"My eye color is the same, but the rest of my eye is changing. Maybe it has something to do with my bloodline advancing or the [Spatial Awareness] skill I've gained. No matter, let's focus on tracking the trolls right now."
"Right." Gregory looked at him with some worry but decided to leave it alone for now.
Turning back to the dust storm he started following a trail only he could see.
As they walked through the dust storm, they didn't find any traces of the trolls or anything else until they exited its area of effect. On the far side of the dust storm, they found trampled grass showing that a few thousand creatures had passed here not long ago.
"Well at least we know we're on the right track." Chronos commented.
The others nodded as they picked up their pace.
Running over the wasteland they didn't see any new creatures on the ground or in the sky, but several times Chronos could have sworn he felt something moving underground. But by the time he took a closer look it was already gone without a trace.
"We need to be more careful. There are a lot of strange creatures in this wasteland." Unable to point out what he was sensing, Chronos could only advise his friends to be more careful.
Nodding they slowed down while checking their surroundings more carefully.
As night fell, they found themselves on the edge of a desert that was much larger than the usual sphere of influence that the world crystals gave off. Perhaps it was a large world crystal, or multiple world crystals were all affected by the same spell.
"Are you certain that they're here?" Chronos asked Gregory.
"Yes, they definitely entered this desert, however I can't tell where they went after that. Their trail disappears shortly after entering the desert."
"It's too large for us to search in a day. Let's set up a tent for tonight." Lyla said.
Nodding Chronos opened his storage and took out a full camping set. While they were setting up the camp howling started coming from the desert that put their instincts on edge.
"What is that?" Sariah asked as she looked out from the tent's entrance.
"Howling wind. It can happen when the wind moves through rock pillars or ruins, or occasionally it happens with stray magic." Chronos listened closely to the wind before continuing. "This one sounds like it's coming from rock pillars."
Looking at the fine sand that made up the desert, Sariah couldn't help asking, "Can a desert like this have rock formations?"
"Yeah, they get covered and uncovered by sand depending on which way the wind blows or what creatures are tunneling through the sand. We encountered them during desert training back in the clan." Gregory explained.
"I've never done desert training. Is there anything I need to be aware of?" Lyla asked.
"Yeah, drink water on a regular schedule, the sun evaporates sweat before we realize we are sweating causing dehydration in a short period of time. We'll also be stopping after lunch for breaks, that's the hottest time of the day and it will be too hot to move then. Did I miss anything Gregory?" Chronos said.
"Wear thin cloth over your head unless you want to get sunburned. It's annoying how werewolves don't get burned, they just turn darker, and you'll need to learn how to move over sand. It constantly shifts underfoot making it hard to walk." Gregory said.
"Right." Chronos thought about the troubles they would encounter in the desert. "We'll search the desert for two days then retreat. We don't have the proper gear to search any longer than that."
Agreeing they turned in for the night.
The next day they traveled into the depths of the desert past the rock pillars that had created the howling sounds the previous night. There were rocky areas around them that looked like they might have come from a badlands type of desert but not long past that area they only found sand.
The environment didn't change even after traveling for hours. No matter where they looked, they could only find sand, sand, and more sand.
"How was such a massive desert created in a place where it shouldn't be?" Lyla gasped as she took another drink of water from the canteens that Sariah had prepared the night before.
Using her [Elemental Control] spell she had created a massive amount of water and filled several canteens and a barrel Gregory had brought with him to the brim. She wasn't sure how hard it would be to create water in a desert, but she didn't want to find out if she could help it.
"Based on the quality of the sand and the rock pillars we saw at the entrance I think this was a rocky badlands to begin with. Then some fire or sand related knight or mage cast a powerful spell that destroyed everything, grinding it down to sand." Gregory said.
"Hm, if that's true then they must have been stronger than a rank 5 king or have multiple king ranks attacking at the same time, anything weaker than that wouldn't be able to create a desert this massive. Not to mention that even after 700 years it still hasn't recovered at all." Chronos said.
"The power from back then must have settled in the world crystals in this area making it a permanent feature of the wasteland now." Sariah said.
Looking around at the desert that didn't have any traces of rocky outcropping left they couldn't imagine just how destructive the war back then must have been.
After eating lunch, they were going to take a break but decided to continue when they saw an oasis in the distance. After walking for a couple hours, they realized they had misjudged the distance due to the heat haze in the desert.
By the time they reached what they had seen they were all tired from the sand and heat beating down on them only to have the oasis disappear from in front of them.
"Aaah, it was a mirage, whhyyy?" Lyla yelled.
Sighing Chronos said, "Don't think about it. For now, let's set a tent and re...AMBUSH!"
Chronos whipped his sword out as three trolls jumped out of the sand at the top of a dune that towered over them.
"More behind us!" Gregory called out.
A full squad of trolls wearing armor came around the dune on sand sleds being pulled by some weird creature with two humps on its back.
"Finally, I've been needing something to hit for a while now." Lyla cheered as she prepared her mace and spells.
As the three trolls above them descended through the air Chronos let out a [Roar] that knocked them aside, preventing them from landing in the middle of their group.
"I've got these three." Chronos said.
Charging forward he swung his sword at the closest one but had to dodge as the one on the left threw a throwing spear at him. The three trolls rapidly stood in a formation meant to trap a target, but they had underestimated how fast Chronos could move.
Leaping to the left he landed on the troll and drove his sword deep into its neck before the others could react. Twisting his sword the troll's head went flying as blood spurted out.
Clang! Crash!
It sounded like his friends were holding their own, but it would be much better if he could help them. Troll squads were formed of ten individuals, so they were outnumbered three to one right now and he still had two more to kill first.
Turning to the next troll he parried a spear thrust and pulled an axe out hacking into the troll's side at the same time, it stumbled back as the last one moved forward.
In their current exhausted state, it would be difficult to end the battle fast enough to escape from pursuers without getting serious, so Chronos decided to end this as fast as possible.
[Blood-Scent Surge]
His strength rapidly increased as he pressed the attack forcing both trolls to defend against him together. Under his increased ferocity it only took two minutes for him to end both trolls.
Turning around he saw two of the trolls were already on the ground but still alive with six attacking Gregory and Lyla while Sariah was running around avoiding being crushed by the last two.
Running forward Chronos took out one of the trolls after Sariah before it could react and engaged the other.
"Thank you, now I can fight properly. They interrupted my curses earlier." Sariah said with frustration.
Nimsy flew down and landed on Sariah's head looking tired, it must have been casting curses to slow them down otherwise Sariah would have been caught by them already.
Kicking the troll, he was fighting Chronos knocked him back towards the others.
Joining Gregory and Lyla in battle while cutting through the skull of one of the fallen trolls Chronos prepared to assist his friends only to see another one fall sideways as Gregory put several daggers into its knee.