Chapter 11 - Second Raid (II)
"Where are we?" Sarah asked, looking around the deserted plane before her.
In every direction, the sight of the soft, grainy sand-filled their vision. Not a single sight of habitation nor living organism would be seen.
*Ding!*
[Defeat the gate boss to leave. 0/1]
"We have to search an entire desert for the boss?" Sarah muttered, staring at the screen.
"Guess we should get going then," Fable replied, walking forward.
"I'll see if can see anything," Rein's voice called out behind them '[Wings of Fire],"
A giant gust of hot wind erupted from him like a pair of flaming wings formed on his back swaying softly in the wind.
With a crouching start, he jumped and flew directly up into the sky, spinning around before instantly landing again.
"Nothing that I can see," He shook his head, the wings disappearing from his back.
"Why don't you go fly around to scout?" Sarah asked,
"Consumes way too much MP." Rein replied, 'That little maneuver there cost me 10MP. Can't afford to waste anymore."
"I see,"
"Is that everyone? I feel like we're definitely missing a lot of people..." Rein muttered looking at the giant cluster of hunters grouped up behind them.
"There's only around 200 here." Fable frowned, turning around. "We're missing almost 90% of the actual raid.
"Doesn't seem like anyone else is coming through," Sarah added,
"Is there a number limit for gate entry?" Fable hypothesized, stroking his chin. "I guess we'll have to go without them then. Seems like it might be a long journey."
And so the group began to walk. The shuffling of sand beneath their feet sounded like a rhythm of a song as they slowly headed east, the direction of the rising sun.
"How long have we been walking?" Sarah puffed, taking a drink from a small canteen.
"About an hour or so," Fable answered, also taking a drink.
So far, there has been nothing but sand. Nothing at all. Not a single monster. Not even a single cactus or plant matter.
The group of 200 raiders was beginning to complain about the hiking trip. They had joined this raid with expectations of adventure and exciting fights. Not endless walking across deserts.
All of a sudden a small vibration could be felt beneath their feel at Fable and Rein froze. Making Sarah hit face-first onto their back.
"What happened?" She asked, rubbing her nose.
"Sh," Fable whispered, placing a hand on his mouth.
Sure enough, another tremor beneath the sand.
"There's something beneath us." He whispered, "Something big."
"Everyone move back!" He called out, waving them back as the tremours became more intense and the sand beneath their feet slid away, a large bump emerging.
"What the hell is that?" Rein flinched as they were finally away from the danger zone.
A giant 5m tall mechanical-looking giant rose from the ground. Its glowing red eyes spinning around before locking onto them.
"I think it's a golem," Fable muttered, taking his shield and sword into a fighting position.
"Sarah you should stay back since your an archer. All attacks and tanks come to the front. Supports and ranged attackers towards the back! Let's go!" Fable yelled, charging at the golem.
He swung his sword onto its body, only to find it completely ineffective. The metal body was too strong.
"Swords are ineffective!" Fable shouted as he tried another tactic, '[Slash],'
He gathered mana onto his sword and ran up to its leg joints slashing right into the non-metal part of the golem.
And with a loud mechanical whir, the golem fell to one knee, moving its arms around and swatting the hunters left and right.
"Attack the joints!" He advised, continuing to cast slash on the same spot, finally separating the leg from the body.
"[Fire Sword]," Rein cast, jumping from the golem's broken leg and landing on its chest. A burning flame formed in his hand as it slowly formed into a one-handed sword.
He grabbed the sword tightly and dug it right into the neck of the golem.
'[Fire Burst]," He cast another spell, this time directing a ball of fire right where he pierced into.
The fireball hit the inside of the body, exploding with contact.
Instantly, the golem's arms movement became extremely sluggish as the red lights slowly dimmed.
"I think we did it," Fable explained, high-fiving Rein on his way down.
"Was that the boss?" Sarah cheered, dropping to the ground and drinking the remaining water from her canteen
However, the screen continued to display a 0/1 completion rate.
"That wasn't the boss?" Rein grumbled, looking at the screen in hopes the 0 turns into a 1. But it never did.
"Guess we'll keep going?" Fable suggested, taking another sip of water.
"We'll have to," Sarah sighed, shaking her empty container before putting it back in her little bag, "How long have we been in here?"
"I'd say around two hours,"
They had long since realized the sun in this place never moved. Since the moment they came through the gate. The sun had remained at the exact same spot.
"how long do you think it'll take?"
"I honestly have no clue," Fable muttered in reply, wiping the sweat off his forehead.
And once again, they continued to walk. Although plenty of food was brought along in case of emergencies. The supplies would only allow them to stay alive for a week or less. As the food was meant to be for over 2000 people and only 200 were able to come through, the rations were distributed more generously than planned.
----
So the group of 200 hunters strode on, occasionally meeting and defeating golems that appeared, earning them enough experience to level up multiple times.
By the time the 8th golem was defeated, Sarah had leveled up over five times.
Status:-
Name: Sarah Elori
Age: 20
Sex: Female
Occupation: Laidside College Student - Art
Title: Hunter (Ranked: B)
Class: Archer
Level: 6
HP: 17/25
MP: 10/15
STR: 11
INT: 19
VIT: 13
AGI: 11
STA: 18
RES: 8
LUK: 10
Skills:-
Mana Bolt: (Lvl 1)
MP Cost 2 MP
Explosive Shot: (Lvl 1)
MP Cost: 5 MP
Missile: (Lvl 1)
MP Cost: 10 MP.
Stealth: (Lvl 1)
MP Cost: 1 MP per minute
----
"How much longer..." Sarah muttered, laying down on the sand, covering her face from the sun.
"I don't know. I feel like we're missing something," Fable replied, sitting down beside her.
"How are we meant to find the boss," Srah groaned, closing and resting her eyes.
"We'll think of something," Fable muttered in return, stroking her hair as he laid down.
They've been stuck inside the gate for nearly two days and everyone had enough of the dying heat and the endless sand. Although it was impossible to keep track of the time using the sun, since it sat above them, not moving a single inch. Many of them did bring watches with them.
"Day two," Rein's voice called out from a distance as his figure appeared behind them. In his hand was the head of another golem.
"So many of these damn cockroaches everywhere," He threw the head onto the ground, "The fiftieth one we've defeated so far. Not a single boss seen."
"Maybe there's a condition that must be fulfilled before the boss appears," Fable muttered, looking around.
'Why a desert,' He thought, 'What's the theme, why the golems, What's the challenge.' He racked his brain.
'A desert. An endless inhabitable environment... why a desert... why golems... wait...endless?' He sat up,
Fable exclaimed, looking around before glancing at Sarah.
"Those golems. We've never met a golem one right another." Fable stood up, "I have a theory."
He grabbed his equipment bag and took out a long pole, sticking it to the ground.
"What are you doing?" Rein asked staring at the pole, one-third of it stabbed into the sad.
"Let's start walking again." Fable smiled, gathering the raiders with him.
"If what my theory is correct, we'll be seeing that pole later."
"Are you suggesting..." Sarah finally understood his actions.
Fable nodded as they all began to move.
After they walked an hour or so, they faced another golem which they defeated rather quickly and sure enough after moving a few miles, in front of them stood the silver pole.
"A space loop of some sort," Fable muttered,
"What are we going to do?" Rein asked, putting out the pole and putting it back in his bag.
"We need to break the space loop somehow," He muttered, frowning. "Why golems though. It must be a hint."
"If it's a space loop, where does the golem keep coming from?" Rein interrupted.
He looked at Fable was a smile on his face, "Why don't we find out,"