NOVEL NEXT WORLD Chapter 172 - Training Exercise 20
When the Phantom Team was attacked by desert beasts, another team that entered the desert region at about the same time also received the same “welcome.”
This other team was, of course, the Ability System Team 1.
When Ability System Team 1 was surrounded by desert beasts, they had already noticed the danger early on, so they weren’t caught off guard. At first, they were able to suppress the attacks from the desert beasts.
However, while their abilities were powerful, they consumed a lot of energy in group combat. As a result, the members of Ability System Team 1 had to switch to cold weapons.
After a long day of travel, their energy was already drained, and using just a metal knife to deal with the desert beasts was extremely difficult. They had no choice but to combine their abilities with their metal knives to deliver their finishing blows.
Later, when they were overwhelmed, all of them except for the strongest, Wang Zhelan and Wei Bangdi, were bitten.
They didn’t have someone like Mai Dongzi, a master at protecting the team, so even the weakest in combat, the Wood System ability user, was bitten on the hand.
If he hadn’t been a Level 5 Wood System ability user, he would have definitely been eliminated.
Fortunately, the desert beasts were only Level 3, and their venom was weak enough for a Level 5 Wood System ability user to neutralize.
—
“These people are not as calm as those four-level warriors in the Phantom Team,” Instructor Li commented objectively.
He was simply speaking the truth, not because he had a bad relationship with the Head of the Ability System Department, with whom he often fought over students.
“The Phantom Team, in such a difficult situation, although they hurriedly faced the battle and were a bit flustered, they didn’t lose their composure because they knew their captain was protecting them. When they were in danger, their captain would definitely step in and help. Ability System Team 1, although they looked a bit disorganized, resolved their problem in just half an hour,” Instructor Shan said honestly.
Seeing that no one from the Phantom Team was injured despite the lessons they had learned, Instructor Shan was very satisfied.
—
After understanding the captain’s intentions, apart from hoping for the captain to release the giant stones to let them rest every night, the Phantom Team changed their attitude. They began to make more efforts to become self-reliant.
Once the Phantom Team learned to move quietly through the desert, leaving only shallow footprints, their pace increased significantly.
Originally, they hoped that by moving more quietly, they would be able to travel more easily.
However, ever since the first wave of desert beasts attacked from the ground, they didn’t have much time to focus on traveling.
In the desert, they kept their nerves tightly strung every day to avoid being suddenly attacked by elusive desert beasts emerging from the sand.
Smaller desert beasts were not surprising to the Phantom Team, as they could appear unexpectedly from the sand piles.
But there were also massive desert beasts, large enough to swallow a person whole, that could silently emerge from the sand, catching them off guard.
Yu Lan was suddenly swallowed whole by a desert beast resembling a giant python.
This desert beast appeared so suddenly, emerging from the desert right when Yu Lan had one foot in its gaping mouth.
As her legs sank into its jaws, Yu Lan tried to break free, but before she could even reach out to grab something to stabilize herself, the desert beast lunged upward, swallowing her whole.
Although everyone was being very cautious while walking, it was impossible to defend against such a large, gaping mouth that suddenly appeared right at their feet.
After the desert beast swallowed its prey, it immediately wanted to retreat into the sand.
The desert beast had only shown its head. After swallowing the prey, it quickly shrank back into the sand.
Yu Guangxi in the rear, along with Zhuang Huaiya, who was walking behind Yu Lan, immediately threw their stones when the desert beast swallowed Yu Lan. However, to avoid hitting Yu Lan, their stones missed the beast’s critical points. Without weapons to stop the beast from retreating into the sand, they were helpless.
Fortunately, Mai Dongzi, who was at the front, reacted very quickly. As soon as Yu Lan was swallowed, it was as if she had eyes in the back of her head. She immediately turned around, lunged at the desert beast, and grabbed its head.
Her hand, like an iron hook, pierced through the desert beast’s slippery head. She pulled the three-meter-long beast out of the sand pile and, in front of everyone, performed a bare-handed dissection, saving Yu Lan from its throat.
Yu Lan was swallowed and then saved in just a few seconds, but she was not only unconscious, but her face was also severely swollen and reddened from the beast’s corrosive saliva.
“Guys, immediately turn around and defend. You two girls, lift the beast skins to shield me,” Mai Dongzi hurriedly instructed, reaching to unbutton Yu Lan’s clothes.
Everyone immediately understood what she was doing and quickly followed her orders.
Mai Dongzi removed Yu Lan’s clothes, first using clean water to wash off the venom on her body, then using her wood-based abilities to remove the toxins from Yu Lan’s system.
Fortunately, this desert beast was only at level three, so Mai Dongzi’s wood-based abilities were still strong enough to eliminate the poison.
After Yu Lan regained consciousness, she clung to Mai Dongzi and cried, unaware that she was only wrapped in beast skin.
After all, she was just a newly-adult girl, and the feeling of being swallowed by the desert beast was terrifying.
Even though Mai Dongzi had removed the toxins from her body and she had fully recovered, the psychological trauma remained, and she could only feel a sense of safety by staying close to Mai Dongzi.
Not only Yu Lan, but even the members of the Phantom Team were frightened.
What the Phantom Team didn’t know was that Mai Dongzi actually regretted it a little. Of course, she had known that desert beasts were ambushing them on the dunes ahead, but she hadn’t realized just how terrifying these desert beasts were. If she had, she would have warned everyone to be cautious.
As a result, when Yu Lan was swallowed, Mai Dongzi used her spiritual power to attack eleven other desert beasts lurking around the Phantom Team to prevent anyone else from being swallowed before she could rescue them.
—
On the flying vehicle, Instructor Li and Instructor Shan were also sweating profusely. They had detected the presence of desert beasts lurking on the Phantom Team’s path earlier than Mai Dongzi through their detectors. They had been waiting to hunt the team.
Because these desert beasts were quietly hidden under the sand, the Phantom Team didn’t realize their presence until they stepped right into their suddenly opened mouths.
While collecting information about the alien beasts on Liva, they hadn’t come across any data on this particular species. Therefore, the two instructors didn’t know that this seemingly level-three desert beast was so dangerous.
If it hadn’t been for Mai Dongzi’s timely rescue, and if the desert beast had retreated into the dunes, even if the instructors had rushed to help immediately, they wouldn’t have been able to solve the problem in less than a minute or two, especially without using highly destructive weapons to avoid accidental injuries.
Considering that Yu Lan was swallowed for only ten seconds before being rescued, if there had been a delay of one or two minutes, she probably wouldn’t have survived.