Chapter 60
Chapter 60
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 60
Chapter Title: Sandworm
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A worm as thick as my pinky finger stared blankly up at me.
I was at a loss for words for a moment. This was supposed to be the god of the earth?
I let out a hollow laugh.
“Pfft… This is it? This little thing?”
Disappointment washed over me.
Break down that city wall with this?
God of the earth, my ass. It was just a bug.
That was when it happened.
Wriggle. Wriggle.
The little bug at my feet suddenly began to grow.
Its body, which had been as thick as my pinky, swelled to the size of my forearm in an instant.
Now it looked like a massive python.
“Uh…”
Its growth didn’t stop there.
A body thick enough to swallow a bus whole continued to rise from beneath the sand.
Its head nearly brushed the ceiling of the cave.
A long, enormous shadow loomed over my face.
“Uh, whoa… This is way too big…”
I stumbled back in panic.
I slowly tilted my head up to gaze at the towering Sandworm.
Its cylindrical body was covered in a carapace that looked like a mix of rock and sand.
And at the end, a hideous head. There were no eyes, no nose.
Just a massive mouth split into three sections.
When the mouth opened, I could see thousands of teeth spiraling inside. The depths were pitch black, impenetrable.
That enormous maw slowly lowered toward me.
“Gah, no way… This can’t be real!”
My legs gave out, and I collapsed right there.
Instinctual terror.
My mind went blank, and my whole body trembled uncontrollably.
Rumble!
The massive mouth came right up to my face.
Hot breath whooshed over me.
“Kyaaah!”
I squeezed my eyes shut in terror.
“I take it back! You’re not small! Forgive me! Please, forgive me!”
Ignoring my desperate screams, the giant head lunged toward me.
This was it. The end.
Those thousands of teeth would shred my body to pieces.
But the expected pain never came.
Instead, hot breaths kept periodically washing over me.
I cracked my eyes open cautiously and peered ahead.
The Sandworm’s mouth was still hovering right in front of my nose.
That was when it happened.
A direct will flowed into my mind.
[The Sandworm wishes for you to ride on its body.]
I doubted my ears for a moment.
Ride? On what?
I glanced at the massive mouth in front of me.
No way, right?
“…You mean I have to go inside its mouth?”
The Sandworm’s enormous head bobbed slightly up and down.
Affirmation.
I freaked out and shouted.
“Are you insane? Why the hell would I climb in there!”
Just imagining it made me want to puke.
Crawl into that creepy bug’s mouth?
But the Sandworm was persistent.
[The Sandworm says it is no mere bug.]
[The Sandworm insists this is the safest place.]
Its will echoed in my head again.
I made a face of utter disgust.
But in one corner of my mind, another thought was taking root.
This thing was a Rainbow-rank summon. Its capabilities were bound to be top-notch.
In the end, I had to use this skill to breach the city wall.
“Screw it. Let’s give it a shot.”
I reluctantly stood up, steeling myself as I walked toward the Sandworm’s mouth.
With every step, my legs shook.
“Ugh, this feels so gross…”
Finally, I placed one foot at the entrance.
Contrary to my expectations, it wasn’t slimy or sticky.
Instead, cool, fresh air flowed out, like stepping into a forest.
“Oh… It’s not bad after all.”
The interior was far more spacious and cozy than I’d imagined.
The walls felt like soft carpet.
Glowing spores floated in the air, keeping it from being dark.
I felt my tension ease as I looked around.
Then, the Sandworm’s will reached me again.
[The Sandworm asks for permission to depart.]
I nodded.
At the same moment, I felt the floor gently shift.
The sensation of a massive being swimming through the earth.
There was hardly any vibration.
It was as smooth a ride as being in a luxury sedan.
“Ooh, so we’re just gonna bust straight through the front gate like this?”
I grinned in satisfaction.
There was just one downside.
“Not being able to see outside is kinda annoying.”
I wanted to watch that massive gate get demolished firsthand.
I addressed the Sandworm.
“Hey, can you show me what’s outside for a sec…?”
Before I could finish, a familiar message window popped up in front of me.
[Congratulations on clearing the 26th floor EXTREME difficulty.]
[Rank 1 bonus applied!]
“?”
I stared blankly at the message.
Cleared? Already?
What about the gate?
I couldn’t process the situation for a moment.
“What the hell?”
As I stood there dazed, a familiar sensation enveloped my body.
The feeling of being forcibly ejected from the tower. My vision blurred as my body was sucked into the air.
One thought flashed through my mind.
“No way it’s gonna come out at full size, right?”
A giant monster appearing in the middle of Daejeon?
I could already see the headlines: S-rank hunters dispatched on emergency, Daejeon doomed—9 o’clock news.
Terrifying visions raced through my head.
Please, anything but that.
Thankfully, Daejeon didn’t meet its end.
As soon as I emerged outside, I frantically looked around, but there was no trace of the giant worm anywhere.
I let out a sigh of relief.
“Phew, dodged a bullet there.”
That was the exact moment.
Something slithered up my thigh.
I jolted in shock and looked down.
A small snake climbing up my leg.
No, not a snake. It was the Sandworm from before.
Shrunk to the size of an ordinary snake, it was coiling around my leg as it ascended.
“Kyaaah!”
I screamed.
The cold shell touching my bare skin was disgustingly repulsive.
I instinctively shouted.
“Dismiss!”
The Sandworm coiled around my leg dissolved into particles of light in an instant.
My heart pounded like mad.
“You crazy bastard, where do you think you’re climbing?!”
I muttered through ragged breaths.
I never wanted to feel that horrific sensation again.
As I sat on the ground for a while, calming my nerves,
That voice echoed in my head again.
[The Sandworm requests to see the outside world.]
I furrowed my brow.
Even after dismissal, its will was still reaching me.
Was this thing mentally linked to me constantly?
The thought of more hassle made me sigh.
But I couldn’t just ignore it. It was my one and only Rainbow-rank summon, after all.
“Haah… Fine, fine.”
I reluctantly summoned it again.
This time, I summoned it small from the start.
Small enough to fit in my palm.
Poof.
With a light pop, a tiny Sandworm appeared on my palm.
Pinky-finger sized. Just like when I first saw it in the tower.
It wouldn’t stay still. It wriggled on my palm and tried to climb up my body again.
“Hey! Can’t you stay put?!”
I panicked and flung it to the ground, then started stomping on it mercilessly.
Splat! Splat! Splat!
“You perverted freak, quit crawling everywhere!”
But my attacks had no effect.
My foot only felt like it was stepping on a hard rock.
It didn’t even seem to feel pain as it wriggled.
“Eugh, so gross…”
[The Sandworm conveys that it must stay attached to recharge its energy.]
[The Sandworm conveys that movement consumes a lot of energy.]
Its will rang in my head.
I stopped stomping.
So it needed to stick to me to recharge energy.
No wonder it kept trying to cling.
I let out a deep sigh and looked down at the curled-up thing on the ground.
In the end, I’d lost.
“Fine. But you stay still. If you wriggle, I’m dismissing you immediately.”
I reluctantly extended my finger.
The Sandworm approached my index finger. It shrank even smaller, coiling around my finger like a ring.
When it stayed still, it actually looked like a ring.
“What a sight…”
Fortunately, its cold, hard, rocky texture wasn’t too bad.
I figured I could tolerate it like this.
***
I lay on the bed, casually munching on snacks.
The only sounds in the empty space were the hum of the computer fan and the crunching from my mouth.
“Nothing beats this taste.”
I savored a box of snacks like I owned the world.
I reached for the next piece.
Only two pieces left in the box.
Whoosh.
The Sandworm, coiled around my index finger like a ring, suddenly shot out its head.
In a flash faster than lightning, it snatched the snack before my finger could reach it.
Then it instantly reverted to its ring form.
As if nothing had happened.
“…?”
I doubted my eyes for a moment.
What just zipped by?
I tilted my head and reached for the last piece.
Whoosh.
The Sandworm snatched it again.
This time, I saw it clearly.
The stone ring on my finger coming alive in that eerie way.
“You little shit?”
A curse slipped out.
I shoved my finger in front of my face and yelled.
“Hey! What the hell do you think you’re doing?!”
The Sandworm ignored my shout.
Instead, it brazenly sent its will into my head.
[The Sandworm desires more offerings.]
I laughed in disbelief.
“More? Who the hell are you to steal my snacks?!”
[The Sandworm says this is the most satisfying offering it has tasted in tens of thousands of years.]
It completely ignored me.
Fuming, I shook my finger wildly.
“You stole the last piece? Spit it out! Right now!”
But it didn’t budge.
I pondered how to punish this summon.
That was when the doorbell rang.
Ding-dong.
Grimacing, I got up.
The intercom screen showed a familiar face.
It was the broker coming with the payment for the Orihalcon sale.