Extra: Gravel Scales (4)

Considering Stacy's poor combat ability, she was not taken on this mission. Carrying another person on a long-distance raid would also be a considerable drain on Shadu.

Fortunately, Lulu really knew the way. She lay on Shadu's back, pointing the way with her little hands, directing Shadu to navigate precisely through a Gobi desert covered with weathered boulders and sharp rocks, and then into a low but tangled forest of bean trees. Several hours later, they actually managed to slip through this hidden path onto the main road halfway between the Date Camp and the Salt Flat Camp.

The starry sky cast a cool, pale light, barely illuminating the sand. The three of them quickly discovered a very fresh, deeply sunken set of camel footprints on the warm sand, the sand around the edges of the footprints still slightly damp.

Shadu leaned down, his forked tongue flicking rapidly in the air, catching scent molecules. "I smell fresh camel dung!" he whispered, his voice unusually clear in the quiet night breeze.

The smell of feces lingered on both sides of the road, but the direction was not a problem—the three quickly followed the direction of the footprints and sped off toward the Salt Flat Camp.

Sure enough, before long, under the hazy starlight ahead, the outline of a slowly moving camel caravan appeared, consisting of eleven Bactrian camels. Surprisingly, there was no one driving, yet the camels were unusually self-aware, lined up in a row, heads bowed, quietly following the lead camel.

Shadu accelerated and quickly closed in on the caravan. Ruixiuli, carrying Lulu, jumped from his broad back onto the ground.

The silent, walking camel stopped and slowly turned its head to look at them. Its form twisted and changed like ripples on water, and the figure of the female Leonite emerged from it.

"Are you here to rob me, or to do business?" Her eyes were sharp as an eagle's, filled with undisguised vigilance and hostility. Her arms were deformed, covered with tough, bark-like skin, and at the ends extended a pair of sharp claws that gleamed with a cold light.

Ruixiuli's gaze swept across the camel caravan, noticing that the packs carried by several camels had suspicious shapes. Without a word, he drew his bone sword, and with a flash of cold light, precisely slashed through the pack on one of the camels' backs.

Several oval-shaped objects, carefully wrapped and bound with tough vines, immediately rolled out and landed on the gravel. By the starlight, they could be identified as lizardman eggs!

"Very good!" Shadu's vertical pupils suddenly contracted into cold slits, his massive body exuding a dangerous aura. He stared intently at the druid, his voice low and rumbling like thunder.

"Wait!" Leonite's expression changed slightly, and she hurriedly shouted, "These were all sold to me by your shamans! I'm just a legitimate merchant, cash on delivery!"

"Then what are you going to do with these eggs?" Ruixiuli stepped forward, his longsword pointing diagonally, and questioned him fiercely.

"... Human nobles always have all sorts of... peculiar fetishes." Leonite helplessly spread her sharp claws, her voice tinged with an unspeakable embarrassment, "I'm just satisfying market demand."

Ruixiuli had no intention of delving into the specifics of his fetish; he drew his sword and prepared to advance.

"Wait! I didn't do anything wrong!" Leonite raised her voice again, defending herself, "I didn't steal or rob! I legally purchased them from your shamans with real money—eggs aren't on any of the prohibited items list in the Desert Trade Convention!" Her words carried a hint of cunning toughness.

"The designers probably never imagined that someone would be selling this!" Ruixiuli cursed inwardly.

"She... makes a good point." Shadu's massive body seemed to deflate; he let out a heavy sigh and his body relaxed slightly.

"But--!" Ruixiuli couldn't understand.

"Follow the rules," Shadu interrupted him. "What we need to do now is revise the convention to close this loophole, and only then can we enforce it according to the law." He turned to Ruixiuli, "This concept was invented and promoted by you humans!"

"Exactly!" Leonite nodded in agreement eagerly.

Ruixiuli was furious and wanted to continue arguing, but then he saw Shadu, who had his back to Leonite, give him a very subtle wink.

At the same time, a message entered his mind: [Go!]

[Is there a problem?] Ruixiuli was startled, but he suppressed his emotions, stopping in his tracks. He deliberately raised his voice, speaking with indignation, "Fine! Consider yourself lucky! Let's go back and settle accounts with those damned sorcerers!"

Shadu turned around, his massive body lowering, "Hurry up!"

Ruixiuli immediately picked up Lulu and nimbly leaped onto Shadu's back.

[This woman is very strong; we can't defeat her head-on.] Interspersed between his words, Shadu's thoughts returned, carrying an unprecedented gravity: [Retreat first, then I'll take a detour to the front and find an opportunity to ambush her!]

Ruixiuli's heart sank. What kind of formidable enemy could make even Shadu say he "couldn't win in a head-on fight"?!

"[... That's really great!]" he muttered helplessly.

As the darling of the desert, Shadu's talent is perfect color-changing invisibility! He can make his scales, skin, and even his aura blend naturally into the surrounding environment and disappear completely without any magical fluctuations.

"Luckily, we're chasing her in this desert," Ruixiuli thankfully. "This is definitely your home turf."

****

On the other side, watching the three turn and leave, Leonite stuck out her tongue, a cruel hint of amusement in her eyes, and gently licked the pair of black claws on her hand.

As an assassin-type combatant skilled in stealth and deadly strikes, she had no intention of engaging in a direct confrontation. Her plan was clear: wait for these people to lower their guard and move a little further away, then use the shadows of the sand dunes to perfectly outflank them, and launch a thunderous decapitation strike!

Neither of the two "sixth brothers" realized that the other side had adopted almost identical sneaky tactics.

"But the spell that makes the lizardmen go into heat is this old woman's evil trick, isn't it!" Lulu, held in Ruixiuli's arms, was extremely anxious, completely unable to understand why Shadu and Ruixiuli would let this bad person go.

The moment those innocent words were uttered, the three people on the field, whose atmosphere had been delicate, froze in their tracks!

In that brief pause, Leonite's eyes flashed with murderous intent! She swung her claws back sharply, like a venomous scorpion gathering its strength, and then her entire figure vanished into thin air, leaving behind only a large expanse of yellow sand whipped up by the sudden burst of airflow, spreading out like a small sandstorm.

The next moment, the claws, gleaming with a chilling light, moved like lightning tearing through the night, and had already reached the spot where Shadu had just been!

The speed was so fast that it almost surpassed the ability of the eyes to capture it!

Ruixiuli reacted incredibly fast! The instant Leonite disappeared, he grabbed Lulu and launched himself to the side and backward with all his might. At the same time, Shadu's massive body suddenly straightened up with an agility disproportionate to its size! An ancient-looking staff, exuding a heavy aura, suddenly appeared in his large, scale-covered hand.

The staff is made entirely of some kind of dark hardwood, with a treated scale-like sheath wrapped around the handle, which is engraved with rough, primal totem patterns.

Clang--!

A piercing clang of metal clashing rang out! Leonite's claws, capable of tearing through steel, were blocked by Shadu's staff, which he parried in time. The immense force of the impact even sent sparks flying!

Leonite felt a tremendous force rebound from her, making her arms, covered in tree bark-like skin, go numb! She looked at the undamaged staff with surprise and suspicion, her voice tinged with seriousness, "This weapon is no ordinary object! Old man, it seems your identity is quite extraordinary!"

"Since that's the case, then please respect the elderly and spare us, how about that?" Shadu's deep voice rang out, his vertical pupils locked onto his opponent.

The two wielded their weapons again, claws and staffs clashing fiercely in the night sky, sparks flying. After several rounds, both realized that in this head-on confrontation, it was difficult to defeat the other in a short time.

A sly glint flashed in Leonite's eyes as she quickly glanced at Ruixiuli, who was carrying Lulu and running wildly towards the distant sand dunes. The young man had chosen to flee the battlefield at full speed with the little girl the moment the battle broke out, without any hesitation or intention to linger or fight any longer.

This is undoubtedly a wise choice. Those who lack the strength will only become stumbling blocks for the strong.

After a fierce claw strike that clashed head-on with Shadu, Leonite used the momentum to retreat several steps. Then, with a swift movement, she changed direction like a ghost, chasing after Ruixiuli the direction he had fled! Her speed instantly reached its peak, leaving a trail of dust in the sand that appeared as if cleaved by a sharp blade!

Shadu's straight-line speed was clearly inferior to his opponent's, and he was quickly left behind. However, under the cover of the sandstorm stirred up by Leonite, strange frost-white patterns instantly condensed between the gaps in his scales. His massive body blended perfectly with the sandstone beneath his feet and the night behind him, and under the cover of the sandstorm, he seemed to evaporate into thin air!

Sensing the terrifying killing intent rapidly approaching from behind, Ruixiuli abruptly turned and stopped, his bone sword held horizontally in front of him. He forcefully slapped Lulu's back and growled, "Run!"

"Okay!" Without the slightest hesitation, Lulu immediately began to crawl quickly on the soft sand, using both hands and feet, like a startled little sand lizard—one of the most effective ways for desert humans to move on sand, learned from the lizard people.

The little girl gritted her teeth and desperately moved forward without looking back, knowing that she was the biggest burden at that moment.

Bang--!

A dull thud! Leonite's claws, accompanied by a piercing shriek as they tore through the air, slammed into the bone sword that Ruixiuli had been parrying! The immense impact was like a hammer blow, instantly sending Ruixiuli flying dozens of steps backward, his feet carving two deep furrows in the sand! He felt a sweet taste in his throat, and a trickle of blood immediately spilled from the corner of his mouth.

After barely managing to steady himself, Ruixiuli gasped for breath and subconsciously tightened his grip on the yucca gloves Lulu had given him. He then firmly grasped the bone sword in his hand once more, and strands of dark, ink-like Magic Power began to wrap around and cling to the blade, repairing the cracks caused by the impact.

"Tsk tsk, what a handsome and stubborn young man!" Leonite licked her lips.

Just as Ruixiuli was bracing for the next onslaught of attacks, Leonite suddenly twisted her body, her claws snapping to her side and rear!

A terrifying, suffocating energy, far exceeding what they had displayed in their previous encounters, instantly gathered in her claws, so violent it nearly tore apart the surrounding night sky and the earth beneath her feet!

Her figure left an afterimage in place, but her real body charged back at a speed far exceeding that of before, heading straight for Shadu, who was rushing from the side with the intention of launching a sneak attack!

In an instant, two flashes of cold light, tearing through space, crossed and crisscrossed!

"Abyss Rift!"

Leonite watched as Shadu was instantly torn to pieces by the two claw-like beams that nearly sliced through space, and let out a triumphant and maniacal laugh, "Insects! Tremble and perish before the power of Saint Rank!"

The feeling of being in the shadows is always so intoxicating! Leonite was filled with pleasure.

But the next moment, Leonite's smug expression froze! The "Shadu" fragments torn apart by her claws lost their biological form in the air, disintegrating into lifeless grains of yellow sand like sand sculptures scattered by the wind, falling down in a rustling sound.

"What is this!?" Leonite's pupils contracted sharply, and alarm bells rang in her mind! But she quickly scanned her surroundings and failed to detect even the slightest Magic Power fluctuation in this deathly silent battlefield shrouded in night!

Centered on her position, the desert within a hundred-meter radius suddenly came to life! An invisible force stirred the sand, and large amounts of yellow sand were lifted into the air as if by an invisible giant hand, quickly forming a high-speed rotating, sky-covering sandstorm curtain that enveloped everything!

"When the yellow sand begins to sing, even the scorching sun bows its head to listen!" Shadu's deep, penetrating voice, like the desert itself whispering, rang out very close to Leonite!

His figure emerged from the raging sandstorm without warning, and the ancient wooden staff in his hand was now emitting a dazzling earthy yellow light, the totem patterns on the staff seemed to come alive!

"Raging Sands - Infinite!"

The wooden staff lashed out at Leonite with the weight of a mountain, and she hastily managed to block it with her claws. But this time, the force from the staff was merely a trigger!

The surrounding billions of grains of yellow sand suddenly became incredibly violent, as if they had been given life and boundless rage, transforming into a surging, all-pervasive sandstorm that frantically gushed and pounded into every crevice of her body!

Fluttering sound

Amidst the dense, rain-like sounds of rain pounding on banana leaves, Leonite's shield shattered like an eggshell! Then, countless fine, scorching grains of sand, like iron filings, assaulted her entire body! Her clothes were torn, her bark-like skin riddled with countless tiny holes, and she suffered excruciating pain!

"Excuse me," Shadu's voice remained calm, stating a trivial fact, "I am also Saint Rank!"

The lizardman's eyes, tempered by the desert's millennia-long scorching sun and endless sandstorms, were as calm as an ancient well's deep pool. Only the deep lines around his eyelids, like a dried-up, cracked ancient riverbed, spoke of the power and majesty of time.

The Wave Hermit, Saint Rank Lizardman War Wizard!