Formless Ascension: My Affinity Is Limitless

The earth gave way with a sound like a tearing mountain as the behemoth burst from the sand.

It was a terrifyingly massive snake, easily the size of a football field. It stretched at least one hundred meters long and ten meters wide, its scales a dark, coarse grey that looked like stone.

[Wonambi Dune Strider Serpent (Level 25)]

The moment it appeared, every single beast in the vicinity reacted. The jackals and the spiders parted like a wave, scattering frantically out of its path as the massive titan launched itself up into the open night air and began its descent toward the running figures of Uhtred and Bradley’s teams.

”Scatter!” Uhtred yelled immediately.

Every single one of them dispersed in an instant, pushing their agility to the limit to move out of the way before the massive head of the serpent descended on them. However, the span of its mighty head was so wide that most of them were still underneath its reach.

Only the fastest of them, Uhtred and his crew, who were at least Level 10 and above, along with a few among Bradley’s team, had the raw speed to escape its reach safely.

Bradley, hampered by his bad foot, had not managed to move in time. His frantic screams echoed across the sand, only to be abruptly cut off right as the massive head of the serpent crashed into the desert floor, descending straight into the earth as if the solid sand were nothing but liquid water.

The impact sent a violent dust storm of sharp sand shooting forward painfully. The tremors alone carried enough force to throw the few who had barely jumped away clean off their feet, sending them tumbling across the desert for several meters.

Uhtred raised his arm, using it to shield his eyes from the biting sand as he squinted through the haze to see exactly what was happening.

The serpent continued to dive straight into the sand, its massive hundred-meter body submerging without a single trace of friction, as if the desert were an ocean that went on forever.

By the time the dust finally cleared, a massive, gaping hole had formed in the desert sand, the sides continuously collapsing inward.

Bianca, along with the guy Uhtred had spoken to from Bradley’s team earlier in the afternoon, were kneeling right at the edges of the depression, having barely making it out alive.

Dazed from the shock and the violent impact of their tumble, Bianca struggled to focus. As she finally came to her senses, her vision cleared and her eyes went wide, staring right behind her into the gaping hole.

”Bradley!” Her voice was filled with horror and distress as she shrieked into the empty pit.

The other guy who had survived along with her, a Level 9 just like she was, grabbed her tightly by the shoulder, trying to shake her out of her grieving shock. It seemed Bradley had meant a lot to her, much more than just a simple team leader.

The realization that he was gone for good sent her into a catatonic state, and despite her teammate’s frantic shouting, she didn’t respond.

Uhtred ground his teeth and turned his back on them, barking at his own companions. ”You guys continue to spread out! Don’t stay clumped together!”

Dennis had already realized the same thing and was moving before Uhtred even concluded his order. All four of them — Zara, Uhtred, Diya, and Dennis — began to spread across the desert sand.

They moved around the wide, gaping hole, leaving behind the two members of Bradley’s team who were still trying to jar themselves out of their stupor.

Uhtred knew they needed to keep moving, and trying to save someone who looked entirely unwilling to save themselves was just pure stupidity. It wasn’t something he was going to do here.

He didn’t even spare them a second glance, and his teammates followed his lead. They all shared the same harsh pragmatism and cold logic when the situation demanded it.

They wrapped around the gaping expanse just as the ground beneath them began to vibrate again.

Uhtred’s eyes darted between his team members, tracking where each person was. They needed to remain isolated from one another. It seemed this serpent specifically targeted clumps of individuals rather than single entities. It was just a theory, but he felt confident about it.

And a moment later, as if to prove him right, the trembling below their feet intensified terrifyingly. But instead of rising beneath Uhtred or any of his running team members who were wrapping around the rocky hills and stone structures, the serpent’s head burst out of the sand right where the two remaining members of Bradley’s team stood, swallowing them whole in a single, massive snap of its jaws.

Uhtred saw the entire thing from the corner of his eye and whipped his head forward immediately. He didn’t waste a single second watching the rest unfold. Instead, he put more effort into his pace, sprinting across the shifting desert sand.

The spiders and jackals were still tracking their movement from a distance, moving across the rocky hill and formations as if to prevent them from climbing back up, yet none of the monsters dared to commit or step onto the open sand to avoid becoming a meal for the serpent.

Uhtred gritted his teeth and continued to run. Zara was charging well ahead of everyone else, while he maintained the rear with Diya and Dennis running relatively close to each other in the middle.

With a grim realization, Uhtred looked at the terrain ahead. There was no safety in sight. Even if they managed to wrap around these rocky hills, where exactly were they going? If nothing changed, they were simply the next on the list for the serpent to devour.

With a low grunt, Uhtred suddenly skidded to a stop, his boots kicking up red dust as the other three of his team members continued to run forward.

Dennis glanced backward once and saw him. The look on the scholar’s face became deeply conflicted, and his stride faltered as if he wanted to stop, but Uhtred’s firm, unyielding gaze forced a sense of logic back into him.

Dennis was a pragmatic man, he realized exactly what Uhtred was trying to do, so he faced forward resolutely and continued his run, moving closer to Diya just as the girl also glanced backward.

Despite the fact that being in Uhtred’s team meant learning when to have cold logic, Diya still hesitated. She actually wanted to stop if not for Dennis, who reached her and grabbed her by the arm, yelling harsh words into her ears for her to face forward.

Staying back and trying to help Uhtred would do nothing but foil his efforts. He was intentionally stepping up to face the serpent on their behalf, giving them the leeway they needed to find an escape route.

If they couldn’t even manage to do the one thing he expected of them, which was to keep running, then his actions would be entirely useless.

As Uhtred saw that they had understood his intentions, he released a low breath and turned around.

He faced forward, meeting the rippling waves of sand charging directly toward his position. The massive silhouette of the serpent was swimming just beneath the surface of the earth, coming at him like a world-ending freight train.

Suddenly, a fiery glint of madness burned within Uhtred’s eyes...