The black volcanic sand exploded upward in a thirty-foot geyser, raining coarse dirt and shattered palm leaves across the dense tropical canopy.

Hide backflipped through the air, his Abyssal Scale Carapace gleaming darkly in the morning light as he narrowly avoided the snapping jaws of the monstrosity erupting from the earth.

He landed smoothly on the trunk of a fallen tree, his blue eyes narrowing into predatory slits. True Sight mapped the chaotic mana swirling beneath the ground.

This was the second Lesser Calamity Lord of the island. Hide had left the camp early after he was unable to sleep to find it and kill it. He was dangerously close to reaching level 30 and having his second class Rank ascension.

He was level 28 as of now and he believed that if he would kill this beast on his own, that would be a push enough for him to reach the threshold.

The beast was a grotesque, forty-foot-long segmented worm, but it possessed dozens of thick, muscular legs that dug into the sand like excavators. Worst of all, at the front of its body was a twisted, human-like face, its jaw unhinged to reveal concentric rings of razor-sharp, spinning teeth.

The beast let out a horrific, high-pitched screech. The outer layer of its fleshy, segmented armor suddenly rippled. The skin rapidly hardened, calcifying into hundreds of razor-sharp, metallic needles.

’It can manipulate its cellular structure,’ Hide analyzed coldly, tightening his grip on the dagger he was using for this fight. ’It burrows into the ground to avoid fatal blows and uses its skin to attack and defend.’

"You insect, How long do you think you can run?" The beast’s almost human voice rang under the ground.

This was the worst part that made Hide grimace, it didn’t look real at all looking at such disgusting thing talking to him.

Suddenly, the rustle of leaves and heavy footsteps echoed from a nearby bush. Hide’s peripheral vision caught two familiar figures bursting through the brush.

Sora and Gideon had arrived, after fighting through and running from the swarms of beast, tracking the commotion.

The Lesser Calamity Lord’s grotesque face snapped toward the new arrivals. Recognizing weaker prey, the beast’s body convulsed violently. "New Insects."

"Get away!" Hide roared, his voice cutting through the humid air.

But Sora and Gideon were completely stunned. They had rushed in expecting a normal beast, not a towering, monstrosity preparing to unleash a lethal barrage. The worm whipped its massive body, firing a devastating volley of fifty metallic needles straight toward the frozen teenagers.

Hide could cross the distance if he wanted, but that won’t do. This was a chance while the beast was distracted. He let the dark mana from his body escape in a millisecond.

"Aegis!"

The space directly in front of Sora and Gideon violently warped. A massive surge of corrupted violet mana erupted from the earth, rapidly condensing into the towering, four-foot-wide dark iron frame of Aegis.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

Aegis slammed its colossal gauntlets together, forming an impenetrable wall of dark metal. The metallic needles rained down like artillery fire, sparking wildly as they ricocheted off the phantom’s impenetrable armor, leaving Sora and Gideon completely unharmed behind it.

Gideon’s jaw dropped, staring up at the hulking dark knight. "What... what is that thing?!"

"Don’t just stand there!" Hide barked, kicking off the tree trunk and launching himself directly at the worm. "Box it in! Don’t let it burrow!"

Sora snapped out of her daze first. Her dark eyes flashed with competitive fire. "You heard him, move!"

She activated her wind-attribute talent, a sphere of compressed air wrapping around her form. She became a blur, darting to the beast’s left flank. With blinding speed, her serrated daggers carved a flurry of slashes across the worm’s many legs, severing three of them in a spray of dark blood.

The beast shrieked, reeling to the side. "You bastards! This is cheating!"

"I’ve got the front!" Gideon bellowed. Pushing his Warrior class physique to the limit and turning his body to the configuration of metal. The giant charged. He didn’t use a weapon. He threw his massive shoulder forward, colliding with the worm’s lower segment.

Besides him Aegis followed and did the same.

The impact broke several of the beast’s needles and cratered the beast’s armor, lifting a portion of its massive body entirely off the ground and completely arresting its attempt to dive back into the sand.

With the beast pinned and distracted, Hide was already descending from above. The surrounding mana was condensing around his free hand and forming a compressed, constantly swirling ball of mana.

"Shut up, you ugly asshole." Hide whispered.

He drove a point-blank Mana Blast directly into the back of the worm’s neck. The violent, compressed explosion shattered its metallic outer layer, and went straight through its innards tearing them apart and leaving its body with a hole that took away its ability to speak.

The beast thrashed in absolute agony, its human-like face contorting as it desperately tried to shake them off.

It was strong, but against a coordinated assault, it was losing ground. The beast reared its ugly head back, its jaws spinning wildly as it prepared to unleash a desperate, self-destructive shockwave.

Hide didn’t give it the chance. He vanished backward using Phantom Step, his glowing blue eyes locking onto the sky above the canopy.

"Petra. its yours."

High in the stratosphere, a massive shadow folded its wings. The flying phantom with a beak as large as the worm itself, was an apex predator for a worm, forged of pure dark mana.

A deafening sonic boom ruptured the air. Petra descended like a midnight missile, completely bypassing the beast’s defenses. The phantom bird’s razor-sharp obsidian beak and extended talons struck the exposed wound on the worm’s neck.

SHHHHHHK!

The impact was so devastating it cleanly severed the Lesser Calamity Lord’s massive head from its body. A geyser of dark blood erupted into the air as the forty-foot body collapsed heavily onto the volcanic sand, causing the earth to tremble.

Petra let out a triumphant, metallic screech before seamlessly dissolving back into dark mana, returning to Hide’s core.

A familiar translucent window chimed in Hide’s vision.

[Phantom Soldier ’Petra’ has Eliminated a Calamity Beast (Everchanging Worm)]

Experience points gained: 4500

[Phantom Soldier ’Petra’ has Leveled Up!]

Level 1 → 2

[Phantom Soldier ’Petra’ has Leveled Up!]

Level 2 → 3

[Phantom Soldier ’Petra’ has Leveled Up!]

Level 3 → 4

[Phantom Soldier ’Petra’ has Leveled Up!]

Level 4 → 5

[Level Up]

Level: 28 → 29

Exp: 3750 / 6200

Level Up reward has been added to inventory.

Hide exhaled slowly, the dark scales of his Carapace retracting seamlessly back into his skin. It was Petra’s first kill and it alone pushed her to level 5. where Zenith had to kill several weaker beasts to gain 75 exp per kill and reach level 3.

He too had leveled up to 29 and more than half way through. Soon he would be D-Rank. he was just a little disappointed that he didn’t gain any new skills from fighting this Calamity Lord.

He dismissed his dagger and turned to Sora and Gideon, who were staring at the decapitated C-Rank beast—and then at Hide in stunned silence.

"You..." Gideon swallowed hard, pointing a trembling finger. "You just summoned two monsters."

"My class is unique," Hide replied flatly, offering no further explanation as he walked past them. "Keep moving. I just heard something from the other side and now that the calamity lord is dead, the other beasts would take over this place as well."

Still reeling from the sheer absurdity of an E-Rank dominating a Lesser Calamity Lord, the two rookies shared a bewildered look before hurrying to follow him through the dense foliage.

They trekked for another ten minutes, the temperature steadily rising as they neared the base of the island’s dormant volcano.

Eventually, the dense jungle parted, opening into a massive, scorched clearing of black rock.

Hide stopped, his eyes narrowing. As he saw Ryan constantly trying to attack Maddox meanwhile the older man tried to be on defensive and not injure the attacker.