Chapter 91 | Transmigrated Into a Poor Girl, Armed Myself With Heavy Armor

“Pfft!”

A soft splatting sound rang out.

Almost at the exact moment the sound reached her ears, Rosie kicked off the sand, instantly unleashing her Charge combat skill.

The brownish liquid brushed past her backside, landing exactly where she had stood a moment ago.

“Sizzle!”

Plumes of white smoke rose from the sand.

At the same time, a fireball drew a bright arc through the air, slamming into the giant sandworm's body.

“Boom!”

Sparks flew in all directions, and a scorching wave of heat surged outward.

The giant sandworm let out a painful hiss.

However, the flames didn't immediately ignite and detonate the sandworm like before. They merely burned in a layer over the creature's outer carapace.

Its massive body suddenly recoiled backward, burrowing completely back into the sand. As it retreated, the sand quickly smothered and extinguished the flames.

“Damn it, its carapace is too thick! The fire can't burn through!” Anna's voice drifted over from behind, carrying a rare hint of frustration.

Rosie didn't reply. The sand beneath her feet began to vibrate once more. The bug was coming back.

With no time to think, Rosie dodged to the side. The sand bulged where she had just been standing as a massive, armored head burst out, snapping its jaws shut.

This time, the giant sandworm had grown smarter. Having missed its mark, it immediately retreated back into the sand.

Rosie tried to bait it several more times, but the giant sandworm behaved the same way each time. Anna raised her wand repeatedly only to lower it again, unable to find an opening to strike.

After dodging another of the giant sandworm's lunges, Rosie turned and dashed back toward where she had come from. She stepped onto a broken wall of the ruins, using the momentum to vault back up to the high platform, landing beside the other three.

Unable to sense its prey, the sandworm also sank back into the sand and vanished.

Rosie stared at the now-quiet sand, waiting for a moment before turning around.

“I'm sorry, I didn't expect this sandworm to be so troublesome,” Anna said apologetically. “It's too fast. I couldn't find an opportunity to strike.”

Rosie shook her head, her breathing gradually slowing. “It's not your fault. This thing is too cunning. It doesn't overextend; it actually knows to hit and run.”

She turned to look at the white rat and asked, “What's the deal with that tree?”

This bug was clearly different, and Rosie couldn't help but connect its presence to that strange tree.

The white rat hesitated, its gaze darting around as if weighing whether it should speak. After a moment, it finally opened its mouth: “Fruit... delicious... eat, can talk.”

“Can talk?” Rosie was taken aback, then translated the white rat's words for the others.

Anna's eyes lit up. “Could it be a variant of the Tree of Life?”

The mention of the Tree of Life stirred something in Rosie's mind. She remembered the fruit the elf Alysia had used to heal her wounds. It was a product of the Tree of Life, capable of saving a gravely injured, dying person in an incredibly short time.

The white rat continued, “This is Master's... you cannot touch... Master will be angry.”

“We won't touch it. Don't worry, Little White,” Rosie said with a gentle smile.

Only then did the white rat relax. “No touch, Master not angry.”

Rosie turned to the dwarf. “Master Ginli, I'm going to grab a few fruits in a bit. Help me see if they're edible. If they are, they'll be our food from now on.”

The dwarf looked at Rosie, then at the white rat crouching on the ground, his lips twitching slightly.

Just a moment ago, she had solemnly reassured the rat, only to immediately plot to steal its master's fruit.

“I don't mind. But,” he glanced out at the distant desert plain, “what about that giant bug?”

“Ignore it for now.” Rosie also looked toward the sandy expanse. “No matter how powerful it is, there's only one.”

She sat down, leaning against the broken stone wall, regulating her breathing to slowly recover her stamina.

After about fifteen minutes, she stood up, stretched her shoulders and legs, and checked the sword at her waist.

Before leaving, she looked down at the white rat and smiled. “Stay here, I'm going to try again.”

The white rat nodded obediently. “Okay, outsider.”

Rosie turned back to the other three and said with a smile, “While I'm picking the fruit, grab this white rat if it tries anything funny.”

The white rat stood there, and seeing Rosie smile, it bowed and nodded along, completely unaware that she was currently discussing how to deal with it.

The dwarf's lips twitched again. “You really are ruthless. You were just giving it a name a second ago.”

Rosie shrugged. “You didn't actually think I'd befriend a rat, did you?”

“It's a shame you aren't an actress. You'd be incredibly popular,” the dwarf muttered.

Ignoring him, Rosie leaped down into the desert and ran straight toward the tree.

Halfway there, the familiar vibration rippled through the sand beneath her feet. Here it came again.

Without slowing down, Rosie immediately shifted directions, dashing off at an angle. The sand bulged along her original path, and the massive maw burst out, biting nothing but air.

Rosie kept running forward. The sandworm retreated into the earth and immediately gave chase again.

She began to run in a zigzag pattern, darting left and right, constantly changing direction. The giant sandworm was utterly unable to predict where she would step next, and every time it burst from the sand, it bit nothing but empty air.

After a few attempts, she was already very close to the massive tree.

Rosie suddenly accelerated. The moment the sandworm's head burst from the sand once more, she leaped forcefully onto the tree trunk, wrapping her arms tightly around it.

Unable to sense any vibrations, the giant sandworm sank back into the sand and disappeared.

Only then did Rosie climb up as swiftly as a monkey, reaching the treetop in a few quick movements.

The branches were thick enough for her to stand securely. Clusters of fruit hung densely above her, their red skins gleaming moistly under the light of the crystals overhead, emitting a faint, sweet aroma.

Just as she reached out to pluck a fruit, several lines of translucent text suddenly appeared at the edge of her vision.

【Optional Adventure Quest: Oh, There Seems to Be Something There】

【Quest Objective: Discover the hidden secret 1/3】

【Optional Quest Reward: Eliminate the mutated sandworm and the Mammothkin, and give the Mutated Demonic Tree to the rat swarm to evolve them into the ratkin race】

【Optional Quest Reward: Infuse the Mutated Demonic Tree with Holy Light power to consecrate it, then absorb its power for yourself (the tree will be completely destroyed)】

“Hmm?” Rosie scanned the lines of text, freezing in place.

She had actually completed the quest objective so inexplicably. What was even more interesting was that this was only one of the objectives; there were still more hidden secrets.

Without the slightest hesitation, she thrust her hand forward.

“Holy Light!”

In the next second, golden light shone upon the magical tree. The golden light started as a small cluster, but the moment it touched the surface of the Mutated Demonic Tree, it rapidly expanded, illuminating the tree's entire trunk and branches.

The golden light grew brighter and stronger, enveloping both Rosie and the tree within it.

From the distant ruins, the three companions and the rat witnessed this scene.

The dwarf's eyes widened, and he nearly dropped his axe. “What's going on?”

Anna stared intently at the golden glow, shock written all over her face. “Such powerful magic fluctuations... What is she doing?”

Knight John remained silent, simply watching quietly.

Meanwhile, the white rat prostrated its entire body, letting out a series of trembling squeaks.

The golden light persisted for dozens of breaths before the massive tree suddenly began to wither at a visible rate.

One by one, the red fruits shriveled, lost their luster, and detached from the branches, tumbling to the ground.

The white rat raised its head and saw that the massive tree had already turned into a dry, withered stump.

It froze for a few seconds, then let out a short, high-pitched shriek, spun around, and bolted.

But it had barely taken two steps before a shield swept down with a whoosh of wind, pinning it to the ground.

Knight John stepped on its back, pinning it in place so it couldn't move.

On the other side, an unfamiliar power was surging wildly into Rosie's body.

【Intelligence +10】

【Obtained New Talent: Automatic Structure: When using magic, you do not need to acquire complete knowledge like a normal mage.】

【Unlocked Magic Reward: When receiving skill rewards, a magic option will appear.】

【Holy Light Uses +10 (Each additional point of maximum Intelligence allows one more use per day)】

Feeling the changes within her body, Rosie was filled with wild joy.

She had never known how to increase her maximum Intelligence, but now she had actually increased it by 10 points in one go, and even unlocked magic skills...

On top of that, her daily uses of Holy Light had increased by ten. She no longer had to use them so sparingly.

Just as she was celebrating her fortune, the sandy ground suddenly began to vibrate violently.

The giant sandworm burst out of the sand. Gaping its massive maw, it frantically sprayed corrosive liquid all over the withered tree stump.

It had no eyes, so it couldn't see the culprit who had cut off its food supply, but it knew its food source was gone, and it flew into a wild rage.

“You actually came out to seek your own death!”

Rosie drew her meteoric iron sword, kicked off the withered tree trunk, and soared down directly over the giant sandworm.

With a flash of greenish light, the meteoric iron sword sliced a long, deep gash across the giant sandworm's body.

Brownish liquid sprayed from the wound.

“Hiss!” It let out a long, agonized screech, thrashing its body wildly as fluids splattered everywhere.

Rosie landed on the sand, plunged her blade into the ground, and ran a short distance, using the friction to wipe the corrosive liquid from her sword.

The enraged sandworm had completely lost its mind. Sensing the vibrations on the ground, its massive, dozens-of-meters-long body burrowed completely out of the earth, charging toward the culprit.