12

The scorching sunlight reflected from the sand, and beads of sweat dropped off Hisato's face. He really didn't want to go into the desert, but he too was curious about the cause. Despite being able to do a log in this world, he still had limitations which he had yet to remove. It seemed far fetched and impossible, but he knew it was possible. After all, he was able to do it last time. 

Previously, it gave him quite a physical boost as he could easily pulverise rocks and sense his surroundings with a 'sixth sense'. He was able to move at a speed which the average human couldn't even see with the naked eye.

Thus he was quite curious what would happen once he made another breakthrough. Would he gain even greater physical strength or something else? Only time could tell… 

He sleepily glanced at his companions,

Amera seemed to be able to adapt rather easily to the drastic change in temperature, although she too was sweating, it didn't bother her a lot. 

Then there was Kuro. Kuro was walking within his shadow in order to somewhat cool down. The poor cat had a warm fur, which didn't make it any better. He looked at the black fur ball with a saddened expression.

He was about to pet him when a cold breeze passed by. He abruptly stopped in his tracks and frowned.

"Why is there a cold breeze in a desert?" Amera asked. Although it wasn't extremely out of the ordinary as it can get really cold in deserts during the nights, this breeze felt… odd? 

Hisato shrugged. He wasn't a rocket science genius. When he was here alone, he just blamed it on fantasy. Fantasy can do the weirdest things.

The quakes caused by the beetles had slowly weakened. Although sometimes the earth began to shake heavily again. This was probably because a beetle had been defeated.

Although according to Hisato's memories. Deserts were always crowded with monsters, but because of whatever reason, the desert was almost empty. He didn't see or feel any form of life. It seemed remotely safe, but he still had a little bit of uneasiness left.

"Ah" he blandly said as he came to the realization why he felt uneasy.

"Something wrong?" 

"There are worms here." He looked at her. The worms inside the desert weren't normal worms. They were gigantic worms with a mouth filled with teeth. Basically rip off versions of the desert worm things in star wars. Truly annoying pests.

"You are the expert, so mind telling me what you mean?" She slightly smiled while wiping the sweat of her forehead.

"They are big annoying worms who jump out of the ground. There are always a lot of them." He had spent a lot of time fighting such worms and he found them really annoying.

"Well no need to worry, those worms don't stand a chance against us." She proudly puffed her chest which caused her breasts to jiggle. 

They continued walking. Their guards raised, and a cat who couldn't be bothered as he was suffering from the heat. 

"Why can't we just use your super speed ability and fast forward?" He whined while looking at Amera with pleading eyes. 

"Where's the fun in that? Isn't it exciting to explore?" A bright smile formed on her face as she fondled with his hair. 

He deeply sighed and said 'I give up' in a low voice. As they continued walking, Hisato felt a presence. He looked into its direction and saw a worm halfly above air. It didn't seem to notice them and seemed to be in a passive state. 

He slightly tugged Amera's t-shirt and pointed over at the worm. As they approached it, they noticed it was covered by thin blue ice? 

It was frozen. Although it looked like it happened recently, since Hisato still picked up its presence which indicated that it was alive. 

"Wonder what happened. Maybe this is the reason why all the animals are fleeing. Well we should probably finish it off so it won't attack us when it escapes." She readied her fist.

"It's not melting." Pointing at the ice, Hisato noticed that the ice wasn't melting. Even though they were in a fiery desert, it wasn't melting. 

"Hmm? Then it can't break free?" He nodded in response, his eyes were wandering off, and he suddenly noticed a big mountain pointing out in the distance. The peak reached above the dark clouds which hovered near it and wasn't visible.

Hisato's expression brightened. A mountain meant that the desert would come to an end, and that would mean that the temperature would drop. 

"Haha, I guess we can finally leave this desert." Amera exclaimed. Hisato looked at her and sighed while muttering that they could have left a long time ago if she used her ability.

Kuro walked up to Hisato's leg and rubbed his head against it before he meowed loudly, and looked at Hisato. He urgently wanted to leave this desert, and so did Hisato.

"Alright then, let's go." Amera enthusiastically said before quickening her pace and the black fur ball quickly followed.

Hisato slowly followed them, before giving the frozen worm a last glance. He suddenly felt an ominous aura coming from it. He narrowed his eyes.

It felt like something was staring back at it. He yawned before he turned around and caught up with the rest.

---

A cold wind continuously passed through a huge mountain range, in the middle stood a colossal mountain. One of its most remarkable features was that one side of it was completely covered in glaciers and spikes made out of ice. The mountain's peak reached above the dark snowy clouds and the temperature was abnormally low.

 At that same peak, A gigantic monster opened its eyes. The pupils were black vertical splits and seemed rather atrocious, and its irises were dark golden. They radiated a mystifying energy and were filled with peril.

 It seemingly smirked before closing its eyes again...