Chapter 143: Tense Silence

Words : 1071 Updated : Sep 17th, 2025

Chapter 143: Tense SilenceMore hours passed. The air shimmered from the overwhelming heat, turning the sand beneath their feet into an endless sea of golden death. Walking on it felt like traversing on a large, heated cooking pan. Sweat oozed down everyone’s faces, with their bodies aching from the sheer effort walking under the merciless sun took. Even the most physically capable among them felt it—the slow, creeping exhaustion clawing into their very bones. The accursed waiting only made things worse. There had been no attacks for hours. No sand worms, no undead horrors, nothing. Just silence. The longer it stretched, the more unbearable it became. No one trusted it. Kaiden felt his grip tighten on his war axe. His instincts screamed at him. This wasn’t right. It wasn’t mercy but a setup, made to lull them into a false sense of safety. However, he couldn’t do anything about it. The only thing that could help was forcing whatever monster he was sure to be laying an ambush for them out into the open, but he had no means to do so. Just as he was cursing under his breath, it happened. It started with a single, quiet thump. Someone collapsed mid-step, hitting the sand face-first. At first, no one reacted. Everyone was too drained to process it. Then, someone turned toward the direction of the sound. "Hey... you okay?" No response. They rushed over, flipping the man onto his back. His eyes were wide, his lips parted, but he wasn’t breathing. A faint trail of blood leaked from his mouth. Kaiden’s heart pounded as his gaze swept lower. There, embedded in his neck, was a tiny black dart. "Ambush!" Panic exploded in the group. Some ducked, others scrambled for cover that didn’t exist. The vast, open desert provided no place to hide. "Where’s it coming from?!" Leon snarled, unsheathing his longsword. "What even is it in the first place?!" Jack screamed after letting off a cursing spree. Another body hit the sand. Then a third. They were being picked off. Kaiden’s mind worked at full speed. Snipers? No, that didn’t fit. The darts were too small, too crude. His eyes snapped to the dunes in the long distance, and then he saw it. <Pharaoh’s Fang - level 14> <Pharaoh’s Fang - level 16> <Pharaoh’s Fang - level 13> "There! Small insects!" Noticing they were found out, the creatures burst forth from below the sands they used as their cover, with only their little dart-like tails and eyes being visible. Then, they began rushing backward while aiming their stingers at the group, doing their utmost to keep the distance between them and the awakened, who was already rushing to crush them. Once they knew where to look, the faster combatants could dodge, and even the slower ones, like Jack, had enough presence to raise their shields to block the incoming darts. These monsters proved to be one-trick ponies, only proficient at stealthy sniper attacks. After Kaiden and the rest reached them, they crumbled apart from even weak slashes or projectiles sent from the backline. But the damage was already done. Three people lay motionless in the sand. They never even got to fight for their lives. The last pharaoh’s fang twitched as it was squished to death with Jack’s hammer, but no one cheered. They were breathing too hard, some holding their hands to their necks, checking for dart wounds that weren’t there. Paranoia had officially settled in. Then, a low howl echoed in the distance. At first, it sounded like the wind. Then it grew. Kaiden turned, and his stomach sank as he saw the wall of rolling sand approaching them fast. "Sandstorm!" Before anyone could mount a response, it slammed into them. The world turned into a suffocating blur of gold and brown. Visibility dropped to nothing. Kaiden couldn’t even see Luna, who had been standing next to him a second ago. "Kai!!" Following her voice, he reached out to the Storm Valkyrie, and his grip found its mark. He hugged the girl close, doing his utmost to protect the both of them while gritting his teeth with fright, not daring to imagine how his other ladies might be faring without him. Kaiden knew it was utterly impossible to find them in these conditions. All he could do was trust them and hope for the best. This made it all the worse. Voices shouted, muffled and distant. Then, screams. Someone had been visibly ripped from the ground, thrown into the air by the sandstorm. Someone else screamed. Then another. And then, silence. Kaiden immediately snapped his head around, searching for Nyx and Aria. He couldn’t care less about anyone else. His heart skipped a beat when his eyes landed on the pair, who was caught by none other than Elara. The girl had a lot of Strength stat to her name. She used her hands to grab onto the relatively physically weak girls, not letting the sandstorm drag them away. Sёarch* The NovelFire.net* website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. At that moment, the young girl had earned Valhalla’s Sinners’ gratitude. By the time the storm passed, the other survivors stood in place, blinking at the emptiness around them. They did a headcount only to find that three more were missing. No bodies. No tracks. Just ’puff’ and they were gone, likely thrown far away by the storm. After Kaiden embraced each of his girls and thanked Elara—who refused to accept his gratitude, saying she was just doing her part—the journey resumed. A brief few sentences were exchanged between the squad to note how brutal this dungeon turned out to be and that they were wholly underestimating it. But then, they didn’t speak much after that. No one had the energy. They pressed forward, step by agonizing step. A few hours later, someone gasped. "Look!" Everyone’s heads snapped up. A new sight came into vision. It wasn’t just a trick of the heat; they were sure of it. Water... An oasis stood before them. A perfect, blue pool glistened under the sun. At the tantalizing sight, the sole remaining member from Dorothy’s original team broke into a sprint. "Wait!" the brawler shouted, but he didn’t stop. He ran with full force, sand kicking up behind him. His crazed eyes were wide with desperate thirst.

Chapter 143: Tense Silence

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