We marched across hard sandstone, the suns overbearing presence a constant reminder of the danger we found ourselves in. My senses were spread out in search of any signs of danger, we could not afford to be lax… not here. I walked at the front of our group, the black dawn tied to my hip as my eyes scanned the surroundings. Simon walked to my left, spear in hand ready for anything. We were a relatively small group, composed of only five members. I served as both a scout as well as a dps in the event of a fight. We had Simon acting as our second dps, a burly man from the hunter's guild served as our tank. Johan carried a heavy shield and a great sword. He was completely decked out in rift steel plate mail, not the most mobile of our group. His gift was aptly named bulwark, he could triple his defensive capabilities for a short period of time. Making him the perfect fit for the role. He walked to my right, and in the center of our formation stood our two supports.
Vivienne was a mage originally from the Great Empire of Britannia. While the Africans practiced shamanism, and the east practiced cultivation. The west was a different factor all together, their method consisted of creating rings of power around their heart amplifying their natural affinity and improving the external usage of mana. Her fire affinity was highlighted by her cherry blonde hair, a unique trait of the magi. The higher the amount of rings they had the closer their physical body came to their source element. Next to her stood Augustus a hunter descended from the healers of the holy Empire of Rome. His water affinity gift allowed him to heal wounds and mend flesh, he served as our healer.
While the majority of the Exterminatus teams consisted of ten man squads, ours was a special case. Every single member except yours truly was a D-rank hunter with specialized capabilities. Being the only E-rank might have seemed strange but if you considered how peculiar a case I truly was it made sense. I had the power to rival even weak C-ranks if I went all out, so I was made the squad leader of this rag tag team.
Raising my hand to signal the squad to stop, I closed my eyes focusing on Odin's vision instead. He had been flying ahead scouting for any potential enemies, or anything of interest. He was currently flying a few kilometers ahead. Through his eyes I a pack of hyena like beasts moving in our direction. They did not seem overly dangerous but it paid to be cautious. Opening my eyes again I turned towards my squad. "Engagement in thirty, battle formation three." The others did not even ask a single question merely falling into position. My scouting ability had already saved our hides countless times so they did not even stop to question me.
Johan stood at the front shield at the ready. while Simon and I covered his sides slightly behind him forming a triangular shape with our two support in the middle of the formation Drawing the black dawn from its sheath, I felt the surge of power as Anubis materialized next to me. He looked around with an aloof expression before noticing us in battle positions he quickly shifted to benign alert. He nuzzled my side with his snout laying down next to me. That was one of the things I noticed about my guardian spirits, they were very eccentric creatures. Anubis was aloof seemingly not having a single care for anything but his own amusement. While Odin was an overly serious fellow, never growing complacent. He was far more stoic than his jackal counterpart.
We did not have to wait long before the beasts arrived like a storm, kicking up dust in their mad dash. Something about their behavior was strange, the way the beasts ran with reckless abandon set alarm bells of in my head. But before I could ponder on what that could be the threat had arrived. Seven hyena like beast with sharp quills sticking our of their backs collided with Johan's shield. Allowing me and Simon to take advantage of their slight disorientation. I swung black dawn with practiced precision, creating a shallow wound infused with my black flame on its shoulder. The affected area began to dull and gray as the color left its thick hide. Simon was more successful with his first strike, imbued with the aspect of the lion his spear severed the beasts spinal cord killing it instantly. Neither Johan nor Anubis remained idle, Johan's great sword cleaved another hyena in two while Anubis engulfed the hyena wounded by my strike in black fire. Causing it to begin to rot and decay. In a single moment three of the seven beasts were no more, they were just weak E-ranks so it was only to be expected. For a single moment the heat became nearly unbearable as Vivienne engulfed the remaining four beasts in a massive fireball. Only the hyena directly in the fireballs path died from the attack while the others were merely burned.
We finished the remaining three quickly, my feeling of unease only grew as I looked at the area covered in a sparse few trees and bushes. The barren land was quiet… too quiet. During our fight Odin had continued scouting, a tugging on my soul warned me that he wanted to show me something. So while my squad went about butchering the beasts for their cores I focused on my guardians senses. What I saw made my blood run cold, a veritable wall of turbulent sand filled with streaks of multi-colored lighting was moving directly towards us. Shit, shit, "We need to move NOW!" My squad looked up at me with confusion at the fear in my voice. "We have a heavenly tribulation moving towards us. The Scorching wind is moving directly towards us." Their eyes widened when they heard the reason for my fear. A sentiment they quickly shared as they abandoned their search for cores and began moving west in the opposite direction of the storm.
Heavenly tribulations were unique to Dead Zones, they were a peculiar form of natural disaster that formed due to the excess amounts of chaotic mana expelled from the rifts. Every Dead zone had its own tribulation, some were stationary like the abyssal pits within the Antarctica dead zone. But others like the scorching winds, were notorious for the fact that they were constantly moving. Some theorized that it was some form of elemental but that was just a baseless hypothesis. Odin scouted for a shelter where we could weather the storm while we moved with all the might our gifted bodies could provide. The beasts behavior started to make a lot more sense, they were not running towards something, they were running away. Vivienne started lagging behind the group, her lack of physical prowess was making itself known. Johan unceremoniously picked her up over his shoulder and continued running. As the storm grew ever closer Odin finally spotted a cave a few minutes ahead of us.
We made a beeline directly toward it, jumping over rocks and stumbling over uneven sand. The cave itself was small but covered us from all sides except the entrance. Only when we were safely inside did we release a sigh of relief. But even that was strained, the tension was palpable. No one knew what happened inside of the storm, simply because no one who entered ever made it out alive. With the help of Odin I created a wall of soul mana to cover the entrance. Only the two of us could see the construct but it gave an extra sense of security. Augustus took out a golden cross necklace as he began to pray. Most of us had already begun to accept our fate. But I refused, dammit! I would not die to some fucking storm, not after everything I have done just to get here.
The storm consumed the area outside of the cave like a wrathful god, we had made it just in time. The only thing visible was the brown of the sand as it blew against my soul construct, every grain was like a blade cutting into my defenses. Forcing me to expend more mana just to keep it intact. This was alleviated somewhat with the help of Odin but even then it was a major strain. The only deviation in the brown of the sand was the occasional flash of lightning, making the silhouettes of humanoid creatures walking in he storm visible. Just their silhouettes was enough to make me shiver. We all forgot to breathe as one of the silhouettes moved directly passed the cave entrance. The creature stopped staring directly at us raising its hand, it touched the barrier with its deformed claws before turning its gaze back towards the storm and walking away. The fear I felt in that moment was so all confusing that I almost forgot to keep the barrier active. Luckily Odin picked up some of my slack stopping me from potentially dooming us all to a harrowing fate. After that encounter the same thing happened a few more times. So much so that I just closed my eyes and focused on maintaining the only thing keeping us alive. For hours I sat unmoving with only a singular focus, even when my mana ran out I continued to power the barrier with my own life force. What use was a long life if I died here today?
These were the thoughts that plagued my mind as I continued to soldier on. When the storm finally left our area I was so far beyond my limit that I simply lost consciousness. Retreating into the comforting darkness of sleep.