Master Of None

"Are we certain that we need to bring them?" Ventus sighed as she looked at Ignus and Remey as they looked for another stone crystal golem. It was clear that they wanted to keep fighting opponents. All the long ranged attacks and the fact that they were just helping gather items had made them too pent up. The battles they were prepared for were not coming. 

"I was wondering the same thing. If there wasn't a messed up wind current, I would ask you just to tell them to fly ahead. We can handle the path of the tornado ourselves." Walker joked a little with Ventus as he saw that she was looking at Ignus like she would a child. But she was the older of the two dragons in this case. 

"Midnight, why did you rush right in? What if Remey or Ignus hit you with their attacks? You didn't even communicate to them that you were going in to join the fight!" Su was right on point reprimanding Midnight but only got the cold shoulder in return. It appeared that Midnight had been the very same as Remey and Ignus. Tired of moving around and not acting on what they could do against the monsters here. 

"I'm surprised you used an earth hammer tail skill. I wasn't sure what you were doing when you pulled all the earth mana to yourself." Walker decided to break up the tension between Su and Midnight for the moment. He didn't want them to be like this for too much longer. 

"I was also surprised. I could sense it when you made the move.  I believed you would make a shield or some form of arm." Su caught on to Walker's desire and decided to support it. This did instantly make Midnight a little happier. She even went so far as to pull more earth mana toward herself and her tail again causing the stone to appear on it again. 

She showed off the fact that she could whip her tail around with more force, but she was also slower because of this. The cost of a heavier attack came with the fact that she would have to slow herself and attack at the right time. While this was good in most ways since she could break tougher defenses, the cost was speed. Midnight was very fast when it came to attacking. She could use her shadow wrapping skill to efficiently move near something and attack with speed and surprise. That Was her strong suit. 

Now that Midnight had developed a skill somewhat in opposition to her normal fighting style, it could be harder for her to use the skill. She would be unable to use it when she was hidden. But this also had some merit. It made her a more versatile dragon. Just the experience in eternal helped her learn how to apply the training of earth mana to other skills. It was similar to how Walker thought. 

Walker didn't miss this though. He carefully examined the skill that Midnight used and thought about how Onyx moved his body to put more force in to the attacks with his tail. "If you wind up more and let gravity carry out more, then you will be able to hit harder. Your wings were more open when you used it in battle. That caused you to hit softer because they caught the air." Midnight heard Walker's thoughts and she nodded her head slightly. She seemed very glad for the attention on how to use the skill she just showed off for the first time. 

What Walker and the others missed though was that the other royal dragons were watching. Ventus may not have said it, but the skill that Midnight used was one that the earth dragons often used and learned. She hadn't needed any teaching to figure it out, just the chance to understand the earth elemental mana around her. 

That meant that Midnight would need less teaching than the average dragons as they grew. It was better than the natural battle that life threw at a young monster. She would learn through multiple means making her stronger overall. Making her a true dragon champion in more than just name and blood. It was the genius that they expected from a dragon champion. 

It wasn't just that they found more respect for Midnight because she was able to learn the skills that dragons used more easily than others. It was also the fact that she was able to jump in to battle without hesitation and without destroying the teamwork of others. This was what they expected from the nature dragons champion. A balance between all of the elemental dragons.

"We need to keep the movement up, there are a lot more things we need to do before we get there." Ethan surprised the dragons and party with his sudden instance in movement. However, from what they saw, all the Fel empire soldiers had begun to prepare themselves for moving faster. 

"It's the dehydration. If we stop pushing now, we will have to break in to the water we are bringing. If that's the case…" Ethan explained why and one of the other Fel angels showed his calculations for what the amount of water they needed to use and could not use was.

The time they had lost track of while moving here had added up. The cost was water used by the soldiers. Therefore, they were significantly lower on the water they should have. That being the case meant that either the army marching would soon lose some of their number to the sun or that the water would not be enough for the Fel empire forces waiting for them. Both were bad situations.

"Take advantage of the dunes' shadows. Move in them and save water. Only drink enough to wet your lips and mouth. Whoever has buff skills to deflect heat, reapply them. We are making this the full focus. We have water time." The strict order from Current put everyone on more of an edge.

As the water elemental dragon, Current was suffering more than others. As were the water mages and dragonkin. The water affinity Demi-humans also differed their fair share. Making the strict moving formations would help them all but it also showed the degree that the sun had already affected them all.

The formations were hard to maintain while following the shadows. Mordant was able to assist by ordering his dragonkin to watch the edges. Having that be the case, they used their skills to stretch the shadows a bit. It helped block some heat and light from getting to everyone.

While the formations changed making it appear that travel was slower due to the thinned out marching lines, the angels watching the maps said otherwise. The path they were taking was following the sand tornado trail. It was allowing them to get through faster. Especially since they had mostly passed through the sharp storm of the crystal bed. 

The further push to get over some of the massive sand dunes related to the oldest sections of the inner desert was where the trouble re-emerged. The natural winds and chaos of the area were the reason that some of the massive dunes existed. Even the largest of atoms could only influence them slightly. This was the case for the sand tornado. The massive dune they faced which separated them from seeing what the ruins looked like and potentially the current effects of the sand tornado on them was their obstacle. 

As the forces began to march up, Walker found that they had to link arms in a massive chain. This was because everyone was shifting down with the loose sands. Especially because the storms had caused the sands to be piled higher. It had not settled under the sun's rays yet. Instead, the soft sand caused them all to slide down. Every step only made it half the distance that it should causing everyone to use more energy. 

The earth mages attempted to force the sands together to maintain more of a base. The linked arms were only enough to start the formations up the dune, however, bypassing it was not an option. This was just the direction they had to travel. If they were to attempt to go around it, there were multiple dunes that rivaled this one in size. Not to mention that added hours to travel around it. 

The only bonus to this was that there were many things that had fallen here when the storm came through. The sand tornado's winds had hit the dune and come up against  tough to break object. This became a drop zone for many items small enough to be dragged and carried by it. Therefore, they were able to gather multiple crystals, wood, and other small bones to store away as they climbed in the heat. 

….

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