Survival of the Nation: My luck was a tiny bit worse.

"Alexander!"

Douglas was startled and raised his precision rifle, firing several shots at the sandworm's mouthparts.

Bang bang bang!

The bullet hit the incision site, splattering several dark red streaks of blood.

The sandworm, in pain, snapped its mouthparts shut, but its attack did not stop—its massive body was flung out of the sand, sweeping across the ranks like a giant whip.

At the last minute, Marcus pulled a folding steel plate from his backpack.

This was originally the material he intended to use to build cover—but now he had no choice but to unfold it as a shield and place it in front of him.

Boom!

The steel plate was struck by the sandworm's body, producing a deafening metallic clang.

Marcus was thrown backward by the impact, and was caught by the safety rope, swung around in the air, and finally fell back onto the sand.

His hands were split open at the base of his thumbs, bleeding profusely, but he still clung tightly to the deformed steel plate.

"The cover is there!"

He shouted, his voice tinged with a barely audible surprise, "It can't get in yet—think of something quick!"

Leng Ruolan has already made a move.

She untied her safety rope, grabbed her dagger, and slashed at the side of the sand worm as she stepped down the slope of the dune.

Her speed was incredibly fast after the agility attribute bonus—before the sandworm could even turn around, she had already circled around to the side of its body below the sand surface.

Two short knives pierced the sandworm's body simultaneously.

puff!

The black mist on the blade exploded inside the sandworm's body.

The sandworm let out an extremely unpleasant hiss, and its massive body writhed violently in the sand.

It swung its tail toward Leng Ruolan, but Leng Ruolan had already drawn her short sword and retreated, causing the tail swipe to miss its mark.

"This thing has such thick skin!"

Leng Ruolan shouted, "I can't hurt any vital organs!"

"Then try it with my sword!"

Ou Yun had already untied his safety rope and charged up the sand dune from the other side, wielding the Abyss Sword.

The sandworm seemed to sense the energy fluctuations on the Abyss Sword. It suddenly turned its head and opened its mouthparts to their maximum extent, pointing them towards Ou Yun.

All the barbs in its mouthparts stood up, and its spear-like tongue shot out like a spring, thrusting straight at Ou Yun.

Ou Yun instinctively raised his sword to block.

when!

The spearhead struck the sword with an absurd force.

Ou Yun was so shaken that he slid back several meters, his boots carving two deep furrows in the sand.

His arm went numb, and the sword almost flew out of his hand.

But the moment the Abyss Sword touched the sandworm's tongue, the red light on the sword suddenly surged.

[High concentration of abyssal energy source detected...]

[Energy absorption in progress... Current energy charge: 5%...8%...]

The sudden appearance of the information panel startled Ou Yun: "This sandworm is also of the Abyss type??"

"Nonsense! Didn't you see the lines on its tongue?"

Leng Ruolan shouted from the other side, "The patterns are exactly the same as those scorpions! All the creatures in this desert have been infected by the abyssal energy!"

The sandworm retracts its tongue into its mouthparts, and then ejects it again.

This time it was faster and more cunning—it bypassed the Abyss Sword's parry range and stabbed at Ou Yun's shoulder from the side.

There was no time to dodge Europe's misfortune.

But just before the spear tip was about to pierce him, a silver-gray figure pounced from the side and crashed hard into the spear tip.

It is north and south.

Nanbei deflected the spear tip with his body, but the barbs on the spear tip still grazed its side, tearing a long gash.

Blood gushed from the wound, staining both the north and south halves of his body red.

Europe was shocked at the time, exclaiming, "North and South!"

Nanbei fell onto the sand with a low groan, but still struggled to get up.

Its wound was bleeding, but its eyes remained focused.

It bared its teeth at the sandworm, then lowered its head and licked its wound with its tongue.

Red Bean rushed up from the other side, squatted down next to North and South, and rubbed its head against North's neck.

The two lynxes stood side by side, facing the sandworm that was dozens of times their size, showing no sign of backing down.

They could laugh and joke around before, but things are different once a teammate gets injured.

"Captain Leng, help me secure it to the sand."

"it is good."

Leng Ruolan didn't ask any more questions—she knew that her older brother was about to get serious.

She quickly circled around to the side of the sandworm and slashed its body several times with her dagger.

Each cut was not fatal, but each one caused it excruciating pain—the sandworm was enraged, and it immediately turned all its attention to Leng Ruolan, its massive body thrashing wildly across the sand.

"Alexander, smash its tail with the sledgehammer! Don't let it burrow back into the sand!"

"They're here!"

Alexander gripped his heavy hammer and slammed it down hard on the sandworm's tail as it swung at him.

boom!

The hammer blow sank the sandworm's tail into the sand.

The sandworm, in pain, arched its body sharply, exposing most of its trunk above the sand.

"Marcus! Make a fence around it with steel plates! Don't let it escape!"

"clear!"

Despite the excruciating pain in his hand, Marcus pulled out the last two folding steel plates from his backpack, unfolded them, and forcefully shoved them into the sand, creating two temporary obstacles.

The sandworm was simultaneously restrained by three people from three directions, and for a moment it didn't know which one to attack.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Ou Yun gripped the sword with both hands, aimed at the thickest part of the sand worm's body, and thrust it in with all his might.

Pfft!

The moment the sword of the abyss pierced through, the sandworm let out its most mournful cry to date.

Its body convulsed violently as if electrocuted, its mouthparts opening and closing wildly, scattering sand everywhere.

[Energy absorption in progress...]

[Current charge: 23%...31%...46%...]

The sword was frantically drawing abyssal energy from the sandworm's body, and the charge bar was jumping up at a speed visible to the naked eye.

As the sandworm's body shrank due to energy loss, it shrank from three meters in diameter to two meters, from two meters to one meter, and finally only a fragment less than half a meter thick remained.

Current charge: 89%

That's enough.

Ou Yun drew his sword and walked up to the sandworm's head, which had shrunk to half its original size.

The sandworm's mouthparts opened and closed weakly twice.

Ou Yun pierced the core of its mouthparts with a single sword.

puff!

The sandworm's body completely stopped convulsing.

The surrounding sandy area was a mess.

Dark red insect blood drew huge patterns on the sand, and insect corpses were scattered all around, filling the air with a strong, fishy stench.

Ou Yun sheathed his sword and immediately turned and ran north and south.

Nanbei was still standing in the same spot, the wound on his side still bleeding.

Seeing Ouyun running over, it weakly wagged its tail and let out a feeble meow.

"Don't move, don't move, let me see—"

Ou Yun knelt beside it and rummaged through his spatial ring to find the hemostatic medicine and bandages that Chen Hao had made himself.

"Why are you so stupid? I could have dodged that attack. Why did you pounce on me?"

Nanbei nuzzled his hand with its head and meowed.

No one spoke. Leng Ruolan secretly glanced at Ou Yun's expression—

Fortunately, it seems that President Ou's complexion has returned to normal.

"Of course you should protect me, but you don't have to use your own body to shield me."

"Okay, don't move, I'll apply the medicine for you—"

She even showed unexpected tenderness.

Leng Ruolan suppressed a laugh.