Land of the Dunes

3: The Remains of Hamberck

"The silence is really getting to me..." Kisakyu remarks. He walks through the sand exceptionally carefully, waiting for the moment the creatures sense their presence.

"We've been here multiple times, just treat it like a game! Some big creature may come at you, but it's not like you're not strong enough to pummel it," Montri instead reassures. Kisakyu tries to heed his advice and acts more laxed, looking at Raya who also reassures him with a smile.

"It's not like I'd ever be scared of games if it weren't for its ambience... Maybe I should've brought headphones to distract myself..."

Suddenly, the ground trembles beneath them. They all squeal in response, immediately tensing up. Feeling the ground shake increasingly, they realize their cue to take action.

"We're gonna fight!" Montri shouts. He signals the start of the fight as he pulls out his dual revolvers to shoot at the giant worm who just tried to swallow them beneath their very feet.

Dodging it, Kisakyu and Raya attack with their own powers. Raya starts by sending his dragon to tear a chunk of the creature's vulnerable part caused by Montri's earlier shots before Kisakyu fabricates a holographic long spike to skewer the worm through the wound to a wall.

It lay motionless, and only after a few seconds did they pronounce it probably dead.

"Awesome!" Montri celebrates. He approaches the worm and climbs on it, before dissecting a specific area to obtain the artifact they were looking for. "We got really lucky with that fatal blow."

"You waited a while before shooting it though. You were definitely waiting for its vital areas to emerge!" Raya closes up on the worm to inspect its wound, noting how Kisakyu's spike pierced exactly through one of its vital organs with the guidance of Montri and Zhaohuo.

"Just because I tried to get a good timing doesn't mean it purely depends on skill. Thanks for the compliment, though."

Raya simply scoffs with a smile, before heading back to their hoverbikes. Kisakyu thinks about their short dialogue, making sure to remember the exact location of the worms' vital spot.

"Where else are we going?" Kisakyu asks.

"It's not a 'where' question that'll lead us to the worms, it's a 'what we'll be doing'. We'll make as much ruckus as possible until we inevitably catch the worms' attention!"

"This sounds like a horrible idea... What if that encounter already gathered their attention?"

"That's a good point. We'll have it easier then!"

Although he doesn't quite agree, Kisakyu can't help but smile a little at his agreement with him and looks back at the direction of their hoverbikes, only to have that smile immediately fade into oblivion.

"...Where are our hoverbikes?"

The group suddenly felt a dreadful sense of bewilderment, but none took it harder than Montri. He rushes over to the location where the hoverbikes used to be, and frantically curses under his breath.

"Oh no no no no, I will not pay Juno those absurd—"

Suddenly, the ground beneath them shakes, and before they can even process it, a giant worm completely swallows them whole, they let out cries of help, but their gasps immediately silence as the worm closes its gaping mouth.

The inside of the worm is hard to see and paired with the sand that slowly suffocates them, they're basically separated from each other in the tiny labyrinth of an organ system.

Desperately, Kisakyu tries to create something to bust them out of the creature, but he constantly loses focus as the worm continues to wriggle uncontrollably. He almost gives up hope when he suddenly sees something in the corner of his eye, barely visible in the darkness.