Chapter 446: trapped in the horde

In the middle of the loosening sand and the rapidly expanding sand hole, a huge snake as wide as 3 humans combined rapidly slithered up the hole, its pitch-black eyes trained on the humans.

Just from a glance, Mr. Sandstorm’s heart went cold in horror. He knew what this monster was, a desert snake that mutated due to the changes in the desert.

Locals in the city of the desert referred to it as the maneater. Legends say that it descended from the legendary Basilisk, making it a terrifying monster in the world of gold.

Most of them had the power of 2nd rank high-grade soldiers, but Mr. Sandstorm was sure that one as big as this definitely had stronger power, which directly translated to 3rd rank power.

“Turn back!” He roared in horror.

Without even confirming if the tourists heard his order, Mr. Sandstorm rapidly turned and started sprinting away as he muttered some words to his 7 companions in their native language.

Hearing him, the others revealed horrifying expressions also as they turned to escape without caring for their dignity at all.

The tourists were confused. Turning back meant clashing with the Scavenger rats, they were confused and scared but the looks on the local guide’s faces spooked them more.

Clark didn’t see the monster but his intuition already warned him of the danger. He was 80% sure that the monster had 3rd rank strength.

“Run!” He roared to emphasize the words of their local guide.

Having heard it a second time, the tourists no longer hesitated as they turned to run. As the tourists started running, the ground broke off below one of them as a huge mouth opened up below him.

Crunch!

The huge snake came out of the sand, swallowing half of the female tourist as its long teeth dug into her waist, injecting poisonous toxins into her bloodstream.

The lady wanted to scream but her eyes immediately rolled back, her body twitched like a stroke patient as she became paralyzed immediately.

Crunch!

Another gulp and the lady was swallowed completely by the snake.

Seeing this, pure horror gripped the remaining tourist’s hearts as they activated all their trump cards without reservations to escape. As this happened, a storm already kick-started in the desert.

As tourists who were rich enough to pay the money for the expedition, they were not petty not to have come prepared with escape gadgets.

As they escaped, the sand flew rapidly in the air like flying knives, hitting the tourists with their swift sharp edges but the mechanical hijab protected their bodies from damage.

The maneater snake was completely unaffected as its abdominal muscles contracted to swallow and digest its first prey, then its pitch-black eyes locked on another target.

It revealed its 2 dagger-sharp teeth as a spray of purple liquid was sprinkled out. Before the spit could reach its destination, a blue shimmering shield appeared that blocked it.

Bam!

A bullet shot reverberated in the sandstorm. The bullet accurately hit the huge snake’s left eye, destroying it to form a rain of blood in the brown sand.

Hiss…!!!

The snake hissed loudly in pain before rapidly burrowing back under the sand before the second bullet was shot. As the sandstorm now obscured their vision, Clark finally had the freedom to act.

“Follow me! I’m here!”

In the almost impossible to see through sandstorm, only Mr. Sandstorm’s voice was the catalyst keeping and motivating the remaining tourists to continue persevering through the storm.

The sandstorm hindered their movements severely, a horde of Scavenger rats were in their front, and a maneater snake was beneath them in the sand, their situation was practically hopeless already.

For the next 2 minutes, they suffered no further attacks from the snake but they were all tense with the knowledge that the snake was still tailing underneath them which only left them feeling like dying immediately.

These 2 minutes of freedom did not last, a minute later they collided with the horde of Scavenger rats.

Crii...!!!

Without hesitation, the rats lunged at the juicy meat before them.

Tu! Tu! Tu! Tu!

Mr. Sandstorm and the bodyguard protecting some of the tourists immediately opened fire. Amid the raging sandstorm, blood flew randomly as metal and flesh collided.

Despite the first few initial deaths, the Scavenger rats pushed forward unrelentingly like a tide of mechanical war machines that were unafraid of death and never got tired.

Boom!

At this tense moment, the maneater snake burst out again and its target was Clark having locked onto the scent of the attacker who blinded its eye.

As he was already alert against ambushes, Clark was not caught off-guard. His multi-purpose boots glowed a deep blue as he jumped up, with his armor activating in the process, he smoothly retrieved his spear and cut down.

Bam!

Surprisingly, the thick skin of the snake held and kept the first strike at bay but the second, third, and fourth quickly followed.

The third and fourth strike drew blood, but the fifth strike directly stabbed deep inside the snake’s body. It hissed loudly, spooking the tourists even further before decisively burrowing away.

It escaped directly this time, it knew that it met a tough opponent.

As Clark dropped back down, his eyes flickered as a pair of energy glasses materialized in front of his eyes. The next moment, the glasses penetrated the thick dust and he saw the Scavenger rats.

The horde of rats already surrounded them completely, and 2 other tourists were already dragged down. They were directly torn apart by the fork-like teeth of the rats which craved human blood.

He wanted to take the stage this time but he heard a voice that made him calm down. It was the voice of the mysterious lady that he suspected to be a high-grade mercenary.

“Mr. Sandstorm, show me the direction. Everybody, converge together, form a circular defense perimeter, and follow me”.

Her voice had such authority in it that all the tourists subconsciously obeyed like she was their only fortress of escape.

As the tourists converged together, so did Clark and Mr. Sandstorm. The local didn’t reveal where the pipe was immediately but instead just pointed in a direction, the human mind was unpredictable.

With a weapon that looked like a whip, this lady mercenary showed the strength of a 3rd rank high-grade soldier as she whipped her way through.

Under her leadership, the group of tourists was able to form a slightly proper defense against the ravaging Scavenger rats that were out to destroy them.

Slowly, they started pushing forward through the sandstorm. As they moved through the storm, one of the tourists suddenly kicked something hard and screamed loudly in horror.

Everybody in the team turned to look at the object.