In a vast desert that was once yellow, the sands had turo a dark red.

  The desert was littered with the remains of tless is. Due to the intense heat, they had mummified before they could even decay, their blood seeping into the sand and staining it a deep crimsoime.

  Amidst the mountain of i corpses, a young girl stood atop, gazing out over the endless expanse of dark red sand below.

  She had lost track of how long she had been fighting. The i hordes seemed endless, crashing upon her like a releide. At first, she could only kill one i at a time, but soon she could sy a group with a sirike. However, as she adapted, stronger and more formidable is appeared, bringing her back to the struggle of killing one i at a time.

  Throughout this ceaseless battle, her movements remained agile, though her body was numb from the stant wounds that healed and reopened. Her will was unyielding, but her mind was fraying from the endless sughter.

  At some point, she had started relyiirely on instinct. Her teiques were engraved into her body, and her memory had been severed.

  Only now had she begun tain her awareness.

  BOOM!

  Suddenly, the ground began to tremble violently. The iy of the quake far surpassed that of the giaipede she had faced before.

  “...!!”

  A colossal i, over a hundred meters long, emerged with an inprehensible sound.

  At the same time, the desert's sery began to flicker, shifting from oasis to forest, from city to sea.

  “Didn’t expect you could make it this far. Had I known, I would have used illusions from the start to crush you in the cradle.”

  The gigantisect had the scythe-like cws of a mantis, the armor of a beetle, and the stinger of a bee, as if it were a fusion of various bugs. Its sides were lined with numerous long legs.

  “…”

  The girl raised her head, staring at the giant i h in the sky, saying nothing. However, her gaze made the i feel a sense of pt.

  “Lowlife heretic, prepare to die!”

  The i’s transparent wings fred outwards, creating a gust of wind that bleart of the mountain of corpses beh the girl, scattering them across the desert.

  Yet, the girl remained unmoved.

  “Impossible! You bsphemer!”

  A massive sphere of energy gathered in the i’s mouth, f a dazzling ball of light.

  As it unleashed the sphere, a destructive beam of light, as wide as the giaipede, erupted from it, obliterating everything it touched.

  After a long while, the light faded, leaving half of the corpse mountain reduced to rubble and a massive yon carved into the desert, as though the sea had been split apart.

  “Although my kind suffered severe casualties, and I could not use it to our adva’s still…”

  Before the i could finish, it sensed a strange presence, identical to the ohat should have vanished uhe destructive beam.

  A powerful shockwave erupted from its back, redug its flyi by over a hundred meters.

  “Damn it! Illusions… Activate!”

  As it spoke, the flickering illusions on the ground stopped, fog on the human on its back.

  The illusions in the desert she had entered before were mere games, far inferior to the trated power of the desert’s illusions.

  However, with another powerful impact, the illusions created by the i were shattered in an instant, along with its arrogance.

  “Why aren’t you affected!? … No, you’re hiding your true power!”

  At this moment, the aura emitted by the girl was undeniably on par with the i's.

  The i’s offspring were merely at the peak of the sixth level, while it was more than two levels higher. Even if the girl could elimis stro offspring with a wave of her hand, it was inceivable that she could match it. Moreover, it had calcuted everything precisely, and there should have been no errors.

  Yet, a mistake occurred. The girl’s pained from the life forces of those she had sin, had grown beyond the i’s expectations.

  “Stop! Stay away!”

  The ihrashed its body, trying to shake the girl off.

  The higher the level, the less advantage size gave. Uhe differen power or size was enormous, a rge oppo was merely a target for the other side to attack with ease.

  Now, the i was the oh the massive size, and its attacks couldn’t harm her, while she could bombard it relentlessly.

  As expected, numerous magic circles appeared around the i, b it from every angle like an oven.

  “No! I don't want to die! I pledge to a revered deity, grarength!”

  The i abas self-procimed divinity and dignity, a sacrifice to an unknowy.

  However, as if sulking, the entity did not respond.

  “…It’s e to this. If I die, you won’t live either!”

  In its desperation, the i decided to self-destruct, taking the human with it.

  In an instant, the i’s body expao twice its size and tio swell like a balloon on the verge of bursting. But the explosion’s power was far beyond that of a mere balloon.

  BOOM!!! !!!

  The explosion’s shockwave and gale swept across the desert, lifting a vast amount of i corpses and crimson sand, creating a sandstorm. The sky was darkened by the red sand, turning the desert a grim gray.

  At the ter of the explosion was a massive crater, pletely empty of both corpses and living beings.

  ...

  ...

  ...

  “It’s been a long time since we st iigated here. Do you know why the master suddenly interrupted the iigation and then resumed it?”

  “How would I know? The master’s wisdom is beyond our uanding. Just focus oask… What’s wrong?”

  “Look over there…”

  A girl with deer antlers atting anirl with fluffy ears while pointing forward at the once-yellow desert now turned dark red aing a strong smell of rust. If they hadn’t repeatedly firmed their location, they would have thought they were lost.

  The only simirity was that the desert still had clear weather, albeit somewhat annoyingly so.

  “…No wohe master gave us anti-odor medie in advahe master is truly unfathomable.”

  “Don’t praise the master just yet! We o iigate thhly. Something serious might have happened, which is why the master sent us here.”

  The girl with fluffy ears swallowed the anti-odor medie and, pulling the girl with deer antlers, hurried into the desert.

  ShoujoDirector