"Any time now…"

The cloud of dust was coming closer. The ground trembled underneath their feet, making the sand start shifting around like a liquid. Their feet sank deeper while they struggled to move back to the safety of the bedrock.

The cracking and grinding sounds reached their ears from deep underground as a massive being swam underneath the surface. Vibrations and deep guttural sounds made it seem like an earthquake was approaching.

Despite feeling confident in his plan at first, as the Sand Worm came closer, even Gerald started having some doubts.

"It's going to stop any time now, just watch," he said with his hands behind his back and chest pushed out. He couldn't show he was nervous as well. "Any time now…"

The pile of corpses didn't look all that impressive anymore. Maybe it was because it was quite far, or perhaps it just sunk into the liquefied sand, appearing lesser, but the fact didn't change. The beast wasn't slowing down.

"We are all going to die!" a warrior panicked and tried to run away. However, the more he struggled, the deeper he sunk into the quicksand. He had no choice but to lay down and spread his weight while praying to his god for safety.

With a horrifically loud screeching sound, not unlike sharp nails across a chalkboard, the beast emerged from beneath the sand and rose into the air. Gerald gasped when the massive figure emerged, but that wasn't even the end. It just kept going up, and up, and up, covering the moon and the sky.

In a few short seconds, it reached dozens of meters into the air, before opening a giant mouth and releasing a powerful roar, like a king announcing his arrival.

And it surely was, a true king of the Great Desert. Its body was truly worm-like, except that the outside was covered with thick brown rock-like chitin armor, that could probably resist an anti-tank missile just based on its thickness.

Its massive, hundreds of meters long body snaked below as the three-part mouth split wide open and revealed countless sharp teeth, before falling back down towards the pile of corpses on the ground.

While creating a powerful thud upon impact, it swallowed it all in a single mouthful and disappeared underground. Only the muffled sounds of cracking bones were heard for a moment before even those died down. A few seconds later, a massive wave of magic came from down below, vibrating the sand and turning it liquid once more.

"It's using magic to… swim through sand?!"

Ripples then spread from its center as the Sand Worm emerged from the ground once more, revealing now an empty mouth full of razor-sharp teeth, akin to an industrial-grade bone grinder. And it was coming right at them!

"It wasn't enough!" the group realized in horror. The many tons of meat Gerald gave it wasn't enough to satisfy its hunger! Even the massive corpses of toxic Wargs didn't seem to do the trick! It just swallowed them all without a care in the world!

"Haha..." Dug's chuckle was barely audible as he said with empty eyes, having already given up, "Nobody can stop it now. When a Sand Worm smells food, it will feed. Even gods can't change that now…"

"Fuck that!" Gerald wasn't satisfied with this result! He summoned hundreds of Greater Fireballs, both with his own magic as well as with the help of Spell Scrolls. "I refuse to surrender to fate! Screw gods, and screw that Sand Worm!"

He hurled the entirety of his arsenal directly into its open maw at once. "Eat shit, motherfucker!"

A multitude of explosions deafened every other sound in the desert for a moment as flames burst out of the Sand Worm's throat.

As if that wasn't enough, Gerald manipulated a giant boulder and lifted it into the sky, before heating it up until it was glowing orange and nearly became a molten sphere. "Choke on my balls!"

The scorching stone was pushed deep inside its mouth as Gerald flew above the beast and controlled his magic so aggressively that even his own hands started to crack and catch on fire. The backlash pain was strong, but what was even greater than that was watching the Sand Worm squirm underneath his burning magic.

As soon as Gerald released his grip, the giant beast immediately hurled and threw up the flames and molten rock amid a river of boiling blood. The crimson liquid sprayed all over the desert, sizzling wherever it landed.

The Sand Worm then thrashed around for a while longer, releasing pained groans, but then it burrowed underneath the sand and disappeared into the distance.

"Is… Is it over?"

"Woooo-hoooo!"

The Group of warriors erupted in cheers and ran towards Gerald who just landed back down and tossed him high in the air in celebration.

"He did it!"

"Oh my gosh, he beat the monster!"

"I'm alive!"

"Woo-hoo!"

To say that the cheers were unwanted wouldn't be true, but that didn't mean being tossed around like a beach ball felt good.

Gerald freed himself from the excited group and sat on the ground, his body trembling in pain. Steam was slowly rising from his body due to overuse of magic, and he was burning on the inside. He quickly summoned a blob of cold water and jumped in to cool down. It felt so damn nice!

"I… I can't believe it." Dug, having regained back his will to live, came closer. "You beat the Sand Worm!"

"Beat it? Haha, nah…" Gerald forced a smile, and said, "That could barely be considered a good smack. I only dealt it some surface wounds, that's all. The beast was probably just spooked since it didn't expect resistance."

It was true. Gerald was very carefully observing the Sand Worm's Aura, and the thing was massive and barely dipped when he gave it his all. While it might have seemed badly wounded, barfing all that blood out and whatnot, in comparison to its giant body, it was not worth mentioning.

Most likely it was a defense mechanism against the fire. And despite having used most of his Mana and hurt himself in the process, he barely managed to make a dent.

And now his Soul and body were aching from being overloaded. Luckily he was strong, and it was just for a short time, but it still hurt! He overestimated his capabilities once again. He wondered how many people would have to put their life on the line to replicate what he did.

Probably hundreds.

"Well, that doesn't matter! You saved us all, and that's all we care about," Dug said and kneeled before him. "You risked your life for us, so we'll be forever in your debt!"

Gerald looked at the rest of the men kowtowing at him and felt awkward. His bleeding stopped already, and after drinking a Health Potion he was already feeling better. It was also embarrassing having old men kowtowing at his feet. He just wasn't used to it.

"You risked your life to save us, thank you!" Gustav shouted while also kowtowing.

Gerald scratched his chin and gave a cheeky smile, "What are you talking about? We're just lucky the worm was a coward and was easily spoked. If my plan didn't work I was just going to fly away at the last moment," he shamelessly admitted.

"Oh…"

There was a moment of silence.

But the warriors were no fools. They were old and had experienced many things. One glance at Gerald's sorry state was enough for them to come to a decision.

'He's trying to save us some face by saying those harsh things. Just look at him, all bloody and trembling. For god's sake, he can barely stand! Such a kindhearted person!'

Tears welled in their eyes at the mere thought, and they forced themselves to stand back up, "It doesn't matter what your intent was! You saved me, so my life now belongs to you! I swear to Innos to return this good deed!"

"Exactly! We don't care if it was just an accident, or whatever! We'll follow you to the ends of the... desert!"

"Me too, I owe you my life, do with me what you will!"

"Yes!"

"I agree as well!"

Somehow Gerald suddenly gained a whole bunch of followers that misunderstood his words.

'Eh, whatever… Having a few lackeys is not that bad I guess…' he mused. Since they offered, he wasn't going to refuse.

"Alright! Gentlemen! This calamity was a test sent from the gods! Now that we survived it, hunting for a giant flaming chicken will be a piece of cake!" Gerald shouted and filled the men with renewed vigor and raised their morale.

He marched to the front and gave a shout to lift their spirits.

"Fate is on our side! Now let's go! To the canyon!"