Endless Evolution As A Skeleton In A Game-Like World
Chapter 17: [17] Liquid Sand

Chapter 17: [17] Liquid Sand

Ark had played a lot of unfair games in his life, and if there was one thing that he learned from them, it was this...

There was always a way to survive.

The only problem was that you often had to die a hundred times over to figure it out.

Yeah...

Now, although that would have been very feasible in a game, this was not a game, this was reality, and life was a commodity he was not too eager to give up.

Behind them, the worms finally burst out of the floor, leaping into the air and back into the soil as though it were a river.

[Threat detected! Corpse Keeper Worm, Level 5 x 15!]

[Threat detected! Grave Keeper Worm, Level 10 x 1!]

"Fifteen?! How is this fair?!" Olivia panicked as she glanced back to see them gaining on the party.

"We need to find a mountain, or a place with hard ground!" They could not outrun these monsters, not for long, so their best option was to fight.

But they could not fight them on regular soil, the worms would pick them up like popcorn. They needed something hard, something that even the corpse worms couldn’t dig through.

"Follow me." Soo-Jjin ran ahead of them, passing Ark and even Olivia who was flying with ease. It was clear that she had been merely matching their pace, not moving at her maximum.

’She knows where a mountain is?’ When she went on a walk, Ark thought it was merely for leisure, never did he imagine she was also mapping out their surroundings.

They all chased after her, watching as the dirt behind them turned to jelly. The worms were getting closer...

"Move faster damn it!" Nolan screamed, eyes wide as he clutched tightly to Ark’s neck.

Ark could tell that he was scared of being eaten by the same monster that killed his brother, but that knowledge did little to calm his building irritation.

After half a minute of ceaseless running, Ark heard a strange sound behind him. It was hard to describe it, like sloshing fluids and grinding bones.

He immediately looked to his back, his eyes widening as a worm suddenly sprang towards them.

It had compressed its entire mass into a single point, like a spring, and then using that tension, it rushed through the air like a missile. Ark was about to shield his face when he realized something...

The trajectory was wrong, the corpse worm was not going after him... it was aiming for the head of their procession, Soo-Jin!

"Take care of yourself!"

He immediately dropped Nolan and unhooked his dagger, jumping right to the left and slashing with all his might.

Stab!

His dagger sunk right into its flesh, but the momentum was enough to pull him along with the worm, knocking him to the side and into a barrel roll.

Soo-jin immediately glanced at Ark, her eyes widening slightly.

"Keep going! Don’t stop!" Ark screamed at her.

He could tell that she did not like the idea, but she was too logical to do anything but that.

Thankfully, Nolan had adapted fast as well, and was running frantically. Not like Ark had the time to be worried about anyone else—

The worm in front of him stirred and turned to face him. By the sides of its head were three holes each, resembling gills.

They were what it used to sense things, and right now, they were vibrating softly as the worm swayed its massive head.

Black blood gushed out of the stab wound by its side, but it was nowhere enough to kill it, a corpse worm was just that resilient.

’I need to do this as quietly as possibl—’

Swish!

Three more corpse worms arrived at his clearing, slowly circling the area where he stood.

Ark hissed through gritted teeth as they flexed their five inch fangs, their tube-like bodies slithering through the leaves.

They had not sensed him, but they were closing in, and it was only a matter of time before they started making guesses—

One of them slithered closer than the others, its sensors vibrating as it scanned the area. It leaned closer, and Ark could smell its horrid, hot breath, as slime drifted down its teeth-filled maw.

Then slowly, it retracted, searching around for him.

Ark could not even afford to breathe.

Thankfully, he didn’t need to.

’I need to quickly take care of this...’

If he wanted to survive, then he could not allow them drag him under, no matter the cost.

Ark took in a deep breath, then summoned his crowbar in his right hand, and his staff in his left. This close, that small motion alone was all it took to set them off.

"Alright, let’s dance!"

The first leaped into the air and came down maw first, while the others charged from both sides, trying to lock him in with their teeth.

Ark positioned the butt of his staff on the floor, and the pointed end at the worm, then he tilted it slightly, away from the maw, and right at its sensor—

The corpse worm fell right into it.

SKREEEEEE—!!

It shrieked as the staff drove deeper into its sensor, bursting out of the side with a wave of blood. It shook once, then died on the spot.

[You have slain a level 5 Corpse Worm! + 10 Exp]

Hearing their brother’s wails, one of the worms tried to go under, but Ark raced towards it. Just as its head was about to burrow in, he sunk the hook of his crowbar into its sensor, and then he pulled.

With strength of nine points, he was far stronger than most players at his level, and once they stepped outside the dirt, corpse worms were not known for their strength.

They were just a little better than fishes outside water. That was the only reason he was doing so well...

The crowbar ripped through its pale skin, right from the sensor—pushing aside the dead bodies strapped to it—and down to its tail.

Blood fizzled out, staining the cloak Olivia had given him.

[You have slain a level 5 Corpse Worm! + 10 Exp]

Two corpse worms were down, and only one of them remained. But it seemed Ark’s luck had run out. The worm had gone under.

BAM!

The corpse worm sprang out of the earth and slammed into him with the force of a battering ram.

His chest caved in, and he felt his ribs bend to the point of almost snapping, just as he was tossed into the sky like a rag doll.

Red dust poured out of multiple cracks that had formed, and he gritted his teeth to hold back the pain.

"All this... from just one hit?!"

But the corpse worm was not satisfied. It compressed its body, and then it sprung into the air, locking its maw around Ark’s head.

They landed roughly, rolling several times across the first floor. Ark struggled to pull himself free, but the monster’s maw was relentless and vulgar and cruel.

They grinded over his bones like they were hard candy, acidic enzymes stinging his skin like poison.

And then once the rolling stopped, it began to pull, dragging Ark into the ground, and into its terrain—