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The square-jawed Hunter reacted just in time, lunging forward the moment he sensed danger and narrowly dodging the attack from the golden forelimb.
But as he landed, before he could get up, he felt his body sink down again, and sand began to cascade around him, forming a pit with a huge maw waiting at the bottom!
The square-jawed Hunter's eyes widened in horror, and just when he thought he was about to be bitten in half by the maw, a metal cable as thick as a finger entwined around his ankle.
The cable's owner yanked fiercely, pulling him out of the maw's grasp in the nick of time.
The remaining Hunters hadn't been idle either, after coming to their senses a barrage of attacks descended upon the sandpit, the onslaught lasting a full thirty seconds.
When the attacks gradually stopped after half a minute, the Iron-Eating Scarab at the bottom of the pit had vanished without trace.
"Where did it go?" The crowd turned to Aes again.
"Uh... give me a moment."