God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

The creatures in the sand made their appearance...

***

{Sand Skipper}: Level 120 (Deadly,Tier 1)

Strength: 5,400.

Agility: 100,000.

Defense: 550.

Magic: 8,000.

HP: 20,000/20,000.

MP: 24,000/24,000.

Skills: Lightning Dunedive, Sand Concealment, Lifehound.

***

Cain was immediately stunned.

These creatures were almost transparent, perhaps semi-transluscent the moment they broke free from the surface of the Sand. Their looked more life fish than anything else. Fish with translucent scales, giant jaws and sharp teeth that could swim through sand.

Their skill, {Sand Concealment}, made it so that even skills as effectove as {Eye of Clairvoyance} would not be abke to detect them so long as they remained in the sand.

Cain's face turned a bit pale.

'What makes it worse on a whole other scale...'

The thing that made him stop in his tracks the most, was their agility stat.

'A hundred thousand...'

Even the {Herald of Darkness} wasn't as fast as this.

Compared to these abominable little creatures...

***

Name: {Cain Lenosi}

Level: 131.

Strength: 15,074.

Agility: 17,434.

Stamina: 9,760/10,289.

Vitality: 10,727.

Defense: 10,115.

Control: 907.2..

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Perception: 2,181.4.

HP: 150,200/150,200.

MP: 170,000/170,000.

Magic: 19,012.

Ki: 701,790.

Spirit: 11,120.

Resistance: Poison- 90%. Fire- 140%. Lightning- 50%. Ice- 90%.

Skills: Burning Spirit, Burst Step, Divine Essense of Metallurgy, Blood Regeneration, Azure Burst, Mana Heart, Intermediate Seal, Devil Eye: Eye of Clairvoyance, Elemental Body, Spirit Sense, Black Dragon of the Crimson Sky, Gravity Defying, Nexus Tether, Golden Wyrm: Asura, Beginner Mage, Neophyte Blacksmith, Red Shift.

Spells: Infernal Celestial Arts: {Flame Orbs, Imploding Star, Vampiric Star, Supernova}, Infernal Wings, Wind Weaver, Summon: Soul Deity of Darkness, Blue Lightning, Spatial Jump, Golden Halo, Falling Stars of Orion, Frozen Paths, Frost Temple, Poison Arrows, Flames of Darkness, Iron Flesh Puppet.

Abilities: Elemental Vault, Ki Fire, Fiend Counter.

Titles: Champion of Ashur (locked), Sorcerer's Mind, Blessed by Mana, Pioneer, Devil Hunter, Loved by the Spirits.

Free attribute points: 30,060.

System Points: 3,771,800.

{Inventory}. {Shop}

***

'Damn it...'

A hundred thousand was a huge number.

Still, it wasn't all hopeless. While the {Sand Skippers} were fast, their defense and vitality didn't seem very good. Cain was certain all it would take to kill one was a single hit.

The problem was being fast enough to hit them.

The moment the first of the {Sand Skippers} broke forth from the dunes, Lukas coldly called out,

"Gather together. Don't attack on your own. Gunmen, archers, shoot them down."

Different ranged weapons were immediately dislodged from their places of rest and put into action.

Bullets and arrows wheezed through the air, digging into nothing but coarse, white sand.

The {Sand Skippers} moved side to side, so fast, it appeared as though they were teleporting.

One man slowly lowered his gun, a look of disbelief on his face,

"Im... This is impossible! I can't even lock it down."

There was despair written all over his face.

With agility stats of over a hundred thousand, these creatures swiftly closed in.

Cain breathed in heavily.

He called out as loud as he could,

"Floki! Put up a shield!"

Without hesitation, Floki braces himself. With a grunt, his energy flowed out of him like a burst dam.

A giant bulwark of ice appeared, seated firmly on the sand, blocking entry from one side.

However, the {Sand Skippers} were coming from all directions.

Bullets and arrows flew from every direction, but they couldn't hit even a single one.

Finally, the first of the {Sand Skippers} zipped through the rain of bullets and arrows.

Swimming through the sand, its victim was unable to react fast enough, as it shot off the ground and bit into his throat.

Gargling sounds and a bloody mess were all that was left as the creature dive right back into the ground.

A few more dropped dead to the ground, killed in similar fashion.

The white sand, beaten under countless rays of moonlight was dyed red with blood.

'They can't be stopped this way.'

Without wasting a second more, he summoned {Wilted Tear} from his inventory.

He had to find a way to stop these creatures all at once.

He also needed a way to break through their cloaking.

In his entire repertoire of skills, spells, and abilities, there was only one thing he believed would work.

However, for it to work successfully, he had to time it perfectly...

"Everyone, kept as many of them alive. I have a plan." Cain muttered.

Many chuckled, "I was wondering when it was time to move."

Blood had already been spilt, but since he hadn't done any of the spilling yet, Manny was simply unsatisfied.

He turned into a gist of wind.

A {Sand Skipper} jumped out of the sand, faster that a bullet, its target the neck of one of Boulder's crew who was frozen in fear.

Just before the man's life could be claimed, Manny manifested, his body suffused with a subtke neon green glow thst was especially radiant in the Evernight sky.

He slashed forward, but the {Sand Skipper} was simply too fast.

A grin spread across Manny's face.

The creature could dodge the first attack, but since it was mid air, it didn't have any leverage to dodge a second one.

His other hand was already moving. If this attack connected, he would be able to easily bisect the nasty looking critter.

However, just before his blade could connect, another {Sand Skipper} jumped out of the sand right behind him, aiming for his neck.

Manny's eyes widened,

'What to do? Should I disengage?'

He gently closed his eyes.

'Do first, think later.' was his modus operandi.

He didn't get this far by fussing over every little detail. He wasn't Cain.

So instead, he would do things his way.

Two pitch-black hands, wovened from a malevolent energy appeared on his back, each one holding a strange, hiltless bastard sword.

All four of his hands moved at the same time, slicing the two {Sand Skippers} into pieces.

Green blood splattered everywhere as the first of the abominable things were killed.

The rest used their own methods to mow down as many of the creatures as possible.

As Cain watched these battles take place with {Eye of Clairvoyance}, he also focused on his own task.

The nature of the skill he was about to activate was a bit complex.

The skill has evolved over time, and while it would be easier to just use it, getting the result he desired required a bit more concentration and focus on his part.

The range of the skill and the number of targets he could use it on had increased, meaning the mana consumption had shot up as well.

He sucked in a deep breath and lightly tapped the butt of his staff on the ground,

"Seal."

An complicated magic circle was woven into existence, spreading rapidly from the point of impact made by the butt of his staff, till it exceeded the outskirts of the current battleground.

Cain's eyes were diffused with magical light as mites of condensed mana rose appeared in the air and shot into the ground.

A giant illusory 'Seal' rune appeared behind him.

Everything in the surrounding area seemed to slow down for just a moment.

At the same time, all the {Sand Skippers} hiding were pulled by an invincible fprce towards the surface.

It didn't matter how hard they tried to fight it. Regardless of their effort, they were all pulled out of their sandy environment.

{Seal} had evolved into {Intermediate Seal}. It immediately shut off all skills, spells, and abilities of his targets within a designated area. In essence, it put a temporary seal on their abilities.

Because the {Sand Skippers} were Aether Beasts, he didn't think it would work. This was a gamble. However, his efforts were worth it.

His face was a bit pale,

'That used up more mana than expected. Still...'

It was worth it. Because now, he had given them a fighting chance. He had dragged the vermin out of their natural environment, essentially evening the odds.

The {Sand Skippers} squirmed on the sand, momentarily perplexed by the turn of events. It was a rather disgusting sight. They were like maggots festering on a wound. He counted at leasta few thousand of them at the very least.

Lukas wasted no time,

"Attack!"

"Fire at them! Don't get too close!" Boulder said, letting off a barrage of arrows himself.

They began mowing the overgrown maggots down as fast as they could. After all, the duration of {Intermediate Seal} was not very long.

Cain heaved a sigh of relief.

'With this, my job here is done. There is no need for me to get involved.'

He watched as the melee fighters closed in, cutting down as many as they could. Lukas was especially radiant, burning like a fallen star, a single streak of light blitzing across the battlefield to wreak havoc and death.

Just when he thought things would wrap up nicely, Cain felt the ground tremble.

Only this time, he was able to identify the source of the tremor immediately. How face immediately went pale.