Chapter 68

  Deserts, it turned out, were filled with Muns that, already, I highly doubted I would be using for all that long. The next Mun I found, as I neared the dune I’d been heading towards, thankfully, didn’t ambush me. Not that I was worried about that, of course, but, a girls heart can only handle so many jump scares in a single morning. Granted, there was no doubt in my mind I was definitely fully awake now.

  The mun, again with far too many legs, was a scorpion-styled Mun, thankfully, not made out of sand. Instead, it appeared to be made almost completely out of glass, its translucent form helping it blend in to its surroundings. The only tell-tale signs the mun was around, were the of course, helpful indicator from my gauntlet of its location, and, the strange, hazy, shifting nature caused by its form moving about, displacing the visuals behind it. At first, I’d been pretty sure I was hallucinating as I got closer. Once I was near enough for my gauntlet to activate my ability to investigate its name, it made more sense.

  Mirage Striker

  Lvl 12

  A single level higher than the Sand-el Spider that ambushed me, meant it stood no chance against my Calfer. Even more so, given it wasn’t made of sand… I had a feeling Cogberus was going to be more than effective against it. Biting sand was one thing. Glass… on the other hand, was another.

  I flinched, slightly, as Cogberus rushed towards the Mirage Stalker. I wasn’t feeling ballsy enough to use auto-battle just yet, since I needed to level up my Sand-el Spider to heal it, and couldn’t risk something stupid happening. Instead, I sent Barkity in with a tried and true bite.

  The Mirage Striker was a little smaller than Barkity. The difference being, say, a border collie in size for the striker, versus a very , very large Russian bear dog now for Cogberus. As my Muns leveled, they seemed to grow a little larger in stature, and I was wondering if that was a forever thing, or only till a certain threshold. As much as I loved the epic, Kaiju sized Muns I’d watched battled against Julius and Mikael, I wasn’t sure I’d appreciate Barkity reaching such stature… then again… it would give a very Cerberus vibe if he did… Hmmmm

  My wandering focus comparing the size of the creatures was yanked back into the fight as Barkity reached his target. All three heads struck down, ignoring the two large, razor sharp looking pincers on the striker, as well as its cruelly twisted and spiked stinger, which actually was the only portion of it that had a color of its own. Currently, purplish light rested within the barbs of that stinger, no doubt ready to poison whatever Mun it struck.

  Barkity’s three heads chomped down, and the sound of shattering glass filled the air. The first chomp took more than a third of the hp from the Mun, and the second caused it to shatter into pieces, before a flash of light removed the body of the Mun, and turned into the Mun Crystal within the desert sand.

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  The attack though, wasn’t without its danger. Dark oil and blood dripped from two of Cogberus’s jaws, the two that had bit into the Stinger. The glass, upon shattering, had left behind extremely sharp shards, which in turn bit back. Barkity’s health pool had only dropped by 2 points, so it was a paltry amount, but still, something worth noting. The sand Muns were immune to physical damage, and glass Muns essential had a thorn effect against physical damage. Already, this desert was definitely feeling like it was designed to punish people like me. That is, people who currently relied on brute strength, physical Muns to overpower their enemies.

  Not that I was forever planning to do that. It was just kind of what had happened so far. Something I would be remedying… as soon as I found Muns I cared about enough to switch into my team proper.

  I snagged the crystal, pocketing it without much concern. I’d inspect all my new Muns more thoroughly with my Mun-ocle tonight. For now, while I was getting a tad distracted with the whole, ‘battle new Muns because yay shinies’, bit, I did still intend to disappear far enough away from the path that Aaron would have a hard time finding me. Meaning, reading Mun-ocle status’s on my Muns and actually wondering if any would be worth adding to my team, was a later Taylor problem.

  Which was also a good call, as the first dune proper was still a good fifty or so feet away from me, the sound was already extremely irritating to be walking through, and there was no doubt another Mun waiting for me, at the top of the dune.

  The last part, while mostly just speculation, as my Gauntlet couldn’t range that far, I felt was a pretty good guess. Because… the only other explanation I could have for it, was that this dune was actually a volcano or some other strange sort of unnatural geographic feature. The desert was called the ‘Shifting Desert’, but this went beyond that.

  Sand dunes, I was familiar with. They were, well, massive hills of sand. And I’d learned in school that dunes could naturally shift and change, which was part of what made deserts so hard to navigate. However, it wasn’t an ‘instantaneous’ shift or change. It happened from high winds blowing sand around, depositing different portions here or there, and constantly altering the landscape.

  The dune before me, which was more like a baby dune, if I was being honest, given it was about 20 feet in height from the part of the desert I was standing on, and there were others I could see that definitely dwarfed it, had constantly shifting sand near the top of it. At what wasn’t really a peak, but still near the top of the dune, I could make out a swirling, dipping depression. Kind of like the sloping downward portion of a shield volcano. Look at me, being all geographic. My college professor would be proud. It reminded me of the volcanos of Hawaii that I’d seen plenty of pictures of through the years. Because, like, who hadn’t?

  Near the center of the swirling depression, was… something. A combination, honestly, of like, volcanic depression shape, and maybe whirlpool action, on the sand? Whatever it was, it was definitely not natural. And if it wasn’t natural in Mutopia, well, I’d already figured out the easiest, and almost always correct answer, was a Mun.

  What it was though, I didn’t yet know. But with every annoying step, my feet sinking slightly in the sand, making each take far more energy than it should, I drew closer. It was only a matter of time till I’d reach that strange anomaly. And then, inevitably, I’d defeat it, and add a new Mun to my roster. A fact as certain as the damn sun above, which I really, really, really, would appreciate being covered by clouds right about now.

  Deserts… in short, sucked, and I was not looking forward to traveling through this blasted place for a week. I’d just started my journey through the Shifting Desert and was so already done with it.