Chapter 263: The Beast Beneath the Road

The growl came again, and this time the entire road trembled. Sand poured from the roofs of the ancient buildings as something massive moved beneath them, cracks racing through the stone from one side of the street to the other.

Vedas stepped forward immediately. "Everyone, move."

The group scattered, and Arthur barely had time to take two steps before the road exploded.

BOOM!

A gigantic body erupted from beneath the sand, stone fragments and dust blasting into the air as something dark and heavily armored surged upward.

Its enormous body twisting through the ancient street. Arthur raised an arm to shield his face as the creature landed several meters away.

For a moment, nobody moved.

It was enormous, nearly the size of a small house, its body long and low to the ground, covered in overlapping plates of dark bronze and sandstone-colored armor, six powerful legs digging into the road, each ending in broad, shovel-like claws. A pair of curved horns swept backward from its head, and glowing lines ran along its sides, pulsing faintly whenever it breathed.

Athena stared. "That’s an ancient species."

The Beast turned toward them, eyes glowing a deep amber. Arthur’s gaze sharpened. It wasn’t a Chief, there was no overwhelming pressure like the eight Beast Chiefs had carried, but it was still clearly powerful.

And injured, blood seeping from beneath several of its armor plates, one rear leg dragging slightly. More importantly, it kept looking behind itself.

It turned toward the eastern road, then back toward the group, then behind itself again.

Mithra’s expression changed. "It’s afraid."

"Something’s chasing it," Arthur nodded.

Vedas tightened his grip on his spear. "Then we should eliminate whatever is chasing it before it reaches us."

"Wait," Arthur said, raising a hand.

Everyone looked at him.

"Why?" Sun stared.

His eyes stayed on the Beast. "I want to see what it’s running from."

"Of course you do," Sun sighed, closing his eyes.

The Beast snarled, its six legs digging into the stone. Arthur noticed the movement immediately. "It’s going to attack."

It lunged, its enormous body moving far faster than something that size should have been capable of. Mithra vanished in a flash, the creature’s claw slamming into the road where she’d been standing and pulverizing several stones. She reappeared behind it. "Fast!"

It twisted, its tail sweeping across the street, and Arthur ducked as the armored tail passed over his head.

[Guardian Shield]

Golden light erupted around him as the tail slammed into the barrier, the impact pushing him backward several meters. He dug his feet into the ground. "Okay." He looked at the Beast. "It really doesn’t want us near it."

Vedas charged.

[Hurling]

His golden spear shot forward, and the Beast raised one of its armored plates, the spear striking with a deafening clang and bouncing away.

Kong rushed forward immediately, jumped, and the Beast raised its head, its horn colliding with his fist.

BOOM!

It staggered. Kong landed and grinned. "Strong."

"You’re both enjoying this too much," Sun sighed.

The Beast suddenly plunged one of its claws into the ground, and the entire road shook, sand erupting beneath Sun’s feet. "That’s new." He leapt away as the ground collapsed and the Beast disappeared beneath the sand.

Arthur’s eyes widened. "Where did it—"

The sand beneath him shifted. He jumped, a claw erupting from below.

[Guardian Shield]

The golden barrier appeared just as the Beast burst upward, its claw smashing against it. He was thrown backward, rolling across the road until he came to a stop beside an ancient stone fountain. "That thing can move through the sand."

Athena’s eyes narrowed. "Not just move." She watched it disappear beneath the ground again. "It’s treating the sand like water."

Arthur understood. That was why it had been able to travel beneath the city without collapsing the roads. Its body was designed for this environment.

The Beast erupted again, and this time he didn’t attack, only watched. Its claws spread before touching the sand, its body lowered, and then it moved, the sand shifting beneath its weight while it barely sank.

His eyes sharpened. That movement, he’d seen something similar in the evolution paths of some of the statues. But this was different, more specialized. The Beast was perfectly adapted to unstable ground. It wasn’t merely powerful. Its entire body had evolved around surviving this place.

It charged again, and he waited, stepping sideways at the last moment as it passed. He reached out, his hand touching the armored hide along its side.

His vision changed. The ancient city disappeared, and a vast underground desert appeared before him, the Beast moving through it effortlessly, its ancestors smaller, then larger, their claws widening, their bodies growing lighter despite their increasing size, the armor along their legs changing shape to spread their weight across loose sand.

The vision shifted again. A new Beast stood before him, then another, then the final form, and words appeared.

[Species: Duneplate Burrower]

[Evolution Path: Duneplate Burrower → Sandback Devourer → Deepdune Colossus]

His eyes widened. Another ancient species, but the vision continued, showing him the Beast’s physical structure, its claws, its distributed weight, its reinforced joints, its armor, everything serving one purpose: survive the deep sand.

His vision returned. The Beast was already charging toward him. "Got it."

He moved, deliberately stepping onto the loose sand, his foot sinking slightly before he adjusted.

[Water Mirror Adaptation]

His body changed its movement instinctively, distributing his weight across each step instead of fighting the unstable surface. One step. Then another. The sand barely shifted beneath him.

His eyes lit up. "So that’s how you do it."

The Beast lunged, and he slipped underneath its attack, his spear striking the armor beneath its jaw. It roared.

Mithra appeared beside him. "You figured something out?"

"The sand," he smiled.

She looked down, then her eyes widened. "You’re not sinking."

"Exactly."

It attacked again, and he moved across the sand with surprising stability. He wasn’t faster. He wasn’t stronger. But he no longer lost balance. Every step carried his weight naturally across the unstable surface. He could turn without slipping, accelerate without sinking, even stop almost instantly. A tiny advantage, but in this environment, it mattered.

The Beast’s claw swept toward him, and he planted his foot.

[Guardian Strike]

Golden light erupted from his mark as the Guardian spirit briefly appeared behind him, his spear thrusting forward, the shockwave striking the Beast directly in the chest.

BOOM!

It was thrown backward, rolling several times before finally stopping. For a moment it didn’t move. Then it slowly rose, and Arthur expected another attack. Instead it looked behind itself again, the same fear returning.

He lowered his spear. "You’re still trying to get away."

The Beast stared at him, and he could almost feel its panic. Then—

A deep rumble came from beneath the ground. Everyone froze. The Beast turned, its eyes widening, and Arthur’s expression changed. It wasn’t attacking them. It was looking past them. Something else was coming.

"Move!"

The Beast charged past him, not attacking, fleeing, straight down the ancient road.

Mithra looked after it. "Arthur..."

"I know."

The ground behind them split open, and a gigantic claw emerged from beneath the sand, far larger than the Beast they’d just fought, the claw alone almost as large as Arthur, scraping against the stone road.

SKRRRRAAAAPE.

The sound echoed through the entire district as sand collapsed into a gigantic tunnel, something moving beneath the surface.

Arthur stared.

A shadow stretched across the buried buildings, impossible to determine its shape, only fragments visible, a claw, part of a massive armored body, something long moving beneath the sand.

The ancient Duneplate Burrower disappeared into the distance, and the enormous creature beneath the road followed. Then it stopped.

For one terrifying moment, a gigantic eye appeared beneath the sand.

Arthur’s breath caught. The eye looked directly at them. Then it vanished, the creature retreating into the depths, the sand settling, silence returning.

Nobody spoke for several seconds.

"...I suddenly miss fighting the eight Chief Beasts," Sun finally said.

Kong nodded.

Athena looked at the enormous tunnel. "That thing was following the Beast."

Luna hugged her compass closer. "What was it?"

Arthur walked toward the tunnel, Vedas following immediately. "Arthur."

He stopped at the edge and looked down. The tunnel wasn’t a normal burrow, its walls smooth, too smooth, and far too large. He crouched and touched the stone. There were marks along the walls, not claw marks. Something had carved through the earth itself.

His eyes narrowed. He stood. "That isn’t a Beast den."

Vedas looked into the darkness. "Then what made it?"

He smiled slightly, looking deeper into the enormous tunnel. "That’s what I want to know."

Behind him, a tiny pink slime bounced onto his shoulder. Star had been unusually quiet throughout the fight. He glanced at it. "You were worried, weren’t you?"

It bounced once.

He smiled. "Thanks."

A warm emotion passed through their bond, faint but unmistakable. He paused, eyes widening slightly.

[Synchronization Increased.]

[Star: 1% → 5%]

He looked at Star. It bounced again, and his smile softened. "You were worried about me." It wiggled happily.

For the first time, he understood something important. Star hadn’t protected him because he’d commanded it to. It had protected him because it wanted to, and somehow that felt more valuable than another skill.

He gently touched the top of its tiny body. "Thanks."

It bounced proudly on his shoulder as he turned back toward the enormous tunnel. Whatever had chased the Duneplate Burrower was gone, but now they knew something else. Something was living beneath the ancient city, something big enough to carve tunnels through the earth itself.

Arthur stared into the darkness, his curiosity only growing. Because if the ancient city had been built around the Earth Mirror, then what had been living beneath it all this time?