Chapter Eighteen: Overwhelming Force

The sea buckthorn, with its keenest senses of smell and hearing, was the first to detect danger. It screamed out, “Four o’clock! The Sand Dragon King is approaching, meow!”

At that moment, the young hunters felt every hair on their bodies stand on end. Why was the Sand Dragon King here? Shouldn’t it be battling the elders of the Desert Fin somewhere else?

Could it be...

Nuri gritted his teeth and pulled his blunderbuss from the mouth of the sand dragon corpse before him. “I’ll hold him off. You two retreat quickly!”

“Why do you always insist on staying behind to cover us?!” Asa emptied another magazine, turning the sand dragon before him into a sieve with bullets before it could regain its senses.

Oran, who had also swiftly taken down a sand dragon, temporarily exited his demon state to catch his breath. “Cover each other. We can make it back together.”

In just a moment, the Sand Dragon King was already near.

The monstrous beast, nearly twice the length of an ordinary sand dragon, leapt into the air and charged toward the young hunters.

“Scatter!”

Nuri shouted, sliding and leaping to the side.

Even with his large shield, there was no way he could withstand a charge from a monster weighing in tons. To avoid being crushed into a pulp, dodging was the only option.

The remaining sand dragons, which had fallen due to the noise of the sonic bombs, were gradually recovering and howled as they charged the nearest hunters.

The roles of hunter and hunted reversed in that instant.

Nuri, armed with a blunderbuss, was in the most critical position as the vanguard. He bore the burden of attracting the monsters’ attention. True enough, under his continuous gunfire, the gaze of the Sand Dragon King fixed upon him.

But the danger did not end there. Besides the Sand Dragon King, another sand dragon staggered as it approached from his flank and rear.

An experienced defender could calmly handle attacks from multiple directions, but Nuri, who had only recently been promoted to a two-star hunter, clearly could not.

Faced with two threats, he had no choice but to focus most of his attention on the Sand Dragon King before him.

“Asa! Cover Nuri!” Oran reentered his demon state, using his speed to shake off the pursuing sand dragon from behind, attempting to support the vanguard.

Asa, the team’s only shooter, began rapid firing, but his target was different from Oran’s plan.

To Asa, the Sand Dragon King was the greatest threat. If he could divert its attention, Nuri’s situation would be much safer.

Oran disagreed. He believed Asa should be targeting the sand dragon behind Nuri.

Given Asa’s current strength and equipment, suppressing the Sand Dragon King with firepower was impossible, but the sand dragon was another matter.

Since that was the case, rather than wasting effort on the Sand Dragon King, it was better to help Nuri eliminate the threat behind him so he could focus on the immediate danger.

The situation was urgent; there was no time for explanations. Oran pivoted on his heel mid-charge, shifting his target from the Sand Dragon King to the sand dragon approaching Nuri from behind.

If he could intercept that sand dragon successfully, the outcome would be the same...

No! The sand dragon was too close to Nuri to stop in time!

As the two dragons prepared to launch a joint assault, Oran gritted his teeth and sped up, praying Nuri could withstand the first wave.

At this critical moment, several ice-blue crossbow bolts shot out from a distance, striking the head of the sand dragon attempting to sneak up behind Nuri with deadly precision.

Frost spread, chilling the air. The cold-fearing sand dragon howled in pain and stumbled backward.

At the same time, another figure dashed forward, sliding between the Sand Dragon King and Nuri. With the momentum of a charge, a massive hammer was swung upward, striking the dragon’s lower jaw with a heavy blow.

The once menacing Sand Dragon King was sent reeling backward, its attack halted.

The dual-blade wielder, also in demon state, moved past the young hunters at a speed far beyond that of Oran’s awkward “one-handed demon form.”

Blades flashed, surrounded by an intense freezing aura. In an instant, the remaining sand dragons had their throats sliced and collapsed lifelessly.

Having dispatched several sand dragons at a staggering speed, the dual-blade wielder exited demon state.

He barely glanced at the battle with the Sand Dragon King, confident that the hammer wielder alone could keep it firmly under control.

“Weren’t you supposed to guard the southwest side of the camp? How did you end up here?” The dual-blade wielder’s tone was tinged with helplessness.

Oran opened his mouth, unsure how to explain. He certainly couldn’t just say, “Because we were greedy.”

Seeing the young kid’s awkward expression, the seasoned hunter could guess their thoughts.

Shaking his head with a mix of amusement and exasperation, he said, “Let’s head back to camp. This’ll be over soon.”

...

The warm campfire illuminated the hunters’ resting place.

Due to the earlier skirmish, their mission ended prematurely. The hope to return to Lockrock before sunset and sell the sea dragon livers while still fresh had turned into a mere fantasy.

The desert at night was perilous. To ensure safety, they chose to spend the night at camp.

In truth, they had brought this trouble upon themselves. The elder hunters of Desert Fin had long planned the hunt.

With their strength, they could have swiftly slain the Sand Dragon King at once. The reason they hadn’t was purely to avoid scattering the sand dragon pack upon the king’s death.

That would pose unpredictable risks to nearby trade routes.

Their original plan was to continuously drive the Sand Dragon King around, forcing it to roam and summon the other sand dragons nearby one by one, eliminating them in manageable groups.

Considering the young hunters’ limited numbers, they even intended to leave some sand dragons behind as practice targets.

But in the end, their plan was disrupted at the last moment.

Fortunately, the sand dragons had already been mostly cleared in the earlier battle. Otherwise, it would have taken several more days to “clean up” the desert again.

The young hunters felt some shame and regret upon learning all this, but it didn’t seem entirely bad.

The campfire crackled, filling the air with an enticing aroma...

The hammer wielder, his hair streaked with gray but muscles still robust, took several skewers of grilled sea dragon liver from the fire. The surface was slightly charred, cooked to perfection. He handed them to the young hunters.

“Here, try my cooking!”

Oran accepted a skewer. The translucent, clear fat dripped from it, emitting a unique fragrance unlike ordinary roasted meat.

“So luxurious,” Asa said, eyeing the sea dragon liver. “This is our first time tasting fresh sea dragon liver.”

The hammer wielder laughed heartily. “Ha! Eat up, don’t hold back. We can’t take it all back anyway. That’s one of the perks of being a hunter—always getting the freshest ingredients!

“Many wealthy folks even post requests for us to capture live sand dragons and Sand Dragon Kings, deliver them to the city, and then slaughter them to ensure the liver’s freshness.

“But let me tell you, don’t go spreading this around. That so-called fresh sea dragon liver has already lost at least thirty percent of its flavor. Want to know why?”

“Why?” Asa asked, perfectly timed.

“Because sand dragons rely on their livers to detoxify. The anesthetic gas used in capture darts is a toxin too. The liver from a sand dragon knocked out by a heavy dose of anesthetic darts won’t taste good at all.

“Those so-called gourmets say fresh sea dragon liver gives a subtle numbing sensation on the tongue that’s addictive.

“Honestly, you might as well just lick numbing mushrooms!”

“Is that so? Hahaha!”

The hammer wielder and Asa laughed out loud together.