With a frozen expression, Talon watched the thing rise from the ground. With all the sand covering its gigantic body, it appeared like a bizarre hill of so sort. In a matter of seconds, it reached 40 ters in the air as the sand finally fell from its body and revealed its full appearance.
What erged was sothing straight out of nightmares. Its elongated body undulated sinuously, each segnt of its form flexing and dancing with lethal precision. The creature's skin, rough and weathered, blended seamlessly with the desert landscape, making it nearly invisible until it showed itself.
Along its sides, rows of spiny protrusions glistened in the harsh sunlight, serving as both armor and weapons.
As it towered above him, its colossal maw opened, revealing rows upon rows of razor-sharp teeth gleaming nacingly in the sunlight.
The gaping orifice seed to stretch impossibly wide, ready to devour anything foolish enough to cross its path, And yet, despite monstrous size and ferocious appearance, there was a strange elegance to the way it moved, a grace born of a long ti navigating the treacherous depths of the desert sands.
"... Wow…" Blinking silently, Talon admired the appearance of this horrible abomination. Even amongst ugly monsters, this one appeared uniquely repulsive. Sothing that was rare to see even in such a world.
At the sa ti, the monster seed to notice his presence as it opened its mouth even wider. The rows of teeth suddenly started rotating inside its mouth as if they were the blades on a chainsaw.
Then, it suddenly dived forward, aiming its wide mouth at Talon.
"Oh no!" Realizing what was about to happen, Talon imdiately activated 'Dash' and vanished from his spot instantly and appeared a few dozen ters away. The giant worm dived into the sand as if it was the deep ocean. The entire world shook chaotically the mont its body started digging into the deep sands before vanishing completely as if it was never there.
"What a weird creature!" Pulling his spear out, Talon got ready for the fight. He knew that the worm wasn't going to let him off with that.
A few seconds was all it took for his suspicion to be proved. He felt the ground beneath him starting to shake again as he felt sothing rushing toward him at an extrely fast speed.
With no ti to even think, he imdiately started running. A split second later, the worm appeared where he was standing before as it imdiately dove again, chasing after him.
'This thing is quite fast for sothing that is that big. But, it's not that strong. I can kill it.' Looking over his shoulder, Talon noticed that the monster was still on the surface so he decided to use that for his advantage.
As he ran, he started rotating his body while the monster followed relentlessly. Then, the mont he saw the opportunity, he imdiately turned around and ran toward the monster at full speed before leaping in the air.
The worm realized what he was trying to do and stopped to catch him. But, Talon spun in the air and landed on its back. Then, he used his spear to stab into its tough skin. His spear smashed into the armor as it made a loud, uncomfortable sound. Blue blood leaked out of the crack as the monster reacted imdiately.
'Damn, it's tough. I couldn't pierce its flesh deep enough.' He clenched his teeth as he grabbed into the monster not to get thrown off.
The creature squird around violently to get rid of him, a low screech escaped its mouth and made Talon's eardrums shake.
"You're a really energetic one, aren't you?" Grinning wildly, he used the spear as he aid at the crack and stabbed again. This ti, the injury was deeper and the monster screeched again.
At that mont, it did sothing completely unexpected. The spikes that covered most of its body suddenly shook before they were launched out of their sockets. By the ti Talon noticed that, he was a little too late.
"Ugh!"
One of the spikes pierced his side and made him groan. For a second, he lost grip on the monster and was about to be thrown off. But, he bit his tongue as he regained his composure and channeled his power.
"You… Bastard!!!" In a mont, he lost his calmness as outrage took over him. Without realizing it, Talon activated his Azure Fla even though his arms were occupied with other things.
Lifting his spear up, a blue light coated the spear as it coursed through its body straight toward its tip. There, a small blue ember ignited right before the spear hit the monster again. Upon contact, a loud explosion erupted there.
*BOOOOOOOOM*
The explosion was so loud that it sent Talon flying in the air as he smashed into the sand. anwhile, the giant worm screeched in pain as it violently shook everywhere. Hitting the ground, it created large clouds of dust as it continued struggling for its dear life.
An imnse amount of blue blood gushed out of the injury and coated the yellow sound with a different hue. Rising up from the ground with a pained look, Talon watched the monster as it slowly weakened and lost its balance.
His eyes were wide as he heaved up and down tiredly. He was still in shock from what just happened.
*BOOM*
Eventually, the monster's struggles stopped as it fell to the ground motionless.
[Ding!]
[You have killed level 37 Areia Sand Eater. 2 stamina, 2 Health.]
"Hah… Hah…" Talon stared dazedly at the dead monster for a few seconds before his eyes shifted to the spear a few ters away from him. On it, he could still see the blue hue as it diminished.
"Talon, are you ok?! Oh no, you're bleeding. Drink a potion quickly." Acrypha rushed toward him.
But, the young man didn't imdiately reply.
"Hey! You have a spike protruding from your back! Are you listening?" Snapping her finger in front of his eyes to catch his attention, he finally turned around to stare at her stoically.
Then, slowly, his lack of reaction turned into a wide smile as his eyes shone with a bright light.
"Acrypha…" He said.
"What?"
"Why didn't I think of that?... This… This is great! Hahahaha! Ugh! That hurts, ughh!!" As he laughed, he felt the sharp pain assaulting his side as he squinted. Putting his hand on the spike, he pulled it out with one single move as he groaned again.
Then, he pulled a potion out and drank so of it and spilled the rest on the injury. Even though it was a deep one, he didn't worry about it much. A day or two and it should be good enough for him not to even think about it.
"What happened?"
"You didn't see it?"
"I was too occupied with you losing your life to notice." Acrypha replied. Even though she saw the explosion and felt the Aetheris trace left from Talon using Azure Fla, she didn't notice what happened.
"See this…" Standing up, Talon approached his Blue Lapis spear and picked it up. With a close inspection, he noticed that the spear had even more cracks on it and the tip had a dark burnt spot on it.
"Damn… That attack really damaged the spear." Talon murmured with a frown. "I haven't realized it before but Azure Flas were an energy-type ability. Sothing similar to Hyun-Jae's lightning manipulation skill. So, in theory, it should work in the sa way as her power which also ans that I can coat my weapon with the flas, no?"
Hearing that, Acrypha had a stunned look for a second before she blinked. "Yeah… That does make sense."
"That's what just happened, I just instinctively coated the spear with the flas and it dealt an extrely strong blow to the monster… Though, my spear is now in a worse state than before."
Even with this unfortunate turn of events, Talon was still extrely excited. He felt as if he just opened a door to a whole new world of potential. His Azure Flas were already destructive as they were, but now, he felt like he could truly unlock a new way of using them in battle.
"That is impressive… The effect of the flas was also amplified with this thod. Perhaps coating a weapon with it makes it even more brutal."
The first few hits he dealt to the worm didn't have much effect on its tough hide. But, one single hit with the fire-coated spear killed it instantly. The difference was simply mind blowing.
"But, I can't keep using it on this spear. A few more hits and it would probably break it to pieces. I really need to find a new spear." Talon said as he rubbed the back of his head. "I was intending to search for one but… Now that I'm here, where am I going to find a new weapon?"
"Don't lose hope yet. If anything, being here might be a good thing." Acrypha shook her head.
"Why so?"
"This planet has already went through multiple expansions so far. If I have to guess, it has been expanding for a few hundred years now. So, the chance of finding stronger weapons here is higher than on earth still."
"Wait, really?"
"Yeah, ancient artifacts and weapons that ca from all kinds of places end up in places like this really often. You might even find weapons from the Core Dinsion."
"Well… If you say so… This might be my only chance then. I should keep it in my mind for when I reach the city."
A//N: If you enjoyed reading, don't forget to support the book with GT and PS. Thank you!
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