Alvaric and Niva sat on a rock. The sun was already starting to set. Ti kept ticking, but the mission completion notification still hadn't appeared. That wasn't good news for Alvaric. He could die for failing the mission. His heart pounded nearly four tis faster than usual. That made his body unstable.
Seeing this, Niva hugged her master. "Shouldn't we go ho?" she asked, worried, seeing her master freezing and anxious because the mission hadn't been completed.
"I'll wait a little longer," Alvaric replied.
Three hours passed. Night had fallen. The moon had risen, and the wind blew fiercely. The air grew colder. Alvaric was no longer wearing his clothes. He only had shorts on. His Ant Monarch's Armor had been destroyed—dissolved by the acid inside the Giant Sandworm's body.
Not only that, but his Chain Dagger had also vanished, corroded by the sa acid. What Alvaric had now was only the Vappers Dagger, his shorts, and himself. He looked like a vagrant lost in the desert.
"Master, let's go ho!" Niva urged again.
Alvaric turned to look at his subordinate. "Just a little longer."
"You can wait at ho. The notification will co eventually."
Niva grew even more worried seeing her master shivering. His whole body trembled from the cold. His face was pale like a sick man. His fingers wrinkled from the chill of the night. If this continued, Alvaric could die of hypothermia. Niva clung to her master's body, but that wasn't enough. He needed sothing warm and wide.
Unfortunately, there was nothing there. Only sand and stone. Niva wanted to go ho first, but she was too afraid to do so.
"Master, let's go ho!" she begged once more.
"Wait five more minutes."
Two more hours passed. The night had deepened—almost midnight. Alvaric's body had nearly frozen. His eyes dulled, his hands shook, he trembled all over, his pulse slowed, and his body temperature dropped to 29 degrees Celsius.
Niva could no longer hold herself back. She stood, wanting to carry her master. But as she tried to do so, Alvaric grabbed her hand. In that mont, Niva realized how much worse her master's condition had beco. She shook her head. She had resolved to take her master back to the nest.
"Wait here!" Alvaric stood. His legs wobbled as if he would fall again. "I'll end this now. There's no more ti—or I'll die by tomorrow noon."
Niva stood frozen. She didn't understand what Alvaric ant. All she wanted was to take him back to the nest. But then sothing unexpected happened. Alvaric jumped down from the large rock they'd been sitting on.
"Master, what are you..."
Alvaric drew his Vappers Dagger and ran off right after. He ran despite his terrible condition. Niva leapt down too, but unfortunately, she lost track of him. Her night vision was limited.
The distance between her and Alvaric exceeded that tolerance. That caused her to lose him. Niva ran, searching for Alvaric's whereabouts. But no matter how far she ran, she couldn't find him. It was as if Alvaric had vanished into the darkness.
"Master, where are you?!" Niva shouted.
There was no response. She took to the air, searching in the opposite direction. Sadly, she still couldn't find her master. Niva's heart beat rapidly, making it hard to breathe. Fear flooded her. Her hands trembled in panic.
She truly panicked from not finding her master.
"Damn it. Where are you, Master Alvaric?!" She hit her head over and over. Hoping for a change—but there was none. "Please co back, Master!"
Niva searched until midnight. She flew and wandered for over an hour. Wherever she went, the result was the sa—nothing. That only made Niva more frustrated. Her whole body started to freeze, her strength was fading.
Slowly, Niva's body temperature also dropped. Her hands trembled, her pulse slowed, her pupils dilated, and even her breathing beca heavy. Several tis she almost collapsed. Still, she walked on, searching for her master, even though she was nearly at her limit.
"Master, where are you?" Niva muttered before finally collapsing after four hours of searching.
That night, she slept in the desert with a body temperature that had dropped to 35 degrees Celsius. She was close to dying of hypothermia. Fortunately, Ant Bees had strong bodies. She only experienced severe chills, but it didn't kill her. For now.
---
Niva opened her eyes. She saw a strange silhouette from the corner of her vision. She smiled faintly at that shadow. She raised her hand as if wanting to grasp it. But then sothing held her hand.
Niva jolted. She sat up as tears stread down her face. A monster like the Princess of Ant Bee crying? That was a rare phenonon.
"Master, thank goodness you're alive."
She wiped her eyes that kept leaking tears. Niva tried to hold herself back from crying. But when Alvaric smiled at her and patted her shoulder—it made her sob uncontrollably. Niva's voice echoed up to 600 ters away.
Rather than calming his subordinate, Alvaric laughed loudly. Niva looked annoyed.
"You're so annoying, Master," she grumbled.
Alvaric smiled. "Thank you for worrying about ."
Niva nodded. "Don't ever do that again!"
---
Alvaric had gone to find the Giant Sandworm last night. The Shield Regeneration skill reset at midnight, at the start of a new day. Alvaric took advantage of that and fought the Giant Sandworm again. He didn't want to wait until tomorrow—he feared it would be too late.
Alvaric couldn't wait any longer. He tracked the Giant Sandworm by following the sand's vibrations. After an hour, he finally found its location.
What was surprising was that the Giant Sandworm also couldn't see well at night. Both of them struggled, but Alvaric's goal wasn't to fight and win. He purposely let himself be eaten and wounded the Giant Sandworm from the inside. After nearly 40 minutes, Alvaric managed to escape from its stomach—without Niva's help.
"So? Did you succeed?" Niva asked.
She looked excited. She believed Alvaric had done it. If he'd failed, he wouldn't be standing here now. That's what she thought. But what happened shocked and disappointed her.
Alvaric shook his head. "It's still alive," he replied.
Niva froze. Alvaric's answer was unexpected. After everything her master had done, it was all in vain. That didn't make sense. Niva couldn't accept the result. She looked at Alvaric's face—he was still smiling, even though the mission had failed.
"So that ans you're... going to die?"
Alvaric nodded calmly. "Yeah. I really failed this ti. Looks like this is the end for ." He looked at Niva and smiled sincerely. "You have to live happily. And please, burn my body when I die. I don't want it to rot and beco a source of disease for others."
Niva shook her head. "No. You mustn't die."
She stood, but Alvaric grabbed her hand as she tried to leave. Alvaric shook his head.
"No. You mustn't fight the Giant Sandworm!" he said firmly.
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