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The soaring flames struck the demonic creature directly, and it groaned in pain and surprise. When the smoke cleared, the skin on its front was charred, and it was in a noticeably more damaged condition. But it seemed to ignore this, and continued charging at Rain.

Meanwhile, Siirioc struggled to his feet, reciting mantras under his breath, interrupted every few moments as he coughed up a bit of blood. He momentarily sheathed his falchion and placed his hands together. He took a deep, deep breath and held it for a few moments, then he let it all out. Relief trickled throughout his body, and the pain in his chest seemed less distracting. He whipped out his falchion and leaped once again through the air, and landed in front of the charging beat.

With a mighty grunt, he mimed a kick at the thing, which seemed to do nothing for an instant.

Then, sand flew from its resting place at the beast, and it stopped to shield its delicate eyes. This moment was valuable for him, as he leaped onto the things back, and was about to plunge his blade into its head.

Then the Mauler threw back its upper body, hurling Siirioc off of it. It turned angrily towards him, growling menacingly.

As the flames engulfed the Mauler, it groaned again, trying to shield its face. However, Rain was nowhere near strong enough to move its arms. Now the flesh on its forearms was sloughing off, revealing burnt muscle below.

"Eugh," Siirioc commented. Then he crouched down as the thing charged at him. He leaped high into the air, muttering old incantations to get himself into the right mindset. His falchion pointing at the beast below, he used his psychokinesis to accelerate himself downward from over 100 feet in the air.

"YAAAAAAAAA!!!" he screamed as he suddenly blurred downward, his blade digging into the back of the beast as it braced for impact, not being all that agile. Upon impact, pain surged straight up his arms and into his chest, causing him to cough up more blood. He planted his feet in its back and tried to pull his sword out, but it was firmly stuck.

He leaped off the Slavering Mauler as it came back to its senses, landing not far from Rain. He reached behind himself and quickly unstrapped the giant cross, and grabbed onto the long end. "Rrrrgh!" he grunted as he heaved it into the air in front of him.

The Mauler stared at him furiously, and pounded through the sand, charging straight for both of them, still not deterred by the numerous and serious burns on its body.

As the flames erupted into existence around the Mauler, it roared in surprise and fear, occasionally lashing out at the flames, reluctant to walk through it. Siirioc looked at this with an exasperated expression on his face, and then walked to Rain's side.

"My sword is still in his back. I'll need that thing..." he said, constantly glancing back at the thing. Sand was being thrown everywhere as the beast stomped madly. Siirioc still did not look very optimistic, though they were both still alive and well enough.

Then the Slavering Mauler burst through the wall at them, traipsing towards them alarmingly as small fires peppered its hide. Its mouth hung wide open, trails of drool hanging from its teeth. Siirioc circled around it as it moved, and the Mauler decided to go after him. Right before impact, Siirioc leaped up into the air, cringing as the pain in his chest surged again.

He reached his zenith right above the thing's head, and then he brought his cross down, using telekinesis to accelerate it. It slammed right on top of the Mauler's head, but did not give way. However, a visible indentation was left on its skull as it backed away, shaking its head like a wounded animal.

Siirioc landed on the ground heavily, struggling to lift the cross again. "Errgh...is this thing made out of petrified wood?!" he complained, his arms starting to get tired.

Soon after the first zombies had appeared, it was established that salt could restore some level of sense to a zombie, causing it to realize that it was dead. However, the brain of a Slavering Mauler is mutated by errant hormones and toxins, making it incapable of this level of thought, even if it would work on a lowly Hole Man.

As the salt entered the Mauler's mouth, it swallowed it reflexively. Soon afterwards, it clutched its head and began groaning as the salt started affecting the fell powers that animated it. The Mauler then slammed its head into the ground as it began screaming. Streams of green mist began peeling off its back, and soon it exploded into a large column of green-tinted mist, leaving the falchion half-buried in the sand.

"An interesting...and less fragrant...way to slay one of those things..." Siirioc commented as he walked over to the sword. He strapped the cross back onto his back, and then reached down to pick up his falchion. After putting it back on his belt, he waved his hand in front of his nose, attempting to get the foul stench away.

"Well, if rumors are true, we'll need to exorcise this spot to keep that thing away. But I honestly have no idea how to do that. I really don't want to stay here any longer..." he rambled as he walked away from the mist.

Siirioc merely scratched his head as he watched Rain perform this alien ritual. However, he seemed satisfied when the mist began dissipating. But for a few moments afterwards, he just stared at Rain, taking in all of the things he has done. Then he clutched at his chest again, annoyed at how much pain and inexplicable fatigue he was feeling. Soon he walked after Rain, definitely not wanting to be in the desert alone.

"Which town, then?" he eventually asked him. He sincerely hoped the town would be close, as he was running low on water. He also just hated being under the sun with no shade under which to rest.

He did not answer, but he walked away from the camp, he knew, his sense of direction was ever-so precise. They traveled east, the trip continued until finally the sun began to set, and dusk came. Rain pointed to the east and there was, in fact, a city there. It was a rather large one, there were no moving vehicles or automobiles, but there were lights and people. Rain came up to the drinking fountain and quickly drank and drenched himself some. Then he looked around them, seeing a market that was moving on into the night, turning on their lanterns and burning lights.
"Let's find a place to stay, I have enough money."