Chapter 6 – Just Common Mobs

Kaelen had never felt fear.

Or rather, not this kind of fear.

Of course, he had felt fear many times in his life. When he was young, he feared punishment, feared the brute strength of the tribal leader, feared dying of thirst in the desert, or watching his people starve.

Even the constant fear of not returning to his family after a patrol was something he had long grown used to.

But those were external fears.

They were problems with solutions, even if some of them were difficult.

If there was an enemy, you fought.

If there was hunger, you hunted.

If there was thirst, you searched for water.

There was always an action to be taken.

However, the moment he entered the hall, the feeling was different.

The fear he felt sank deep into his bones, ignoring all logic. It was not the fear of a spear or a storm.

It was racial fear.

Like the instinct of prey that had finally found its natural predator, the kind of terror engraved into the DNA of his species before he was even born.

‘This…’ His legs began to tremble, every fiber of his being screaming for him to flee from that place as fast as possible.

It was the first time he had ever felt this in all his years of life.

Kaelen looked at the man on the throne, swallowing hard.

Seated there, the figure leaned slightly to the side. Pale skin contrasted with the black hair that fell over his face, revealing crimson eyes. A cloak, the same color as those eyes, rested on his shoulders, fastened by dark ornaments crossing his chest.

While one hand rested on the arm of the throne, the other supported his head, watching him and his group with curiosity.

‘…Human?’

Kaelen had seen humans before.

Adventurers occasionally crossed the Ash Desert, and he and his group had fought several in the past, killing them or being hunted by them many times.

But none of them looked like that.

“Who are you?” the figure on the throne suddenly asked. His voice was not loud, but it filled every corner of the hall, making Kaelen’s ears ring.

He did not hesitate.

Survival instinct took over and he dropped to his knees instantly, smashing his forehead against the cold marble.

His scouts delayed only a few seconds before imitating him.

“My name is Kaelen!” he exclaimed, his voice coming out more shaken than he would have liked. “We are Cindralisks, the desert lizards. We come in the name of the Obsidian Fang Tribe.”

He kept his head lowered, not daring to look at the ‘Sovereign’ without permission.

“Interesting.”

The man did not seem impressed. Only curious, like someone observing something new.

“What do you want?”

He asked again, his lips curling into a subtle smile, revealing two sharp canines.

Kaelen took a deep breath, the cold air burning his lungs.

“We were sent by our tribe to establish contact. Your… your mountain appeared in our lands. The people of the desert are uneasy. We come in peace to greet you and understand your intentions.”

Under the cloth, sweat ran down, soaking his snout as he waited for the answer.

The other four lizards remained silent the entire time, not daring to say anything, leaving Kaelen to handle the situation.

The Sovereign remained silent for a few seconds.

No one dared speak.

“How many like you exist? Speak more.” he spoke again, his calm voice breaking the silence.

Kaelen lifted his body slightly from the ground, bracing himself on trembling arms.

He did not dare stand fully, keeping a submissive posture as the words began to spill from his mouth.

“Many, my Lord. Thousands!” Kaelen spoke quickly. “The Ash Desert is vast, but life is not on the surface. All the great civilizations of this desert were built beneath the sand to escape the sun and the storms.”

He paused briefly to catch his breath, feeling the eyes of one of the commanders on him, urging him not to stop.

“There are dozens of Cindralisk tribes like mine spread across nest-cities connected by deep tunnels. But we are not the only ones. There are also the Sediment Devourers, giant worms that live underground, carving tunnels.”

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“Besides them, there are the Red-Tail Scorpions. Heavy-shelled monsters that dominate the lowest rifts. In the dunes live the Carapace Spiders. They are monsters covered in chitin as hard as steel and… “

…

“And in the deeper sand currents, the Dark Sand Worms and the Horned Serpents share territory. They are predators that swim through the sediment and sense the heat of any creature from kilometers away…”

Kaelen swallowed, trying to keep the rhythm of his explanations.

…

“Other monsters—”

“That is enough.”

When he was prepared to continue, fearing it might not be sufficient, the Sovereign raised his hand, interrupting him.

Kaelen fell silent, his chest rising and falling from the effort of speaking so much. His throat was so dry it felt as if he had swallowed sand.

“Is there any city nearby?” the Sovereign asked again, but his tone sounded a little more impatient.

Kaelen hesitated.

He tried to organize the information in his mind while sweat ran down. “To the south… far to the south.” he said, his voice still unsteady.

“I have heard stories of a human city called Luminaris. But the desert is immense. We have never gone that far to confirm it. I ask forgiveness for the lack of information, my Lord.”

The hall fell into absolute silence.

Kaelen felt his heart pounding in his throat.

The other scouts were frozen, not even daring to breathe.

They waited for the sentence.

“Very well.” the Sovereign said. “I have received your tribe’s greeting.” He shifted his gaze to the small servant with the crooked top hat who had brought them there and said, “Pippin, take them back. They may leave now.”

Kaelen froze for a second.

Did he hear that right? He clenched his fists tightly.

Suddenly, a wave of heat surged through his chest.

It was a violent feeling of relief.