Dungeon Tomb of the Guardian of the Dunes (Tier 9) floor 3 complete.

  Author note: this webnovel is freely available on Royal Road. Please support the author by reading only on that site.

  Time to completion: 6 hours, 4 minutes, and 18 seconds.

  Grade: B-

  Checkpoint reached. Proceed to floor 4?

  Yes/No

  Okay, B- may not be that impressive, but at least it wasn’t another D, right?

  Honestly, this one was on him, the six hours part was his fault after all. If he wasn’t a dumbass, he could’ve been done with the fight, unharmed, in just a few minutes… probably.

  He didn’t want to talk about it… B- was fine.

  Deciding to just accept his losses and move on, he mentally clicked on ‘yes’, feeling the familiar darkness envelope him.

  Matt appeared on the next floor a breath later, and to his surprise, it was nothing like the others. While the previous three floors had been aesthetically different, a common denominator connected them all: being small, rectangular, and with a statue somewhere that really disliked your presence.

  This new floor, however, was entirely different.

  For one thing, it was a spherical cave, at least 300 feet in diameter and entirely covered in sand. It looked like a giant sandpit, but he couldn’t tell if there was a hard surface underneath the sand or not, because, for some reason, he was standing on a floating platform, twenty feet up in the air.

  Yep, a floating platform. A three by two slab of eggshell-colored stone. He wasn’t really afraid of heights, but he wouldn’t call the position he was in comfortable. There was barely any room to stand, probably by design, and yet he wasn’t going anywhere, because that calm pristine sand was giving him a very ominous feeling.

  The floor with the mentalist had felt unnatural, incredibly so, especially once he realized what was wrong. This one, on the other hand, didn’t. He could smell the sand, hear the wind, see the sunlight dancing through the cracks in the ceiling as clouds blocked the rays of light. It looked real, and it felt real.

  The problem was what he couldn’t see, and he couldn’t see anything other than sand. No rocks, no stones, and most importantly, no statue. Whatever guarded this floor was lurking in the sand, meaning he’d have to go in blind, which was already a tremendous disadvantage.

  Okay, in all fairness, what was lurking in the sand was kind of obvious. It was obvious to the point of being too obvious. Like a test question with a very straightforward answer that left you doubting yourself.

  Yes, it could be that simple, but also… was it?

  That was why he decided to pretend like he didn’t know. He didn’t know that in a room that was basically a giant sandpit, located in a place literally called ‘The Dune Desert’, there wasn’t a fucking sandworm lurking in the sand, waiting to gobble him up.

  Now, even if he was pretending there were no sandworms, Matt would be the first to admit that a fight against one wouldn’t be ideal. He had no way to locate nor track it, no weapons nor skills good against it, and most importantly, he didn’t know the coveted art of wormriding, also they kinda had a very tough body, but mainly the wormriding part.

  On the other hand, the cave wasn’t that large, so whatever mysterious, elongated, never before seen, monster lurked in the sand shouldn’t be longer than twenty feet, or the size of the cave would be too constrictive for it to move freely. And while a twenty foot long… not-worm was still a terrifying creature, if he had learned one thing, it was that with sandworms, no matter how big it was, it could always be worse. Much, much worse.

  Long story short, he was happy with it being twenty feet, definitely not complaining about that one… yet.

  Matt carefully lowered himself into a sitting position, dangling his feet as he considered his options. While he might think it was a sandworm, he also wasn’t a 100% sure. Or well, he was, but he still wanted a visual confirmation. Maybe system sandworms differed from the ones in Earth’s fiction, meaning he had to see the thing with his own two eyes before working on a plan of action.

  The only question now was, how?

  Matt pointed his scepter downwards and started charging it with mana. It was an easy and straightforward enough attempt at luring it out, and if it worked, he could simply bombard the thing from up here. Win win in his book.

  After a few seconds, he fired the mana orb towards a spot a dozen feet away from his location… just in case.

  The orb impacted the sand with rattling force, sending it flying everywhere, while creating a sizeable ruckus, enough to alert anything of his presence. Or at least he thought.

  This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

  Seconds went by with nothing happening. The disrupted sand settled in its new location, the dust cleared, and silence returned to the cave once more.

  Matt frowned. It wasn’t that impressive of a mana orb, but in a place this quiet, where you could almost hear a pin drop, it should’ve been enough, yet the monster hadn’t taken the bait.

  Not getting discouraged, he started charging the scepter once more. If a simple ruckus wasn’t enough, then he was going for a big bang.

  One thing he did do, however, was slow down the mana charging the scepter. It would take more time to charge his mana orb, yes, but it would also give his mana a chance to recover, in case things took a turn for the worst.

  It was his first time attempting it, and had no idea if there would be drawbacks or if it simply scaled differently than in his head, but since the sandworm wasn’t in any hurry to show itself, he shouldn’t be either.

  A few minutes in, the orb started crackling and twitching as it tried to free itself from the scepter, or the scepter from Matt.

  30%... apparently that’s the limit right now, he thought as he finally freed the orb from its shackles. He could’ve kept going, he hadn’t really reached his limit, it was the orb’s limit that he was worried about, specifically, its instability. If it blew up in his face, there was nothing to get knocked back into, he’d just fall the 20 foot drop and turn into worm food, and right now he was actively trying to avoid that outcome.

  A massive explosion rocked the cave as the mana orb fell onto the sandpit like a bomb, turning sand particles into shrapnel that went flying everywhere, some even lodging themselves into Matt’s exposed skin.

  Matt tightened his grip on the platform, holding on for dear life as the shockwave along with the sand kept trying to push him off. Thankfully, he didn’t have to for long, as the literal dust settled only a few seconds later.

  He held his breath as he awaited the much anticipated reveal.

  Nothing…

  “The fuck? That blast was strong enough to wake the dead. Where the hell is my worm?” Matt complained, gesturing erratically with his hands as he tried to figure out what was wrong. The mentalist, scorpion, and huntress had all reacted to his mana orb, so he hadn’t really expected there not to be a response, and yet, the stubborn sand dweller refused to show itself.

  He furrowed his brow as he mulled it over. Is a single instance not enough? Was the thought that crossed his mind as he started firing smaller mana orbs, but this time in bursts, trying his best to mimic a walking pattern. His aim was abysmal, and the walking mostly turned into a drunk person dancing… on his hand… while skating… in a lake.

  It wasn’t a walking pattern. It wasn’t even a pattern, but it still should’ve been enough of a disturbance for whatever was hiding to at least show some interest, yet there was nothing but silence. It was even starting to annoy him how disinterested this damn worm was.

  He really didn’t want to have to go down there himself. It was too reckless, even for him. He liked taking risks, but this was akin to throwing himself into a fire and hoping he wouldn’t burn. It simply wouldn’t work.

  With a sigh and a heavy heart, he finally decided to try something he had been dreading. He started untying his shoelaces and taking one of his shoes off. As he held the slightly damaged, definitely filthy, shoe in his hand, he stared longingly at it.

  Izzy and Jackson liked to go hiking from time to time. Matt didn’t really care for it, but he had joined them a few times on their insistence. Still, it wasn’t a common enough occurrence that he felt the need for specialized gear or even hiking shoes, settling on using his normal, everyday sneakers. It was neither safe nor advisable on his part, but they usually chose easy enough trails, so he never felt the need for it. However, when their trip to Egypt was all but confirmed, where they’d be going on desert treks and safaris almost daily, Izzy… ‘convinced’ him that buying shoes fit for the desert was in his best interest.

  He tried to argue his point, but when your point boils down to 'I don’t want to', it’s slightly challenging to come up with a reasonable argument. In the end, he bought one of the nicer pairs she had recommended, figuring they would double down as hiking shoes when the need arose, and boy had he never been so wrong in his life.

  They weren’t cheap, but he’d be damned if it hadn’t been the most comfortable piece of clothing he had ever worn in his entire life. They were light, extremely comfortable to walk in, and very breathable. It felt like walking on clouds. There was absolutely no discomfort from the uneven terrain, and barely any heat from the hot sand and weather. Of course, he wasn’t gonna tell Izzy that, he’d lose his right to argue for the next ten years if he did, but there was no denying how perfect the pair was. His feet had never been so happy.

  Coincidentally, it was also the only remaining piece of clothing on him that wasn’t in tatters, aside from his magical bandana of course, making what he was about to do even more painful. Like actual physical pain. The thought of using the comfortable shoe to lure out the monster was hurting him more than the double stab to his heart, which really said something.

  With another heavy sigh, he finally tossed the shoe, feeling like he had tossed a piece of himself.

  Men were inherently creatures of habit. They disliked change and grew attached to things quite easily, especially when they had been with them for a while, even if it was something as simple as a piece of clothing. So, for him to get this attached to a pair of shoes that he’d had for less than a month, meant it was the one.

  And so, as Matt watched with sorrowful eyes, contemplating whether it was too late to save the footwear, he made a promise to himself, that even if it was eaten by the sandworm, he’d fish it out, give it a good scrub, and wear it again with pride.

  “If it’s meant to be, it’s meant to be,” he steeled himself, watching as the shoe landed harmlessly on the yellow desert sand. With an intense gaze, he summoned his inner sniper, and started firing a salvo of mana orbs around his fallen companion in an attempt to make some movement, while making sure no harm would befall it. There were a few close calls that had him holding his breath, but thankfully, there was no direct impact.

  After a few mana orbs, there was finally a noticeable change. A shift in the sand, almost a hundred feet away, was rapidly closing in on the unsuspecting footwear.

  Matt climbed back up to his feet and started charging the scepter with as much mana as he could. He wasn’t gonna miss a chance to land a blow on the monster, especially if it wasn’t yet aware of his position.

  Tense seconds passed as the monstrous sandworm wiggled its way towards its query, with Matt’s eyes never leaving it for a second, like a hawk waiting for its prey to rear its ugly head.

  He held his breath, pointing the scepter towards the approaching form, a devastating mana orb at the ready.

  Sand shot everywhere as a figure finally erupted a few feet away from the shoe, diving onto it before disappearing back into the sandy terrain of the cave.

  All color drained from Matt’s face as he stood there, eyes wide with shock, arms slack to his side.

  “No… they didn’t…”