God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

When a Celestial's power descends upon a world, the affected portion begins to distort according to the power of the Celestial Being.

At their core, Celestials are nothing more than forces, the very essence of reality and the universe itself. This applies, not only to living Celestials, but also to dead ones.

The state of a dead Celestial could be better described as 'Floating', for lack of better words.

A state of being neither living nor dead, here nor there thanks to their immortal souls.

For someone like Cain who possessed a rather intimate relationship with Celestials and Celestial-Tier beings, this idea was not foreign.

Still, it was quite easy to forget the level of grandeur such a being commanded when viewed from scopes as small as the human gaze.

Cain let out a sigh...

They were finally on the road.

Just a few hours in and the journey was already looking bleak.

They left the Camp a few hours ago. During that period, they hadn't been attacked by any creatures. And yet, Cain could easily see himself losing his life in this situation.

This was because of one thing and one thing only...

The Cold...

He didn't think he had ever been this cold in his life.

With the amount and quality of both mana and Ki in his body, no ordinary environmental conditions were meant to affect him. It would be odd if it did.

And yet, this horrid cold was eating away at his life force.

If it was bad for him, then the others weren't meant to be long for this world. And yet, they seemed to be going through just the same amount of suffering as he was.

It was perplexing.

Walking through the swirling motes of dust and sand, Cain walked up to Khan,

"Why do I get the feeling this cold is more severe on my end?"

Khan chuckled. However, the laugh came out rather stifled, as though he was having a hard time breathing.

"Well, unlike you, we have all offered a piece of our Divinity to Balangol. This gives us an advantage in his domain. Neat, huh..."

Cain shrugged, "I guess. Seems convenient."

Of course Cain wasn't to go around saying he was jealous even though that was how he felt.

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All he could do was bear the biting cold for the time being.

Besides, there were other things he had to attend to.

Like keeping a lookout.

The entire world was a blend of black and white. The sky above was filled with darkness, the only source of light the ever present moon, while the sand beneath their feet was a contrasting white.

The temperature in this desert was low, but the environment was so dry, it was impossible for ice and snow to form. Had the Sun been present, then this desert's temperature would see drastic increases during the day, creating another extreme.

In this case, there was only Evernight.

'Slight movements to the left, none to the right. Up ahead there's nothing as well...'

With {Eye of Clairvoyance}, he could observe in all directions. This way, he would be able to see potential ambushes before they happen.

It could also allow him set up his own ambushes before the enemies were able to attack.

Thanks to what Boulder had told him, he had been able to understand a few things.

One, the Blessings would only deactivate during a battle, but this didn't mean they couldn't attack.

Two, most, if not all of the creatures here were Tier 1 beings. This meant killing them wasn't going to be easy.

And finally, his magic was further suppressed in this place.

Even the range of his {Eye of Clairvoyance} was reduced by nearly a third. It was outrageous, but there was nothing he could do about it.

This meant yet another handicap.

All of a sudden, Cain noticed the movements left of their position were becoming more agitated.

"Stop." He said.

Everyone stopped in their tracks to stare at him.

Boulder turned to him, "You saw something?"

Cain nodded, "To the left, something's moving in the sand."

Boulder sighed, "We won't be able to tell what it is yet. Is it coming this way?"

Cain shook his head, "Not quite."

Lucia frowned, "Then what's the matter?"

Cain turned to her and sighed, "Well, we are supposed to head left to avoid Death's Barrow."

It dawned on her and her face paled. She clicked her tongue,

"Such terrible luck."

Cain shook his head, "In any case, you all should wait over here. I'll be right back."

With that, he began walking forward.

Boulder called out to him, "What do you plan on doing?"

Cain waved, "Just going to set a few traps."

While his magic was going to be suppressed, the power of his tools weren't. At least he hoped so...

His magic tools still operated on the same principles as his magic. However, there were differences here and there. He just hoped the differences were enough to make a difference.

He waited until he had walked out of eyeshot before activating {Dark Cloak}, turning into a phantom of the night.

Shrouded in this cloak of shadows, he became part of the black night as well. With so many towering dunes around them, there were plenty shadows to dive through, allowing him to move unnoticed despite the ardent light of the moon.

The Sea of Dunes was incredibly large. They had barely made their way past the edges, so it was only natural they began to encounter enemies. Still, as long as they steered clear of Death's Barrow and the territories of the {Stone Lions} and {Desert Segrons}, they would be able to avoid at least ninety percent of encounters.

Cain dashed through the shadow till he got to a certain spot.

He nodded to himself, 'This spot seems okay.'

Pulling a handful of {Dark Eggs} from his inventory, he shoved them into a nearby dune then immediately moved on to the next one.

Once he was satisfied, he turned and continued walking silently.

The disturbance in the sand had been relatively mellow, but perhaps the creature had noticed him, because ut had finally revealed itself.

Bursting out of the Sea of Sand, a creature covered in light grey scales emerged.

It as a towering beast, with three pairs of legs, reptilian features, and a single horn on its forehead.

***

{Horned Flame Lizard}: Level 137 (Deadly,Tier 1)

Strength: 50,000.

Agility: 70,000.

Defense: 9,500.

HP: 1,200,000/1,200,000.

Aether: 90,000/90,000.

Skills: Fireball, Fire Breathing, Frenzied Slaughter, Ki Enhancement.

***

Cain stared at the creature, hie eyes narrowed.

The beast shook his large body to get rid of all the sand, then opened its mouth, belching out a torrent of flames to heat itself up.

Cain's eyes lit up, 'So by hiding in the sand, it can retain body heat better. When the cold gets to unbearable, it rises to the surface and uses its fire breath to heat itself up.'

It was fascinating. Despite it obviously being a creature of slaughter, it behaved just like any creature would so long as it remained undisturbed. Still, it was an Aether Beast. These ones were a cut above regular Mutant Creatures.

They were far more ferocious, much more dangerous...

The Aether Creatures he had encountered so far were rather weak, Tierless Aether Beasts. This Aether Beast was definitely something else.

The sea of flames being expelled from the creature's mouth stopped, and the creature shook its body once again.

Cain had expected it to return back into its burrow, but instead of doing that, it began walking down the large dune it has just crawled out of.

'Crap!

When most creatures emerge from a long period of rest, their first instinct would be to look for food. Just from a quick observation, he was able to determine that this was the case for the {Horned Flame Lizard}. This thing was hungry.

It's eyes scanned the environment, looking for what would make its first meal.

Cain's mind spun.

'What should I do?'

Despite asking himself this, he already knew what he was supposed to do. Still, that didn't stop him from having second guesses. After all, he was about to play with his life here. No one could blame him.

Eventually, he simply sighed and undid the magic holding the cloak of shadows together.

The moment it came undone, Cain could feel the avalanche of murderous intent coming from the Aether Beasts lock onto him.

The Aether Beast remained static for a few moments, perhaps sizing Cain up.

Cain in turn stayed still, observing the creature. Its narrow eyes were curious, staring him down like one would observe an oddity.

Cain could slowly see the hunger in its eyes devour the curiosity until it was all that was left.

'Fuck!'

Cain didn't wait a second longer as he turned on his heels and ran. The {Horned Flame Lizard} immediately gave chase, dashing down the Dune in seconds.

Cain felt a wave of heat break through the chilling cold of the night. The damned lizard had shot a fireball.

Cain leapt off the top of a Dune, skillfully twisting his body back. The {Fireball} struck the dune. The explosion rocked the world, creating a wave of flames, glass shards, and dust.

Cain took advantage of the shockwaves to launch his body forward even more.

His eyes were filled with a meticulous chill as he led the creature towards its grave.