First Time

Zhang Yuan, hearing the alarm, didn't hesitate to jump onto a nearby supply cart, securing a relatively safe position for himself.

"Manus, Potentis, Paro! (I prepare, with power, with a wave of my hand)" As the spell was cast, an invisible armor covered his entire body.

Leaping from the roof of the cart, just as Zhang Yuan was about to search for the enemy insects' position, he felt the ground beneath his feet slightly bulge. Startled, he quickly moved to the open ground ahead.

The bulge in the ground became more pronounced, and soon the soil beneath surged out like a fountain. Along with the earth, a large insect burst from the ground.

The first impression of this insect was its greenness; its head was lush green, its body was emerald green, and the row of centipede-like legs was tender green.

"How many hats could it be wearing?" At this moment, Zhang Yuan's thoughts were already soaring to the heavens.

The insect had a pair of dark, beady eyes, and its mouth was a pair of ferocious mandibles. Its hard, chitinous body, covered in barbs, exuded a cold glint, leaving no doubt that these iron-clamp-like jaws alone were enough to split prey in half.

This was the culprit behind the insect plague – the Digging Worm.

The Digging Worm that emerged from the ground seemed to have poor eyesight. Instead of looking around, it kept probing the surroundings with its two cricket-like antennae. This was a good opportunity to attack, but one rookie was left utterly bewildered.

A game was still just a game. In reality, it wasn't as simple as clicking a mouse; even a dragon could be defeated with a single click. Having only sparred with teammates and never experienced fighting monsters, the inexperienced rookie was completely at a loss on how to deal with this giant worm.

Fortunately, his nearby teammates were not just standing by. They didn't let the opportunity slip away. A tall swordsman with a shaved head, tattooed scalp, quickly drew his sword and charged at the worm, shouting, "Cover me!"

Another teammate, broad-shouldered and bearded, the only dwarf warrior on the team, drew the throwing axe hanging from his waist. With barely any aim, he struck the Digging Worm's forehead, arriving before it could react.

The stunned worm hadn't even reacted when a sharp sword light directly cleaved into the gap between its carapace segments. A surprise attack combined with a weak point strike meant half of the greatsword's blade was embedded in the Digging Worm's body – a truly fatal wound.

Inflicted with such a severe injury, the worm let out an extremely sharp screech, like fingernails scraping against steel, and then opened its mandibles, as if brewing something.

"Run!" Seeing this, the tall swordsman immediately let go of his greatsword and quickly retreated out of the Digging Worm's attack range. Zhang Yuan and the dwarf, who were farther away, also retreated a short distance.

However, it was still a bit too late. A large amount of acid was sprayed from the Digging Worm's mouthparts. The circular area centered on it was like an acid rain; white smoke billowed from the ground, and all organic matter was easily corroded and carbonized.

The greatswordsman, after all, was too close. Despite his quick reaction, he was hit by acid on his back and feet. The terrible acid quickly corroded through his shoes.

With excruciating pain in his foot, the swordsman collapsed to the ground, about to die from the acid.

Zhang Yuan and the dwarf warrior quickly rushed to where the swordsman had fallen. Leveraging their height and long legs, and Zhang Yuan's advantage of wearing cloth armor, Zhang Yuan reached the swordsman first while the dwarf was still struggling with his short legs to cover the remaining distance.

Hearing the swordsman's cry: "My foot, my left foot!"

Zhang Yuan quickly took off his shoes, revealing his left foot, which was already a horrific sight. The acid-corroded heel had lost its fleshy shape, resembling blackened carbonized wood.

Suppressing his nausea and fear, he quickly took out his water pouch and washed the swordsman's left foot, then helped him up by his left arm and retreated.

The still-rampageous Digging Worm seemed to sense something. Its antennae twitched, its wildly swinging head stopped, and then it turned, very slowly, towards Zhang Yuan and the swordsman.

This sight terrified Zhang Yuan to his core. Driven by fear, he unleashed his full potential, and despite supporting an injured comrade, he moved at nearly a hundred-meter sprint speed.

Sensing the enemy's scent growing weaker and farther away, the worm, also heavily wounded, opened its large mouth towards the direction they were fleeing.

As the Digging Worm's acid spray was about to descend, Zhang Yuan, who was fleeing, looked at the greatswordsman he was supporting and had a thought that made him feel ashamed of himself.

Fortunately, before he could think further, the dwarf shield mauler finally arrived, raising his large shield to block between the Digging Worm and the two of them.

Zhang Yuan also cooperated, lying down with the swordsman to minimize the area of impact. The spent acid fell powerlessly on the shield.

In no time, the Digging Worm, having exhausted its ammunition, stopped spewing. It tried to burrow back into the ground but was stuck by the greatsword lodged in its body.

Still filled with anger, the dwarf and Zhang Yuan saw the worm's predicament but did not attack.

The priority was to rescue their teammate. They removed the swordsman's armor. Fortunately, with a layer of chainmail and the thick leather clothing underneath, it was like the swordsman was wearing double armor. Apart from the foot injury, the rest of his wounds were only minor burns.

Zhang Yuan, having relaxed, suddenly felt several sharp pains throughout his body. Taking off his clothes to check, he discovered that although the large shield had blocked most of the acid, the splashing acid still had some damaging effects.

Fortunately, the Mage Armor had blocked and deflected most of it, resulting in only minor injuries, though the sharp pain was unavoidable.

After quickly treating the wounds, Zhang Yuan and the dwarf turned to settle the score with the culprit, not planning to use magic, and advanced with their swords towards the Digging Worm, which was fighting a losing battle.

The weakened Digging Worm's only remaining weapon was its large mandibles. Moreover, due to the wound and the greatsword stuck in it, even turning around was quite difficult.

The fear in his heart had been completely washed away by anger, but Zhang Yuan's sword-wielding hands were surprisingly steady. He didn't charge directly but circled around the giant insect, following his usual training methods.

Helpless against this tactic, the Digging Worm could only threaten by opening and closing its mandibles, inadvertently exposing its own weakness.

Zhang Yuan, drawing a spiral path, finally approached the giant worm from behind. He held his long sword in his mouth, and just as the worm struggled to turn and attack him, he reached out with both hands, grabbed the sword stuck in it, and with a sudden movement, ended it.

This final blow, adding insult to injury, caused the Digging Worm's entire body to tremble in pain. The dwarf, who had followed up, swung his axe into the worm's abdomen. The fine steel battle axe directly broke through the worm's shell, with the entire blade sinking deep into its abdominal cavity.

With no strength left to struggle, the Digging Worm slumped to the ground. Showing no sympathy, Zhang Yuan drew his long sword, aimed for the worm's left eye, and thrust it in, finishing it off!

With the enemy defeated, Zhang Yuan, feeling relieved, felt his legs, no, his entire body go limp.

Facing such an inhuman giant worm in his first real combat, only he knew the taste of it and the lingering fear.

Breathing heavily, Zhang Yuan finally had the leisure to look at his other companions, only to discover that the attacking force consisted of not just one or two, but a full five Digging Worms.

The battles were also varied. Skar and Sory had already dealt with their opponents and were busy rescuing their injured teammates, while the remaining Digging Worms were being led around by well-trained Flaming Fist soldiers, and victory was only a matter of time.

In that case, were they the ones who were the most miserable? Then who was the Burden? Hmm, that was a good question.