Level 50 was a threshold. The difficulty spiked in the Hinterlands. There was no way the captain could one-shot these beasts. He doubted he could deal with the three of them himself, either.
The stifling heat and shifting sand had to make maneuvering horses even harder. That gave the beasts the upper hand.
Jack glanced at General Hannibal, who was stifling a yawn. He supposed that even if the captains couldn’t handle what was coming, they still had him as a last resort.
Captain Apollos didn’t panic. He raised his hand, voice calm.
“Ten on me. Twenty, take that one. Ten with Captain Diana.”
The troops moved like clockwork. Forty soldiers peeled off to form a defensive arc, weapons raised, while the rest waited.
The first mound of sand erupted in a spray of dust. A massive lizard burst forth. It was long and sleek, about the size of a ground sloth. Its scales shimmered, untouched by sand, as if they repelled it. It launched itself from the dunes like a breaching shark, jaws snapping toward one of the knights.
The knight twisted his reins just in time. The beast missed, crashing back into the sand, then vanishing beneath the dunes without a trace.
“Sand sharks! Sand sharks!” the knight shouted.
The same scene played out in the other two groups, the sand bursting up in the two other skirmishes.
One of the lizards lunged for Captain Apollos. The captain met it cleanly, deflecting the charge with a sharp parry that sent the beast skidding to the side. Before the sand shark burrowed, he followed up with a series of precise spear jabs, while the nearby knights followed suit.
The lizard shrieked under the onslaught, then dove back beneath the dunes.
Six or seven strikes from a captain, and the thing didn’t even stagger. In the Frontier, that would’ve been enough to kill an elite Baronyx twice!
The Hinterlands really were different. In the Frontier, he'd been untouchable. Here, he looked almost human.
On the other flank, Captain Diana debuted her battle prowess.
She rode like a storm, wielding a massive two-handed claymore. Unlike Apollos, who fought in focused silence, Diana screamed with each swing, her blade carving deep, ragged wounds into the sand croc’s thick hide. She fought with fury, almost joy.
The squad of knights without a captain held their own. They moved with disciplined rhythm, riding in four groups of five. Two would bait the sand shark with shouts and feints, while the others darted in to strike.
Jack couldn’t help but think of the Goat Knight cavalry at the Breach. Compared to these soldiers, those One-Eyes really were a sorry bunch.
One minute. Two minutes. Three. The battle wore on. Good thing they’d upgraded their caravan. If they’d brought only one captain and fifty soldiers, they would’ve been bogged down here; every soldier would have been needed just to hold the line.
And they were only just entering the Sand Sea. The thought was sobering.
Finally, one of the beasts faltered. Captain Diana stepped in with a thunderous swing, her claymore bringing the creature down for good.
A beat later, Apollos’ opponent dropped as well. His final strike was clean and efficient. The knights around him didn’t miss a step. They didn’t cheer or waste time; they just turned toward the last remaining assailant.
Both squads pivoted together. The third lizard, still locked in battle with its attackers, was suddenly outnumbered. The combined force closed in, tightening like a net. It lunged one last time and met a wall of steel.
It collapsed quickly.
As the dust settled, Jack sprinted toward the nearest corpse.
You’ve harvested an Arenadraco Vorax
+5000 XP in Butchering
Loot acquired:
-
3g 2s
-
4x [Arenadraco Hide]
-
5x [Arenadraco Needle Teeth]
-
6x [Arenadraco Meat]
-
5x [Arenadraco Fat]
-
[Sand Sea Gem]
“Huh?” Jack took out the last item from his inventory. It looked like a yellowed quartz pebble, about the size of a quail egg, and shimmered faintly. Curious, he opened the item details.
Sand Sea Gem (Rare)
Sand Sea beasts have a diet rich in minerals, and throughout their lives, concentrate these in a small gem. It has multiple uses.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
Durability: 59
“What is this?” Jack muttered.
The other two Sand Sharks yielded similar loot—each one dropping a Sand Sea Gem. He raced to catch up with the rest of the column.
“Anyone know what this is?” he asked, holding one of the gems up.
“Sweet! Our first hintergems!” Rob said, pumping his fist.
“Hintergems?” Jack’s father asked, frowning.
“Pretty much every Hinterlands beast drops one,” Rob explained. “They’re mandatory for a ton of level 50-plus recipes.”
Jack’s father blinked, as if Rob had just started speaking a different language.
“So why is it that none of my recipes require one?” Jack asked.
“Only majors, Jack,” Amari said with a grin. “But hold on to them anyway—they sell for twenty gold apiece.”
“Twenty gold?!” Jack’s eyes widened. That was a hefty price for such a little stone. If a single recipe needed ten, that was two hundred gold in materials. What a rip-off.
Even though his first reaction was to feel envy at players with majors, hearing how expensive it was, he had to admit it was a good thing he didn’t have a major that relied on them.
The knights quickly regrouped, and the column moved on, with scouts fanning into the dunes, alert and watchful. As the rhythm of marching returned, Jack found his gaze drifting backward.
The jagged rocks that marked the border between the Frontier and the Hinterlands were already vanishing into the shimmer of distant heat.
The farther Jack walked from those rocks, the more distant the Human World of New Earth seemed. And with that, a quiet sadness crept in. Maybe it was just the stillness, or the silence, or the way everything behind him seemed to dissolve. But Holly came to mind.
Each step into the wilderness felt like one more away from Ashengate—and from the time they’d spent together.
It didn’t even make sense. He’d left vases there, so he could teleport back anytime. He could go back anytime, even bring her here if she wanted.
But after the way she’d gone quiet yesterday, he wasn’t so sure. Something about her silence felt off.
“Do you think this is what a real desert looks like?” his father asked, snapping him out of his thoughts.
“Uh. I guess… I’m not sure. I’ve never seen one before.”
“Yeah. Me neither,” his dad said. “Funny, isn’t it? From Portugal, Morocco’s just a short flight away. I could’ve gone anytime.”
Jack glanced at him. “What did you do with my father? The one I know avoids travel. Mom has to drag you on holiday.”
“I know,” his father said, smiling weakly. “But getting sick reminded me how short life is. Who knows where we’ll be tomorrow? We have to make the most of each moment. I should have seen the desert already. It’s beautiful. There’s something peaceful about it. Your mom would like it too, I think.”
Jack turned to find his father smiling, content.
Who knows where we’ll be tomorrow?
The words echoed in Jack’s mind.
After coming so close to losing him, just being here—doing this together—mattered more than Jack had realized.
And just like that, his thoughts drifted back to Holly. Why should he wait? Why should he hold back from telling her how he felt? Life was too short.
Jack tried to let the desert’s quiet help him sort it all out.
But the peace didn’t last.
Two fresh clouds of sand rose on the horizon—more Sand Sharks, from the look of it. And something worse was coming from the sky.
“There’s a bird coming!” Marie messaged in the chat.
Jack squinted upward. Sunny was already diving toward the column, wings flared wide as he slowed. He landed in a controlled skid, sending a puff of sand into the air.
“What’s wrong?” Horace asked Marie.
“Some flying beast spotted Sunny, and now it’s headed this way,” she said, pointing south.
Sure enough, a small dot on the horizon was growing larger—fast.
Captain Apollos began repositioning the troops. This battle would be even harder. Flying beasts were a nightmare to deal with.
While the soldiers prepared to meet the second wave, a rogue lay low behind a nearby dune, his armor blending with the sand.
He tapped out a quick message to his guildmates: “Heads up. Juicy prey just entered our territory.”
*
Since setting foot on the Sand Sea, there had been little chance to rest. The monsters came without pause, drawn in from all directions.
“It’s the vibrations,” Horace explained during one of the rare calm stretches. “Every step sends a tremor through the sand. That’s what attracts the sharks.”
With several hundred hooves beating down on the dunes, it was no surprise they had been under constant attack.
With Sunny dismissed, Marie now rode with Rob, and at least the flying beasts had stopped harassing them.
The column had just begun pushing deeper into the desert when a sharp crack rang out across the sand. A second followed quickly after.
Jack turned toward the sound just in time to spot a lone figure riding across the slope of a dune.
A player rode, an oversized deer with towering antlers, a megaloceros. It moved with deceptive lightness across the sand. Its rider lit a fuse and hurled a stick of dynamite. A moment later, the mount launched into a high, floating arc.
The blast landed a heartbeat later. The ground surged, then burst open. Five land sharks erupted from below, screeching as they surfaced.
“What’s he doing?” José asked.
“I think he’s gathering the monsters together to bring them to his party,” Jack replied, scanning the dunes. A moment later, he spotted the rest of the group.
They were waiting in formation in a shallow basin surrounded by dunes, weapons already drawn. The Grenadier rode straight toward them, his megaloceros leaping clean over the party before wheeling around.
The sand sharks charged, and the front line raised their shields to meet them. As they began fighting, there was the pounding of hooves—three knights burst from the far side of the dune, charging into the sharks’ flank. Their lances caught the sun as they struck, each impact landing with a resounding crack. One of the Sand Sharks fell instantly.
From one of the ridges, a crossbowman loosed thick bolts that flew with uncanny speed, each one trailing a piercing whistle like the ballistae of the Breach’s Moon Towers. Every shot found its mark.
And weaving between the beasts was a swashbuckler in light leathers. She danced through the chaos, her rapier flashing with every step. She struck and spun, slipped past gnashing jaws, then lunged again.
Their gear gleamed, every skill casting bursts of vivid color. They moved with the kind of coordination Jack had only seen from Horace, Amari, and Marie. No one shouted commands. No signals were given.
And their damage! The beasts actually grunted, staggered, and shrieked as they were hit. These players’ attacks packed a mean punch.
Jack watched, transfixed.
“Those guys are pros!” Jack couldn’t help but say.
Horace, riding ahead, nodded without turning.
A few of the players threw glances toward the column. There was a shuffling of steps, a flurry of skills, and suddenly, the battlefield had rotated ninety degrees so that the sand sharks now stood between the players and the caravan.
Jack hadn’t caught a signal or an order, but in an instant, the hunting party had placed a living wall of fangs and claws as a buffer—just in case the caravan made a move against them.
However, the caravan rolled on, the captains not even glancing in the players’ direction.
The sounds of battle became distant and then stopped altogether, but Jack’s unease lingered.
These players were the best hunting crew Jack had ever seen—only the Slayer had left a stronger impression.
And the way they’d immediately repositioned just in case the caravan decided to attack them… First had come the gatherers, jumpy and guarded. Now this team, instinctively shifting their battle to account for another group’s approach.
Jack didn’t need anyone to spell it out. Battles between players were common in the Sand Sea.
And if a group like that hunting party ever came after them…
Jack shuddered. He just hoped it didn’t come to that.