Versatile Mage (Web Novel)
chapter-460

Translated by XephiZ

Edited by Aelryinth

The Sand Howl Tiger was obviously heading toward their party, after they had just infiltrated the demon beasts' territory. Its large, glistening, green eyes could be seen from a good distance away, and the sand drifting in the wind was unable to conceal its menacing gaze!

At the Dongting Lake area, they had first stumbled into a bunch of idiotic Giant Lizards which were only Servant-class. However, the Dunhuang region was truly intimidating; they had already encountered a Warrior-level creature after just stepping out of the safe zone!

If the density of Warrior-level creatures was so high, wouldn't the Servant-class creatures have trouble surviving here?

"It's hungry, and irascible. It will be difficult to comfort it, but it feels like it's in pain, maybe it's injured somewhere," said Xinxia who was sitting on the Swift Star Wolf and glancing at the Sand Howl Tiger alertly.

Xinxia had not faced a demon beast since the incident at Bo City. Her expression was not as calm as the others, but since her secondary Element was Psychic, she should be able to get used to it fairly quickly compared to others!

"It means we can't skip the battle, draw your swords!" Likewise, Mo Fan was irascible, too.

It was his first time bringing his beloved Xinxia on a tour, so it was time to show her his capabilities, too.

To everyone's surprise, Zhang Xiaohou was more impetuous than Mo Fan, and was already charging forward since both his Elements had movement spells. He could not wait to face a member of the infamous Sand Tiger Horde.

"Damn, where did you find this kid? How ballsy is he?!" cursed Zhao Manyan.

Other Magicians would most likely shit their pants when they saw a Warrior-level creature. He had never seen anyone rushing up like Zhang Xiaohou, or at least he would not dare to do the same himself!

"Fight at will, but keep an eye out for the blood sweat its body will excrete when the situation is grim. It's the sign that the beast is about to go berserk. Don't die to its attempting one last attack!" Lingling reminded them.

Zhang Xiaohou was the perfect example of someone impatient to fight. As a matter of fact, he was somewhat influenced by Mo Fan's personality: completely fearless, and smart with little tricks, yet not so intelligent overall.

He charged at the Sand Howl Tiger with a roar, even though they were only fifty meters apart.

The menacing-looking Sand Howl Tiger was around four meters long and had high shoulders, as if the bones were poking out from its skin.

Its limbs were a lot stronger than the Swift Star Wolf, and its claws were sharp and powerful. A fierce head covered in sand-colored hair leaned forward.

The Sand Howl Tiger glared at Zhang Xiaohou. Its gaze seemed to be flickering with a hint of doubt.

Perhaps the Sand Howl Tiger had been hunting its prey around this area for many years, yet it had never seen a human racing toward it excitedly. Shouldn't he be running for his life instead?

The Sand Howl Tiger did have some intelligence. It finally uttered a furious roar and lunged at the skinny human when it realized that he was not afraid of it, and dared to challenge the dignity of its horde.

The human did not have much flesh, but the tiger would not mind chewing on his bones!

The Sand Howl Tiger's explosiveness was quite shocking. It spread its limbs apart and lunged forward, creating a wake of sand plumes rising behind it. The Sand Howl Tiger arrived in front of Zhang Xiaohou before the sand drifted into the air, turning into a furious red shadow ramming in Zhang Xiaohou's direction.

Zhang Xiaohou's face paled. He had been told that the Sand Howl Tigers were described as relatively savage and fierce demon beasts from the desert, yet he never thought their explosiveness would be this outstanding!

Fifty meters was the minimum safe distance for Zhang Xiaohou when fighting against a Warrior-level creature. It would give him enough time to react and cast his Spells. When training in the army, he had never given any Warrior-level creature the chance to outmaneuver him at such distance!

However, the Sand Howl Tiger was a lot quicker than he had imagined. Luckily, he was a well-trained Battlemage. The countless dangerous missions in the past had equipped him with the ability to remain calm when his life was in danger!

He cast Wind Track and Earth Wave simultaneously. A powerful gust swept forward and left a clear trail behind it. The gust carried Zhang Xiaohou to his left swiftly. Meanwhile, he was controlling the sand under his feet, accelerating his movement and sending him to his destination quickly.

Even though the Sand Howl Tiger was savage, with outstanding explosiveness, it turned out that it was not as nimble and agile as the Swift Star Wolf, which could alter his direction rapidly. After missing the pounce, its body slid a great distance away, and by the time it turned around, it was fifty meters away from Zhang Xiaohou again.

It gathered its strength once again and dashed at Zhang Xiaohou at the same pace. However, it did not notice that the sand under its feet had already changed color.

The sand had turned brown, with a slight stickiness. The sandhill appeared to be sinking down, the sand undulating and being drawn into a deep hole.

The sandhill grew steeper gradually as an obvious quicksand hole was formed between Zhang Xiaohou and the Sand Howl Tiger, rapidly expanding in size!

When the dry sand became thicker, the limbs of the Sand Howl Tiger sank deeper into it, requiring a lot more effort to drag them out. It was running with the same force, yet it took the creature three times the duration to cover the same distance.

The stickiness of the sand obviously slowed down the Sand Howl Tiger. In addition to that, as the sandhill continued to collapse, it was no longer trying to hinder the Sand Howl Tiger's movement, but beginning to draw it into the center of the quicksand.

"I thought the guy was being reckless, but he was actually laying a quicksand trap, and baiting the Sand Howl Tiger to jump into it!" Zhao Manyan smiled.

The scariest part about the Sand Howl Tiger was the explosiveness that could take its foes by surprise, and the violent pounces which one could not dodge even when they were well-prepared.

Zhang Xiaohou had used himself as bait, tricking the Sand Howl Tiger into landing in the quicksand. Even though that alone was not enough to bury the beast under the sand, it had significantly weakened the threat the savage beast posed to the party.

With Zhang Xiaohou initiating the fight, Mo Fan and Chen Yi quickly joined the battle.

On the one hand, Chen Yi, whose primary Element was Earth, smartly cast a Rock Barrier above the quicksand pit the Sand Howl Tiger was trying to jump out from. The Rock Barrier kept the Sand Howl Tiger inside the rapidly flowing sand like a wall.