BOOM—

The desert trembled, as if the earth itself had begun to breathe.

Above, a vast blood-red net hung suspended in the air. Runes shimmered across its surface—appearing, vanishing, weaving together—pulsing like something alive.

Its rhythm matched Ethan's heartbeat. With every thump, the air rippled.

"What… is that?"

The massive white worm thrashed wildly, its membranous wings beating up waves of sand like a storm tide. Its voice rose from a low moan to a shriek, and twisted lines of light began to shimmer across its body—space energy, condensing fast.

"He's trying to run," Ethan murmured.

He raised a hand, flicked a finger—

Snap.

The sound was barely audible, almost lost in the wind. But in the next instant, the blood net flared to life.

HUMMMM—

Runes lit up like stars, fusing into a massive sealing array. Energy surged. The net dropped from the sky, collapsing into a swirling vortex that wrapped around the white worm like a closing fist.

"Why?!" the worm howled, its voice tearing through the air. "Why can you control the runes of this desert—this is my domain!"

Ethan didn't answer.

He simply opened his palm.

Blood-red runes slithered from his fingertips like serpents, spreading to every edge of the net—then plunged into the worm's body.

THOOM.

A deep, subterranean rumble, like the earth groaning from its core.

Then came the detonations—

BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM—

The runes exploded inside the creature, bursting it open in clouds of blood mist. The aura that spilled out was no longer pure, no longer sacred. It had been devoured—utterly—by the power of the Bloodfiend.

The worm's scream pierced the sky. Its shell began to peel away, layer by layer, like a dream being torn apart.

Ethan's gaze darkened.

"Elira. Now."

"Understood." Her voice was calm, but a faint thrill buzzed beneath it.

She stepped forward. Behind her, wings of light unfurled in a sudden blaze—

The phantom of a Skytear Demon Moth loomed into view—immense, elegant, its wings ablaze with violet-gold fire.

WHOOM—

The spectral moth dove, straight into the heart of the blood mist.

The moment it struck, the world seemed to ignite. Sand surged like a tsunami, fire and blood twisted into a storm, and the white worm's body was torn to shreds—scattered into drifting shards of energy.

Elira emerged from the blaze.

Her eyes glowed with an unnatural light. Her chest heaved, power surging through her so violently it looked ready to tear her apart.

"E-Elira!" Ethan's voice sharpened.

He flashed forward, pressing a hand to her shoulder. Runes lit beneath his palm, drawing the rampaging energy out of her.

Gold and crimson light flowed between them, like two tangled spirit veins.

Elira trembled. The pain on her face slowly faded. Her aura settled—stabilizing at the early stage of Tier 22.

Ethan let go, exhaling hard.

"Too fast a rise—no one can handle that unscathed," he said quietly.

Elira gave a small nod. The wind lifted the loose strands of hair across her forehead. Her eyes still burned with the fire of battle.

Together, they looked out over the desert, now lit by the dying glow of fire.

That place had once held a contradiction—rot and sanctity, tangled together.

Now, only ash remained.

A flicker of caution crossed Ethan's brow.

"The higher we climb," he said, "the closer the Sky Citadel's lords get to true divinity."

He looked up at the sky, where sand and dust still churned.

"From here on out," he said, "we tread carefully."

BOOM—

The ground shuddered again.

At first, just faint tremors—like something stirring deep beneath the surface.

Then the dunes began to collapse. A low, rhythmic thudding echoed through the air.

THOOM—THOOM—THOOM—

Each beat louder than the last. Closer.

Ethan lifted his head.

Through the swirling haze of sand, figures began to emerge.

They weren't alive.

Each one was a twisted humanoid shape, sculpted from packed grit and dust, somehow standing upright against the wind. Embedded in the center of every sand-formed torso was a blood-red orb, dimly glowing with a light that didn't illuminate so much as… watch.

That glow wasn't bright—but it felt sentient. Like it was staring back.

A moment later, all the sandmen raised their heads in unison.

The orbs began to pulse.

"Are those… hearts?" Ethan murmured.

He could feel it—those orbs held immense energy. With every beat, they siphoned the spiritual essence from the air, draining the life from the desert itself.

Grains of sand lifted, drawn into the air by that invisible pull, swirling together to form new bodies.

Ethan frowned.

"Trouble."

The Sandmen weren't strong individually.

But they had no weaknesses.

Every time he shattered one, the sand simply reassembled. Death, for them, was more of a pause than an end.

He took a slow breath.

"If we're going by theory…" he muttered, pointing at one of the red orbs, "then the core is the heart."

He vanished in a blink.

His fist slammed forward, the air rippling like water under the force.

The blow struck the nearest Sandman dead center. Its body exploded into a cloud of dust, scattering in the wind.

Only the blood-red orb remained, hovering in midair.

Ethan reached for it.

—BOOM!

A violent shockwave burst from the orb, hurling him back dozens of feet. His chest tightened, blood surging in his veins.

He coughed once, sharp and dry, then narrowed his eyes.

"Well damn… your hearts hit back."

Without hesitation, he pulled up his system interface.

A flicker of light, and a dense stream of data scrolled across his vision.

[Analyzing—]

[Target: Sandman Energy Core]

[Detection: Active reactive entity—worm-type parasitic consciousness structure]

"Worm?" Ethan's eyes narrowed.

Sure enough, nestled within the orb's energy field, a tiny white worm squirmed—barely visible, but moving fast. It was feeding on the surrounding energy, maintaining the entire Sandman construct.

The system cursor blinked.

[Weakness identified]

[Red orb center—energy nerve intersection point]

[Recommendation: Precision strikes. Repeated impact will destabilize and destroy the core.]

"Got it."

Ethan steadied his breath, then snapped his arm forward.

Scorching red energy surged through his veins, gathering into a focused stream of light.

BOOM—

His palm strike hit the orb dead-on. The air rippled outward in concentric rings.

First strike—cracks spidered across the surface.

Second—light flared from the core, energy waves lashing out in all directions.

Third…

Fourth…

…

CRACK!

The orb shattered.

Inside, the worm writhed and shrieked, its body shriveling in the searing heat. It blackened, curled in on itself, and finally disintegrated into a wisp of smoke.

...