The task written on the assessment parchment was that multiple Lizardman tribes existed here, and the one they just encountered was just one of them.

Duke and the others planned to search for another Lizardman tribe, then kill two more Lizardmen in the same way. As long as they completed the task, that would be enough.

The only concern was that if they had alerted one Lizardman tribe, other Lizardman tribes might also encounter other wizard apprentices.

About one hundred fifty people were participating in this assessment, and these wizard apprentices were bound to have conflicts with multiple Lizardman tribes.

Duke and the others were just lucky; the Lizardman tribe they encountered earlier hadn't met other wizard apprentices, so they were unguarded.

If they encountered a guarded Lizardman tribe, the situation would be different.

After a short rest, Duke and the others continued on their journey. The oasis was still not far away, so it wasn't entirely safe yet.

Simon took out the map he had been drawing, never forgetting to update it along the way.

He glanced at the sun's position and continued drawing the areas they had just traversed.

Relying on his perception ability, Duke continued to sense places where water sources might exist.

This time, it was much more difficult. Besides the obvious presence of the Water Element in the direction of the oasis behind them, other directions were all about the same.

Duke and the others could only choose a direction opposite to the oasis to make their way. At the very least, they couldn't go back.

This time, their journey continued for a long time until nightfall, when they found a wind-sheltered dune to stop.

Duke felt like he had entered the depths of the desert's center; no matter how far they walked, it was always undulating dunes with no trace of an oasis in sight.

They also encountered many attacks from desert demons that day, besides the sand worms, including giant scorpions.

From initially being caught off guard, Duke and the others soon became accustomed and could easily deal with these ambushing demons.

These demons weren't very strong. Once familiar with their habits and behavior, dealing with them became quite easy.

Even Simon and the others learned to sense the subtle movements underground; the sand worms and these demons were not as concealed as Lizardmen.

After several encounters, Simon and the others gradually mastered this pattern, and now they could immediately react as soon as there was a slight movement under their feet.

As long as they maintained focused spiritual power, dealing with them was actually quite easy.

However, maintaining highly concentrated spiritual power in such a hot, monotonous, and barren desert wasn't easy. Even wizards would get tired and relax at times.

If it weren't for Duke, Abel and Anli might have been injured by the demon attacks.

In the late night, the strong wind howled, the sound akin to piercing screams, unsettling them deeply.

Duke and the others had gotten accustomed to this wind noise, which sounded terrifying but was actually caused by the strong wind passing over the various dunes.

All four of them stayed awake, engrossed in Meditation.

The night wind blew over, bringing bone-chilling cold.

Suddenly, Duke opened his eyes, looking ahead, hearing extremely faint footsteps.

"Who!"

Upon his call, Simon and the others also became alert, looking ahead.

There was no moon in the night sky, and there wasn't much firewood to light up around, so it was quite dark, and the scene ahead was unclear.

Through his own dark vision ability, Duke could see a few dark figures, who appeared to be wizard apprentices in robes, walking towards them.

After he called out, those in front didn't respond, not replying to his words.

Soon, Simon and the others also saw these figures, a total of five, just the size of a small team.

"If you come any closer, don't blame me for being rude," warned Duke.

However, these five still didn't respond, seeming not to hear Duke's words, continuing forward.

Duke frowned, prepared to act as soon as these people entered the attack range.

Suddenly, he raised his left hand, noticing that the bracelet on it was heating up. This was the Evil Spirit Crown's warning, indicating the presence of evil spirits around.

"Be careful, these people might not be human. My demonized items warn me there are evil spirits around," Duke said gravely, conveying this information to Simon and the others.

Simon and the others were also quite tense, having never encountered evil spirits and lacking the experience to deal with them.

Duke touched the pendant he wore, a demonized item specifically against evil spirits, the Holy Silver Sword.

Soon, the five figures arrived in front of Duke and his group, and they gradually saw their appearance clearly.

With a gust of wind blew over, bringing an unbearable stench, making someone retch.

Once they clearly saw the five people, it was shocking, especially for Anli, who covered her mouth, forcing herself not to scream.

The five were wearing robes, and it was apparent they were wizard apprentices participating in the assessment.

But now, they no longer looked human, with many bloodstains on their faces, some with half their faces gone as if gnawed by something.

As the night wind blew by, their robes also fluttered, revealing what lay underneath.

Their stomachs were entirely empty, looking as though something had devoured them, and the flesh of their thighs had been almost completely chewed away, virtually leaving them skeletons.

Duke didn't speak, silently activating the Holy Silver Sword he wore. A light saber emitting a silvery-white glow appeared, illuminating the surroundings in a dazzling light amid the darkness.

The sword swung past, and the person at the front was immediately chopped into a pile of bones, along with a piercing scream, as a transparent soul floated up from the bones, drifting into the dark night sky.

Simon and the others used various magic to attack these skeletons; apart from Simon's Fireball Technique being quite effective, the others' magic had little effect.

One skeleton had both its legs cut off by Abel's Wind Blade, yet it continued crawling on the ground with its hands, its mouth opening and closing as if trying to devour these few people before it.

Duke frowned, using the Holy Silver Sword to settle the five skeletons, releasing the souls turned into evil spirits, granting them some form of release.

The strength of these five evil spirits was very weak, probably because they had just been transformed, and their flesh was still fresh, clearly not long after being victimized.

From the start of the assessment to now, it had only been two days, and these five wizard apprentices likely encountered something on the first day, leading to their entire team being annihilated and becoming their current state.

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