The sand hadn’t finished falling when Lukas activated [Smite].

The bolt came down hard and fast, the divine energy slamming into the beast before it had even landed from its jump out of the sand.

The impact was loud, resulting in a sharp crack that filled the air across the open desert.

The beast screamed. The sound was shrill and high, echoing across the dunes.

Lukas was already calling the second bolt before the first had even finished landing. It hit the same spot, slamming the beast back into the ground and sending sand spraying into the air.

The beast lurched, its many legs scrambling for purchase in the loose sand, its body twisting as it tried to orient itself towards the source of the attack.

Lukas sent two more down in quick succession.

The third bolt cracked through the shell, and the fourth drove through the gap, killing it.

Ding!

[You have killed an E-rank Razor Chilopoda]

The screaming stopped.

The sand settled slowly around the creature as it collapsed, its legs folding under it one after another until the body was lying on the ground.

After a moment of silence, they stepped closer to get a proper look at it.

It was large, its width easily the size of an SUV but longer, its segmented body almost twice the size of an SUV.

It resembled a centipede in shape with the same flat body and the same arrangement of legs along each side, but where a centipede had dozens of legs, this creature had exactly ten on either side, twenty in total.

And at the end of each leg, instead of a foot, was a narrow tapered point, curved slightly inwards, each one capable of puncturing clean through steel on a good day.

The shell along its back had cracked in several places from the impact of Lukas’ skill, and the insides of its body had been destroyed by the same force driving through them.

Green blood seeped from every crack, spreading slowly into the red sand beneath the body.

Karrakas let out a short sound of approval, glancing at Lukas. "Good reaction time."

"He didn’t even hesitate," Melody said, grinning. She looked at Lukas. "You’re currently the holder of the first kill on the Second Floor among the three of us."

Akira stood with her armor fully deployed over her body, arms crossed, staring at the corpse. "You didn’t even leave anything for me." She shook her head. "Four bolts and it’s over. I didn’t even get to swing my sword."

"I’m sure you’ll get the next one," Lukas said.

"You said that now, but when the time comes, you’ll kill it again."

Lukas chuckled, and didn’t bother to defend himself. Instead, he turned his attention to his mana.

The four [Smites] he’d activated had drawn from his mana pool, and he could feel how intensive the skill was.

[Smite] was not a cheap skill to use, and each bolt pulled a noticeable amount of mana from him, but his total mana pool as an Adept was deep enough that four casts barely counted as a fraction of what he had available.

He could sustain this for a long time before it became a problem.

Melody was looking at the creature with a more analytical expression now. "This beast took four hits. Is that normal for Second Floor beasts?"

Karrakas crouched beside the body, studying the cracked shell. "On the First Floor, most beasts go down in one strike once you’re strong enough. Here it’s different. Even the weakest beast on the Second Floor has enough constitution to create problems for a careless Adept."

He stood. "Once you’ve built your strength up properly, you’ll be able to drop E-rank beasts in a single hit. But that takes time."

Lukas was sure he could do it with one hit if he used his [Cursed Blade] along with his strength, but there was no use talking about that. Besides, some secrets were better kept close to the chest.

Karrakas pointed at the creature’s legs, making sure they could see the sharp tips still half-buried in the sand around the body.

"This beast is called the Razor Chilopoda. It is one of the most common beasts in this part of the desert. Those legs are the main threat. They’re fast, and they’ll punch through steel like it isn’t even there if it gets close enough to use them."

"The meat is poisonous, so don’t try to eat it." He straightened. "But the shell, the legs, and the internal fluid have a bit of value. If you take it back to the city, I’m sure someone will buy it."

Lukas stepped forward without waiting.

He pressed his hand flat against the side of the creature and pushed mana into his spatial ring. The corpse disappeared from the sand, stored away.

Karrakas watched the spot where the corpse had been, then looked out at the desert around them.

"Guys, I have good news and bad news," he said.

Lukas looked at him. "Let’s hear the good news first."

"The good news is that your [Smite] is a useful skill that should be able to control the flow of beasts towards us. But while it hits hard, out here, hard impacts send vibrations through the sand in every direction."

"You’re saying Lukas has drawn the attention of nearby beasts?" Akira asked.

"Yes." Karrakas nodded.

"And that’s good news?" Melody asked incredulously.

"The kind of beasts moving towards us now will almost certainly be the same species and rank as the one you just killed. That means E-rank Razor Chilopodas. You’ve already seen what they look like and how they move, so there should be no surprises on that front."

"And the bad news?" Akira asked.

"I have no way of knowing how many are coming." He said plainly. "One vibration event in the open desert can pull two beasts or twenty. The sand carries the signal further than you’d expect, and hungry beasts don’t need much convincing."

He looked at Lukas. "If the numbers get out of hand, we could be overwhelmed before we have room to respond."

"So we move," Lukas said.

"We move," Karrakas confirmed. "Keep walking, don’t stay in one place, and—"

The sand ahead of them shifted.

Then it broke open in three separate spots, spread across the ground at different distances, each one throwing red sand upwards as a Razor Chilopoda tore itself free and rose to its full height.