Chương 123: Glassfang Burrower

I did the brave, heroic, extremely manly thing. I screamed.

"What in the freshly fried nightmare is that thing?!" Not my finest battle cry, I admit, but when the desert suddenly opens its mouth and throws a living tunnel of teeth at you, poetry tends to trip over its own pants and fall down the stairs. The monster surged toward me with its jaws spread wide, and I got a very clear, very unwanted look at the inside of its mouth. Rows of jagged teeth curved inward like nature had designed a bear trap, stared at it, and said, "Needs more personality." The thing lunged.

I jumped back on instinct, boots kicking off the loose sand as that massive mouth snapped shut right where I had been standing. The bite slammed down with a crunch so violent it sounded like a tree getting bullied.

"Okay!" I shouted, landing badly and almost eating sand with my face.

"So we are skipping introductions and going straight to attempted chewing. Good to know!" Then the ground beneath me shifted again. My stomach dropped before my body even understood why. The sand directly under my boots started bulging upward, rising in a round, ugly swell like something enormous was trying to burp me out of the earth.

"Oh, come on!" I threw myself sideways just as another colossal mouth erupted from below, bursting through the dune in a spray of sand and teeth. Its jaws clamped shut behind me with the enthusiasm of a starving crocodile at an all-you-can-eat idiot buffet. I hit the ground shoulder-first, rolled, and forced myself back up before the desert decided to file a second complaint against my continued existence. Another ripple tore through the sand. Not toward me this time. Toward June. My eyes snapped to her.

The ground beneath her trembled, the sand loosening and shifting in a wide circle around her feet. For one tiny, awful second, I remembered exactly what was missing. No stone platform. No safe perch. No convenient rock elevator to save the royal ego from becoming monster toothpaste. June's face sharpened instantly, but even she couldn't posture her way out of the ground itself trying to eat her. Then Dimitri moved. Of course he moved.

The man reacted like someone had built him specifically to interrupt disasters before they finished loading. He crossed the sand in a burst of speed that should have been illegal for someone wearing that much armor. One arm swept around June, lifting her clean off the ground before the danger fully broke through. June let out a startled sound, though she tried very hard to make it sound dignified. It did not.

Dimitri carried her away just as another monstrous jaw burst upward beneath where she had been standing, snapping shut on empty air and a mouthful of sand.

"Nice save!" I yelled.

"Very heroic. Very dramatic. Slightly upsetting how good you are at bridal-carrying people under pressure!" Dimitri did not answer. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. Typical. Too busy being useful. The monster that had missed June twisted above the sand for a moment, its armored body grinding against the dune as it exposed part of its hide.

Thick plates covered it in layered segments, rough and dark beneath the dust, like someone had armored a nightmare worm and then forgot to install manners. I raised both pistols. Thunderclap sat heavy and steady in one hand, its dark frame catching the desert light along those silver lightning engravings. In my other hand, the flintlock felt older, simpler, and much less fancy, like a training tool that had somehow wandered into a boss fight and was now pretending it belonged.

"Alright, ugly," I muttered, sighting down both weapons.

"Let's see if you're allergic to basic manners." I fired. Thunderclap cracked first. The revolver shot tore through the hot air and punched into the creature's plated hide with a sharp metallic impact. For a split second, the bullet's force seemed to bite deeper than it should have. A faint shudder ran across the monster's armor as the revolver's effect took hold, weakening that thick protection layer by layer. The armor-breaking started working. Good. Wonderful.

Very comforting to know my weapon had a professional opinion about enemy defenses. Then the flintlock barked in my other hand. Its shot struck the same beast a heartbeat later, and the impact burst outward in a small explosion, throwing a flash of force against the creature's side. It wasn't some grand fireball worthy of a dramatic painting, but it was enough to make the monster recoil, its body jerking as smoke and dust kicked off its armor. The thing roared. Not screamed. Not hissed. Roared.

The sound rolled through the dunes like a boulder covered in hatred, rattling straight through my bones and shaking something in my chest that I personally preferred unshaken. Then, with an angry twist of its massive body, the monster sank back into the sand. The dune swallowed it in seconds. One moment, it was there, all teeth and armor and bad life choices. The next, only shifting sand remained, settling back into place like the desert was trying to act innocent. I kept both weapons raised.

My breathing came a little harder now, and sweat crawled down the side of my face. Some of it was from the heat. Most of it was from the sudden realization that the ground had teeth now. I stared at the disturbed sand, jaw tight.

"Nope," I said.

"Absolutely nope. I would like a full refund on whatever experience package included underground murder mouths." I lifted my voice.

"System," I called out, keeping my eyes on the dunes.

"Show me the information on whatever those terrifying sand-chomping nightmares are before one of them decides I look like a snack with legs." A translucent interface flickered into view in front of me. [Displaying monster species information.] ••••• Name: Glassfang Burrower Tier: 1 (Common) Level: 3 Element: Earth Description: A desert-dwelling ambush predator that spends most of its life beneath the shifting dunes.

The Glassfang Burrower's body is covered in overlapping plates of compacted sandstone, granting protection against predators while allowing grains of sand to slide harmlessly across its hide. Embedded throughout these plates are jagged, translucent crystal formations that refract sunlight, helping disperse the desert's intense heat and preventing its body from overheating beneath the dunes. Its head is shaped like a broad wedge, built specifically to cut through loose sand with minimal resistance.

Rows of razor-sharp, glass-like fangs jut from its powerful jaws. These crystalline teeth continuously regrow as minerals collected from the desert accumulate within specialized glands near its skull. Their hooked shape allows the creature to latch onto prey dragged beneath the sand, preventing escape. Its forelimbs are thick and heavily muscled, ending in massive shovel-like claws designed for rapid excavation.

With a few powerful strokes, the Burrower can vanish beneath the dunes or erupt from below without warning. Small, milky eyes sit recessed beneath bony ridges to shield them from blowing sand, while sensitive crystal nodules along its snout detect vibrations through the desert floor, enabling it to locate footsteps from surprising distances.

A muscular tail lined with jagged crystal spikes trails behind it, acting as both a stabilizer while swimming through sand and a deadly weapon capable of sweeping enemies off their feet. Stats: Main Stat: Strength (Crushing force and explosive bursts of power make it a terrifying ambush predator.) Physical Defense: Medium (Dense sandstone plating absorbs moderate physical punishment.) Magic Defense: Medium (The crystal structures embedded in its body help disperse magical energy.) Abilities: Dunebreaker Eruption: Sensing movement overhead, the Burrower propels itself upward from beneath the sand in an explosive burst, launching prey into the air with its armored head before attempting to seize them in its jaws. Quicksand Drag: The creature rapidly digs beneath an opponent's footing, destabilizing the surrounding sand before lunging forward to clamp onto its prey and pull them beneath the dunes, where escape becomes far more difficult.

Glassstorm Tailwhip: Twisting its entire body, the Burrower lashes out with its crystal-lined tail in a sweeping arc. The violent strike scatters razor-sharp glass fragments and sand in all directions, slashing nearby enemies while obscuring their vision. Resistances & Weaknesses: Resistant To: Earth (Its body is perfectly adapted to desert terrain, allowing it to endure earthen forces and move effortlessly through sand.) Weaknesses: • Water: Moisture causes sand to compact and cling to its body, slowing its burrowing speed and reducing its mobility beneath the dunes. • Ice: Freezing temperatures make its sandstone armor brittle and prone to cracking under heavy impacts. • Wind: Powerful gusts and pressure-based attacks disrupt its vibration sensing and scatter the sand it uses to conceal its movements, making ambushes significantly harder to execute. •••••