Hope in Despair

"Boom!"

Before the melee awakened who voiced doubts could finish their sentences, Clark instantly exploded the head of the dissenter's brain with a telekinetic blast.

"Dissenters, die!"

A chilling tremor ran through the crowd.

"Lynn, activate mental power sharing for them. I've already uploaded all the weakness markers to the team channel!"

"Arnold!"

Clark suddenly took off his Stitcher exoskeleton, and the equipment turned into white light, entering Arnold's body.

"Attract the sandworm with all your strength, coordinate with other melee fighters to hold it back!"

"Clark!"

Arnold instinctively wanted to refuse the equipment Clark threw at him. In his view, Clark's life was much more important than his own.

"Shut up!"

Clark's gaze was icy, and that cold look made Arnold feel a bit frightened.

"Dirk, coordinate with the other ranged physical awakened for long-range harassment!"

In a mere 4 seconds, Clark swiftly arranged everyone's duties.

Not far away, the sandworm, after devouring Ira's corpse, burrowed into the ground again. Clark looked towards the spot where even the flagpole had been swallowed, and a trace of coldness flashed in his eyes.

As a sandworm without a "brain," [Podoi] only had the most basic instinct for seeking benefits and avoiding harm. Except for Clark, who couldn't be perceived, Ira was the most intensely fluctuating presence among all the awakened.

"Hope you'll enjoy the taste of 'Yingwei.'"

"Yingwei: Toxic Spirit Plant (Psychic Contamination, Poisonous)."

"Effect: Decoration, body disintegration upon ingestion."

From the moment he decided to use Ira as bait, he concealed the toxic spirit plant obtained from the Xingyi Flower Shop on Ira.

The toxic effects of Yingwei would destroy muscle tissue and cause bodily disintegration, making it perfect against a creature like the sandworm, which is entirely composed of muscle tissue.

Of course, due to the massive size of the sandworm, hoping to kill it with a toxic spirit plant alone was not realistic. Clark only used it as a means to weaken the sandworm's burrowing ability.

Two seconds later, a painful and hateful insect howl echoed. The sandworm, drilling into the ground, suddenly shot out, scattering debris into the air. The students closest to it were instantly smashed into flesh by the falling cement blocks.

The crowd fled, screaming. Several girls who had fallen to the ground begged the boys in front of them to pull them up, but no one looked back.

After emerging from the ground, the massive, wrinkled body of the sandworm trembled, appearing extremely painful as it twisted in the air like a maggot.

"Now is the time!"

Clark's angry shout, enhanced by psychic power, echoed across the square. All awakened individuals performed their roles, simultaneously releasing their skills, targeting the sandworm!

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

"Fireball!"

"Flame Energy Impact!"

"Ice Spear!"

"Wind Blade!"

The pitch-black square was instantly illuminated by various skills. A large number of psychic energy fluctuations disrupted the surrounding air, boiling like water on a stove.

Multicolored radiance lit up on [Podoi]'s body. After devouring the toxic Yingwei, the sandworm was still in the stage of bodily disintegration, unable to resist.

"Bear Transformation!"

With a roar, Arnold tilted his head back and drank the potion given by Clark, unhesitatingly initiating a berserk charge towards the fallen sandworm. "Heavy Fist - Impact!"

"Boom!" With the state attribute stacked to the highest, the black bear's powerful punch directly pierced the sandworm's oral apparatus, blood spraying and covering its entire body.

Meanwhile, Dirk transformed into a black mist, eerily appearing at the top of the sandworm's oral apparatus and stabbing downward.

"Shadow Kill!"

"Backstab!"

Using every means possible, all the awakened individuals at the scene exerted their full strength, unleashing skills to vent firepower and fear.

The aftermath of numerous skills completely destroyed the area where the sandworm was located, raising a cloud of dust and shattering the ground.

"Is it dead?"

In the silence of the dust and smoke, several awakened individuals nervously looked towards the area where the sandworm was. The once rolling and twisting sandworm now lay coiled on the ground, completely motionless.

"I don't know if it worked! But it seems quiet now!"

"Did... we survive?"

Overwhelmed with joy, the people couldn't believe their eyes as they looked at the motionless sandworm. Previously, their skills couldn't break through the sandworm's defense. Today, under Clark's command, they somehow managed to kill this monster!

Three seconds passed, and the sandworm remained still. Although [Podoi]'s massive body didn't show many wounds, except for the one injury caused by Arnold's powerful punch, perhaps the bombardment of skills had killed the creature?

Without much thought, the highly tense and now relieved group couldn't help but hug each other and cheer.

"We did it! We killed it!"

Gerard, pale-faced, collapsed on the ground, lips trembling, and his body soaked in sweat.

"Boss, is that monster really dead?"

Clark didn't answer, just slowly turned his body to look.

In the team voice channel:

"Arnold, Dirk."

"Fall back."

All awakened individuals, including Arnold, hadn't inflicted fatal damage on the sandworm. In fact, thinking logically, these damaging skills couldn't even penetrate the sandworm's defense. Otherwise, the sandworm wouldn't have caused such significant casualties earlier.

People tend to force themselves to overlook cruel facts in extreme fear. Now that [Podoi] had stopped moving, it was only due to combating the toxins in its body.

In a maximum of 3 minutes, the sandworm would regain mobility, initiating a bloody massacre.

Soon, the wails of human deaths would fill the air.

Clark gazed at the ecstatic crowd beneath him, a hint of pity flashing in his eyes. He had never considered having these awakened individuals repel or kill the sandworm. The so-called weaknesses, teamwork, poison—were just tricks to make them believe they could defeat [Podoi].

Only by letting them try would they truly feel their powerlessness and vulnerability, experiencing complete despair.

After all, hope in despair is the only thing that can shake the soul.

"Received."

In front of the insect carcass, Arnold sighed lightly in his heart, turned around, and ran. It had been a while since the sandworm had "died."

Several bold awakeneds, eager to inspect the body, turned their heads to look at him with surprise on their faces, but their steps did not falter.

They were still in the ecstasy of killing the monster. After all, it had been almost two minutes, and the sandworm, if not dead, wouldn't remain motionless for so long.

"Did you receive the kill notification?"

"No, did you? I wonder who the lucky one is."

Awakeneds in the distance from the elemental class excitedly discussed whether the sandworm might drop equipment. When they killed The Licker before, it occasionally dropped some items and equipment.

Even if not, there was still experience (psychic power).

However, at that time, there weren't as many people attacking, so the experience gained from the kill was shared by at most the top four contributors.

"I wonder whose skill landed the final blow?"

"Even if we got it, we wouldn't say it now... but that black bear from earlier definitely got a share."

The awakened ones inquired among themselves. Everyone attacked simultaneously, and the one who landed the final blow definitely had an advantage.

Under the elevated platform, the awakened ones closest to Clark no longer saw him as their hope.

The sandworm was just like that. After all, Clark only coordinated their teamwork, marking the weak points.

Thoughts varied, and even a monster like the sandworm could be easily killed as long as its weak points were targeted.

Some awakened individuals who had a good relationship with Ira suddenly felt regret.

They had never engaged in such a large-scale group battle before. Normally, when killing The Licker, there were at most eight or nine people.

Seeing a terrifying creature like the sandworm being easily killed made them feel that perhaps they had underestimated the strength of a group.

Although Clark was powerful and his strength mysterious, he was just a psychic awakened. Could he be stronger than a sandworm?With dozens of skills bombarding him, they doubted he could survive.