And with that rallying call, the squad set out in pursuit of Ethan and his party.
Unbeknownst to Ethan, a team was tracking him from behind.
Now, he was ensnared in a precarious situation.
"How can there be such a terrifying sandstorm? It's so beyond reason!" Ethan exclaimed, staring at the vast, unending desert before him.
The golden sand was lifted, chaotically hovering in mid-air, obscuring their vision.
"It indeed feels amiss. I haven't detected any wind movement," Sherry commented gravely, standing beside Ethan.
Just then, Little Fairy Baal emerged once more, her face etched with horror.
She urgently shouted at the group, "Find shelter quickly! That's not a mere sandstorm – it's a sandworm!"
"A sandworm? What's that?" Ethan questioned, unfamiliar with the creature.
However, the gravity in Baal's voice was unmistakable.
Ethan swiftly commanded everyone to find a safe hiding place.
But surveying the vast expanse of the desert, the land was entirely flat.
Not a single tree was in sight, let alone a place to take refuge.
"Over there!" Mia pointed towards a distant structure.
It was a collapsed palace, strangely isolated in the midst of the desert rather than amidst the large ruins they had encountered earlier.
"That's our best bet," Ethan decided, leading his group towards the structure.
But trailing not far behind, Savi, who was closing in on Ethan's group, suddenly halted his advance.
"Lord Savi?"
One of his subordinates inquired with a tinge of curiosity.
Narrowing his eyes, Savi gazed at the distant sandstorm on the horizon, his face growing dark with concern.
"We cannot pursue any further. We've come across the sandworm. Retreat for now!"
"But what about Ethan and his group?"
"We'll set a trap for Ethan," Savi replied, a sly grin appearing on his face.
"If they retreat, they'll surely fall right into our hands. But if they continue onward, the only fate awaiting them is to be wholly devoured by the sandworm!"
His underlings nodded in agreement, one exclaiming, "Your wisdom is unparalleled, Lord!"
"Enough talk. Withdraw!" Savi commanded again.
Meanwhile, as Savi and his team retreated, Ethan, with Sherry and the others in tow, managed to reach the temple's entrance.
At Baal's insistence, as soon as they stepped inside, Ethan quickly piled up stones to block the entrance, leaving only a few tiny gaps for observation.
"Baal, is all this caution truly necessary?" Mia asked, feeling the measures were a tad excessive.
Yet, Baal's reaction was unexpected.
She remained exceedingly anxious, her small frame trembling as she said, "Even this might not be enough. This is a sandworm we're talking about!"
Baal's evident fear unsettled everyone.
Taking a deep breath to calm himself, Ethan inquired, "Baal, you still haven't told us exactly what a sandworm is."
Hearing this, Baal elucidated, "Sandworms are terrifying creatures from ancient times. Typically, they slumber beneath the sands. "
"But there are exceptions—like when they hunt. During their feeding, all the sandworms emerge together, attacking indiscriminately, especially creatures brimming with vitality."
"It doesn't sound too bad," Sherry remarked with a shake of her head, adding, "Though their sheer number might be a bit overwhelming."
Pale Wolf peered out through one of the intentionally left gaps.
As the sandstorm created by the sandworms drew closer, he got a clearer view of the situation.
Drawing back, his face paled, "Perhaps we really are in trouble."
Baal elaborated once more, "The most horrifying thing about the sandworms isn't their number, but their fearlessness in the face of death and the toxins they carry, which can paralyze their victims. "
"If you're surrounded by sandworms, it's essentially a death sentence."
These words jolted everyone into grave awareness.
Moreover, peering through the crevices, Ethan and his team bore witness to a nightmarish sight.
This was no mere sandstorm; countless yellow-brown insects swirled in the air, consuming everything in their path on the desert floor—massive rocks, dried wood, small ponds.
Almost everything turned to sand in the wake of the sandworms.
"It looks like they're heading our way," Pale Wolf observed.
Ethan, confirming this, addressed the group, "We need to fall back deeper into the temple. Protect yourselves."
But, it seemed, his command might have come a little too late.
The hum...
The hum...
The droning buzz of flapping wings resonated incessantly outside the temple.
In mere moments, the stones Ethan used to block the entrance were completely devoured.
Detecting the presence of Ethan and his companions, the sandworms grew frenzied.
All of them, in unison, charged towards Ethan's party, only to be halted by an invisible barrier.
"Holy Light Shield!"
A radiant glow emanated from Ethan, coalescing into a dome-shaped barrier, enveloping everyone within.
This was a manifestation of the "Holy Light-Language of Nature", a shield that could protect them all.
However, its existence was not indefinite; it was directly tied to Ethan's own stamina.
"They can't penetrate the shield, for now," Ethan said, his voice carrying the weight of responsibility.
"But this isn't sustainable. I can't maintain the Holy Light Shield for too long. We need to find a way to eliminate these creatures or make them leave."
Regrettably, none in the party had a solution.
"Flesh and blood are too tempting for the sandworms. As long as we're here, they won't disperse," Baal lamented, his shoulders drooping in defeat.
Yet, amidst the crisis, another query formed in Ethan's mind, "Baal, why are there sandworms here? Didn't you say they existed only in ancient times?"
At Ethan's words, everyone froze, turning their eyes simultaneously to Baal.
"I... I don't know..." Baal admitted, seemingly as baffled as the rest.
"By all conventional wisdom, creatures like the sandworms should have gone extinct long ago. They shouldn't exist in a place like this," Baal murmured, shaking his head, a look of perplexity etched on his young face.
"Hold on, something's off!" Mia exclaimed suddenly.
As everyone turned their attention to her, she pointed behind them and declared, "The sandworms are only attacking the Holy Light Shield from the front. There's not a single one behind us."
"That's true!" Sherry remarked after a quick assessment, verifying Mia's observation.
A notion forming in his mind, Ethan quickly instructed, "Let's move backward together. Perhaps there's something within this temple that the sandworms fear."
No one contested the idea.
With Ethan continuing to maintain the Holy Light Shield, they all retreated in unison.
As they moved deeper into the temple, the sandworms seemed hesitant, as though they were repelled by some unseen force, merely fluttering about in the air without advancing.
"It seems this temple holds its secrets," Ethan murmured, then dispelled the Holy Light Shield, replacing it with a luminous Holy Light orb in his hand.
The orb's radiance instantly illuminated the once dimly lit temple.
Upon seeing the contents of the temple, Mia and Sherry recoiled in shock, even Pale Wolf couldn't help but tremble.
Only Ethan managed to retain some semblance of composure, although unease was evident in his eyes.
Before them lay dozens of skeletal remains.
Dressed in tattered, decayed garments, some of the skeletons lay scattered on the ground while others leaned against the walls.
The varying shades of their bones indicated they belonged to different eras.
At the center of these skeletal remains stood a grotesque statue.
It appeared to be a hybrid of various insects: it had the stout forelimbs of a mantis, the venomous tail of a scorpion, the hard exoskeleton of a beetle, and other peculiar insect-like features.
It was truly an eerie amalgamation.
"What is this statue?"
"And these people... could they have taken refuge here to escape the sandworms and then met their skeletal end?" Pale Wolf couldn't help but ask.
His words cast a shadow of sorrow on Mia and Sherry.
Could their fate be sealed to perish here as well?
"Everyone, stay calm," Ethan urged.
"There might still be another way. And even if we don't find one, I can activate the Holy Light Shield, and we might make it back to the entrance and escape."
Ethan's words reignited a glimmer of hope among the group.
They began searching the area, hoping to glean useful information from the skeletal remains.
Fortune seemed to smile upon Ethan and his companions at last.
Nestled in the chest cavity of one of the skeletons, they discovered a roll of animal hide.
Time had made it incredibly brittle; it felt as though it could split in two with the slightest misstep.
But the inscriptions on it were clear, and, fortunately, written in characters familiar to Ethan.
"It seems to be some kind of experimental log," Mia remarked after a brief examination.
Ethan nodded in agreement, carefully unrolling the hide and illuminating it with the Holy Light orb.
The information inscribed on it left Ethan, Sherry, and the rest utterly astounded, for its contents were beyond imagination, bordering on the unbelievable.
[Experiment 007 with Sandworm]
[After a month of careful nurturing, these little darlings finally hatched. But from the moment of their birth, they displayed an alarmingly ferocious attack instinct.]
[Oh, they even turned on me, their creator.]
[This experiment... not a success.]
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