There were a few things to know about sandworms, courtesy of Krieger. The most important of the lot, however, was that they had no eyes, ears, nose, or any of the usual sensory organs the apex predators of Earth were common with. So, in hindsight, they should be easy to avoid.

  That was not the case, though. If anything, that even made them more of a pain in the ass than if they had had the sensory organs. At least, those could be exploited in more proven ways than none; there were smoke bombs, to cloud vision, pungent smell to distort smells, and many more of such. But the ability to pinpoint the location of a being due to the vibrations their body emitted was on a completely different level.

  Merlin wouldn’t say he was much of a science geek, but he was well aware that it was impossible for a human to turn off the vibrations their body emitted like it was being operated by a light switch. Brainwaves, muscle tremors, vocal cord vibrations, heartbeat, heat, and even down to the cellular and molecular level, the human body was always in a constant state of vibration. And Merlin running only fueled that. Basically, the sandworms were having a field day. Worse, they were faster than they looked.

  Merlin swerved out of the way, not even close to being out of breath, as the sandworm to his right slammed its maw into the ground where he had been just a split second ago. Sand and dust clouded the air, and Merlin had to spread an arm over his nose as he jumped out of the encasement.

  Common sense told him to use [Mana Spring] to put some distance between himself and the sandworms, but common sense had no idea what it was talking about.

  [Mana Spring] could only propel Merlin so far at a time, and it was also not something that he could use constantly in split seconds, there had to be a moment of respite between each use as a means to once again gather mana to his feet after every initial burst. But he didn’t have the luxury of time any longer. The sandworms, due to their thick scales that went across their upper body, and apparently blocked all vibrations, had completely forgotten about the others. Their attention was completely on the singular person they could see—feel, rather. And with the absurd speed in which they moved at, if Merlin stopped for even a second, he would be eaten.

  However, that didn’t mean Merlin didn’t try to think of a few things he could do to bolster his speed. And that was where [Flash Step] came into the equation.

  Just like [Mana Spring], [Flash Step] was also used in short bursts, to move quickly from one location to another while evading attacks. It was like a more controlled version of [Mana Spring], less power and more control, but that meant a far lesser distance. Its pro, though, was that a second or two for Merlin to gather mana to his feet wasn’t required. And he appreciated that. Adding that skill with his increased Agility, and his ability to perceive the attacks of the sandworms without having to look over his shoulder, gave Merlin a bit of an advantage he doubted anyone else in their team would have had. It was one of the reasons why he had requested he took the task on; no one was more suited to attract death and escape it than he was. And that was not him being smug; he had stared death in the eyes once, and had technically risen from the dead the second time. He was death-proof.

  And, as expected, Merlin succeeded.

  A few minutes after his erratic but elegant dancing away from the onslaught of the sandworms, something appeared in the horizon. It came as nothing more than a dot at first, but with each mile covered, it became a lot larger, growing into the size of a thumb, then a ball, then it spread out, revealing a small village.

  The sight of their destination brought about shouts of victory from Merlin’s mates on the back of the sandworms. It briefly reminded him of how Kim Minji had been overjoyed as well when they had neared the exit during their physical assessment, which meant it reminded him of what he had told her. Until they had gotten to their destination, there was no cause for celebration.

  So he drowned out the cheers and the words of encouragement thrown at him from the safety of the backs of the sandworms. After all, they did nothing to fuel him. If he had been exhausted, or gravely injured, then maybe the cheers would have boosted his adrenaline and took his actions up a notch. But he was perfectly fine. The attacks of the sandworms had proven a bit easy to avoid, thanks to the fact that they had no magical ones besides trying to eat him. It turned out that running away was a lot easier than it seemed. The headmaster was right. There was no shame in tucking one’s tails and turning heels.

  Merlin narrowed his eyes as the village became a lot clearer now. Wooden fences of spikes were erected all around it, and he could sense the presence of sentries at each corner. However, it was not the security of the village that made his face wrinkle. Two dragonmen guards like Krieger were standing at the entrance, spear in their hands, pointed forward, and at their center was a squat dragonman dressed in a shabby black robe with hands raised high.

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  That didn’t seem good.

  “What’s going on?” Merlin voiced, his question directed at Krieger.

  [Barrier erection!], the dragonman replied. [It is to prevent the sandworms from noticing the village, like I told you before!].

  “Then what do we do?” Merlin asked as he nimbly avoided another attempt of the sandworms trying to eat him. “Will we be able to pass through the barrier?”

  [No], replied Krieger. [We have to make them notice us—notice me, so that they leave a bit of space for us to get in through. And we have to get there before the sandworms. So your friends and I all have to jump down in a few seconds, and run together with you].

  Running and talking was quite the ordeal. Merlin was trying to be cautious so that he didn’t bite his tongue, but he had lots of questions to ask, and words to relay to his mates, so he didn’t let his fear of biting his tongue stop him.

  He went ahead to announce to the rest of his teammates what his brief discussion with Krieger entailed, and while they murmured between themselves as to how they would proceed with that, he returned his attention to the dragonman.

  “How do I make them notice you?” he asked.

  Krieger took his time to respond.

  [My spear!], he said shortly after. [If they see my spear, they will know that I have returned!].

  Merlin digested those words as quickly as he could. From their distance to the village, there was only one way for them to get the spear to the rest of the dragonmen before they themselves arrived at the village.

  “Can you throw it?” Merlin asked.

  [Unstable!], said Krieger. [I have thought about it, but it will be impossible for me to throw with the sandworms moving the way they are!].

  Merlin raised a hand. “Give it to me.”

  There was silence from Krieger, but a second later, Merlin sensed the dragonman’s spear rushing his way. He relied solely on his Perception to predict the spear’s flight, and caught it without having to turn around or break his run.

  However, time was once again not on their side.

  The barrier had begun to rise, glowing translucent light forming a sphere around the village from the ground up.

  Merlin clenched his jaw. Using [Flash Step] he sent himself forward, putting a greater distance between him and the sandworms. Then he made use of that split second to activate [Mana Spring]. It was a close call, as the sandworms covered the distance quickly and almost took him right into their mouth, but he managed to evade them at the last second. [Mana Spring] gave him a better time range to go ahead with his plan. Two seconds. But that was more than enough.

  Merlin shifted his body diagonally, dug his legs into the sand and tightened his grip on the shaft of Krieger’s spear. His muscles tensed, his arms bulged, and he launched the spear.

  The spear boomed through the air, the thrust Merlin had propelled it with greater than any resistance in the air trying to stop it. Less than a second later, it planted itself right in front of the dragonpriest, and the enclosing barrier halted.

  “Success!” Merlin voiced as he continued his run, and a few seconds later, he was no longer alone.

  Park Yuri lifted herself from the back of the sandworm she was riding, and swiftly blasted balls of fire at it and its companion. The attacks did nothing to the sandworms, but they stunned them for a moment. And that was all was needed.

  At Senior Sun-Hee’s signal, everyone jumped down from the backs of the sandworms, turning their landing into a force, propelling themselves forward into a dash.

  Merlin was way ahead of the lot, and that meant he arrived at the village first.

  The dragonmen standing guard raised their spears higher at the sight of him, obviously taken aback by the appearance of a strange figure. It was a normal reaction, so Merlin didn’t try to force his way through. Instead, he slowed down his pace, allowing Krieger and the rest to catch up. And the rest did itself.

  The dragonmen at the entrance had a change in expression when they noticed their fellow Drachen. No further words needed to be said. Delay would only set the sandworms onto them, and that would be the worst outcome they would want.

  Instantly, the dragonmen shifted slightly out of the way, giving room for Merlin and the rest to rush into the village. It took less than a second after that for the barrier to engulf the village completely, and following that was the weird stop of the sandworms as they all of a sudden seemed totally lost.

  Everyone, human and Drachen alike, held their breaths in fear as the sandworms reared their large bodies above the village and its barrier, hoping deep down that they didn’t decide to slam themselves down onto the village. Merlin didn’t recall Krieger mentioning anything about the barrier protecting them from the attacks of the sandworms after all.

  To everyone’s relief, however, the invertebrates turned around and burrowed back into the sand. It took no more than a couple of seconds for them to be completely out of sight.

  And then, without a moment to waste, spears were pointed the way of Merlin and his crew, preventing them from taking a single step from where they were.

  It seemed it was time for interrogation.