The Stargazing Witch & The Dungeon Planet
Chapter 132: Fight Amongst The Sand

Chapter 132: Fight Amongst The Sand

In the contest between flames and sand, the outcome wasn’t exactly favourable for me.

The sand moved and flowed down from the ceiling and walls and attacked in numerous waves of sand. 

[Hungering Flame] I used in hopes that its tenacity to hunt and consume and its ability to exist without assistance would support itself for at least a decent while, but I was aware that the chance of that failing was high.

When the flames collided with the sand as they chased Al-Roo, the sand’s weight and density quashed segments of the flame, and the golden sand within destroyed the flames it came into contact with.

Well, my fire is going to be mostly useless. 

While that was annoying, anything besides my strongest attacks was simply going to fizzle out. It also meant I should simply focus my mana usage on my movement. 

Which was greatly needed.

Sand moved as if an ocean had come alive, and in an environment where everything was either sand or rock, that wasn’t ideal.

I kept running as the waves and spears of weapons fell down towards me.

CRAC–BOOM!

The wall behind where I jumped cracked open a forceful stream as sand accelerated out. 

I could hear the sand grind against my Starlight coating, digging away at the thick barrier I had made. Forming a Starlight chain, I pulled myself away. Quickly, I poured more Starlight into my shield to repair the damage. The fight could 

I watched as Al-Roo floated in the air, carried by sand. The marks on his chest vanished as the sand ground against his skin.

I spoke, “Are you removing your tattoos on purpose or by accident? Also, wow, they looked very real, like the markings on the other Nelatta. Was it purely for disguising yourself, or did you enjoy the makeup process?”

He didn't reply and swung his hand, commanding more sand to attack me. The bodies of sand walkers were trapped in the sand, and they attacked with their limbs as they were either trapped in the sand or as they were flung towards me.

I crafted two more Starlight chains that emerged from the body, ready to pull me across the room. I used a bit of mana to create an explosion of fire when the sand waves got a bit too close, but it was greatly mana inefficient. 

I still miss [Burst]. 

Al-Roo’s floating act made him harder to hit as he was out of my physical reach, and the sand walls spun around him, ready to protect him. My movement options weren’t limited compared to my previous fights, which made closing the gap so much more difficult.

I need to try going on the offensive.

First, I created an array of Starlight arrows behind me and then created two [Solar Orbs] behind me. My confidence in orbs was lower as they could easily be disrupted before they built up enough energy, but it was worth a shot.

Then I formed a large Starlight shield that floated over my left side, which I controlled along with the first shield, and created a massive hammer in my hand in my other hand. 

I asked, “Hey, so what is it like to torment your race for years?”

He didn’t reply, but the sand weapons multiplied by a factor of ten and launched at me at rapid speed.

Blocking some with my shield and using my hammer, I swung at a large wave of sand, which caused all those tiny rocks to be sent flying. “Not replying, so I guess you have been enjoying it. Pretending to be the hero all the while.”

I continued to speak with him to annoy him. It worked sometimes on human enemies, but the ones it worked less on were those who either had a hardened shell against such verbal annoyance or those who genuinely didn’t give a rat’s arse. From my quick probe, while it was small, Al-Roo was reacting, and it was costing me my ability to dodge.

Escaping from the Mbones that jumped from the wall, I smacked one into the wall and crushed it with my strike, sandwiching the monsters within the stones. 

I ran towards Al-Roo, who floated in the centre, careful in steps, as without warning, the ground below could erupt in a sand column. 

Now!

I fired my arrows, and as I did, the rock beside me exploded into a sand arm that grabbed onto my left arm.

My [Starlight Arrows] shot through the sand and stabbed Al-Roo’s side. He groaned as the sand around him pulled the weapons out and threw them away. Then the sand covered his wounds and hardened

Should’ve prepared a follow-up.

The attack was a little weak because I wanted to poke at his defences, but he had also underestimated me in the process. If my attack was stronger, he would’ve put more effort into the shield, so I needed to have a follow-up prepared, but I wasted that opportunity.

I broke the sand rock that tried to hold me and flung myself out of the way of the tidal wave of sand with my chain. 

Suddenly, a large clump of sand from the ceiling rapidly formed and fell quickly on top of me.

Bloody stars!

Forming a large Starlight prism around me, the sand deflected away, then I shattered my shield and got out of the way.

“Click.” Al-Roo seemed irritated at my Starlight constructs breaking through the wall. It appeared he was betting on the nature of the golden sand to deal with the attack, not realising my Starlight weapons were resistant to his mana-distributing sand. 

“Seems like someone didn’t do enough spying.” I taunted him. “Maybe you would’ve been prepared if you did your job better.”

Sand flowed away from me as sand walkers jumped up from the ground everywhere once again.

I spun the Starlight Spear and jumped over the walkers, slicing through everything in my way. 

CRACK!

The ground tore apart beneath me.

“Karrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!” The skeletal face of the Kelrara emerged from the ground. Its skeletal arm pulled apart part of the earth as it tried pulling itself up. 

“Fuck off!” I didn’t want to deal with another one of these. It wasn’t one of those partially alive creatures I fought moments earlier, so this should be easier to deal with. 

I gripped my spear and applied [Solar Reinforcement] on the weapon, and it glowed a bright orange-purple light. 

The Kelrara swung its claw, and I deflected and jumped and pelted down the spear with its maul.

“Karrrrrrrrrr!” Its bones break apart as the spear breaks apart its body before it even gets fully out of the ground. 

“I can’t really judge the level of your, umm… constructs, minions? Let’s go with minions. Since I have no idea what goes into making them, but seriously? I think you need to do a better job.”

The tidal waves of sand came crashing back after they left me alone for a moment.

I attempted to dodge out of the way. “Angry? I’m going to say you are angry about that comment.” 

I was getting tired much quicker than I expected. Any previous fight I had was completed so much faster that I hadn’t noticed the issue with any drawn-out encounter. My flow of mana was struggling, and I was feeling sluggish in my legs and soul. I had to further split my focus to keep my mana within my body from leaking out. 

The pain increased as the mana became harder to control, and I hadn’t even been directly hit yet. 

The massive concern of this fight was the golden sand. Unlike previous encounters where I could tank at least some of my opponent’s attacks or heal from some wounds, this time that was a luxury I couldn’t afford. Anything that even slightly broke through my armour potentially could be fatal.

The wave of sand swallowed one of the [Solar Orbs], and I could feel the mana within growing rapidly unstable. 

Explode.

I decided to cut my losses, and I had the orb explode. It created a fiery torrent that destroyed the sand around it; however, more sand flowed into the area to recoup the lost amount.

Thankfully, he hasn’t flooded the room yet… Well, the fact that he hasn’t makes me believe he can’t do that. 

I stayed on the defence as I was planning my next strike.

Enough boom can break through the sand, even with the golden sand within it, but the walls that surround him are made of a much denser ratio of regular to golden sand. 

Light started to appear, and the sand itself started to glow.

“All shiny now?” From the small cracks in the ceiling that were created thanks to the sand flow, I could see the fake sky brighten. “It shouldn’t be morning already.”

As the sand tore apart rubble and trees from the land above began falling down into the cave.

Al-Roo snapped back, “Why are you speaking?”

“Afraid of a little chatter?” My hammer deflected the fallen trunk, and I turned my back and swung. “Catch!”

Al-Roo, confused at my declaration, didn't have to wait for long as my hammer flew out of my hands. The sand holding him up, dragged him down just in time as the hammer flew into the cave wall.

BOOM!

Cracks began appearing on the stone, and sand started leaking out from them.

“Booo!” I loudly sighed, “But yeah, what is going on with the sky? It shouldn’t be morning for a few more hours. The sand and being unground shouldn’t have fucked with my sense of time that badly.”

Al-Roo, clearly irritated, decided to answer in an effort to make me shut up, “The world was asleep. Now it is awake.”

“Oh, I get it. Standard shit, sleeping to reserve energy, though, I figure if that was the case, you would just have the world sleep for as long as possible. The fact that it still seems like a standard day-night cycle means the world can only be asleep for so long.”

Al-Roo glared at me.

“What was I on the mark? You were the one giving me answers.” I created a larger set of [Starlight Arrows].

“Let me teach you something really quick: if you are going to talk to try and distract an opponent, the other side has two options. One, stay quiet and completely ignore their adversary. Two, talk right back and try to trip them up instead. Anything in between is pretty much a failing grade.”

Solar flames formed around me and concentrated into a deep, dark orange ball. 

“The second thing I will teach you. I do appreciate you understanding that I am a big enough threat that you need to start up the world, but you do need to understand that all actions have consequences.” The smile underneath my helmet widened. “Thank you for giving me my treasures.”