How To Survive A Calamity

Ceres, fortunately, didn't linger unnecessarily on the details of my plan and did as i had asked her.

"We're here."

I managed to move my arm and wiped the blood off my eyes before looking down.

Below, i could see the Sand Worm stirring amidst the barrage of flame attacks and explosions that persisted from Deandra's side.

'As expected of the Class rep, she's amazing...' i couldn't help but muse light heartedly.

I out of everyone present right now knew how much harder it must have been for Deandra who still hadn't yet recovered barely enough of her Mana.

'But that Grimoire must be more incredible than i thought for her to keep this up consistently...'

My interest in the Grimoire only grew as a result.

As I looked down and felt the air rumble, i gave a small bloody smile and said to Ceres holding me.

"I would have liked to go a little bit higher, but...this will have to do for now." I laughed morbidly and began gathering huge amounts of Either into my left arm.

—WHOOM~

"What is..."

I could feel Ceres' body tense as she held unto me in the air above the Sand Worm, but i pretended to ignore her reaction and focused more on charging my energy into my left hand.

"Ceres. You have one shot to end this, just like before with me." I smiled self mockingly without looking to see whatever expression Ceres might have made at my comment.

'Knowing her, there probably won't be any change in her expression. Heck, she probably doesn't even remember me.'

I wasn't sure how to feel if that was the case; i deeply remembered and was most likely never going to forget our duel, ever.

Thinking so, i restrained my thoughts and refocused my attention downwards.

'Let's do it.'

A concentrated viscous purple energy like thick liquid flames surrounded my left hand and continued to swell.

Then i took in another breath that made my lungs constrict with pain and said calmly,

"Drop me."

'Let's slay a fucking dragon!'

Without a word as so much as a warning, Ceres withdrew her arms and let go of me suddenly and i dropped down from high up in the air, feeling the wind and scenery race by me sharply.

The purple intensity gathering in my left arm continued to rise and increase.

And below, the sight of the large Sand Worm was rapidly drawing closer and my eyes sharpened.

I felt my left arm tremble in the process as an intangible weight began to make it feel heavier.

As i dropped through the air at that moment, i recalled the little conversation i just had with Ceres and had to admit something.

I guess it was kind of annoying and frustrating that i had to leave all the experience points from killing the king of the Desert to Ceres, but this was probably not the time to think about that.

My priorities...

'Alex...'

Lay elsewhere.

My body thrubbed and ached as i fell through the air from the pressure, reaching closer and closer to my target below me.

I plunged into the thick clouds of black smoke and pumes. And at the same time, almost as if sensing my arrival from above in the air, the Sand Worm just so happened to be raising it's cone shaped head up at me.

It spread its ghastly more open into various sections that bloomed like morbid flower petals, revealing ghastly rows of spiraling sharp teeth and saliva from all directions.

What followed was a gruesome cry like a defying screech that made my skin crawl and my blood boil in disgust.

Regardless, i kept my eyes peeled and counted the seconds down until the last for my descent.

Although, as i stared at the sight of the spread open mouth of the Sand Worm, i began to really start to question my life choices.

'Just how many jaws does that thing have?'

As if everything wasn't already bad enough, i was falling right directly into the open mouth filled with sharp spiral teeth reminiscent of saws.

But I didn't panic or let myself be flustered by the intimidating sight.

The Sand Worm cried, and slowly its maw which was made of various joints began to close back finally.

Just before it could fully seal shot, i arched my legs and touched down against the hard head of the creature.

A painful tremor ran through my bones and body from my feet as a result, shooting up my spine and back.

I winced and hissed sharply, but stopped myself from tumbling forward.

With another hiss, i quickly forced my broken body to move defiantly against the pain and gritted my teeth.

Ether surged through the inside of my body, penetrating my torn muscles and shattered bones, moving my joints like a string to a puppet.

For a short moment, i was almost tempted to activate [Immersion] skill to alleviate some of the mental pressure accumulating from the pain of my hold body, hut held off from doing so.

And so, instead, I forced my body and ran up the head of the monster, gritting my teeth.

The Sand Worm was a giant creature with an almost impenetrable defence due to its hard scales and outer armour that was impervious to most magic and physical attacks.

It was also quite large and had an Earth affinity that further boosted its defensive measures.

There was even a second layer of armour underneath the first layer of scales outlining its full body.

Basically...it was a really annoying and frustrating monster to deal with.

Wounding such a creature was already hard enough, but dealing enough damage that it was fatal was almost impossible.

'That's why Ceres who was able to achieve such a thing even without full power is just as a big a monster as this one.' my exact thoughts as i moved.

Ceres wounded the creature, providing a glaring weakness to utilise.

But the scar on the Sand Dragon was somewhere close to its underbelly and was always covered, making it hard to often utilise.

But if the outer body of the Sand Worm was as hard as it was to scratch, and the wound was unreachable...

'Why not just attack from the inside?'

As my thoughts peaked, i took the last step forward and reached the mouth of the monster just before it could fully close and smiled not-so amusingly—

"I am definitely going to remember how much this'll hurt later...!"