Chapter Seventeen: One Must Take Some Risks

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Although the game officially launched today, the updates continue as usual.

At present, the mission to hunt the five sand dragons was down to just one last beast, and only half a day had passed. The three of them glanced at the sky and felt confident they could finish off the final sand dragon before sunset. If they hurried, they should be able to return to Lockrock before nightfall.

This way, the dragonfish livers they had gathered earlier would remain relatively fresh, allowing them to fetch a better price upon their return.

With such hope in mind, the trio and their feline companion began to search more actively for the sand dragon’s whereabouts, preferably a lone one.

However, perhaps their earlier good fortune had been exhausted. Despite scouring a vast area around them, they failed to find any gathering of the second group of sand dragons, let alone a solitary one.

“What the hell? Didn’t they say there were plenty of sand dragons nearby? They said there were over a dozen, maybe even twenty! Where have they all gone?!” Asa, somewhat impatient, cursed.

“Wait, meow.” Sandthorn seemed to have noticed something.

The cat ran on all fours to a dune nearby, where the sand bore some subtle markings that looked like traces left by crosswinds.

But Sandthorn sensed otherwise.

It sniffed around the markings, then buried its head in the sand, apparently trying to discern something. After a while, it returned to the hunters.

“A few sand dragons passed here not long ago, meow. Those must be the traces left after they slipped underground, meow.”

As a native Felyne born and bred in the desert, no one doubted Sandthorn’s expertise in tracking marks.

Nuri quickly asked, “Can you tell which direction they went?”

“The marks run north to south, meow. They could have gone either way, meow.”

Sandthorn’s answer was uncertain.

“I think they went north,” Oran said. “The Desert Fin elders are hunting the Sand Dragon King up north, right? If the Sand Dragon King is struggling, it would surely call for backup. So aside from the four we took down, the others probably rushed over there.”

“That makes sense,” Asa’s expression turned worried. “One Sand Dragon King plus a horde of sand dragons attacking in chaos—are the elders okay?”

“It shouldn’t be a big problem,” Oran said, looking at Nuri, the team leader. “Should we head there to check? Given the sand dragons’ size, it’s unlikely that a dozen or so would attack all at once. More likely, they’re lingering around the battlefield, waiting for an opportunity to ambush. We might find some stragglers nearby. If we can take a few down, it’ll ease the elders’ burden.”

Nuri pondered.

He trusted the Desert Fin hunting party’s strength more than Oran and Asa did. If they were flustered by an attack from other sand dragons during a hunt, they wouldn’t be experts at solving sand dragon problems.

The safest plan was to wait for the Desert Fin to finish hunting and signal them before approaching the northern area to hunt down a fleeing sand dragon and complete the mission.

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This plan was absolutely safe but had the drawback that if they were unlucky and couldn’t intercept a single fleeing sand dragon, the mission would remain incomplete for a while. They might have to endure days of wandering the desert, searching for frightened sand dragons hiding everywhere—a thought that was already frustrating.

With that in mind, Nuri made a decision. “We’ll head north, cautiously. If we can’t find a suitable chance, even if we can’t complete the mission, we won’t cause trouble for the elders.”

“All right.”

“Understood.”

“Meow!”

The two and the cat responded in turn, and the group moved northward.

As they neared the area north of their camp, the faint scent of dye spheres gradually became more noticeable.

These small tools made from dye fruit emitted a sharp, lasting odor. Professionally trained hunters could detect this scent from several kilometers, even tens of kilometers away, allowing them to track monsters marked by dye spheres.

Oran half-crouched, checking the bright red pigment dropped onto the sand. “This is dye fruit juice. The Sand Dragon King passed through here. We’re near the battlefield.”

“Then stop advancing and search around here,” Nuri decided.

“By the way, don’t you think we’re a bit like the sand dragons?” Asa chuckled. “The elders are like the Sand Dragon King. When the king can’t win, it calls for its minions. The elders have us—we’re the ones who deal with the minions.”

“The elders never lost to the Sand Dragon King. We’re just here to complete our mission. Don’t cause trouble for them.”

“Got it! Got it!”

“Meow?!” Sandthorn’s ears, slightly larger than an average Felyne’s, perked up.

Making a “quiet” gesture, it listened for a few seconds, then crouched down and pressed its ears to the sand.

“Something’s coming, meow! In groups, meow!”

“Prepare for battle!” Nuri ordered sharply, readying his gun and raising his large shield to protect his companions.

Oran drew his one-handed sword, Asa chambered a bolt in his crossbow, and even Sandthorn gripped its cat pickaxe tightly.

Soon, several grayish-yellow dorsal fins appeared at the edge of their vision, rapidly approaching.

“Sand dragons? So many!” Asa exclaimed after peering through the heavy crossbow’s sight for a few seconds. “At least five… no, at least six dorsal fins!”

Nuri’s face darkened.

He had assumed the sand dragons would stay near the Sand Dragon King but had not considered the possibility of the group charging directly at them.

“Sandthorn! Use the sonic bomb once they get close!” he shouted. “We have to take down one or two first!

“You two, retreat if you get the chance!”

“This isn’t your call.” Asa swapped his usual magazine for a more powerful shotgun shell, which demanded close combat.

These shells were unreliable beyond twenty meters and dangerous to teammates within ten meters, but if fired point-blank into a monster’s face…

Aside from the shooter bearing the risk, there were no downsides!

Oran swallowed a strong stimulant potion.

His endurance wasn’t enough to sustain his demon transformation for long, so the stimulant, which could awaken his body’s potential and suppress fatigue for a while, helped greatly.

Though costly, it was no time to be stingy when it came to their safety.

One hundred meters, fifty meters, thirty meters…

The sand dragon pack drew closer. When they were less than ten meters away, Oran unleashed his fighting spirit and transformed into his demon form.

At the same moment, Sandthorn pulled the pin on the sonic bomb, tossing it into the midst of the burrowing sand dragons.

“Vvvrrr—”

Under the high-frequency noise, the fast-moving sand dragons burst out of the sand.

Oran, now in demon form, charged at the sand dragon on the edge of the group with a speed unimaginable to ordinary people.

Though he wanted to try the lethal charged combo he had practiced before, now was clearly not the time.

He swung his hunting knife and shield in a blur, wielding them awkwardly like dual blades but giving his all in a wild demon dance.

Nuri and Asa had no time to watch this strange spectacle.

Nuri was busy replicating their previous success, shoving his gun into a sand dragon’s mouth and firing a dragon blast.

Asa, holding his heavy crossbow steady, unloaded his shotgun bolts at another sand dragon from a nearly face-to-face distance.

Even Sandthorn hammered the sand dragons’ heads with its pickaxe in a methodical rhythm, clearly well-practiced.

At this pace, before the sand dragons could recover fully, they had a chance to take down two or even three.

The remaining few were still a threat but no longer enough to make them panic.

Yet at that moment, a dorsal fin larger and darker than a normal sand dragon’s broke through the sand wave, rapidly approaching their position.

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