36 The Desert Sucks

{Author's Note}

What's up my loyal and not-so-loyal readers? I finally finished this chapter! It was hell to write it, mainly due to the fact that I hate writing transitional pieces from one area to another!

But, I finally got Kevin to the Safina region, where he will need to fight a lot of Ground and Rock Type enemies! Especially in the first stop he makes after Sabasa City

Anyway...

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ON WITH THE STORY!

***

{Later That Day}

Kevin, Alice, and Sylph had been traveling for hours now through the unforgiving desert. There was nothing but dunes as far as the eye could see at that point, the grassy plains having been left far behind them. The sun, heat, and dryness didn't really affect them much, mostly due to a combination of magic keeping them cool and the teenager's umbrella blocking the sun's rays.

They stopped for lunch around noon, which also just so happened to be around the time that the winds in the area started to blow a bit more than usual. It wasn't enough for anything approaching a sand storm to form, but what it did do was ruin the meal.

"Anakin was right," the Eevee grumbled, spitting out some of the grains of sand that got into his mouth. "Sand sucks. It's coarse, rough, and irritating. " He then glared down at his sandwich, now with extra sand in it. "And it gets everywhere."

It wasn't like he hadn't tried keeping his food safe, because he had. The problem was that there was only so much he could do to keep the stuff away from his food without fully transforming. He'd asked Sylph to try making a wall of air to keep it out, but she wasn't exactly well versed in the art of making immovable air barriers.

His lamia companion didn't have any problem with it, which served to annoy him even more. She apparently had perfected the art of keeping her food clear of debris with her magic, and while she didn't flaunt this fact, her smug grin at his misfortune was easy to spot. The worst part was that he knew he would have the same smile on his own face if he were in her position.

Off to the side, the boy's Spirit companion, who didn't require food due to being an embodiment of nature, was busy trying to make a sand castle. 'Trying' being the keyword here, since the sand refused to stick together and the wind kept scattering the mounds she was managing to make. That didn't stop her, though, as she determinedly kept rebuilding what was lost every time it was blown over.

Having finished off his sandwich, and now possessing a newfound hatred for the desert, the Eevee leaned back into the shade of his umbrella and stared at the sky. "Tell me again why I'm not releasing a flood upon this hell and utterly ruining the ecosystem," he sighed.

"Because there are at least three Queen Class monsters that would come after you if you did," Alice deadpanned.

"So would Gnomy!" Sylph added. "She spent a long time making sure this desert was perfect. If you ruined it, she'd be REEEAAAALLY mad at you."

Even with those potential threats, Kevin was only slightly dissuaded.

Before he could sink too deep into his plans to permanently alter the landscape, Alice finished her food and rose from her seat. "As much as I want to continue debating the pros and cons of you destroying the environment, I would recommend preparing for a fight."

The boy raised an eyebrow at her. "What happened to disappearing without any further warning?"

She didn't give him an answer. Instead, she reached out with her right hand and tapped an empty spot in the air. In a sequence straight out of the Bleach anime, reality split in the form of a rectangular section sliding up and down in opposite directions. Once the opening was large enough for her to fit through, she slithered into the empty abyss that lay beyond and closed the rip in space behind her.

Shaking his head in exasperation, Kevin stood up and stretched his arms and legs. "Alright, Sylph. According to Alice, we got another annoyance incoming. You know the drill."

The Wind Spirit was more than a little disappointed, considering that she had finally succeeded in making a mound as tall as her small form. She knew that there was no point in arguing, though, so she returned to her usual perch on his right shoulder. While she would have retreated into his soul, she decided yesterday that it was best for her to be physically there for her Host as much as possible, in case a similar situation as with the Minotauros happened. It wasn't as if she could actually be hurt if she didn't want to, anyway.

A quick re-packing of his backpack later, the teenager was ready to face whatever abomination the desert was going to throw at him. Just in time, too, because a source of Bug Type Energy entered his field of detection shortly after completing putting away the last water bottle. Turning to address it, he was able to see a quickly-approaching black mass that vaguely reminded him of the Tarantula Girl.

Fortunately for him, though, it wasn't a giant spider with the torso of a woman sticking out of the top of it. Instead, it was a massive scorpion. Despite also belonging to the Arachnid family, scorpions didn't have the same effect on the Eevee as spiders. Sure, the black shelled body of the purple-haired monster was off-putting, but he wasn't going to immediately lash out and crush every bone/chitinous plate in her body.

Upon reaching a few yards away from her target, the monster stopped and stared intently at him.

[Scorpion Girl]

[Type: Bug/Poison]

"A man passing by here? How unusual," she commented, before licking her lips. "It looks like I'll have a male treat today."

"Of course, the first words out of her mouth were about sex," Kevin grumbled. "Whatever. Just know that if you try anything, I WILL rip that stinger off of you and stab you in the neck with it."

At first, the Scorpion Girl ignored his warning in favor of slowly walking toward him again. He was just a boy, after all, and in her experience, they had a tendency to over exaggerate their capabilities to appear tough. However, the closer she got, the more alarm bells started ringing in the back of her head, urging her to run away as fast as possible. She wrote it off as a reaction to the magical power she was starting to sense from radiating from his body in a small radius, since this was the first male she'd ever encountered with any magical aura at all.

She would, unfortunately, live to regret this.

With pinpoint accuracy and speed rivaling a bullet, she lashed out her rear stinger, aiming for the boy's chest. She was certain that her venom, which was actually a potent combination of an aphrodisiac and paralytic, would end the fight before it could truly begin…which was why her entire body froze in shock when the stinger stopped mere inches from the boy's chest.

Kevin had, of course, used his own lightning-fast reflexes to grab the stinger before it could make contact. Some may argue that he could've easily moved out of the way, but this position gave him the perfect opportunity to follow through on the threat he had made.

Without saying a word, the Eevee used his free hand to point at the stinger, dramatically shaking his head while maintaining eye contact with the Scorpion Girl. He then spread his fingers out so she could see his claws, which were starting to emit a magical glow. Looking back and forth between him and his clawed hand, the monster knew exactly what was about to happen, and tried her hardest to pull her tail away. It was no use, though, as the teen was more than capable of holding her still as he slashed clean through the appendage.

[Slash – Normal Type Move]

[Description: The target is attacked with a slash of claws or blades. This move has a heightened chance of landing a critical hit]

The Scorpion Girl cried out from the pain of having the end of her tail severed. No blood came out, due to Kevin having his Sealing effect turned on, but that didn't dull the agony of being dismembered. The only thing that could even slightly count as fortunate was the fact that after cutting off her stinger, the boy let her tail go.

Knowing that he had a limited amount of time before the stinger disappeared, the Eevee quickly dashed forward while his foe was still writhing in pain. In one smooth motion, he reared his arms back, and then proceeded to jam the monster's own stinger directly into her throat.

It took a few seconds for the sequence of events to fully register in the Scorpion Girl's mind. When it finally did, all she could do was stare into the blank gaze of her would-be-prey as her consciousness faded away. Instead of dying, though, she was instead sealed in the form of a small scorpion, barely the size of Sylph, that just lay there motionless in the sand.

While normally the teenager would've prolonged the fight in order to deal an appropriate amount of psychological damage to the monster, the irritation of eating sandy food was still fresh; and as a result, he didn't feel like wasting too much time teaching this particular idiot a lesson. He settled for simply following through with his original threat, and moving on.

Kicking enough sand over the sealed monster's body to completely cover it, Kevin sighed. "Do you think I should just start showing my full strength to these idiots before they try attacking me? Like I did with the minotaur?"

Surprisingly, Sylph shook her head. "No. If you did, they wouldn't really learn anything."

"…yeah, you have a point," her Host shrugged. "Plus, if I did that, I wouldn't be able to use them as stress relief."

"I would ask you to not take your frustrations out on my subjects, but even I can't defend them at this point," Alice sighed, reappearing from her pseudo-garganta.

"Admitting that your subordinates are morons in the first step to recovery," the teenager chuckled as the three of them took off in the direction of Sabasa again.

{Several Hours Later}

The rest of the journey to the city in the middle of the desert was relatively boring. It was so boring, in fact, that all three of them had to find something to take their minds off of the endless expanse of nothing, lest they lose their minds. Even for Sylph, there was only so much flying around she could do before she got tired of the sheer monotony of it.

Alice took to collecting various bugs and rare desert plants. When asked why, she stated that she assumed that they were edible. Her companions just shrugged it off, understanding that the gluttonous Monster Lord always defaulted to thinking with her stomach in times like these.

Sylph actually resorted to looking through the Monsterpedia in her Host's System; with his permission, of course. After finding the complete information on the Minotauros before, her curiosity had gradually grown until she couldn't help but browse through the treasure trove of information. While normally she wasn't the type to sit still and read for any amount of time, there wasn't much else for her to do at the moment. Besides, the chapter on harpies was pretty interesting, in her opinion.

As for Kevin, he was also idly combing through a part of the System. The section he was looking at, though, was the Moves; more specifically, the new moves added with the Scarlet and Violet update. Despite only being able to see the Moves for the Evolutions he'd unlocked, there were still plenty that piqued his interest. [Flower Trick], for example, was perfect for his Leafeon form because it was always guaranteed to be a critical hit; and [Last Respects] would be ideal for if he was ever fighting in a group, as its power was boosted by the number of allies that had either fainted or died in the battle.

None of them were useless, which made the Eevee give a rare smile.

The only interesting encounter they had before they reached their destination was with an abandoned merchants' caravan. Whatever animals had been pulling it along had long since been released, all of the crates and boxes of supplies remained untouched, and the ground was littered with discarded clothes. And there, in the center of the piles of clothing, was a spotless lamp.

Instead of rubbing the lamp like an idiot and subjecting himself to the whims of whatever counts as a genie in this world, the teenager decided to ignore it and raid the caravan. There was plenty of food and supplies inside, as well as more than a few boxes of jewelry. One of the merchants must've been a dealer of fine accessories.

With all of the abandoned goods stored in Kevin's backpack, they continued on. What remained unseen to both them and the rest of the outside world was the genie grumbling in the special dimension within her lamp, cursing the fact that she wasn't able to leave it without a human rubbing it for the millionth time. What good was having amazing magic powers if she couldn't leave on her own terms?

Anyway, the trio reached Sabasa shortly before sunset.

{Sabasa – Commercial District}

Upon entering the city, Alice had donned her usual human disguise, but Sylph remained as she was. There wasn't really a point in hiding, in her opinion, since the people of the Safina Region had always been more accepting toward monsters than those in the Natalia Region. That didn't stop the Monster Lord from transforming though, and neither of her travel companions questioned it.

Around them, the Commercial District was bustling with activity. This was to be expected for the largest city in all of Safina, and especially because it was in the very center of the desert. Stalls lined the roads, covered in light-colored blankets and tarps to keep the worst of the blazing sun away, and selling just about anything one could think of.

Of course, the first thing that made the group stop was the lamia among them thinking with her stomach, again. "Oh? Is this the Sabasa fish?" she asked, approaching a stall that functioned more as an outdoor restaurant.

"You have a good eye!" the chef cooking the fish nodded. "This is, indeed, Sabasa Castle's signature dish. I might not be as good as the castle's chefs, but I think I cook it pretty well."

Alice needed no further convincing. She ended up buying every plate that was currently available, and handing them over to Kevin to put in his backpack. Only one of them remained outside, and it wasn't long before the lamia started digging into it, a beautiful smile prominently displayed on her face as they walked away from the stall.

"Delicious," she hummed, taking another bite and savoring it.

"I'll take your word for it," Kevin shrugged. He wasn't one who enjoyed the taste of seafood, after all.

Sylph, on the other hand, zipped over to the lamia in excitement. "Oooh! Can I have some?"

"No," Alice immediately shot her down, taking another bite.

The Spirit was immediately engulfed by an aura of depression. She slowly drifted back to her Host's shoulder, dramatically sighing in exaggerated sadness. Unfortunately for her, said Host was not sympathetic at all, merely glancing at her and shrugging before continuing to walk around.

Their search for a place to stay the night was interrupted, however, by a soldier approaching the teenager. Stopping in front of him, the soldier proceeded to eye him up and down. "Hm…those clothes…" the man mumbled under his breath, before directly addressing the boy. "Are you, by chance, a traveling Hero?"

"…" Kevin deadpanned at him for a solid five seconds before replying. "No."

The soldier slouched a bit. "Oh…well, are you an adventurer?"

"Probably."

"Then would you please come with me to the castle?" the Soldier asked. "It won't take long. You just need to listen to a story."

"STORY!?" Sylph suddenly exclaimed, recovering from her previous gloom. "I love stories! Can we please go, Kevin?"

The Eevee could immediately tell that this was another unavoidable plot point. Just like with Amira, as no matter how hard he ignored the soldier or tried to pretend he didn't hear him, Kevin's gut told him that the world's narrative wouldn't allow him to go anywhere BUT with the soldier.

Glancing over at Alice, who was off in her own little world with her Sabasa Fish, he sighed. "Fine," he reluctantly agreed. "But keep in mind, if this is a waste of my time, I will not hesitate to flood this entire city."

A shiver ran down the armored man's spine at the boy's threat. He didn't know why, but for some reason he couldn't help but feel that the teenager was not only serious with that threat, but also capable of following through with it. However, he had already asked the boy to come with him, so he had no choice but to hope nothing bad would happen as a result.

{Sabasa Castle}

The soldier led the traveling trio directly to the castle in the middle of the city. It wasn't as big as the cathedral/castle back in San Ilia, but it was no less grand or sturdy. Whether it be the impenetrable walls on the outside, or the immaculately decorated halls on the inside, it was a castle that any monarch would be proud to call home.

Instead of stopping at the soldiers' quarters and handing them off to his superiors there, the soldier took them deep into the castle.

It wasn't long before they arrived in a large throne room that reminded both Kevin and Alice of the one back in San Ilia. It was actually uncanny how similar the layout was: the same red carpet, columns around the edges, and suits of armor standing motionlessly. The only real differences were the throne itself, which looked to be made of rougher materials, and the man sitting in it.

If he'd been standing, he'd be almost seven feet tall, and his entire body was rippling with muscles. This was particularly emphasized by the fact that he didn't wear a shirt under the luxurious red and white cape draped over his shoulders, showing off both his abs and the battle scars on them. Even his light-orange hair and beard someone expressed a wild might, pairing well with the stern expression on his slightly-scarred face.

"So…are you the king?" Kevin asked, not bothering to speak with any respect at all.

The seated man nodded, not taking any offense. "Yes. I am the Ninth King of Sabasa."

Silence hung in the air for a few seconds. At first, the Eevee thought that the King would go on about his titles or something like that, but instead he kept it short and to the point. "You're not as dramatic as the last King I met."

"Before I was King, I was a warrior," the man replied, standing up as he did. "There isn't much time for flowery words on the field of battle."

Kevin nodded in agreement. "True. Why waste time with words when you could simply beat your opponent's face in?"

Seeing the sincerity with which the boy spoke, the King grinned. "I see that you are also a warrior. You look pretty young, so I wasn't sure of your ability; but the look in your eyes tells me everything I need to know. That makes what I'm about to request much easier."

"Go ahead," Kevin gestured lazily with his left arm. "Just know that I reserve the right to refuse."

"Of course," the King agreed. "Keep in mind that I'm about to ask of you is something that must remain confidential. If it gets out to the citizens, it will be a huge incident." He paused, before continuing with a sigh. "The fact is, my daughter was kidnapped. Around midnight, three days ago, I was awoken by the sound of shattering glass from her room. When I ran there with the guards, my daughter was gone."

He took out a folded piece of paper and held it out. "The only thing that remained was this letter. Whoever took her away left it. If you look, you'll see that they wrote the word "Pyramid" in horribly hate-filled writing."

Taking the paper and unfolding it, the boy was…somewhat able to see what he meant. "I don't know about "hate-filled," he muttered. "But this handwriting IS horrible."

"Having the princess be kidnapped is a terrible fate to befall the country," the King continued. "To avoid an uproar, this must stay a secret. That's why I've been searching for a person capable of saving her in secret. I've interviewed a few so far, but though they introduced themselves as Heroes, they all looked pretty pathetic."

"As someone who has seen San Ilia, that sounds pretty par for the course," Alice smirked.

"Yeah…they couldn't even measure up to one of Kevin's fingernails," Sylph agreed.

"Even though you're young, I feel something from you," the King stated, seemingly avoiding the side-commentary.

"…It's the ears and tail, isn't it?" the teen asked, twitching said parts for emphasis.

The King paused for a second, before his eyes widened in surprise. "Wait…those are real? I thought you were a cosplayer."

Kevin shook his head. "Nope. Apparently, I'm the only male monster in the world."

"Then you're even more perfect for the job than I thought!" the King grinned. Sending a normal human, even one with combat experience, to a place infested with monsters was always a risky business; but sending another monster? It was almost guaranteed to succeed! "Young traveler, will you please save my daughter?"

The Eevee briefly mulled it over, before asking. "What's in it for me?"

"Well, the dawn after you save my daughter, you shall become her husband!" the King grandly exclaimed, completely certain that the young warrior standing before him would accept with such a reward on the line.

Contrary to his expectations, though, Kevin frowned. "Nope," he stated, turning around to walk away. "Come on Alice, we're leaving."

It should also be noted that the tiny Wind Spirit on the boy's shoulder had gone from absentmindedly smiling to glaring at the King with enough hostility to paralyze a dragon.

"But…why?" the monarch questioned.

Turning around, the boy addressed the King with a deadpan stare. "Multiple reasons. One: marriage is a mistake; two: forcing people into a marriage is worse; and three: I already have to deal with being forcefully married to at least five different women by the Universe itself. And, since I can't destroy the Universe for the crime of forcing me into multiple marriages, if some non-universal being were to try doing the same, I would be forced to destroy their entire kingdom."

Sweat was now pouring down the back of the King's neck as he felt even more unseen pressure close in on him. His warrior instincts were telling him to shut up and run away, which they had never done before, leading him to understand that this boy was likely powerful enough to follow through with that threat. He didn't even want to imagine what kind of horrible powers lay beneath the adorable shota exterior.

"Then…" he grunted, powering through his fear. "Is there anything else you would like in return?"

Kevin immediately sank deep into thought. In his mind, there wasn't anything this man had that he couldn't easily procure himself. That train of thought was derailed, however, when Sylph had a brilliant idea and proceeded to whisper it in his ear. A rare smile made its way onto his face, and was even accompanied by him gently patting the Spirit on the head.

"Great idea," he complimented her, before turning back to the King. "Before I propose my terms, I have to know: how good are your chefs?"

The King blinked, caught off-guard by the unexpected question. "They are the best in all of Safina. Why do you ask?"

The teenager took off his backpack, reached into it, and pulled out a piece of paper. "I have a recipe here for my favorite chocolate. If you can promise me that your finest chefs will prepare as much as physically possible before I return, I will save your daughter."

While the King logically should've been surprised by this request, he honestly wasn't. It was a well known fact in the world that the more powerful someone was, the quirkier they tended to be. Just looking at the Four Heavenly Knights, or his fellow Kings and Queens of the other regions of Sentora, was enough to convince him of this fact. Out of all of the things the boy could've asked for, this chocolate was probably the easiest to supply.

"It's settled, then," the King nodded. "I will summon my finest chefs to prepare this chocolate for you, and in return you will rescue my daughter from the Pyramid."

A man in a chef's uniform was quickly summoned into the room and handed the recipe. Kevin was reluctant to hand it over, but fortunately he had copied it onto a few more sheets in his free time. He may be reluctant to share food, but sharing a recipe? It was a no-brainer.

The trio left the throne room and were told to wait for one of the free guards to come and escort them out

"That King was pretty impressive," Alice admitted. "Being stuck as a King doesn't seem like it fits a man like him."

"Kinda like how being the Monster Lord doesn't fit someone like you?" Kevin quipped back.

A tick-mark appeared on the disguised woman's forehead as she glared at him. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh! I know!" Sylph chimed in. "It means you're lazy, gluttonous, and annoying!"

Kevin nodded in agreement, causing the lamia to narrow her eyes. "Is that so? Hello pot, my name's kettle."

"There is a huge difference between us," the boy stated.

"And that is?"

"My race didn't appointment me as its almighty leader."

"…you win this time."

Their banter was interrupted by an armored man approaching. "Traveler, I shall take you to the nicest inn. Please have an enjoyable rest."

Before he could lead them, though, the Eevee posed an…interesting question. "Hey, you think you could help me find someone first?"

The guard raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Who might you be looking for."

"Well, if I'm not mistaken, there should be an abomination of nature in these parts. No arms. Giant snake head for a torso. Only wearing a pair of underwear. Goes by the name of Amira. You seen her?"

"Hmm…" the guard stroked his chin in thought. "There is a monster of that description in the prison, who refers to herself as an information dealer."

"That's probably her," Kevin grinned. "Can you please take me to her?"

"Of course!" the guard nodded before leading the way.

At the boy's side, Alice gave him a weird look. "Why the hell would you WANT to see that abominable creature?"

The Eevee's grin widened. "Other than getting information on the local area, I have to punish her for giving me misleading information."

The edges of the lamia's mouth quirked up in a smirk. "This should be good, then."

***

{Author's Note}

So...Kevin and co are finally in Sabasa, and they are about to meet the plot device that makes every one to murder her!

This took way to long to write, but at least it's a bit on the longer side.

How do you guys think it was?

Also, once again NEWEST DISCORD LINK: https:/ /disc ord.gg/3 CBazz8 C4H

As always, comment on the paragraphs and the chapter itself. Try not to be a dick, memes are appreciated, and correct my grammar so I can fix it for future readers!

See you later!