First hunt

Kael took a hold of the map from the captain. He wanted to go out quickly so he could test out the power of the Dune Wyrms. The Captain's description of the creatures made him a little excited to face them which was a welcomed reaction as the captain wanted him to do his best.

Before they left, Kael had his nanofiber scan the Captain's cape. Kael has always been a fan of style and even though the cape looked simple and too long, he could make it work.

He set out on foot with both his bodyguards and the two ladies that had joined his small party. He was actually hoping that there was something special about these women other than their beauty. He wanted to create a small elite group within the ranks of his subordinates so that they could act in his place.

The positions were special because they would be put in charge of a specific portion of his subordinates which he was planning to increase once he got his hands on the new ship he wanted to buy.

It took bearly half an hour to get to the location. In the first place the Ebonridge flats which was the name of the plateau in which the Duskwatch Bastion was located wasn't that big. It had enough space and potential to turn into a small city of a few thousands but could never hit the million mark. The town was made to contain 2000 members which due to the previously stated unfortunate events had been halved.

This meant that it wouldn't take that long to walk around the place, they started their journey and reached the outer edge of the twin mountains that stopped the Dune Wyrms' expansion.

The sight in front of Kael was a crazy one. A domain of fine sand spread out beyond the twin mountains for the next 75 square kilometers. The domain was currently empty up top but the Captain's information stated that creatures come over from time to time which provided a stable food source for the Dune Wyrms. The domain was covered in shifting dunes and rocky outcrops.

Kael was about to move forward when Sariah acted quickly to stop him.

"Master Kael, the Dune Wyrms are very sensitive to anything that touches the sand which means they'll attack as soon as you take a few steps deep." Sariah said to Kael.

The two ladies suggested that they stay to discuss a plan to lure out the Dune Wyrms so they could hunt them safely.

"Don't worry about it ladies, just sit back and enjoy the show." Oris said as he confidently walked onto the fine sand.

His feet almost immediately started to sink but he kept his calm and continued to walk slowly taking confident and bold steps. When he was a good distance away from the twin mountains Kael and the others noticed some of the shifting sand dunes getting closer.

It was at this moment that Kael realized that the shifting dunes he'd been looking at all this while were the creatures beneath the sand. Before he could marvel at the creatures a little while longer a small fiery explosion resounded behind Oris.

Oris kept walking like nothing happened as three more explosions resounded. As he walked forward, one of the dunes moved a distance away from him before turning towards him at a moderate speed. When it was close enough it burst apart.

A large armor plated serpent immerged from the sand. The Dune Wyrm had leapt into the air in an attempt to dodge whatever was killing its friends while dealing with the enemy in one fell swoop. The plan would have worked as well if it wasn't for something the Dune Wyrm didn't account for.

Dashing past Oris was a shadowy figure who leapt into the sky before making a motion with his sword that made it seem like he slashed the Dune Wyrm into two. The creature was still on a collision course with an unfazed Oris. The shadowy figure then sheathed his sword as the Dune Wyrm seemingly faded out of existence.

Dren turned around and winked at the ladies before looking at Oris. "I couldn't let you have all the fun now could I." Dren said.

Both Vayra and Sariah were stunned at the display of tremendous power as they subconsciously looked over at Kael while imagining what kind of monster he was.

More shifting dunes started appearing across the fine sand as the two bodyguards got back to work. Oris conjured multiple flaming embers before releasing them in all directions not really targeting anything.

Dren turned into a blur as he weaved his way through the explosions while making sure to cut all the shifting dunes he passed by. Once Dren was far enough away, he sheathed his sword again as the creatures faded from existence.

Oris seeing what Dren was trying to do started targeting his embers at any shifting dunes within range. A serpentine body would appear after every explosion he caused.

After a few minutes, the Dune Wyrms Domain looked like a graveyard for the first few kilometers. There were about a hundred dead Dune Wyrms and about fifty more had been erased from existence.

Oris and Dren were both members of the shrouded hearts faction. They had awakened incredibly powerful idiospec type abilities but weren't powerful or high ranking enough to get access to the resources required to master and grow their singular skills.

Oris had the idiospec known as Emberwake Veil which allowed him to conjure highly explosive flaming embers that he could control while Dren had the idiospec known as Severance Edge which allowed him to erase the existence of anything he slashed.

Both abilities had their clauses and downsides. Severance Edge would take away a permanent portion of Dren's energy which meant the more he used it the weaker he became and Emberwake Veil required extreme mental power to work properly resulting in a splitting headache everytime Oris conjured more than fifteen embers.

As for why they were currently using their idiospecs so freely without consequence or care, that was thanks to Kael's Nullborne Manifestation.