The amount of clay they had gathered the second time was just enough to mold into the shape of an ordinary goblin.
Just as Gauss and the others were rubbing their hands together, ready to repeat the process and "fish" the Drilling Worm up from underground a third time, something unexpected happened.
No matter how Alya channeled Nature's Power or how deeply that green glow reached into the earth, the depths below remained silent, offering no response at all.
The Drilling Worm seemed to have vanished completely.
"Huh? It's not responding?" Alya tried again in confusion, but her efforts sank like a stone into the sea.
The next moment, the dull rumble of a structure collapsing echoed faintly from underground.
Then the soil around the edges of the two deep holes the Drilling Worm had pushed up through the ground began to crumble. The openings visibly shrank and caved in, until they were completely buried beneath the loose soil.
Only two slightly sunken patches of darker earth remained, as if nothing had ever been disturbed.
"That Drilling Worm... it seems to have left?"
Alya put away her Oak Staff and helplessly spread her hands.
"It's fine. We've gathered enough."
Gauss suppressed his regret at not being able to squeeze more resources out of it and spoke calmly.
He knew that when it came to a monster capable of freely burrowing underground, there was nothing they could do if it was determined to avoid a fight.
He gathered all the dark-brown [Eroding Slime Soil Balls].
Gauss cast Clay Magic again, focusing his thoughts on the tiny Clay Goblin.
The mouse-sized dark-brown figure quickly melted, turning into a viscous stream of mud that flowed of its own accord into the newly gathered soil.
The clay churned, and under the effects of the