Chapter 294 - Frustrations
The groups quickly continued moving through the desert.
Nobody said anything about the skeleton they’d left behind.
Even Gabriel had nothing more to say or complain about as they followed Nadia deeper into the desert.
For the next several hours, the journey continued without any major incidents.
But that didn’t mean it was peaceful.
The deeper they traveled into the desert, the more creatures they encountered.
Several lone creatures attacked them along the way, while smaller groups occasionally emerged from beneath the sand or appeared beyond the dunes.
Fortunately, none were particularly dangerous.
A small pack of C-rank desert vultures was wiped out long before they could even reach the groups.
Even a pack with well over two hundred sand jackals ranging from E to C-rank was rapidly disposed of.
Strangely enough, Theo’s group barely had to participate in any of the fighting.
Most creatures attacked them from the front, which meant they had to get past the Imperial Church and Dragonfang members first.
And when a group of D-rank scorpions finally attacked from behind and they were preparing their spells...
BOOM!
A large pillar of golden fire engulfed the entire group of scorpions.
By the time the flames disappeared, nothing but several charred corpses remained scattered across the sand.
’’Really?!" Owen cursed, lowering his hand. ’’Why does that bastard always do this?!’’
Theo slowly lowered his hand too as he glanced behind.
Gabriel stood a bit behind them, golden flames swirling around his hands.
A smug smile had spread across his face as he locked eyes with Theo.
’’You’re welcome,’’ he said casually.
With that, he turned around once more.
Owen immediately raised his fist, ready to chase after the man and beat him up.
But Lyra stopped him just in time.
’’Just leave him,’’ Theo said, letting out a sigh. ’’Less work for us.’’
Owen stared at Gabriel’s back for several seconds before reluctantly lowering his fist.
’’I swear, if he keeps pissing me off, I’m going to feed him to a creature here.’’
Jim chuckled as he shook his head.
’’What’s his deal anyway?’’ he asked. ’’Does he think we can’t take care of it ourselves or something?’’
Theo shrugged lightly.
’’Who knows?’’ he replied. ’’Just ignore him for now.’’
If Gabriel wanted to waste his mana dealing with creatures they could easily kill themselves, he wasn’t going to complain about it.
After another hour, the sun slowly began disappearing behind the horizon.
As the temperature slowly began to drop, Nadia led them towards a large rock formation between several tall dunes.
’’Stay here for a moment!’’ she shouted.
Everyone nodded as they stopped in place.
Nadia quickly walked around the rock formation, carefully inspecting the area before finally returning.
’’We’ll stay here for the night,’’ she announced loudly. ’’The rocks will protect us from most of the wind, and there aren’t any large creature territories nearby.’’
She paused before her expression became noticeably more serious.
’’Make sure you get some proper rest tonight... tomorrow will be considerably more dangerous.’’
Several expressions immediately grew more serious.
Everyone knew what was waiting for them tomorrow, as they’d studied it intensively.
’’We’ll reach the underground nest region sometime tomorrow morning,’’ Nadia continued. ’’If you stray too far from the path I’m walking, you will fall into a hidden tunnel...’’
She didn’t need to finish the rest.
Thousands of fire ants lived beneath that part of the desert, most of which were C-ranks, while even a few B-ranks lived down there.
If one fell into the underground space... their death was practically certain.
This specific region was one of the reasons why guides were so badly needed while heading to Petra.
’’We’ve had the easy part now,’’ Jim yawned behind them. ’’Let’s hope tomorrow doesn’t end up with too many deaths...’’
Theo glanced back at him before nodding.
’’Agreed,’’ he replied.
The underground nest region was just the start of the danger tomorrow. They’d still have to go through several dangerous beast areas before passing through one final dangerous nesting area.
And after that... Petra itself.
’This journey is probably the easy part compared to Petra,’ he thought, shaking his head.
With Nadia’s warning finished, the large groups quickly began spreading out.
The Imperial Church moved towards the center of the rock formation, while the Dragonfang members claimed one side.
That left Theo’s group with a relatively open area on the opposite side.
’’This should be enough space,’’ Iris said, looking around.
Theo nodded.
’’Yeah.’’
Without wasting any time, he quickly summoned five tents, sleeping bags, boxes filled with food and water, lights, chairs, and even a barbecue.
Owen stared at the pile of stuff with an astonished gaze.
’’Oho,’’ he muttered, rubbing his hands together. ’’What a beautiful feast again.’’
Within twenty minutes, their small camp was completely set up.
Lyra had even already taken control of the barbecue.
Several pieces of meat sizzled above the flames as she stood in front of it with a pair of tongs.
’’How long?’’ Owen asked impatiently.
’’Stop asking me every thirty seconds.’’
’’I’m hungry.’’
’’So am I!’’
Theo chuckled as he sat down on one of the chairs.
As he glanced at the relaxed faces of his group, he couldn’t help but shake his head.
’Despite how annoying the plane crash was,’ he thought. ’Without it, we would’ve never been this prepared and relaxed.’
Laughter could also occasionally be heard from the Dragonfang camp, clearly showing that they were used to this kind of environment as well.
Only the Church members seemed to keep to themselves.
’Not all of them seem experienced,’ he thought, remembering the member who’d been eaten alive. ’But that’s something they have to deal with themselves.’
After a moment, his mind switched to a completely different topic.
’It’s almost time,’ he thought, glancing at the dark sky. ’Once people start sleeping, I can create some distance and test out my new element.’
He quickly snapped out of his thoughts as the smell of grilled meat began spreading throughout their camp.
Iris took several plates from one of the boxes while Jim began dividing some drinks.
Just as Lyra placed the first pieces of meat onto the table, Theo noticed someone approaching from the side.
’What is this now?’ he thought, raising an eyebrow.
A familiar veiled figure had left the Imperial Church’s camp and was casually walking towards them.
Owen noticed her a second later.
’’Well, well...’’ he muttered.
Lucienne stared at their camp, completely stunned for a moment.
As she noticed everyone staring at her, she raised her hand politely.
’’I hope you don’t mind if I join for a bit.’’