There!
In the middle of the battlefield, sothing began to move beneath the ground. The sand bulged upward, forming a massive, elongated mound as though sothing enormous was burrowing just beneath the surface.
Panic erupted as everyone’s fears ca to life.
And then. It appeared.
Another monster! A Massive Desert Worm!
A colossal dune worm erged from the sands. Its segnted body was covered in thick, armored plates that resembled sandstone. Its gaping maw was lined with countless rows of razor-sharp teeth, ready to devour anything in its path. Along its sides, jagged ridges and spikes made the creature look even more nacing.
Atlas swallowed hard as the image ca into focus on the live broadcast.
Seriously, this was another nightmare.
[Epic-grade Sandscourge Devourer Lv. 265]
"So, this is exactly what you ntioned earlier, Edrik. Two Dungeon Bosses?" Atlas muttered.
"Let’s hope this is the last one," Edrik replied.
"But the Lord already looks exhausted..." Atlas murmured.
The Dune Worm moved with terrifying speed, launching its massive body into the air before slamming down onto the Dune Bastion. Another violent tremor shook the entire city, but this ti, the unthinkable happened, part of the city wall began to crack!
If this thing wasn’t brought down soon, the Dune Bastion would fall. And what followed would be far, far worse.
Seriously, it could an total devastation. Atlas could only hope the high-level Lords stationed here had enough strength to deal with this nightmare before it was too late.
On the screen, the weary warriors pulled back, montarily retreating from the frontline as if regrouping, scrambling for a plan to counter this colossal new threat.
But there was no pause in the chaos. Hundreds of other monsters still flooded the battlefield from all directions, hurling themselves at the defenses.
Then there was Lord Kareem. Hovering in the air as the monstrous dungeon boss, a Dune Worm the size of a skyscraper, thrashed violently near the city wall. Its massive body sent tremors through the ground with every lurch and twist, slamming into the stone with horrifying force.
The broadcast cara zood in on Kareem.
He remained suspended in the sky, completely still.
Was he exhausted? Injured? Or had he... given up?
The broadcast relayed more grim news: reinforcents would arrive in 20 minutes.
Twenty minutes?! That was far too long. At the rate this was going, the city could already be rubble by then.
And then. A sudden cry broke through the heavy tension in the café.
"Lord Kareem! We believe in you!"
"Don’t give up! You’re our last hope!"
"Take that thing down! You’re not alone out there!"
The energy shifted. People who’d been frozen in fear now shouted toward the screen as if their voices could reach him.
"Co on, Lord Kareem! Show them what a Saharan Lord is made of!"
"Stand strong! Veylamar is watching!"
"You’re not allowed to fall. Not you!"
Even the waiter, usually so composed, clenched his fists and shouted, "Strike it down, Kareem! Now!"
But then, sothing unexpected happened.
Kareem’s body was suddenly enveloped in a brilliant white energy, giving the floating warrior an almost ethereal appearance.
Wait... why did Atlas feel sothing familiar about this?
The energy surrounding Kareem grew brighter and more intense. The sheer force of it seed almost overwhelming, prompting the cara to pull back as the light engulfed his entire figure. Kareem was no longer visible.
A deafening roar ripped through the battlefield!
"What is that?!"
Where Kareem had been monts ago, a massive figure now erged from within the radiant light. It resembled a beast with four legs, but it was far larger than any ordinary creature, with two pairs of expansive wings stretching out majestically.
Then, the light began to fade, revealing the creature fully.
A lion?! But with two majestic wings... and three flowing, fox-like tails?
"Kareem... transford into this beast?" Atlas murmured.
"It’s similar..." Edrik muttered softly, glancing at Atlas.
Both of them understood imdiately. This transformation was similar to what had happened to Soren, the Lord Atlas had faced in his first battle.
"Eryndralis," the waiter said.
"What’s that?" Atlas asked, curious.
"This is the spirit form of Lord Kareem. He rged with the spirit beasts’ power, becoming one with it and taking its form. This form is called Eryndralis."
"What a unique na," Atlas remarked. "But it looks pretty cool too."
The faces of those watching the live broadcast shifted once more, their eyes lighting up with renewed hope. For the second ti, a glimr of victory seed possible.
The spectral beast flapped its powerful wings. The lion with wings and three fox tails unleashed a massive cannon-like wave of energy from its mouth. Each beat of its wings sent spectral fox-like creatures hurtling toward the Dune Worm, striking it relentlessly.
The Dune Worm writhed violently, its massive body convulsing as patches of its skin began to glow an ominous red.
"Wait..." Atlas muttered. "It’s not going to blow itself up, is it?"
Suddenly, the live broadcast blurred, the screen struggling to focus, and the air itself seed to shimr with heat.
"What’s going on?" Atlas asked, but the answer was obvious. The temperature in the café spiked as if the very air was on fire. The worm’s heat was radiating across the battlefield, even reaching into the city itself.
Glancing around, he noticed others in the café fanning themselves, so rushing to grab cold drinks to combat the oppressive heat.
And Morganna? She sat quietly, staring at her ice cream. It had lted almost instantly, leaving her with a soupy ss in her glass. Her eyes narrowed, her expression shifting to a flat, unreadable stare.
The Spectral Beast continued its relentless assault, its mighty wings beating fiercely as it fired glowing cannon-like blasts at the Dune Worm, each shot hitting with devastating force as if attempting to burn the creature alive.
Dozens of spectral foxes launched from the beast’s wings, slamming into the worm repeatedly.
Despite this, the Dune Worm writhed violently, thrashing its massive body and occasionally slamming against the Dune Bastion, sending tremors across the battlefield.
Would this strategy work?
Everyone watching held their breath, enduring the sweltering heat that had grown unbearable. The café’s air conditioning was no match for the oppressive temperature, and the heat only intensified as the battle dragged on.
The battlefield itself was a chaotic ss of sandstorms, explosions, and scorching waves of heat.
Then, gradually, the Dune Worm began to slow.
The mont stretched on, feeling unbearably long and intense. Perhaps it wasn’t truly that long, but in situations like this, every second felt like an eternity as everyone anxiously awaited a victorious outco.
Finally, the Dune Worm’s massive, once-indomitable body stilled, its wild thrashing coming to an end. It stopped completely, with smoke rising from its thick, armored hide.
The once-imposing creature lay motionless, its scorched and battered form a silent testant to the brutal battle.
Was it over? Had the worm finally been burned from the inside out?
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, though a lingering sense of unease remained. They silently prayed this would truly be the final Dungeon Boss they had to face.
As monts passed, the battle against the remaining hundreds of monsters continued, with turrets, cannons, and Saharan Soldiers working tirelessly to eliminate the stragglers.
Finally, the announcent ca:
The broadcast screen flickered, and the voice of an announcer, steady but charged with emotion, filled the airwaves.
"...Attention, citizens of the Veylamar City, Saharan Empire!..."
The cara panned across the smoldering battlefield, showing the defeated forms of the Dune Godzilla and the Dune Worm.
"...Both Dungeon Bosses have been defeated! The threat to our great city has been neutralized!.."
The cara zood in on Lord Kareem, still floating in mid-air, already transford back to his original form.
"..This victory belongs to the brave defenders of the Dune Bastion and to the Saharan Soldiers who stood firm in the face of overwhelming odds. But above all, today, we owe our survival to Lord Kareem, a Rank-4 Sentinel, who led us to triumph!..."
The screen displayed an image of Kareem raising his greatsword.
"...The nightmare has ended. Our city stands tall! Let this day remind us of our strength, our resilience, and the heroes who walk among us!.."
A wave of celebration swept through the city. It wasn’t the jubilant kind of joy but rather a collective feeling of exhaustion and overwhelming relief.
The nightmare had finally ended.
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