As soon as the news of the sand worm's approach arrived, the princess immediately issued her orders. Everyone moved quickly, and in less than fifteen minutes, the open ground in the center of the camp was packed with people.
The guards stood fully armed and ready, while the attendants quickly took inventory of their supplies, packing medical items and various combat tools into easily portable bags.
Leading the sand scalers, Ksaz stood at the back of the crowd, holding their crude, bone-made weapons.
Alicia stood at the very front of the crowd, her expression solemn. She offered no long, winded pre-battle speech; instead, she simply swept her gaze over everyone, confirming that they were all prepared.
“A sand worm is coming, and its target is undoubtedly this oasis.”
Her voice was clear and resounding. “So, all we have to do is kill it, or drive it far away. Do not let that thing take a single step closer to our oasis!”
The guards let out a loud shout in response to her words.
Standing in the crowd, Shane looked over the heads of the others and let his gaze fall on Ksaz.
A two-handed axe was now strapped to Ksaz's back. The blade was as wide as a palm, making the weapon look massive overall. Its handle was somewhat worn, clearly showing it was an old tool that had seen long use.
According to Ksaz, he had found it in a ruin to the northwest. When they dug it up, they realized it was of decent quality and only needed a quick wipe-down to be usable. It had since become his primary weapon, a perfect fit for his immense, brute strength.
“Move out!”
With that command, Alicia led the team toward the construction area, with Shane and Elon following closely behind.
Soon, the team crossed the bone wall and found Sara already waiting there.
Elon stepped forward quickly and squatted down in front of Sara. After a brief communication with her, he stood up, turned to Shane and Alicia, and reported, “She says that thing is rising. Its target is clear—the oasis behind us.”
Shane spoke up, asking the most critical question. “We can't fight it underground. Is there any way to force it out?”
Sara seemed to understand. Her giant pincers suddenly lowered, and she took half a step back. Then, she let out a series of highly solemn clicks, her tail stinger pointing straight at the ground before slowly shifting to point toward the sky.
Elon nodded and quickly translated, “She says she can go underground to lure the big one out.”
“Although she isn't as fast as the sand worm in the soil, she is much more agile. She can turn and stop on a dime far better than that thing.”
“That works.”
Both Shane and Alicia agreed to the plan.
Elon then squatted down and said to Sara, “Be careful.”
Sara didn't look up, only letting out a short click.
Then, her massive body suddenly sank, sliding into the sand like flowing water and leaving behind only a pit that was quickly filled in.
Shane stared at the sand pit, glanced at the others, and said, “Get ready.”
A few minutes later, the ground vibrated. At first, it was an extremely subtle tremor, but it quickly grew violent.
“It's coming!” Ksaz growled low as a massive mound of sand suddenly bulged upward ahead of them.
Boom!
The sand exploded. Sara's body burst out, flipping in the air with her tail stinger raised high.
Just as she leapt, the sand right behind her split open violently, and a massive, grayish-brown figure emerged halfway from the fissure.
Its mouth gaped open, bringing with it a pungent, earthy stench. Its length was easily over twenty meters, and its rough, tough, grayish-brown hide was covered in a dense, rock-like carapace, with a diameter of about three meters.
It had no eyes. Its entire head was just a circular maw, its edges lined with inward-facing barbed fangs.
The moment Sara landed, the giant worm lunged, its circular maw snapping down toward her position with a gust of foul wind.
“Dodge!”
Shane's shout and the bone spear shot from his hand arrived almost simultaneously.
The bone spear struck the carapace at the edge of the sand worm's maw with precision. Although it only left a shallow white scratch on the surface, it managed to halt the giant worm's movement for a split second. Sara seized the opportunity to spring to the side, narrowly evading the edge of the maw.
Shane's brow furrowed. The bone spear's effectiveness was far worse than expected; its piercing power couldn't even penetrate the creature's outer hide.
However, he didn't stop. Two more bone spears materialized almost instantly, and he launched them repeatedly at the sand worm's head.
He successfully drew the giant worm's attention to himself.
“Glad to have your attention.”
Shane raised his hand, summoning a skeletal warhorse that burst from the sand. As he vaulted onto its back, he fired a fourth bone spear, striking the exact same spot on the giant worm's head.
The sand worm's body shuddered violently, letting out a low screech. It then lunged forward, its massive maw wide open, rushing to crush Shane.
“Go!”
The skeletal warhorse kicked up its hooves, galloping at high speed along the edge of the construction area.
Behind him, the giant worm pursued his path in a frenzy.
Standing in a safe zone further away, Alicia swept her gaze over the battlefield. She raised her right hand above her head and swung it forward.
The guards, who had already formed up, immediately dispersed, fanning out to flank the sand worm.
“Elon, does it have any weaknesses?”
Alicia's voice was steady, without a hint of trembling despite the immense size of the behemoth before her.
Sharing the vision of his owl phantom, Elon spoke rapidly. “An adult sand worm has an incredibly tough hide and high magic resistance. Spells alone will struggle to break through its outer carapace.”
“The only weak points are the relatively soft carapace joints around the edge of its mouth, and its underbelly, which is covered by thinner plates.”
“Understood!”
Without a moment's hesitation, Alicia drew her sword and pointed it toward the sand worm's flank. “Guards, attack the area around its mouth! Ksaz, take your people around to the rear flank and look for an opportunity to strike its underbelly! Elon, buff everyone!”
The exact second the order was issued, Elon pushed both hands forward. Emerald-green light transformed into three slender bands of radiance, falling upon the guards, the sand scalers, and Ksaz.
“An offensive boost! It won't last long, so don't delay!”
No second command was needed. The guards were the first to strike, concentrating their attacks on the lighter-colored carapace joints around the edge of the sand worm's maw.
Blades clashed against the carapace with dull, metallic thuds. Each strike left a white mark on the surface, but they were still far from actually breaching the armor.
Leading his tribesmen around the flank to the rear, Ksaz tightened his grip on his axe handle. Gathering his strength, he leapt high into the air and brought the weapon down hard against the giant worm's belly.
The moment the axe blade bit into the carapace, he could feel that the resistance was significantly weaker than at the mouth.
“We can break through! The belly plates are thinner!”
Right after Ksaz's shout, the remaining attacks followed in rapid succession. Coordinating with Ksaz's rhythm, the sand scalers repeatedly thrust their bone spears into the same area of the underbelly.
The sound of cracking carapace began to ring out.
The multi-directional harassment completely disrupted the sand worm's rhythm. It writhed on the spot, its maw turning toward the guards one moment and then toward Ksaz the next, unable to lock onto a single target.
It instinctively tried to submerge into the sand to evade the onslaught. However, just as its head touched the sand, a deep green beam shot from the side, striking the ground precisely.
The sand instantly solidified into a grayish-white, solid block.
Sara rose from the side, the glow on her tail stinger not yet fully faded. She then fired another petrification ray, blocking the sand worm's second attempt to burrow.
The giant worm let out a piercing screech, its entire body writhing violently. Clearly, being trapped on the surface and unable to escape was causing it immense anxiety.
Seizing this opportunity, Shane dismounted and circled around to the front. He met up with Alicia, their gazes locked onto the joints around the maw where cracks had already begun to form.
“One more round.”
Shane raised his hand, and seven bone spears materialized behind him simultaneously, all pointing at the exact same spot.
Alicia's sword was also fully drawn, its blade gleaming with a faint, silvery-white luster.
The emerald-green buffing light washed over everyone once again.
“Fire!”
At Shane's command, the seven bone spears shot forward. Alicia and the guards followed closely with their blades, while Ksaz's two-handed axe swept in from behind.
With a sharp crack, the joints around the sand worm's maw finally gave way.
The carapace joints around the edge of its mouth could no longer withstand the pressure and shattered completely. Grayish-brown fragments showered down, exposing the dark red, soft tissue underneath.
The giant worm let out an unprecedented, piercing shriek. Its entire body thrashed violently on the ground, kicking up a massive cloud of dust.
It worked!
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, and their offensive intensified even further.
But in the next instant, the sand worm suddenly stopped thrashing. Its head whipped up from the sand, and its maw snapped toward the center of the battlefield with terrifying speed, locking onto Shane's position with pinpoint accuracy.
Its fury was now completely focused on the necromancer who had been relentlessly harassing it.
The giant worm lunged forward, its maw gaping wide. The three-meter-wide circular gullet rushed down toward Shane, carrying a gale of foul wind.
It was too fast. So fast that Shane didn't even have time to react before the grayish-brown maw loomed right before his eyes.
“Shane!”
A fiery-red figure crashed into him from the side.
Alicia slammed hard into Shane's side, throwing him completely out of harm's way.
Just as the princess managed to steady herself, the massive maw snapped shut and fell.
Then came the sound of swallowing.
Shane crashed heavily onto the sand, rolling twice before barely managing to steady himself.
He looked up only to see the wide-mouthed sand worm close its maw. With a twist of its body, it burrowed back into the sand and vanished from sight.
In an instant, everything around them fell deathly silent.
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