Liu Jialin nodded slightly and tightened her grip on the Spirit Artifact Longsword. Pale golden Spiritual Energy flowed across the blade once more. "The helicopter's specialized rockets should be spent. From here on, it's up to us... Everyone, follow me."
Just as they prepared to launch their attack, the dying Parasitic Worm suddenly struggled to turn around, dragging its ruined body across the scorched earth.
Every inch it moved left a long trail of blood. The bones jutting from the split in its abdomen scraped against the ground with a grating "creak."
Though it moved slowly, it was driven by a desperate will to survive. Its remaining compound eyes stared fixedly into the distance, its murky pupils burning with the last flicker of viciousness.
"We can't let it get away." Liu Jialin shouted in a low voice and took off after it, her figure like an arrow loosed from its bowstring.
The others immediately followed. Their footsteps pounded across the scorched earth with a dull "thud, thud," intertwining with the "creak" of the Parasitic Worm dragging itself away into a tense rhythm.
Sunlight spilled over them, drawing long shadows across the ground and illuminating the enormous figure fleeing ahead... The battle was not over yet.
"Roar..."
The enormous Parasitic Worm fled frantically. Its heavy panting dragged like the wheeze of a broken bellows. Amid the rustling scrape of its shell against sharp gravel came the soft, steady patter of dark-red blood dripping from its cracks.
If Liu Jialin and the others had not been in hot pursuit, this several-dozen-meter-long beast would have escaped long ago.
Yet a sudden change occurred.
As it fled, the Parasitic Worm's enormous body began shrinking inward at a speed visible to the naked eye.
With every inch it shrank, the spiderweb-like cracks on its