The firelight continued to wriggle little by little beneath the moonlight until Grandma Sianode suddenly spoke:
"We're almost there."
Their steps unconsciously quickened. As the moonlight grew brighter and brighter, Shade could already see from far away the enormous worm lying in the sea of sand.
From a distance, it was as tall as a raised sand dune. As they drew closer, they could see that more than half of the sandworm's body was already buried beneath the sand.
Shade did not know whether the thing was truly dead, but it looked remarkably like the doomsday monster formed from Professor Drake's corpse, sealed within the Calamity Cards: Gravel Worm.
Though it lay utterly motionless, the sheer size of its body inspired instinctive fear. As the group silently approached, Shade saw that at the very front of the enormous worm's body was indeed a pale head shaped like that of a giant.
The head's chin was buried in sand grains floating with silver light. Inside its gaping mouth stood a stone door that fit perfectly against its jaws, as though the mouth had been forcibly pried open by the door. Fortunately, the two eyes on that deathly head were closed. If they had been open, Shade would never have approached, even knowing the thing was dead.
The enormous worm's appearance had clearly stunned the others as well, but under Shade's lead, they slowly continued forward until they reached the worm's head.
Ms. Knight and Ms. Sandel did not dare look up at all. Shade also tried not to look at the head's face, instead placing his hand directly on its cold, pale cheek.
Dead.
She gave him a very clear result from the examination, and only then did Shade finally relax.
He then pulled a large handful of Gold Rings and