Name: Earth-Drilling Worm King
Introduction: Golden Six-Star, proficient in earth-elemental abilities, with the innate talent of earth-burrowing. Weakness: slightly weaker resistance to water and ice-elemental attacks.
Qin Shilei never imagined he would discover another Golden-tier异兽 (Yi Shou - exotic beast) on Planet Blue again. As time passed, more and more Golden-tier 异兽 were crossing over from other realms, making the environment on Planet Blue increasingly perilous.
"Hiss!" The Earth-Drilling Worm King roared in anger, simultaneously summoning several massive meteorites to plummet from the sky towards Qin Shilei and his companion.
"Roar!" Not far away, King Kong let out a mighty roar, taking a stride to reach the Earth-Drilling Worm King's side and delivering a powerful sweeping blow. While wielding his staff, King Kong muttered something, seemingly saying, "Eat this staff, Grandson!"
*Boom!* The Earth-Drilling Worm King was knocked to the ground by King Kong's staff. A large section of its grayish-brown carapace shattered, and blood seeped out. Not relenting, King Kong raised his staff again and brought it down.
*Boom!* Another thunderous sound echoed, and a deep fissure split the earth. However, King Kong's strike missed. The Earth-Drilling Worm King's figure had vanished from sight at some point.
Qin Shilei, soaring in mid-air, clearly saw a flash of yellow light just moments before the Earth-Drilling Worm King disappeared. Was this its innate talent, earth-burrowing?
"Careful!" Qin Shilei shouted, simultaneously teleporting towards King Kong on the ground. A large hole suddenly appeared beneath King Kong's right foot, followed by a gaping maw lunging to bite at it. Due to the sudden loss of balance from stepping into the void, King Kong had no time to react and was bitten squarely by the Earth-Drilling Worm King.
King Kong showed no panic. Instead, he seized the opportunity, stomping down with all his might. The Earth-Drilling Worm King's sharp teeth bit into King Kong's right foot, piercing its skin but failing to break its sturdy bones as intended. Instead, King Kong's stomp nearly shattered its teeth.
A cold glint flashed as Qin Shilei, who had just teleported over, thrust his sword towards the edge of the Earth-Drilling Worm King's mouth. Just as the Juque Sword was about to strike, the yellow light that had appeared earlier flashed again. The Earth-Drilling Worm King's figure vanished from his sight once more.
"A truly cunning Earth-Drilling Worm King. It burrows away the moment its attack misses." Qin Shilei had no choice but to fly back into the air, carefully scanning the surrounding ground. King Kong, with its injured right foot, furiously swung its staff, randomly smashing at the ground. The earth cracked, and dust billowed.
"King Kong, return to your pet space first." Such chaotic attacks were utterly useless. Qin Shilei had to recall King Kong. After a long while, the Earth-Drilling Worm King did not reappear.
"Shilei, if this worm doesn't come out, we are helpless against it," An Qian said, flying to Qin Shilei's side.
"Mm." Qin Shilei then asked, "An Qian, do you want to capture this worm as a pet?"
An Qian shook her head, "No, it's too ugly."
Qin Shilei's face was streaked with black lines. He actually found the worm quite good, not only strong but also capable of earth-burrowing. However, since his wife disliked it, he let it go.
As they were speaking, they suddenly heard screams erupting from within the city.
"Let's go." The two immediately turned and flew towards the city. Crossing the city walls, they looked down. The Earth-Drilling Worm King they had encountered earlier was slaughtering humans below.
"Thunder Escape!" The Earth-Drilling Worm King, having just swallowed an evolver, suddenly sensed something. It looked up to see a lightning bolt streaking towards it. Before it could react, the bolt was upon it. It then felt a sharp pain and its entire body became as if frozen, unable to move an inch.
"One-Punch Man!" "Seven Stars Fall from the Sky!" Qin Shilei, in his strongest state without transforming, continuously attacked the Earth-Drilling Worm King. Soaring sword energy relentlessly sliced and chopped at the worm. Purple blood spurted out like a gushing spring. However, the defense of the Golden Six-Star Earth-Drilling Worm King was astonishing. Furthermore, after Qin Shilei's promotion to the Golden tier, the amplification from "One-Punch Man" had only increased to fivefold. Despite unleashing his full power and inflicting substantial damage on the opponent, Qin Shilei could not deliver a fatal blow.
Two seconds later, after being hit by two consecutive "Seven Stars Fall from the Sky" attacks, the Earth-Drilling Worm King was almost cleaved in half. Believing the situation was decided, Qin Shilei prepared to unleash another combat skill to finish it off. To his surprise, a yellow light emanated from the near-death Earth-Drilling Worm King. Before Qin Shilei could summon his phantom to immobilize it again, his vision blurred, and the creature disappeared.
"What the hell!" Qin Shilei couldn't help but curse. The creature had escaped even after all that. Earth-burrowing was truly a divine skill, not only fast to activate but also disappearing without a trace. The creature's escape was also due to Qin Shilei's underestimation of its strength and his failure to summon his phantom to help immobilize it. But now that it had escaped, there was no point in saying anything more.
"Where did that big bug go?" Wen Zhiyuan walked up, asking with lingering fear.
"It ran off," Qin Shilei replied curtly.
"Without any warning, how did it escape? We didn't even see it burrowing." Wen Zhiyuan looked around but found no hole left by the Earth-Drilling Worm King's departure.
Qin Shilei explained, "It has a unique earth-burrowing technique that allows it to escape through the soil directly, without physically burrowing."
Feng Yuxin also approached and asked, "Mr. Qin, you fought it. How strong is this worm?"
Qin Shilei hid nothing, "Golden Six-Star, proficient in earth-elemental abilities, possesses the unique earth-burrowing technique, and is relatively vulnerable to water and ice-elemental attacks."
The surrounding people's hearts sank, and their faces turned grave. They had witnessed the Earth-Drilling Worm King slaughtering evolvers and knew it was powerful, but they hadn't expected it to be a Golden Six-Star exotic beast. Moreover, this beast could burrow and appear and disappear at will. Anyone targeted by it would likely face certain death.
"That bug emerged from underground. Let's quickly go upstairs or onto the city wall!" someone suddenly shouted. Instantly, the evolvers below the city wall vanished, either heading onto the walls or into nearby buildings. Wen Zhiyuan and Feng Yuxin, along with a few others, wanted to flee but felt too embarrassed to run while Qin Shilei remained still.
Tan Anguo spoke to reassure them, "I think that bug was heavily injured by Mr. Qin, so it probably won't cause trouble again for a while. Everyone needn't panic too much." Seeing that some were still visibly shaken, Qin Shilei merely smiled, turned, and headed back outside the city to continue fighting the bugs. He surmised that the worm would hide to heal.
Unexpectedly, around 5 PM that afternoon, the creature reappeared in the city. In a densely populated residential area, the Earth-Drilling Worm King suddenly emerged from underground, instantly devouring seven or eight people, killing dozens, and then disappearing without a sound. From its appearance to its disappearance, less than ten seconds had passed. It then appeared in multiple other locations within the city, always arriving and departing swiftly, leaving behind a trail of bodies.
The news of a Golden Six-Star Earth-Drilling Worm King underground spread rapidly throughout Bei'an City. For a time, everyone in Bei'an City lived in fear, avoiding the ground and fleeing to higher floors.