Chapter 526: Soul of the Sand Earthworm

The Extreme Warriors and the Minotaurs were still a bit bewildered, but as soon as they heard the word "sand worm", they were startled, instantly frightened, and vigorously struck the Kodo Beast to urge it to run.

Dejike was also pale with shock, halting the cutting work halfway, and anxiously stared at the formation.

They were still over four hundred meters away and were already sprinting desperately, but farther ahead, the sand worm underground seemed to sense the target was fleeing, so it ceased hiding and accelerated the chase.

The ground shook violently, like an earthquake.

Dust swirled everywhere, countless grains of yellow sand were lifted into the sky as if a sandstorm had erupted.

Amid the endless sandstorm, terrifying massive silhouettes roamed; wherever they passed, the desert collapsed and hills flattened. Their numbers were incalculable, the storm's reach seemed endless, with fronts, left and right forming an almost complete encirclement, only the direction of the ruins remained relatively calm.

Looking back toward the ruins, they saw another sandstorm rising, only farther away.

Dejike inhaled sharply, then saw Lei En raise his left hand, blue runes flashing on the back of his hand, seemingly casting a spell, his expression unusually calm.

"Lord!"

"No need to worry, we can get out; you keep harvesting the materials." Lei En immediately thought of an escape plan, calculating the speeds of the Kodo Beast and the sand worm; they could reach the ruins before being caught and enter the Ethereal Gate in time.

Even in the worst case, they could abandon the Kodo Beast and summon a fire dragon to fly away.

Seeing Lei En so composed, Dejike no longer hesitated, bent down to continue cutting the holy scarab corpse material, unable to worry about breaking the Azure Sky Song, and sped up his movements severalfold.

Time ticked audibly.

The ground tremors grew stronger, a sandstorm dozens of meters high rose like a massive wall, crushing in from three directions, leaving no escape.

If the Extreme Warriors and Minotaurs ran on their own, they'd cover the four hundred meters in under half a minute, but the Kodo Beast couldn't. The Kodo Beast's mount excelled in endurance, was heavily burdened, had mediocre speed, and lacked burst power; even a desperate sprint could only increase its speed by twenty to thirty percent.

Each second, the sand worm drew closer to the Kodo Beast's party; it was a race against time.

Lei En's feet left the ground, hovering half a meter.

He silently cast, his palm steady as a mountain, unaffected by the enemy's onslaught.

Finally, after a minute, the spell completed, and a massive crystal‑constructed portal opened before them, a semicircular arch over ten meters wide and high, revealing that the opposite side was also a dry, scorching desert.

Dejike, seeing this, couldn't help but be overjoyed, finally understanding why Lei En was so calm.

A few seconds later, the Extreme Warriors and Minotaurs returned.

The Extreme Warrior without hesitation rode the Kodo Beast into the Ethereal Gate, the Minotaur hurriedly followed. By then, the sandstorm had closed to less than a hundred meters, the sky was obscured, and the ground seemed overturned, revealing the sand worm's silhouette.

A massive head, seven to eight meters in diameter, emerged from the sandstorm.

Its surface was covered with a gray keratin layer; only a thirty‑plus‑meter segment of its body was visible, resembling a worm magnified countless times. The longer parts were hidden in the sand, unseen, estimated to be at least several hundred meters long! Around it were more sand worms; though not as huge, many exceeded ten meters in length, countless in number.

Lei En glanced at it with his Soul Eye, feeling a sudden chill in his heart.

A Legendary High‑rank sand worm, not yet Saint Rank, but infinitesimally close, and with such massive size, even a Saint Rank Wizard would find it a tough opponent.

By Mantis‑Man standards, this would count as a sand earthworm!

At that moment its head rose, opening five petals like a blooming flower, revealing a mouth full of teeth.

Rows upon rows of densely packed teeth were neatly arranged in at least a dozen circles; each tooth was over a meter and a half long, sparkling like crystal, sharp and hard, and the thought of being devoured by it sent chills down one's spine.

The sand earthworm opened its abyssal gaping maw, inhaled a massive breath, countless sands swirled inward, its body below the head bulged as if about to spew something.

Whatever it spews, it will not be good.

At this moment, the Extreme Warrior had already rushed into the Ethereal Gate, a few Minotaurs lagged behind, and Dejike had just finished cutting the materials and threw them into the portal in one go.

"Watch out!"

Dejike raised the Holy Light Shield, attempting to block the imminent spray.

Lei En acted a step earlier, activating battle music, forcibly re‑triggering Blood Frenzy, neglecting to cast Dragon Power Technique, and directly brandished the Thunder God's Hammer, shouting loudly; his body arched like a massive bow as he hurled it with all his might.

Boom—

The war hammer was comparable to lightning, moving so fast the eye couldn't even catch it.

In an instant, the Thunder God's Hammer streaked through the void, appearing before the sand earthworm as if in a flash. Though it had no eyes, its perception was extremely keen, sensing the massive danger, yet it couldn't react in time.

A deafening roar.

The Thunder God's Hammer shot into the sand earthworm's mouth.

At the moment of impact, Lei En's will amplified the hammer's weight to over one hundred thousand pounds; the Thunder God's Hammer, just over a meter long, seemed tiny beside the sand earthworm, yet inflicted massive damage. In a single breath, the hammer pierced the abyssal maw of the sand earthworm and flew out the other side.

Pale yellow acid sprayed everywhere, and where the hammer emerged left a blood‑filled hole over a meter in diameter.

Simultaneously, countless arm‑thick golden lightning bolts erupted from its mouth.

Because it wasn't Lei En wielding the hammer to unleash a "Thunderbolt of Ten Thousand Pounds", the lightning's power fell short of its peak, equivalent only to a Five Rings Spell.

Even so, the sand earthworm's magical resistance inside its mouth was far weaker than its exterior, and it was severely wounded instantly.

"Sss…"

It let out a strange hiss, incomprehensible to anyone, but clearly indicating extreme pain; its head slammed heavily onto the ground with a boom, shaking the entire ruin.

One strike achieved success, yet Lei En showed no desire to stay in the fight.

The sand earthworm's vitality was extremely tenacious, its regeneration astonishing; this wound couldn't kill it. The other sand worms had already surrounded it.

He immediately guided the Thunder God's Hammer to trace an arc in midair, turning it around to fly back.

At this moment the last Minotaur, riding a Kodo Beast, had already charged into the Ethereal Gate; Dejike also removed his Holy Light Shield and ran in, with Lei En following closely behind.

The hammer's return speed was much slower than its initial throw, lacking any power augmentation.

The wounded sand earthworm, sensing the target's escape, disregarded its injuries, twisted wildly, scrambled up, chased the airborne hammer, and lunged toward the Ethereal Gate.

Lei En swiftly retreated backward into the Ethereal Gate.

A few seconds later, the Thunder God's Hammer flew to his front and he caught it steadily.

"Lord! Close the portal quickly!" Dejike shouted anxiously.

But Lei En ignored him, staring at the approaching sand earthworm, his eyes flashing.

The injured colossal beast seemed to have lost its sanity, or perhaps it never possessed much intelligence. The Ethereal Gate was just large enough for its head to pass through, dragging endless sand; it thrust its head into the gate, its abyssal maw snapping toward the now‑within‑reach Lei En.

Clack!

Its ferocious, terrifying jaws clamped, but struck empty air.

Lei En, at the critical moment, flashed to the side and swung his left hand hard, closing the spiritual void gate.

The space corridor opened by the spell closed, cutting off the connection between the two places; the massive body of the sand worm was split between the two spaces, a hundred li apart. As if cut by the sharpest blade in the world, its body instantly became two halves, the cut smooth as a mirror, and a torrent of acidic blood sprayed out.

Only about fifteen meters of the sand worm that passed through the spiritual void gate, including its head, were directly beheaded.

More of its body remained on the ruins side.

Nevertheless, this small segment of its body did not die immediately; like a fish out of water on shore, it thrashed wildly, spewing foul acidic slime that attacked nearby enemies.

"Stay away from it!" Lei En shouted.

Extreme Warriors and the ox‑headed men had already retreated far away, and Dejiko also dared not linger at close range.

Lei En himself flew into the air, keeping a safe distance.

The Soul Eye saw the sand worm's soul severely wounded, already on the brink of death; it possessed the supreme Element "Limb Regeneration", but having lost more than eighty percent of its body, it could not regenerate from nothing.

This was merely a death‑rattle flash; the more it struggled, the faster it died.

Lei En, while watching the half of the sand worm, also checked the surrounding desert situation.

When opening the spiritual void gate, he did not arbitrarily set the teleport direction, but chose a spot he had passed yesterday, only a hundred li away, enough to escape the sand worm's encirclement.

He heard no abnormality in the Voice of All Things, confirming that no sand worm would be attracted.

"Boss, should we open fire and kill it?" an Extreme Warrior, retreating far away, muttered eagerly, while Xikalius loudly requested.

"Don't waste ammunition." Lei En refused outright.

The sand worm just now was probably drawn by the gunshots; still not troublesome enough?

Xikalius reluctantly withdrew his hand.

Seeing that this half of the sand worm wouldn't die soon and was causing a big commotion, Lei En decided to act himself. Thunder God's Hammer flew down, smashing its head, piercing through, lightning erupted, then the hammer flew back into his hand.

This flying hammer made the sand worm even more enraged, but its tenacious life force still persisted, and the pierced wound healed rapidly.

If it hadn't lost most of its body, this injury would have been trivial.

Lei En continuously hurled Thunder God's Hammer; the war hammer whistled as it flew up and down, tracing lightning‑like paths in the air, repeatedly piercing the sand worm's head.

Each wound healed quickly, draining its demon soul.

After smashing it with a dozen or so hammers, the small half of the sand worm could no longer muster the strength to struggle, collapsing in the sand like a mound of flesh, motionless.

The Soul Eye confirmed it was utterly dead.

Lei En flashed down, stood on the massive corpse, took out the Purple Source Soul Crystal that could permanently preserve a demon soul, attached it, a gray demon soul was extracted into it, and the crystal turned into a pale gray gem.

He looked and saw it was indeed the sand worm's soul!

(End of chapter)