The Author's POV

[Pillar of Wrath]

How long had it been since she had gotten stranded over here?

Staring at the massive dunes ahead of her, she smacked her dry lips.

She had lost count.

The desert was scorched by the red sun hanging in the sky, and her feet sank into the sand beneath her.

"Uek!"

Swoosh—!

On occasion, scorpions twice her size would ambush her from beneath the ground, launching themselves at her at high speeds.

Xiu! Xiu!

If not for her fast reactions, she would've found herself in a difficult situation more times than she could count.

Thump! Thump!

As she twisted her body and pulled on her bowstring, the enormous scorpions lifelessly fell in front of her.

'I've lost count of the number of scorpions I've killed so far.'

Amanda pondered while staring at the scorpion's corpse at her feet. It was entirely clad in red armor, which glistened beneath the red sun that hung in the sky.

By her estimates, their power was comparable to that of a Marquis ranked demon, and its large pincer dripped a black liquid that liquefied the sand when it touched it.

Tzzzz. Tzzzz.

Amanda drew a small bottle from her bag and placed it beneath the pincer to collect the liquid that was leaking from it.

'This might be useful for later.'

She had already collected several samples along the way, and she would repeat the procedure each time she killed a scorpion. To her delight, the poison was quite effective against the demons. She had already tested it on multiple demons and was ecstatic with the results.

It was just that… she didn't feel comfortable carrying that much poison with her. Especially since the bottle she would put it in would sizzle at the touch.

Clank—!

Amanda tucked away her flask, which was now half-filled with a black, viscous substance, with a satisfied expression.

While she wasn't comfortable with the idea of carrying that much poison with her, as long as it was in her dimensional space, she felt that it wasn't a big deal.

She just didn't want it to explode on her the moment she took it out.

"Now then…"

She turned her gaze to stare into the distance.

Her delicate brows furrowed, and she pondered over her next location.

She was honestly clueless at the moment.

She was merely just going along on her own whims and was just going around the desert in hopes of finding someone she was familiar with, but that proved to be a harder task than she had anticipated as those that she did meet were either dead or demons.

It was truly a bothersome sight.

She may be used to seeing dead bodies by now, but it was still an uncomfortable sight.

"Hm?"

Immediately thereafter, Amanda's ears perked up, and she stopped abruptly. She wasn't sure at first, but she believed she had felt a muffled explosion sound emanating from her right side.

Booom—!

wasn't wrong. It was quiet, but she could still sense the muffled

'Finally.'

meant that there was a chance that she'd

she drew her bow, planted her foot in the

Swoosh—!

seconds to cover hundreds of kilometers, and after what seemed like a minute of running, she arrived in front

Boom—! Boom—!

her arrival, she was certain that something

sound

"What in the…"

the top of the dune, she was astounded by the view that

BOOOOM—!

"Arghhh!"

"huak!"

was a

bloodier than anything she had ever witnessed, with limbs flying everywhere and red and black intertwined on the surface of the sand, staining it

BOOOOM—!

were as loud as ever, and Amanda's gaze fell on the plot of

of saliva as she gazed over the horizon, where tens of thousands upon tens of thousands

an instant, but if that wasn't

"Aaakghh!"

"H..help!"

and agony echoed through the air as thousands of

current situation, it'd have to be

to the alliance. They were steadily losing ground by the second, and

situation was nothing short

"Aren't they…"

she focused her gaze on a group of individuals in the distance. She was able to identify them without any

need to

situation… it was anything but

hold on for a while, she knew that they

ado, she took a deep breath and clenched her

distance was sufficient for her. She grabbed onto her bow, curved her back in the opposite direction, and pulled

she was channeling her mana, a potent hue emanated from her

"There's someone over here!"

"Get her!"

were located a safe distance

lay in front of her, and as she pulled the string further back, her eyes became perfectly focused

"Huuu…"

she let go

Thunk!

eerily similar to bones cracking, the string became taut, and a translucent blue arrow shot

Swoosh—!

the arrow was neither fast nor

of the demons below being

them even tried to intercept it; however,

could tell at a glance that that was no regular

fall back down onto the ground, Amanda's eyes widened, and her

"Split."

the word left her mouth, and shortly after that, a terrifying glow engulfed the entire

Xiu! Xiu! Xiu!

arrows streaked down from

but it was already far

came hurtling down in a series of whistles, impaling

"Akah!"

"Huak!"

"Kehe!"

agony reverberated through the air as demons fell

Clink! Clink! Clink!