Chapter 182 182 - Falcon

Chapter 182 182 - Falcon

The two then looked through the door, and what they found was Ryan cleaning crystals. His clothes were a little dirty with blood, but his hands were completely clean. He was charring the creatures' bodies, turning them into small pieces of charcoal and removing the glowing crystals that were inside the monsters' cores.

One after the other, he stepped on the burnt bodies to reveal that brilliant blue crystal.

"Sometimes I wonder if I was made for this," said Roy, who was a little disgusted by the sight he was seeing, the excess of bodies making him feel a tightness in his chest.

"There are people who aren't cut out for this, and those who adapt to this life," added Kodiak, "Come on, let's finish cleaning this up and move on to the next confrontation."

Roy just nodded, the boy's countenance was a little cloudy. When he started out as a traveler, he had never thought he would end up like this, without an arm and far from the honor he had dreamed of. Watching a druid be so content with such grotesque methods of battle was something that also confused him. Kodiak knew what Roy was thinking, as this was one of the most common questions that newcomers would ask.

Even though he was a prodigy with the bow, Roy was still a lively and hopeful boy, and it was a little difficult for Kodiak to see that gleam in his eyes. But a few meters away, a man stood upright without thinking about such problems.

Ryan kept stomping on the skulls of the creatures, and then turning those monsters into charcoal. The act of breaking the skulls of the corpses served to regenerate an extra booty, the secondary mana core that could appear in some of the creatures in the portals. A single sphere of energy was enough to power an entire building, and with the number of monsters they had killed that day, Ryan already had two of these in his inventory.

The problem with removing this sphere was that it couldn't be heated, which meant that Ryan had to rummage around in the middle of the Howling Sands' brains.

'I must need thirty to finish my sword...' he thought, as he sighed at the size of the challenge ahead of him. Nivia and Ruri were helping Ryan collect the cores, running their feet through the ashes as they pulled out those shiny crystals.

After about twenty minutes, Kodiak and Roy returned. "We've finished clearing the area, now we can move on," said the druid, who was in his bear form to increase speed.

"I'm worried about the chance of a sand dragon, I've never heard of this area," said Nivia. Ryan shook his head, "I think it's hard to find a sand dragon near a city, maybe if we go further into the desert we'll find one. Considering this region, I think it's more likely to have lizards or flame turtles." he said, while wiping his own hands with water magic.

"Desert lizards around here? But they're not conscious creatures to create a nest here," said Nivia.

"They were used as mounts, so they might have a nest nearby," replied Ryan, who was crouching down while using his mana to create a sphere of water to clean his hands. The group was surprised by Ryan's knowledge, but while they thought he had read about it, the truth was that Ryan had already explored this region in the second world.

'We need to get back to the ravine...' he thought, as he pondered his research into the second world.

Ryan was slowly exploring the areas around the great desert, the reason being simple, to understand the political situation and study how the portals work.

*GUURYYAAAAAAAAA*

The group was startled and everyone went into a state of alert. Looking up, they saw a gigantic bird with black feathers. Its wings, even from a distance, seemed enormous. The creature was on fire, with blue and red flames blazing across the sky of the dry region.

Kodiak and Ryan exchanged glances, as if they knew what was happening. Nodding their heads, they both started to run. Ryan leapt up and easily reached the roof of the house, then activated his Demon Form. Flaming wings appeared on his back and he easily began to float in mid-air.

The druid changed into bird form, transforming into a greenish eagle with two glowing blue eyes. The two began to run after the animal, leaving the group behind.

Ruri and Roy were confused by this, but Nivia sighed and started walking towards one of the houses. "Come on, those two are trying to find that animal's nest. We'll hide in the basement of this house," she said, as she opened an old, dry wooden door.

A few kilometers away, Kodiak and Ryan continued to follow the bird.

'I have no idea what this thing is, but it's really beautiful,' he thought, as he watched the majestic creature spewing blue flames.

- That's an obsidian hawk, an extremely rare bird -

Ryan's eyes widened at what he heard, both at the luck of finding that bug and at Lux's sudden presence. The angel girl wasn't talking much, at least not to him. Turning his head, he looked at the druid, who was already a little away from Ryan.

"I'm getting tired, Ryan, go on without me. I know how to get back there," said Kodiak.

"Understood!" he shouted in reply, "Be careful." Then Ryan's back burst into flames, further increasing the speed at which he was flying.

'Now that Kodiak isn't here, I can go a bit faster'

His flying speed now rivaled that of the obsidian falcon, making it easy for them to follow where he was going. Ryan's flight was a little low, and the sands flying with the wind were cutting into his skin, yet he remained focused.

Little by little, he approached the center of the desert, and from a distance, he saw a volcanic oasis appear.