Chapter 384: Avarice-3
What was a nightmare?
Being stuck in a desert, not knowing how to get out, while creatures that should’ve never existed chased you at a speed that broke every damn rule of physics. And if that wasn’t enough—what about two of them?
’For fuck’s sake!’ Ren bolted at full speed, grabbing Blaze by the nape.
Behind him, a sandworm wriggled out of its burrow at a terrifying pace—revealing more and more of its grotesque, whitish, translucent flesh. Its innards were visible if one looked closely, its eyes oozing with bloodlust. Its maw remained shut while a screeching noise came from gill-like slits along its sides. Its monstrous frame kept emerging, still not showing its full length.
Ren ran. He felt it—something was severely wrong with these things. They dove out of the sand and surfed across it, cutting through like sharks in water.
And they were catching up. Even though Ren had reinforced every fiber of his body with mana—straining each muscle to the peak—it took them no time at all to close in on the puny human before them.
The larger one lagged slightly behind, but the smaller worm surged forward, towering above Ren, ready to crush him under its immense mass.
It was then that Ren threw Blaze forward. Through their mental link, he relayed his thoughts .
Blaze hurtled ahead, the air around him crackling with an otherworldly glow—as though he was being wrapped in both shadows and divine flashes at once.
His body mutated. Tiny wings stretched outward, leathery and chiropteran, spanning dozens of feet on each side. His frame grew, muscles tightening beneath his sublime raven fur, taking form similiar to of a flying panther.
With a thunderous flap, Blaze launched himself a few feet above the ground. Ren poured everything into one final sprint and narrowly avoided being crushed beneath the worm’s titanic body.
Mounting his partner, Ren gripped his fur tightly as Blaze, now in his imposing form, roared and beat his wings, carrying them skyward and away from their hunters.
With each passing second, the gap widened. They cut through the wind, ascending higher and higher. Relief washed over Ren as the worms shrank beneath them. He might’ve flown on his own, but unfurling his wings always took time. Blaze’s transformation was quicker—more powerful—and his choice proved right. At least, until...
Ren glanced below. The larger worm had gone still, as if losing interest. Then, without warning, it burrowed back into the sand. The smaller one screeched a few more times across the surface before following suit. Silence reclaimed the desert. No trace of the sandworms remained.
Sand leveled up immediately, gold glinted carelessly as if inviting him down and hoard it all for himself.
Everything returned to normal.
’Only if there was anything normal in this place.’
Though relieved, Ren remained wary. He didn’t slow down. His eyes stayed fixed on the ground below as the desert stretched away, its surface glittering faintly under the stars.
It was then—the sand sank, creating a pit hundreds of meters wide. The ground swirled violently, spinning in a massive circle, and something erupted from beneath the crimson desert.
With its maw wide open, Ren witnessed the horror inside: uncountable rows of crystalline gnashers, spinning like sawblades along its inner walls. From the gills at its sides, torrents of sand blasted outward, creating enough lift to propel its enormous body into the air.
Ren’s face paled. The chase was not over. Far from it. There was still some distance between them, but he and Blaze adjusted their course, soaring upward in a desperate climb.
Behind them, the endless vermin defied all reason, pumping out more sand from its gills to sustain its unnatural flight. Its colossal bulk twisted, shifting weight to turn mid-air and pursue them. Soon, the smaller one joined the frenzy, both monstrosities tearing after them through the night sky.
Every time Ren dared glance down, he was greeted by the sight of those grotesque maws, hungry and relentless. He hurled firebolts, conjured other spells, but none had effect. His magic fizzled uselessly against their armored flesh.
And worse—since Blaze had already run dry of his own reserves, Ren was channeling his mana into his partner just to keep them aloft. That left him with no means of attacking the beasts. Not that it mattered. Deep down, he doubted he could even scratch them, let alone bring them harm.
’When is this going to stop?’ Ren cussed, feeling a bit dizzy from the amount of atmospheric mana he had channeled from around him to Blaze through his body. They were now tens of miles above the ground—it was cold, and the air was thinner. Ren felt a bit numb, but whenever he looked at the sandworms below him... he felt insignificant, as if something had sucked him of his pride and self-confidence.
...like it was asking him to submit, to stop—to let go.
’I am going crazy,’ Ren shook these weird thoughts away, only to realize that Blaze was saying something.
"What?" he asked, his eyes locked onto the worm.
’UP!’
Blaze yelled a single word in his mind through their mental bond, his voice full of desperation and alarm.
Ren whipped his gaze away from the frenzied abomination below and looked up. It was... normal. Nothing seemed out of place.
Everything was just as before. The sky was dark, riddled with the sublime radiance of stars that hung unusually low, but still far away...
"Holy..." Ren did not even complete his cuss as he noticed what Blaze was talking about.
A star was falling.
Out of the infinite cluster of stars, one had decided to descend. It just fell. It was still far away, but if observed closely, one could notice that it was getting closer and closer at a tremendous speed—and would be upon them in no time.
Ren looked down. The frenzied abomination did not slow, and above him, neither did the falling heavenly body. And one thing he knew about stars was—that they were huge.