Chapter 145 (1/2)

Chapter 145 — Desert Level

“So this is what comes after the swamp level…” I said, looking over the immense sandy desert that spread away in all directions from the starting point of the 29th level.

“This dungeon is getting to be really interesting.” Fer mused. No, Fer, ‘interesting’ isn’t the word I would use. We’ve fought our way through forest levels and a swamp level and now we’re faced with a desert level. The differences are coming too fast for me, never mind the high-ranking monsters which attack us all the time.

…anyway it was really hot, the sun hammering down on us from a cloudless sky. Okay, I understood this was a desert level and deserts are supposed to be hot but we were in a dungeon underground somewhere, not in a real desert. It didn’t seem fair somehow, that sun up there was really hot. After all it wasn’t the real sun, was it?

“This is hot…” Fer said, starting to pant. Dogs couldn’t sweat, I remembered, and his heavy fur coat must be trapping the heat.

“Achi…” Dora-chan added telepathically, his mouth wide like a lizard on a hot rock. Dragons were kind of like lizards and lizards liked hot environments, didn’t they? but the Pixie Dragon was obviously distressed by the high temperatures in this level.

“It’s hot, Aruji…” Sui-chan, how would she cope with this heat? She was a Slime, would she shrivel up and dry out? Sui-chan…

“I’ll set up my Barrier for everyone.” Fer said. “It’ll shield us from some of the heat.”

“Eh, will it?” I knew Barrier could stop physical attacks-

“Umu.” Fer explained. “It won’t block the sunlight directly but Barrier can control the temperature inside itself to some extent.” Oh, that’s super convenient, I thought to myself. “But this amount of heat…” Fer added. “It’s still going to be uncomfortable even with the Barrier, I can’t help that but it’ll be better than nothing.”

Well, Fer’s warning that we’re going to get hot even with his Barrier in the way meant I should take some precautions against dehydration and sunstroke so I opened up Net Super and bought lots of isotonic drinks and bottled water. As an afterthought I looked for something to block the sunlight, a hat or hooded jacket of some kind. I quickly found a UV-blocking hoodie which I immediately purchased.

“Fer’s barrier will deal with some of the heat but we’re going to lose a lot of moisture. We need to drink a lot to replenish ourselves and not get dehydrated.” I poured a 2-litre bottle of isotonic sports drink into deep dishes and put them down for everyone while I put on the UV hoodie. I had to refill the dishes with more sports drink a couple of times as the heat had already taken a toll on my companions.

“We should head straight for the level boss.” Fer said. “It’s a big level and it’s all sand as far as I can tell, no safe places to stop.” I nodded, exploring this level was pointless, it was best to just do what Fer suggested.

“By the way this sort of desert level gets really cold at night.” Fer added as I put away the dishes. Ah, so it was like a real desert in that regard too? “I’ll run fast without stopping like I did on the last level. Climb on.”

I straddled Fer’s back with Sui-chan tucked away safely in her leather bag. Dora-chan flew off ahead of us, again acting as a scout to warn us of any danger that might appear as Fer set off across the sands at his usual furious pace.

“Hey, something’s coming towards us.” Dora-chan reported telepathically after a few minutes. I looked ahead where Dora-chan was flying. What was it? It looked like a lot of red and black dots in the distance.

“What are they…” I couldn’t make out any details but the dots were definitely getting closer, obviously aiming to intercept us. When I could finally make out what they were, I was amazed.

“…S, scorpions!” A group of nearly a hundred scorpions, each about a metre or more in length was approaching us.

“Nuu, those are Sand Scorpions.” Fer slowed down for some reason. “That means…”

The sand in front of us suddenly erupted and a huge scorpion leapt out in front of us. It was the size of a car, much larger than any of the mob of Sand Scorpions in the distance.

“Uwaaah!” I shouted in surprise.

“As I expected.” Fer said, “But this guy’s in our way so-”

Dokkon–. Fer’s Lightning magic blasted the giant scorpion and it fell dead before us, its carapace smoking. What was it? I quickly Appraised the dead monster.

[ Giant Sand Scorpion ]

An A-rank monster.

An A-ranked monster defeated by Fer’s one-hit Lightning magic. Okay, that was good but what about the army of scorpions ahead of us? There had to be at least a hundred of them- I looked up to see the mob of smaller scorpions turning and running away as as fast as they had been approaching us.

“They won’t attack us since I just defeated the Giant Sand Scorpion who was controlling them.” Fer explained. “I knew there had to be a Giant Sand Scorpion around when I saw the mob of regular Sand Scorpions charging towards us, they do it to distract anyone they encounter and then the Giant Sand Scorpion jumps out and ambushes them in a surprise attack.”

Ah, that’s how it works? After the Giant Sand Scorpion disappeared, I picked up the magic stone and Poison Stinger that were the drops and deposited them in my Item Box before we headed off again in the direction of the level boss. Shortly thereafter though Fer came to an abrupt stop without warning.

“Hey Fer, why’d you-” I started to ask as Dora-chan came buzzing back towards us but I was interrupted as- “Guuuh!” A giant earthworm-like monster about 10 metres long jumped out of the sand just in front of where Fer had stopped. What was it? I quickly Appraised the monster…