The hidden region of the Sacred Desert was a vast expanse of land filled with precious resources that couldn't be found anywhere else.
It was surrounded by a huge mountain range where terrifying creatures hibernated, restricting the infiltration of foreign Lords and their armies.
The battle for sovereignty in the hidden region of the Sacred Desert had been raging for decades, yet Danny had only arrived four years ago. He had been young at that time and a mere rookie Lord without much power. Despite his powerlessness, Danny made use of his Soultrait, and his fortune to summon a 6-Star Summon through the Fortune Summoning Scroll to transform his great misfortune into an opportunity.
He killed the Monsters and Lords in his surroundings – almost dying on multiple occasions – and grew much stronger. His War Rune's refinement degree improved quickly in the first two years until only four Lords were left fighting for the reign of the Sacred Desert's hidden region.
By that time, the Lords' territories had grown fast as well, creating long borders that had to be meticulously guarded all the time to ensure that no uninvited guests trespassed their territory behind their backs.
The war increased in intensity over the years, until Danny dug out the Primedival Pyramid. The Primedival Pyramid was an ancient ruin of the Second Epoch, and it was located in a depression in the centermost position of the Sacred Desert's hidden region.
Facing each direction stood a black gate that had to be broken before one could enter the Primedival Pyramid. However, breaking one of the black gates was easier said than done. The initial trial of the Primedival Pyramid was initiated the moment the black gates had been struck with heavy attacks, awakening the Undead of the Sacred Desert once again.
There were tens of thousands of Undeads, ranging from Skeleton Archers to Nehkarabia Knights riding on Giant Ghoul Serpents, or even Kleshabits and Anubirats, which were considered as Guardian Statues of the Sacred Desert during the Second Epoch.
However, amid all those Undead, the Bone Giants didn't attract most of the attention as expected.
On the contrary, all the eyes were glued to the pitch-black statue of the Necrosphinx. A Necrosphinx emerged from the sand in front of every black gate, acting as a guardian and the final boss of the Primedival Pyramid's initial trial.
It inflicted terror in a wide radius and attacked ruthlessly, passing through the rows of enemies without any effort.
The Necrosphinx was a bizarre and horrifying statue – a strange amalgamation of mythical beings that were said to have been sealed in the underworld. It had the torso and face of a man and was armed with gigantic, scything blades that could sever the neck of a Desert Giant with a single slice. The Necrophinx also had a scorpion-like tail, allowing it to stand strong against all kinds of predators.
However, the worst was that the Necrosphinx had long black wings sprouting from its back, mimicking the wings of an Onyx Roc. Those allowed the Necropshinxs to glide through the air in bounding leaps before falling among their terrified prey, reaping their lives with its scything blades.
The moment Danny saw the appearance of the beings that were considered legends even in the ancient texts of the Second Epoch, he swore profusely.
He accessed his War Rune's storage and retrieved a few potions. The content of the translucent glass vials shone brightly, but Danny didn't have any time to pay this any attention. He removed the lid of the potions and consumed the content without any hesitation.
Each of those potions could be considered one of Danny's trump cards. They stimulated his physical strength, reduced his stamina consumption, enhanced his energy circulation, and opened his pores to accelerate his natural energy absorption. Combining the effect of all potions, Danny's body would also start to naturally pull the surrounding origin energy toward him.
The moment he consumed the potions, Danny noticed that their effect had been activated. It hurt a little seeing that all of his potions had been used up at once – knowing how hard it had been to procure each of them –, but he knew that death was the only outcome if he wouldn't drink them right now.
He sent a mental note to his subordinates, telling them to consume their Minotaur Strength Potions, and the Arcane Energy Potions at once. They were lesser versions of the potions he drank and provided a much weaker effect. Nonetheless, they would enhance the combat prowess of his subjects greatly, and that was definitely necessary.
Even though Daniel had killed one of the Bone Giants, another batch of three Bone Giants were on their way to the southern black gate and his people.
That meant, Danny and his army had to deal with three Bone Giants that were lesser mythical creatures at the 3rd Tier, one Necrosphinx – a mythical mutation at the 3rd Tier, known and feared for being a reaper of lives on the battlefield, dozens of Anubirats, Kleshabits, and thousands of other Undead beings of the Sacred Desert.
Danny trusted his people, but there was a huge difference between blindly trusting others while acting oblivious to the dangers ahead and trusting his people while being fully aware of their combat prowess and the danger of the situation that lay ahead.
But he was not someone who would back off at the sight of danger. From one moment to the next, Danny began overflowing with energy . He shrouded his sword artifact tightly in Reinforced Sword Qi and dashed toward the Kleshabits. They were gathered in one place and aimed at the Saharit Elephants with their great bows. Danny unleashed a few smaller Sword Qi blades to cut their great bows' bowstrings before he appeared beneath them. He shot upward, his sword held high in the air.
The first Kleshabit couldn't react in time and suffered a heavy blow to its head, causing the head to burst into countless pieces. Danny kicked his feet from the beheaded Kleshabit to appear mid-air next to the other Kleshabit. He beheaded the second Kleshabit, just to unleash a strong crescent-shaped Sword Qi toward the third Kleshabit.
Danny turned a blind eye to his energy consumption as he fought. He knew that he had to go all-out to ensure that his subjects wouldn't suffer too much. Thus, he drained more than half of his origin energy storage within seconds to eliminate all Kleshabits that were guarding the southern gate.
He wanted to finish off the Anubirats before attacking the Bone Giants as well, but he quickly noticed that his subordinates had already formed large groups to bombard the Anubirats. The Anubirats might be strong enough to fight with a dozen enemies at the same rank and Tier, but they couldn't block all attacks either. Explosive energy-infused arrows impacted when the Anubirats tried to block them, forcefully halting the Anubirats' movements.
The other Summons used this opportunity to strike, inflicting scratches and deep cuts all over the Anubirats' bodies. Once enough cuts had been inflicted it would only be a matter of time before their limbs would crumble and fall off. By the time that happened, the Anubirats would lose most of their combat prowess. They would die miserably.
'The Guardian Statues are not as powerful as I expected. Is it because they're already thousands of years old? Or is it because I prepared thoroughly to fight statues?'
Danny hadn't prepared specifically to fight the Necrosphinx, the Anubirats, or the Kleshabits, but he had always equipped his subordinates – and himself, with the means to fight any kind of opponent. This included opponents with extremely strong defenses such as the Glorack race, and the Bone Giants.
Dealing with the Guardian Statues of the Anubirats and Kleshabits was a little different from fighting the Glorack, but all it took was ample preparations and a small fortune of explosive energy infused arrows, and other weapons with highly destructive traits to deal with them.
A few subordinates still died facing the Anubirats, but their deaths were not for naught. They had sacrificed their lives to deal with the Anubirats all while protecting their comrades in arms behind them.
Seeing that his subordinates were strong enough to deal with the Anubirats, the Undead Dire Wolves, the Death Vultures, and all those other Undead, Danny diverted his attention to the Bone Giants and the Necrosphinx. He first wanted to deal with the Necrosphinx, but he noticed that his strongest subordinates were already restricting its movements.
Danny didn't have many powerful Summons under his wing, but the few he had possessed exceptional strength. Furthermore, he had a few Adventurers working for him. Their Link of Loyalty had numerous conditions and restrictions, but they worked for him, nonetheless. Their combat prowess was not low either. It was enough to stall the Necrosphinx for a short while with the help of Danny's most powerful summons.
This included the Lamia Queen, Danny's strongest Summon – a 6-Star Summon at the 3rd Tier!
Danny turned to the three Bone Giants, who were slowly advancing to the most crowded area of the battlefield. The Undead of the Sacred Desert were busy surrounding Michael's Tier-1 Warriors, and the Bone Giants with their humongous longswords, prepared to mow through them, taking dozens, if not hundreds of lives with a single attack.
Daniel couldn't accept that. He manifested more than a dozen Silver Qi Swords around his body and gave a mental command to make them rotate around their own axis at a terrific speed before throwing them at the back of the head of the Bone Giants.
Using his full strength for each of the Silver Qi Swords, Daniel Fang was able to crack a portion of the Bone Giants' skull. Four rotating Silver Qi Swords impacting simultaneously had been enough to inflict subtle cracks along the backside of their skulls. That was great, but it was not enough to deal with them for good.
But that was not Danny's intention in the first place. He merely wanted to show the Bone Giants that they would die if they continued to pay attention to the masses.
If they didn't want to collapse and fall into an everlasting sleep, they would have to turn around and face Daniel.
And that was exactly what they did.
They turned around and charged at Danny.
