Traces in the Endless Sands
There were people traversing a scorching desert devoid of even a single patch of shade.
They rode on double-humped Bactrian camels, scanning their surroundings warily.
"Hoo! It's fucking hot."
"Goddamn it!"
Thick beads of sweat poured endlessly down their faces.
There were six of them astride the Bactrian camels.
Four men and two women.
Not one looked ordinary.
And in truth, they weren't ordinary at all.
The entire party consisted of Awakeners.
Their official designation was Pathfinder Team 7.
They had been dispatched from Neo Seoul on a mission to pioneer the southern regions.
The distance from Neo Seoul to this place exceeded a thousand kilometers. It was their first time venturing this far.
A total of seven Pathfinder teams had been deployed.
They had constructed a shelter a hundred kilometers from here and were scouting the surrounding area.
The leader of Pathfinder Team 7 was Zahar.
True to his Russian heritage, he stood over two meters tall, his massive frame wrapped in muscles like iron plating.
It wasn't just his appearance that made him intimidating.
As a C-rank martial Awakener, he led the team with exceptional skill and commanding leadership.
He had four teammates under him.
Felix, the curse mage; Anika, a magic-type Awakener; Darren, who had replaced both arms and legs with mechanical prosthetics; and Seido, a martial Awakener who wielded a sword as his primary weapon.
Finally, there was Mandy, the super supervisor dispatched from Neo Seoul to monitor mission progress—making six in total.
Mandy was a stunning woman with long, wavy blonde hair and sapphire-blue eyes that sparkled like embedded gems, complemented by a fresh, vibrant smile that drew every man's attention.
The sole other female team member, Anika, glared at her with narrowed eyes.
Mandy fanned herself with her hand and chattered lightly.
"Aigoo! It's so hot. You all are amazing, working in such harsh conditions."
"What are you talking about? This is nothing. Once we enter a dungeon, it's a walk in the park."
Felix, the curse mage, responded as if he'd been waiting for the chance.
The look in Felix's eyes as he gazed at Mandy was sleazy.
Felix had a thoroughly ugly appearance. Short in stature, with rough skin, and above all, murky eyes that lacked any clarity—women despised him for it.
In contrast, Mandy was the kind of breathtaking beauty any man would dream of holding. It was Felix's first time being this close to such a woman, so he orbited her like a satellite.
Zahar clicked his tongue at the sight of Felix.
"Tch!"
Displeasure was evident on his face.
She was a super supervisor dispatched from Neo Seoul.
They wouldn't send just any ordinary woman to a hellhole like this.
Her abilities were still unknown, but she undoubtedly had a hidden blade up her sleeve.
Above all, there was no way a beauty like Mandy would fall for an ugly creep like Felix. Yet Felix kept hovering around her relentlessly.
At that moment, Darren, the mechanized human, approached Zahar.
"That dwarf bastard—should we just let him be?"
"Leave him."
"But..."
"He's not interfering with the mission yet. Just let it slide."
"Tch. Got it."
"How's your body holding up, anyway?"
"It's already creaking. I can manage for now, but not for long."
"As expected."
Zahar furrowed his brow slightly.
Darren's limbs were all mechanical.
By fusing with machinery, he could unleash tremendous power. But desert sand was the natural enemy of machines.
It wore down the moving parts, shortening their lifespan.
They had applied special coatings to prevent sand infiltration, but no one could guarantee how long it would hold.
That was precisely why they traveled by Bactrian camel instead of vehicles.
Vehicles and mechanical devices couldn't endure long in the desert.
Recent technological leaps had allowed them to push this far, but that was the limit.
Back at the nearby shelter, they were busy repairing vehicles damaged on the way here. That was why they now moved by camel.
Whoosh!
Another sandstorm blew in.
"This is such bullshit."
Sandstorms were the greatest threat to human survival in the desert.
Scorching sand entering the respiratory tract caused immediate burns to the airways and lungs.
That was why ordinary humans struggled to survive in the desert.
It was then.
"Team leader!"
Seido, who had been scouting ahead of the group, suddenly called out to Zahar.
Zahar urged his Bactrian camel forward to join him.
Seido had already dismounted and was examining the ground.
"What is it?"
"Take a look here. The sand's melted."
Zahar looked where Seido pointed.
Exactly in that spot, the sand had melted and crystallized like glass.
"What the...?"
"Traces of flame magic."
"Flame magic in the middle of the desert? Odds it's another team?"
"Zero. As far as I know, none of the Pathfinder teams deployed here use flame magic."
Seido shook his head.
Zahar's eyes sharpened.
Seido possessed an extraordinary memory. He remembered everything perfectly after seeing it once. The chance his memory was wrong was nonexistent.
Zahar called Mandy over and showed her the flame magic traces.
Mandy's expression lit up with interest.
"This definitely warrants investigation."
"We're investigating?"
"Our mission is to scout all threats near the shelter. Naturally, whatever used flame magic is a target."
"Understood. Let's start tracking, then."
Zahar nodded to Seido, who immediately began the pursuit.
The rest of the group followed.
Zahar and Mandy rode side by side on their camels.
Zahar asked cautiously.
"What do they think up top? Building a shelter out here in the boonies all of a sudden and ordering us to scout the area. This is our first mission like this."
From the moment they'd received the assignment, things had felt off in more ways than one.
Neo Seoul dispatched Pathfinder teams often enough, but sending them this far out was exceedingly rare.
This area had once been sea, so human footsteps had barely touched it. No one knew what threats or monsters lurked here.
Zahar couldn't fathom why they'd send Pathfinders to such a place.
Mandy, who had been watching him silently, finally spoke.
"Do you remember the incident seven years ago?"
"Seven years ago... you mean that mana explosion?"
"Exactly. Seven years ago, a massive explosion erupted in the distant heart of the desert."
The blast had been so enormous that an ultra-powerful mana storm had even struck Neo Seoul.
Fortunately, Neo Seoul's defensive magic had prevented damage, but the outer slums had collapsed and shattered, killing countless people.
The mana storm had been so devastating it evoked memories of the Sixth Cataclysm—clearly no natural occurrence.
Neo Seoul had dispatched Pathfinder teams to uncover the cause, but they'd found nothing.
The explosion had happened beyond the Pathfinders' observation range.
They couldn't get close to the epicenter; their abilities didn't reach that far.
In the end, Neo Seoul had abandoned efforts to determine the mana storm's origin.
Seven years had passed since then.
Mandy continued.
"The desert's ecosystem changed completely after that event."
"Hm."
"Monster migrations rendered all our accumulated data obsolete."
When an A-rank monster migrated, the ripple effects reached B-rank and C-rank monsters, triggering chain migrations that drastically altered the ecosystem.
Neo Seoul had mapped all nearby monsters and dungeons, but the seven-year-old incident had wiped out that hard-earned data.
To gather new intel, Neo Seoul had to send countless Awakeners outward.
In the process, unseen monsters, unknown dungeons, and labyrinths emerged.
Stabilizing it all had taken a full seven years.
"Lately, new types of monsters not in our data have been spotted coming from the south."
"You don't mean...?"
"Yes. The higher-ups suspect a boss-class monster has appeared, triggering the chain migration."
"They don't expect us to take down an A-rank alone, right?"
"Of course not. Our job is to confirm if such a monster exists."
At A-rank or boss-class levels, monsters typically possessed unique skills.
To subjugate them, detailed prior intel was essential.
"To minimize casualties, we need to gather info fast and pull out."
"Spot on."
"Hmph."
Zahar rubbed his chin with his massive hand.
He now understood why they'd sent them all the way out here. Still, an uneasy feeling lingered.
Mandy glanced at her sunburned arm and said,
"Come on, let's grab the intel quick and head back to the shelter. Desert sand and sun are enemies to the skin. Look how burned I already am. It's heartbreaking!"
"We're hunting A-rank monster intel, and you're worried about a little sunburn?"
Anika, ever eager for an opening, jumped in. But Mandy responded without a hint of fluster, perfectly composed.
"Of course. For a woman, skin is life. Anika, you should take better care of yours too. Wandering the desert without protection leads to sudden aging. Don't regret it later..."
"What did you say? You bitch..."
Anika bristled at Mandy's sharp tongue and raised her hand, but Zahar blocked her.
"Enough! This isn't the time for us to fight among ourselves."
"But that wench started it!"
"Don't forget she's a super supervisor."
"So what if she's a damn super supervisor?"
Anika's face twisted savagely, but Zahar's icy expression silenced any further outburst.
She eventually turned her head away, avoiding his gaze.
Mandy watched with a faint smile.
It was then.
"Team leader!"
Seido called out to Zahar.
"What?"
"Things are getting serious."
"What do you mean?"
"This is our gear."
Where Seido pointed, breastplates, shields, and the like lay scattered.
Half-buried in sand, but unmistakably equipment used by Neo Seoul Awakeners.
Zahar's face hardened.
"Definitely ours?"
"It's gear from Team 2. I remember it clearly."
At Seido's words, the entire Team 7 tensed.
They knew Team 2.
Their skills were no inferior to Team 7's.
If they'd been taken down, Team 7 was in danger too.
"Who got them?"
"Where are the bodies?"
No matter how they scanned, no corpses from Team 2 were visible.
They even dug up nearby sand, but found nothing.
"Kidnapped, then?"
"Monsters kidnapping people? That implies intelligence."
Confusion spread across Team 7's faces.
"Can you tell who attacked and abducted Team 2?"
"Sand's covered everything."
"Can you track them?"
"I'll try."
"Hurry."
"Yes!"
Seido resumed tracking.
They crossed over a dozen massive sand dunes.
As persistent pursuit began to wear on Team 7, Seido, scouting ahead, spoke up.
"Found it."
"Yeah?"
Zahar hurried to Seido's side, pleased.
But Seido's expression was off.
His pupils were dilated, as if he'd seen something he shouldn't have.
"What's wrong?"
"It's just..."
Zahar followed Seido's gaze.
In an instant, Zahar's expression mirrored Seido's.
What they saw was a massive village.
One large enough to house thousands.
"G... goblin village?"
Only one type of monster built such enormous settlements in the desert and lived there.
Low-rank monsters: goblins.
Goblin corpses littered the village.
The goblin village had been thoroughly destroyed. Yet most ruined homes were buried under massive amounts of sand.
The goblin corpses were the same.
"What the hell? Did a sandstorm hit or something?"