Epic of Caterpillar

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We had to wait until night to come out, as the twins were able to guide themselves through the stars. The map that the Elven Queen gave to me was still rather useful to pinpoint my own location, but I had no idea where to go, it didn't showed any town or city as a location, so I had to simply move around until finding something. I guess I've begun to find this a bit too useless of an item… Oh well, it still a very accurate map.

However, as I thought about it, there must be some sort of Skill that could allow me to get back to my allies quickly, or at least communicate with them, right? [Telepathy] might be a Skill, but I don't know if I can just talk with anybody I want from so far away… Perhaps its advanced version [Fartalk] could do the job? Advanced Skills cost a bit more Skill Points than their normal versions, but even then, Fartalk was rather cheap.

Ding!

[You have exchanged 30 Skill Points]

[You acquired the [Fartalk: Lv1] Magic Skill]

[Fartalk: Lv1]

An Advanced and evolved version of [Telepathy]. Not only grants the ability to talk through the mind with a target that a [Connection] has been made with, but also grants the power to talk from incredibly long distances apart, which also increases with each Skill Level. Additionally, increases the power of Psychic-related Skills Power and Effectiveness by +20% with each Skill Level.

Huh, fancy.

Alright, let's try it…!

I first tried talking with Elfina, but got no response, she was still asleep.

After that, I tried Fiere, but no response either. I just hope she's with Elfina wherever those two ended landing into.

And then, I tried Luminous.

"This is bad…"

Luminous woke up in the middle of a desolate area of the desert, completely lost. He looked around his surroundings only to find sand everywhere, and cactuses slowly walking towards him.

"Where is everybody else?"

The young dragon god tried to look around for the rest but couldn't find a single soul within his surroundings. His powerful Divine Senses had a limit of range of 1 kilometer, so he wasn't able to find anybody within this range, meaning they were even farther away than he had originally thought.

"How can I even find them? I lack a spell to do that, and guiding myself in here would be troublesome… I could try to fly very high and maybe see the landscape from very far away to see big cities, maybe that way?" He wondered.

However, the walking cactuses got closer to him, until he realized the cactuses were walking.

"Huh?"

"GUROOROR!"

CLASH!

Cactus spikes quickly flew towards him, as enormous spikes emerged from the floor and tried to impale him. Luminous quickly evaded them, looking at the monsters in front of him.

"Walking Cactus monsters?" He wondered, quickly slashing one into pieces, the other three were quickly dealt with his light magic. "Well, that wasn't much… Huh?"

FLUOOOOSSSHHH!

And right before Luminous could even do as he wanted, an enormous sandstorm emerged before his eyes, so strong and enormous that it began to engulf everything he could even see.

"A-Another one?! One of these appeared right after the Desert King!" He muttered, quickly flying away, however, the sandstorm approached further and further, moving somewhere.

"BWAHAHAHAHA!"

And within the sandstorm, he could hear the laughter of a wicked man.

"What the…?! Whos' there?" Luminous asked in shock.

"To think I would meet the Last God in this world! What a good luck I have…" The voice of a man within the interior of a sandstorm was loud and clear, making Luminous doubt if this was a normal person being caught by the storm at all.

No, this person was someone completely different, in fact, it wasn't even a mortal!

"I am nobody else than the one that stands above the Sands… the Ruler of the Ankh Desert! I've finally awakened from my long slumber, and I won't let this pest spreading through everywhere take over my place. All of you shall be expulsed from my domain, or devoured by my plagues, sandstorms, and beasts!" the Genie said arrogantly, there was no reason for his behavior other than pure selfishness!

"Genie…?! Why does that word sounds so familiar to me?" Wondered Luminous, as he flew away and tried to attack it with light magic, only for the sand to reflect his magic easily.

"Hahahah! You seem to not be able to remember my tale, young god? Have any of my brothers and sisters awakened yet?" Laughed the man behind the sandstorm, as he tried to constantly engulf Luminous.

"What? There are more of you?! Damn it…! I remember reading about them before, but I can't quite recall it in this situation!" Luminous roared, quickly beginning to fly higher and higher, trying to evade the sandstorm by merely flying as high as he could until the sands would simply not reach him. Suddenly, the sandstorms behind Luminous shaped themselves into the face of a roaring man.

"Cowardly god! Run as much as you can! One day, I'll catch you and slay you! Your Era is finally gone! Eventually, you'll join your parents and their rotting corpses in their graves!" He roared with anger. He seemed to have an incredible amount of fury and resentment against Gods in general!

"You're insane…! Not even the Demon Lords are resentful against gods in general…" Said Luminous, flying as high as he could until the sands could no longer touch him.

He gasped for air, looking down into the enormous and near endless sea of sand, hundreds of kilometers away, there was a series of towns and villages spread through the dunes, the sandstorms seemed to be moving around the forest at a cycling pace, and might end up engulfing these places in a few days…

"This is bad…! Damn it, who is this guy?" Luminous wondered.

And then, he heard her voice.

"Luminous! You there?!"

"Ah… Kireina!"