"Let's finish this and get out of here." Gregory called out.
Taking out a small ball with a wick in it, he lit the wick and tossed it to the back of the trolls then backed up.
Boom!
"That punk! He did bring explosives!" Chronos thought as his ears began ringing.
Aahaaaah
A troll's head burst into flame as Lyla's mace made it past its guard during the confusion of the blast.
"We need to hurry. If we take too long things will only get worse for us." Lyla yelled.
Chronos kicked the troll with daggers in its knee, shattering its head.
"Working on that!" He yelled as his eyes became more bloodshot.
Gregory used his threads to behead one of the trolls that had fallen down during the earlier explosion.
"It won't take us very long; there's only four left." He said.
Just as they were going to kill the remaining enemies the trolls turned around and ran away. Chronos stood there and watched them for a moment before being distracted by the sand sled, the trolls had left behind.
"Gregory, can you drive a sand sled?" He asked curiously.
"I've never seen these creatures before, but I think I can manage."
The animals pulling the sleds had four long legs, two large lumps on their back, and were covered in reflective scales. They looked like some type of mutated crocodile crossed with a camel and Chronos thought they might have originally come from Dracon Fen.
They were so docile that they didn't even try to nip or bite at them when they approached the sled.
The sled was made simply having two runners with four high sides with seats attached. It was effective for moving a small number of troops or supplies around the desert, but the wood wasn't from any tree that their group recognized.
Sitting down Gregory took the reins and gave them a gentle shake. The Desert Crocodiles, which was the name they decided to call these creatures, took off at a moderate pace.
"The trolls are probably growing the trees for the sled with nature magic, but I didn't think you could grow plants in environments that are hostile to them. Am I wrong?" Chronos asked.
Sariah thought for a moment before coming up with an answer.
"They can't. Most likely this wood is from a tree that is native to the desert, or they've made a greenhouse of some kind."
"If they've been here long enough to make a greenhouse then this desert must be one of their main bases. Now we can report to Aunt Freydis without getting yelled at." Chronos said.
"I disagree," Gregory said. "The wood on the sled is old and isn't proof that they're here. However, the ambush means we're close, if we look around a little more, I'm sure we can find them soon. Just not today, we need rest."
As they approached the edge of the desert they felt like someone was watching them, but they were unable to locate them. Luckily once they crossed the edge of the desert the feeling disappeared.
The sled slowed down outside of the desert, but the desert crocodiles barely seemed to notice the change.
It wasn't until a few hours later that they started freaking out and trying to turn back towards the desert.
"Looks like we'll have to leave them here. Let's set camp here, I'd like to get back early tomorrow." Chronos said.
But Gregory looked very concerned as the desert crocodiles went home.
"What's wrong?" Sariah asked.
"They aren't stupid animals and they aren't just returning home either; they're fleeing from something. We need to be careful tonight." Gregory said.
As day turned to night, they gradually started falling asleep until the ground under them began to shake.
Rushing out of the tent Chronos looked around but couldn't see where the shaking was coming from.
"Gregory, do you see the enemy?"
"No, there's nothing in sight." He responded from the far side of the camp.
The shaking continued for a few seconds then Chronos felt something coming from underground.
"Below us..."
Bang!
He barely had time to block it as he was forced back.
The creature was long and thin and seemed to have several sections but before he could get a better look it dove back underground without disturbing the earth.
Bang!
His head snapped towards the sound only to see Gregory tying up another one before it could go back underground. Taking a close look at it, Gregory realized what it was.
"It's a deep worm! Watch your feet!" He yelled.
Screeech!
It was screeching? Deep worms weren't supposed to do that they were solitary creatures, had they also changed with the wastelands?
Chronos didn't have time to think about anything else as the shaking coming from underground intensified until the ground broke open nearby.
As thousands of deep worms appeared, blood drained from Chronos's face.
"Come to me!" He shouted.
No matter how strong they were, as long as they weren't in the fourth rank they wouldn't be able to survive fighting against thousands of enemies at once.
Lyla and Sariah who had just woken up stumbled towards him while Gregory ran over from the far side of the camp.
Casting [Isolate] Chronos made a barrier float in mid-air and locked it in place out of the worm's reach then tossed Lyla and Sariah on top of it. Jumping up he landed safely and pulled Gregory up when he was close enough.
Looking down from above, they watched as countless worms tore through their camp with ease.
"This is bad." Lyla said.
"Yeah, with this many deep worms anybody trying to cross the plains would be devoured before they reached their destination." Chronos said.
"This pretty much confirms that the trolls live in the desert. Deep worms hate heat and won't come out in a desert area. With this many of them around any army that stops in the plains would be eaten." Gregory said.
"The trolls really chose an annoying place to live. Like this it's almost impossible to assault their home." Lyla grumbled.
Looking at all of the worms Sariah asked, "Do you think they are everywhere in the wasteland or just around the troll's desert?"
"Probably just around the troll's desert, if they were everywhere then none of the other creatures would survive. Well for now you three go back to sleep, I need to stay up to keep [Isolate] from collapsing." Chronos said as he sat down on the edge of the barrier.
Lyla and Sariah swiftly fell asleep again, but Gregory stayed up with Chronos.
"Do you think the Leighla Kingdom will be able to attack the trolls with all of these beasts around?" Gregory quietly asked.
"I don't think the king planned to attack them to begin with. If he was, he would have sent a more aggressive unit instead of the crucible knights who specialize in construction and setting terrain type magic." Chronos responded.
Gregory's eyebrows scrunched up as he couldn't understand why the king didn't want to retaliate when they had been invaded.
"What is the king thinking?"
"Hm, we're under attack by tears, dark beasts, and devils, then there's the federation to the south too. Just because we have a non-aggression pact with them doesn't mean some of those nations won't attack us if they think we're growing weak. And Aunt Freydis said that the beasts in the northern mountains were becoming more active too.
With so much going on the king doesn't want to put too much into a problem that can be resolved with a few castles. On top of that the more we learn about the wasteland the more certain I am that a war here would result in massive casualties for us.
It's better to just block them off and ignore them for now." Chronos explained.
With the world going through so many changes so rapidly nations would have to be even more careful or risk massive losses or complete destruction.
Too much was happening all at once right now and the king's information network saw more than what Chronos did, so he was certain that he was having an even worse time.
"Hehe." Chronos hollowly chuckled at the thought of the headaches the king must be having right now.
He had a feeling that before long he would be caught up in those same headaches.
Gregory stayed up all night with him and in the morning the deep worms retreated back underground to avoid drying out in the sun.
"Wake up. We need to get moving before something else happens." Chronos tried to shake Lyla awake but had to block her mace.
She was never easy to wake up but her subconscious attacks were happening less often as she got used to Chronos waking her up.
"Alright, alright, I'm up. How long before we're home?"
"We'll be home by noon."
Nodding they jumped off of the barrier as Chronos dispelled it. Choosing to get home faster they started running at a brisk pace while hoping that nothing else would target them today.