How To Survive A Calamity

Their last encounter with the Sand Dragon had barely sent them retreating with their lives. And that was by luck, too.

At that time, during their last encounter, Xavier and his group of Alex, Trise and Chelsea had merely been unfortunate enough to be the ones to run into the Sand Worm.

But the Monster hadn't been exactly aggressive or pro-active against them.

It merely attacked the intruders, but even when they tried to flee, the Sand Worm didn't persist or pursue.

But now...

"Get back!" Xavier yelled.

It was certainly thoroughly trying to crush them!

The humumgous body fell against them and the ground exploded like a mine had gone off.

Alexander was flung through the air in a defensive position with his arms raised over his face.

The chamber shuddered like the rumble of a bellowing beast.

A burgeoning cloud of dust mushroomed into the air and parts of the ceilings collapsed from above.

Xavier and Chelsea were tossed to the ground — Chelsea with het bright orange hair dishevelled and mixed with selweat, dirt, and blood. Her forehead was bleeding at some point.

Xavier crawled to his knees, feeling his vision blur with the pain of a broken shoulder and coughed painfully for a couple of seconds then stopped.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, the Sand Worm didn't seem to have a variety of attacks or skills — or at least, it had yet to reveal any of the such — and mostly tore through whatever was in its path with only it's body, decimating with its overwhelming size and weight.

That — in itself — was also an issue.

It also had nearly impenetrable scales that was impervious to both magic and physical attack.

As an ancient creature with an earthen affinity, it's defensive capabilities were simply mind boggling and despairing.

How were they supposed to beat such a thing?

But...

Was it impossible, though?

'No.'

Xavier didn't thinking so as he rose to his feet.

The King of the Desert was the strongest creature and monster on Terra Sanguis — a Category Four Dungeon evaluated to be within the limits of the First year cadets.

In some almost literal sense of the world, it was the level Boss Monster — it was still within the standards and limit of being beaten.

Although, a lot of things no longer made sense about the exercise, and even more seemed to have gone wrong, but Xavier believed it was still possible.

'I figured we'd most likely still cross paths with the King, and it was only a matter of when. It seems impossible, but it isn't. With the right amount time, and people, the Sand Worm can — most certainly — be defeated.'

Xavier's pale expression was fierce with sincerity and determination carved and etched into his bright narrow eyes.

It was truly misfortunate for them to face against the King of the Desert a second time — following the series of events leading up to it, it was like they were cursed by a few couple years of bad luck.

But the light in Xavier's narrow eyes didn't deem, and deepened instead.

Two major factors played in Xavier's statistics and chances, or possibilities against the Sand Dragon.

The first was—

'The right time...'

Although this was almost fleeting as the amount of time they had in the Dark Labyrinth was precariously uncertain. There was no assurance how long they had till... anything happened.

Xavier looked down, he felt the ground tremble as pieces of rubbles shook.

The Sand Dragon was planning to emerge again. It's large body was still slithering around the chamber, but a portion of its upper body and head had slammed into the center of the ground.

As Xavier rose up, restraining the pain of his broken shoulder, he huffed.

There was still another factor that also mattered to their chances.

The second was...

'The right people.'

-SHIING!

A shattering sound wave like a high pitched slash broke through the atmosphere like fragile glass all of a sudden out of nowhere.

Xavier hadn't taken a single step forward, when all of a sudden...

The World had been severed in two behind him.

The burgeoning swollen cloud of dust was slashed in half and a powerful greyish red sword wave tore a bloody gash across the hard scales of the emerging Sand Dragon.

It all happened so quickly.

Out of a nowhere, a sword attack had cleaved the dust like it was solid matter, as if the world itself had been severed in two.

The colossal body of the Sand Dragon rose as a deep and bloody gash tore across the surface of its scales.

And then,

A wretched cry followed, like a wail.

The Sand Worm screeched out in bloody pain, causing the chamber to rumble again.

Xavier turned around at the last moment, just enough to watch a long, tear run across the hard outer scales of the monster.

Then it bled.

-Step -Step.

The figure of a person was outlined as they slowly stepped out of the dispersing dust.

Ceres stepped out of the dispersing dust with her long hair fluttering behind her back.

Xavier's fingers wrapped around the hilt of his sword grew tighter. The action of watching the first blood draw from the colossus pulled at his heart strings with dark excitement.

A tight smile split apart Xavier's face as he watched Ceres' figure emerge.

She had been tossed halfway across the chamber before, but Ceres emerged uninjured and unscathed. Her blood red eyes were glowing menacingly.

If Xavier didn't know better - which he didn't - he'd think Ceres looked particularly frustrated or annoyed at that moment.

The massive hulking figure of the Sand Dragon — which was really just the part of its head that was attacked — fell back and smashed into the wall, shattering a few columns into rubbles.

Alex, Trise and Chelsea gathered together some feets away to regroup. Ceres' intimidating, and flawless figure came closer.

Each step she took resounded lightly despite the fancy silver boots she wore. Experience tales at My Virtual Library Empire

Ceres turned her impassive gaze towards the small group staring at her incredulously.

She gestured with her chin at the direction the Sand Dragon collapsed towards.

"What's that?" Her voice was cold and flat as her red gaze were steady.

Trise felt suffocated. For a moment she forgot the feeling of threat and horror she felt against the King of the dessert, and instead felt overwhelming awe and intimidation against Ceres.

Chelsea and Alex, too, couldn't stop staring.

They're lips parted, but no words could be said.

Their reactions were expected. They had just witnessed Ceres achieve what all four of them together had struggled to barely recreate a small percentage or a fraction of — and still fail— in a single attack.

Xavier was the first and only one to not be entirely pulled in by Ceres' atmosphere.

He held his shoulder lightly and said in response.

"That's the Sand Dragon, and King of the Desert."