Demon King: Hero, don't run away!-Chapter 434: Methods of Crossing the Desert

Walking along the path toward the small town, the harsh sun poured down its scorching rays. Iyas, wrapped up like a zongzi, loosened the scarf covering her mouth and fanned herself with her palm,

"So hot, Hake, aren’t you hot?"

Hake, too, was swathed in layers of heavy clothing, shook his head,

"It’s okay, I’ve been through even hotter conditions, I’m somewhat used to it."

Iyas had a striking appearance, in this small town on the Gobi with chaotic law and order, which unavoidably attracted some trouble.

Hake was an elf and certainly could not expose himself to the "hunters" targeting slaves; it was uncertain whether those hunters would give up going to Wansheng Country and instead turn their weapons against Yang Yu and his group.

In these borderlands, it wasn’t uncommon for the precedent of crime upon crime.

In fact, Yang Yu wasn’t afraid of being targeted; with his current level and attributes, he was more than capable of thriving in this small town.

However, as Yang Yu had reached the level cap, even if tons of Experience Bags came his way, he could not gain experience to continue growing, so naturally, he had no desire for combat.

What Yang Yu wanted now was to hurry to Wansheng Country to obtain the Racial Essence of various races and raise the level cap.

Stepping into the small town as seen only in Western movies, Yang Yu searched for a tavern and instructed,

"When we find the guide, don’t scatter, and we’ll set off right away. Don’t forget to tell Lotcar to meet up with us, Bai Jin."

Bai Jin nodded, and He Meng, lying in her hood, had significantly shrunk in volume due to the heat of the sun, becoming only the size of a fist, listless, and feeble.

Initially, Yang Yu had not intended to look for a Desert Guide; were it not for the possibility of a strong magnetic field in the desert causing the compass needle to dance at will, he wouldn’t have come to this town.

Lacking the experience of traversing the real desert, faced with the vast expanse of yellow sand, Yang Yu ultimately dared not act recklessly.

In most games, desert scenes always flash by, immediately cutting to the scenes of mazes or ruins.

Even if an open world game included deserts, limited by the size of the map and the requests of company bosses, it wouldn’t be possible for the desert terrain to take up too much space. To call it a desert was more like stuffing sand into a larger lake.

Only when truly in such desolation does one come to respect the desert.

Without a functioning compass, rather than wandering aimlessly through the desert, it was better to find a guide to conquer the endless sands more swiftly.

Scanning the small town, most of the buildings here were quite new, built in the past few years.

Among the reasons, besides the residents gradually becoming wealthier, was that various groups, at the slightest disagreement, would go all out and destroy quite a few of the old buildings.

Particularly a few years ago, to fight over a guide, incidents of destroying several houses were commonplace.

Under the blazing sun, after nearly half an hour of searching, Yang Yu finally found the tavern.

Stepping into the desolate tavern, Yang Yu immediately inquired of the tavern owner about a desert guide.

In the past two or three years, as the slave market reached saturation, the occurrences of violent actions in town decreased, but at the same time, the town gradually became deserted.

But that didn’t mean finding a Desert Guide had become any easier, on the contrary, because of the events of recent years, the number of Desert Guides had decreased by more than half.

What was more troublesome was that, after witnessing the brutality of outsiders, many young people did not want to get involved and poured into the safer large cities to survive, no longer interested in becoming the hardworking and exhausting Desert Guides, which further reduced their numbers.

Yang Yu and his companions were unlucky; when they arrived, all the Desert Guides that could be found through the taverns had already left with "Hunters" wishing to cross the desert to Wansheng Country, with no known return date.

Next, Yang Yu inquired whether there were other ways to cross the vast and boundless desert.

The innkeeper joked that if one could borrow a Sand Sailing Ship, it might be possible to traverse the vast desert.

The so-called Sand Sailing Ship, as the name suggests, is a type of ship that can freely navigate the desert and is only used by the Lamia Clan of the Subhuman race.

For the half-human half-snake Lamias, moving through the sand is like swimming in the sea, which is why travelers call them "mermaids of the desert."

Sadly, the Lamias don’t appreciate this human designation and are extremely hostile toward humans.

The price of a Lamia is two to three times more expensive than that of an elf, and here the reference to Lamia is to males; should one capture a female Lamia, that price might increase several times over.

The reason for the high price of Lamias is related to their social structure and living habits.

In the desert, fighting against Lamias is just as foolish as fighting against a giant dragon in the sky.

Yet, for their own benefit, there will always be some fools who attempt to attack Lamia villages only to set out and never return.

It’s because of the existence of such fools that the relationship between Lamias and humans has become increasingly tense, and the hope of borrowing a sand sailing ship is nothing short of a pipe dream.

Some humans have tried to imitate Lamia’s Sand Sailing Ship and build their own, but a human’s momentary whim can’t keep up with the technology the Lamias specially developed for their livelihood; nor is there anyone willing to invest a large amount of time and effort to start developing a Sand Sailing Ship from scratch, which ultimately leads to nothing.

After all, with the current level of human technology, it’s impossible to understand the erratic and strange magic power characteristics within the desert, so the option of using a Sand Sailing Ship is completely impracticable.

Yang Yu also wasn’t too keen on this option, because, ultimately, the territory of the Lamia Clan is located at the far western end of Kafezaro, extremely close to the coastline.

Rather than go to the very western edge of the desert to seek help from the Lamias, who hold animosity towards humans, it would be better to just walk a little further and head directly to Wansheng Country by sea.

Just as Yang Yu was frowning with worry, the tavern owner mentioned that the Desert Guides the tavern could introduce were all in good health, capable of ensuring the group made it through the desert, but not all Desert Guides were always so healthy.

Yang Yu instantly understood what the tavern owner meant and asked if those Desert Guides would be able to guide them if their health improved.

The tavern owner nodded and then looked troubled, saying that recently only one Desert Guide had been missing work.

Upon asking the reason, the tavern owner revealed that when the Desert Guide had returned, he’d been accidentally bitten by a venomous snake, and the usual antidotes couldn’t remove the poison; his condition was deteriorating day by day, and he might be buried within a few days...

As he spoke, the tavern owner also observed Yang Yu’s expression and seeing that Yang Yu didn’t show any sign of annoyance, he continued.

If Yang Yu and his companions could help cure his poison, he would be willing to serve as their Desert Guide for free.

What the tavern owner didn’t tell Yang Yu was that the Desert Guide had a young son who, for his father’s illness, had given the tavern owner a large sum of money to ask among the customers if there were anyone who could help them.

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