RISE OF EROS

Andrew, Oliver, and Castor were galloping on their horses at full speed. Oliver was the one in the lead and set the pace, which the other two said was exaggerated, however, neither slowed down nor asked anything.

Andrew and Castor were aware that there was a reason why Oliver was instigating them to move so quickly, they just didn't know what it was and it wasn't the time to ask it.

After what seemed like 1 hour of running at top speed, Oliver finally stopped. Andrew and Castor also stopped and quickly dismounted from their horses to feed and water them, as the horses were panting from exhaustion.

These animals could be trained to run at high speeds, but not to do so for long periods of time. While the horses rested between water and food, Andrew and Castor approached Oliver and asked, "What happened?"

Oliver looked at them and giving a small wry smile said, "I'm sorry for making you run like that, but there wasn't time to explain. In this desert, the battles are not only dangerous because the enemies can be powerful, but because of the earthworms."

"What do earthworms have to do with this?" Castor asked in surprise and Oliver replied, "Earthworms are scavengers with a good sense of smell. They can smell blood for miles, so every time there is a fight in the desert, it must be ended quickly and run away."

"Do you mean that earthworms will reach anywhere there is blood?" Castor asked again and Oliver, nodding, continued explaining, "Yes. These worms do not move in groups, but where there is blood, some always appear."

"These monsters are difficult to fight, as they hide in the sand and only appear to swallow their prey, so it is better to avoid them," Oliver concluded. After a couple of hours, the horses had rested, drank, and eaten enough, and so did Andrew and the others.

While Andrew and the others were traveling through the Yellow Desert, the joint army of continent experts was arriving at the lost continent. The fleet of ships exceeded 10,000 and they all came from different countries.

Although they met in Vacilea and departed from there, it was obvious that Vacilea would not provide transportation, because it would be impossible for them to transport more than 1 million experts across the open sea.

For this, all the coastal countries offered their ships and in this way, this great fleet was formed. The ships arrived little by little at the lost continent and without wasting time, the experts established camp.

Unlike in the past times, there were demigod-level experts now, so attacking the camp was not easy. Furthermore, the abysmal humanoids had already decided to escape.

The only way for the abyssals to reproduce was with the blood of the fallen god, however, since they had no way to move it, they could only abandon it and survive.

Their plan was simple, flee to the new continent and hide. They would act in the shadows trying to gain power and be able to destroy everyone on the continent, but for now, they had to wait.

The abysmal humanoids, despite having rationality and being very intelligent, especially in the art of war, are beings created by the corrupt dominion of a fallen god, their minds were also corrupted.

While they could act like any other thinking creature, their instincts are always screaming at them to fight, since the dominion of the blood of the fallen god that turned them into abysmals is war.

For this reason, no matter how level-headed and calm an abysmal of these is, he will always seek war. Unfortunately, the newly arrived experts from the continent had no idea about these plans, so they continued setting up the camp, preparing for war.

Even though the abysmal humanoids had decided to flee, not everyone agreed. Gusttat, being the first abysmal of this generation to be created, was virtually the leader, but this was only due to his strength being slightly superior to that of the rest and having been born first.

The reality was that when the abysmals arrived at this crossroads, not everyone agreed with Gusttat's plans. Many believed that they could win the war, as they were more powerful than anyone on the continent.

Others just wanted to go crazy and destroy everything within their reach and only a small group of about 10 agreed with Gusttat. For this reason, the 50 humanoid abyssals were divided into 3 groups.

The largest group, with about 30 abysmal humanoids, decided to stay and wage war. They were convinced that they would be victorious and felt that Gusttat was acting like a coward by fleeing.

The second group was made up of 9 abysmal humanoids and although they are considered a group, they did not really move together. They just believed that they should go crazy and destroy everything in their path, so they went separately to cause chaos.

Finally, the third group was Gusttat's with his 10 companions. They believed that they should go into hiding for the time being and gain power, perhaps form an organization and thus lead the continent into war.

With those groups established, everyone went on their own. Gusttat and his followers were discreet and fled undetected. The other 9 left the lost continent with boastfulness and that was why the demigod-level experts of the joint army noticed them.

This began the first battle of the war. Unfortunately, these abysmals were not weak and since they wanted to cause chaos in the new continent, they did not bother to fight at this time, they just fled.

Although they were persecuted, they were not worried. The abysmal humanoids were not afraid of battle, they did not want to do so in a desolate land like the lost continent, that's all.

Now that you think about it, if it weren't for the blood of the fallen god that strengthens them, these abysmals would never have remained in that place for so long. Even now, they didn't want to leave the blood there, but they had no choice.

Although several demigod-level experts chased the abysmal humanoids who wanted to unleash their madness, the casualties of the joint army were not many, so the operation continued.

On the other hand, the 30 humanoid abysmals who decided to stay to fight organized the non-rational beast-type abysmals for battle. Things on the lost continent were beginning to liven up and the war was about to begin.

Meanwhile, Andrew and the others continued their journey through the desert. In recent days they had encountered several colonies of birds of prey and at night they were attacked by sand scorpions once again.

Fortunately, the colony of birds of prey was not numerous and they were able to eliminate it without being injured. As for the scorpions, they were treated as last time, the straw beds were set on fire and the heat made them retreat.

According to Oliver, they were close to their destination, and that made Andrew and Castor happy, because they were already tired of the same sandy landscape, the unbearable heat of the day, and the unbearable cold of the night.

However, when bad fortune appears, it always appears in a chain. It turns out that when they were about to leave the desert, they came across a group of barbarians.

This group had more than 100 riders, men and women. They were scantily clad, but armed to the teeth. When Oliver saw them, he immediately knew that they couldn't escape.

The barbarians stopped about 100 meters from Andrew and the others and looked at them like a predator looks at its prey. "Leave the horses and everything of value and you can live," shouted one of the barbarians who seemed to be the leader, since he was even in front of the cavalry.

"What should we do?" Andrew asked Oliver and Oliver responded, "While we could safely get out of the desert even if we lost our things, if we don't have money when we get to Star City, we made this trip for nothing."

"So, shall we fight?", this time it was Castor who asked and Oliver letting out a sigh said, "Let me talk, but be prepared." Oliver did not shout, he urged his horse forward until he was about 20 meters from the barbarians and said coldly, "You better continue on your way."

These words were not well received by the barbarians. They have a lot of pride as warriors and Oliver's words were an insult to them, so angrily some of them were going to charge, but at that moment a powerful aura came out of Oliver's body.

All the barbarians stopped in their tracks, as they understood that they were facing a powerful expert. These Barbarians, although they were strong, there were not many experts among them and those who were were not very powerful, only minor experts.

The most powerful one was the leader who had spoken before and he was only an intermediate expert. For this reason, upon feeling Oliver's strength, they were worried, because they knew that such a powerful person could sweep the floor with them effortlessly.

"Do you think you can intimidate us like this?" said the leader. Although he knew that it was not wise to antagonize Oliver, as a warrior, he could not show weakness, so he acted strong, but Oliver did not buy his actions and said, "I don't intimidate anyone. If you haven't turned around and left within 2 minutes, the earthworms will be able to eat your corpses today."