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Even without finding an oasis in this infernal desert, a decent patch of shade was already doing wonders. Few people remember this, but deserts live in extremes: unbearable heat during the day… and cutting cold at night.
Still, there's a brief window at the end of the afternoon when the climate becomes almost pleasant. Combined with the shadow cast by a large, dried-up tree, I was finally able to relax a little.
Unfortunately, I was still inside the desert dungeon.
Honestly, I would much rather be lying in my bed right now… but there was work to be done here.
"Such a pain…"
Every five minutes, I checked the dungeon's support beacon. The beginning of the event was supposed to follow a strict pattern.
First: all communication would be cut off. Any electronic device would simply lose signal.
Then: the dungeon exit would be sealed, preventing adventurers from escaping.
Thankfully, Vanessa, Ricardo, and Alice had already left hours ago. At least that wasn't something I needed to worry about.
And finally… the real announcement.
A colossal sandstorm, created to conceal the castle of the one orchestrating all of this, right at the eye of the chaos.
Baron Everblood.
Just thinking about that name left a bitter taste spreading across my tongue. He truly was a despicable demon: sadistic, bloodthirsty… and above all, vindictive.
Dealing with him was going to be troublesome.
Beep. Beep.
— Oh.
The beacon in my hand let out a warning tone, indicating total signal loss. Well… that meant everything was proceeding exactly as expected.
It would still take a few hours before the main event truly began, so I decided to wait until the following morning.
As night fell, I set up an improvised camp using the supplies I had brought. Nothing luxurious, but surprisingly comfortable.
I avoided thinking too much about the imminent battle…
And at some point, I fell asleep.
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Good morning, sunshine.
Not that it was exactly a pleasant day.
By nine in the morning, the sun already seemed furious above my head, but what could I do? It was a desert.
After waking up, I decided to walk to higher ground to get a better view of the horizon. Without much difficulty, I reached the top of a scorching sand dune.
And then… I saw it.
On the horizon stood something that looked like a colossal wall, a massive barrier of sand over fifteen hundred meters high, violent winds swirling across its surface.
The sandstorm had begun.
I tightened the mask against my face, reinforcing the elastic strap.
I took every spare piece of fabric I had and wrapped my entire body, including my head. A makeshift hood, now stained with sand, cast a shadow over the fox mask.
I was about to dive straight into that thing.
The hissing sound of the wind began to dominate everything, as the sand around me was pulled toward the turbulent wall advancing at frightening speed.
I stared at the monstrous cloud drawing closer.
— I really don't have a choice… do I?
With no alternative, I adjusted the mask and began walking toward the storm.
In just a few seconds, it swallowed me whole. Everything ahead vanished from sight.
The deeper I went, the stronger the wind became. Fine grains of sand struck my eyes, my skin, my clothes, every impact burned.
Whzzzz—!
— Tch…
The wind roared like a living creature.
The sand traveled at absurd speeds, leaving my skin numb with pain. I shielded my face with my arms and kept moving. Slowly… but without stopping.
My objective was clear: the eye of the storm. The only truly safe place inside.
The winds converged violently toward the center, yet never actually reached it, an effect caused by the Coriolis force, creating a region of absolute calm.
That was where the castle would be.
Whzzzz!
Whzzzz!
Whzzzz!
Two hours after entering the storm, even though everything around me still looked the same, my ears finally caught something different: the overwhelming sound of relentless winds concentrated at a single point.
The moment I heard that continuous roar, I knew exactly where I was. I had reached the boundary of the storm's eye, the so-called eyewall. The most terrifying, unpleasant, and distorted part of the entire formation, an uninterrupted wall of sand and wind that crushed anything daring enough to pass through it.
In that case… I think I know what to do.
Breathing was difficult there. Focusing was even worse. The deafening noise and infernal winds made every thought a struggle. I covered the mask with my hand and forced what little air remained in my lungs to circulate throughout my body, preparing my movement technique.
— Insect Breathing — Second Form: Hoga no Mai: Hanabiki (Dance of the Bee Sting: True Flutter)
I positioned the katana in front of me like a rapier and firmly planted my feet on the ground.
Then, in the blink of an eye, I lunged.
Like a violet blur, I fired forward in a brutal thrust against the wall of sand, fast and precise like a bee's stinger. It was a charging technique with terrifying speed.
Vhwooosh!
Suddenly, the air changed.
Breathing became lighter, cleaner. Although the distant roar of the wind never fully disappeared, I knew it: I had crossed through.
I was inside the eye of the storm.
Shaking the sand off my body, I observed my surroundings.
The first thing I noticed was the immense circular wall of wind, tinted yellow by sand, spinning all around me. It stretched for kilometers, forming a colossal ring. When I lifted my gaze, I saw something I hadn't seen since entering the storm: a clear blue sky, completely cloudless.
— This is… beautiful.
It was a sight I never could have witnessed in my previous world.
I sat down on the sand and let out a tired yawn. Aside from the distant scream of the eyewall, everything there was eerily silent, finally allowing me to catch my breath.
But then I looked closer.
At the center of the eye, between scattered dunes, stood an imposing structure, a massive black castle adorned with red details. It clashed violently with the surrounding landscape, like a scar carved into the desert.
There it is…
Even so, I couldn't go there just yet. If everything was unfolding as expected, he would cross the wall at any moment.
So I sat down… and waited.
I used the time to drink several of the potions I had brought with me, strength, endurance, and regeneration. Within minutes, my body felt sharper, more alert. Ready for what was coming.
After some time, I heard a distinctive sound in the distance: something violently tearing through the sandy wall of the storm's eye.
From within it emerged a figure of average height and slender build. His body was completely wrapped in sand-stained rags from head to toe. On his face, an improvised hijab left only his deep ocean-blue eyes exposed.
Ren Dover. The protagonist.
He stared at the horizon in disbelief, clearly overwhelmed by the exorbitant scenery, and at the same time confused by the presence of that enormous black castle at the center of the storm's eye.
When he shook his head and looked around, his eyes finally met mine.
Ren flinched for a brief moment upon realizing someone else was there, but soon relaxed. He probably assumed I was just another survivor of the chaos plaguing the dungeon.
He had encountered others before.
Unfortunately, none of them had been so lucky.
The bodies Ren found were dead, victims of Mind-Break Magic, one of the most cruel techniques in existence and a trademark of demons. Because of that, he was already certain: one of them was behind all of this.
I walked toward him.
Now we were two completely anonymous figures, masked and wrapped in rags, swords at our waists. Two strangers standing at the center of hell.
— H-how did you get here?
Ren looked genuinely surprised by my presence. Considering how grueling the journey to the storm's eye was, that reaction was more than understandable.
— In the middle of the storm… I followed a powerful presence I could feel.
I replied, pointing toward the black castle.
— I'm sure you can feel it too.
Ren turned his gaze back to the fortress, this time paying closer attention. A shiver ran down his spine as a bead of sweat slowly trickled down his forehead.
It was something massive… and evil.
— Argh… look, I'm sure that if we want to get out of here alive, we'll have to deal with whatever's inside that castle. But we can't go in unprepared... — My voice sounded indifferent amid the chaos.
— You're right… — Ren replied, finally coming to his senses.
One of the biggest problems Ren had faced before was exactly that. He had gone in completely unprepared. He had simply opened the castle doors and come face-to-face with a demon.
— What do you think is inside?
Ren asked while drinking a few potions taken from his dimensional bracelet.
— I don't know… — I replied. — But it's definitely planning something big.
I pointed toward the top of the castle, where a faint light pulsed rhythmically, as if it were accumulating something over time.
— It's like it's gathering energy… trying to break the dungeon from the inside out.
…
Ren brought a hand to his chin, adopting a thoughtful expression. A few seconds passed before something finally clicked in his mind.
— Dungeon overload… — he murmured.
— Exactly.
It was a phenomenon still poorly understood by humanity. So far, its consequences had been practically nonexistent.
Basically, it was an extreme desynchronization of the dungeon. But instead of simply losing its connection to the demon world, the overload caused the dungeon to collapse entirely, releasing all the monsters contained within directly into the human world.
The only reason this wasn't yet considered a real threat was simple: Earth was a planet only recently exposed to mana. Monsters with high magical density couldn't survive there, dying almost instantly.
But after a certain event… the amount of mana in the atmosphere would grow exponentially. And monsters that once couldn't survive… would now be free.
Imagine a dungeon overload under those conditions.
It was downright terrifying.
— Ready?
I asked while checking the edge of my blade.
Ren took the final gulp of his potion before answering, his eyes firm and resolute.
— Let's do this.
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