Ch.9797. Desert of Death (1)

Not long after the pirate ship attack, we finally set foot in the ‘Desert of Death.’

“Druid, thank you for everything!”

“Ah, yes. I’ll see you again in two weeks.”

The Venetian warships departed after dropping off the temple group and us at the shore, and as we watched them leave…

“So that’s how the temple side does it.”

“…The prophet thinks that’s a holy relic.”

We curiously observed the priests of Chronima, the War God Temple, setting up their base camp inside the otherworld.

The ‘holy relic,’ small enough to fit in one’s palm, was a sculpture in the form of a sword inserted into what appeared to be an octagonal stone altar.

Red liquid, presumably blood, was beading and dripping down the blade of this holy relic, which was dispersing a faint divine power around it. Though not particularly impressive, this divine power was sufficient to neutralize the necromantic energy within the otherworld.

Additionally, glass bottles filled with holy water placed at regular intervals along the edges of the base camp resonated with the holy relic and emitted light.

Seeing this, I realized that this small base camp was actually functioning as a makeshift temple.

In this world, temples are both religious facilities and quasi-otherworlds imbued with divine power.

They are special spaces that repel impurities and empower those within them.

It’s no coincidence that temples in rural villages serve as emergency shelters, and in reality, larger temples often possess fortress-like defensive capabilities.

And even a makeshift temple with minimal requirements like this would be sufficient to prevent the intrusion of mindless low-level undead.

‘Ooooh…’

Looking at the translucent red barrier that separated the inside and outside of the temple, I couldn’t help but marvel at the principles contained within it.

Without any special magical measures, merely placing a few magical objects had created magical effects that could hardly be called simple.

The power to filter out cultists who belong to impurity, protection against spiritual or magical attacks targeting those inside…

The power contained in this translucent red barrier far exceeded my expectations.

Of course, this was no time to just stand in admiration.

The two of us began preparing for comfortable travel through this Desert of Death.

In other words, we took out the Tarasque that had been stored inside Sophia’s essence storage.

-Kuuuuuuung!!!

As the massive mass emerged onto the ground, a loud sound echoed in all directions, and the Tarasque raised its majestic body amidst swirling sand.

The Tarasque, which could be considered the key to this desert expedition, thus revealed itself upon this desert.

“Oh, is this the mobile base?”

“Yes, Lady Dorthea. Without it, it would be difficult for a druid to travel through the Desert of Death.”

The necromantic energy spread throughout the ‘Desert of Death’ otherworld interferes with a druid’s process of harmonizing with the mysteries of nature, and furthermore, gradually depletes the target’s life force.

Moreover, this necromantic energy inevitably interferes with a druid’s use of magic, so I presented the Tarasque as a solution to this problem.

Designed as a mobile mini-otherworld and ‘Nature’s Hut,’ the Tarasque can serve as the best fortress and shelter for safe travel and a two-week stay.

In the ‘Desert of Death,’ where the mysteries of nature are barren, concealment through harmonizing with the natural environment might be impossible, but just having something that can serve as a foundation for druid magic as an otherworld is helpful enough.

Additionally, the Tarasque as the ‘Small Aleinos Forest’ otherworld somewhat neutralizes the effects of the ‘Desert of Death’ otherworld, and furthermore, the Tarasque’s combat capabilities are actually quite considerable.

Created based on a dragon’s body, it possesses physical abilities that give it an advantage in close combat, and since it also has magical amplification functions, its combat power is quite guaranteed depending on the pilot’s capabilities.

Anyway, after finishing preparations for the adventure, I… received what Lady Dorthea, who was looking at the Tarasque with sparkling eyes, handed to me.

“Here you go, Druid Gregory. This is the communication device I mentioned before.”

“…Ah! Is this the communication device?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Although we agreed to meet again in two weeks when the ship returns, having a way to contact each other wouldn’t hurt.

This rod-shaped communication device, which comes in pairs, is one of the magic tower’s bestsellers. It’s (relatively) inexpensive for a communication device and has the advantage that the paired devices can communicate with each other regardless of location.

In other words, it’s possible to communicate no matter where I am.

“Then, see you in two weeks.”

“Take care until then.”

“I will. Gregory, Sophia. See you in two weeks!”

And so, Sophia and I parted ways with Lady Dorthea, expressing our gratitude for her kindness in allowing us to join her voyage.

Our goal is singular.

To find the person of fate who, for reasons unknown, is here in this place—someone we were able to identify through Sophia’s foresight.

※ ※ ※

“(Huff, huff, huff…)”

Somewhere in the outskirts of the ‘Desert of Death.’ A red beast was running across the cold desert.

Its body was protected by fur and hide that looked as if covered in burnt charcoal or soot, and behind its head flowed a scarlet energy mane that resembled blazing flames.

Its tail was similarly composed of flowing scarlet energy instead of hair, and its two eyes emitted a sulfurous, blazing light.

Even at first glance, this creature looked far from an ordinary animal, and indeed, it was a quite powerful magical beast—a Nightmare.

Also known as a dream horse (夢馬), it is an innately intermediate-level equine magical beast.

“(Wheeze, wheeze, wheeze, wheeze…)”

This magical beast, which originated from the Western Continent, has the appearance of a strikingly beautiful black horse, and indeed, its considerable size and muscular body for a horse make it look like an unparalleled steed.

However… there was a reason why such a Nightmare came to live in this dangerous Desert of Death, far from its natural habitat.

Despite its appearance resembling some hellish beast, the Nightmare is just a common intermediate-level magical beast, but people who tend to judge the essence of something by its appearance misunderstood Nightmares as actual demons.

The fact that they are only female and sometimes born among normal horses through atavism, their human-level intelligence, their ability to handle flames the color of dawn, and their carnivorous predatory nature all fueled this misunderstanding.

They are merely intermediate-level magical beasts resembling horses (perhaps even originating from horses), but the fact that they occasionally harm humans as carnivores became a reason for humanity not to correct such misunderstandings.

What further fueled these misunderstandings was the Nightmare’s special ability.

As their name suggests, Nightmares can feed on or gain strength from the ‘nightmares’ of sleeping creatures, and from the perspective of the one whose dream is being consumed, the Nightmare appears as a monster invading dreams to devour souls.

With this characteristic that inevitably invites misunderstanding, and the fact that Nightmares were already quite rare, they came to be called dream horses (夢馬) despite being far from actual dream demons (夢魔) like incubi or succubi.

And this Nightmare was also one of the victims of such misconceptions.

About 124 years old now. Born in the southeastern part of the Western Continent, this Nightmare was treated almost like some evil spawn just for being seen, which raised its survival difficulty to the extreme.

Moreover, the southeastern part of the Western Continent is famous for having many fanatical followers of Chronima, and these fanatics were known for committing foolish acts born of ignorance.

Thus, the Nightmare, a victim of what was essentially a witch hunt, wandered from place to place until… a few months ago, it arrived at the Desert of Death.

Of course, the Desert of Death is not particularly suitable for a Nightmare to live in.

The necromantic energy within the otherworld gradually eats away at the Nightmare’s life force.

The endlessly appearing undead, though mostly low-level and no match for it, essentially cause it to slowly starve.

And… time passes like that.

As the Nightmare felt itself gradually approaching death and wandered lost in direction within the desert.

“Alright, let’s go!”

Somewhere in the Desert of Death, two druids began their adventure.