Edited by Aelryinth
The plan was a success. After the high-level Silver Snake Warriors were lured away by the demon mice, the rest of the low-level creatures had no chance of stopping the group of Advanced Mages from running away.
They made it out of the Sunset Valley soon afterwards. They were only forty kilometers away from reaching safety in Cairo City!
The outskirts of Cairo were crawling with scorpion demons. Their senses were extremely sharp, and since most of the areas were covered in sand, the high-level creatures were able to detect anyone walking on the sand. They had to travel on the Camel Beasts.
They had kept Camel Beasts on standby before they went to the Sunset Valley. Chad was very experienced. He had gathered the Camel Beasts in a pit under a sand dune and scattered some white salt across the area. The scorpion demons were not interested in the Camel Beasts, so when the group arrived, the Camel Beasts were still in the same spot.
It was tricky to settle a bunch of beasts down in the wild for a few days.
“Quick, we have to hurry; we’ll be safe once we reach the line of defense at the ravine!” Benz blurted out nervously.
Everyone mounted the Camel Beasts. These creatures were not as quick as the people had imagined. However, they could not afford to use their magic to speed up, as it would only bring them more trouble!
——
After traveling ten kilometers, the group noticed irregular sand pits ahead. The ground had little arcs that seemed like waves rolling forward, but the irregular sandpits were like strange holes across the surface.
The sandpits were huge, the size of a lake, some them looking like pitch-black holes. They were mostly the works of the scorpion demons. These demon creatures were fond of destroying the layers of sand and soil. When a heavy creature walked past them, they would fall into the pits and suffer serious damage from them. Inside the pits were countless holes, from which thousands of little scorpions would appear and feast on the creature while it was struggling in pain. A creature that was five times bigger than the scorpion demons would only have a pile of bones left in under half a minute!
The sandpits that had already collapsed were not much of a threat, but the hidden pits concealed by a layer of thin sand were nothing but deadly traps!
“It’s fine for us to walk on the sand, but they are going to collapse if the Camel Beasts walk over the pits. You must all listen to me from here on. Falling into the pits won’t necessarily cost you your life, but it will slow us down! The scorpion demons are going to pursue us relentlessly too!” Chad told everyone. It was his third time explaining the same thing to them.
The hidden pits were quite terrifying, many Hunter squads had died to them. Chad was an old mercenary. He was able to tell where the hidden pits were, so his Camel Beast was leading the way, and the others followed the trail he blazed.
“Chad, we should be close to the ravine after crossing these pits, right?” Vani asked.
“Yes!” Chad nodded.
“Snake! Snake!” Sofia pointed to the side with a frightened look.
The scream gave the others a great fright. They immediately looked into the direction that Sofia was pointing to, but they only saw a long curled branch on the ground. It did resemble a black snake, yet even if she did see it wrong, an Advanced Mage like her had no reason to be scared of it.
“Sofia, what are you doing? It’s just a branch,” Ferrero said.
“I…I don’t know, I was scared all of a sudden!” Sofia let out a relieved sigh.
Mo Fan glanced at Sofia and said, “Maybe the effects of the Potion are running out?”
“The Curse of the Snake Eyes?” Zhao Manyan was startled.
“Wouldn’t the Curse attract every snake in the wild to us!?” Zoey blurted out.
“That doesn’t sound good!”
“Quick, get the young Medusa out, we need her Tear now!” Mo Fan said.
Zoey nodded, and Summoned the Man-Eating Flower.
The Man-Eating Flower burst out of the ground and slowly opened its enormous petals. The young Medusa was sleeping inside it, having only minor injuries.
They moved the young Medusa out from the plant. They all gasped when they saw the connection between her long tail and her feminine upper body. It was most of them’s first time observing a Medusa at such a close distance.
“How are we going to get her tears?” Zoey asked with a confused smile.
“I don’t know, either!” Chad looked at the others with a wry smile.
Everyone was lost all of a sudden. They wondered if they should wake the young Medusa up, but the creature was surely going to be lots of trouble as soon as she woke up. However, how were they supposed to get her tears if they did not wake her up?
No one knew how to get the young Medusa’s tears, nor had they heard about a demon creature that shed tears.
“We are wasting our time here!” Mu Bai snorted.
The effects of the Curse had worsened, and they had not reached safety yet!
The group was trying to figure out how to get their hands on a Tear of Medusa while heading toward the ravine. They did not wake the young Medusa up, since they were unsure if the young Medusa was able to alert the snake demons without them knowing.
—
“I…I think I saw someone ahead,” Vani said. He was leading the way at the front.
“We haven’t reached the safe zone yet. Why would there be anyone out in the wild?” Mo Fan asked with a confused look.
“They are in military outfits,” Vani said.
“They might be part of an escorting troop. The military will send out patrols out of the safe zone to eliminate the threats in the vicinity of the city, especially along the supply routes,” Chad blurted out in joy.
They were still quite a distance away from the safe zone. Cairo was currently taking a defensive stance, thus the army was holding their positions along the line of defense. The escorting troop was the only people that would come out of the city in a time like this.
Chad did not expect them to be so lucky to stumble into a troop that was out of the city to escort some supplies. They could return to the city safely by following the escorting troop.
“That’s great then, let’s go to them now!” Vani let out a relieved sigh.
Anyone would be overjoyed to stumble into humans instead of demon creatures in the wild. The effects of the Curse had not returned yet, nor were the snake demons currently on their trail. They should be able to reach Cairo safely!
—
The escort troop had quite a few people, numbering around two hundred Battlemages. The soldiers that were chosen to come out to the wild were mostly elites. Otherwise, if they only had numbers, it might end up attracting more demon creatures to them instead!
The two hundred Battlemages were heading toward them too. The two groups of people met eventually.
The troop was led by a man in a sandy white military outfit. His face was covered by a mask. Not only was the mask handy for blocking the sand, it could also protect the wearer from poisonous gas when soaked in some kind of chemical beforehand.
The Battlemages in white outfits also saw Vani and the others. They were being extremely cautious, and were immediately on alert.
“We are friendly, we are Hunters!” Vani quickly told the soldiers.
“Where did you come from?” someone among the Battlemages asked in Egyptian.
Old Chad quickly replied, “We are from New Suez, can you let us tag along?”
The soldier whispered to a Battlemage with disheveled hair and a thick beard beside him. After a while, the soldier lifted his gaze and said, “That’s fine, but since we are escorting valuable resources, we aren’t sure if you are bandits trying to rob us. Therefore, if you want to come with us, we’ll have to Seal off your minds as a safety precaution.”
“Well… we aren’t weak either, we might be able to lend a hand if anything happens. I don’t think it’s necessary to seal off our minds?” Vani said uneasily.
“You don’t have to worry if anything happens. My men will destroy anything that tries to stop us. We are soldiers on a mission. We must guarantee the safety of our goods. If you aren’t willing to comply, feel free to go on your own,” the soldier said.
“Let’s listen to them; they are soldiers, they are clearly more experienced than Chad. It’s a lot safer to stick with them,” Sofia spoke up.
“I think it’s better to go on our own,” Mo Fan said with a worried look.
The troop was very strong; Mo Fan could tell just by sensing the auras each of the soldiers was emitting. However, if their minds were sealed off, they were no different than normal people. Mo Fan only had a sense of security when he had access to his magic.
“Do you think you are stronger than the army?” Ferrero said with a disdainful look.
“We are almost there anyways.”
“Let’s follow the army, the effects of the Curse will be back soon. If we don’t make it back to the city and find a way to get the Tear of Medusa in time…” Heidi said.
“Alright,” Mo Fan fell into deep thought. He noticed that he was the only person that was against the idea.
—
The group Sealed off their minds. A soldier inspected them and proceeded to cast Giant Shadow Spike on them to make sure their minds were Sealed completely.
“Captain Saks, we are good to go,” the soldier said with a gesture.
—
“Big brother, what’s going on?” Apas rubbed her eyes and asked.
It had been days since Apas was able to get some sleep. She had quickly fallen asleep on Mo Fan’s back after eating some food. Mo Fan placed her on the Camel Beast. She must have woken up after the group stopped moving.
“We stumbled into a troop of Egyptian soldiers. We can follow them back to the city,” Mo Fan told her.
“Oh… does that mean we are safe now?” Apas smiled. She raised her head to look at the soldiers that had brought her hope, but her smile froze immediately. Her eyes were gradually filled with terror!
Mo Fan saw Apas shivering in fear, and tensed.
“Big brother, the people that kidnapped us… they were wearing the same outfit as them!” Apas whispered in a trembling voice.
