Eldritch Creature's Guide-Chapter 196 Sandworm...

People who didn't need to complete the Journey could basically skip any Floor of the Tower they wished, that was one of the reasons why some of the Floors were completely desolate... aside from those which were inhospitable, but that was another category on its own.

Though he had to admit that the benefits of completing the Journey were equally immense because one would have almost guaranteed the chance at the Ascension to Transcendence. Though, due to the unique nature of some of the Floors of the Tower, it made it almost night impossible to complete the Journey and typically, only those with the backings of some of the 13 Gates or equally powerful and ancient factions could complete the Journey.

And during the Ascension process to the Transcendence, even 1% could be a game changer that would decide if the Ascension would be a successful one or a failure. Something that he couldn't really risk, as his end game was always to reach the top of the power hierarchy... no, not only that.

Samiel Zentaur wanted to reach even high and become one of 'Them'.

"Hmm... right now, we should be on one of the outer reaches of the Sikarra; that means we are relatively safe because most powerful sandworms and creatures live in the center of the continent, but the real problem would be finding a place where we could set a provisionary camp or something. Most of them are already taken by the locals..."

Yvraine muttered as this seemed indeed problematic.

Because the outskirts of the Sikarra, most of the intelligent species that still lived on the 10th Floor of the Tower, relocated to the outskirts because they were safe from the enormous Arrakian sandworms at the Legendary Level that traversed through the wastelands and oceans of sand in the center of the continent.

"We can still take some by force... from what I heard, there are not many big settlements on the 10th Floor and there are only a few cities or towns, so we should aim for one of the smaller settlements in the mountains."

Samiel proposed to which Yvraine agreed, though it would leave them to the potential danger of Gold-Tier Arrakian sandworm, but hopefully, they would be then able to escape in time. The division of the settlements on the 10th Floor was relatively simple. The largest settlements were always built in the valley in the vast mountain ranges, depending on the natural protection of the mountains against the sandworms.

Similarly, smaller settlements were built in smaller mountains, but here was one problem with them and that, if the mountain was too small and was attacked by too powerful Arrakain sandworm, then the sandworm could breach through the stone. Such occasions were documented already on several cases when some of the smaller settlements were attacked by either Legendary Level sandworm that lost his way to the outskirts of the Sikarra.

Or there were even cases when several Gold-Tier sandworms ganged up to breach some of the small mountains, though that happened only in extraordinary circumstances that one must be very unlucky to encounter.

"We should be going; it appears that right now it is not even morning... I can't imagine what it will be here at noon."

Samiel stated as Yvraine followed after him, as they went in the random direction that the talisman was telling them to go. Right now, both of them had two priorities; one was to find Juulius and Dharzug, while another one was to find some suitable place where to either conquer a camp or to construct a base.

And as Samiel said several hours ago, when they departed to the depths of the dune, when they were transported to the 10th Floor, it was not even proper morning because five hours of walking and right now, the sun was already almost up and it was... almost unbearable.

The lifespan of the cooling method through the Winter Ruler was decreased from five hours to one, as now, he needed to use the method every hour or so, and soon, it would be every half an hour for them to remain cooled down.

He also took out his reserve hat and gave it to Yvraine because the moment when the sun started rising, even she was feeling awful and he didn't want her to get heat stroke, which would be almost effortless to get in this kind of environment.

"We have been walking here for hours but not even a single living being... not even some of the natives to this dammed shit place." 𝗳𝓇ℯe𝓌𝚎𝚋𝓃𝚘𝚟𝘦𝑙.𝑐𝚘𝙢

Samiel cursed as they were walking through the scorching heat of the dunes while he was wrapping his right hand around Yvraine's waist, helping her to walk because her stamina wasn't that good in the first place and she was not taking this place very well.

In fact, she was already very tired to the point she needed a place to rest, but unfortunately, there was none. While Yvraine was a Silvermoon Elf, their species was not known for things like enormous stamina or endless vitality, that was Samiel's domain and even though he was complaining more than Yvriaine, in fact, he was coping up with the situation on hand much better than she, because as an Eldritch Creature, he had adaptability almost on the level of orks.

"Come on Yv... several tens of kilometers, there should be a small mountain range according to the map."

Samiel stated as he nudged Yvraine and cast on her some more spells, this time, it was one of the rare healing ones that he managed to learn; it was to speed up the body regeneration and to help with fatigue of the body.

As they we walking through the desert, suddenly Samiel noticed that the sand was vibrating slightly; as the vibrations were getting stronger and stronger, to the point where everything started moving visibly to, even the untrained human eye and it was at that moment he realized what was happening.

"Fuck..."

He instantly cursed his E-Ranked luck because this came at the worst possible situation that could only be happening to him.

"What is happening?"

Yvraine asked him because she was unfortunately probably suffering from heat stroke, despite the precautions Samiel took, but apparently, the deserts and sun of Sikarra took the toll on her either way.

"Sandworm."

Samiel answered grimly because he could sense the Arrakian sandworm incoming to their positions. It was relatively easy to tell when the sandworm was approaching them because as the sandworms were traversing through the oceans of sand when they were close, everything would be shaking; naturally, this was applicable mainly for the bigger sandworms, so right now, Smaiel was pretty stressed.

He feared that some strong sandworm was approaching them; the worst outcome would be Gold-Tier sandworm or Silver-Tier sandworm. If that was the case, then, they would be in some serious problems because he didn't think that he could fend off Gold-Tier Arrakian sandworm, because that humongous beast would eat him in one gulp, together with a radius of several kilometers...

'When it comes to worst... I still have something around half a million souls with me, enough to use the Blessings of the Outer Court to summon the power of the Outer Gods to banish the creature, though that would attract the attention of the Legendary Level sandworms.'

Samiel thought about the possible solutions to their problem. One thing which was extra annoying about the Arrakian sandworm was their sensitivity towards the energy as a whole. For example, adult Arrakian sandworms could sense spikes of energy even from hundreds of kilometers away; thus, they were able to easily and precisely pinpoint who was where and how strong their potential prey was.

If Samiel used the Blessings of the Outer Gods, such a powerful spike of Mana that would the summoning of such Transcendental Power create, would probably be enough to wake even the Holy Legendary Level Arrakian sandworms from their slumber... which would be an absolute shitstorm, if they ever decided to crawl into the outskirts of the Sikarra.

"Hop on my back, and hold me tightest as possible."

Samiel stated as he simultaneously activated Level 4 Transcandetal Ability Architect to calculate the shortest path to somewhere safe and started using the Nuclear Void Mana Control Method to boost up his legs and body with Mana.

After Yvraine hopped on his back, hugging him with her arms and legs, Samiel kicked the ground, creating a powerful vibration through the sand, not as he cared at this moment, as he started running at lightning speed towards the place that he calculated through the usage of Level 4 Transcandetal Ability Architect.

According to the maps, it should be an abandoned underground shelter from the time of the Korias Empire that wasn't found till this day. He bought several tens of maps of the outskirts of the Sikarra dunes and used the Level 4 Transcandetal Ability Architect to compared all of them, while searching for safe locations and within three seconds, he found one.

Though at the same it cost him several tens of thousands of Credits because he brought all of those maps above their market price as he was in a hurry. At the same time, his head hurt like hell because, this time, he pushed the usage of Level 4 Transcandetal Ability Architect to the limits. Even with the Star Mind Protection Technique and condensation of 3 Stars, it still hurt because the strain was too much.

Samiel ran at a speed that would be invisible to the normal eye of mortals without Mana and even to Iron-Tier; his movements would be nothing more than a blur. As he was running through the deserts of the dune, he was also using the Winter Ruler, continuously freezing everything around them, to lessen the strains from the scoring sun that was essentially burning everything here.

And as he was running, the oceans of sand were shaking more and more. This was signifying that the sandworm was nearing close to them, as Samiel kept running faster and father, using the Nuclear Void Mana Control Method as the boosting method even to greater heights.

[Proficiency with the Nuclear Void Mana Control Method has been increased by 1%.]

[Proficiency with the Nuclear Void Mana Control Method has been increased by 1%.]

[Proficiency with the Nuclear Void Mana Control Method has been increased by 1%.]

Samiel ignored the notifications of the Akashic Records about the increasement in proficiency with the Nuclear Void Mana Control Method, as he kept to the place, which he calculated through the usage of Level 4 Transcendental Ability Architect, as right now the most important place was to hide from the Arrakian sandworm that decided to make a lunch out of them.

This crazy run continued for more than two hours actually, before Samiel started showing the first signs of fatigue, but it was not as much fatigue as it was a physical strain on his body, which was created due to over usage of the Nuclear Void Mana Control Method to boost up his physique, mainly his speed to ridiculous degrees.

[Proficiency with the Lord-Class Knight of Niflheim has been increased by 1%.]

[Proficiency with the Lord-Class Knight of Niflheim has been increased by 1%.]

[Proficiency with the Lord-Class Knight of Niflheim has reached 40%.]

When Samiel got notifications from the Akashic Records that the proficiency with his Lord-Class Knigth of Niflheim not only increased by 2%, but also reached the 40%, reaching one of the milestones in mastering the Class.

He then sensed that the grip that Yvraine got on him was getting weaker and weaker because she started losing her consciousness; fortunately, at least one good news was that they were already near their targetted destination, which Samiel calculated for them.

"Hold on for a moment... we should be soon there."

Samiel said as he held her and continued running to the small hills that were already in front of him. When he arrived in front of the sand hills, which were of some unknown rock, but entirely covered in the sand, he started spreading his senses and searching for the entrance to the shelter, now really questioning if something was even there.

'It should be somewhere here...'