Seth dashed toward the colossal Desert Snake, switching Share's link to Shadow Step while channeling aether into his arm. There wasn't enough left in his Well for Phantom Punch, so hopefully a powerful unenhanced punch would be enough to draw the attention of that thing.

Running by his side, Nightmare cast Chains of Darkness, and almost instantly the spell's shadowy wolf surged out of his maw, bolting forward and ensnaring the giant reptile in black tendrils. Yet the Desert Snake barely flinched, showing no sign of even noticing the attack, and kept advancing, its large eyes locked onto Selena, who was running for her life, green aether swirling around her ankles.

As the giant snake sprang toward her, its jaws open wide, Seth teleported into the shadow under its head and leapt skyward. With a loud thud, his fist slammed the beast's mouth shut and altered its trajectory just enough for the massive beast to miss the young woman. The legless reptile immediately hissed in fury and reeled back, glaring at him.

"Run, I'll draw it away!" Seth shouted to Selena before immediately bolting deeper into the golden desert.

After a brief hesitation, the young woman nodded and sprinted in the opposite direction. The massive snake paused, eyes darting between them, then locked on Seth and charged. Its colossal body carved through the sand in a murderous onrush.

'Great! You got its attention,' Nightmare said, running next to Seth. 'Now what? We die instead of her?'

'Oh shut up!'

Driven by his core's mysterious energy, Seth veered sharply to dodge a spray of green venom that shot past him to sizzle and disintegrate the sand upon contact. A quick glance over his shoulder showed the snake coiling and thrashing, then running after him again.

With each breath, the dry, scorching air clawed Seth's lungs as he sprinted across the endless desert. Beside him, Nightmare turned briefly to cast Chains of Darkness once more. The black vines sprouted around the Desert Snake, desperately attempting to hinder its speed, but the spell's thorns seemed unable to pierce through the beast's thick scales.

'It's useless,' the direwolf growled before looking at Seth while running, a soft glimmer flashing in his red eyes. 'But hey, at least now we know I can break past my Silver Potential! If that thing can be Silver with an Iron potential, I can certainly reach Gold!'

'Wow, that's fantastic!' Seth shot back, his core forcing his body to twist and dodge another toxic spurt. 'Glad to learn that before getting killed!'

Behind them, the colossal Desert Snake slithered with terrifying speed, its massive body cutting a swath through the dunes and billowing sand in the air. Seth's heart hammered his ribcage, adrenaline and aether fueling each of his strides; according to the noise, the beast was gaining ground on them.

There's no way I'm surviving this, he thought, clenching his fist while running. I played with fire and it finally caught up to m—

'Over there!' Nightmare shouted through their bond, pointing with his muzzle at a large mountain of red rocks on the left with a dark cleft at its base. A cave.

Seth shook his head. 'What if it's a dead—'

Before he could finish, his core screamed at him and he immediately swerved hard, bolting to the side. Just as he did, the massive snake behind launched itself toward him, its gaping maw a dark abyss against the sunlight. The beast crashed into the sand where Seth had been heading half a second earlier, blasting the dune apart.

The ground shook beneath Seth's boot and he veered to the left, pushing all the aether he'd been regenerating into Huntbound Rush's grooves. That cave was their only option. 'Fine! Let's go there!'

Sprinting alongside Nightmare, Seth charged toward the narrow entrance carved into the rock formation. A spark of hope flared in his chest—the Desert Snake, with its monstrous size, likely wouldn't be able to follow them.

They hurled themselves inside, swallowed by the cavern's darkness while Nightmare, relying on his nocturne vision, led the way. A sigh of relief was about to escape Seth's throat when a loud hiss resonated behind him, freezing his blood.

The snake, undeterred by the cave's size, thrust its massive body forward, its scales scraping against the rock while the tunnel protested in a chorus of groans and cracks. Dust and pierces of shards rained down around Seth and Nightmare.

"Freaking hell!" Seth blurted out.

He and Nightmare both gritted their teeth and weaved through the crumbling tunnel, their hearts hammering against their chests. Amid the chaos, the snake whizzed furiously and unleashed another spray of poison toward them. Seth and Nightmare contorted their body, trying to avoid the spell, but since they were confined by the cave's walls, splatters of green liquid still hit them. After sizzling through Seth's clothes and the direwolf's fur, the venom burned their skin and seared into their flesh.

Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

Nightmare yelped and Seth let out a pained grunt. Then, in the oppressive darkness of the cave, his eyes caught a faint light ahead—a distant opening. Without a word, Seth pushed all his remaining aether into Huntbound Rush to match the direwolf's speed and sprinted toward the rays of sunlight, feeling the snake's hot breath grazing his back and the entire tunnel shaking around them.

Upon reaching that exit, Seth and Nightmare dove outside as the cave's ceiling collapsed behind them. Shockingly, their feet didn't hit any ground—instead, they free-fell from what seemed like three stories high. The wind whipped Seth's face and roared in his ears for a moment, then he crashed into the hot sand below and rolled several times alongside Nightmare.

Above them, the Desert Snake burst out from the newly sealed cave, its colossal body soaring above them before slamming into the ground with an earth-shaking impact. With a hiss, it reared back and turned to face them as they scrambled to their feet.

'Get out of here,' Seth said, glancing at Nightmare before squaring his shoulders and locking his eyes on the snake a dozen feet away. 'We don't both have to die.'

The direwolf snarled and moved closer to him. 'So I live and you die? Not a chance.'

Before Seth could protest, the Desert Snake surged forward, its maw wide, the large fangs inside glistening with venom.

But then the sky suddenly darkened—and what followed seemed to defy the laws of nature.

An immense shadow plunged down from above in a flash, transcending the speed of anything Seth had ever witnessed. In an instant—before he could even blink—a giant pair of golden talons struck the Desert Snake, slicing through its scales and flesh like a blade through tender meat. The dark claws bisected the beast's body effortlessly before a single drop of blood even hit the sand.

Seth's breath caught in his throat as its core burst open, flooding every part, every piece of flesh of his body with an imminent sense of death. The gargantuan owl landing before him was shrouded by the aura of a king, of a sovereign. Its dark feathers shimmered like a majestic night sky woven with silver streaks, exuding a sense of absolute indestructibility. There was not a single doubt in Seth's mind that even if the Gnolls fired all day long at that thing with their cannons, they wouldn't leave a single scratch.

The massive owl's eyes glowed with an otherworldly yellow light as it scanned the horizon, not lingering for even a moment on Seth or Nightmare; they didn't deserve its attention. They were nothing compared to the beast. It was a king in the desert, and they were insignificant insects—insects that weren't even worth the fraction of a second it'd take to slaughter them. While Seth found himself kneeling against his will under the overwhelming aura of the owl, something stirred in his chest amidst the terror.

A deep and intense hunger.

This was the type of apex predator he aspired to become. Strength of this magnitude rendered wealth, nobility, and politics utterly pointless and irrelevant. There was no need to become the king of Trogan—if he possessed such power, a single word would be enough to make the Houses and leaders remember what true justice meant.

And if they refused to listen?

He would replace them with people willing to comply.

With perfect grace, the owl ascended into the sky with half of the severed snake's body clutched in its talons, leaving the other half atop the blood-soaked sand. The beast's enormous wingspan cast an enormous shadow over the desert as it flew away, letting Seth and Nightmare finally breathe again.

'We need to get that strong,' the direwolf said, staring at the dark silhouette in the sky.

Seth pushed himself up and nodded. 'We will.'

Then, the moment he turned toward the cave, Seth froze and his jaw dropped at the sight before him. At first glance, it looked like another carcass half-buried into the sand—but the longer he stared, the less certain he became.

Some parts looked clearly like bones, thick and white. Others, though, gleamed faintly under the dying light—scales? Chitin? Segments of an exoskeleton? He couldn't tell. Whether it was one beast or several tangled together, it was enormous.

"Probably the size of that owl or the Silver snake," Seth muttered, his words barely catching the wind. He tried to cast Intermediate Identify onto it, but the spell failed to show anything.

With curiosity, Seth and Nightmare approached and circled the remains as their shadows stretched long across the sand. From the sheer size of it—if it was from a single creature—the beast must have stood at least seven or eight feet tall and stretched nearly fifteen in length, with what looked like three long tails trailing behind it. No sign of wing bones, so it certainly hadn't been another giant owl.

Probably another giant of this deadly desert.

Seth brushed his fingers against one of the pieces of the remains. The material—whatever it was—wasn't yet bleached or brittle, hinting it hadn't been there for weeks or months. Yet the complete absence of flesh made it hard to believe it had been freshly killed. Unless, of course, something had stripped it clean.

Scavengers, he thought. Better get moving, just in case some are nearby.

Seth turned to search for Nightmare, but suddenly the direwolf's excited voice boomed through their bond. 'Seth, come here!'

'What for?'

Curious, Seth hurried over to the direwolf. The moment he reached his partner on the other side of the remains, his throat immediately tightened; a few feet away from Nightmare, nestled between two massive curved fragments of bone—or shell—lay a colossal egg. Its shell, hazel with a touch of amber here and there, had a rough, earthy texture, almost as if it had been made from hard rocks. Deep scratches—which came in groups of four—marred its surface in several spots. Probably scars left by whatever scavengers inhabited the area.

Nightmare, who was barely a foot and a half taller than the egg, gave it a careful sniff, then brushed his muzzle against it before suddenly jolting his head up.

Seth's golden eyes widened. Through Link, he had just sensed the same thing as the direwolf: a trace of pulsing aether.

The beast inside was still alive.

Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.