Chapter 83 (LXXXIII) Dune Wyrm

Ziq led the group through The Barrens over the course of the following two weeks. It was in the dead of the night as they continued traveling toward Ashbourne after making a unanimous decision to push through the night and reach the city in the morning. Under the guidance of the moonlight brightly illuminating the expansive desert, they raced offroad, kicking up a long trail of sand into the air.

"Kweh!!" The Lava Striders exclaimed in exhaustion, running as quickly as possible; a massive stream of sand kicked into the air as an unknown beast charged after the carriage.

"ZIQ!!!! IT'S GETTING CLOSER!!!" Alijah yelled, the triplets squealing as the four huddled together. Jackson held the back of the carriage open as Megan rapidly fired arrows one after another toward their pursuer.

"Keep it up!" Jackson roared over the whipping wind, "We just need one to hit it!"

Thankfully over the course of the last two weeks, Megan was able to occasionally hit an opponent but was highly unreliable. She was improving, but Jackson tried to fight off the doubt in his mind, 'Whatever this is; is the size of a barn, she has to hit it!'

"Jax..." She shouted, rapidly firing arrows as she aimed briefly before each shot.

"I know!!! Come on, Megan!!! Hit it!!" He yelled in return before turning his back, "Ziq, do something!"

"Ziq!!!" Alijah shouted once more, their pursuer closing the gap as it started rising from beneath the sand, dwarfing the carriage as it chased them.

"They're giving all they got!!" Ziq shouted back, snapping the reins, "You do something!!"

"Tch!!" Jackson clicked his tongue, "Okay, Megan!!! You got this, it's RIGHT THERE!!!" He shouted, deploying his WarFrame and unsheathing his Twin Moons.

"I see it!!" She shouted back, gritting her teeth as she aimed, firing again, the arrows plunging into the massive Desert Wyrm's hide, doing nothing to the beast.

"You need to hit its eyes!!!" Jackson shouted, leaning down and pointing with one of his scimitars toward the beady black eyes the size of a grapefruit above its humongous mouth.

"Are you serious?? Why was I shooting before it came up???" Megan exclaimed, looking at him angrily.

"You can hit them through the sand!!" He yelled, countering back, "You have nearly perfect aim outside of combat!! I've seen you split a dozen arrows down the shaft in a row! Don't get me that!!!"

"Just shut up!!!" She huffed, nocking an arrow and aiming. Jackson glared daggers at the back of her head as he grabbed the top of the carriage, flipping on top.

He twirled his scimitars as the metallic wings deployed from the back of the WarFrame, "Megan!!! Now!!!" He roared, leaping into the air. She adjusted her aim for a split second from inside the carriage and launched the arrow.

Jackson, air stepped through the skies toward the Desert Wyrm. It was the length of two massive airplanes and the size of a large barn. It was dark orange and had vertical lines running down the length of its body, segmenting its bulbous body.

Dozens of rows of razor-sharp teeth lined the inside of its mouth as Jackson rose into the air, the arrow flying directly and hitting one of the dozen eyes above its mouth.

Long streamer-like fins flapped rapidly in the wind as Jackson twirled his scimitars, holding them icepick style, jamming them into two eyes of the humongous beast as the arrow struck true and pierced a third eye.

Jackson immediately kicked off, floating backward as the Desert Wyrm recoiled in pain, rearing into the air and unleashing a deafening, deep bellow as its body constricted as it created the sound.

The young man kicked off the air, stepping back and deactivating his WarFrame as he flew into the carriage, jostling it roughly as he crashed into it, much to the dismay of the Lava Striders as Ziq stabilized the vehicle.

"I think I see Ashbourne!!" Ziq shouted from the front, the girls all sighing in relief. Jackson glared at the Desert Wyrm as it regained its composure and dived under the sand, rapidly chasing after the carriage.

"This sunnova bitch is coming back!! Stop!" Jackson shouted, leaping from the carriage once more as it quickly stopped, turning to the side.

He spun, redeploying his WarFrame midair, flying toward the massive sandworm, dark clouds gathering overhead as static randomly appeared around him.

A purple and light blue bolt of lightning shot from the skies, striking both of his Twin Moon Scimitars, each blade emitting a radiant energy of the same color along the length of the edge of both blades.

Beneath the WarFrame and underneath his bodysuit, his body was emitting steam as his arms and legs bulked up, his muscles burning up as they grew more prominent as a fiery red aura emitted from his eyes.

"Torrential Bolt of the Transcendent Behemoth!!" Jackson roared, raising both scimitars above his head and launching forward as his body rapidly spun.

He slammed both blades into the sand just as the Desert Wyrm reached the impact point as two colossal bolts of lightning struck the ground, creating an even more enormous explosion, shooting massive columns of sand hundreds of meters into the sky.

The impact forcefully and abruptly stopped the momentum of the Desert Wyrm as its head sunk into the sad, flinging its tail high into the air, flipping the humongous beast onto its back.

Jackson panted heavily, his swords still piercing the sand as the entire group looked in awe as the beast they previously were fleeing from soared over their heads in slow motion before crashing, creating a tidal wave of sand in all directions.

Jackson stood, the gears of his WarFrame spinning as his armor disappeared, twirling the Twin Moons around and sheathing them, and turning to look toward the carriage with a thumbs up.

"Oh shit!" He exclaimed to himself, rushing over to the half-buried carriage and seven heads poking out of the sand, staring at him in annoyance.