Just after Deon and his companions entered, something inside the room seemed to have awakened from a long slumber.
The next instant, a great tremor was felt throughout the entire portal, as if to signal the presence of intruders in this place. The expedition had begun.
Just before they could take their first step, a strong wind blew, lifting the dust and blocking their vision.
Noticing something unusual, Déon quickly activated his skill, extending his senses within the portal. Of course, he couldn't cover every corner of the portal, but he could feel slight tremors coming from deep below.
"Something is coming up," he said out loud to inform the others.
"Let's climb one of those mountains quickly. It's not very safe to stay on the ground," he continued, rushing toward a rock to start climbing.
In less than a minute, they were already all on top of the mountain. Looking down, as the dust slowly cleared, they could see shapes undulating beneath the desert sand.
At first, Déon couldn't guess what it was or what kind of creature it might be. But eventually, once the dust completely settled, a strange expression appeared on his face.
"Nothing is normal in this world," he murmured, thinking about his previous battles.
The other members of his team remained stoic at the sight of the creature. At first glance, they looked confident and calm. But the truth was quite different.
Now that Déon had obtained his Sixth Sense, he could quickly perceive and analyze information that wasn't directly tied to the senses. In other words, he could read body language—and even more.
Looking more closely at the group, each of them was making gestures or expressions that betrayed their composure. As for Alexia, he could notice the corner of her lips trembling when she looked at the scene unfolding before their eyes. In other circumstances, this might mean something else, but here, it was a sign of nervousness.
Théo, for his part, had quickly gripped the hilt of his sword and seemed on high alert. His face appeared cold and calm as he watched the scene, but Déon would bet his hand that he was definitely agitated deep down.
Only Amelia showed her emotions somewhat openly. She was trembling slightly at the sight of the creature, with a complicated expression on her face.
As the dust disappeared, the shape of a monstrous creature became clearer. Soon, they saw it.
At first glance, it looked like the entrance of a cave—or even like a small pit, since it was about five meters in diameter. The difference was that one could see huge, sharp teeth all around the edges of this "pit."
A few seconds later, there were more tremors, and they could see the body of the creature that had burrowed deep in the desert starting to reveal itself.
The more they looked at the details, the easier it became to guess what kind of creature it was. It was nothing other than a giant sandworm.
Despite its build and imposing size, a single sandworm couldn't shock them this much. The problem was that there were about ten of them. And worse—they had surrounded the area.
Escape? They had all no doubt already thought about it, but there was nowhere to run. Besides, even if they wanted to, they were in a group, which would make things complicated. It wouldn't be very smart to run in these conditions.
"So this is what a real Rank D portal looks like? Impressive…" said Deon, trying to ease the sinister atmosphere.
"A sandworm doesn't normally look like that. A Rank D portal wasn't supposed to feel this heavy. All these abnormal phenomena are happening because of the forest," replied Théo nonchalantly.
"The forest, huh?"
Déon had already suspected it. The morphology of the demonic wolves he had fought earlier with Alexia didn't match the description he had read in a book at the library.
And besides, a normal sandworm didn't usually look like this either.
"Any suggestions on how to handle the raid? Considering their number, I suggest we take them one by one to finish this as quickly as possible," said Théo, taking the lead.
Déon didn't really agree with Théo's proposal and intervened to suggest another method for the raid.
"That would be efficient if everyone could defeat one of these monsters in record time. I don't think I can beat one of these creatures in one or two minutes. So I suggest we fight together as a group and take them down one by one," suggested Déon, looking at Théo.
Alexia wanted to join the conversation when a cracking sound was heard.
The small mountain they were standing on was starting to collapse. It was the work of the sandworms.
"Damn, we haven't even decided how to start the fight yet… Whatever, everyone's on their own," thought Théo as he realized what was happening.
The group was in free fall. Below, they could see the open maw of a sandworm, as if waiting to welcome them.
"Alexia, don't come down. Stay up there with your friend to support us—and no fire," said Déon quickly.
Alexia, who already understood where Déon was going with this, instantly summoned her sylphid. The wind spirit responded to her call, leaving a blast of wind behind as it appeared.
The next second, Alexia and Amelia were no longer falling. They were now floating in the air.
Boom!
Deon and Theo had just landed on the ground, causing an enormous wave of dust and noise, which alerted several of the sandworms.
They didn't wait before launching their assault on the sandworm that was nearby.
Slash
Slash
Theo had drawn his sword, making three quick successive cuts, deeply tearing through the sandworm's insides before activating his innate skill Lightning Strike, which triggered lightning to deal more damage.
As for Deon, while descending, he had already drawn his sword, infusing it with his aura. Joining Théo, he also lunged at the sandworm, mutilating it as much as possible.
"Strangely… why do I feel so strong?" he murmured, glancing behind him.