Sand Mage of the Burnt Desert

Chapter 51

There were travelers crossing the scorching desert, where not a single shadow could be seen.

They were riding on Bactrian Camels, looking around as sweat dripped relentlessly from their faces.

“Phew! It’s ridiculously hot.”

“Damn it!”

Their faces were drenched in thick beads of sweat.

There were six of them riding the Bactrian Camels – four men and two women.

None of them looked ordinary; in fact, they were far from it.

They were a party of Awakened individuals, officially known as Pathfinder Team 7.

They were dispatched from Neo Seoul on a mission to explore and pioneer the southern regions.

The distance from Neo Seoul to their current location was over a thousand kilometers, marking this as their first deployment to such a distant place.

There are a total of seven Pathfinder Teams dispatched.

They were currently establishing a shelter a hundred kilometers away to search the surrounding area.

The leader of Pathfinder Team 7 was Zahar, a man of Russian descent towering over meters with muscles that seemed like armor.

He wasn’t just about a strong appearance; Zahar possessed exceptional combat skills as a C-rank Martial Arts Awakened and led the team with strong leadership.

His team members included four members, Felix, the curse sorcerer, Annika, the Magic Awakened, Darren, who had replaced both his arms and legs with machinery, Seido, a Martial Arts Awakened wielding a sword.

Lastly, the sixth person, Mandira, a supervisor dispatched from Neo Seoul to monitor and report their progress.

Mandira, a beautiful woman with long wavy golden hair and sapphire-like blue eyes, attracted a lot of attention from men.

She was staring at Annika, the only female member of the team, with her eyes wide open.

Mandira mumbled, fanning her hand.

“Oh my! It’s so hot. Working in such harsh conditions, you all are truly remarkable.”

“What’s the point of boasting about this? Once we enter the dungeon, this will be nothing.”

Felix retorted promptly, his gaze towards Mandira carrying a sense of foreboding.

Felix’s appearance was quite ugly – short stature, rough skin, and, above all, his eyes lacked clarity. It made him repulsive to women.

On the other hand, Mandira was an extraordinary beauty that any man would desire. With her presence, she attracted the attention of all the men, including Felix who constantly orbited around her like a satellite.

Zahar, observing Felix’s actions, clicked his tongue.

“Tsk!”

A disapproving look was evident on his face.

She was a supervisor dispatched from Neo Seoul.

There was no way any ordinary woman would be sent to such a perilous place.

Although her abilities were unknown, it was certain that she had a dagger up her sleeve.

Moreover, there was no way a beautiful woman like Mandira would give her heart to a ugly man like Felix. Despite that, Felix persisted in circling around her.

At that moment, Zahar was approached by Darren, the man with mechanical limbs.

“Can we leave that dwarf alone like that?”

“Leave him be.”

“But…”

“He’s not hindering the mission significantly, so just leave him.”

“Tsk! Understood.”

“By the way, is your body holding up?”

“It’s already creaking. I can endure for now, but it won’t last long.”

“As expected.”

Zahar slightly furrowed his brows.

Darren’s limbs were mechanical.

Combining with his body to unleash powerful force. However, the desert sands were the arch-nemesis of machinery.

It shortened the lifespan of any machinery by grinding against the moving parts.

A special coating was applied to prevent sand intrusion, but there was no guarantee how long it would last.

It was for the same reason that they rode on Bactrian Camels instead of vehicles.

Vehicles and mechanical devices cannot last long in the desert.

Even with recent technological advancements that allowed them to venture this far, there were limits.

The nearby shelter was busy fixing vehicles that had broken down during their journey. That’s why they opted to ride Bactrian Camels.

Whooosh!

The sandstorm swept in again.

“This is so fucking shit.”

Sandstorms were the greatest threat to human survival in the desert.

Because if the scorching-hot sand was inhaled through the respiratory system, it would instantly cause burns to the throat and lungs.

This was why it was difficult for ordinary humans to survive in the desert.

Just then.

“Team Leader!”

Seido, who was in the lead of the group, suddenly called out to Zahar.

Zahar, riding the Bactrian Camel, approached Seido.

Seido had already dismounted and was examining the ground.

“What is it?”

“Take a look here. The sand has melted.”

Zahar looked at the spot Seido was pointing to. Indeed, the sand in that specific area had melted and crystallized like glass.

“What is this?”

“It’s the trace of someone using fire magic.”

“Fire magic in the middle of the desert? What is the probability that it was done by another team?”

“No way! As far as I know, there’s no one in the Pathfinder Teams sent to this area who uses fire magic.”

Seido shook his head.

Zahar’s sharp gaze intensified.

Seido possessed an extraordinary memory, remembering everything perfectly after seeing it once. The chance of his memory being wrong was non-existent.

Zahar called Mandira and showed her the traces of fire magic.

Mandira looked intrigued.

“This is definitely worth investigating.”

“Are we going to investigate it?”

“Our mission is to investigate all threats near the shelter. Naturally, anyone using fire magic is a subject of investigation.”

“Understood. Let’s start tracking then.”

Zahar nodded to Seido, who immediately began the pursuit. The rest of the team followed.

Zahar and Mandira rode side by side on their Bactrian Camels.

Zahar asked cautiously.

“What are your thoughts on this? Suddenly building a shelter in the middle of nowhere and investigating the area. This mission is quite unusual.”

There had been strange aspects to this mission since he first received it.

While it wasn’t uncommon to send Pathfinder teams from Neo Seoul, deploying them to such a far way location was extremely rare.

Especially since this area used to be a sea, making it nearly untouched by human presence. Thus, they had no knowledge of the threats or monsters that might exist there.

Zahar couldn’t understand why they would send Pathfinder Teams specifically to this remote place.

Mandira, looking at Zahar for a moment, spoke up.

“Do you happen to remember what happened seven years ago?”

“Seven years ago… Are you talking about the mana explosion?”

“That’s right. Exactly seven years ago, a massive explosion occurred in the middle of the desert far away.”

The explosion was so immense that a super-powered mana storm even hit Neo Seoul.

Fortunately, Neo Seoul remained unscathed thanks to defensive magic, but the outer slums collapsed, and many people died.

A mana storm so massive that it was reminiscent of the sixth extinction, couldn’t have been something that occurred naturally.

Pathfinder teams were sent to investigate the cause of the explosion, but they found nothing.

Since the explosion had occurred far beyond the observation range of the Pathfinder teams.

Despite their efforts, Neo Seoul eventually gave up trying to find the cause of the mana storm.

Seven years had passed since then.

Mandira continued.

“After that incident, the desert’s ecosystem underwent a complete transformation.”

“Hmm!”

“Monsters migrated extensively, rendering all the accumulated data useless.”

When an A-rank monster moved, its impact reached even B-rank and C-rank monsters. This chain reaction led to significant changes in the ecosystem.

While Neo Seoul had been keeping track of all nearby monsters and dungeons, the incident seven years ago rendered all their hard-earned data useless.

As a result, Neo Seoul had to send out numerous Awakened to gather new data.

During this process, previously unseen monsters, unknown dungeons, and mazes were discovered.

To stabilize the situation, it took a whopping seven years.

“Recently, monsters coming up from the south were detected. It’s a new type of monster not present in our data.”

“Could it be?”

“Yes! We suspect that it might be a boss-class monster. That’s why we think a chain reaction is happening.”

“They aren’t going to instruct us to stop an A-rank monster by ourselves, right?”

“I doubt it. Our mission is simply to find out if such a monster really exists.”

When monsters reach A-rank or Boss-level, they usually possess special skills.

To subdue such monsters, detailed information must be obtained in advance.

“To minimize damages, we need to gather information as quickly as possible and retreat as soon as possible.”

“Exactly.”

“Hmm!”

Zahar rubbed his chin thoughtfully with his large hand.

The purpose of their deployment to this remote location was now clear to him. Yet, there was a lingering sense of unease.

Observing Mandira’s flushed forearm, he commented.

“Let’s hurry and gather information. We don’t want to stay in the desert for too long; the sand and sun are enemies of our skin. Look at your arm; it’s already irritated. Unfortunate!”

“Trying to obtain information on an A-rank monster, and you’re worried about a little skin irritation?”

Annika, who had been eagerly waiting for an opportunity, interjected. However, Mandira responded nonchalantly without any signs of being flustered.

“Of course. For women, the skin is life. Annika, take care of your skin as well. If you continue wandering around the desert without any precautions, sudden aging will catch up to you. Don’t regret it when that happens…”

“What? This is ridiculous…”

Facing Mandira’s harsh comments, Annika was furious and attempted to raise her hand, but her attempt was thwarted by Zahar.

“Stop! This is not the time for us to fight amongst ourselves.”

“But that bitch started it first!”

“Don’t forget that she is a supervisor.”

“What can that so-called supervisor say?”

Annika’s face twisted in frustration. However, in front of Zahar’s stern expression, she couldn’t escalate the situation any further.

Eventually, she turned her head away from Zahar, avoiding his gaze.

Mandira smiled lightly at the scene.

Just then, Seido called out to Zahar.

“Team Leader!”

“What’s going on?”

“It seems the situation is taking an unexpected turn.”

“What do you mean?”

“This is our equipment.”

Seido pointed to where armor and shields were scattered, partially buried in the sand. Despite being half-buried, it was unmistakably the equipment commonly used by Neo Seoul’s Awakened.

Zahar’s face stiffened.

“Are you sure that is our equipment?”

“That is definitely the equipment the kids in Team 2 were using. I remember it clearly.”

The entire Team 7 became tense at Seido’s words.

Team 2 consisted of individuals they knew personally.

Their abilities were definitely not inferior to Team 7’s.

If something happened to them, it meant danger for everyone.

“Who could’ve done this to Team 2?”

“Why can’t we see any bodies?”

Even after looking around, there was no sign of the bodies of Team 2 members.

Even after digging into the nearby sand, there was nothing.

“Could they have been kidnapped?”

“The monster kidnapping people? Does that mean it has intelligence?”

The faces of all Team 7 members showed confusion.

“Can we find out who attacked and kidnapped Team 2?”

“All traces are covered by the sand; we can’t know for sure.”

“Is tracking possible?”

“I’ll give it a try.”

“Hurry.”

“Got it.”

Seido started tracking again, overcoming more than a dozen large sand dunes.

When the continuous tracking had worn them down a bit, Seido spoke.

“I found them.”

“Really?”

Zahar, with a happy smile, approached Seido.

However, Seido’s expression seemed strange.

As if he had seen something that shouldn’t be seen, his pupils were dilated significantly.

“What’s going on?”

“That… ”

Zahar’s gaze turned to where Seido was looking.

Zahar’s expression also changed in an instant, mirroring Seido’s.

What they saw was a massive village.

“A goblin… village?”

In the desert, there was only one type of monster that could form such a massive village – goblins.

Indeed, the scattered corpses of goblins were visible throughout the village.

The goblin village had been thoroughly destroyed. However, most of the destroyed houses were buried under an enormous amount of sand.

The goblin corpses were no exception.

“What? Did a sandstorm pass through here?”