Walmo's Mission

Tim, Ellie, Nina, and Ireene began to cover more and more land, getting closer and closer to their next target, which happened to be a smaller village visible in the distance just a few meters away.

"I can see a town ahead of us! Maybe there is someone who can help us!"

Ireene turned to face them from the front and shook her head, a soft voice leaving her mouth fast.

"In that village, there isn't a single doctor. It's been abandoned since the sandstorms began to become more frequent. Hatly is the name of the town, and there aren't many people who live there. If I'm being honest, there may not even be a single soul, but the village may be of use to us. Because of all the running and shaking on your back, your friend may need to relax for a bit, so staying the night could be worthwhile."

"We can't stop at this point! We've come so far; quitting now would be absurd!"

"Resting for a night could actually help Ayuka's wounds and fever. Since she's been riding on your back, she's gone through a lot. If we consider the future, staying for a night should be beneficial."

Tim's thoughts were twisted in a row of decision, incapable of figuring out what to do, until Nina asked the next question, which involved the rest of their friends, who were battling to defend them.

"What about the rest of the group? They won't know we're here if we remain the night, and they might drive past or even pass through town without stopping."

"I'm confident Codey would know what to do. Everyone else knows that stopping at a town wouldn't be an issue for him, and that possibly a community like this might have a doctor. They'd probably come by to see whether there was a doctor."

"Ellie makes a reasonable point, I'm afraid. Let's get going We'll make a point of stopping by as soon as we arrive in Hatly to check whether there's even a remote chance of receiving assistance."

Even though they were still a long way from Hatly, a disturbance erupted behind them, with a warrior bursting out of the sand with a shark diving toward them, wielding a spear in his left arm and sand falling from the sky.

"It's that man from the Sand Shark Surfers!"

"Pirates! You've gotten yourself into enough trouble for the day! If you refuse to accept the consequences of breaking the rules, the only requirement you'll be given is to be eliminated! Either give up and let the princess die, or suffer the repercussions!"

Tim sprinted in second place, behind Ireene, with his attention fixed over the side of his right shoulder, watching Walmo, who gripped the spear firmly behind his back and plunged with the shark through the air with a brave glare. He tightened his grasp on the spear and swung his arm forward, sending the spear soaring through the air with a swirl. Due to the speed of its flight, it drew the wind with it and began to close in on Ireene, whose eyes had been shivering with fright.

"10 Million Volt, Thunder! Godspeed Slice!"

Ellie was motionless on the ground, his torso bowed forward. He reached near his hip and stretched his right leg behind his back and bent his left in front, then began to produce circles of electricity. With the silver lightning zapping around his body, he clutched the hilt of his sword and closed his eyes, preparing to throw himself with the speed of thunder.

Ellie's garments blew backward in sync as he surged forward in a flash of straight and zapping lightning and instantaneously zapped behind Ireene's torso as the sand rebounded off the floor on both sides of his hips. With a trail of electricity trailing after him, he pulled the sword through the air, and with a single slash, he formed a linear cut of thunder that sliced through the spear in one swoop.

Ellie landed on the floor, had to slide in the sand because of the speed, and eventually came to a halt. He straightened his body, twisted the sword in his right arm, seized the belt, and turned to face Walmo, whose eyes were wide with surprise.

A tremendous pulse of lightning blasted through the air, causing a lighter hurricane that drove the spear's broken portions in different places before digging itself into the sand.

Walmo sank to the ground with his shark, drew back and stopped the action by drawing the shark backward, and then startled Ellie, who had been watching him closely.

"Whoa! That's something I had no idea you could do! That was amazing, child from another world!"

"You jerk, my name is Ellie! Of course, I'm not my clan's strongest fighter for nothing. Keep going, you three! I'll keep this guy engaged so he doesn't cause any more problems with our mission!"

"Gotcha! Thanks a lot!"

Tim, Nina, and Ireene began to cover more area from where Ellie and Walmo were engaged in a one-on-one struggle and kept moving ahead. Ellie began walking over the sand and struck up a chat with Walmo, who listened intently.

"You must be the commander of those shark surfers, based on the acceleration of that throw and the prior commands you provided. I'm afraid I won't be able to let you go much farther, so don't try to pursue them down because you'll never get away from me!"

("Gotta hope for them to reach the town safely. Let's hope I can finish this battle before the evening, which is only two hours away...")

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Codey crouched on the desert sand and pressed both of his arms against it. The wind, he gathered earlier into his palm managed to spread through his body and into both palms of his arms and with it blasted out powerful wind that shocked into the ground and spread the sand to the side, causing it to shift into a round crater and with that propelled in the air, with wind trails following behind him.

Once gaining enough height in the air, he grabbed both of his boomerangs attached to his belt and then crossed both of his arms in front of his chest, while keeping a close eye on Devia who had been surfing through the sand at incredible speed.

He lowered his arms and produced a wind platform beneath his right foot, while raising the other near his bottom. It required him to maintain tremendous balance before suddenly engulfing himself in the clear wind, which surprised Devia at the bottom.

"He has the ability to fly?! I'm not going to be able to reach him from all the way down here!"

She continued to surf on the sand until she felt trembling behind her, which prompted her to look behind her and witness the sand coming toward her in the same manner as an ocean wave, caused by the fierce wind that Codey transmitted into the ground from that height.

"An avalanche of the sand?! He managed to do that from all the way up there?!"

"That's correct! I have the ability to manipulate wind in a 100-meter radius all around me, which is quite useful in situations like this! You're a surfer, so don't worry. Then it should be no problem for you to ride it like a wave in the water!"

Codey clenched his hands together and unleashed additional wind pressure into the avalanche of sand, causing it to rise in size and speed, trailed by Devia, who was sweating from the stressful situation.

Elliott's feet were making steps in seconds as he ran through the sand with black lightning zapping behind his back, easily outrunning Tisch, who had been surfing the shark's back and noticed Elliott's body transmute into a black bolt that sparked through the air and in front of Tisch, suddenly forming Elliott's body in front who slashed forward with his sword, in the air.

Tisch hastily ducked and slipped beneath Elliott's feet, then whirled around and swung his spear, which missed due to Elliott's disappearance in a bolt once more. The identical bolt that turned Elliott blasted through the air above Tisch's head. He then reverted to physical form, spinning his body around to surround himself in more electricity, and then kicking his leg forward.

Elliott used the Air Walk technique to his advantage, bouncing off it and propelling himself through the air and in front of Tisch, who covered a significant amount of territory. Elliott smiled and, with his back to the ground, quickly closed his palm into a fist and pounded beneath his stomach, where he summoned and blasted out a powerful thunder that slapped against the floor, generating a shock wave, which he was also transported to the bottom of the sand.

Elliott rushed out of the black thunder and swung his sword from left to right, unleashing a line of thunder that threw him and the shark through the air. Tisch couldn't duck in time and took the strike head on, and the impact erupted, hurling him and the shark into the air. He yelled in agony and collapsed to the sand, shark following close behind.

"Those sharks don't seem to be able to outrun the speed of thunder, so I figured I'd be in for a battle in finally finding someone faster than me. But that's out of the question. Now, how's everyone else doing?"

Tisch collapsed to the ground, as Elliott turned to observe the others fighting their foes. Due to Dora striking from numerous directions, Karisa was still stuck in the middle of a big sand typhoon with bruises all over her skin and tattered clothes, while Natan managed to avoid the majority of Vrook's strikes.

Karisa clutched the side of her shoulder and bled profusely, blood dripping from the wound between her fingertips. "I can't seem to get anything done. I don't have the same speed or strength as the others."

Karisa, on the other hand, came up with an idea while looking at her own pole, which she held in her hand.

"That's it! I got it! Here goes nothing!"

The journey continues...