Our first battle in the Dark Continent is getting started.

The hard sand-covered ground feels like it's rumbling beneath my feet. The cloud of golden brown dust in front of us grows larger and larger until one of the monsters finally shows itself...

My gaze lifts upwards as Abby and Maria charge at the beast that finally reveals its form.

A pair of dark orange glowing eyes is the first thing that I see appear through the cloud of sand, then a 2-meter-thick arm of stone reaches out to hit the ground by the two girls' feet with a ground-cracking thud.

Unlike the armor of the Behemoth I fought recently, the stone covering this beast's body is part of its being. I watch the rest of the monster come out from its veil of sand.

A massive stone humanoid figure comes stomping out.

The sound of stones scraping together fills my ears while I watch the 6-meter-tall monster let out a roar. It lunges forward.

Glowing lines of dark orange energy begin to shine brightly around its chest.

They look like pulsing veins of mana that spread all throughout its body. Their energy frequency gets lighter and lighter the further from its midsection they travel.

I whisper under my breath as I watch Abby create floating stone stairs upwards gripping her daggers. The summoned rocks disintegrate the moment her feet leave them.

My eyes are locked on the orange light within the golem.

"That must be its core..."

Maria runs around its left side and her sword begins to glow a much darker blue.

The orange eyes of this monster track both of the girls at once. Its face shows a gruesome beast-like expression made out of sand and stone.

It's an imitation of a human's face, but distorted and constantly shifting as it moves around the battlefield with slow yet powerful thrusts of its arms and legs.

Abby jumps up at the monster with her black blades now glowing green, while Maria starts swinging her sword upwards from below.

My eyes open wide as I watch 3 crescents of energy erupt from their weapons.

Two green beams of light come shooting from Abby's daggers while a thick blue blade of ice comes from Maria's sword.

I grin, letting out an impressed laugh as the attacks hit the monster's shoulder and lower leg.

An explosion of rock and ice fills my vision, then the sound of a familiar metallic clang fills my ears.

Arie and I jump backward while watching the dust clouds erupt upwards, then slowly settle.

The attacks they let loose were powerful, but far from refined at all... It seems Maria and Abby are in their brute force phase of mana control training.

The roar of the first golem sounds out and I see the orange glow of its eyes shine brighter. The sand and rock residue in the air starts to fall back into the monster's injured arm and leg.

Its limbs were completely blown off in the attack, but it's able to reform any part of its body at will.

Abby and Maria are way ahead of the curve. Both of them have drank MP potions and are already charging up another attack.

I watch the ground around the monster ripple.

This is Abby's magic, not the golem's.

Heavy mana-imbued stone holds its legs in place, and Maria launches an attack at its torso.

A metallic twang and explosion of ice forces out a frustrated roar of agony from the massive monster stuck in place. Stone flies in all directions as Abby releases her own dual attack into its weakened torso.

Another metallic twang of mana on mana followed by flying stone and a bright explosion of orange energy concludes this battle.

It's over already...

In a dazzling display of bright blue and green light, the mighty stone desert golem is blown to pieces.

I watch a shattered black orb fall from the monster's mid-section and its eyes fade from their fiery glowing orange hue to a pair of dull grey lifeless round stones.

The remains of a fierce monster crumble to the ground, leaving nothing but sand and stone in its place.

With no time to waste, an identical golem comes charging in from a nearby dust cloud and both Abby and Maria take it on without a moment to think.

I stare in awe for a moment, then Arie elbows me in the side.

"They really have grown a lot already, haven't they?"

He smirks, and I nod. The archer points off to the other clouds of dust and sand approaching. Two pairs of glowing orange eyes can be seen from a distance.

"Come on, those two are ours. Let's take 'em out."

Without another word, the two of us begin running toward the pair of golems with our weapons drawn. Arie summons an arrow and I charge my sword.

I'll only use 300MP for this monster. With the density and control of my attacks, more would be overkill.

Activating my All-Seeing Eye and we run closer to the beasts, letting our attacks fly.

The monstrous slow-moving golems activate their shielding moments before impact, but my thin black crescent of flames glides right through its chest without any resistance.

I watch the thin white arrow shot from Arie's bow glide through the brightest point of the golem's core right next to mine.

Before we're even 15 meters away from the two colossal monsters of stone, their roars have stopped and their circular glowing cores have gone cold.

Both creatures of golden-brown sand and stone crumble to the ground. The dust clouds dissipate while Arie and I keep running forward. With eyes locked on the final two golems, the end of this battle is in sight.

As I pass the rubble of the monsters we just took out, my eyes catch a glimpse of the leftover pieces of the glossy black core. Using my Appraisal skill, I scan it as we pass.

[Shattered Golem's Core]

Its mental strength boosting stat is gone, along with the [Enchanted] tag and its [Sand] description.

Without a dungeon for the mana material to absorb back into, I wonder how drops will work out here. They may just completely dissolve once the break is cleared... Or maybe a percentage of them will stay in solid form.

In time, I'll find out.

Looking back up to the action, I see Maria and Abby both finish up their last golem and join us on our run toward the final two.

Each of us glows green, blue, white, and dark red as we charge at the monsters.

Once within range, the orange eyes of the final two golems give us a clear target to strike. With wind in my hair and the excitement of a new adventure ahead, I let an attack fly.

All of my teammates do the same.

Releasing a wave of mana at the two approaching golems, we all celebrate early, knowing these beasts never stood a chance.

A moment later, after a flash of blue and green light, both of the golems are torn to shreds, then finished off by a thin white arrow and a dark crescent of flames.

Before the monsters are even within full view, they crumble to the floor and the dust of our first team battle settles.

I slow my run down to a light jog, then even more into a slow walk. Eventually, we all come to a halt and the swirling dust around us clears to reveal the wide open desert.

Arie stops right beside me and throws his bow back into his item box. I do the same with my sword after sending out an enemy detection pulse to make sure we're all in the clear.

There's not a single being within over 500 meters of us, we're safe for a while.

I let out a sigh and take in the empty desert view as Abby and Maria approach. The blond-haired ice magic user yells out in an excited tone.

"That was awesome!!! More, more! Let's go find that break!"

I smile, responding as both of them slow down and come to a stop.

"I agree, moving onto the break next is a good plan. We've all improved a lot... but this is just the beginning."

Abby nods firmly and chimes in, pulling out the roughly drawn map.

"You're right. This break is labeled number 1, the weakest of all 6. Let's collect these broken cores, then head out to clear the boss room."

We all reply with a firm nod, then Arie points to the map.

"It looks like there's a small settlement we can visit afterward too, it's not far. I know this portion of desert like the back of my hand. We'll be entering The Sun Scorched Flats over the next few days. Our last break looks like it's near a city named Solara."

He stares out into the rolling sandy hills.

"I guess all of you will get to see my hometown sooner than I thought."