Chapter 241: Saving the Oasis 13

When they finally arrived at the oasis, it was completely silent.

"Looks like there are other players here," Hugh Finch said, looking at the several tree pits and newly planted saplings in the distance.

Moira Lynch, on the other hand, scanned the already planted trees with her spiritual power. They had a survival rate of about fifty percent, which was quite high.

Using her spiritual power, Moira Lynch easily located the other players in the oasis.

However, neither Moira Lynch nor Hugh Finch had any intention of disturbing them.

They were only here to set up camp and rest for a while. Their main objective was still the Petalwing Beetle’s gallbladder—after all, you could never have too many of those.

Moira also set the Pharmacy Box’s other locked target to Land Recovery Liquid.

The two of them quickly set up their tent.

As usual, Moira Lynch was in charge of the first watch.

As a self-proclaimed night owl before the apocalypse, going to bed at two or three in the morning was a common occurrence for her.

A strong gust of wind blew past, and the scene from the previous night reappeared.

Moira Lynch looked at the sand-shrouded expanse before her. Yellow lanterns floated in mid-air, swaying continuously.

They looked like lanterns, but how could something like that just appear out of nowhere in the middle of the desert?

Moira Lynch immediately realized that these lantern-like objects were most likely the eyes of some creature.

She released her spiritual power to investigate.

However, her usually infallible spiritual power detected nothing but sand.

"Patience, scan."

[Dune Beast: A beast that lives in the desert, composed entirely of sand. Its appearance is accompanied by sandstorms, and it is extremely difficult to kill.

The Dune Beast’s body gestates a fruit called a sand dust fruit. After consumption, one’s body gains the fluidity of sand, allowing them to heal from any injury as long as no limbs are severed.]

Patience then showed Moira Lynch a short animation.

In the animation, a small figure’s hand was chopped off, but the next second, the severed hand dissolved into a pile of sand while a new hand grew back in its place.

[Dune Beasts despise plants. Upon encountering any, they will do everything in their power to destroy them.]

Moira Lynch watched the Dune Beasts glaring menacingly outside. A fervent glint flashed in her eyes. ’Sand dust fruits... a great item. Even if the Dune Beasts are hard to kill, I have to try.’

With that thought, Moira Lynch woke up Hugh Finch, who was inside the tent.

He was supposedly sleeping, but he was actually meditating. Hearing Moira Lynch’s voice, Hugh Finch immediately opened his eyes.

"What’s wrong?"

The moment the words left his mouth, Hugh Finch looked up and saw the lantern-like eyes in the distance.

"You’re not thinking of taking them on, are you?"

From Hugh Finch’s tone, it was clear he had long known of their existence.

Moira Lynch nodded, then explained about the Dune Beasts and the sand dust fruits.

Hugh Finch, who had been about to persuade Moira Lynch to give up the idea, became serious after hearing about the effects of the sand dust fruit. "I saw these things last night," he said. "They were waiting outside the oasis, refusing to leave. I even did a divination back then."

"What was the result?" Moira Lynch asked.

"The result was that they couldn’t enter the oasis, and their Life Energy was tenacious."

At the time, Hugh Finch had figured that since they couldn’t enter the oasis, they posed no threat, so he ignored them.

Meanwhile, Patience had already compiled the Dune Beasts’ weaknesses.

As expected, Dune Beasts were afraid of water.

A Dune Beast’s body is composed of flowing sand, making it difficult to hit with conventional methods.

Anyone who’s played with sand knows that dry sand is hard to grab hold of.

But once sand gets wet, it becomes much easier to handle.

When Moira Lynch mentioned this weakness, Hugh Finch immediately understood. "The Sucking Mushrooms still have plenty of water."

After completing their previous mission, the two had specifically refilled the Sucking Mushrooms with water. Now was the perfect time to use them.

Although the Dune Beasts’ bodies were made of sand and they had sandstorms for cover, their large, round, lantern-like eyes made it easy for Moira Lynch and Hugh Finch to lock onto their positions.

Moira Lynch gripped two Sucking Mushrooms in each hand and aimed them at the Dune Beasts outside. Hugh Finch did the same.

Beside Moira Lynch, the Black Wolf stood ready for battle. However, it wasn’t holding Sucking Mushrooms, but ice rocks.

’Water plus ice,’ she thought. ’There’s no way I can’t catch a Dune Beast with this.’

"I’ll count to three, and we go together," Moira Lynch said to Hugh Finch.

"One!"

"Two!"

"Three! Go!"

Four powerful jets of water instantly shot out from their hands, directly hitting four Dune Beasts.

Pained cries came from the distance.

Seeing the first strike succeed, Moira Lynch didn’t stop. She redirected her aim toward the other Dune Beasts.

After all, there were more than just four Dune Beasts near the oasis.

’I don’t care about the ones I can’t see, but not a single one in my sight is getting away.’

As Moira Lynch and Hugh Finch acted, the Black Wolf wasn’t idle either.

Its two powerful paws continuously and precisely hurled the ice rocks.

Every time an ice rock landed, a beautiful flower of ice would bloom in the desert.

A few minutes later, the water in the Sucking Mushrooms was depleted, and Moira Lynch and Hugh Finch finally stopped.

However, it wasn’t time to rest yet.

The Dune Beasts were only frozen, not dead. They still needed to deliver the finishing blows.

Moira Lynch walked up to one of the Dune Beasts. Only now did she get a clear look at what they were like.

According to Patience’s data, Dune Beasts had no fixed form. Since they were made of flowing sand, they could theoretically control their bodies to take any shape.

However, these frozen Dune Beasts each had a round head, strongly resembling the white-sheet ghosts from cartoons she watched as a child.

Not only were they not scary at all, but they were even a little cute.

"Patience, take a picture of these Dune Beasts and upload it to the Astranet. Oh, and make sure you don’t get me or Hugh Finch in the shot."

[No problem!]

Patience agreed readily.

[Should I set a fee?]

"You can charge for this?"

[Of course. Throughout the galaxy, there are people who specialize in collecting all sorts of data. After they get the data, they come up with a catchy title to attract viewers. A group photo of Dune Beasts is a pretty good topic.]

"Set it, then."

’Only a fool wouldn’t take free money.’

While talking to Patience, Moira Lynch accurately located the sand dust fruit inside the beast’s body.

As the sand dust fruit was removed from its body, the frozen Dune Beast instantly lost its life and collapsed into a pile of loose sand.

"Patience, this sand seems a bit different from the sand around it."