28 Outside the desert city

Sandhaven was a bijou city built in a seemingly endless desert and was truly an ancient sight to behold. Its appearance was matched perfectly by the backdrop of clear blue skies which had helped shape the city to what it was today.

The climate these skies brought were of great importance, but they were also influential when it came to architectural designs as the vast majority of buildings were designed to take full advantage of the climate, as more daring elements could be created when you did not have to worry about strong winds nor flying sands.

A few new cultures had left their mark not just on the city's history, but also upon the city's identity. What historically was a city of no variation had grown into a multicultural hub, owing to the success brought by the late mayor who took great endeavor in developing this originally forsaken territory to a recreational spot, and it's this that united the hundred thousand of citizen to this very day.

Hundreds of inexpensive diners, lavish theme restaurants and take-outs with nimble services offered a plethora of culinary choices and experiences. At the same time, those who felt hungry for something else could enjoy the everlasting taste of preserved knowledge in musea, the bustling yet calming sound from musical activities, the long decorated arcades or one of the many other recreational venues.

At night, a certain district was allowed to offer additional services to assist people in fulfilling their natural desire, and intertwined sounds of lovers drowned in pleasure could be obviously heard. Naturally, the city never slept.

Having said that, right at this moment, this oasis of the dessert had all of its grand gates tightly closed and every door inside the city was shut, with intention to prevent anything malicious from entering.

Outside the locked city, there was a beast with body structure of a sturdy ape with height of almost two-meter. While individually not the most dangerous beast, they were fond of forming a large group. One record even stated that in the past the formed group was so great it could even tear down a fortress city in a single night.

Unfortunately for Sandhaven, the group trying to get in was comparable in size to the misdoubted record. Their city guards were properly trained to maintain public security in normal times, but inadequate to deal with this dire situation, and trembled in fear.

History might repeated itself, and a town might disappeared completely from the map.

"…Hah!!!..."

Or not.

Despite their terrifying numbers, a single adventurer was valiantly wrecking havoc among them.

The city noticed the beasts odd movement since a week ago, and issued emergency quest to the Association for help, and the later promptly dispatched their experienced adventurers to service the quest without fail and they arrived in the nick of time.

The female adventurer's movement was wild, yet her emerald green hair flowed artistically, captivating the seeing eyes. Even though the beasts were characterized by its agility and brutal attacks, they were lagging behind, unable to match her swift momentum. With her astute reflexes, she even dodged incoming blasts of pure air fired from pipe-like organs on their backs, which left the unintelligent beasts dumbfounded.

"Too easy!"

Simultaneously, she wielded a two-handed great sword that was as tall as her, and weigh more than several times her mass, which was a closely guarded secret, with deadly precision and control. Each arc she drew with the heavy sword was enough to bisect them, occasionally, several at once. At a time, she crushed a beast's head using the blade's wide surface and its insides splattered, an act she utterly despised considering the thorough cleaning she needed to do afterward. However, the most distinctive feature of the female was that she was wearing nothing but a crimson bikini armor, that showed much of her skin and toned luscious figure.

"...Hah...hah..."

Her ragging breath and dripping sweat only made her charm to be more attractive.

During battle, she did notice that these beast were way out of their usual habitat... A coincidence? She would state it later on the quest report.

…With dead bodies flying around, the sand beneath them was slowly painted in deep red of blood, and familiar scent of rustic metal started to linger.

Sadly, though powerful, her rampage was not enough to put enough dent to their numbers, and she had no endless amount of stamina to face them all. It was only a matter of time before her body was overwhelmed by their animalistic instinct.

"… Alana, step aside!…" shouted someone who stood a certain distance away from the battle.

The female named Alana was not alone, and the probability for that depressing future from ever materializing was, at best, slim.

"Already?! Don't you usually need longer time to prepare??" replied her in an exasperated tone, partly uncertain of what she just heard.

Normally, Alana would complain when her partner took too much time to prepare their magic while she kept enemies at bay. This time, Alana complained because her teammate's preparation was too fast! She did not have enough action yet! She needed time to shine!

"Not anymore…" told the person, showing a confident grin.

"...What a dependable answer, tell me about it later, alright then!…"

Alana kicked a nearby beast away, managed to make it senseless, and swung her enormous sword upward while the blade deeply buried in the sand, creating a large sand wave that swallowed the beasts in front of her, allowing her the needed time to retreat.

Instant later, the other adventurer invoked her magic, and legion of blue magic circles belonging to ice magic category was brought to life on the sky behind the person. From each one of them, a dazzling sharp ice lance emerged.

"H-how many did you create?!"

"To be sure, a pair for each beast"

The remaining beasts amounted to around five-hundred. In other words, one-thousand lances were on stand by to attack them.

That was overkill, surely.

When the person pointed her index and middle finger toward the horde like muzzle of a newly developed firearm, the lances interpreted it as a "Go get them!" command, and began to fly to arrive at the targets, whilst cutting the air on the way.

In seconds, every lance made contact with their respective target, not one dare to made a blunder in front of their revered mistress.

"Guhh!"

Alana reflexively shielded herself with her sword as an explosion of the coldest air possible occurred in the scorching desert, and for a brief moment of time ice crystals and snow were falling, just like winter, a phenomenon that normally impossible to happen. Yet, it happened right before her eyes.

What left between them and the city was a frozen field with towering ice fangs emerging from the ground.

"Quest completed!" declared the other adventurer cheerfully, and raised her arms upward as an expression of her elated feeling.

No beast survived.

Wait, there was one writhing in pain, ah but it soon passed away due to the extreme change in temperature.

"…You know, Mikaela, I want to confirm something…" astonished by the view and the result, Alana decided to ensure a paramount matter to her wellbeing.

"Yes, what is it...?" asked the alluring woman with voluptuous body who wore similar outfit to Alana.

"…The earlier agreement that we'll split the quest reward equally still stand, yes…?"

To be honest, Alana did not do much, she only managed to trim a fraction of the group, which made her worried about the reward distribution. Fortunately, Mikaela honored the deal with her friend, and Alana was wholesomely relieved.