Both halves of the earthworm had stopped moving.
Lin Xian stared at his hands, covered in sticky, foul-smelling slime, in disbelief.
“We, we did it!”
Even though it was just in the game, and he’d only played a supporting role in the fight.
But to kill a creature dozens of times bigger than himself—and to cut it in half!
He could brag about this for months!
Oh my God, the combat system in this game is too real!
A surge of satisfaction washed over Lin Xian, so powerful that even his rain-soaked clothes didn’t feel as uncomfortable anymore.
Ye Hui Fei first rubbed his hands together, then wiped them on his back, then rubbed again.
A hundred and eighty hand movements in a second.
“Did we really do this?”
“No, to be accurate, it was Garble Bro who did it!”
Lin Xian’s smile was so wide it made his cheeks stiff, and he couldn’t bring down the corners of his mouth.
He slapped Luan Ma on the shoulder.
“Nice, Garble Bro. What do you do in real life? You’ve got great moves!”
While the two of them had been focused on running, neither noticed when the other approached the earthworm.
The earthworm probably didn’t notice either.
Otherwise, after passing the leaf, it would never have attacked him first.
From Lin Xian’s perspective, all he saw was the leaf flying away, and then the other guy dropping in like a god from the heavens, turning the tide!
The fight ended in a flash.
Ye Hui Fei nodded vigorously.
“Right, right, what’s that saying? Turning disaster into safety, saving us from fire and water, and that thing about…”
“Turning the tide at the brink of collapse!”
“That’s it!”
Ye Hui Fei looked at Luan Ma with a hint of respect in his eyes.
“Ma Bro, was that hook kick on the earthworm some ancient Huaguo martial art? Can I learn it?”
As the first one to approach the earthworm, Luan Ma was the most disheveled.
His face was covered in earthworm blood and slime.
He wasn’t as excited as the other two, but compared to usual, there was still some happiness on his face.
“It’s not that exaggerated. Just a bit of technique in using force.”
Just as the three were about to say more.
In the muddy ground, where water had pooled.
The earthworm corpse, which had already burrowed halfway underground, started moving again.
The little blood left in its body closed up, as if rapidly repairing the wound.
The three of them wanted to retreat, but the back half of the earthworm moved as well?!
Both halves of the earthworm, as if they were independent creatures, lunged at them again!
“No way?!”
Ye Hui Fei’s face twisted.
“Did we just create mini-bosses?!”
After all that effort to cut the earthworm in half, they’d only doubled the enemy count?!
The two broad thorn leaves, unable to handle the previous workload, were now completely ruined.
Without weapons, the three turned and ran without hesitation!
If one earthworm could block them, how could they handle double the number now?!
Misfortune never comes alone.
After a day’s labor, Ye Hui Fei tripped over a stone on the roadside, probably washed down by rainwater from somewhere.
His foot cramped!
“Argh!”
Ye Hui Fei let out a miserable scream.
A sharp pain shot up his right calf.
He lost his balance and fell face-first into the mud.
Behind him.
The half of the earthworm with a mouth opened wide, revealing hundreds of sharp teeth.
The other two, being chased by the other earthworm segment, turned back at the same time.
Lin Xian: “Ye Fei! Roll! Roll away!”
Luan Ma: “Roll to the right!”
Ye Hui Fei closed his eyes and, following their shouts, instinctively started rolling.
“Pfft!”
The earthworm took a big mouthful of mud.
Ye Hui Fei clutched his right leg and struggled to his feet, preparing to run.
But then he felt the temperature around him rise sharply.
At the same time, a mouthwatering aroma of cooked meat filled the air.
He couldn’t help but look back—and was immediately blinded by firelight.
Reflected in his pupils was a giant, blazing fireball.
It engulfed the entire earthworm, wrapping it tightly.
The air shimmered with heat.
The earthworm had no vocal cords, but from the way it thrashed and writhed, the fireball was much hotter than Ye Hui Fei could feel!
In less than three seconds, the earthworm was burned to nothing—not even ashes remained.
Leaf Zhi walked out from behind a tree, holding his black staff.
“This is a red-skinned earthworm, the most common creature in the Giant Oak Forest. It feeds on wildfruit and decomposing leaves in the soil.”
“They spend most of their time underground, only emerging after rain to feed on wildfruit.”
Ye Hui Fei stared, wide-eyed, at the suddenly appearing leader of his own faction.
He was still overwhelmed by the sight of that massive fireball, unable to recover.
That was magic!
Magic fireball!!
So strong!
So cool!!!
Before they knew it, the rain had stopped.
Leaf Zhi, wearing a dry magician’s robe, looked like a person from another world compared to Ye Hui Fei.
Edegar finished off the other half of the red-skinned earthworm and brought the other two players over.
Seeing the three in their sorry state, he couldn’t help but feel puzzled.
“Red-skinned earthworms are the lowest-level creatures in the Giant Oak Forest. They don’t eat people. How did you get attacked by one?”
Leaf Zhi glanced at the scattered wildfruit on the ground.
“Probably got some fallen fruit juice on your clothes. It’s one of the red-skinned earthworm’s favorite foods.”
“Red-skinned earthworms have no eyes or brains, so they mistook you for a moving dinner plate?”
Edegar propped his chin in thought.
“Reasonable.”
The air fell silent.
Looking at the state of the three players, Leaf Zhi felt a little guilty.
He could only say, the players’ luck really wasn’t with them.
They just happened to run into a fallen fruit tree on a rainy day.
If even one of those conditions was missing, they wouldn’t have attracted the red-skinned earthworms!
It was currently summer on the Aeltia Continent.
Rain was rare in the Giant Oak Forest, but when it came, it was always a flood-level downpour.
Who could’ve guessed the players would be so unlucky as to get drenched on their First Day?
They hadn’t enjoyed any of the game’s benefits, but had plenty of the drawbacks!
What if they quit because of this?
Leaf Zhi worried silently.
If he’d been chased by monsters and soaked in rain on the first day of launch, he’d have uninstalled and deleted the game on the spot!
So after explaining the origins of the red-skinned earthworms, Leaf Zhi didn’t say anything more.
He leaned on his magical cloak, trying to look cool, waiting for the players’ reactions and thinking of how to respond.
“Boss!”
Ye Hui Fei suddenly grabbed Leaf Zhi’s staff with both hands.
“After reaching level two, can I learn that magic you just used?”
Lin Xian echoed, “Me too!”
Although Edegar’s sword skills were also cool when he saved them, nothing could beat the special effects of a fireball!
Look at this place!
It had just rained, but one fireball had baked the ground dry!
Too awesome!
Leaf Zhi: “···Yes, Magic Fireball is an entry-level spell.”
Luan Ma continued, “Are red-skinned earthworms the kind of monsters we’ll have to face in the future?”
Leaf Zhi nodded, then shook his head.
“In theory, any new species born from the Remnants of the Divine are monsters.”
“But the magic wave from red-skinned earthworms is too weak, and they lack the destructive power to affect the environment, so they’ve become part of the ecosystem.”
“So generally, they’re considered beneficial insects now.”
Lin Xian’s eyes widened.
“So the giant earthworm that chased us all over doesn’t even count as a monster because it’s not strong enough?!”
So the huge earthworm isn’t even a starter monster?!
He couldn’t imagine how powerful real monsters must be!
Is this the true difficulty of ?