Whoosh whoosh!!!
A great wind whipped up sand, carrying specks of glittering gold.
Across the boundless, death-filled Golden Desert, six giant wolves galloped over the soft sand, racing onward without pause.
On the backs of the giant wolves, several figures could faintly be seen.
"We're here! The Golden Oasis is up ahead!" The old leader studied the map and let out a clear, sharp call.
"So we've finally made it?" A cloaked figure on a Liban Dire Wolf raised their head slightly, their extraordinary eyesight allowing them to spot a sliver of green in the distance.
Since their encounter with the Golden Giant, Leilin's group had been like startled birds, fleeing at full speed for over ten days before finally relaxing somewhat. Even so, they had arrived at this location faster than anticipated.
This was the Golden Oasis — the only large water source in the Golden Desert.
It was also an indispensable waypoint on the route through the Magerlie Grand Canyon. The dangers along every other path far exceeded what a First-level
From afar, Leilin could see several large bird-like creatures taking off and landing across the oasis.
Those were the Griege Vultures — the culprits that occupied this oasis.
Beneath a sand dune some distance from the Golden Oasis, the six wizards halted and settled all their Liban Dire Wolves here.
Ordinary Liban Dire Wolves were adequate for dealing with the low-level creatures within the Magerlie Grand Canyon, but against the Griege Vultures — high-energy beings whose adults were comparable to Third-rank Apprentices — being surrounded meant certain death.
They would need the wolves for transportation afterward, and they were rented at that. If the wolves died, they would have to compensate the contact on the other side of the canyon with a large sum of Magic Stones.
"We can't go any further! The Griege Vultures are flying creatures — they'll definitely spot us from above!"
The old leader scanned the group. "Also, the Liban Dire Wolves' location needs to be concealed!"
"I might be able to help with that!" Leilin said with a faint smile. He ran his hands over the shadow cast by the sand dune.
The black shadow seemed to take on a peculiar vitality under Leilin's hands, twisting and churning. Like some great beast lurking in the dark, it opened its enormous maw and swallowed the sand dune whole.
"Darkness is the natural ally of concealment." Within the dark shadows, the once-massive Liban Dire Wolves had vanished without a trace.
"Well done!" Lanse praised Leilin.
In her eyes, though Leilin was a newly advanced Wizard, his mind was sharp and quick, and even his minor spells were remarkably practical.
Of course, this was a deliberate facade Leilin had put on.
Hearing Lanse's praise, the big fellow let out a disdainful snort. "If it were me doing it..."
"Enough, enough! We're all on the same team — there's no need for this!"
The old leader stepped in to interrupt. "What we need to deal with right now is the Griege Vulture flock and their Vulture King!"
"Lanse, show everyone the situation!"
Called upon by the old leader, Lanse stepped to the center of the group and produced a blue gemstone from within the folds of her robe.
"This is a Magical Item I created by replicating the Eye of Scrying — it can observe images within a ten-kilometer radius!"
Lanse gave a brief explanation, held the gem in her hand, and let droplets of water fall from the waterskin at her waist. Murmured incantations flowed from her lips.
A pale blue radiance rose from the gemstone, the light warping and stretching until it formed the shape of a mirror-like surface.
On the mirror's surface, a beautiful lake could be seen, surrounded by green oil-palm trees and thickets of shrubbery, with several large red birds periodically rising and falling among the trees.
As the image zoomed in closer, Leilin caught his first clear view of the Griege Vultures.
Each bird was roughly five meters long, covered in crimson plumage, with hard, keen talons. Their necks were long and featherless, tinged an unpleasant pink that was somewhat nauseating to look at. The top of their curved vulture heads was completely bald, sporting a fleshy protuberance.
In the center of the oasis, there were at least a hundred or more of these vultures. If they were all adults, combined with a Vulture King whose strength rivaled that of a full Wizard, most wizards would truly be unable to handle them.
"A hundred? That's quite a lot! Can you see the Vulture King?"
The old leader was the first to ask.
"I'll try my best!" Lanse said with some uncertainty, but she steered the image deeper into the heart of the flock.
There, in a peculiar hollow within a massive tree — a cavern that served as a nest — the shadowy form of an enormous vulture could be faintly seen, perched within.
When Lanse tried to zoom in further, the colossal bird inside the nest seemed to sense that someone was peering at it. It let out a furious roar.
"Kaah kaah!!!"
A harsh call, somewhat resembling a crow's cry yet distinctly different, rang out. The surrounding flock of vultures suddenly erupted into chaos.
Accompanying the cry was a terrifying wave of air pressure that swept outward in all directions.
"No good — it's found me!" Lanse's face changed dramatically.
Crack! The blue mirror surface shattered like crystal, dissolving into specks of blue light that scattered across the ground.
"Kaah kaah!" Following the distant cry of the Vulture King, wave after wave of Griege Vultures beat their massive red wings and, like well-trained soldiers, began forming groups to conduct a carpet search of the surrounding area.
"I'm sorry!" Lanse apologized first, a flush of embarrassment crossing her face.
"It's fine! At least now we have a thorough understanding of the Griege Vultures' situation, don't we?" The night-watch wizard spoke up first.
"Exactly!" A hint of shame flickered across the old leader's face — he had been the one to order Lanse to probe for the Vulture King again.
"Kaah kaah!" The enormous Griege Vultures circled overhead for a long while but found nothing. Eventually, in their frustration, they attacked several sand dunes on the ground, clawing out a few large lizard-like creatures before flying back to the oasis.
For Leilin and the other full Wizards, evading the Griege Vultures' aerial search was child's play.
"Alright! Let's discuss how to deal with these damned birds!"
Underground, inside a small temporary chamber carved out with wizardry, the six wizards gathered once more.
"A hundred Griege Vultures comparable to Second-rank and Third-rank Apprentices, plus a Vulture King whose strength clearly exceeds our estimates!"
The old leader looked at Leilin and the others.
"What else can we do? Follow the original plan — observe their hunting routes, pick off individual vulture squads, and then storm the oasis!" The big fellow waved his hand dismissively.
This was the strategy they had devised before: simple, but effective.
However, since the encounter with the Golden Giant, everyone in the team felt a pressing sense of urgency and dared not waste any more time.
After all, the Golden Giant also roamed the Golden Desert, and none of them wanted to run into it again.
"Fine! But we'll increase the frequency of our strikes and push through as quickly as possible!"
Seeing that Leilin and the others also nodded in agreement with the plan, the old leader reluctantly acquiesced...
A black scorpion-like creature crept cautiously through the shadowed recesses of the desert, its barbed tail swaying back and forth behind it. The tip glowed with an unnatural, vivid crimson — clearly laden with deadly venom.
Swish!
Without warning, an earth-yellow tongue lashed out at speeds invisible to the naked eye, snatching up the black scorpion and flicking it backward into a sand dune.
Rumble! The dune split open, revealing a massive earth-yellow lizard within. The lizard's body was covered in fine, intricate scales, and a magnificent fleshy crest crowned its head.
Hiss hiss! The lizard opened its mouth and swallowed, its throat convulsing as the scorpion disappeared down its gullet.
Having secured its meal, the lizard swayed its bulky body, its forelimbs rapidly scraping away the sand in front of it to bury itself once more.
"Kaah kaah!"
The instant the lizard concealed itself, the harsh cry of vultures suddenly echoed from the sky above.
Whoosh whoosh! A fierce gale followed.
A massive Griege Vulture beat its wings and dove from midair, its black talons smashing straight through the sand dune, the claws snapping shut!
Crack! The razor-sharp black claws sank into the lizard's flesh, and the creature let out a pained shriek, its plump body writhing desperately.
"Kaah kaah!" The Griege Vulture let out a triumphant cry atop its prey, then drove its hooked beak downward in a vicious peck!
Squelch! The earth-yellow lizard's skull was split open on the spot, brains and blood spilling across the ground.
The Griege Vulture gripped its catch tightly in both talons and began carrying it back toward its nest.
While ordinary vultures preferred carrion, these Griege Vultures clearly had a taste for living prey.
The earth-yellow lizard was over two meters long, yet in the grasp of the enormous vulture, it looked like nothing more than a small fish being carried away.
"Shadow Fireball!"
From within a dark shadow, several black fireballs suddenly burst forth, striking the Griege Vulture as it rose into the air with its catch.
Black flames instantly spread across the vulture's entire body.
Boom! The Griege Vulture did not even manage a single cry before it and its prey were reduced to ash within the black flames.
The remaining black fireballs continued upward with undiminished force, cutting down several other Griege Vultures in the sky.
Immediately afterward, the ground trembled, sand flew aside, and Leilin's face emerged from below.
"Chip! Pull up the combat data from just now!"
Over the past few days, he had been lying in ambush in this area, hunting the Griege Vultures that came searching for food.
And just now, Leilin had been testing the first-level wizard spell that the Chip had first deduced!
As far back as his Third-rank Apprentice days, Leilin had tasked the Chip with attempting to deduce the model for a first-level defensive wizard spell.
But afterward, he had received the Great Crimson Wizard's inheritance and successfully advanced to Warlock, so the task of deducing the first-level defensive wizard spell model had been temporarily shelved.
Once he entered the Golden Desert, however, deeply aware that his offensive methods were insufficient and that he lacked conventional, deterrent attack capabilities, Leilin had placed the task back on his schedule.