Chapter 202 - 201 Trek Through The Desert

After walking through the outer parts of the desert, Marcus and company entered into an area that had become much more barren and practically devoid of life.

The heat also became more intense but with Marcus' chill zone ability and the sheet he had suspended above them, the temperature was still relatively comfortable.

That was until the massive crystals that were blasting down the equivalent of sunlight slowly turned dim, and a simulated night came over the desert within the dungeon.

The temperature plummeted quickly, and Marcus helped Lilia set up their tents and used his fire magic warmed the area up.

Now everyone was sitting around Marcus' floating lantern spell that was going full blast for heat and cooking.

'I can see why most people avoid this area. The temperatures are harsh during most of day and night. but in different directions. At least with my skills and abilities I am able to mitigate the worst of it for Lilia and our companions, though Roxene still refuses to come out.'

Soon the warm soup he was making for Lilia was done, and once Marcus had made sure she had enough food, he went and fed Blitz while Lilia fed the two cubs who still hated Marcus' guts.

'Well at least they are slowly getting closer to Lilia. I doubt they will ever like me but as long as they grow a close bond with Lilia and help keep her safe that is all that matters.'

After everyone was fed, Marcus told them to get some sleep as he kept watch through the night.

Luckily, the still desert stayed that way, and no wayward monsters or beast came near them, and the next day arrived without incident.

Putting up their sun and heat protection once more, Marcus and company continued their journey through the desert, heading deeper and deeper into the area.

However, when a large rocky island appeared in sight after a few hours of travel Marcus knew it was time for them to take a detour.

'That should be the center of the area where the strongest beasts and monsters fight for resources. As long as we avoid it, we should make it to our destination without a hitch.'

Unfortunately, Marcus' hopes were dashed just a few hours later as a massive dust cloud soon was approaching them. But as it got closer Marcus could make out that the dust cloud was being generated by hundreds of lizard type beasts running through the desert.

Preparing for the tide of lizards coming at them, Marcus brought everyone close to him and stood in front.

Yet as the lizards got closer and came into the range of his creature appraisal skill, Marcus found after rapid fire appraising the lizards, that they ranged from the high teens to the low twenties level wise.

'Roxene'

Calling out to his partner, Roxene for the first time since entering the desert area popped out of Marcus' companion storage and activated her intimidating presence.

The tide of lizards that was getting increasingly closer parted like a diverging river and went around Marcus' group wanting to avoid the powerful aura that Roxene was emitting.

Except it was at this moment that Marcus realized something.

'Why are these lizards running away in the first place, and why did they only go around us and not turn back when they felt Roxene's intimidating presence.'

A few moments later Marcus' question found its answer as a massive fin could be seen chasing one of the groups of lizards.

Then out of the sand the titanic form of a shark flew up and crashed into the lizards eating dozens of them along with the sand around them.

The colossal form of the over one-hundred-foot shark soon disappeared into the sand along with around a sixth of the lizards that had been running away.

However, the leaping sand shark also caused a massive wave of sand to blast out from around it and the aftermath of this was heading right for Marcus' group.

Knowing there was no way to outrun the sand wave coming for them, Marcus sent a telepathic message to Roxene, and they each put up a wall of darkness, and working together completely encapsulated the group.

The walls of darkness then began shacking as the force of the sand wave impacted but after just a few moments everything was still.

After removing the walls of darkness Marcus looked around and saw that the remnants of the lizards were still running away.

Except, Marcus expected to see the sand shark chasing after the remaining lizards but could not see it anywhere near them.

That was when he had a premonition and looking straight in front of him saw the sand shark coming right for his group.

As useful as Roxene's intimidating presence was for scaring off weaker creatures, it could also be seen as a challenge by stronger ones and the sand shark was answering the call.

"EVERYONE RUN NOW!"

Yelling sternly Marcus startled his companions with the tone of his voice they had never heard, but when they saw the serious expression on his face they did as they were told and ran.

'You will not get past me.'

Running forward to meet the sand shark, Marcus racked his brain on how he was going to stop it and came to only one conclusion.

'Embodiment of Eclipse, Dark Form.'

As if all the light in the world blacked out for a second a massive burst of darkness surrounded Marcus and behind it a halo of light formed making the darkness seem even more powerful.

Six iron wings then burst out of Marcus' back, and he began rocketing forward straight towards the colossal sand shark.

'Eclipse Meteor.'

In under a second Marcus and the sand shark met and a massive explosion of darkness, light, and sand followed.

The impact of these two-meeting billowed out into the air in the shape of a mushroom cloud and the sand wave that came from the wake of their clash made the earlier one look like a splash.

The gargantuan sand wave quickly dispersed through the dessert swallowing everything in its path for thousands of feet before calming down.

Luckily, between Roxene deploying another wall of darkness and shield of light, plus Lilia using her new force barrier spell, their group had managed to stay together and uninjured, albeit buried under a dozen feet of sand.

Standing in the center of a vast crater that now stood as a scar on the desert, Marcus looked at the colossal form of the sand shark that was heavily injured but still alive. and was looking back at him with killing intent.

'Level forty-five and you have magic resistance. Truly a powerful beast. But you made a huge mistake, you threatened my sister and companions.'

The sand shark after regaining its bearing focused all of its attention on Marcus, the being that had injured it and interrupted its meal.

Bouncing into the air the over a hundred-foot-long sand shark leapt towards Marcus mouth first planning to eat him along with a chunk of the desert.

However, while the sand shark was a massive beast of immense strength and resilience, that was all it had, and since he could hurt it, Marcus knew he would win.

With a burst of speed Marcus flew out of the range of its mouth as the shark collided into the ground missing Marcus by a large margin.

Flying around Marcus began delivering slice after slice with his scythe, causing numerous shallow cuts to begin bleeding all over the titanic beast.

Quickly a minute passed as the sand shark tried its best to use its power to kill Marcus.

Unfortunately for the sand shark, its massive frame made it impossible to keep up with Marcus' nimble assault, and a death of a thousand cuts soon found the king of the dessert as it bled out.

'Looks like you loss again Brucy.'

As Marcus watched the life leave the sand shark, he deactivated his supreme skill and a wave of fatigue washed over him causing him to feel heavy and sluggish.

Floating down to the ground Marcus slumped over and gave himself a minute to recover before sending out a mental communication to Roxene.

'Roxene how is everyone doing, do you need any assistance.'

Waiting for a moment that seemed like an eternity, Roxene responded to Marcus saying, 'Everyone is fine, though a bit sand logged. Also, it is far too hot here, please come and get me out of this desert.'

After hearing Roxene's report and that she was well enough to complain, Marcus breathed a sigh of relief.

With his worries now alleviated Marcus moved towards the dead body of the colossal sand shark and began carving away at it, aiming to take out its magic core.

It took him a bit of time, during which he received more complaints from Roxene, but after going through the trouble of killing this titanic beast Marcus had no intention of going back empty handed.

Carving around its core, Marcus pulled out the biggest most lustrous core he had ever seen.

Having obtained his spoils, Marcus stored the sand shark's magic core away and flew into the air over towards his companions.

When he arrived, he could see they were worse for wear, especially Blitz and Roxene who both had thick coats of fur.

As he landed on the ground in front of them, Roxene wasted no time and in a flash jumped back into his companion storage away from the heat.

The others however, could not find relief from the intense heat in Marcus' storage, and to help them out he began channeling his chill zone and put up the sun shielding sheet.

At that point everyone moved closer to Marcus who was the source of the cool air, even the two lion cubs.

Their group then took a good hour to rest and recover, everyone other than Marcus working hard to get the sand off of their bodies.

"Well, that certainly was a bit of a surprise, but we all managed to get out okay, so let's get going before another beast or monster of a similar stature attacks us."

With the fear of another attack by a massive creature in the forefront of their minds, Marcus and Lilia, along with their beasts double timed it through the dessert.

Luckily, they managed to get through without further issue and soon came to the tunnel that would lead them to the next area right as the day was ending.