The burning sands is the name of a desert 400 miles north of the forest where Abaddon was training.
While vampires in Upyr did not have a need to fear the sunlight, there was another natural phenomenon that served to spark their ire and wariness.
The sands within this hated desert had the ability to give vampires the sensation of being roasted by the morning sun.
While they wouldn’t die since it wasn’t true sunlight, the sensation of being burned right down to cinders was one that would linger with them for the rest of their lives.
It was fairly uncommon since people tended to avoid this area, but there are a few cases where vampires fell onto the sand and lost their minds within minutes from the horrendous pain.
High in the sky, the vampire king was being trailed by all of his army and was looking at the scenery from below with an appreciative gaze.
Abaddon had never been here before but as he stared at the moonlit desert with bright red sand, he could not help but find this place to be quite beautiful.
But judging by all of the apprehensive auras he was feeling from behind him, he guessed that he may have been the only one to feel like that.
Currently, all 300 members of what was to be Abaddon’s private army were hovering in the sky on top of their new mounts.
The rest of the locusts that had yet to choose a rider were still in the forest, instructed by Abaddon to not overhunt and not to attack people.
Luckily, they seemed to have no problems with these orders and soon they all dispersed into the surrounding woodlands.
‘I wonder what kind of training Kristina has in mind.’ Abaddon wondered. ‘I’ve heard she can be rather spartan-like so I wonder if her training will be anythi-‘
“Alright soldiers, come down from your mounts and start stripping!” Kristina suddenly yelled.
‘…Excuse me?’
The dragon watched as the small army of vampires suddenly leap off their locusts and sprouted their wings.
Begrudgingly, the various men and women began to peel off their clothes before either tossing them onto the backs of their mounts or sending them into their storage rings.
Soon Abaddon was staring at over 300 men and women in their underwear.
At the same time, the women were sticking out their chests and bottoms a bit more than normal in the hopes of getting the attention of their king.
While it did work, it was not in the way that they expected.
‘I was already aware, but Lisa, Valerie, and Seras really are quite well endowed…’
Among the sea of breasts he was seeing, none of them came close to matching the F-cup breasts held by those three.
He was suddenly filled with the urge to head back to the castle and give the bodies of his wives some much-needed appreciation.
But alas, business must always come before pleasure.
Abaddon suddenly noticed movement out of the corner of his eye and was surprised to see Kristina slipping out of her clothes as well.
The pale moonlight glistened beautifully off of her pale skin and her taut and powerful muscles made her look equally menacing and enchanting.
Her long dark brown hair gave her face a rather dainty and feminine look that completely contrasted with her muscular body and yet, it suited her all the same.
But despite the half naked beauty beside him, Abaddon was rather unmoved and only had one pressing question.
“Is there a reason you need to remove your clothes as well?”
“Ah…” Kristina suddenly realized it must have been awkward to suddenly start stripping in front of her king and she wondered if he found her body to be disgusting.
It was something that she was rather insecure about, hence the reason why she always wore thick black robes.
“I’m sorry for making you witness my unsightly body, my king. But I will never ask my soldiers to do anything that I am not willing to do myself!”
Abaddon had to admit, he was rather impressed by such devotion to her men and he found that his opinion of her had been raised considerably.
“You’re far from unsightly.” He replied. ” And I must admit, I’m rather pleased with your mindset. It seems as though it was not a mistake to leave the army in your hands after all.”
Abaddon felt like saying anything more would give the wrong impression, so he elected not to comment further.
Just because he gave the brown-haired vampire some light praise, didn’t mean he was interested in taking her as a wife.
Luckily, Kristina seemed to understand that he was being honest about his opinion of her while also maintaining the clear line between them.
While she was a bit less self-conscious now, she was also mildly disappointed that Abaddon truly did not seem to have any interest in her as a woman.
𝒪𝚟xt.𝒞𝗈
However, she quickly stuffed those useless thoughts into the back of her mind and bowed her head in thanks. “I graciously accept your compliment.”
In the next second, her aura and demeanor changed completely as she turned to face her awaiting soldiers.
Kristina had gone from a shy, passionate, lovestruck woman to grand marshal of Upyr’s army.
“Alright bastards, listen up! Today’s training will be completed in two stages, for the first you will crawl across the desert floor for five whole miles without stopping or using your aura to protect yourself!”
Let’s not give our king a poor showing! We must demonstrate our unwavering resolve in the face of indescribable strife and pain!”
The eyes of the vampires glowed brightly and their determination seemed to burn just as hot.
However, Kristina was relatively unimpressed.
It didn’t really matter if they were motivated right now, what mattered was whether or not they could that same drive once they were embroiled in the burning hell beneath them.
“ALL OF YOU GET YOUR ASSES IN THE SAND, NOW!!”
“YES, MARSHAL!”
The soldiers suddenly tucked in their wings and glided silently into the sands below.
As soon as a single toe made contact, the vampires began to let out some of the most horrendous screams that Abaddon had ever heard.
Their anguished wails only worsened in intensity as they obeyed Kristina’s orders and fell onto their hands and knees.
Agonizing would be a mild way of describing the pain that the soldiers were going through.
Even though the sand was currently only making contact with the skin, these vampires felt like they were being burned all the way to the bone.
Kristina finally touched the ground and her mouth opened as well, but it was from surprise rather than anguish.
“Are you lot wailing after being asked to do something this easy?! The blood of lord Abaddon is strengthening us as it flows through our veins! This sand does not burn nearly as bad as it did in the past!!”
Kristina frequently visited the burning sands to train her body and mind to not feel pain.
Before taking the blood of the dragon, she could crawl for over twenty miles without crying out even once.
However, she still had to bite down on her own lip to seal her screams and continuously wipe her pain fueled tears whenever they ran down her face.
But today, the pain was nowhere near as bad as it used to be!
It felt like she was suffering at least 30% less than she normally would, and that was merely a halfhearted estimate.
And yet these whelps still had the nerve to cry out disgracefully despite the difficulty being significantly reduced?!
She was incredibly embarrassed!
By now, some of the veteran soldiers who had gone through this before also realized that Kristina was not bluffing.
“The marshal is right!”
“I-It hurts but… It is only a pale imitation of what it once was!”
“Again, we have received a miraculous gift from the king! We must not disgrace ourselves in front of him after being given so much!”
A wide smile appeared on Kristina’s face as she got a sudden idea.
“Soldiers! Since it doesn’t hurt as bad, we are doubling our distance! Do whatever you must, but do not disgrace our king with the sound of your incessant wailing! Failure means immediate expulsion from the army!”
Suddenly, the sea of screaming vampires quieted down to only dull groans.
While some were able to accomplish this through sheer willpower, others took a path that was more… gruesome.
Abaddon watched in morbid fascination as vampires cut out their vocal cords, removed their tongues or even stuffed their mouths with loose fabric from their rings.
‘They’re certainly determined but… this is not my vision.’ He thought disappointedly. ‘Could they use a bit more motivation?’
Dropping down from the sky, his feet landed on the silky red sand and he began to walk alongside his crawling people.
“Why do you want to serve me? Is it because you feel gratitude? Are you flooded with a desire to repay my generosity through servitude?” Abaddon asked casually.
His tone was not loud, yet everyone within the dark desert could hear everything that he was saying.
While none responded, he knew that he had accurately depicted some of their reasonings.
“If those are your reasons, I must ask you to quit right now. There is nothing that any of you can give me that I would not be able to take through my own efforts.”
Despite the searing pain, the vampires held onto their minds as they listened to every word.
“I require monstrous warriors, and not guilty consciences. You must subject yourselves to this with the goal of becoming the most indominable army within this life and the next. The army I envision does not cry out when subjected to pain, they become more powerful in spite of it.
Let my blood give you strength, let the determination of your brothers and sisters around you sharpen your own, and become gods among men. Do so, and there is no limit to the glorious heights I can take you to.”
“If you want to be in my personal army, it should be because you seek to stand at the pinnacle of this world, unmatched by even the dragon king.”
After hearing a speech like that, it was impossible for the men and women in the sand to not be motivated.
One by one, they allowed their vocal cords to heal, removed their gags and trudged through the sand silently.
If they could not endure something like this through their own efforts, how could they ever hope to reach the heights of which their king spoke of?
They wanted to be feared and indomitable warriors that acted as the heralds of the king and were capable of conquering even Antares.
And they would not allow anything to stand in the way of that glorious future.
“Good… You all are looking more and more promising by the second.” Abaddon said with a small smile.