A cannonball impacted the sand-
BOOOM!
The explosion sent Magnus flying, red hot sand dousing both him and the girl, prompting both to grunt in pain.
'Why is it always me-' he rolled on the ground, evading a blue bolt of lightning, 'who gets the short end of the stick!'
He already threw his stats into both speed and strength, and yet still couldn't shake off the pursuit of the pirates.
An arrow whistled through the air, and Magnus twisted his body to evade, only to hear another cannonball hurtling towards him.
'Damn!' he shielded the girl, turning his back to the explosion.
BOOOM!
The blast sent them both rolling across the searing desert. Gritting his teeth, Magnus picked up the barely alive girl, and once more began running towards Razmaru in the distance.
'I'll make sure she survives, just to fuck you over you bastards!' a single spiteful thought kept him from discarding her.
Pain shot through his remaining arm. An arrow had pierced his thick metal armor. His steps faltering for a moment, he forced his tired body to move once more.
He didn't know how long he had been chased by now, half an hour, maybe more. His legs felt like they were burning, his muscles torn, and he struggled to keep his eyes open.
'How come there is no one else?!'
Since a while ago, the sands shifted under his feet erratically. Entire dunes shook and collapsed, not due to wind or cannon fire, often causing him to stumble and slide on the loose sand.
Another flash of lightning, and this time he failed to dodge.
"AHHHH-"
Arcs of blue lightning covered their bodies, tormenting every fiber of their being as nerve-searing pain unlike any other assaulted them.
The arcs faded, leaving only two charred bodies behind. One man stood upright, his legs refusing to buckle. The girl, her fate unknown, slid off his shoulder and hit the sand with a thud.
Barely audible, Magnus heard cannon fire behind him.
His tired body tried to move, yet he couldn't muster up any strength to do so. Listening to the whistling sound, he closed his eyes and awaited his final moments.
Not despair, not fear. He faced death and the only thing he experienced, the only emotion he felt...
Anger.
BOOOM!
The cannonball impacted his back, the explosion sending him flying. Rolling on the ground, the armor covering his back side was molting into his flesh with a loud sizzling. His left eye bled profusely, obscuring his vision as he lay on the hot sand.
Yet there was no pain, no agony.
Taking a look with his one functioning eye at Charlotte, he noticed her mumbling. The only word he seemed to decipher was...
'beast?'
His his vision rapidly deteriorated as the world became blurred, yet his consciousness began spiraling into rage.
'FUCK ALL OF YOU, FUCK THIS WORLD, FUCK-'
Rumble-
More vibrations came from deep underneath, sand shuddering underneath him. His anger was chilled by a primal kind of fear- the kind prey felt from a predator's approach.
'What is-'
RUMBLEEEEE-
Feeling more vibrations coming from under the sand, his instinct screamed at him to move. Despite his failing body, he clawed his way toward Charlotte, the only place where he didn't sense danger.
Next to Charlotte.
As he barely reached her, another cannon shot rang out, but he paid it no heed, following only his instincts.
RUMBLEEEEEE!
The sand shot into the air, countless sharp pillars rising high up into the sky. Magnus and Charlotte were no exception, a white pillar rising between them up high.
Each of these pillars was as thick as a grown man, and as tall as a building. The cannonball impacted one of the newly risen pillars, sending white debris flying everywhere.
A silence fell over the battlefield.
ROOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAR!!!
A bellow, filled with primal hatred, shook the heavens. Dunes collapsed from the force of the roar, flattened into a vast sea of sand.
Jolted awake by the pain in his ears, Magnus looked at the pirate ship in the sky, only to see it fleeing into the sky.
BOOOOOM!
With a thunderous explosion, a massive amount of sand shot into the air, a dark brown 'pillar' at its center. The pillar was easily as large as the pirate ship in the sky, and it coiled up like a snake.
Crack!
Another explosion followed as the 'pillar' broke the sound barrier, piercing straight toward the pirate ship.
On board the ship, figures scrambled around, before a blue protective light engulfed the entire ship. 'A barrier?' he thought, 'Maybe it can hold it off for a-'
CRACK!
Like a bullet, the pillar pierced through the barrier effortlessly, before impacting into the ship. It has no time to protest, to groan, before it exploded into a storm of shattered wood, dragon bones, and red mist.
For a moment, Magnus saw those who weren't turned into mist flail their limbs mid air.
Only the heart of the ship, the mana engine, remained intact-a spherical apparatus that kept the ship afloat by absorbing mana.
A single crack appeared on it. Then another. More and more cracks started spreading on it, a low whine coming from the metal binding the magic.
The whine stopped.
The sky turned white, brighter than the sun itself as it forced Magnus to shield his eyes. A pained wail came from deep within the desert, followed by more rumbling from under the desert.
A wave of scorching heat followed soon after, accompanied by a shock wave that sent him flying yet again. Only this time did he slam into a white pillar, a horrible pain from his burned back causing him to almost faint
After a few seconds passed, the light subsided, and Magnus looked towards the pillar in the sky. The top of the pillar in the sky was destroyed, fresh blood raining down endlessly.
Outside the forest of teeth, where the pirate ship had been, the sand had melted into an endless expanse of glass. Only then did he remember who the uninvited guest was.
'The Sand Kraken, one of the three evils of the desert. It's attracted to noise, and that's why this damn desert is a forbidden zone for any army.'
Struggling to get up, his tired body quaked as he propped himself against the tooth. Looking for where the shortest way out was, he despaired as he realised he was surrounded from all sides by endless teeth.
'This thing is said to be a few kilometres big, so just how big is it's mouth?!'
Still leaning on the tooth, Magnus heard another rumbling sound come from deep underground. Trying to find Charlotte, the sand under his feet started moving, causing him to stumble.
Looking where the sand was going, his pupils shrunk. A massive vortex was being formed in the middle of the kraken mouth, a hundred meters wide.
And the unconscious Charlotte was being dragged into it.