RUMBLE.
The sand beneath the Runehammer wreckage began to liquefy.
"Master!" Isabelle shouted, her red eyes flaring as she sensed the vibration.
"Below us!"
She reached out to grab him, but the ground exploded before she could close the distance.
BOOM.
A pillar of muscle and teeth erupted from the sand.
It was an Abyss Ash-Maw Worm, a thirty-foot-long predator blinded by centuries of darkness, hunting solely by vibration.
It had sensed the movement of the compass and the heartbeat of the intruders.
Its maw, lined with rows of serrated obsidian teeth, snapped shut inches from where Damien had been standing.
Damien tumbled backwards, sliding down the shifting dune. He rolled to his feet, coughing up ash.
The Worm screeched, a high-pitched sound that rattled the bones in Damien's chest.
It turned its massive, eyeless head toward him. It could smell the sweet, leaking mana of his Celestial Life Physique.
