Heat waves shrouded my vision of the dunes as I looked around, the scorching sun above me buffeting me with it's hellish warmth as I stumbled through the sandy expanse of the Gobo Desert.
My daggers were held loosely in my sweaty palms, and I warily scanned the swathes of sand around me, all while I left behind a trail of blood.
Not my blood, but viscous blue blood that dripped from the tips of my two daggers, sizzling on the blistering golden grains of sand under my feet.
My hair was plated with sweat and laden with sand, while my clothes and boots were stained with blood and, again, sand.
I was around two thirds of the way through the Gobo Desert, but it was at the half way point that I noticed just how much of a toll the heat was taking on me.
The desire to rip my leather armor off and walk with just a top and some shorts was immense, but I knew that would be a terrible idea for multiple reasons.
Firstly, I would only be burning my skin and worsening how I felt due to being buffeted by the scorching winds, all while leaving myself unprotected.
That was the second reason, since by the time I had reached the halfway point the desert bared its fangs at me, with three variants of monsters trying to kill me.
The first was a yellow carapace scorpion that waited below the sand, hunkering down as it waited for something to pass it by so that it could pounce.
A long, sharp stinger was paired with two heavy pincers that threatened to shatter bone with ease, giving the scorpion a rather powerful set of weapons to use; if you were at range, it stabbed with the stinger before moving closer to finish you off with its pincers.
Hardened carapace was its armor, and it took me using the Shatter Fang to pierce the scorpions shell and kill it.
The second were vultures that had wingspans around my height, at roughly six-ish feet, and they had razor sharp beaks that were made to pick apart flesh, while their talons and feet were perfect for snatching up their prey.
As if that wasn't terrible enough, they were fire breathers and waited for their prey to burn below them, which made them a pain to kill since they were always flying high in the air after dive bombing you with fireballs.
Finally, and the one that I hated the most, was-
Rolling to the side, I cursed as a fat worm burst from the sand beneath my feet, its gaping maw ringed with rigid teeth that threatened to tear my flesh apart.
More sand clung to my sweaty, damp clothing as I glared at the worm hatefully, watching as it burrowed under the sand once more.
Like a normal earthworm, it had a fleshy body that allowed it to wriggle around and burrow into the ground, which meant that - should you get it before it returned to the earth - the worm was easy to kill.
However, the things forwent defense in exchange for speed, moving faster than they reasonably should be capable of doing so with the size they were - around four feet around and ten feet long.
Huge things that moved way too quickly, and were constantly under your feet...
My eyes scanned the sand around me as I searched for the worm, before cursing as I felt the sand below my feet vibrate once more.
I dodged to the side and watched as the worm erupted from the sand, its maw snapping shut over empty air.
Before it could try and return to the earth, I raised my palm and shot forth a bullet of ice, which sliced into the worms flesh and exploded, causing the thing to screech in agony.
Frost tried to creep over the worms flesh, but the desert heat was too strong for even my {Frost of Despoina} skill, causing the monster to just suffer from the initial wound instead of the damage over time I was so used to.
Thankfully, once they were hit the worms seemed to be stunned, unknowing of what to do next now that they had been injured.
It was like they were too surprised that something had managed to wound them for them to react properly, so I made sure to take advantage of that fact.
Launching myself forwards, I raised my Protective Fang and stabbed it downwards, growling at the worm as I twisted the blade inside its red flesh, blue blood spurting free from the large wound and staining my sleeves and chest.
I yelled "Just fucking die already!" at the worm, pulling the dagger free and stabbing it again, anger coursing through my veins as I had to stop my journey once more because of this stupid monster.
Its blood splattered against my cheek, and I just growled as it screeched some more, before finally falling silent as I stabbed it three more times.
[Gobo Death Worm killed - 1,345 Xp awarded]
I cursed once more as I stepped away from the worms corpse, shaking its blood free from my body before sighing, using some of my mana to clean myself off.
With mana being a more scarce resource now, I didn't want to waste it on small things, but damn did these worms leave behind a mess...
It wasn't even satisfying killing them, since they took so much damage and bled so much vicious blood that simply stank compared to that wonderful metallic scent...
I turned away from the corpse and continued to walk towards the northwest, where I could see the large, flat mountains of the Wekalian Steppes slowly growing closer; in fact, since the desert seemed to be sloping downwards towards the Steppes, I could see where the land changed from sand to dirt once again...
I think tonight I'll push forwards and get myself out of this atrocious desert heat...