Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The Desert Ruler’s power was at its peak in the desert.
A sandstorm was now brewing in the desert. Suddenly, a terrible roar echoed from afar. In the distance, a human shape could be seen resolutely trudging towards the missile through the growing swirl of sand.
[Monster Name]: Desert Ruler
[Monster Level]: Level 44
[Monster Status]: Slightly injured (Angry)
As the missile was coming from a different direction, there was still some distance between the Desert Ruler and the place Gao Peng was standing at now.
The Desert Ruler was at least 30 feet tall, its form obscured by the sand swirling around it. The only thing one could see outside the sandstorm was a dark shape moving through it.
There also seemed to be a huge rope-like object wrapped around the Desert Ruler’s body.
[Monster Name]: King Sandworm
[Monster Level]: Level 41
[Monster Status]: Healthy (Alert)
The Desert Ruler came to a halt at the edge of the desert. The trees outside the desert were now swaying violently in the wind, their leaves rustling noisily against each other.
Sand had pooled beneath the trees and piled on their leaves at an incredible rate. Their stems were now drooping under the weight of the sand.
The Desert Ruler’s presence had transformed its surroundings into a desert. Rings of white light slowly spread out from it, somewhat different from Dumby’s Lord-tier aura in that they seemed to be made of smaller particles.
The monster’s Lord-tier aura also seemed to have a desertizing effect on the areas it came into contact with…
There was a ripping sound in the air as the burning missile hurtled towards its mark.
The Desert Ruler lifted its right hand. In an instant, a geyser of sand erupted from the ground, intercepting the missile mid-flight and causing it to explode in the air before it could even reach its target.
The resulting explosion merely left a dent on the Desert Ruler’s body.
The monster then waved its hand. From the seemingly endless desert expanse behind it, Sand Monsters popped out one by one and swarmed behind the Desert Ruler like an army of formless soldiers who were ready to act according to their general’s whims.
The army of Sand Monsters was growing without any sign of stopping.
The human soldiers were now starting to grow uneasy. A barrage of missiles were unleashed upon the growing sand army. Even though the Desert Ruler was able to intercept a portion of the missiles in the air, some of them still managed to get through and land on the Sand Monsters behind it.
Gao Peng’s hands immediately flew up to his ears as deafening explosions filled the air.
Some of the Sand Monsters were completely torn apart by the explosions. Even the sand cores in their bodies weren’t spared.
At that moment, the sandstorm around the Desert Ruler gradually subsided.
Suddenly, a yellow arm emerged from the sandstorm and closed its hand tightly into a fist.
Sand particles flew up from the desert and swirled into the shape of a spear in the Desert Ruler’s hand. The spear grew larger and larger until it looked more like a mace than a spear.
The swirling sand around the Desert Ruler gradually solidified into a sturdy armor. On its face was a single empty eye socket that was fixated on something in the distance.
A mouth cracked open across its face. Sand dribbled from the upper half of its mouth down to the ground. The mouth-like hole on the Desert Ruler’s face contorted into a snarl.
“Hu… mans!” it roared. The King Sandworm wrapped around its body and slithered down from it to wriggle into the ground, raising a geyser of sand behind it.
“All of you… must die!” The Desert Ruler let out another roar, then rushed forward, each step covering at least 100 feet across the ground. It had retracted its aura back into its body, as the extent to which a Lord-tier monster let out its aura could significantly affect its power output.
As the Desert Ruler rushed forward, a violent wind whipped against the trees in its wake.
Suddenly, a golden eagle descended from the mountains in the distance.
Then it unleashed a golden beam of light from its beak at the Desert Ruler! Its attack left a smouldering six-foot-wide hole on the Desert Ruler’s shoulder.
The Desert Ruler looked up angrily at its assailant, then pulled back its spear, getting ready to throw it at the golden eagle.
The huge sand spear flew out of the Desert Ruler’s hand, leaving a sandy trail in its wake.
The golden eagle simply dodged the incoming spear by twisting its body to the side. Dodging an attack that had been coming from such a long distance wasn’t a difficult task for it.
The golden eagle then dove towards the Desert Ruler with its wings spread out on both sides, making it resemble a golden boomerang.
The Desert Ruler simply stood rooted to the ground as the golden eagle dove towards it. Just when the eagle’s wings were about to touch it, part of the Desert Ruler’s body exploded into a cloud of sand.
The golden eagle’s wings passed harmlessly through its opponent. It was noteworthy that with the speed the eagle used to dive towards the Desert Ruler, its wings could cut through solid steel with ease.
All of this had taken place in the span of a mere second.
Gao Peng, who had a good view of all the action from a safe distance on top of a sand dune, couldn’t help but gasp at how quickly the Desert Ruler had reacted to the golden eagle’s attack by dispersing part of its own body into a cloud of sand.
It’d had to time it perfectly in order to avoid being hit by the golden eagle’s wings.
If the Desert Ruler’s reaction had been a second too late, it would definitely have taken a hit from the golden eagle. If it had been a second too soon, its opponent would have been able to pull back and come at it from another angle.
Gao Peng strained its eyes at the golden eagle that was now circling the sky above the Desert Ruler.
[Monster Name]: Gengjin Eagle
[Monster Level]: Level 47
[Monster Status]: Healthy (Calm)
[Monster Grade]: Perfect
[Monster Attribute]: Metal
[Monster Ability]: Hard Feathers Level 3, Sharp Feathers Level 3, Elemental Gold Mastery Level 4
[Special Characteristics]: Gengjin Divine Feathers (Its feathers were tempered to be as hard as steel. Passive Effect 1: Feather hardness +1, Feather sharpness +1. Active Effect 2: It has a certain level of resistance against other elemental attacks.)
[Monster Weakness]: …
The Gengjin Eagle’s passive effect could be used in conjunction with its Monster Ability, which meant that its feathers’ hardness and sharpness were, in fact, a good Level 4.
