Every single person in this caravan, other than Stella, was also a member of the Nazin tribe. Stella had come to this world about twenty years ago, and she somehow ended up under the care of the Nazin tribe since she didn’t have anywhere to go. Out of all the tribe members, Sagarda was the one who had been the most welcoming. He had taught Stella the language of their people, and in turn, Stella trained with him and taught him to be stronger.
Right now, Stella stood as the odd one out from the rest of the group, but all the Nazin had a lot of respect and faith in Stella because of her strength, and that is why they allowed her to lead them through this desert herself. Stella looked over at Sagarda with a small nod, and she was about to speak, but she stopped when she noticed something beside Sagarda, and she pointed towards the horizon. Sagarda turned as well, and his eyes widened when he saw a small dust cloud rising from where Stella was pointing! He immediately shouted once he saw what was coming towards them!
"Fire Salamanders are approaching! Get ready for battle!"
The rest of the Nazin men who were riding on lizards all came down and began to draw their bows and arrows as they waited for the Salamanders to approach them. The Fire Salamander was a terrible creature that lived in these deserts. It had a body that was twice as tall and at least three times as wide as a man! Just like their name suggested, they could spit fire from their mouths, and they were known to cook their prey in their flames before consuming them slowly. The Fire Salamander’s body was covered in black reflective scales, and it had a red head that stood out against the blue sand of the desert like a massive warning to nearby prey. But the Salamander was so large, and it moved so swiftly, that it didn’t matter if the prey knew that it was coming or not. The moment you see it, you can be assured that you were already dead!
Stella came down from her lizard, and she pulled her scarf higher up to protect her nose before she drew her own sword and narrowed her eyes at the incoming beast. Even though Stella was not a member of the tribe, she had proven herself to be a capable fighter on many occasions, and the rest of the tribe had given her the position of frontline fighter. This position was something held by the strongest member of the tribe, and it was a great honor for Stella to receive it since it was unheard of for someone outside the tribe to ever be granted such a privilege.
Stella’s eyes glowed with a bright green light as she activated a skill called [Far Sight] and got a good look at what was coming towards them. There were three Fire Salamanders kicking up the sand and running straight for their caravan, and the Fire Salamanders were hissing loudly as they approached. Stella crouched and activated another skill called [Heart of Snow] as her sword was suddenly covered in a thick, sharp layer of ice. The Fire Salamanders were fire-based creatures, so they were weakest to ice and water-based skills. Each Fire Salamander was around SS Rank in strength and Agility, and even though Stella knew that she didn’t have anything to fear from them, she wanted to make sure that none of them got past her to attack the caravan!
DOON!
But suddenly, a massive tremor shook the entire desert under their feet, and Stella felt her eyes narrow in shock! The massive dust cloud that had been rising earlier suddenly grew even larger, and Stella realised in that moment that the Fire Salamanders weren’t the ones that had been creating that dust cloud!
"Stella, should we attack!?"
Sagarda shouted towards Stella when he noticed that the Fire Salamanders were getting closer! If they didn’t attack now, then the women and children could be put in harm’s way! Stella didn’t respond for a few seconds as she tried to understand what was really going on here! The Fire Salamanders didn’t look like they were running towards them to attack; instead, it looked like they were trying to run away from something else. Stella quickly deactivated [Far Sight] and her eyes turned yellow as she activated a new eye skill called [Fragmented Vision] that allowed her to see through solid objects! And the moment she saw what was really coming for them, Stella felt her eyes widen in dread! Stella immediately turned to the men behind her and shouted!
"Move the Caravan! Move the Caravan!"
The men were all stunned by the new order, and many of them looked at each other curiously. Weren’t they fighting the Fire Salamanders anymore? Why would they move the entire caravan for beasts that were this weak! But the look on Stella’s face told them that she was being dead serious, and once Stella shouted at them in anger, they felt fear pass through their bodies!
"A Dune Worm is heading towards us! Move the Caravan now!"
It was like cold water fell on each of their heads when they heard her say this! Dune worms were the last things you ever wanted to encounter in the desert! They were large, carnivorous creatures that looked like massive tubes of pure destruction! They were so enormous that they had been known to destroy entire towns just by passing through, and their mouths were so large that they could swallow this entire caravan in one gulp without any effort at all! And the worst thing about the dune worm was the fact that they travelled under the desert sand, so there was no way to tell where or when they would appear next! The only thing you would see before you died was the large, gaping maw of the devil itself!
DOON!
Another massive tremor echoed through the area, and Stella screamed for the men to follow her orders! Sagarda was the first to snap out of his shock when he heard this shout, and he quickly turned to the other men and shouted for them to move the lizards forward! The men got on the lizards and whipped them, and the lizards began to skip across the desert quickly to try and get out of the path of the Dune worm! Stella cursed when she realised that the Caravan wasn’t going to get out of the way quickly enough! The dune worm was far too large, and it could probably swallow every single one of them the moment it got close!
’I have to buy them time.’
Stella pulled her scarf up to cover her nose properly, and she crouched before she shot off to go and confront the beasts! Sagarda noticed what she was planning to do, and he shouted for her to stop! It was too dangerous! Sagarda was about to get off his lizard and follow Stella, but someone else held him back!
"Let her go! She’s the only one who can stand up to the beast! We need to get the women and children out of here!"
Sagarda was obviously not happy about this, but he had no choice but to bite his tongue and continue the evacuation! As the caravan moved out of the way, Stella headed straight for the Fire Salamanders that were coming towards them! Stella realised that the Fire Salamanders had been heading toward their caravan on purpose because they wanted to use them as bait. The Salamanders had been planning to lead the Dune Worm to them and then use that distraction to escape. Stella decided to flip their entire plan on its head!