Single Mother of a Werewolf Baby novel Chapter 317

Chapter 317: A Violent Sandstorm

The raging lightning struck Eleanor’s body without pause, tempering her mind with every passing second. At first the pain was unbearable, but as the bolts continued to crash into her and her mind grew stronger, the agony gradually dulled. Realising that the lightning could no longer knock her unconscious, Eleanor let out a breath of relief.

She continued forward at a slow pace. She knew the method well from the lava lake: advance gradually, stop when the pain became intolerable, wait until she adapted, then move again. Simple in principle.

In reality, the torment she endured was anything but simple. She knew there were no fatalities in the trials... no matter how severe it became, she would not truly die. The worst outcome would be failure.

And that was something Eleanor refused to accept. She already understood that this was a trial with no records in Professor Jiro’s archives, which meant either she was the first to encounter it, or all previous challengers had failed... or chosen to conceal its existence. If this trial granted a mind-based cultivation technique, it would be ideal. Her Mind Reaver bloodline would undergo a tremendous leap with such a technique. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

She crossed the lightning field like a machine, moving step by step without pause. She had no idea how much time had passed; the urge to keep track of it had long vanished. It would have taken only a word to ask Nora, yet she had no desire to know. All that mattered now was clearing the trial at her own pace.

When the lightning finally faded behind her, Eleanor found herself surrounded by endless sand. A desert stretched out in all directions, lifeless and silent. Pale yellow and brown sands rolled across the land, forming dunes of every size... some small, others towering. They resembled frozen waves upon a vast sea of sand, sculpted by the wind into smooth curves, their crests cutting sharp lines against the sky.

The sky stretched above her like a vast blue dome, empty of clouds. The sun hung high... bright, white, and burning, its glare making the sand glitter painfully. Looking at it for too long hurt her eyes. Heat already radiated from the ground, seeping into her skin. The air was dry and scorching, like breathing inside an oven. There was no moisture at all; her lips were already beginning to crack.

She listened for any sound, but there was only silence... deep and oppressive. No birds sang, no insects buzzed, and in that moment, not even the wind stirred. The quiet was so complete she could hear her own heartbeat. The emptiness was unsettling, making her feel utterly alone in the world. She searched for any sign of life, plant or beast, but found nothing. Only sand upon sand, a land of nothingness... dead and still.

Then, at the very edge of her vision, she noticed a faint outline of trees. They were far away, little more than dark smudges on the horizon. Yet they were a promise of life. Where there were trees, there might be water. The distance between her and them was immense, miles of empty desert stretching in between. Heat made them shimmer, and they could easily have been a mirage. Even so, she chose to believe they marked the true path through the trial.

Thirst already clawed at her. Her mouth was parched, and the heat wrapped around her like a heavy blanket. She knew she had to cross the desert now; there was no time to rest. The sun burned mercilessly overhead, and she carried no water. Unbidden, a knot of fear tightened in her stomach but the sight of the trees gave her purpose. She set off towards them.

The desert was endless, stretching on without mercy. Time crawled. Each step sank into the loose sand, making progress slow and tiring. Her footprints trailed behind her, only to be gradually swallowed by the shifting grains. The dunes all looked alike, and it would have been easy to lose her way. She kept her eyes fixed on the distant trees. They were her only guide.

As she walked, she began to notice small details: tiny rocks scattered across the sand, the brittle skeleton of a dried plant, a lizard darting beneath a stone. So there was life after all... scarce and hidden. Only the resilient could survive here. Beneath the vast sky, she felt very small.

Even so, she remained vigilant. There could be unknown creatures lurking, ready to attack her as the lava crocodiles had. Her powers were still sealed; she was nothing more than a lone wolf in this boundless desert.

Suddenly, something shifted at the edge of her vision. The distant trees vanished.

At first, it was only a thin, dirty line along the horizon, resembling a far-off mountain range, hazy and yellow-brown. It smeared the sharp boundary where the blue sky met the pale sand.

Her wolf instincts clawed at the back of her mind, urging her to charge straight through the storm. She had the strength and agility to force her way against the wind, and she could hold her breath for a time.

She ignored the instinct. Scanning the area, she found no rocks. Instead, she spotted a large dune nearby and hurried behind it, positioning herself on its downwind side. The slope formed a wind shadow, a pocket where the air should be relatively calmer.

She tucked her nose and face into her body, using her thick fur as a barrier, her back turned to the oncoming storm. She narrowed her nostrils as much as she could and squeezed her eyes shut. Curling her tail around, she pressed its bushy length over her nose as a partial filter.

She curled herself as tightly as possible and waited.

A few seconds later, the world became a roaring, physical nightmare. Sound erupted into a deep, shuddering howl that vibrated through her bones. The wind struck like a solid force, shoving at her, trying to tear her from the ground. Then came the sand.

A million needle-sharp grains lashed her face and paws, finding every tiny gap in her fur. She crouched lower, tucking her nose in tighter. The world shrank to raw sensations: grit scraping against her eyelids, the burning ache in her throat with every strained breath she filtered through clenched teeth. Her powerful limbs trembled as she fought to remain still against the relentless, howling pressure. Her own scent was ripped away, replaced by the dry, choking taste of stone and dust.

The ground beneath her seemed to shift and slide. Blind and utterly insignificant, she was swallowed whole by the storm’s chaotic body.