Chapter 619: Chapter 526: Even in the worst environments, life always finds a way!_2
Ivina had already leaped high into the air, jumping into the midst of it all to face the incoming abyssal maw. The girl’s expression didn’t change as she drew the slender blade from her waist and, with unerring precision, stabbed backward into her adversary’s blood-red eye.
Scorching blood and green fluids erupted together, freezing into tiny ice crystals upon hitting the ground. Accompanied by a series of roars filled with pain and rage, the worm’s two-meter-thick body thrashed wildly, plowing furrows into the solid ground like a drilling machine.
Taking advantage of the reactionary force as the worm flailed its body, Ivina pulled out the blade and retreated to a safe area.
However, the giant worms attacking them were not just one. An unlucky male Wizard was also targeted, but he clearly lacked Ivina’s exceptional reflexes and was directly swallowed by another worm that burst from the ground.
“Damn it!” Rafael’s complexion turned exceedingly grim as he cursed, and the ball of lightning flickering above his head immediately condensed into a tight sphere. Then, a powerful laser beam shot out, severing the worm’s body at the point where it had emerged from the ground!
The worm’s huge body fell onto the ground but continued to twist violently, kicking up a cloud of dust.
Tic and the others rushed forward, using their magic to immobilize it and cutting open the giant worm’s body to rescue the unlucky male Wizard.
Since he had been swallowed whole, the Wizard had not been bitten into pieces by the worm’s sharp teeth. Thanks to the timely rescue, he was not in any grave danger, albeit covered in a sticky green fluid.
Seeing the other party was not badly hurt, Rafael finally breathed a sigh of relief. If they had lost someone or had to send an injured person back right after entering the otherworldly realm, the embarrassment for him would be immense.
On the other side, Ivina cooperated with Yoland and others, killing the worm that had attacked her and collecting some parts of the “Sand Worm,” along with its blood, packaged carefully for research purposes.
“This must be the ‘Sand Worm’ mentioned in the reports, I did not expect its movements to be so stealthy,” Rafael spoke in a heavy tone.
He had thought that something this large, even when traveling underground, would give some indication of its approach, yet he had not detected it at all.
“No, I think they might have been lying in wait here to hunt,” Yoland explained, having detected the two worms hiding underground while casting his Detecting Magic.
“They’re indeed cunning, learning to wait by the Space-Time Gate and just snare anyone stepping through,” Tic observed, looking at the dismembered “Sand Worm,” speaking with a shudder. Had he been the one targeted, he doubted his ability to evade the attack.
Tic even suspected that these giant worms could discern the strength of their prey, for the best moment to strike would have been when they had just come through the Space-Time Gate. However, the creatures had not acted then.
Presumably, this was because the first to step through was Rafael, whom the “Sand Worm” likely could not kill, so it held back until it felt the slight vibrations from Yoland’s Detecting Magic, realizing it had been spotted, and then suddenly launched its attack.
“Anyway, we must be even more vigilant from now on.” Rafael was on high alert, then turned to the Spiritual Energy Wizard Tika, inquiring about the scouting status of the magic bats.
“All is normal for the moment; two kilometers to the west, a few magical beasts’ tracks were found. They don’t seem to be very strong, but we should still avoid them…”
Tika reported truthfully everything he saw through the Eye of Spiritual Vision, but then he paused, a look of surprise crossing his face, as he promptly reported his new discovery to Rafael.
“Are you certain?” Rafael was also surprised, pondering for a moment before speaking again. “Then let’s leave this place first.”
Yoland and the others nodded, and after checking their instruments were still functioning, they left the valley together.
Before they departed, Rafael extinguished the ball of lightning overhead, as carrying such a bright light source was simply too conspicuous.
In this valley, things were still fine. The Church had sent its expeditionary forces several times to slaughter the magical beasts gathering nearby, causing much more commotion than they ever did, but once they left, it was no longer a certain bet.
About half an hour after the departure of the group of nine, the valley regains the tranquility from before. Three short figures clad in beast skins sprint into the valley from the outside, their destination unmistakably the two dead “Sandworms”.
The trio moved with an uncommon proficiency, swiftly wielding bone knives to slice open the worms’ bodies. After draining the surface layer of green fluid, they severed an inner membrane to reveal the underlying flesh that was a brownish hue.
The juices of the “Sandworm” possessed strong corrosive properties, and only a small part of the flesh deep inside was edible. However, given their enormous size, it was enough to feed a small tribe for a week.
Under their skilled maneuvers, it only took twenty minutes to separate all the meat within the shell.
As for the portion of the body that had burrowed into the ground, they did not touch it, since digging it out would take a lot of time. Staying here for even a second was extremely dangerous, as powerful beasts might smell the scent and come looking at any moment.
In this god-forsaken world, greed and death usually went hand in hand. To survive, one had to be extremely cautious.
The tiny figures wrapped the separated flesh in the membranes torn from the “Sandworms”‘ bodies and prepared to drag their haul away.
However, the path out of the valley was blocked. A glowing orb of lightning was racing towards the figures at incredible speed.
A sharp scream burst from the mouth of the one in the lead, and the other two didn’t hesitate to drop the hard-won pieces of flesh and sprint away in different directions.
Unfortunately, their speed was obviously no match for lightning. The oncoming orb of electricity soon exploded, sending arcs flickering out like a spider web, quickly spreading to cover a hundred-meter radius.
The one who had made the move turned out to be Rafael, who had used Polarization Magic to conceal himself and had then doubled back. He was holding another short figure—a sentry.
A few magical bats flew down from the sky, landing on Shaping Wizard Tika’s shoulder. He had already spotted the four individuals hiding outside the valley, but since he did not know their identities or purpose, he had refrained from acting rashly.
Upon receiving this information, Rafael didn’t want to alert the quarry. The distance between them was too great; the few magical bats were not enough to capture all of the intruders, so he pretended to be unaware, waiting for the others to make the first move.
However, much to Rafael’s surprise, it was not himself these three individuals were interested in but rather the two dead “Sandworms” in the valley.
Were they here for food?
Casting a glance at the spread-open membrane bags, Rafael’s expression took on a shade of understanding.
“Seem like they’re all children?” Tic approached and, peering at the shaking, electrocuted little dwarfs, spoke with a measure of surprise.
“No, they should be halflings,” Rafael corrected, having seen Lydia many times and thus understood a fair bit about the halfling community and recognized them at a glance.
“Are they indigenous to this place, or have they accidentally stepped into a Space-Time Gate, or were they driven in here by the Church?” Yoland speculated in rapid succession, his biggest surprise being the existence of halflings in such a barren world.
There was no sunlight here, the moisture in the air was scant, there were many dangerous magical beasts, and most importantly, the outsiders seemed pitifully weak.
“Never underestimate any species. Even in the harshest of environments, life always finds a way!” The speaker was a Shaping Wizard, who, having dissected thousands of creatures, naturally understood how tenacious life could be under the drive of the will to survive.