Location: Desert Isle of Nafir – The Drowned Dunes
Two days had passed since the battle with the Crimson Whisper. The Red Blade sailed through blistering winds and salt-bleached tides, finally reaching an island few maps dared mention — Nafir, a desert isle lost to shifting sands and ruined kingdoms.
The crew disembarked just after sunrise. The heat hit like a hammer.
"Feels like the sun's trying to cook our bones," grunted a deckhand, wiping sweat from his brow.
Ankit, walking alongside Shanks and Benn, said nothing. His eyes were fixed on the dunes. The system's guidance had returned — faint, flickering.
"Relic Trace: Confirmed. Deep underground."
"Environmental Hazard: Sand burial risk 83%."
This wasn't going to be easy.
Location: Market Ruins of Nafir
The city was buried. What little remained above the sand was a shattered plaza and a few stone archways jutting out like ribs from a corpse.
Makino, leading a scouting party, reported signs of old structures under the dunes.
"This island's got stories," she said. "Locals used to say a golden city lies below, cursed by the gods for hoarding power they didn't understand."
Benn Beckman frowned. "Or… power someone didn't want them to understand."
The crew set up camp at the edge of a sinkhole revealed by the morning winds. Strange symbols had been etched into the stone lining the rim — the same ancient script tied to the Hepta Relics.
Ankit knelt, tracing one of them with his fingers.
"Same structure as the Bone Gate Key," he thought. "But older. Angrier."
Location: Beneath the Sands
Using ropes and pulleys, Ankit, Beckman, and two crewmen descended into the sinkhole. The air was dry and filled with echoes.
Half-buried corridors stretched like veins into the dark.
That's when they found the watcher skulls — embedded into the walls. Not human. Not animal.
Empty sockets stared back at them.
Suddenly—
System Alert: "Bounty Tracker Detected. Active nearby."
Benn's hand went to his rifle immediately. "We're not alone."
Footsteps echoed behind them.
They turned—
"HELLO, FRIENDS."
A man in black and crimson armor stepped from the shadow, his face covered by a veil of sand-silk. He bore a massive gauntlet with spinning gears and a jagged metal claw.
"You're a long way from the calm seas," he said. "But then again, so am I." He held up a torn parchment — a bounty notice with Ankit's face etched in ink, barely visible but real.
"They're putting numbers on your head now, boy. Quiet ones. Hidden ones."
Shanks emerged from the rope seconds later, sword half-drawn.
"Who sent you?"
The man tapped the side of his claw. "The ones who profit when relics stay buried. The ones who know what's locked under the sand."
He lunged — faster than expected.
[Fight: Sand Reaper vs Ankit + Benn Beckman]
The claw whirled, striking with brutal force. Ankit blocked with crossed swords, the impact rattling up his arms.
System Trigger – Combat Intuition (I)
Ankit stepped left just before a spike shot from the claw's knuckle — barely dodging decapitation.
Benn opened fire with specialized rounds, one of which hit the gauntlet and ricocheted, shattering against the stone.
The bounty hunter laughed.
"You boys are good… but not enough."
Suddenly, he slammed his gauntlet into the wall — causing the corridor to collapse inward.
Sand burst from every crack.
"MOVE!" Shouted Benn.
Ankit shoved a crewman upward just as the ground cracked beneath his feet.
He was falling—
Location: Chamber of the Sunken Echo
When Ankit awoke, he was alone. His torch barely flickered in the cold, hollow chamber beneath the ruins.
But there—at the far end—stood a pedestal of silver sand, upon which floated a fractured orb, cracked like dry clay.
System Alert: "Relic Fragment Detected. Do not touch directly."
But it was too late.
Ankit stepped forward and instinctively reached.
A memory screamed into his mind—
[Flash Memory: The Voice of Oureval]
"We sealed the knowledge. But the seal is breaking. They are digging again… Let them find only ash."
Then—darkness.
Ankit gasped, falling backward. His nose bled slightly.
Shanks and Beckman broke through a wall behind him, pulling him out just as the chamber began collapsing in on itself.
They barely made it back to the surface.
Back at Camp – That Night
Makino was furious. "You nearly got crushed in a relic tomb!"
Ankit said nothing. His mind still burned with what he saw.
Later that night, he pulled up the System Panel:
🔹 SYSTEM PANEL – Ankit 🔹
System Sync: 18.9%
Relic Fragments Collected: 5 out of 7
Skill Level (Twin Flow Style): 6.5
New Trait Unlocked: Adaptive Strike (I)
Increases effectiveness of second sword after reading opponent's opening.
⚠️ System Note:
"Oureval's protective echo is awakening. More hunters will follow."
"Your bounty now has eyes in the New World."