Shaking hands with the smith, who represented the whole mining operation, Liam then left the smithery feeling a bit lighter. Now, he had to try out his idea. Leaving the fort, he started running to the big group of Shades that Wang Lei had talked about. As he ran, he got attacked by more of the fog monsters, which were in much greater numbers than the normal, living animals. That did not mean there were few of the living creatures, however. On the way he encountered several Wolver packs, dealing with a few of them. Increasing his stats by a few meager points, he continued on his way. Only after running for over 50km did he start finding traces of what Wang Lei mentioned. The frequency of the attacks by Shades increased, as well as the number of attackers.

‘I should get to higher ground.’

He then started to climb the trees around him with surprising skill. Already used to climbing them, Liam quickly ascended towards the crown. It was the result of the experiences he had accumulated while hunting and exploring. As he reached the canopies and fought off a few bird and insect monsters, he realized he had been lucky. Most of the trees in his immediate surroundings apart from the one he was on had been at least partially eroded. His line of sight was then immediately attracted to the large, black mass a few hundred meters ahead.

A gigantic crack on the earth spread for almost a kilometer, reminding Liam of a canyon. The difference, however, was that it was mostly consumed by fog. Rising up towards the heavens, the large mass of mist was surrounded by an entire army of Shades. From terrestrial predators to flying creatures, the black ghostly entities had taken the form of many of the enemies Liam had fought, and many he had not. At the very center of the fog, stood… something.

‘What the hell is that?’

It was clearly at the level of a behemoth, no doubt. The problem was that Liam couldn’t clearly identify its shape. It looked like an amorphous carapace with teeth. The moment it stretched towards the top of the fog and contorted itself, he realized what it was.

‘An earthworm?’

No, would it be more accurate to describe it as a sandworm, the likes of which could be seen in fantasy stories? It looked like an armored earthworm, with a large hole covered in teeth for a mouth. Being tens of meters in length, it was nothing short of gigantic. Liam frowned. He had never seen anything like it in the rainforest. Was it a monster migrated from the other Tutorial Zones? At the very least, it was a living creature. The problem was the number of Shades surrounding it. It also seemed to be protecting the entrance to the deeper layers of the abyss that was the crack.

‘There’s no way for me to fight a behemoth and an army at the same time.’

It seemed like he would be forced to, however. Circulating his Aura, Liam waited for a reaction from the sandworm, eyeing it carefully. If it displayed any reaction, it was because it was also capable of using Aura, just like the behemoth he’d encountered outside the forest Ruin. At that moment, he would unhesitatingly retreat. It was because he would certainly die if he tried fighting an Aura-wielding behemoth and the army of Shades.

Sitting down, Liam observed his enemies carefully. The Shades had a specific movement pattern, he noticed. They roamed around the center of the fog and the sandworm like a living spiral. The sandworm’s movements were more erratic, but it also seemed to be moving around something.

‘Is it the source?’

Liam grasped his stone spear tightly. The weapon from the underwater Ruin resonated with him, its blue vessels shining slightly. He felt like he was developing some sort of connection to it, but it was very faint.

For the next few hours, Liam settled for watching the creatures. The sandworm would dive down into the canyon periodically, but rise again minutes after. The third time it had done so, it took longer than usual. Every time after that, it kept taking longer to rise again. It was what Liam was counting on.

‘It’s going to dive down for the tenth time soon.’

Watching the suns above him, Liam calculated how long it had been since the sandworm had dived down. It would do so once or twice every hour. He could not understand why, but attributed it to its nest being somewhere deeper into the canyon. It was possible it was going down to feed. Such an enormous body required titanic amounts of energy to sustain itself, after all, especially without Aura. It was unfeasible for it to stay on the surface without eating for that long, no matter what it was trying to protect.

That was when it happened. The creature’s enormous body curved downwards, sliding on the earth and into the canyon. Its cylindrical shape made its body scrape against the walls, breaking off large chunks of rock with a thundering noise.

‘Now.’

Liam stood up. He would have to give it his all in order to kill the hundreds of Shades before the sandworm came back. And that meant using his new skills to the fullest. He cracked his neck before starting to make his way down the tree. His heart beat strongly in his chest, the strong anxiety he felt before every difficult fight taking hold of him. It was also a type of exhilaration. He was excited. He had only felt like this after getting transported to the Tutorial Zone. It was the difference between having a goal and not having one. Every fight, every step he took, they were all for humanity and himself. For his dream. They were backed by his determination to protect. It was his strongest power.

[Your Personal Attribute ripples.]

Liam momentarily stopped as he heard and read the System notification, before returning to his run. It seemed like he would get more powerful soon. Until then, he had to try his hardest. His improved footwork skills, which also increased his movement speed, pushed him forward faster than ever. As he erupted into the surface of the canyon, hundreds of Shades soundlessly turned towards him at once. One could hear a pin drop. The creatures were all frozen, painting an eerie sight. Then, they started moving simultaneously.

‘Aura Blade.’

The blue vessels on Liam’s weapon glowed strongly as it emitted a sharp cry, his black Aura flooding it. From the spear tip, his Aura stretched out. The flying Shades swooped down, their beaks open but with no sound coming out of them. The terrestrial fog monsters ran at him, their soulless eyes staring directly at his heart. Liam charged forward.

The collision between the opponents shook the very earth. The moment Liam made the first contact with the enemies, he spun his spear in a wide arc, severing the heads of the nearest Shades. However, those simply diluted into the fog and returned to the canyon while they were replaced by the rest of the army. It was Liam’s greatest fight so far.

‘Turn off your mind. Follow your instincts.’

His spear danced between his enemies, severing limbs and cutting them apart. His feet slid on the ground, going from place to place and making him seem like he was teleporting. It was beautiful. The combination of footwork technique with his Intermediate Spear Mastery was seamless. Even so, it was not enough. Wounds slowly started to accumulate on his body. The enemies were simply too many and attacked him from all sides. Above, the birds and insects swooped down and buzzed around him. On the ground, Shade replications of Stalking Terrors and various other beasts assaulted him.

‘Faster.’

Liam’s spear increased in speed. His cuts and thrusts were like a blur, piercing forehead after forehead. Deadly accurate. But it was not enough.

SLASH

Liam suffered from his first relatively severe wound. A large claw mark stretched across his back. The second was to the back of his thigh. Even so, his Aura Blade kept showing its value. It allowed him to block larger attacks, as well as counterattack from farther away. In addition to the larger area of effect that allowed him to hit several enemies at once, it was the best method he had to exploit the advantages of his weapon type.

‘Better. Calm down.’

The enemies’ movements came into view as his dynamic vision expanded. The way they moved seemed to him like pieces of a puzzle, all fitting together beautifully. It was the beginning of the end. Liam’s weapon spun around him. Every time he was attacked, his weapon deflected or absorbed the blow as if it were the deep sea swallowing whatever came at it. Then, in a single move, he retaliated with absolute strength, like a thunderbolt. It was the spearmanship that his increased comprehension had worked on for almost half a year. Through his footwork, he exploited his relatively small size. Given how big most of the monsters were, there were only so many of them that could attack him at once. It meant that he was dealing with three to four monsters at a time, instead of the hundreds coming at him, even though they crawled over one another to attack him.

Slowly, the number of enemies started to reduce. From hundreds, they became tens. From tens, they became several. And from several, they became none. The earth shook. The sandworm erupted from the canyon, roaring towards the sky. Its giant mouth fell directly in Liam’s direction. A great shadow was cast over him. He dashed to the side, narrowly dodging the attack. Sliding on the ground, he took the opportunity to dash at the worm. However, he was forced to stop. Instead of lifting its head up and sending it crashing down again, as he expected it to, the sandworm used its powerful teeth to crush stone and move it out of the way, before directly diving into it in front of him. The sight of the several-tens-of-meters-long body crackling through the air and diving into solid stone was enough to stop Liam in his tracks.