Zephyr kept walking west. And this ti without anyone on his trail. The sandstorm had covered every of his traces totally, and even if sohow the elf variant girl and her lackey were still able to track him up to his last point, it would still be useless.
He had been lifted off the ground and had rode the sandstorm currents for miles upon miles.
Basically, they weren’t even a concern to him anymore... at least for now.
The only thing on his mind was his current No.1 rank. It still hadn’t changed even with the minutes that had gone by while he had been walking...
Which ant that the margin that separated him and the now No.2 Queen of The Dunes was very wide.
’That massive worm creature must have seriously been worth a lot of points...’
Zephyr was still lanting, thinking about how he was surely now on everyone’s radar when his senses picked up movent in the distance just as he crested a dune.
"Help! Help !"
Not too far, two champions were fighting a battle to the death, slashing and clawing at each other with heavy swipes.
One was clearly losing, already riddled with gashes and cuts, bloodied and barely hanging on, while the other was grinning like a maniac, clearly having the upper hand.
From his build, he seed to be the one with superior strength of the two. He was an orc variant with oxen features, while the other guy — the losing guy — was a human variant with simple, feline features.
Imdiately the losing one — the human variant — spotted Zephyr, his eyes lit up with desperate hope. "Please! Help ! I’ll join you! I’ll give you my supplies!! Anything you want! Please! Just help!!!" His voice cracked as he blocked another heavy blow, stumbling back.
Zephyr simply looked on in passing without interfering, walking towards his normal westward destination like it wasn’t any of his concern.
The guy imdiately scread louder as he caught Zephyr’s figure simply moving on just as he blocked another blow.
The fact that he was totally spent and had just seen a potential source of help made his parry even weaker... like his body had decided to finally relax now that there was another option.
The other champion’s grin widened even more, noticing the lapse and taking advantage of it to the fullest.
He had thought Zephyr would interfere, and was just considering whether to press on against two potential enemies, or just fall back and escape...
But when he saw that Zephyr didn’t even seem to care, he beca relieved, with a glint of sothing else flashing in his eyes.
Zephyr heard the cries of the human variant beco even more frantic as he fell to the ground under the orc variant’s heavy blow.
Just as the orc brought his hand back for a final finishing blow, the human variant’s cries turned from one filled with panic to an unwilling, bitter and vengeful cry. "You wicked bastard!! You heartless fucking soul! Damn you—!"
He didn’t get to finish the words before a sickening squelch was heard as the orc variant pumled his head nearly into paste.
Zephyr’s steps slowed very slightly and his eyes twitched at the sound... thinking of what might have been if he had decided to help...
But he schooled his expression and kept walking.
He was no saint here. Neither was he so kind of superhero.
This was a battleground...
No.
In fact it wasn’t even a battleground.
It was a cage. A box full of poisonous creatures ant to kill each other till there was only one single creature remaining...
The ultimate poison creature... A terrible monster.
He steeled himself with this thought, walking further away from the site of their battle.
But he hadn’t walked for long before he had to stop again, turning back to look at the figure behind him.
It was the orc variant.
"What do you want?" Zephyr narrowed his eyes coldly.
"Relax. I just ca to thank you." The guy chuckled playfully.
"Thank ?"
"For not interfering. Most would’ve jumped in. But you didn’t. I appreciate that."
"Hm." Zephyr gave a single nod, then turned back, about to leave. But he was already at full alert.
’Thank my ass!’ Zephyr practically snickered.
The bloodlust emanating from the orc variant was so obvious... Zephyr didn’t buy his act at for one mont.
"Wait." The guy suddenly said, noticing Zephyr’s vigilance. "Let show my thanks... properly."
He charged at Zephyr with a mad grin on his face and his muscles swelling unnaturally.
’Another person with enhancent magic...? Again...?’ Zephyr frowned with a cold look in his eyes.
He calmly flicked his wrist, executing a wind burst that scattered up a veil of sand to cover both their figures.
His senses didn’t pick up on anyone but he still took the precautionary asure, just to be safe.
The orc variant’s eyes widened in alarm the second he saw Zephyr wave a hand and the elents respond to him.
"!!!"
This was not soone he could handle!
He couldn’t even begin to understand how Zephyr had done it, so every of his danger senses flared imdiately and he tried to slam on the brakes in a panic.
The only thought on his mind now was to escape...
But it was too late.
He was already well within Zephyr’s 10ft effective range.
Just as he turned and tried to run, his eyes suddenly glazed over. First with a trace of panic... or maybe pain... before going dull and blank.
By the ti his body touched the ground, he was already dead.
Just as he slumped to the desert floor, Zephyr dispersed the sand veil he had used to shield what he had just done, stepping out of the opposite end and continuing his walk westward.
The whole fight had not even taken up to three seconds.
"Damn... It really works," Zephyr muttered with a conflicted expression. Partly in disbelief and partly uncomfortable...
He had really just cooked a guy’s brain from the inside with a fire arrow spell... It had really worked exactly as he had practiced... without any limit whatsoever...
He left the corpse behind without looking back, clenching his jaws at the ease of how he had just killed another champion...
The corpse layed there in the sand, clean and without any tell as to how the death had co about...
And a few minutes after Zephyr left, far back on the slope of another dune, a figure rose silently from the sand.
A female human variant with heavy chaleon features.
She had blended into the surroundings seamlessly... to the point where even Zephyr with his nano-enhanced senses had not picked up on a single trace of her at all.
She stared at the corpse in the distance with curiosity, but remained where she was... only moving after she felt it was safe.
And even then, it was still very slow, with intermittent pauses every now and then to hide anyti she heard any slight sound.
It took her nearly ten minutes to reach the corpse from the not-so-far distance she previously hid.
She crouched low beside the corpse, inspecting it carefully.
The way her hand expertly moved over the body made one feel like she had prior experience with corpses... Plenty of experience.
But even with that... she was stumped.
No matter how much she looked, she couldn’t find out how Zephyr had killed the orc guy...
Besides his slightly shrunken hair, it almost looked like the guy had just... died. An instant death with no cause.
It tickled her curiousity like nothing she had ever felt, making her glance eagerly at the direction Zephyr had headed.
How had he done it...?
She really wanted to know... But her instincts that had preserved her all through her life scread at her like never before. Telling her not to even think of following after Zephyr.
In his very short fight with the orc variant, he had given her a feeling like she was in the presence of an apex predator.
His confident gait, the assured look in his eyes... that mont when his eyes had turned cold...
She didn’t even know how the orc variant guy hadn’t seen any of that... To her it was glaringly obvious.
Zephyr was danger!
So for now, she would keep her curiousity buried.
People like him couldn’t stay hidden for long... Especially not in a trial like this...
.
.
anwhile, Zephyr, the subject of her curiousity was already a long distance away, trudging forward through the desert towards his destination.
He was still thinking about the way the orc variant had died... thinking about the ease with which he had ended his life...
He had just shaken off the feeling, pushing the thoughts deep into the back of his mind when all of a sudden, the Voice of The World sounded in the minds of all the champions.
[Notice. Number of Fallen Champions. Sector 6. Day 1: 161,337]
"A hundred and sixty-one thousand..." Zephyr muttered in shock.
The sheer volu of the dead was staggering.
He hadn’t even processed that number when his ranking panel suddenly appeared in his view, displaying the nas of the fallen.
Na: Mad Warrior of The Dunes
Rep: Planet 9. B–13. 01–0047
Na: Ironblooded Chad
Rep: Planet 2. J–19. 01–0032
Na: Fallen Vulture
Rep: Planet 6. C–17. 03–0091
Na: Kaelith The Third
Rep: Planet 10. B–12. 02–0024...
The nas kept scrolling past with just enough speed that Zephyr could make out each one of them...
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.
.
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This Chapter’s special thanks goes to ShezzyZ for always supporting with Golden Tickets and Power Stones. Hope you keep enjoying!
Cheers
Astrl
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