Sand X Dune X Battle

AN: I'm back from vacation! A bit jet lagged still but I'll be fine eventually. Anyways, I wanted to point out a few things:

First of all, I am sorry for no upload yesterday. I originally wrote a chapter in advance and planned on releasing it at the normal time. Instead, I released it last week as a few things came up and I had no time to write anything…

Second, Thank you everyone for one thousand collections! Given that Webnovel doesn't really give writers any useful statistics regarding reader engagement, collection is probably a decent metric? Because stones don't seem all that useful and ratings mean next to nothing usually…

And Finally, as a celebration, I might release an extra chapter sometime this week? Don't hold me to it though as College is starting up in like a week and I'll be busy. (though I will try to keep normal updates. )

End Of Author Note

"...I spoke too soon huh?" slowly turning around while flaring up my aura a bit as I widened and lowered my stance a bit readying myself for the now unavoidable conflict. Keeping my eyes on the worm as its large body positioned itself in a large arc with its dealy maw pointed at myself I made sure I was ready to dodge.

'This thing doesn't seem to be able to make sharp turns but can make fine adjustments seeing as how its face is always pointed at me no matter which way I walk…' slowly moving to the left in hopes of avoiding any damage to my campsite behind me I noted a few key characteristics about how it has been moving.

"SSSkRKKEE!" breaking the silence between us was the worm who after slowly recoiling its body the moments earlier, shot out at me while turning a bit to the left to take into account my earlier movement.

'I really don't want to do this…' seeing as how it would end up colliding with me If I continued to move or stay still and possibly end up hitting my campsite if I went back to the right I ended up dashing in the one location it would be unable to hit me at the current moment. Swiftly moving towards the beast I barely dodged the dry armored plates adorning the worm.

'God I almost got Keelhauled by that damn thing!' continuing to move in a linear manner while swiveling my head around I barely saw the tail submerge back in the sand. As soon as I saw that I stood still again anticipating the worm's next movements based on previous observations.

'It will probably come straight up or at a steep angle at the last spot, it heard me move…' waiting for a disturbance in the sand I stood there as I continued to keep my Ten active.

'NOW!' Thankfully, or rather, unfortunately, I did not have to wait long before I felt the sand beneath my feet bubble up. Quickly kicking off the ground with nearly everything I had, I sidestepped the recently emerged worm as I tried delivering a Nen-enhanced punch to the side of it body.

*Chink* though instead of causing any damage my fist ended up sliding off the armored scales. I ended up only scratching my knuckles resulting in a few drops of blood falling on the sands below.

'While Ten is doing wonders for my endurance and general athletics it's not going to let me deliver any solid damage…' continuing to run around and dodge the assault of charges and surprise attacks from the sand worm I analyzed its capabilities and movements looking for a way to fell the large creature.

'You know… I would usually try to land an attack through the mouth where it's all fleshy and soft or the eyes but… It doesn't have eyes, and its mouth is all covered in a thick carapace and some sort of venom or poison!' Throughout the fight, I experimented with both Ten enhanced strikes and multiple shots from my revolver as evident by the numerous spent shells strewn across the sandy dunes I was fighting on.

'Hey, On the bright side, this thing is dumb as a box of rocks! Hasn't even tried adapting or really learning my movements… still doesn't change I cant hurt the damn thing…' catching my breath while the worm burrows underground I began to put more focus into the control of my aura as I began to compress it down for a moment before releasing it and expelling it at a great rate whilst dodging the remerging head of the sand worm.

*crack* sending a strong kick to the length of the worm's body I heard a satisfying crunch as a small portion of the hardened exterior fell off revealing a small patch of leathery hide.

"Fuck." cursing under my breath I brought my foot down as I tried to keep my focus on the worm and ignore the large amount of pain in my shin. And while the pain was distracting what had my most of my attention apart from the worm was the large amount of aura lost in that attack.

'Man I suck at this… my pseudo Ren takes up a lot of my aura and I cant really hold it for long periods of time while fighting this thing!' quickly retracting my aura back into Ten I began to deal with the frenzied movements of the worm. Apparently, it hadn't ever been injured much in its life so having been dealt a solid blow it's been freaking out.

"Wow! Who pissed you off?" dodging a lunge that was aimed square at my head by rolling down the top of the dune I was previously standing on I hurriedly stood up as I continued to dodge the various attacks it threw at me while occasionally landing a strong hit to its scales. I had purposefully aimed most of the attacks near the neck or head when it comes out of the ground to reveal a large patch of exposed skin.

*Bang* *Bang* Bang* Quickly pulling out my revolver as I continued to skirt the creature I aimed my shots at the exposed skin. However, while I was drawing blood the bullets didn't seem to punch too deep into the flesh which quickly dashed my hopes for a clean kill.

"Guess I'll have to bleed you dry!" As I continued to unload multiple rounds into the Worm multiple wounds began to accumulate on both of us. While mine was nothing serious besides some slight abrasions and bruises the same could not be said about the worm. With numerous bullet holes and torn under-layer of skin, a shower of blood was spilling onto the sand. Additionally, whenever I had the opportunity I would deliver more Ten enhanced punches on it's exposed skin delivering even more damage.

'At least I'm getting somewhere' as was evident by it starting to slow down and lose its momentum the worm was beginning to bleed out and die.