Just then, something came charging from beneath the ground ahead. Everywhere it passed began to collapse. As it was about to reach Rita's two bodies, she raised her scythe and slashed. A dark-blue blade of icy energy cleaved straight into the ground.
"Sizzle..."
The icy blade cut several meters into the earth... then burst forth, freezing everything within nearly ten meters. Yet in the next instant, a massive monster leaped out from the frozen ground and pounced at Rita.
It was an ugly giant worm, revolting to look at.
"Disgusting worm, get lost!"
Rita gripped her scythe and leaped into the air... slashing at the worm before her.
With a flash of steel, the worm was cut cleanly in two.
"Is that all?"
Rita landed atop the sandstone and looked at the worm's corpse before her.
This world did not seem so simple. Such a huge worm...
"Hmm? This is bad."
The worm's corpse suddenly began to swell. Rita's expression changed slightly... realizing something, she hurriedly formed an ice shield before herself.
The next moment, the worm's corpse exploded.
Like a high-explosive grenade, it unleashed a tremendous blast wave. However... the force of the explosion failed to shatter the ice shield Rita had formed.
Once the explosion had passed, Rita dispelled the ice shield in front of her and looked ahead. A huge crater had appeared before her.
"A self-destructing worm..."
The worm itself was not very powerful, but its self-destruction was quite formidable.
But before Rita could finish marveling at it, countless more of those burrowing, self-destructing worms appeared from every direction, rushing toward her.
There were no fewer than forty or fifty of them.
"So many... Were they summoned by that worm just now? They're even social creatures." Faced with so many monster worms, Rita was not afraid...