Adventure World Online (AWO)

"A ship—I want to know if you could build a ship to carry the newly reborn out of the Land of the Dead."

Chang Long asked with a hopeful look.

"A ship? We already have one, don't we? You probably haven't gone to explore under the city yet, right? Down there we have a ferry for the dead. But if you want to build a new, larger ship, that'll have to wait until I finish the restaurant. Then, I might be able to spare some time to oversee the ship construction for you."

Furik responded with a doubtful tone, though it was not surprising if Chang Long did not know about the river beneath the city—after all, it had not been used regularly for over a hundred years.

"A ferry for the dead?"

…..

After parting ways with Chang Long and Aswa, Siegfried sent a message to his friends in Heaven City to let them know he would be heading out to gather the wolf pack, according to what Lycanth had told him. The young man traveled to Aseana Island, the site of the ancient city where the Lycanth had once ruled as king, to search for clues about the migration of his fifty offspring.

Siegfried hitched a ride on a player-chartered ship from the Maritime Association heading back to Europa Island, then boarded a system-operated ship bound for Aseana. He was not about to waste time sightseeing—the young man still had many matters to take care of: guild affairs, the construction of Heaven City, and preparing himself for the coming battle between the heirs of the Pirate King, which was likely to begin very soon.

However, when it came to the conquest of a city, Siegfried knew well that when the time came, the allied guilds might not be able to join in defense—since both guilds had plans to claim their own special territories. Securing a wolf army would be a useful reinforcement to his forces, at least to some extent.

His guild, Pendragon, still did not have enough members to be called a major guild. Fortunately, its members were all diligently leveling up, making Pendragon a powerful guild—one that would not be easy for others to contend with. And Rafael continued to bring in new recruits consistently.

Siegfried and the Lycanth, in his human form that still looked as unfriendly as ever, were hurrying through the Gobi Desert. Along the way, they were constantly harassed by beasts, though this did nothing to dampen Lycanth's excitement. Even though the traces of the ancient city had long been swallowed by the desert and lost to time, the entire map of the path remained vividly imprinted in his memory.

Tonight, the sky was filled with stars without a single cloud in sight. The two rested after fighting off a large group of beasts. Siegfried pulled out a water bottle to drink and then passed it to Lycanth in human form. He took a drink, returned the water bottle, and spoke up.

"We're almost there, master."

"How do you know that? All I can see is desert all around us—same as always."

The young man replied in puzzlement.

"See that group of tall pillars? Even though they've collapsed into ruins now, that's the marker—the entrance to my palace."

Lycanth replied. A memory rose in his mind from when his kingdom still flourished. He had sat proudly on the royal steed, riding with majesty at the head of his royal guard, greeted by the cheers of the citizens—before the vision faded away into a haze of mist.

"I've heard a bit about how your city fell. But what's the point in going back there now? It's a ghost town—no one lives there anymore."

Siegfried asked in curiosity.

"The registry book of my fifty children. Unfortunately, they are full beasts, for they never drank the blood that lifted the curse, like I did. If you want to control and rule them all, you must have the registry that lists each one by name and distinguishing features—even in beast form. Without it, they won't submit, even if you subdue them into surrender."

Lycanth explained.

Siegfried knew that this must be some kind of quest—strange, though, that it was his pet who revealed the quest, even if he was not the one officially assigning it. If another player were to come across Lycanth's abandoned city and find this so-called registry book, that player might also receive a quest to search Lycanth's offspring. But would anyone even know? Because on the way here, there were barely any players hunting beasts this deep into the desert.

The young man's thoughts turned to Chang Long—a girl who loved to travel and explore wherever she pleased, never caring what she might encounter. As long as she could enjoy the game and find excitement, that was all she needed. And because of that mindset, she had discovered the Sovereign Sword, the secret tomb of the Pirate King, and many hidden quests that countless players desperately wanted to find but never did—too busy gathering information, fearing this and that, and too afraid to venture out on an adventure.

As for him, this was the first time he had encountered a hidden quest without Chang Long by his side. The young man felt excited but could not help feeling a little lonely too. He had always done quests with teammates. It was rare for him to go off and do anything alone. Siegfried thought that once he found the registry of Lycanth's offspring, he would invite his friends to help him track them down together. That would surely make the journey a lot more fun.

"Are you rested now, master? Let's go. We're not far from the palace now."

Lycanth urged, standing up. Siegfried nodded and stood as well. The two of them set off again, heading toward the pillars looming in the darkness ahead. Even though it was faintly visible that many beasts were waiting up ahead, the road that lay before them was worth the risk. They had come too far—how could they possibly turn back or die in vain now?

"A level 121 Sand King Beast King has appeared."

The system announcement made Siegfried freeze mid-step. It seemed the path between the pillars was the Sand King's domain, and their fight with the beasts blocking the way had to have drawn its attention.

"Be careful, master. The Sand King is vicious—and it has a whole gang of underlings too."

As soon as Lycanth finished his warning, the sand in front of them began to stir. Grains of sand started forming into the shape of a human with a powerful build, over two meters tall, with a crown on its head. Its face was blank, with only the ridge of a nose. If it had stood still, any player would have mistaken it for a sandstone sculpture. But this one was moving. It spread its arms wide and raised them high, and behind it, more strange figures like itself emerged from the sand. These were smaller, had no crowns, and the system identified them to Siegfried as Sandmen.

The Sand King and more than twenty of its minions blocked the young man's path, and it was clear they had no intention of letting him pass easily. Siegfried felt uneasy—he had never fought beasts like this before. The closest comparison would be stone golems: if you could break the stones on their bodies apart, that meant you had defeated them. But for these sand creatures, he had no idea how to deal with them.

"Lycanth, you've fought these things before, haven't you? That's how you know how dangerous they are."

Siegfried asked the local expert, Lycanth.

"Of course. The Sandmen aren't hard to deal with if you have a water-element mage with you. But if you don't, you'll have to keep attacking the same spot—right on the clear orb in their chest. Only when it breaks will they die. As for the Sand King, if you can't find its heart, there's no way to bring it down."

Lycanth explained like an expert. Of course, having lived in the desert, he had surely fought many of the desert beasts before. But whether he could actually fight them or knew the trick to defeating them was another matter entirely. Fortunately, Lycanth truly seemed to know how to deal with the sand creatures, which meant they did not have to waste time figuring out their weak points. However, one thing the young man still wondered about—when the sand had formed into those figures, he had not seen any liver, intestines, or heart on them at all.

While Siegfried was lost in thought, the Sand King gave the order to attack. The Sandmen, whose feet could not leave the surface of the sand, charged forward to attack the young man and his pet. Luckily, during his adventures with Chang Long, Siegfried had trained in swift movement skills and had managed to raise their level significantly. He was thus able to dodge the fleet Sandmen with relative ease. As for Lycanth, whose level was far higher than those Sandmen, there was no need to even mention it—he dodged and counterattacked them with ease.

"Be careful, master. They might look like that, but if you get hit head-on, it could break your bones."

Lycanth warned after slaying one of the Sandmen. Siegfried nodded in acknowledgment. He had just been struck by the beast's arm—though it was only a glancing blow, it still caused a bleeding wound.

The young man fully realized that if he kept being swarmed by the Sandmen like this, he would never be able to deal with the Sand King and clear a path to Lycanth's abandoned palace. Siegfried whispered to summon the Hoop Dragon Ring. From its unmoving form that had looked like mere ornament, it blinked its eye in response to his voice and flew off his finger, flapping its wings. Without needing a command, the Hoop Dragon Ring already knew its role. It grew larger and launched into an assault on the Sandmen, opening a path for the young man to charge toward the Sand King, who was busy giving orders.

Clanggg

Siegfried's sword could not harm the Sand King. When he thrust his blade directly at it, it bounced off with force due to the creature's tough body. Not only that, but both his sword and his hand shook from the impact. The Sand King turned its attention to Siegfried, opened its mouth in a soundless roar, then lunged at the young man. He raised his sword to block the heavy attack, but his body was knocked backward.

The Sand King attacked relentlessly, not giving the young man any chance to gain his footing. Even though the edge of Siegfried's sword chipped away some of the sand from the Sand King's body, it did not seem to do any actual damage—because once the old sand fell away, new sand moved in to replace it, sealing the gaps completely.

At level ninety-three, Siegfried did not seem capable of handling the Sand King just yet—especially in a terrain so saturated with sand like this desert. Even though he tried to activate his skills, he had no chance. Just defending and dodging the Sand King's attacks already took everything he had.

Boommm

"Argh!"

Siegfried made a mistake and was sent flying. Caduceus, his personal weapon, was knocked out of his hand. Pain shot up his arm. He tried to push himself up, but his right arm would not move. Looking down in alarm, he saw it was broken—twisted unnaturally and horribly. His face went pale, and all he could do was grit his teeth to hold back the pain.

"Master!"

Lycanth, seeing Siegfried get hit, rushed over to help—but was blocked by four Sandmen. Siegfried summoned Caduceus into his left hand. Though not his dominant hand, it was better than having no defense in such a dire situation. The young man panted, sweat pouring from him, pain surging through him without end—as he braced himself for the next assault from the charging Sand King.

Crack!

Just seconds before the Sand King reached Siegfried, the Hoop Dragon flew in to intercept the attack. With scales like massive sharp spikes, it spun at high speed as it attacked, it managed to sever the Sand King's arm. The creature opened its mouth in another silent roar of fury, then quickly retreated, commanding the Sandmen to attack in its place.

As the Sand King's new arm began to regrow, Siegfried noticed a clear crystal shard drop from the wound and sink into the sand. That might have been a piece of it that had fallen off in its weakened state. Siegfried rushed in to see just what that crystal shard truly was.

Siegfried, who was injured, had the Hoop Dragon standing guard. It used its body, spinning as fast as a saw blade, to attack the Sandmen—shattering their forms in a single strike. The Sand King retreated far away from the Hoop Dragon, wary of it, because it was the first thing that had ever managed to wound the Sand King with just one attack.

Lycanth came to join up, and when he saw that Siegfried was intent on doing something—though he did not know what it was—it looked like something very important. Otherwise, his master would not seem that serious. Siegfried reached the spot where the crystal had fallen. He lowered his head and started digging through the sand using the one arm he could still move, with the Hoop Dragon and Lycanth guarding him.

"Player Siegfried has received 1 piece of Sand Heart."

As soon as the system announcement faded, the crystal turned into grains of sand and scattered onto the ground. The young man tried to search for it, but it was no use. No matter how much he brushed the sand around, he could not find that piece of the Sand Heart. While Siegfried was trying to tend to his wounds, the Sandmen swarmed in to launch a fierce attack, with the Sand King giving commands from a distance.

With each Sandman at level seventy-five, and several attacking at once, even Lycanth—who was level ninety-nine—found it a tough fight. Thankfully, the Hoop Dragon Ring could take out a Sandman in a single blow, allowing both Siegfried and Lycanth to stay alive.

While they were under heavy assault, the Hoop Dragon Ring performed a circular attack around its master and his pet in human form, opening a path so they could retreat and catch their breath. They had been under siege for nearly twenty minutes now, and there was no sign that the Sandmen were decreasing in number.

As they ran to escape the encirclement, Siegfried's eyes caught a glimpse of the Sand King standing calmly and waiting. What caught his attention was not its calm demeanor—but the familiar crystal that the system had earlier identified as a piece of the Sand Heart, now attached to its left chest.

"Lycanth—that heart of the Sand King you mentioned, is it called the Sand Heart?"

Siegfried asked while running.

"That's right, master. You need to inflict three large wounds on the Sand King—only then will the Sand Heart appear. After that, just aim and strike the Sand Heart until it breaks, and it's done."

Lycanth explained as if it were no big deal. But in reality, wounding the Sand King was no easy task—it was something close to impossible. They were surrounded by Sandmen to the point that they could barely move. Just staying alive and avoiding being overwhelmed was hard enough—so how would they ever find the chance to injure the Sand King?

"By the way, how did you manage to kill it? You act like it was much easier than it is, just now."

Siegfried asked with a puzzled look.