Chapter 233 - Vol. 4 - 32

The longer Ash remained out here, the more annoyed she grew. This was due to a myriad of different things which all combined then and there to make her day worse. The sand, which threatened to get into her eyes with every gust of wind that blew over her. The sweat, which coated her skin, letting that same sand stick to it. But, most of all, the fact that she couldn't get that earlier image out of her head, as much as she tried to. 

The picture of that family, smiling and laughing with each other as Ash just stood there. It almost felt like she was being mocked. 

Ugh, just don't think about it, Ash told herself. Sand reavers. Where the hell are these things supposed to be? I've been walking around here for a while. 

The Sea of Sand, this area where the monster in question could be found, proved to be exactly that. She hadn't encountered any plants with water in them, like the ones that the alchemist had mentioned yet, but all around her, all she could see was a cinnamon-colored ground stretching endlessly, in every direction. 

Actually... What if I get lost here? Everything looks the same. She thought. Hm... Nah. As long as I have this map, I probably won't-

At that point, a particularly strong gust of wind blew her map out of her hands, and Ash blinked as it floated away to the right. 

"...."

Shit, shit, shit! 

She ran after it, nearly slipping and falling a few times. The map moved and danced in the air, as Ash desperately reached for it. She chased it for several meters, trying and failing to snatch it out of the wind until, finally, the wind stopped and the map descended onto the ground, just in front of her. 

"GOTCHA!" Ash said as she grabbed it out of the air, nearly ripping it apart from how much force she put into it.  Okay... That was annoying. Don't let that happen again. 

Ash dusted herself off and breathed in, about to resume her searching when she looked up and saw something strange. It was a plant with five large leaves popping out from a bulky green center. 

Oh?

Ash quickly transformed her  Lust into a sword and stabbed it into the plant. Water poured out from the hole she made, and that confirmed what Ash was guessing. 

Okay... So, I'm here, then.  She thought as she looked around.  Now, where are these things? 

Now that she was sure she'd arrived, Ash searched the area. If the sand reavers were truly as big as the alchemist had made them out to be, then finding them would be easy, surely. Still, she couldn't see much of anything until she turned to the right and saw a bird fly down to take a bite out of another plant like the one she'd just discovered. The bird was as big as Ash herself, pecking down at the plant a few times as Ash watched. 

That's weird, but it's not what I... However, Ash paused. Beyond the strange creature, there was something sticking out of the sand, moving towards the bird. It was like a small curved stump, and it was gliding along the ground.

From the sand, then, just ahead of the bird, something erupted. Ash's jaw hit the ground. A monster with no eyes, a sleek dark-green body, the size of a small house, shot out into the air with hands as big as Ash herself. Its mouth opened during this and the bird it was aiming for tried to fly away, only to be caught just before it could do so. 

The creature bit down on it and devoured the bird right in front of Ash. 

... No eyes. That weird, smooth body.  Okay, I guess this is the sand reaver. 

With that thought, Ash folded her map up, tucking it into a pocket, and transformed her  Lust into a bow, as the creature turned toward her. 

Level 54

MP: 250/300

Ash nodded to herself, narrowing her eyes at it as she prepared herself to start fighting. 

Shoot a few arrows, use that Divine Spear once or twice, and I should be... 

Before she could finish that statement, a red orb appeared over the sand reaver's head, and Ash paused. 

"What the fu-" 

A beam shot out from the orb and Ash's eyes widened as she jumped to her left. The sand that she had just been standing on exploded into the air, and Ash rolled to a halt. Without hesitation, she pulled back a golden arrow and fired it out, striking the creature's massive head. The arrow didn't pierce all the way through, however, and the monster screamed an almost human sound that nearly made Ash's ears bleed. 

"Agh!" She forced herself to ignore it though, and as another arrow appeared nocked on her bow, she pulled it back and fired a second. 

The monster, however, dodged out of the way. Even as large as it was, it moved to the right quickly, and then buried itself in the sand, leaving only its stump sticking out. 

Okay... I know where this is going. 

And so, Ash closed her eyes and raised her right hand in the air. Searching within herself for her connection to the gods, she allowed it to manifest a beam of white light in her palm. Opening her eyes, she waited as the creature got closer, and closer until it launched out of the ground and into the air.

At that moment, Ash threw her  Divine Spear forward and the beam shot into the creature's wide-open mouth, causing an explosion that sent red blood splashing out onto the sand. 

Gotcha,  Ash thought with a smirk that faded quickly. 

The monster was still in the air, falling toward her. 

Wait, wait, shit, shit, sh-

And the monster's body landed on top of her, thrashing around as it was clearly still alive and in pain. 

Ash was nearly crushed under its weight. 

The creature's mass fell on Ash, covering her entirely. Ash put her hands on its body, reflexively trying to keep it away. Lifting by sheer instinct, she stopped it, and, so far, it seemed like her arms wouldn't break just yet. 

"Aaa...! Ffff... argh," she let out as she tried her hardest to push against it. 

Come on,  she thought, gritting her teeth.  I've been grinding out my Strength for so long, this fucking 50 has to be worth something, come on!

One thing came to her mind then, however. Spirit Siphon, the lifesteal spell that Vermia had taught her. 

"Lesser being, give me your life," she squeezed out through her strained lungs and her hands took up a shadowy glow. Her pain was soothed slightly, but it still wasn't enough to get this thing off of her. 

She remained in that position, with the Dark spell active, for a while. The monster was still flailing around, which made keeping it from smashing into her body even harder.

However, as Ash put everything she had into this, she felt the monster's body lifting up. 

"... AAAGH!" Just as quickly, her arms lowered though, as her muscles began to fail her, and then, the monster simply moved away from her, rolling to the side of its own will, and the weight was lifted from her body. 

My arms, holy fuck. Ash thought as she dry-heaved, looking down at herself. She felt like her elbows were going to snap any moment now. The monster next to her roared, and Ash quickly turned her eyes back onto it. 

Her bow was on the dirt, just in front of her. She picked it up and an arrow appeared, which Ash pulled back and shot out. It pierced through the reaver's body, but Ash didn't stop there. 

It was weird how, after lifting something incredibly heavy, one's arms tended to feel like they could lift anything, but that was how Ash was feeling as she loaded up a second, and then a third. The reaver, however, wouldn't die. 

It spun then, faster than Ash could register. Its tail, which Ash hadn't even noticed that it had, smacked into her body and Ash was launched to the left, flying through the air as she dropped the bow again. 

She spat out some blood and punched the ground as she looked back up at the reaver, furious. She could feel Dark energy coursing through her, as a result of the prolonged use of Spirit Siphon. 

At this point, she wasn't thinking. She raised both her hands and closed her eyes. In each of them, beams of light manifested and Ash shot them forth, watching them explode on the reaver's body. It screeched, but the half-demon didn't stop there, even as her body instantly felt tired from the use of those abilities. 

She raised one last hand up and created a final  Divine Spear,  which she shot at the reaver's head. It connected, and a portion of the creature's head exploded, covering the area, and Ash herself, in its blood, which rained down onto the sand. 

Ash fell to the ground, on her back, immediately. 

... Can't move,  she thought as her body simply wouldn't respond to her desire to stand up. A little bit of blood came out from her lips, which reminded her that she was hurt off of the spinning attack the reaver had done. 

"Come on..." She muttered as she tried with almost as much effort as it had taken to lift the reaver, to lift her hand up to her chest. "Guard my soul against the dark's reach." 

Her hand then began glowing white as she started to heal. 

A few seconds later, she noticed the pop-up message over her own head.

EXP Gained: 60

EXP: 285/720

...  All that, for 60 EXP? 

"..." She blinked.

What an awful fucking day.. Ash thought as she passed out.