Realm Wars

Chapter 135: Second Islet

"I think you should cover your face," Ryu said. 

Seraphina's beautiful face could land them more trouble than the beasts on the second Islet. Now that the explorers got the hang of the place, they'll be more aware of the others. Fights could break out on items, beasts, loots, or even petty squabbles and desires.

Sighing through her nose, Seraphina nodded. "I guess you're right." With a snap of her finger, a thin veil draped around her head that only showed her eyes.

That would do for now. Ryu thought and looking each other in the eyes, they nodded and entered the left door.

.. .

.. .

WhooOOoSsH!

Ryu's eyes squinted when a sudden gust of wind kicked up a fine spray of stinging sand. The heat blazes down relentlessly, and the landscape offered no respite. Heat radiated from the rocks and sands, forming waves on the horizon and blistering their skin.

"A dessert?" Seraphina murmured and tightly held his scarf near her mouth when another hot breeze carrying sand swiped across their faces.

Ryu took in his surroundings. A group of pale, dead trees claws at the sky like the fingers of a giant skeleton. The landscape rolled on, unchanging in every direction as far as the eyes could see. Weathered stone and rocks scattered on the seabed of sands, and Ryu realized that they were remains of once-great buildings.

A scowl rose on Ryu's face. Who knew how long this dessert would stretch on and without water nor shelter from the scorching heat and from the roaming beasts and monsters on the desert. . .

"Don't worry." Sensing Ryu's predicament, Seraphina produced a ball of water in her hands. "If you're thirsty, just ask me, and if you want to rest, I'll just make a shelter out of my plants. And with the tiara, I don't have to worry about mana."

Ryu's expression brightened, and the hard lines on his face loosened. That's right, Seraphina was a water mage and could control plants. Come to think of it. .. a water mage like her was indeed handy in this kind of environment and situations. He didn't know if he was lucky that he happened to pair with her or not.

"Then I leave the water and shelter to you," Ryu couldn't help but smile. He was just relieved that at least they'll survive in this scorching desert with unlimited water and a shelter to rest their weary bones. Though he was sure that Seraphina was hiding her powers, so far, she didn't do anything that would make him label her as an enemy.

Seraphina's nostrils enlarged, and she puffed her chest and jabbed a finger on herself. "Leave it to me!"

She then grinned, eyes twinkling. "Are you glad now that you've partnered with me? I'm quite handy, huh?"

Seraphina wiggled her eyebrow, and Ryu failed miserably to hide a smile. 

Seraphina beamed when Ryu looked to the other side with ears red as he spoke in a gruff voice.

"Let's go."

Seraphina giggled as he followed Ryu's lead.

The two of them continued to walk ahead for several minutes until it turned to hours. The parched and cracked earth crunched dryly beneath their feet. Were it not for the trudge of their boots, they would be in absolute eerie silence.

They were no beasts in sight though little creatures were crawling for food but immediately scattered away once they came near.

"Hey, look! What's that?!" Seraphina pointed to a silhouette hundreds of meters from them.

Ryu focused ahead and found that they were others like them who were walking the desert. "Mercenaries and. .. elves. .. and demons."

"They seemed to be going towards that direction." Seraphina pointed to a hazy structure on the far end of the dessert. "It seemed to be a. .. oasis!"

"There is also one over there," said Ryu when the group of adventurers forked paths. One group was heading northwest while the other headed for the northeast.

"What do you think is going on?" Seraphina wondered.

"Hoi!"

"Hey!"

Ryu and Seraphina's attention was stolen by a mortal and a. .. very short and squishy Hobgoblin with large flappy ears and a face of a lizard. It was a halfbreed from the looks of it. It was carrying a large backpack on its back, twice as large as its frame and a jag of water on one of its paws.

While the mortal was a skinny merc with a large bucktooth. Upon laying its squinty eyes on Ryu, it halted before his face crumpled in disgust. He took a twice over at Seraphina though, but with her face covered in a veil, the man gave up and turned back. 

The merc kicked the sand and placed his two hands inside his pockets as he grumbled incoherent curses. But upon laying sight on another group of mortals, his expression lit up, and his broad smile was back on his face.

"Hey!" he called and waved his hands as he zoomed towards that group while Ryu and Seraphina looked at each other in bewilderment.

"Excuse me. .. *huff." The Hobgoblin panted. It took seconds for him to catch his breath, and Ryu thought that maybe if it could only store all its backpack on its traveler's ring, then it wouldn't be too exhausted running for just a messily ten-meter distance.

But then Ryu noticed that the Hobgoblin didn't have any ring, and the black collar on its neck was a clear indication that it was a slave.

"H-hello, my name is Echbert," the Hobgoblin said, "I'm a loyal servant to my master Clare. And I'm here to recruit you two to join a temporary alliance with our group to get past this desert and make it safely into the next Islet."

"Temporary Alliance?" Seraphina stared at Ryu before she asked Echbert. "What do you mean?"

Echbert smiled and answered in an accommodating tone, "Currently, there are three large groups who are recruiting mercenaries and other races to join their group to make it past here and towards the next Islet."

"Why is there suddenly a large formation of groups?" Ryu asked, baffled by this. In the first Islet, no one wanted to form a large group for fear of dragging the group down and avoiding any dispute because of the splitting of treasures.

"I understand your confusion. But this hostile land and the beasts that roamed this soil couldn't be handled by just a small group. To survive the harsh environment for days or even years to come, everyone decided to form large groups instead," explained Echbert.

Echbert's face then turned severe. "But the biggest reason for that is. .. the boss of this Islet."

"The boss?" Seraphina's eyes went wide. "They already found the boss?"

So soon? "Then have they found the exit to the third Islet?" Ryu inquired.

"Third Islet?" Echbert was shocked before his eyes twinkled. "Then you're already second-level adventurers!"

Ryu and Seraphina frowned. "Huh?"

"Allow me to explain. We know the boss and the dangers that lay ahead because some of us here are still stuck. This is our first Islet, and we call ourselves first-level adventurers as not to get confused with the second levels."

Ryu's eyes shone. Of course! Not all would have the same pace in discovering the exit. Some were fast while the others were slow or were stuck at all! If it hadn't that they were transported into the Leviathan's lair, then he and Seraphina might still be finding the exit in their first Islet.

This also confirmed his theory that Cecily and Ferris might be on another Islet! Or they could be already in here! If that is the case, there was a high chance that they'd meet again!

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A/N

I think I wrote Marga instead of Rosa in the previous chapters. It's Rosa guys. I confused the two XD