After killing the first queen worm, the skeleton army continued to push forward.
Soon, two more giant sandworms appeared.
One of them shared the same appearance as the previous queen worm.
The other was slightly different.
The mouthparts on its head featured six sharp claws in addition to the pair of massive mandibles.
The insect legs on the sides of its body were also longer than those of the nearby queen worm.
Unlike the queen worm, which only fought in close quarters, this new type of worm could also spit high-speed sand from its mouth.
High-speed air currents carrying sand easily pierced through a long line of skeleton soldiers.
"Different from a queen worm and appearing together. A king worm?"
Chen Xu didn't bother guessing its origin. He knew he would receive the fourth-stage hint once he had killed enough of them.
"Sindragosa, Bone Guard Two, use the old method."
Just as the command was given, a spear shot through the air at high speed, once again piercing through the head of the queen worm.
In an instant, the queen worm lost all control over its body and collapsed onto the desert sand.
Sindragosa dove down, its claws sinking into the queen worm's flesh, and yanked it upward with a sudden surge of power.
Seeing Sindragosa trying to take the queen worm into the sky, the king worm opened its mouth and spat a blast of high-speed sand, attempting to shoot Sindragosa down.
"Roar! Ha!"
Bone Guard Three leaped into the air and used a Soul Roar, forcefully absorbing the impact of the sand blast.
Upon landing, he bent his legs slightly and burst forward, transforming into a dancer on the battlefield. Spinning his twin blades, he charged toward the king worm.
"Screech!"
The queen worm in Sindragosa's claws had been completely lifted from the desert. After letting out a miserable cry, it turned into sand and scattered with the wind.
"Screech!"
Seeing this, the king worm below also let out a roar.
"Don't be in such a rush. Your turn is coming soon."
Chen Xu manipulated his mental strength to pull Bone Guard Two from the air into his hand.
He took a throwing stance and launched Bone Guard Two.
"Soul-Piercing Throw!"
Chen Xu shouted the skill's name as his mental strength provided an extra boost, sending the spear flying into the king worm. At the same time, he signaled Sindragosa to follow up with a dive.
The king worm was still entangled with Bone Guard One and Bone Guard Three below and failed to notice the danger from above.
By the time it realized something was flying toward it, it had only just raised its head before the spear entered through its mouth and exited from the back.
Sindragosa followed closely behind, sinking its claws into the worm and flapping its wings with all its might to fly upward.
The king worm was also completely lifted into the air.
It was roughly the same length as the queen worm, but its tail end was not a bloated mass of flesh; instead, it featured a deep black tail hook.
After waiting for a long time, the king worm did not undergo sandification. Instead, it adapted to Bone Guard Two's soul seal and began to struggle and writhe.
"This one doesn't sandify? That's fine. That large tail hook looks quite suitable to be used as a limb for an abomination. Sindragosa, Frost Breath."
Sindragosa lowered its head and opened its massive maw. A thick breath of frost surged out, completely freezing the king worm.
【Killed a yellow sand king worm, gained 50,000 experience points. Obtained a Sand Guard (Special).】
【Sand Guard (Special): A humanoid doll made of yellow sand. It is said to be modeled after the Desert God's most loyal follower, Shawa the Sand-Buryer. (Can be used to open the Desert God's tomb.)】
【Dungeon Exploration Progress: 50%】
【Dungeon exploration has reached the fourth stage. Unlocking information on the strongest transcendent creature in the dungeon: God's Resentment. Betrayal? Conspiracy? Or an invasion from another world? The master of the vast yellow desert, the great Desert God, was abandoned by his loyal followers. A mental plague spread through the faith of his followers, corrupting the deity.
The god, driven to madness, personally buried the great civilization he had built. Under the instructions of ???, the survivors buried the Desert God in a prepared tomb to seal him away. Or perhaps, to accelerate his corruption?
Fortunately, the Desert God's final saint, Shawa, saw through the conspiracy. He broke the corruption ritual and sent the sandworm race to guard this desert, ensuring that no one would disturb the god's final slumber.
Although the corruption process was interrupted, the corruptive power from ??? has eroded the Desert God into a hollow shell. Godfall is inevitable. Endless resentment was born from the divine corpse.】
"God's Resentment. Corruption. This feels like Hell's handiwork."
Seeing the dungeon hint, Chen Xu recalled the members of the Fallen Council in Akhan. They were originally mages of Akhan, even rulers who sat on the council and participated in major decisions.
However, while exploring certain ruins in the Scourge Lands, they were lured by hell demons and fell, transforming into fallen ones who were half-demon and half-human. Afterward, they even enticed many unsuspecting mages, converting them all into fallen ones as well.
If this dungeon was also connected to Hell, it was likely that its original world had indeed been devoured by a Hell Archduke, as Big Boss had said, with its fragments scattering outside the Blue Star.
Now that the final dungeon hint had been unlocked, Chen Xu no longer followed the skeleton army to clear the remaining sandworms.
Instead, he rode Sindragosa and turned back to retrieve the permafrost containing the sandworm remains, throwing them into the Wailing Lake in the Undead Kingdom.
As for the other insect corpses, he summoned Skeleton Priests to begin the cleanup, converting them into skeleton soldiers, archers, and mages at a ratio of 3:1:1.
"Brother Chen!"
Wu Houde's voice drifted up from below.
Chen Xu had seen Wu Houde long ago, but he hadn't stopped because there was still quite a bit of permafrost to collect.
Since he was calling out, Chen Xu decided to go down and see what was happening.
"Sindragosa, fly down."
"Wuu~~"
Sindragosa dove down and stopped on the permafrost, resting its left wing against the ground so Chen Xu could slide down along the bone.
Walking closer, Chen Xu realized there was actually another person beside Wu Houde.
When he was in the sky earlier, he hadn't seen this person at all, and even his mental strength had failed to detect them.
"Commander Wu, who is this?"
"Let me introduce you. This is the other vice commander of my Hurricane Warband, the Feng Shui Master, Duan Shou."
Duan Shou? Short life? That master has a very unique name.
"Master Duan, hello."
"I can hardly be called a master. I have only just scratched the surface." Duan Shou was very humble and easygoing, returning the greeting with cupped hands.
"Vice Commander Duan, this is the main commander designated by Daxia, Chen Xu."
"I have heard much about you. Commander Chen is indeed a person of great talent."
"Not at all. Just like Commander Wu, you can just call me Brother Chen." Chen Xu replied modestly to Duan Shou's compliment.
He then shifted the topic to the tomb. "Commander Wu, Master Duan, you both saw the fourth-stage dungeon hint, right?"
"We saw it. I was originally thinking we'd have a massive harvest, so I excitedly called Old Duan over. God's Resentment sounds like it won't be easy to deal with. And that business about conspiracies and corruption looks like a real headache."
Wu Houde shook his head and sighed as he spoke.
"Commander Wu, there's no need to worry. Leave that God's Resentment to me. I'll just have to trouble Master Duan with finding the tomb."
"I wouldn't call it a trouble. Brother Chen, you are the main commander. If you have any needs, our Hurricane Warband will cooperate fully. Finding the tomb is no problem, but I must first see a panoramic view of this great desert."
Duan Shou pulled out a paper crane and activated it with a lift of his hand. The crane grew significantly, just large enough for him to stand on it.
The paper crane flapped its small wings, carrying Duan Shou as it slowly rose into the air.
"Master Duan, that's way too slow. Let me take you."
Chen Xu signaled Sindragosa with a glance.
Sindragosa immediately lowered its head for Chen Xu to jump on, then flew into the sky, brushing past Duan Shou. Chen Xu grabbed him and brought him to stand on Sindragosa's head.
"Brother Chen, what about me? What about me!" Wu Houde shouted from below, using a movement technique to rush through the air.
Chen Xu had Sindragosa hover in the air until Wu Houde finally caught up and leaned against Sindragosa's claw.
"Master Duan, what scenery do you need to see? In this vast yellow desert, I have only seen sand so far and haven't found anything else."
"Brother Chen, just fly around. A Feng Shui Master looks at the ethereal scenery of heaven and earth, not the physical one."
Chen Xu nodded and had Sindragosa fly higher, increasing its speed.
Feeling the gale blowing past his ears, Duan Shou's legs trembled as he made a plea.
"Brother Chen, slower, slower!"
Rate on N.U.
