Nyoi-Bo Studio

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  Sea of Death, Great Kafra Desert—


  The Great Kafra Desert was at the edge of the core region that belonged to the Crete Empire. It was also a border line between it and the legendary Batko Empire.

  A hundred years ago, the existence of the Batko Empire was just a legend to the humans that were living in the southern and the western parts of the world. The desert empire in the legend was full of mysteries.

  According to legend, people in the Batko Empire lived in the desert. Many people in the central province thought that, as they were living in such a poor and lifeless land, they had to have a special bloodline that enabled them to survive.

  It was during this time that the talented and genius first emperor Yip Ima Batko had assimilated his tribe and clan into the surrounding smaller tribes, infusing them with power. Under Yip’s command, they conquered and united the whole Batko area, then built this huge nation, which is now known as the current Batko Empire.

  However, the Batko Empire had been decaying for over a century. This was no real surprise, as it was only natural that an empire that was maintained and controlled by tribes and bloodlines would decline as generations passed. As such, the emperor was no longer capable of holding the entire empire together.

  During this time, many tribes had risen up and declared their independence and were starting to refuse to follow the king’s orders. They even stopped paying taxes. Soon after this, the city of Fanse from the Tuten Dynasty invaded the Batko Empire.

  The Tuten Dynasty was an alliance of cities, the city of Fanse being the most powerful of them all. In the 46th year of the San Calendar, an alliance was formed by the city of Fanse, which had been killing and robbing their way, pillaging all the way up to the political center of Batko, the city of Baber.

  In a short period of time, they took over the city, officially marking the end of the Batko Empire. They burnt down the palace, killed the last emperor, and took everything from the city.

  The death of Batko’s royal family and the loss of the city of Baber had spelt the end of the dynasty of the desert empire. The Batko area had now returned to being governed by tribes and families.

  The tribes constantly fought and killed each other, fighting over the limited sources of water and farmland. The chaos and conflict soon spread across the entire area.

  Meanwhile, as The Church of Light had just started their own uprising, there were many other religions being formed. Since these newer religions were isolated and harshly suppressed by The Church of Light, the believers of these new religions had gradually escaped from the central province and the west, fleeing to the Batko area and other exotic nations in the south.

  As for the Tuten Dynasty in the east, due to the way that the nation was being governed by the alliance of cities, their special religious and cultural structure made it very difficult for these religions to fit in. In the following dozen or so years, these religions were slowly integrated into the tribes and clans of the Batko area.

  In fact, religion was the only thing that had seemed to bloom in this poor land, as people began to crave something to believe in even more when faced with suffering and disastrous conditions. As such, many temples were erected, which added an unique dynamic to the area.

  Presently, Lu Zhiyu was riding on a camel, while Eve followed along behind him. Both of them were wearing cloaks and had cloths over their faces. The desert was not completely lifeless, as they would occasionally see cactus and shrubs appearing, some of which were actually special landmarks that the traveling merchants used for navigation.

  Everyone in their group was spiritless. Back when they had just entered the desert, some of the people had found the surroundings new and refreshing and were be constantly asking questions. However, that newness had now faded, and the entire group was just moving forward like mindless drones now, having fallen into a dead silence.

  As of now, Lu Zhiyu and the Rosa Bianca merchants had already been in the desert for a month. If Lu Zhiyu hadn’t found an oasis with the special water finding method that he read from a book, they would surely have died of dehydration and exhaustion in the Sea of Death already! Fortunately, aside from encountering a magical sand snake beast that kept attacking them, plus a guard’s being stung by a scorpion, they hadn’t encountered any real dangers.

  As for Lu Zhiyu and Eva, they had been treated with the utmost respect. In fact, many of the people from the group thought that this couple was as pretty as a painting.

  However, as the journey progressed, everyone was reaching their limits. It also didn’t help matters that all that they could see the whole day was just an endless amount of sand.

  At first, one was drawn in by the unique beauty of the desert. Yet now, all they could feel was fear and terror.

  Every step they took, their feet sunk down into the sand. Then, as they would try to extract their feet from the sand, the movement of lifting their feet up and down made their feelings of heaviness and lethargy even worse! Many of them soon drifted into daydreams of delusions and despair……

  Where are we?

  How long will it take before we can get out of this desert?

  Why does this place feel so familiar? Are we walking in circles?

  Everyone felt sweat trickling out of every pore in their bodies. They were so exhausted, anyone could pass out at any moment. In fact, a few of them were already showing symptoms of heat stroke.

  However, at this moment, someone started screaming. This was because a strange noise had just been heard, coming from the rear of the flank.

  They looked towards that direction, only to see that a yellow dust had covered the sky! What’s more, it now rushed towards their direction, like a monster with an open mouth!

  “What is that?” someone asked.

  “Sandstorm!” someone else shouted in reply.