had lived for a week already with this thing that could have blown out by sheer fuckin bad luck. Adin put his hand on his shoulder, comforting the poor man a bit.

"I hear your words magus, but what does it do?"

"Absolutely not a fuckin clue." The two leaders of their respective bases were getting more and more annoyed by this unreliable female.They were facing a threat that could easily kill everyone here, but instead of explaining clearly what weapons they had, she was described the flight of a stupid butterfly nearby. She raised her hand like she was trying to deny her responsibility.

"Hey, it's not me that created it and it is not tested yet. Those old farts accepted that free gift, but no one had the balls to approach it, so they sent that deadly package here. That way, in a supposedly near future, we would have a perfect location, mainly the desert, to see what could it do. I was supposed to ask you to find a perfect spot with some Skorpus, but I guess it will be canceled."

She was almost lamenting about that, clearly far from the preoccupations of the mortal world.But she soon recovered from that state, knowing that she will see by herself in a short moment. As for the snake, now that she learned about its intelligence, she was ready to escape at any moment. The commandants couldn't, either because of their position or their families, but as a magus of the 5th Circle, no one will condemn her for surviving.

Knowing what the magus in front of them was thinking, the two men from the army had no choice but to prepare their defense with only one bomb in their hands. At least, they had a vague knowledge about an improved [Burning Hand] and could plan something with it. By now, after all their useless talks, the numerous runners came back with the sentries. Counting everyone and hearing the multiple reports, they were beginning to hope that everyone made it.

"Lieutenant, is everyone present and accounted? No missing men?" A man in uniform began to leave the massive group in the center of the encampment and approach the commandant. After getting close enough, he quietly murmured some bad news.

"No sir, there is one group still missing. The one in the North-West. But there is a small … issue. If you may want to look at this direction." The lieutenant then pointed at the sole source of light beside the torches spread everywhere in the base. On a dune, a little farther away, one could easily see a small light, probably caused by a single torch. But that light was totally immobile, not coming back toward them as the rest did.

"I see, do not let anyone leave the camp from now on. If they ask why, tell them to look at that light, and ponder about why their friends are not running back. Now go." Turning back to face Adin, he had no choice but to finally acknowledge the presence of that monster. There was still a part of him that hoped this entire story was just nonsense, or at least, won't threaten his life. But it was only hope in the end, and reality crushed his dream.

"It did the same thing to my men, picking us off one by one. But what is making me even more scared is the fact that we didn't hear a single scream. From that point, we should still have been able to hear something, as faint as it could have been. 4 men died, without a single sound. It kept getting smarter and smarter, not underestimating us anymore. For that I am sorry."

The commandant was slightly puzzled by the last sentence, looking at Adin with a strange gaze. It was not like he was responsible for awakening this monster right? "What for? You want to say that you stole its egg and it is the reason why all this shit storm is ongoing?"

Thinking about that funny story, Adin even laughed. Who in their right mind would do something that stupid? Not the men under his orders, that was certain. Not even the greediest adventurers dared to advanced deeper than the army, so to enter the Necropolis of Ptolekh, steal an enormous egg and get away without being found out by that monster was even less likely. Or if it did happen, Adin had to at least recognized that those crazy lunatics did something he truly thought was infeasible.

"No, nothing like that. I am as much of an innocent bystander as you and your men are. But because we did hurt it with the last bomb, I fear that it won't be as lenient as previously. The next base is at what, 3 normal days of walk? So, by running nonstop, we could reduce that to just one day, more or less. So more than double the amount of time separating our two encampments. We will never escape this rat hole without killing it."

The commandant did harbor the idea of fleeing in case something went wrong, but facing the fact, he had to admit it would have been impossible. That monster caught them far too quickly, and with such a large distance, it will be a miracle that even one man survived. Alike, if they formed multiple groups, with different paths, it was not assured that even one will make it in the end. But if panic spread and the warriors under their orders lost themselves, they won't rationally think about that impossibility.

They will just try to get away from that nightmarish beast. "God damn it, why did you make that speech in the first place? Even if you said that you have a way to beat that thing, now, they will have lower morale."

"Because it would have been better to realize in the fight that they weren't even able to scratch a single scale of that snake? That they were completely defenseless in front of its maw, and that death could be unleashed in an instant, without any way to react? Quite frankly, the two were equally bad, in my eyes, but maybe you are right and I made a mistake. We will see."

Looking around, the two men saw everyone getting in position. Like in the base of Adin, multiple pikes and traps were prepared beforehand and only activated at that moment. He didn't have the will to say that they will be useless anyway, and if those brought any comfort to the soldiers, then it was good enough. The only woman, the magus, was still murmuring some strange things while looking oddly at the black bomb.

Because of his family, he was far more knowledgeable than the usual commandant. He knew that devices with a similar shape were built by the dwarves, but unlike those, they were filled only with explosives. The black powder of the dwarves, far more destructive than even some magus, was the main ingredient to those devastating bombs. On the other hand, to palliate the fact that the trade of that substance was strictly forbidden to humans, they had to take another approach.

Who was the strongest human alive? The Archmage. With that truth in sight, people tried to develop new ways of using magic, and more importantly, attack with it. After the Age of Darkness, people realized that magicians were not everywhere, and not that numerous. The original way of inscribing a spell on a piece of paper, to release it was filled with flaws, and not often on standard with the power of the mage that created it. And one linked the magical cores, hearts or crystals that were stored inside the body of monsters.

Using those as a new medium, the magic stored inside was far more important than even ten thousand sheets of paper could contain. And it became a race to see who could exploit those cores to their maximum potential. The answer was a resonating victory of the Organization, via the White Hand. When the Synnada Empire was barely trying to just store a spell for more than a month, the White Hand already propose bombs with a greater might than even a magus.

But to maintain their monopoly, the bombs were locked behind an even stronger enchantment, preventing anyone to analyze their secrets. In the end, the different nations, and even the dwarves had to pay the criminal organization a fee, to have one of those deadly weapons for themselves. As for how those bombs were truly created, even in this day, the Synnada Empire had no clue at all. Every man or woman that worked on those and were poached died a few days later, their workshop burned to the ground and their entire family beheaded.

"Adin, you said that the creature was displaying a behavior similar to one that a human possessed?" Breaking the trail of thought of Adin, the commandant was slightly tapping the shoulder of the pondering man. Turning around to face him, Adin looked in the direction that he was pointing, and first saw nothing. But when he finally noticed what was on the illuminated dune, he cursed the Lich King for existing in the first place.

"We can't prevent it. Let it be. But you were right, I shouldn't have described this monster in the first place. Now, they will fear it even more."