7. Exploring the Sands Further

"Hehehe... I must have it, no matter what. It's the only salvation for this starving soul. Hahaha... Eggs, delicious eggs, hahahaha..."

Sid laughed maniacally, looking at the eggs that hung below, his eyes red with greed. After all, it was the first decent meal he found during his entire time in the desert.

Looking at the eggs, he had already lost his mind. Overcome with greed, he jumped down the tunnel, entering the cavern. With his bare hands, he broke the slimy threads, making his way through to the blob at the center.

"Ugh, so damn disgusting. What the hell is this thing?" His entire body was covered in a nauseating mucus-like substance. Yet, his steps were unperturbed, navigating his way towards the eggs without even a hint of pause.

Finally, he reached his destination, as he stood before the blob containing eggs, filled with excitement. He reached out his hand towards the bottom of the blob, making his way through the thick layer of mucus covering the eggs. Finally, after much effort, he grasped some hard, shell-like substance.

"Haha, here comes the egg!" He shouted as he grabbed the egg, pulling it out of the blob. The bottom of the blob exploded due to the large force, spilling quite a lot of eggs down.

Crack...

"Son of a... damn, so wasteful. I need to be more careful," he said, as his heart bled looking at the few eggs that had cracked due to the fall. He then swiftly bent down, wanting to pick up the eggs.

"Hehehe, let's take a few that I can carry and cook them in the heat outside. Maybe today I can have a real feast in this barren desert... huh, why is this egg shining? This looks quite unique too; it doesn't seem to have any shell. Is it an immature egg or something? F*ck, that's another damn egg wasted."

Although he was quite excited at the thought of eating a cooked egg after so long, his attention was soon grasped by a mysterious shining egg. It clearly stood out among the rest due to its appearance. He couldn't quite point it out, but it looked like an egg without a shell.

Although what's inside couldn't be seen with the naked eye, Sid knew one thing for a fact—this egg couldn't be eaten, so it was just another wasted resource.

"Huh, there's no reaction so far. Isn't this quite interesting." Although it wasn't edible, he was still interested in it nonetheless.

Rustle, rustle...

As he was busy analyzing the uniqueness of that egg, he heard a rustling sound approaching him. This grasped his attention, causing him to look upwards.

"F*ck, so many!" Looking at the scene, his eyes widened in horror as he saw hordes and hordes of centipedes approaching the cavern. With a somewhat nervous tone, he started to analyze his situation, "ugh, so annoying, all the damn tunnels are filled with centipedes and skeletons. Not to mention their numbers, where the hell were these things hiding? It's hella frustrating."

"Huh, I guess it's time to admit it—no matter how I look at it, I am basically screwed...(T_T)" As he wrecked his brain assessing the situation, he came up with this brilliant conclusion.

"No, no, no, me calm down. I'm a veteran, a veteran, damn it. And a veteran of a thousand adventures such as myself cannot give up in such a simple situation... I know, since I have this new... ahem, ahem... since I have regained my former strength, I can maybe try to break through this situation."

He exclaimed, looking around at the tunnels, "Yes, that's it! That tunnel looks like it has the least number of enemies. Besides, it's filled with skeletons that take up much more space. I barely see any centipedes there. Hahaha... my luck is quite good. Guess today isn't the day for this young master to die, hahaha..."

"Ohhh, must grab a few eggs." Picking up a few eggs from the ground, he marched forward with agile steps, closing the distance between himself and the tunnel.

"Ahh, what the hell, they are close, too close. I need to run..." The enemies had already started to close in, causing him to accelerate further.

Soon, he arrived below the tunnel entrance, climbing up without a second thought. After all, the centipedes were really too close for comfort.

Reaching the tunnel entrance in just a few jumps, he punched out, destroying the skeleton that had already closed up to his face. The impact caused the skeleton to fly back, taking down a few others behind it, clearing the way for him to move forward.

And so he moved forward, struggling his way through the tunnels. His body was already covered in some deep sword wounds. Although he felt them recovering faster than usual for some reason, it was still not enough to keep up with this high-intensity combat.

"What the, they are closing in from behind. Gasps... I need to speed up pronto." As he escaped, the centipedes started approaching him from behind, trapping him in the middle of the tunnel. This caused him to accelerate further, almost bursting with his maximum speed.

Sid: (O□O) Ahh... my ass, my precious ass. Damn you, you son of a... centipede.

.....

"Gasps... Damn that was tiring as hell. It's always good to be out and about, I was never much of an indoor type anyway." He exclaimed in relief, as he heavily breathed in the dry, rancid air of the desert outside.

"Damn, it's so hot... Huh? Where are my clothes? Damn, since when, and why didn't I notice before? Uhh... f*ck you, you damn centipedes."

"Hohoho... the eggs are still intact. I even brought back that mysterious egg with me. Though I guess it's not the best place to eat these eggs; the centipedes might still be lurking around. Hmm... I should find another place that's safe enough."

With his thoughts all over, he looked around, trying to find a direction to move in. After eliminating the direction where centipedes were, as well as from where the groans could still be heard, there was really not much of a choice left.

The sun was at the top of his head, burning the skin of anyone standing below. He chose to move in a direction at random from the two that remained, still smirking at his heroic achievements from the centipedes' lair.

Suddenly, his steps came to a halt, as he realized that it was unusually dark somehow. He already had a bad premonition.

Looking around, he saw the huge mountain walls surrounding him. Above his head was a slight opening, from which a bright ray of light passed, piercing the surrounding darkness, its brilliance gradually dimming as it reached the ground. It was still quite dark.

From within the cave, he could sense an ominous presence. It seemed to be sleeping soundly, as no movements or fluctuations could be seen due to his arrival. Maybe, it didn't consider Sid as someone or something worth paying attention to.

"Damn, it looks like it's ignoring me." Sid was quite pissed when he got no reaction from within the cave. His legs moved, gradually speeding up, as he exited the way he had entered.

"Just you wait till I gather enough strength. I'll definitely be back for my revenge; then you'll see the consequences of ignoring me." He cursed under his breath, as if afraid any loud noise would provoke the creature inside.

He looked back at the crevice from where he had just entered. It was a mountain range, stretching across as far as the eye could see. With no end in sight, it stood tall, reaching towards the skies above.

"Huh, guess now I only have one place left to explore." Still unwilling to go towards the forbidden direction from where the mournful groans sounded, he left for the only remaining direction beside it.

.....

It had been quite some time since Sid started walking in this direction. Even though he had walked for almost a couple of days, there was nothing but the red sand to be seen along the way.

He wanted nothing more than to stop and rest for a while, but the dried corpses scattered along the desert stopped him from doing so. It was as if they were proof, telling him that he would turn out the same if he stayed any longer.

The stack of centipede eggs he brought along was also running out. In this grim situation, his only hope was the mountains that blocked the horizon; maybe there would be something at the end of this path.

Ever so hopefully, he walked forward, scanning the surroundings warily. "I haven't encountered any corpses in quite a while. It's quite strange, no matter how I look at it." It wasn't long before he realized the strangeness of the situation around him.

Grumble...

"Ugh, so damn hungry. Guess I haven't eaten all day. But this place isn't the best site to relax and eat; there's definitely something dangerous lurking around here."

Despite his hunger, he was still cautious, not daring to relax. He gathered the hot, burning sand at one spot, placing the egg within. And so, he cautiously cooked the egg, his expression alert, as he watched intently the sand in which the egg cooked.

Soon the egg was cooked, emitting a delicious fragrance that fused within the air. Although it was still covered in a shell, its aura of delicacy couldn't be hidden.

Sid was still a bit new to this phenomenon at this point; after all, he had only eaten a single egg before this. This occurrence was still a bit novel to him. But it seemed like someone else didn't appreciate it as much, as slight movements could be heard underneath the sand.

Sid: f*!%$$&... something's coming over. Dammit, it better not have targeted my delicious egg.