Strictly speaking, the first team to run into the Crimson Sandstalkers hadn't been Dragon Nation.
It was Indus Nation's two competitors.
The only reason the Will of Blue Star hadn't triggered an official "encounter" announcement then was simple:
They'd been too far away.
Close enough to see the sand erupt.
Not close enough to be registered.
And even if they now knew that approaching a Divine Domain creature could grant points—
the two of them weren't about to risk their lives for something that still felt like a vague promise.
A chest reward sounded great.
But what good was a reward if you died before you could open it?
Chasing points at the cost of your life wasn't bravery.
It was stupidity.
So they did what any sane person would do:
They stayed away.
And in the end, that caution actually saved them—barely.
Because the first time, they'd been far enough to escape the sandstalkers' path by sheer luck.
So when the global Points Leaderboard activated and Dragon Nation suddenly appeared at #1 with 100 points, Indus Nation's competitors didn't feel envy.
They felt relief… and a little smugness.
One of them scoffed. "At this point, those two Dragon Nation competitors are probably already dead."
The other shook his head. "Yeah. What's the point of points if you don't live long enough to spend them?"
Indus Nation's livestream chat felt the same.
"LMAO. Those Dragon Nation people are probably celebrating 100 points like idiots."
"Dragon Nation's always arrogant. Same story."
"They're dead already—nothing left but dust."
And then—
The sand on the horizon surged again.
The Crimson Sandstalkers reappeared.
But something was wrong.
This time, the wave was faster. Sharper. More violent.
Not the wandering, roaming movement from before.
This looked like—
flight.
Like they were running for their lives.
Because they were.
After sensing the savage aura Adrian Vale had leaked, the sandstalkers weren't just moving anymore.
They were in full panic.
If before they had been drifting, hunting as they pleased—
now they were stampeding at maximum speed, desperate to get as far away as possible.
And Indus Nation's two competitors had the worst luck imaginable:
They were standing directly in the path of that stampede.
There was no time to wonder why the creatures had doubled back.
No time to analyze.
No time to be clever.
They did the only thing a human could do—
They ran.
Some viewers who had been trolling in Dragon Nation's channel rushed back with an update, shouting into the chat.
"Wait—Dragon Nation's two didn't die!"
"What?! How?! The monsters were right on top of them!"
"No idea. The creatures just turned around and left—like they were disgusted or something…"
"What the…?"
But the chat couldn't keep talking.
Because Indus Nation's feed was turning into a death countdown.
The sandstalkers were moving far faster than before. And the two competitors—already slowed by the terrain—had no chance of outrunning a swarm tunneling through sand.
Within minutes, the thunder of the dunes was right behind them.
WHOOM—WHOOM—WHOOM!
BOOM—BOOM—BOOM!
They could feel the ground shaking through their feet.
They didn't even need to look back.
The terror on their faces said it all.
They knew.
They were caught.
Indus Nation's viewers started screaming and spamming the screen.
"NO! RUN!!"
"You can't—there's no time! They're going to catch them!"
"It's over… it's over, they can't escape—!"
A shrill, rasping sound rose from behind—
Sss… sss… sss…
And then the sand crashed down on them like a wave.
The world became yellow. Loud. Suffocating.
The two competitors vanished into the storm.
The feed flickered.
Then—
black.
The livestream cut out completely.
For the Crimson Sandstalkers, the two humans were nothing more than a brief inconvenience on their escape route.
A moment.
A snack.
A few pounds of flesh stripped clean almost instantly—
so quickly there wasn't even time for a scream to carry.
The viewers didn't see what happened under the sand.
All they saw was the sudden darkness.
And that darkness told them everything.
For a long moment, the chat stopped.
Not just Indus Nation's chat.
The world's chat.
Because these were the first confirmed deaths since the Forbidden Zone began.
And the Will of Blue Star had already warned everyone what that meant:
When a nation's competitors die, that nation's resources are cut in half.
So if both Indus Nationcompetitors were dead…
Then Indus Nation's disaster wasn't coming.
It had already arrived.
◇ BONUS & SUPPORT ◇
◇ 1 bonus chapter for every 10 reviews — drop a comment!
◇ 1 bonus chapter for every 100 Power Stones.