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

In less than two minutes, a circular entrance with a diameter of about five meters appeared on the sand.

The entrance was sealed by a transparent energy membrane, on which faint traces of faded runes could be seen.

"This is the seal left by that team three hundred years ago."

The desert lord walked to the edge of the entrance and gently touched the energy membrane with his fingers.

"They had considered that later inhabitants might need to re-enter the nest, so the seal was designed to be one-way—it could be opened from the outside but could not be broken through from the inside. This kept the sandworms inside the nest and prevented them from spreading unchecked in the desert."

Ou Yun asked, "What else did those people do?"

He had thought about this problem before.

In such an eerie place, there are definitely more than just this one group of people who have been chosen—they might not even be human.

"A lot. They recorded a great deal of information about the forbidden zone mechanics, drew detailed maps of the lair, and even designed weapons specifically to counter abyssal energy—unfortunately, all the weapons were destroyed in the final battle with the desert lord. Only the maps and notes were left in a safe room on the shallow side of the lair."

The desert lord paused.

"If you need, I can take you there."

"...If it was this important, you should have said so sooner!"

"You didn't ask either."

"..."

*

Any information left by predecessors is valuable, especially information about a lord's fighting style and weaknesses.

"Let's go then."

The desert lord was the first to step into the entrance.

The moment its foot touched the energy membrane, the membrane automatically cracked open, allowing it to pass through unimpeded.

The others followed behind it, passing through the dimly lit seal one by one.

The air inside the nest was much more humid than outside, and the temperature was more than ten degrees lower.

The passage is a naturally formed sandstone cave, which has become exceptionally smooth after being dug and polished by sandworms over the years.

Every so often, a piece of glowing ore was embedded in the cave wall, emitting a faint green fluorescent light.

"These ores are the excrement of sandworms."

The desert lord walked at the front, his long, silvery-white hair appearing somewhat eerie under the green light.

"After the sandworms devour sand and abyssal energy, their digestive system excretes these glowing wastes. The deeper you go, the more waste there is, and the brighter the light becomes. At the same time, the probability of encountering sandworms also increases."

As soon as he finished speaking, the coffee worms that were leading the way suddenly turned purple, and their straws pointed to a corner ahead of the passage.

Something's coming.

Douglas raised his precision rifle. "The sound isn't from a sandworm. Sandworms don't make footsteps when they move."

Sure enough, instead of the rustling sound of sandworms sliding through the sand, the sound coming from around the corner of the passage was heavy, rhythmic footsteps.

Each step was accompanied by the dull thud of metal hitting the ground.

Immediately afterwards, a huge figure emerged from around the corner.

It was a creature the size of several adult bulls piled together.

Its appearance is somewhere between a scorpion and a beetle—six thick limbs support a heavily armored body, there is a huge pincer on each side of its head, and its tail is forked, with two energy balls that flash purple light at the end instead of a venomous stinger.

The most bizarre thing is its back—a huge stone slab is embedded in its carapace, and the slab is covered with densely packed runes.

"Abyss Guardian".

The desert lord stood at the front of the group, his voice as calm as if he were introducing an exhibit in a museum.

"The gatekeeper of the sandworm's lair. It is not a living being, but a construct created by the desert lord using abyssal energy and mineral remnants. Three hundred years ago, that team defeated it once, but the lord repaired it and enhanced it with new runes."

Leng Ruolan slowly drew her sword. "Where's the weakness?"

"The runic stone tablet on its back. The tablet is the core of its power to receive commands and energy from the lord. Destroying the tablet is equivalent to cutting off its energy supply. But it knows where its weakness is, so it never exposes its back—look at its stance."

Sure enough, the Abyss Guardian's stance was extremely deliberate.

It arched its body slightly, lowered its head, raised its tail high, and gripped the ground tightly with its six legs, hiding the stone slab on its back completely.

"That means we need to break through head-on and then flank from behind."

Leng Ruolan pondered for a moment, "It's similar to fighting the Abyss Bone Demon. Alexander, can you withstand its direct impact?"

"I can carry it—but that pincer looks like it could snap my hammer in two."

Alexander looked at the guard's two pincers, each the size of a door, and swallowed hard.

"You don't need to carry its pincers. Just slam the ground with a heavy hammer to create vibrations and disrupt its balance."

The desert lord said, "The construct is very unstable—too many legs and too high a center of gravity. Even the slightest tremor can create an opening in its attack. Take advantage of that opening, circle around to its side and attack the stone slab."

"Then I'll create the opening."

Leng Ruolan's figure had already disappeared from the spot.

Her speed was incredibly fast; with the agility attribute bonus and the enhancement from the Abyss Holy Spring, her movement trajectory was almost invisible.

The Abyss Guardian's two pincers snapped at her, but each time they closed, they could only catch a glimpse of her afterimage.

She moved swiftly between the six limbs, her dagger slashing repeatedly at the joints of the guard's legs—not to inflict damage, but to throw it off balance in the relentless assault.

"Alexander! Now!"

Alexander swung his heavy hammer and slammed it hard into the ground.

The entire passageway shook violently the moment the hammer hit the ground.

boom!

The Abyss Guardian was in a lull between attacks when the tremor caused the fulcrums of its six legs to slide simultaneously, causing its massive body to sway and reveal a narrow gap on its side.

Douglas seized the moment and fired three shots in quick succession with his precision rifle, the bullets hitting the joint connecting the guard's body and leg precisely.

The armor at the joints is much thinner than in other parts, so the bullet penetrated the armor and shattered the transmission structure underneath.

The guard lost power in one leg, and his body suddenly tilted to the left.

It tried to use its tail to brace itself against the wall for balance, but Leng Ruolan had anticipated its movements. Her short sword flew out and precisely severed the connection between the energy ball at the end of its tail and its main body.

The energy ball rolled once on the ground, flashed a few times with purple light, and then went out.

The guard lost its last means of maintaining its balance, and its massive body crashed to the side, completely exposing the runic stone tablet on its back.

"Big brother!"

"They're here!"

The European train is already in place.

The sword of the abyss drew a perfect arc in the air, its tip precisely piercing the largest rune in the very center of the stone slab.

Click!

A crack appeared in the stone slab beneath the sword tip.

Purple energy gushed out from the crack, and the guard's body began to convulse violently, its six limbs flailing aimlessly in the air.

[Energy absorption in progress...]

[Current charge: 91%...95%...]