The massive worm aimed its meat-grinder-like jaw at me as it lunged forward with its cylindrical body.
Through my sense, I could feel the rest of its body beneath the sand... and in short, this thing was long.
Probably more than ten meters.
Essence surged through my body and coated my swords. At the same time, the creature reached me, and the moment it did, I leapt to the side, avoiding being swallowed.
The worm’s body passed before me as I slashed at it with my swords.
The blades struck its armored hide, but instead of cutting through, they rebounded back at me, leaving only a few scratches on its surface.
"Too tough," I muttered as I watched the worm’s head dive back into the sand.
Before it disappeared, a sphere of compressed flame reached it and struck its surface.
A small explosion rang out, and the flames faded from the beast’s hardened skin, revealing it almost unchanged, except for some black scorch marks.
The lesser beast’s body vanished beneath the sand and became completely invisible... was it retreating? Of course not.
The sand trembled beneath us as I felt it circling and preparing to strike again.
I glanced at Izel, who was gathering flames in her hand. "Try to attack its head... or inside its mouth." She nodded without question.
It was clear that its outer hide was too tough for our attacks to affect, so we had to change our method.
I tracked its movements beneath us, trying to determine where it would emerge next. At the same time, essence flowed through one of my swords, forming a small sphere at its tip.
Then finally, the worm decided who its first prey would be.
The sand beneath my feet shook and began to vanish, revealing a deep pit filled with teeth. At the same time, I pointed my sword and the compressed sphere of essence downward and fired it directly into the worm.
The sphere of essence passed through the teeth and plunged into the lesser beast, but because I had launched it directly from above, I was delayed in moving away, and now I was directly above its jaw.
But I didn’t panic. Instead, I focused essence into my legs, stepped on the edge of its jaw, and leapt away.
At the same time, I heard a muffled explosion inside the worm, followed by a high-pitched screech and blood pouring from its mouth.
But it didn’t die... well, that was expected.
The worm’s body rose above the sand as it opened its mouth at me again, only for Izel beside me to throw a sphere of flame into it.
"Swallow this, you ugly worm!" She didn’t forget to comment.
The fireball entered and exploded between its teeth, while the light of the flames spread and cast the worm’s shadow over the sand.
Its screech grew louder, and I was ready to attack again.
But before I could, the worm lunged and plunged its head back into the sand, this time faster.
Its body formed an arc as it entered the sand, until the rear portion emerged—but it didn’t dive in with the rest.
Instead, using the momentum generated by the movement, it lashed toward us at insane speed.
It was too thick for us to dodge. My mind worked quickly as I raised my swords to defend myself.
At the same time, Izel beside me raised her hands in a defensive stance, but I kicked her and sent her a few meters to the side, out of the strike’s range.
The worm’s armored tail collided with my swords, making the bones in my hands tremble and nearly break, while my body was sent flying dozens of meters until I crashed into a sand dune, sinking slightly into it before stopping.
But the beast didn’t stop.
I felt it reach beneath the place where I had fallen, and before I could get up, it was already under me.
The sand beneath me vanished and was replaced by the maw of sharp teeth.
I gritted my teeth as I twisted my body midair, and just before I fell inside, I drove my sword into the flesh between its teeth and held on.
Hanging inside the beast’s mouth, I could see the true sharpness of its teeth, arranged in a chaotic manner.
But it seemed it didn’t want to give me enough time to examine them, because in the next moment, the teeth began closing in on me from all directions.
It was closing its mouth to tear me apart and devour me.
But I quickly realized it, and with my other sword, I positioned it horizontally to prevent the jaw from fully closing.
The edge of the blade dug into the beast’s flesh while the hilt pressed against the other side, giving me some space.
The beast’s pained screech rose, but it didn’t stop trying to devour me.
Clearly, it was mad with rage to the point of ignoring the pain just to crush me.
But I didn’t stand idle waiting for my end either. Instead, essence moved through my free hand as I created a sphere of condensed essence, pouring a large portion of my reserve into it.
At the same time, the sword holding its jaw from closing began to crack.
The space was tight, and I couldn’t jump out, so without hesitation, I fired the essence inside it.
The sphere of essence passed through its teeth and plunged into it.
Everything from the moment it put me in its mouth happened in no more than two seconds.
And in the next instant, an explosion thundered inside the worm.
The shockwave surged toward me along with the beast’s blood and shredded flesh.
With one final scream, I felt its body, which had risen high into the air, fall and crash onto the sand. As a result, some of the teeth pierced into my flesh and caused me a few wounds.
But the important thing was that I didn’t turn into minced meat here.
Slowly, I managed to free myself from the teeth and crawled out, smelling the foul stench of burnt entrails rising from below.
My hand sank into the sand as I pulled myself out.
Before I lay there near its jaw and caught my breath.
"That was close."
I felt someone move toward me before strands of red hair filled my vision.
"Wow... you’re still alive."