The Gods’ Gacha Game: Return of the God-King

Chapter 89: Giant Sandworm

I pulled up the scenario’s interface and checked our progress. The total monsters killed were counted as a group effort, just like in the previous three scenarios. That meant if we played it right, hitting the one hundred kill mark wouldn’t be an issue—provided we could actually find that many creatures in this endless wasteland.

Two and a half hours had passed since we first stepped into the sixth scenario. On paper, forty-five or so hours left sounded like a comfortable cushion. In practice, every extra second under this merciless sun felt like it was melting my bones. The more time we spent here, the more this desert gnawed at my patience.

“Let’s gra—”

I stopped mid-sentence as a faint vibration rippled through the sand beneath my boots. At first, it was barely there—like the hum of distant thunder—but it quickly intensified with each passing heartbeat, rattling up through my legs.

“Incoming!” Michelle shouted, eyes darting across the sand dunes that we had traversed. “It’s the same thing we felt earlier, and it’s coming in fast!”

The tremor deepened, the sand quivering like water on the verge of boiling. My grip on my weapon tightened, instincts screaming a warning.

A deafening whoosh erupted as the ground where the scorpion’s corpses were located exploded upward. A titanic form burst from the earth in a geyser of sand and dust, devouring the scorpion’s corpses. It was a monstrous sandworm—though calling it a “worm” felt criminally inadequate. Its body was thicker than a small house and stretched well over a dozen meters. Its hide was a mottled mix of gold and brown, patterned to vanish against the dunes. The head was a nightmare of concentric rings lined with serrated teeth, grinding against each other with a sound like stone being crushed as it munched on our spoils.

[Sand Devourer – Lv.88]

An apex predator of the Endless Desert, this monstrous worm hunts by sensing vibrations in the sand. Its armored hide shrugs off most physical attacks, and its maw can swallow prey whole in seconds. Highly territorial, it will relentlessly pursue any intruder within its hunting grounds.

Threat Level: High

A level 88 Gimmel-rank monster!

The shockwave of its emergence nearly knocked us off our feet. My boots skidded half a step back before I dug in, teeth clenched against the force.

“Big one!” Boris let out a low whistle, more impressed than afraid, before his voice hardened as he activated Adamant Flesh again to transform his skin into steel.

Michelle was already in motion, instantly switching to her bow and drawing it to full tension. She loosed a special arrow that screamed through the air before detonating against the sandworm’s hide. The blast sent a ripple of smoke and dust along its segmented body… but when the haze cleared, only a faint scorch mark marred its armor-like skin.

“Tch, that thing’s armor is so tough!” Michelle frowned.

“SHRRAAUNGHHH!!”

The sandworm let out a horrific scream, the sound vibrating in my bones and rattling the air. It reared back, its massive form blotting out the sun as concentric rings of teeth rotated faster with a sickening, stone-crushing sound. One wrong step into that maw, and I wouldn’t just die—I’d be shredded into nothing.

“Spread out!” I snapped, already sprinting to the flank. “Don’t give it a straight shot!”

For something so massive, it moved with shocking speed. The worm lunged, its monstrous head crashing down where Boris had stood a heartbeat earlier, the impact sending a shudder through the ground. He rolled aside, chunks of sand and grit raining down as the creature burrowed momentarily, vanishing beneath the surface.

“Maxim!” Michelle yelled at me, clearly giving me a warning.

The sand beneath me heaved violently, and a split-second later, the worm’s monstrous head erupted from below—its gaping maw rushing straight toward me. I threw myself to the side, sand exploding in my wake, narrowly avoiding being swallowed whole.

In the same motion, I flipped my grip on my sword to a downward hold and drove the blade deep into the creature’s flank. Using its own momentum against it, I tore the edge along its armored hide, carving a jagged, crimson gash that stretched several meters.

“SHRAAAUUNGHH!” it screamed in agony.

Golden-brown ichor sprayed from the gash, sizzling faintly as it hit the hot ground. The beast thrashed wildly, churning up a storm of grit that stung my eyes and made it hard to see.

Damn it! Its strength is on a whole other level! Should I use Berserk? I thought, sidestepping just in time to avoid being flattened under its bulk.

This giant sandworm wasn’t just some oversized monster—it was the undisputed apex predator of the desert. Against something like this, most divine warriors would have fled without a second thought. But we weren’t ordinary Gimmel-rank divine warriors, and we had faced worse enemies before.

As I weighed my options, Boris suddenly barreled forward, the sand parting in his wake. “Gahaha! Now’s the time to show you my new ability! Steel Form: Sword!”

Before my eyes, his steel-coated fists transformed and elongated, reshaping into long, gleaming blades that jutted from his forearms like brutal extensions of his body. Without breaking stride, he leapt onto the worm’s side, driving one blade deep into the wound I’d carved earlier. The metal screeched against bone as he anchored himself in place, then hacked downward with savage force, widening the injury in a shower of brown liquid.

“Holy shit! That’s one sick skill!” I exclaimed.

It had to be a new signature skill that Boris unlocked—an extension of his Adamant Flesh, likely shaped by his unique class. If he could morph his hands into any weapon he needed, then he’d never have to rely on forged arms again. The man was practically a walking armory.

Michelle took advantage of the opening, firing a rapid volley of explosive-tipped arrows that struck along the worm’s wounds. Each projectile buried itself deep before detonating in a chain of concussive blasts. Gouts of golden-brown ichor burst into the air, splattering across the sand.

The monster let out a guttural, ear-splitting shriek as pain wracked its enormous frame. Half of its massive body writhed above the dunes, twisting and contorting in a desperate attempt to dislodge Boris and shake off the onslaught. Sand cascaded down in waves from its convulsions, the ground trembling beneath us.

Now’s the chance to end it!

My grip tightened on my sword, mana flooding into the blade until it thrummed with barely contained force. “Windstorm!” The blade shrieked as compressed air coiled along the edge. But I didn’t release it in a sweeping blast at the monster.

The sandworm’s massive, twisting form had momentarily exposed the vulnerable midpoint between its head and body, where the thick plates and hide were the thinnest, and that was my mark.

“Boris! Hold it steady!” I shouted.

“On it!” he roared, his steel-formed blades plunging deep into the worm’s hide and locking in place, anchoring him like a living harpoon.

I sprinted up the shifting slope of its body, kicking up gritty streams of sand as I climbed. Michelle’s arrows rained in, forcing the worm to flinch and strain, just enough to keep it from diving back underground. My sword pulsed with power, compressed air wrapping tighter around the blade, and the weight of my signature technique settling into my stance.

“Heavy Slash!”

With a roar, I swung the sword in a powerful horizontal arc, backed by my full strength. Compressed air detonated outward in a violent burst as the blade met flesh. Steel bit deep, tearing through the worm’s thick hide, dense muscle, and the layered chitin beneath. The resistance was immense—like cleaving into solid stone—but with my mana surging through the strike, it split apart as if I were splitting wood.

A wet, splitting sound filled the air as my blade tore cleanly through the monster’s midsection, severing it in a single, decisive stroke. Golden-brown ichor erupted in a pressurized geyser, spraying in every direction and hissing violently as it hit the blistering sand.

“SHRAAAUUNGHH!”

The sandworm’s scream fractured into a garbled, gurgling roar as its massive body spasmed uncontrollably. The sheer force of its thrashing made the ground quake beneath us, sending sand avalanching down the nearby dunes.

I leapt clear before it could crush me, landing in a crouch just as the worm’s upper half collapsed, severed from the rest of its body. Both ends writhed independently for a few seconds like a decapitated serpent before the spasms slowed… then stopped.

You have hunted [Sand Devourer Lv.88].

You have gained 1,480 EXP.

You have leveled up.

Heavy Slash has leveled up.

Your Strength has increased by 1.

A deep silence fell over the desert, broken only by our heavy breathing. The sandworm’s massive carcass sprawled across the desert like a toppled fortress, the air thick with the acrid stench of its blood.

Combining Windstorm and Heavy Slash had been an idea brewing in the back of my mind ever since my battle with Graham. Without relying on Fabled Vessel or any of my other signature skills, I lacked any large-area skills. However, by combining these two skills, the destructive force was enough to cleave even this behemoth clean in half.

Boris yanked his steel blades free, letting them transform back into fists. “Gahaha! That was one hell of a fight! You just carved up dinner for the whole desert.”

Michelle grimaced, pinching her nose. “Dinner? That worm’s blood could melt a pan.”

“Speaking of which…” I glanced at the corpse, realizing that its sheer size made it an impossible candidate to sell whole, not to mention that much of it was useless to us.

Rather than letting most of it rot under the sun, why not try something different? I could use Absorb Plausibility to convert the essence of this apex predator into plausibility while also testing the skill. Two birds with one stone.

With that thought in mind, I approached the upper half of the worm and touched its hide, which was still warm under the merciless sun. Then I focused my will and called forth the skill.

“Absorb Plausibility.”

You have activated Absorb Plausibility.

Converting existence value into Plausibility.

A faint resonance rippled through my mind as the ability took hold. From deep within the worm’s immense carcass, faint motes of golden light began to seep outward, drifting like glowing embers toward my hand. The pools of ichor in the sand shimmered unnaturally, as though being drained of some unseen essence.

The flow soon intensified, and I felt a rush of alien impressions—decades of tunneling through sun-scorched dunes, the crushing snap of prey caught in its maw, the oppressive embrace of the desert sun. Its thoughts were primal and singular: to endure, to hunt, to reign over this wasteland. All of it was stripped away, reduced to a pure, neutral force of possibility that poured into me.

You have absorbed the corpse of [Sand Devourer Lv.88].

You have gained 7 Plausibility.

“…That’s it?” My brow furrowed as I pulled my hand away. The once-imposing corpse now sagged into a withered husk, reduced to something that might collapse under a stiff breeze. For something this massive, the yield was far lower than I’d expected.