The creature that had impaled itself on the end of Jon's spear was more than two metres in length and with the thickness of a grown man's thigh. Its dirtied, dark yellow carapace writhed as it struggled against the cross-speared blade of Luin, a foul, dark-orange liquid dripping from its wound onto the burning sands beneath it.

The worm creature screeched, thrashing about violently as it tried to remove itself off the end of Luin. It flopped around as if a fish out of water, causing Jon to raise an eyebrow as he tightened his grip over the Thulian Spellspear, hoisting it up higher and preventing the creature from touching him.

Jon felt what he assumed was the tail of the creature slam against his forearm, breaking through the skin upon impact. The blow possessed an immense amount of force behind it, perhaps enough to shatter the bones of an uninitiated mortal.

'It's physical strength is beyond what an ordinary human is capable of producing. Given its weight, I doubt that I would have been able to kill this creature back on Earth even if I still possessed Luin.'

The brown-haired young man observed the creature for a few more seconds, glancing towards the "mouth" of the creature and the dozens upon dozens of sharp, needle-like teeth contained within. The shape kind of reminded Jon of an angler fish, although without the bioluminescent lightbulb attached to its forehead.

Using the effects of [Eyes Through The Looking Glass], Jon could see that the name of this creature.

[Sand Fang Worm].

'It does not possess even a single Mana Core either. It is just an uninitiated creature with an enormous natural strength. I wonder how many creatures within this Dungeon are of the Mortal Rank.' Jon thought to himself.

Jon found its appearance familiar but off-putting, gripping Luin in both hands and slamming it down onto the burning sands. Placing one foot on the squirming beast beneath him, Jon slashed the Thulian Spellspear down the length of the creature, splattering dark-orange blood across the desert, alongside an abundance of organs and other viscera.

The sound of him slamming the Sand Fang Worm into the ground echoed throughout the desert, causing nearby dunes to shift. The echoing sound did not escape the Jon, causing him to softly tap the dunes beneath him, watching as his shoe disappeared into the loose sands.

Shifting things up and tapping with the rear end of Luin, Jon struck the sands with significantly more force, watching as the golden dune beneath him produced a loud echoing sound. Attempting to kick the ground caused Jon to wince, feeling as though he had just struck a brick wall rather than a pile of sand.

"Are you serious?! Non-Newtonian sand!? One that just happens to allow sound to travel through it!?" Jon shouted, glancing at the distance between himself and the stone structure far off across the desert.

Turning his head, Jon could see that some of the surrounding hills had shifted. Minerva-Sagacity Eyes picking up subtle traces of movements before vanishing behind more mounds of sand. Although he could not feel [Monstrous Intuition] alert him to the presence of danger, Jon knew that he was no longer alone.

Mana started flowing into several of his abilities.

Ice natured spiritual energy flowed into his Fragment Of Marrow and Fragment Of Heart. The effects of the harsh sun baring down on him grew dull, as his veins and arteries flowed blood produced within his Murmur-Glacial Marrow through his Seir-Glacial Heart.

War natured spiritual energy started to flow into [The Fools Advance, Inversing Life And Death] as Jon assumed [Le Mat Avancement]. A dark-red haze enveloping his body.

His Heretical Chalk Pauldrons manifested on his shoulders and biceps as Jon muttered the Spell effect contained within Glaucus.

"Thou is the white dawn which pierces through the ash and blood. Thou is the pure frost which halts the growing darkness. Thou is the chalk shield that prevents night from- Oh shit!" Jon stopped the incantation of [Behold Thy Heretical Armour, Adorned In Chalk Light], eyes widening as he unconsciously leaned forward, tipping too much of his weight in one particular direction.

The dunes beneath Jon shifting, burying his feet in a layer of burning golden sand. The nineteen-year-old winced, feeling his skin and flesh come into contact with the unnatural sand, almost causing him to tumble forward and down the slope that he was currently standing on.

[Monstrous Intuition] twitched as Jon manifested Assail in his free hand, thrusting downwards as he felt another Sand Fang Worm burst out from the ground beneath his feet. The Spear Of Verdant Cedar piercing through the thick, heat-resistant carapace of the Sand Fang Worm, ending its life in an instant.

At the same time, Jon used Luin to stabilize himself, thrusting the cross-spear into the sands and leaning on it, while trying to pull out his buried feet, without having to touch burning sand. Sending a sweeping glance towards the nearby dunes, Jon released a small sigh of relief, managing to unearth one of his feet, before the sound of Ashvattha Rana's voice filled his mind.

"Wait Jon, there are more coming!"

Jon felt his index finger twitch, urging him to overload his Fragment Of Marrow. Jon ignored the locks of pure-white hair that brushed against his brow, pulling his foot out from beneath the burning sands. Standing atop another enormous dune, Jon felt the ground beneath him shift, as [Monstrous Intuition] alerted him to the presence of numerous different sources of danger.

One of his feet felt something brush up against it, causing him to slash out with Assail, hitting nothing but sand as the Sand Fang Worm burrowed back down into the earth.

"Shit! Where has it disappeared to?!" Jon cursed, eyes darting about searching for traces of anymore worms.

More knowledge natured spiritual energy flowed into his Fragment Of Instinct, enhancing his sense of touch to the nth degree. Turning his head halfway to the side, Jon swore that he could have felt something tremble beneath his foot, narrowing his eyes as he stared downwards.

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Jon could not help but slightly grin, seeing another Sand Fang Worm attempt to leap up out of the ground, opening his monstrous-looking maw while launching itself towards his face. The mastery he possessed over [Monstrous Intuition] allowed him to enhance the effectiveness of a single sense several times over, rather than a comprehensive enhancement to all five of his senses.

Even through his uninitiated runners, Jon could still feel the faint movements of the Sand Fang Warms beneath his feet.

Jon slashed the approaching beast clean in half, flourishing Luin with an overexaggerated twirl remove traces of blood lingering on its blade. Glancing around him, Jon made the decision ignore the heat baring down on him and start sprinting in the direction of the stone edifice off in the distance.

His mouth moving rapidly, trying to complete the Spell that he tried to cast several moments ago.

"Thou is the white dawn which pierces through the ash and blood. Thou is the pure frost which halts the growing darkness. Thou is the chalk shield that prevents night from encroaching upon thy walls!".

The combination of [Le Mat Avancement] and the spiritual shield born from Glaucus enveloped Jon in two layers of protective war natured spiritual energy. One born to obscure the sensory perceptions of others, while the other used to protect him from oncoming blows.

As Jon continued to run towards the stone structure off in the distance, he could not help but curse, hearing the sound of his footsteps echoing throughout the sands. Each footfall caused minute vibrations to spread out like ripples on the water's surface, brushing up against Sand Fang Worms that dwelled beneath the desert sands.

Just turning his head to the side, Jon could see several trails of sand swim through the dunes, following the source of the repeated footfalls. Although he could not visibly see the Sand Fang Worms, Jon knew that they were chasing after him.

'Just great! I'd almost prefer to be fighting goblins at this point!'

"Eis! Can't you manifest some sort of physical shield beneath the sands or something?" Jon shouted, sprinting full throttle across a particularly tall sand ridge.

The voice of the winter demon spirit echoed throughout his mind.

"I could. But to manifest anything capable of hindering their movement would need more spiritual energy than you would be comfortable using. You might as well use your Fragment Of Annihilation on them, to kill them properly for the same mana expenditure," Schwarz Eis admitted, fanning herself while still sprawled on one of Jon's memory glaciers.

The young man let out a small tsk, before looking down at the spears in his hand and deciding to unsummon Assail. Although Jon thought that the benefits that his Yaochi-Jade Prana gave him were perhaps the most complimentary amongst all his abilities, there was one more than was perhaps even better.

It was a combination of abilities that he had attempted just a few days ago, one that produced arguably the greatest synergistic effect of all his manifested abilities.

Clutching his free hand over his chest, Jon muttered the chant for [Wrath Is The Paradise Whispered On Thou Lips].

"I proclaim this battle to warrant the blood-red sin of wrath! The painful chains of virtue shall restrain thine desires no longer! I prostate myself before the heretical altar adorned with blood and skulls. The blasphemous pleasure of war shall become a paradise for the sinful and the decadent!"

His Fragment Of Ira saturated the Fragment Of Weapon in his hands with the blood-red-sin of wrath. The corner of Jon's vision flooded with effect notifications but went ignored as he focused on another one of his abilities.

Jon had not practiced using his Fragment Of Eradication or Fragment Of Annihilation, given their enormous mana expenditure.

Taking a deep breath while holding the Thulian Spellspear in one hand, Jon recited the chant for another one of his abilities.

"I am tranquillity, the silver destruction which shatters the boundless firmament. I am severance, the gracious death which accompanies the birth of truth and justice. I am extinction, the divine judgement which severs the concepts of karma and sin, delivering all to the depths of mine imaginary annihilation!"

Jon's eyes flashed a brilliant silver, as tightened his grip over Luin.

The approaching figures of the Sand Fang Worms travelling just beneath the surface of the sand could be seen several dozen metres away. Some moved at speeds quicker than the others, forcing Jon to flow more spear natured spiritual energy into his Fragment Of Eradication.

Taking a wide step forward with his dominant foot, Jon took a deep breath before slashing out with the pink-purple spear in his hand. Luin, as though it were a paint brush, dyed the space in front of Jon pink, slashing through the imaginary target placed in front of him.

A bright pink-silver construct manifested itself above Jon's head. Mimicking the actions of the spear in his hand.

[Imperial Spear Art; Divine Spear Extinction].

As Jon slashed out, the complimentary effects of his Fragment Of Ira made itself known to the world. Of all the effects that [Wrath Is The Paradise Whispered On Thou Lips] manifested, [Decadent Spear Blessing] was perhaps the greatest.

[Decadent Spear Blessing]: While active, thrusts and slashes made with spears will produce additional instances of damage. Pseudo-spiritual spear constructs will manifest parallel with each attack, each dealing a specified fraction of the original damage.

The effects of [Imperial Spear Art; Divine Spear Extinction] would manifest a chaotic construct of spear natured spiritual energy. A reflection of the spear that Jon wielded in his hands.

As Jon slashed out with the Thulian Spellspear, numerous pseudo-spiritual spear constructs manifested parallel to it. Pale, ghostly afterimages each carrying within them a portion of the strength of the original.

Jon felt his eyes widen as he glanced upwards, watching as over a half-a-dozen thirty-foot-long, constructs of chaotic spear natured spiritual energy manifested themselves in the space above his head. Seven cross-shaped spears slashed out, mimicking the movements that Jon made with Luin, slashing down at the golden sands in front of him.

The inherent nature of [Imperial Spear Art; Divine Spear Extinction] allowed Jon to pierce through physical and spiritual defences, striking at the heart of his target in exchange for an exorbitant mana expenditure.

Although his Fragment Of Ira also relied on his Spear Mana Core in order to activate, Jon no longer needed to overload his Fragment Of Eradication in order to deal incredible amounts of damage.

'If the me standing here right now were to fight the Malum Hobgoblin… I think, no… I know I would win.'

The chaotic reflections of the Thulian Spellspear crashed into the burning desert sands, slashing through it as if the Non-Newtonian characteristics of the sand were nothing. An eruption of sand clumps shot up into the air, sending chunks flying over a hundred metres up into the sky.

The echoing explosion was unlike the footfalls that Jon produced while he ran.

Clouds of crackling spear natured spiritual energy coursed throughout the area. Wisps of chaotic pink spear shaped constructs flickered amidst the sand and rock, forcing Jon to cover his eyes, almost forgetting to keep [Le Mat Avancement] active.

It was an honest-to-god explosion, one that Jon had seen in movies or on television.

'Holy crap. That was…' Jon lacked the words to explain how he was feeling.

He could no longer call himself an ordinary human. Hell, given how powerful that single strike was, Schwarz Eis and Ashvattha Rana had called him a "Half-Knight", knowing that his current offensive might matched that of individuals on the lower Tiers of Knighthood.

The numerous Sand Fang Worms that were approaching Jon vanished in an instant, a portion of the landscape around him changing as a result of his combination of two abilities. Jon continued to flow spiritual energy into his Fragment Of Intuition and Fragment Of Eyes but could not find any traces of Sand Fang Worms in the area.

Nodding his head, Jon turned around and continued sprinting towards the stone structure far off in the distance.

He still needed to find his friends.

And he still needed to clear this Dungeon.

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