Chapter 319 - B-rank Scorpion?!
WHOOSH!
Theo felt his stomach twist.
The ground disappeared beneath him for barely a second before his feet slammed against something solid again.
’’What the?!’’
He stumbled forward, quickly catching himself.
Around him, several more surprised shouts rang out.
Theo’s gaze swept across his surroundings instantly.
The ancient residential area from before had completely disappeared.
Instead, they found themselves in another even larger chamber.
Except this one was filled with sand, with only some ancient pillars barely sticking out.
’’We were teleported?’’ he muttered, confused.
’’What the fuck!’’ Owen cursed beside him, having face-planted in the sand. ’’What kind of bullshit is this?!’’
Lyra and Jim also spat out a handful of sand, glancing around annoyed.
Fortunately, it didn’t seem like anyone was injured.
Even the backpacks and supplies they had placed down before being teleported were scattered across the sand nearby.
Suddenly, Theo started feeling a strangely familiar uneasy feeling.
’Danger?’ he thought, glancing around instantly. ’Feng, can you scan this place?’
Just then, Isabelle slowly pushed herself onto her feet behind him.
’’Does this happen often?’’ she asked, brushing sand from her clothes.
’’How the hell would we know?’’ Owen grumbled. ’’We got here at the same time you did.’’
Isabelle’s eye twitched.
’’I was asking Nadia,’’ she said coldly.
Nadia slowly shook her head.
’’I’ve heard plenty of stories,’’ she said. ’’But I’ve never heard about sudden teleportations.’’
Jim’s expression grew uneasy instantly.
’’So nobody that made it out mentioned this,’’ he said before gulping. ’’Maybe this is something only those who didn’t make it out experien—’’
Whoosh!
A sledgehammer suddenly hooked around his leg.
Before he could even react, it pulled back with immense force.
THUD!
Jim face-planted into the sand once more.
’’Stop planting red flags,’’ Owen’s voice rang out behind him.
Jim immediately raised his head, spitting out sand.
’’What the hell?!’’ he shouted angrily. ’’I’ve got sand everywhere now, you fucker!’’
Owen casually rested the sledgehammer against his shoulder.
’’You were the one talking nonsense,’’ he replied with a shrug.
As they continued bickering, Theo stayed completely focused on his surroundings.
He could very clearly feel that something was wrong.
But he just couldn’t tell what it was.
’We can’t move either,’ he thought. ’We literally have no idea where we are.’
If they were just going to blindly run around now, it was very likely that they’d be running into danger instead.
And with his mana sense practically blocked because of the barrier, Feng was the only one he could rely on.
’Did you find anything?’ he asked internally.
Feng remained silent for a moment.
’’There is something strong nearby,’’ it finally said. ’’But I cannot locate it.’’
Theo’s expression stiffened.
That was incredibly strange.
Feng used his Wind mana to sense the surroundings. As long as there was air around something, it was incredibly difficult to hide from him.
Suddenly, his eyes began to widen.
Theo’s gaze slowly lowered to the sand dunes below.
’Unless there isn’t any air around it...’ he swallowed. ’And it’s hiding underground.’
His grip tightened around his umbrella immediately.
’Then we’re standing right on top of—’
Before he could even react, the sand underneath him suddenly trembled.
RUMBLE!
’’What the—’’ Owen shouted as his body began rising.
But it wasn’t just him.
Nadia, Jim and Lyra were rising alongside him as an enormous section of the dune slowly lifted out of the ground.
’’What the fuck is happening?!’’ Jim shouted, utterly terrified.
Sand gradually slipped away beneath their feet, revealing a massive dark brown shell underneath.
Meanwhile, Theo jumped back, avoiding getting dragged up too.
’’JUMP OFF!’’ he shouted.
BOOOM!
The sand behind them suddenly exploded.
An enormous segmented tail burst out of the ground, sending sand flying dozens of feet into the air.
Theo quickly raised a water shield in front of them, blocking the wave of sand.
But the creature’s tail continued rising higher and higher until, finally, a massive black stinger appeared at its end.
’’JUMP!’’ he shouted once more.
This time, everyone reacted.
Lyra, Jim, Owen and Iris all used their own spells to rush off the large creature.
Theo was about to start commanding when a shiver suddenly ran down his spine.
Now that the sand had stopped falling, two enormous pitch-black eyes became visible right in front of him.
Theo froze.
For a brief moment, he found himself staring directly into them.
Then several smaller eyes slowly opened around the first pair.
All of them focused directly on him.
’’Oh fuck.’’
RUMBLE!
Theo’s eyes snapped towards the sand on both sides of the creature.
’’EVERYONE BACK!’’
Two enormous pincers burst out of the sand simultaneously.
They snapped open, poison mana already wrapped around the inside, before immediately swinging towards the group from both sides.
Lightning ran through Theo’s body, lighting up his skin in a yellow color.
WHOOSH!
In an instant, he appeared by Iris and Nadia’s side, dragging both of them away from the danger.
At the same time, Owen had grabbed hold of Jim and Lyra while rocks started gathering around his body.
BANG!
The two pincers slammed shut where they’d just been standing.
Poison scattered everywhere, melting away the sand around them.
Seeing the scene, Theo’s expression grew serious.
’A scorpion?’ he thought. ’And of course it uses acids...’
Quickly shaking his head, he focused on more important matters.
’Feng, how strong is that thing?’ he asked internally. ’And I need a close assessment.’
’’It’s a B-rank,’’ it replied instantly. ’’Seems to be about the same strength as the vultures outside.’’
Before Theo could even think about it, the beast’s tail moved.
Its black stinger shot straight towards him at almost lightning-fast speeds.
Theo’s expression darkened.
He tossed Nadia and Iris away before raising his unfolded umbrella.
Water swirled around it instantly, forming a huge rotating water tornado in the middle of the air.
BOOOM!!!
It slammed straight into the water tornado.
Theo slid backwards slightly.
BANG!
Only a moment later, the stinger slammed directly into his umbrella.
’’Ugh!’’
Luckily, he wasn’t alone.
BANG!
A large, flaming earth hammer slammed into the tail not too far away.
SCREEECH!
The scorpion instantly pulled back its tail.
’’You good?’’ Owen shouted.
’’Yes,’’ Theo replied right away.
As he dashed back up to Owen, a thought suddenly flashed through his mind.
The ground beneath them... it was mostly regular sand.
’’Everyone!’’ he shouted. ’’We don’t have to be careful with our attacks here!’’