{You have slain desert worm}
{You have slain desert worm}
{You have slain desert worm}
{You have slain desert worm
You grow stronger}.
The system announced, and finally, there was total silence, and the desert sand was quiet.
Michael sighed and fell down on the desert rock he was standing on. Finally, he had managed to kill all the desert worms around this area, at least. Michael had been firing lightning-coated arrows through the worms' mouths down their throats, which was their weakest side. All he had to do was wait for the worms to try to attack him to launch an arrow through their giant mouths, which was hard to miss. Even though he was very close to essence depletion and his hand was aching from drawing the star bow too many times—as it took at least two to three arrows to kill a single worm—he had killed about fifteen of them in just five hours. But what infuriated Michael was that he didn't even get one echo of memory, let alone a familiar. Even though having a worm as a familiar wasn't much help to him, it would be nice to have a familiar, no matter the shape or form. Even better, he could sell it for some valor shades.
But he wasn't that angry, as he got to practice with these worms and grow stronger.
"Okay, I have to start moving; I don't have all day," Michael said, seeing there was no other danger around. He climbed down the rock and fished out the cores from the worms. He now had sixteen cores with him, which could fetch him some valor shades if the prices were nice.
Seeing there was nothing else to do here, Michael decided to head north. He had mostly figured out how these desert worms attacked. They were attracted by movement or sounds through the desert to hunt, and he hadn't seen any other beasts other than the desert worms. "At least I would get an A on my dungeon assignment," Michael said with a sigh, ready to head out. He threw the corpses of the worms a last glance, sad he couldn't take them with him, as he didn't have any storage-type echo and had to leave them here to rot, which pained his heart.
Michael continued walking north for about five hours before he saw a figure of something moving up ahead in the sand.
"A desert serpent," I said as I saw what was crawling in the sand.
The desert serpent was a mottled brown and tan, its scales a perfect camouflage as it blended seamlessly into the sand desert. It slithered silently across the desert floor, its body rippling with each movement, leaving behind a trail of subtle indentations in the sand. Its eyes gleamed with a piercing intensity, watchful and alert for any sign of prey, as it navigated the arid landscape with deadly precision. The serpent's body was long and lean, adapted for speed and agility, and its forked tongue darted in and out, tasting the air for any scent that might lead it to its next meal. As it moved, the sand rustled softly beneath it, the only sound in the otherwise oppressive silence of the desert. And there were about four of them there, and judging from their scales, they were hard and couldn't be easily pierced by my arrows. But it didn't matter; all I had to do was aim for its eye and then let my lightning do all the work. But trying to hit the serpent in its eye from my distance was easier said than done, but that was all I could do.
Switching from my bow to my dagger, which was better to use in this situation as I was planning on getting close to the serpent and engaging it in close combat with me, but for that, I had to separate them from each other.
"Good thing I still have this with me," I said, pulling out the little worm meat I still had with me and decided to set up a trap with it. Getting a little close to the serpents but close enough not to be noticed by them, I threw the meat in the opposite direction from me. As the serpents got the scent of the roasted meat, they rushed out to get it. As the serpent was rushing after the meat, I drew my bow with all the strength I had and then released the arrow as it flew through the air and hit the serpent that was far from the others. The arrow pierced the serpent, but the arrow wasn't able to pierce deep into the serpent's skin. The serpent turned back and saw me still standing in my shooting position; it started clawing at me at a great speed.
I ran as fast as I could; I had to make sure to separate this serpent from the others.
"I guess this is far enough," I said to myself, ready to face the serpent. I knew that the serpent was more dangerous than the desert worm and was also deadlier and more poisonous, so I had to tread carefully to avoid being serpent food.
I brought out the obsidian dagger, running closer to the serpent. I coated the dagger with lightning, but it was much easier to coat arrows than my dagger, but that didn't affect my plans to engage the serpent in close combat.
As I was a few inches away from the serpent, I activated the obsidian dagger's enchantment, Fang of Fury.
Skills
{.Fang of Fury: When wielded, the obsidian blade sharpens the wielder's instincts. The dagger boosts the user's speed by 1%, letting them move with sudden, relentless aggression. Every strike comes faster, fueled by a fierce desire to kill.}
Activating the obsidian dagger's enchantment, my speed increased by one percent, making me even faster than the serpent, as I was now able to dodge the serpent's attacks. The desert serpent lunged at me, but with the increase in my speed and with my instincts sharpened, I was able to counter the serpent's attack before it even attacked me.
"I have to end this now," I said to myself as the essence was depleting at a fast rate, and the enchantment was consuming my essence faster. If my essence depleted totally, then I would be doomed.
As the serpent launched forward, I was able to dodge it by bending my body. Finally seeing an opportunity, I drove my dagger deep into the serpent's underbelly and released all my lightning through my dagger into the wound I just created. The serpent's body stiffened due to the electrical current overwhelming its nervous system.
{You have killed venom serpent
Echo of memory received
You grow stronger}
"Wait, I received an echo!" I was shocked as all I did was kill one serpent to receive an echo.