Garan had his hands full with the Goveyrm and about a handful of Sandworm assistants. Next to him was Erol and Waco, one of Erol’s most trusted men.

The Sandworms seemed to take advantage of the sand liquifaction created by the massive gorevrym. Rather than be carried away by it, they knew where to position themselves so they’d be pushed forward instead.

So, with the giant worm leading the way, the smaller ones would always follow right behind. The difficulty was not just because of the giant worm’s fast and heavy movements, but also because after they used a skill or something against the Gorevyrm, the ’assistant worms’ would attack.

This Gorevyrm was a few times more difficult to deal with than the one found in the Training Hall. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

Meanwhile, Althea and the others dealt with the remaining dozen or so Sandworms, all of which would appear from below and try to bite or wrap someone.

Althea gritted her teeth as she struggled to gain her balance and momentum. After all, whenever there was movement of the sand, even if she wasn’t captured, she couldn’t enter a proper fighting or shooting stance because the ground itself tended to shift.

She wanted to train with her earth ability—in theory, she should be able to control sand, to a degree—but she couldn’t find the chance to get a feel of it for now.

Instead, she took out one of the wide-leaf succulents in her space. She controlled the plants, turning them into relatively stable ground she could step on.

It was the same form she used as a shield, which was just as well considering the enemies were coming from below.

The others were surprised—no, shocked—but focused on fighting.

First of all, wasn’t she an earth elementalist?

Was she a dual elementalist this entire time?!

They could not wallow in their shock, however, because the Sandworms seemed to have endless energy while in their home turf, and it felt like they were facing a continuous fountain trying to hit them, except rather than water, it spewed out snake-like worms.

Maika, fortunately, was somewhat familiar with this monster and told them that the Sandworms’ weakness was a meter under their throats.

Althea heard them and also planned accordingly. She took out another plant from her space.

A dandelion.

Dandelions were resilient and easy-to-grow plants that had tiny leaves and flowers. But what made it useful in her case was that despite their ’small’ appearance above ground, its root was actually extremely expansive.

It was actually known for its deep and expansive taproot that was very difficult to pull out.

Roots could stabilize soft soil, and this included sand.

"Maika, please hold them off and keep them within the same area," she said. "Please prepare your finishing moves and skills."

She could only hold them off for several seconds and definitely did not have the energy to land the lethal shots.

Althea summoned her deep, wood ability that was definitely far superior to any wood user out there.

Maika and the others were shocked when they saw the large snakes being held up or in place within the sand.

Althea looked at them, gaping and shouted, pulling them back to the present.

"Now!"

...

While Althea’s fight was about to end, Garan’s was entering its climax. He hadn’t been using his ability much, knowing to consolidate his level and also to ensure his combat skills didn’t get rusty.

After all, magic skills required mana, basic combat skills did not.

When Garan saw that his wife was almost done, he also decided to finish it off. By this time, to monster’s health was less than half, and the Sandworms had been eliminated.

He summoned a metal spike, targeting its weaknesses, but the monster suddenly moved more wildly, a bit unusual to its usual movement pattern. It must’ve sensed danger.

GGRRRRRKKK!

It immediately retaliated, stopping Garan’s attack midway.

For a moment, Garan was slapped aside. He managed to regain his balance midair, an impressive feat.

He assumed his two companions also got up. Unexpectedly, the two of them remained in the monsters’ paths. Erol was about to jump out, but unexpectedly, Waco pulled his arm and kept him in place.

Erol was confused at first until his friend directly kicked him into the monster’s mouth!

Although the Gorevym’s level was lower than Erol’s, its physical stats were superior. Morbidly, if it managed to grip onto him, even if he was still fine upon impact, the giant worm could pull him down into the sand.

Depending on the depth of the sand—which could go up to a hundred meters deep—they might be unable to recover from ’drowning’, even if they had a high level.

Not to mention, Erol had been plenty consumed by the Sandworms. Though it looked like he had a teammate with him, Waco—in retrospect—hadn’t really taken down a single one.

Garan didn’t wait. As soon as he landed, he threw a sharp metal spike into the monsters mouth that opened up, ready to eat Erol.

Roooar!

The two gaped and looked at him, while Erol took as second to realize what happened. He immediately turned, ready to defend against the attack that followed after that.

Oough!

Erol jumped back, barely avoiding the sharp axe. Fortunately, his defense equipment was still active, but its durability had certainly decreased.

"Why?!"

"Why? You’re asking me?"

"If it weren’t for your arrogance, would my sister have died?!"

"That wasn’t me—" Erol retorted. "You know that!"

"I don’t care!" Waco screamed, seemingly insane, sending a barrage of slashes with his axe, forcing Erol to retaliate.

With Garan handling the monsters, Erol managed to take Waco down within a couple of minutes.

Despite how he usually looked, Erol was the leader of their little organization for a reason. He was definitely not weak, especially not against his own people.

"Why? WHY!?" he asked again, but Waco only grinned, looking arrogantly at him.

Erol’s eyes reddened, his heart clenched in anger after the betrayal of a friend. He lifted his arm to punch some sense off of this bastard!

BAM!

Erol’s punch landed straight at his face.

BAM!

Another hit felt like it shattered his insides.

Before Erol could make another move, however, his arm was held back. The livid Erol looked and saw it was Garan, who had that impassive expression on his face. "Don’t kill him yet," he said.

"Why?"

"I suspect he has someone else behind him."

"What?"

Before he could react, Waco jumped up, his arm raised up high, and he used his ultimate skill to slash at the distracted Erol.

Garan instinctively froze his legs, while Erol’s reflex also moved on its own, his body retaliating with a deadly shot.

Slash!

Waco died like this, and no more information could be found.