Chapter 135: Sand Walking

A mountain range had awoken, its segments of armor-plated flesh grinding against each other.

Each plate was bigger than a palace, curved and sharp, catching the sickly light of the yellow sky and turning it into something almost beautiful.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM.

The sound came after the movement, delayed by distance, but it still rattled the cohort.

That was when a limb breached through the earth... a little closer to them, much closer than the main body was, showing just how gigantic the thing was.

Malik couldn’t even find the words to describe what he was seeing.

The limb slammed down, and though a fair distance away, the quake alone made the ground around them scream, cracking open in long fissures that spread out everywhere.

’This thing can destroy planets.’

Malik had seen enough, fought enough, and killed enough to know when he was looking at something that could unmake worlds.

And right now, that ’something’ was looking at him.

"Move!"

Huda screamed, and they moved.

The wind carried them forward, weaving between the Anomalies that dotted the dead earth.

Safira kept blasting behind them, each punch sending another shockwave through the air, propelling them faster, and faster, and faster.

Malik raised his hand and added his own fire to the mix.

It wasn’t much compared to what Safira was doing, but it was something.

Safira glanced back at him and, even through the panic, smiled.

Malik just nodded.

If they didn’t escape this thing, his plan to retrieve Spine Splitter would end before it even began.

But thankfully, that didn’t seem like it was going to happen.

At least not yet... the Venerable didn’t chase them.

That was strange.

It rose from the ground; loomed over the landscape; let out a sound that was half roar, half earthquake; and then it just... stopped.

Watched them go.

Its massive head—if that’s what it was—turned slowly, tracking their movement across the dead earth, but it didn’t follow.

’It’s testing me...’

Malik realized.

’It wants to see what I’ll do.’

He kept his face neutral and increased his fire output.

’I’m not here to end you; let me go.’

Following such thoughts... the Venerable seemed to have lost interest.

The gargantuan head turned away, and the body began to sink back into the earth, slowly allowing the yellow sky to be visible again.

Huda didn’t wait to see if it would come back.

They nearly crashed into the ground before she managed to slow them down.

Her feet hit the earth first, creating a cushion for the rest.

Safira landed next to her, bent over, breathing in ragged gasps.

Her hands were red, the skin still knitting itself back together after the punishment she had put them through.

Malik, by comparison, was calm.

He had used some of his Rukh, sure, but nowhere near enough to tire him.

The fire had been a push, nothing more, a gentle nudge compared to the explosive force Safira had been generating.

He looked around while the two women recuperated, scanning the dead earth for any sign of Anomalies forming nearby.

None did.

They had a moment to breathe.

Thus, Safira was the first to recover.

She straightened up and let out a long breath.

"Okay..."

Her voice remained steady despite everything.

"We... We need a plan."

"A plan?"

Huda laughed bitterly.

"The plan is we run. We run, and we don’t stop until we’re out of this layer, and that thing is behind us."

"We can’t just run."

Safira shook her head.

"It’s... unfathomable. If it decides to come after us again—"

"Then we’re dead."

"That’s not helpful, Huda."

"I’m not trying to be helpful. I’m trying to be realistic."

They glared at each other for a moment, and then Safira turned to Malik.

"Stranger. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to drag you into this. When I invited you to join us, I thought we could handle anything the lower layers threw at us. I didn’t expect—"

She gestured at the distance, at the spot where the Venerable had disappeared.

"—that."

Malik almost laughed.

’She’s apologizing to me.’

Him. The one who had brought this disaster down on their heads.

"You have nothing to be sorry for."

He meant it, making Huda snort.

"Don’t apologize to him. Every time we meet this guy, something goes wrong. The East and now this. Twice we’ve met him, and twice we’ve almost died."

"That’s not fair."

"Fair doesn’t matter. Results matter. And the result is that this guy is bad luck."

Malik didn’t argue.

He couldn’t.

Because she was right.

But even as she said it, Huda didn’t suggest leaving him behind.

She didn’t say he should go his own way or find his own path. She just complained, loudly, bitterly, with enough venom to poison a smaller man—and then she crossed her arms and waited for someone else to come up with a solution.

’She’s... kind. She hides it behind all that anger and cursing, but she’s kind.’

Safira must have thought the same thing, because she was smiling again.

"We know the exit out of here."

She reached into her robes and produced a compass from thin air.

The needle spun three times and then settled, pointing towards a specific direction.

"This will lead us to the fifth layer."

Malik stared at the compass, then at where their exit supposedly was.

"There’s no other way."

Huda confirmed what he had already guessed.

"The Venerable is sitting right on top of the entrance. We either go past it and further down, or we stay here forever."

She paused, and then her lips curled into a grin.

"Actually, I’ve got a simple solution. We can just throw the old man as bait and sneak by."

Safira blankly stared at her.

A flat, unimpressed look that said everything words didn’t need to.

Huda hummed and looked away, suddenly interested in the cracked earth beneath.

"Anyways, let’s think of a proper idea now. What do you say, Stranger?"

Malik gestured at their feet.

"It might be a Venerable, but at the end of the day, isn’t it still a sandworm?"

Huda turned to him, her brow furrowing.

"What are you trying to say?"

Safira’s face lit up with realization.

"Are you saying that if we Sand Walk, we can go right past it?"

Malik nodded.

The Sand Walk.

His earlier flashback had come at the right time, a memory of something useful beyond pain.

The way they had to move across the sand, light and careful, so the worms couldn’t feel them.

If it worked on the smaller ones, why not the Venerable?

"Exactly that. We need to get as close as possible, then begin Sand Walking right through the Anomalies."

Huda stared at him like he had grown a second head.

"You want to walk... past a monster that could eat this entire layer."

"Yes."

"While going through Anomalies."

"Yes."

"On purpose."

"Yes."

"And you think that’s a good idea."

Malik met his little sister’s gaze.

"I think it’s the only idea."