Boom!
Ambition was embroiled in a fierce battle with the powerful Dust Snake.
Dust Snakes were powerful enemies, and this veteran snake leader was an even more difficult enemy but despite its massive advantages, Ambition was able to stand his ground as he fought toe to toe against it.
Still underneath the ocean of sand, the angry Dust Snake attacked rampantly as the sand and dust in the desert moved aggressively like an angry grind mill.
The massive grinding power of this sand under the Dust Snake's control proved dangerous but Ambition's mystic armor enabled him to tank it all.
Apart from its dust and sand powers, the Dust Snake did not rest as it also made use of its wind and fire abilities. Since it could not make eye contact with its enemy, its illusion powers were temporarily rendered useless.
Occasionally, apart from the prevalent sand that moved with the intent to kill, explosions also detonated in the ground as fire raged following the snake's will.
Each explosion of fire was quickly followed by short but powerful gusts of wind blowing about dangerously but still, the Dust Snake remained entangled.
With its soulless eyes, Ambition was completely focused on the job.
Unlike Gaud who had a soul and emotions, the current Ambition's consciousness was more or less an advanced soul A.I. It was not bothered by distractions and desires, all that bothered it was catering for its master's safety.
Gaud's 3 mystic abilities before his death were all complementary. His invisibility mystic ability for stealth, his beast tamer mystic ability for control and support, and his soul snatcher mystic ability to incapacitate.
Gaud's fighting style never had any of his 3 mystic abilities as the main focus to deal damage, they were more or less catalysts to support his main damage dealing ability which was his Tiajutsu battle domain proficiency.
Gaud was an extremely powerful Tiajutsu practitioner.
His fighting style was staying in the dark, stalking the enemy, using his tamed beasts to distract his enemy, using his soul snatcher skills to disorient his enemy, eventually leaving his enemy at his possibly weakest state.
In this state was when he finally appears and engage in an explosive Tiajutsu battle that 9 out of 10 times ended with him obliterating his opponents.
His short-burst damage was completely explosive.
Gaud was a master of his combat style, but Ambition proved to be a grandmaster of it. Unburdened by emotions and distractions, Ambition had the required concentration to make perfect use of this body and its abilities.
As the Dust Snake attacked and thrashed about destroying everywhere with its mystic affinities, he remained close even as he attacked with his soul snatcher skills that continually disoriented and drained the soul power of the snake.
And with his tamed beasts assisting, the Dust Snake never had the opportunity to settle down in the sand to search for its invisible enemy.
The battle continued like this for a few minutes until the Dust Snake got exhausted. Once the battle intensity reduced, Ambition's eerie soulless eyes shone, this was the window of opportunity that it was waiting for.
Like an assassin, Ambition sprang up with vengeance as this time, he completely forsake his invisibility state which enabled him to fight at his peak.
Ambition's hand became coated with an ominous green energy, courtesy of his soul snatcher mystic ability as he finally unleashed hell on the Dust Snake.
Bam! Bam! Bam!
For 12 seconds straight, it was like the earth crust was being torn apart as Ambition's powerful fists hammered and pounded at the stunned Dust Snake.
The Dust Snake was stunned by its enemy's sudden counterattack, leaving it heavily injured in the process but it was still able to hold on and not die.
"Hiss!" "Hiss!"
The Dust Snake's loud hiss for help riled up its subordinates completely as the army of snakes moved faster and finally arrived at the scene of the battle.
Underneath the sand, an army of angry snakes dove towards Ambition who was still reluctant to let go of the Dust Snake. Ambition calculated that this was not enough time for Rex to have escaped yet and was why he held on.
Once the army of snakes arrived, Ambition switched from offense to defense as he weathered the attack of over a hundred snakes coming at him.
He suffered injuries but he felt no pain, he had no soul.
As its injuries increased and it seemed that he was about to die, the loud wail of a familiar apex predator rattled the hearing of every beast and warrior present.
The loud wail of the Sand Worm was like the cry of invitation by the sentries of hell before death. It was too late to make any complicated moves to escape, the massive Sand Worm was already upon them.
With a loud screeching sound reverberating, a massive maw filled with tens of thousands of spear-long teeth opened underneath the sand to swallow them all.
The snakes scrambled without any results to escape as alongside the sea of sand, they started falling helplessly into the belly of this apex predator.
Once they fell in, they were grinded to a bloody mess by the complicated digestive mechanism of this apex predator.
Amid all the noise, commotion, and panic, Ambition turned invisible once again as this time, he put all effort into escaping this death zone.
Ambition and the Dust Snake were the only ones who were able to put up a resistance as they gave their all to ride against the tide and escape.
For 10 straight minutes, the Sand Worm devoured its meal.
For 10 straight minutes, Ambition and the Dust Snake had to fight for their lives as it constantly dangled at the tip of death and life.
After 10 minutes, the satisfied Sand Worm dived back deep into the ocean of sand as it let out low wails of contentment while moving away.
No one survived the onslaught, except 2, Ambition and the Dust Snake.
At the last moment, both were forced to cooperate with each other and as an intelligent beast, the Dust Snake was able to recognize what to prioritize first as they both cooperated and barely survived the onslaught.
2 minutes after the Sand Worm left, the sand and dust settled down to expose a bloody humanoid warrior and a mutilated Dust Snake.
Both of them were covered in a pool of their own blood from all their heavy injuries, both of them were too weak to move or speak, so there they rested, waiting for their imminent death or possible rescue.
Ambition's situation was much more dire as the poison of the snakes were already working on his body, breaking down his natural resistance faster.
In 20 minutes at most, he would die.
10 minutes later though, envoys from the Desert Queen arrived here. The massive horned Lizard looked down at the 2 survivors and spoke. "That's a follower of the Queen's sex target, let's take him".
"Take the Dust Snake too".
"Yes, boss".
With that, the Dust Snake and Ambition were rescued and taken away.
…
Storm ran as fast as its legs could carry it.
After the deadly encounter against the snakes, both of Rex's transformed beasts were left heavily injured and poisoned but they still embarked on the all-important task of taking their master to his destination.
After the territory of the snakes, the location of Minato Musashi's tomb was not too far again, it was just a 2 hours journey till they got there.
The only question was would they last 2 hours after such serious injuries?
Storm was supposed to be the fastest but after suffering so many injuries, it was left incapacitated and Grey who had the greater vitality could now compete with it in a race of speed.
Grey took on the important task of carrying the master as they escaped while Storm followed, but after an hour, they felt the toil of so many injuries.
Grey's speed decreased significantly, while Storm could no longer move on. Storm's vitality was actually weaker than both Rex and Grey's.
With the poison and all the injuries already getting to it, Storm could no longer continue. Rex wanted to wait and attend to its injuries but he was too weak to speak, and Grey was too focused on protecting him to stop escaping.
In the end, Storm was left all alone in the dangerous and lonely desert.
As Grey continued galloping along the river of gold, a lot of things filled Rex's mind. He wondered what fate befell Ambition and Storm, he wondered if he would survive, he wondered if they could get out of this desert alive.
He chuckled on thinking of the fact that he may not get to meet Aragorn and Elanor again. Amid his thoughts, Grey suddenly fell and stopped moving.
Rex groaned in pain as it took all his willpower for him to roll himself over. On rolling himself over, he saw that Grey already passed out.
"We're not making it, I guess". He chuckled bitterly.
Rex was about to fall on his butt and let nature take control but he was surprised on seeing what felt like a small antenna barely visible amid the dust.
Pushed by his last curiosity before death, Rex crawled to the antenna where he saw a stone inscription under it that read- Minato Musashi.
Rex's eyes widened. "We made it…?!"
Before he could finish the sentence, the sand beneath the antenna loosened to expose a winding staircase that led under through which Rex fell.
It took the last of his strength to crawl to the antenna, once he started falling, Rex's vitality finally gave way as his eyes finally closed, he also passed out.
At the last step to his goal, Rex passed out and left his life or death to fate.
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