A strange thing was rapidly approaching the small cart occupied by Harwin and his newly acquainted party members, however, none of the them had noticed its presence at all.

  It was only when Stein — Harwin's hound — began barking and growling suddenly that the trio noticed something was wrong. Now, the young mage was just horrified, after all, he was almost out of magika and in an unbeknownst territory which meant the situation seemed dire to him.

  Winston and Eiza panicked as well, but they had enough experience to not lose their nerves completely. The former loosened the reins of the desert horse, signalling it to go even faster, but that was not enough. The burrowing only kept on approaching nearer by the second.

  Then, in a single moment, it disappeared in the ashen wasteland. Harwin sighed with relief, but the other two became even more vigilant. Soon, a giant rate like creature leaped above the cart and landed in front of them.

  The rodent was, at least, the size of Stein and had giant whiskers which almost covered it's entire face. It had dark skin and hideous brown spots that further added to its already disgusting appearance. Most notably, the thing had a sharp and overgrown claws which appeared to be as sharp as steel blades. Harwin found its appearance similar to a mole from his older world, of course, without the humongous size.

  Even in the face of impending danger, the horse did not stop in its tread. The rider redirected its direction right before the demonic rat could have striked. Instantly, the strange being went back underground. Winston shouted:

  "Stay low! It can not see but your head will be sliced off if you get caught in its leap!"

  Harwin and Eiza abided immediately. With their heads crouched, the former questioned the priestess:

  "What even is that thing!?" His voice was shaky.

  "It's a telpish, the rodent of the shadow lands. It is blind, but it's sense of smell and hearing is basically it's sight" Eiza's statements were almost lost due to the constant turbulence.

  "What is its weakness!?" Harwin followed with another question.

  "Everything and nothing! The thing is fast, like really fast. A swift spell could work, but I can not cast anything other than a healing spell! Otherwise, you will have to shoot an arrow or a dagger aimed at its head. Such perfect precision in this environment is impossible for even Winston!" She held onto the cart while replying, a single hurdle could have sent both of them up to meet their maker.

  Harwin had no time to panic anymore. He examined a small bag attached to his waist-belt. After inspecting its contents, he smiled — satisfied with the findings.

  "Winston! When I say, pull the reins of the horse immediately!" He shouted.

  Eiza, obviously, opposed this reckless demand without knowing the plan, but Winston nodded. It was a risk that he was willing to take, having witnessed Harwin's battle prowess against the imourte already.

  They continued to be on the run for a while — waiting for an opportunity. Soon, the burrowing once again stopped. Harwin readied himself, tightening the grip around the items he had found in his waist-bag earlier.

  Just as before, the telpish leaped over the cart, stopping right before it with sharp claws pointed straight towards the horse. It was basically motionless in this state, but its durable skin protected it from most of the attack.

  "NOW!" Harwin shouted.

  Winston immediately pulled the reins. The horse tried to balance itself for the halt. Just before a crash, the young mage shot few stones with as much strength as he could muster. He already had enough practice with projectile generated from spells to hit his target which made it easy for the peculiar stones to reach the head of the telpish.

  In in instant, a great explosion went off right before the trio's eyes. Its impact was as strong as the blazing death spell casted by Harwin earlier. The horse had managed to brace itself, and was at a considerable distance from the blast radius.

  A huge puff of ashen sand flew up in the air, covering almost the entirety of the area. This made it very hard to see at what had happened to the mole like creature. Winston and Harwin immediately drew their weapons and took a defensive stance.

  As the dust cleared off, they saw that the telpish was immobile. Its body was twitching, yes, but its overall strength had vanished. Well, it was hard to stay alive with its literal head blown up. Stein lunged at the gaint rat. He had been following behind the cart but was no match for the desert horse. Now, it munched on the already lifeless body of the enemy, making sure it could not return back from literal death.

  "What was that?" Winston asked about the explosion.

  "Eco shards, I had crafted them a while back. Thankfully, they were still in my bag." Harwin replied.

  "Eco shard? Hmm, that is something. You are quite the skilled individual, eh?" Winston said, his tone was both humorous as well as doubtful.

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  "I have just had excellent master. Besides, those were basic level incantations engraved on those shards. It was only due to the quantity that it caused such a result." The young mage himself was impressed with the result.

  "No time to waste. Let us extract the claws and be on our way immediately!" Eiza ordered as she jumped off the cart.

  Even though, her points were valid but her small stature and size made Winston laugh. It infuriated the priestess, but Harwin intervened to calm down the situation.

  Stein had made their job a bit easier as he consumed the flesh around the claws first. The trio extracted the overgrown nails and then made their way back on the road. They divided the 'loot' equally on the insistence of Harwin, although, the other two were pretty adamant about not accepting them. They had been, once again, saved by the young mage so the reluctantance was understandable.

  The rest of the journey proved to be rather peaceful. According to Eiza, they had already crossed the territory of the terrifying monstes and now only small threats remained which Winston and herself could easily take down on their own.

  Stein was pretty satisfied, having filled his stomach. Coming to the matter of food, the duo shared their supplies with Harwin. It was nothing special, just salted meat and some bread, but enough in this wasteland where they themselves were food for its residents (the twisted, hellish creatures).

  It was just before dawn-break that a settlement came into view. It had small walls compared to even a small town of the southern continent. However, the difference between the shadow lands and this place was clear. The color of the ground changed to that of dirt, and patches of grass began to appear from time to time. Life was finally back to the way Harwin was used to.

  Soon enough, they reached the gates. The sun was already up and the dark clouds or smoke, that had blocked its rays earlier, were no where to be seen, either. Harwin had signalled Stein to jump on the cart. The space was already limited, but still, hiding a literal predator of the ashen desert was necessary. Winston had guaranteed that they would not be stopped but Eiza still advised to be cautious, as their positions were that of the lowest of the bunch.

  As expected, the guards let go of their cart without any trouble. Winston was a charismatic man which was apparant by how frankly the guards spoke to him. Harwin was surprised that such a person was having trouble in gathering a few fellows in his party, but again, the lands and culture was foreign to the latter.

  The settlement or town was not anything fancy. There were neither pavements nor large streets but there was normal life present in it. The place was bustling with people. It was a scene that Harwin found in correspondence with the southern continent.

  However, there was something unique about this location. In the other continent, there were people from different races and parts of the world yet this town was only occupied by humans.

  Harwin was eyeing around the streets with great interest. He was not an odd-ball here and felt as if he had returned back to his older world. Of course, this was not the case, having witnessed the horrific beings just yesterday.

  "This is our stop, you two can get out now. I will join you two in a few moments." Winston instructed.

  Harwin and Eiza abided. Stein was left in the cart for now. He was an intelligent creature and understood whatever his master meant.

  The building, they stood in front of, was the adventurer guild. There were little to no such establishments in the southern part of the world as there were hardly any monsters to fight, instead, mercenary companies were common there.

  Now, the guild had a huge building which meant that it was a rather intregal part of this land. Harwin opened the doors to discover a grand sight, it had such a huge hall that even the great-halls of the council-building of First town were pale in comparison. At least six hundred people could have occupied the tables at once and there were multiple stories of the structure.

  At the middle of it all were receptions. There were about thirty or so receptionist which meant that the guild management was rather efficient. At the moment, only a handful of adventurers were present in the hall. They scowled at Harwin and Eiza, maybe because the pair were carrying a lot of goods in contrast to their small party size. Never the less, the two made their way to one of the reception. Eiza understood the process so she spoke in her newly acquainted companion's stead.

  "We would like to sell a few items." She said.

  "Please follow me to one of the inspection rooms." The receptionist replied. He was a small fellow with a feeble stature as well, but he had an aura of professionalism surrounding him.

  They followed him without question. In the inspection room, another person was present. This one looked to be a veteran warrior or adventurer, although, he had a natural frown which made Harwin slightly uncomfortable.

  "Put the goods on the table." He demanded.

  The pair followed without question as if students submitting their assignments to their teachers. The claws were at least the size of a blade and there were more than fifteen of them which basically filled the entire table. Harwin had stored the orbs obtained from the imourte in a small bag which he handed over separately.

  The receptionist had left whilst the appraiser got to work without a single word. Eiza was used to the treatment, but the young mage felt a bit strange. Just in a matter of moments, the appraiser was done. Winston had also arrived by the time, he had made his way inside the room without any sort of courtesy whatsoever.

  "I will give you fifty bronze lion tooth for each claw. For the imourte hearts, I can give you seventy per. Do you accept?" The appraiser said, although, his tone was more of an ultimatum.

  "No can do, Syein. Come on good friend, these are worth more." Winston negotiated.

  Harwin had no idea what even was the local currency or its worth so he remained quiet.

  "Before that, how did a small time adventurer, such as yourself, even manage to take down a telpish much less this many imourte?" Syein mocked.

  "Hmm, not your concern, but you are also an old friend. Fine, I will tell you. This person here is the star," Winston basically dragged Harwin to the spotlight, "He hunted down all of these creatures. A jack of all trades is what he is. Can you believe that he was able to cast offensive spells as well as wield a blade, and, ah, never-mind."

  Eiza stomped on the foot of her companion to shut him up. He had a habit of over-sharing which could have caused trouble for their savior.

  "So, what can you do for us?" Winston asked once again.

  "I will give you sixty per claw and eighty per heart." Syein said with an annoyed look.

  "Seventy-five per claw and a silver lion tooth per heart." Winston extended his hand.

  "Seventy per claw and eighty-five bronze per heart!" The appraiser was either acting, or he was easily angered.

  The former did not test the patience of his friend any further and accepted. At the end of it all, Harwin was left with a great sum, but he did not know the worth of it yet. They made their way out of the room to get something to eat at the guild bar. While sitting on one of the tables, a mysterious party approached them. Their intentions were unclear, but Eiza and Winston certainly went pale at the mere sight of the lot. However, their target was Harwin....

  Special thanks for the recent review and all the wonderful comments including edit suggestions, it really motivated me. I have long term plans for the story and such achievements (ratings, follows and even comments) strengthen my resolve. I am a new author, so I make a lot of amateur mistakes, it is really great that many of you help correct them. Now I have blabbered for long enough, so finally, thank you for reading!