Several more days had passed since they stepped into the Teleportation Magic circle and arrived on the land known as the Begaritt Continent.
Days had slipped by once again.
Time seemed to have lost its meaning in this boundless red desert.
By day, the heat was fierce enough to warp the air; by night, the cold could freeze them to the marrow.
As far as the eye could see, there was nothing but rolling dunes and red rocks cracked by the scorching sun, a monotonous landscape enough to drive even the hardiest traveler mad.
More deadly still were the dangers lurking beneath that deathly stillness.
"Ciyou, behind us to the left! Seven o'clock, fifteen meters down!"
Elinalise had barely finished speaking.
Cui Ciyou pushed off hard, and the two shot sideways like arrows loosed from a bow, covering dozens of meters in an instant!
A second after they left their original spot, the sand exploded with a deafening boom.
A monstrous maw more than five meters across, lined with rings of hooked teeth, burst out from beneath the sand.
Its jaws snapped viciously shut with a teeth-grating crunch.
Having missed its strike, the owner of that enormous mouth—a giant Sand Worm the size of a battering ram—let out a frustrated hiss and tried to burrow back into the sand.
"Trying to leave?" Cui Ciyou's eyes turned cold.
He did not draw his sword. Instead, he condensed his vast mental power into an invisible warhammer and brought it crashing down on the Sand Worm's head!
[Telekinesis-Crushing Pressure]
Splat!
Under that invisible pressure, the Sand Worm's seemingly sturdy shell caved in and shattered like a fragile eggshell, spraying foul-smelling, dark green fluids everywhere.
Its massive body twitched a few times, then went completely still.
"Phew..."
Elinalise exhaled softly and patted her chest.