24 Child Snatcher

The tremor was felt throughout the whole desert but the Bison mages attacking them were not relenting. Instead, they quickened their pace, and forced their bisons to move even faster. No matter how hard Sen tried to press on to the pedal, it was useless. It was obvious the herd can catch up on them.

Approximately 200 meters or so, the herd split into two and started to surround the sides of the speeding jeep. The attacks done by Raizan and Feng were damaging to thin the massive horde behind them but more kept appearing from nowhere. The fire bolts from the cloaked men got even more intense.

Sen was able to keep to avoid a number of them with the timely use of the shroud mist which acted as a smokescreen. The spell not only increase the inaccuracy of firebolt attacks done by the bison mage, it creates a deterrent to the bison themselves once they were caught in the shroud mist. The bison became disoriented upon entering the mist and the mages were unable to command their bison.

Despite the shroud mist was of the darkness property, it too had a certain percentage of water element in it. This made Raizan's occasional lightning bolt attacks to be extremely effective against the bison mages who were caught in the shroud mist. Raizan was no longer surprised by the tricks Sen can create so he just utilise any advantage he can get against the overwhelming horde.

Despite the frantic rain of fire bolts from the bison mages, Raizan managed to block most of their direct hits with a magic barrier that was cast around the jeep. Upon hit, the barrier worked by dissipating the fire bolts' energy and it does not damage the jeep a single bit. It was not straining to maintain the integrity of the barrier if it was just a couple of fire bolts but the attacks start to become numerous and consistent. Eventually the attacks also start to take a toll towards Raizan's barrier

Sen knew they needed to do something fast before the entire herd surrounds and encloses the jeep entirely. Suddenly, the tremor from before got even louder and a gigantic dune worm burst out of the sands right in front of Sen and company. Sen tried to do an emergency turn to prevent a head on crash to the worm but it was fruitless.

As compared to the Dune Worm, the jeep was as big as an ant. A couple of the bison mages were ruthlessly eaten by the ginormous worm the moment it burst out of the sand dunes. However the worm did not have its fill yet. That few bison mages and their tasty muscular bisons made it hunger for more. The worm started to leap towards the back of the crashed jeep to consume more of the bison mages that was chasing it.

The jeep bumper and hood was badly damaged by the worm's initial outburst and impact rendered the twins unconscious. With their jeep nearly destroyed by the worm, Feng came out of the jeep and shouted, "COVER ME"

Raizan partially opened the sidedoor and took out an assault rifle from the back of the jeep. He started to imbued the his rifle with magic and shots were fired. The lightning piercing rifle bullets skewered through the bison and even managed killed the one behind it, maximising the effectiveness of each bullet used.

Sen also came out from the front seat and created a wide shroud fog shield that covers Feng's back as Feng started to work his magic hammer. To the enemies, their vision was impaired by the fog but Sen could see clearly the enemies from his side of the fog.

He started to create shroud spears and magically hurl them towards the bison since it was easier to hit those than the mages. Some of the spears managed to slow the bison down and even managed to killed a few, while the other bison shook it off due to its innate toughness.

"It is crude, but from what I learned from my master's manuals. I can repair this to a minimum working condition. However, it takes time for my magic to work!" Feng shouted

The Dune Worm had its fill for the day and decided to make an overhead pass the entire ambush scene to the south of the desert. It was crazy how there was no depression when the worm left its initial ground burst else Sen and the others would have been swallowed into the desert by it.

However, that does not mean their worries is ending. The bison mages got even crazier and started to push their attack closer with the disappearance of the biggest threat in the desert.

"Hurry Feng! They are regrouping!" Sen shouted.

"I am trying my best damn it!" Feng was sweating as he tried to analysed the damage of the jeep and followed the inert inscription patterns on the jeep. To the eyes of a battlesmith, each object has an inert inscription pattern when followed allows them to alter the properties of the object. The clearer the understanding, the stronger the magic of the battlesmith will work.

The damage was more serious than expected, it was really a miracle they managed to survive the crash when the worm came out of the ground. "Ah, fuck this!" Feng was agitated and strike a hammer down to send the "Reconstruct" spell down.

The jeep buzz with azure colour and the engine spurred to life.

"Alright, let's go let's go! I think I managed to get it to work a while!" Feng shouted. Sen nodded but in that split second when he was distracted by Feng's comment, an airburst explosion struck his fog shield and it broke! The impact from the airburst explosion caused Feng and Sen to be knocked against the jeep. Raizan who was on the other side felt the explosion too and was push further away from the jeep that he rolled around the sand a little.

A flash of shadow came from the aftermath of the explosion and he smashed the side window of the jeep to open it. Sen managed to recover faster from the impact than Feng and Raizan. He saw a cloaked man filled with bandages were kidnapping Kari and Kura!

Sen quickly summoned his machete out and rushed towards the bandaged man. However, with a stare from the bandage man, Sen received an another airburst explosive in combination of a fire attack and he was again knocked back to the front of the jeep.

The bandaged cloaked man took no pause and started to move with the twins. Sen knows that if he does not do something fast, Kari and Kura maybe kidnapped and disappeared forever from their sights.

He was also not sure whether can he track the twins from the mini map. "NES! Put a tracking spell on that guy before he disappears! I will do anything later!" Sen coughed out some blood stain sputum after receiving the explosive attack just now. If not for Nes short intensive training, he could have fainted a long time ago.

Nes immediately casted a tracking spell on the cloaked man and after which he disappeared with the bison mages. The mages also stopped attacking them and rode further south. "20 Fate crystals deducted, Master.

I assure you the tracking spell was of a demigod level and he would not be able to remove it unless another demigod removes it away from him." Nes spoke, and all Sen could do was catch a breather. Feng and Raizan remained on the ground for a while before they sat near the jeep feeling a little powerless.

The system notification appeared in front of Sen as he sprawled on the never ending fields of scorching sand

********

Abrupt Mission Objective: Survive the Ambush

Abrupt mission objective completed.

50 Fate crystals awarded.

New Mission issued.

Mission 4: Rescue Kari and Kura.

Rewards: Kari and Kura Character Sheet and Fate Crystals.

********

Sen smashed his hand onto the sand as he shouted in helpless anger.