rune hunter

Chapter 204 Black Sandstorm

On No. 14 days after the exile team entered the brown earth hills, it was again attacked by the piercing wind.This time the storm seems to be beyond human control, because its scale is far beyond ordinary people's imagination.

In the afternoon, the venomous sun hanging high in the sky was unknowingly covered with a layer of shadows, and a damp breath came from nowhere in the dry air.The exhausted refugees regained their spirits and quickened their pace.

The black-bearded man who was blindfolded and stuffed behind the carriage suddenly licked his lips, and his expression changed drastically. He raised his body and turned around and shouted: "Everyone, stop! Take shelter from the wind!"

His movements were so great that little Langa, who was lying on his head, raised his tail subconsciously, but was blocked by El at the last moment.

"What are you yelling?" El asked angrily, rushing over with a cold face while holding an axe.

"Black sandstorm! This is the harbinger of black sandstorm! Gather your team, or everyone will die!" Blackbeard Gaba yelled angrily as he snapped the ropes that bound him, took off his blindfold.

El took a deep look at Blackbeard to confirm that his expression did not seem to be fake, and without saying a word, he took out a loud arrow from behind and shot it into the air.Since the temperature dropped just now, his wild intuition had vaguely sensed that something was wrong. It felt like he was locked by a powerful beast, but he couldn't find the source of the danger.After Blackbeard said this, he was able to confirm that it was a deterrent from nature.

The specially made loud arrows whistled sharply in the sky, which was the highest level of warning signal agreed in advance.The thousand-meter-long line of exiles slowly stopped under the sound of the alarm.

"How long do we have?" Al didn't ask Blackbeard what the black sandstorm he was talking about was, and it didn't sound like a good thing anyway.

"Three 10 minutes? Or shorter, when you can smell this kind of moisture, you should see it soon." Black Beard spread his hands and said with a simple and honest smile on his face: "Don't worry, I won't run away , When encountering a black sandstorm, whoever runs will die."

El glared at him fiercely, sent a signal to Little Langa in his heart, then turned around and mounted his horse, and rushed to the front of the team.

"Palanti! Get up and work! Timmy! The cavalry troops dispersed, and everyone at the head and tail of the team was informed to stop advancing! Ahmad! Reynard! Arlette! All the officers and troops dispersed, organized refugees to Get closer in the middle!"

Under his hoarse cry, the cavalry troops gathered around him immediately took action, but most of the refugees didn't know what happened, and stood there blankly, not knowing what to do.

Hearing El's yell, Pallanti, who was lying in the carriage, jumped up, tore off the bandages on her face, and was about to rush out.Laurana raised her hand to block her way, and said with an unhappy face: "Your injury is not fully healed..."

"Something must have happened, otherwise the adults wouldn't call my name!" Pallanti said eagerly.

"Hold this." Laurana thought for a while, took out a trumpet-shaped alchemy item from her sleeve, stuffed it into Pallanti's arms, and said: "Press the red switch to use it, it can amplify the sound, I think El It must be needed now."

At the same time, a glittering bird also flew over from the front of the team, stopped in front of El, opened its mouth and let out Tiana's voice: "What happened?"

"Gather the team immediately and return to the canyon you just passed through." El said in a deep voice, "A terrible storm is coming, we only have less than half an hour, this is what Blackbeard said !"

With the tacit understanding between the two, without further explanation, the luminous birds spread out in the air, and immediately in front of the team rose a beam of light that pierced the sky and the earth, which was Tiana's unique banner.

Al rode his horse up the hill and looked around, and immediately understood the meaning of Blackbeard's words.On the horizon where the eastern sky meets the earth, an invisible black curtain has risen, swallowing the bright sky at a speed visible to the naked eye.It feels like the dark sky driven by the undead army in the Istaron War.

Compared with the dead and silent dark sky, the dark scene in front of me is full of violent oppression. With El's excellent eyesight, he can already see its essence-it is countless rolling sand and stones, driven by the strong wind. Underneath, it seems to be slowly but actually swallowing the land quickly.

The size of the exile team is too large and bloated, and even half an hour may not be able to gather them all.And the temporarily selected wind shelter canyon can hardly accommodate thousands of people and convoys at the same time.The rolling black sandstorm was faster than expected, and the abnormal flow of the wind direction could be felt after 10 minutes.

Travelers entering the brown earth hills for the first time will not feel any abnormality in the wind at all.Their view was obscured by the rolling hills from the deadly menace sweeping across the horizon.By the time they realized something was wrong, it was too late to escape.

Although Blackbeard said that he had 10 minutes to prepare, but after only 10 minutes, the piercing wind in the canyon had become wild and violent.The bright sky dimmed almost instantly, and the overwhelming wind and sand blocked the sun, as if it had entered dusk.

The whistling flying sand and rocks made people unable to open their eyes, and they couldn't even tell the direction.There is only a beam of light that penetrates the sky and earth, moving forward firmly like a banner, guiding the refugees in the dark.It took Tiana a full 10 minutes to bring the group of exiles who were walking ahead back into the canyon.

"Hide the child in the innermost part! Everyone is close together, hold hands and don't let go!"

Although Tiana's face was pale and covered with cold sweat due to the mana consumption of maintaining the beam of light for a long time, she still held the hot staff tightly and gave orders in an orderly manner.

"Can you still hold on? If not, take a rest first!" El couldn't help but said when she saw her tired look.

"No, the team was blown away just now, and there are still people who haven't followed. We must let them see this beacon!" Tiana wiped the cold sweat from her forehead, shook her head and refused.

"I'll take people to them!" Al said.

"Don't go out, you have no idea where they are!" Tiana exclaimed.

At this time, it was completely dark, and the whistling wind and sand covered all the sounds.A wagon carrying sundries next to it was blown crookedly by a gust of wind because of its lack of weight.The rope tied to the carriage suddenly snapped, and fragments of debris flew all over the sky.An iron kettle skidded past Tiana, hitting her squarely on the back of the head.The girl screamed, her body lost her balance, and was pushed forward involuntarily by the wind.

With the girl's petite figure, once she lost the protection of magic, she might be swept away by the strong wind.With sharp eyes and quick hands, El grabbed her in his arms and threw her to the ground.

The real black sandstorm has come, and the endless wind and sand flooded everything in the world. At this time, Tiana's beacon naturally lost its effect.El leaned back against the others, covering himself and the girl with a cloak.In the darkness, the two faces were pressed against each other, and each could clearly feel the other's breathing.

El took a breath carefully, his nose was full of the girl's scent mixed with the smell of tea. He hadn't smelled this smell for a long time, but the impression was still clear.After leaving Eastalen, although he and Tiana had more opportunities to meet each other, they were basically dealing with official business.The opportunity for two people to be together quietly like this is almost never seen again.

Although Tiana has always shown a mysterious and powerful image in front of outsiders, El knows that it is an illusion she deliberately made, and the purpose is just to give subconscious confidence to the refugees who place their hopes in her.In fact, only he knew how weak the girl's body was.

When he carried Tiana over the mountains and mountains, he knew that Tiana was very light, even thinner than Tika.During the days when Estalon was the guest at the lord's seat, the girl's complexion recovered a bit, but she lost weight quickly after that.

Feeling the body of the girl in his arms tremble slightly, El realized that she was crying silently.He had never seen Tiana cry since they first met.Maybe the girl didn't want others to see her weak side, even if she was crying in El's arms, she still bit her lips and refused to make a sound.

But with the inexplicable tacit understanding between the two, El can easily detect the sadness in her heart.

"I saw those people being blown away by the wind, but they didn't stop. They... must hate me." Tiana whispered in El's ear.

"You've done a good job, Tiana." El comforted her long hair, "I know, you've tried your best."

"Just trying my best is enough... If I work harder, I will definitely save more people." Tiana sniffed, and there was a bit of crying in her voice: "They believed in me and followed me from Is Tarun didn't escape to die in such a ghostly place..."

"Stop thinking about it, no one wants to die here, the accident is not your fault." El lowered his head, kissed the girl's face lightly through the veil, and put her cold hands in his arms , said seriously: "You are not alone, Tiana, I am with you."

The girl didn't respond, but her body slowly relaxed, she leaned on El's arm, and closed her eyes.

(End of this chapter)